Rhyann had expected another strike from Lucius, but suddenly she was clinging to her boyfriend as he apparated them to his room. He swiftly put her down on his bed and locked his door - physically and magically. He then went to various quidditch player models that he had throughout his room and tapped four of them with his wand that were closest to each of the corners, muttering an incantation. He put his wand back into his pocket, jabbing it down within its depths. With the force of it, it was a wonder that it did not come through to the other side.
"I can't believe this is happening." Draco anxiously ran both his hands through his hair, pacing at the foot of the bed. His mind was racing and his face was going through a myriad of expressions. At one point he stopped and knelt down near the dreamer. "Are you alright, Rhyann? How badly did he hurt you? What was he doing that for!"
Her hand was still trembling a bit as she reached up to touch the side of his face where he had been hit. "I'll be fine... He only hit me twice and then... used the Cruciatus Curse upon me. You stopped him from doing anything else." Rhyann did not think it would be fine though. Yet she did not panic or burst out into tears even with her cheeks already wet from those that had escaped a few minutes ago. "I caught your cousins going through my stuff in my room and I punished them... like I do with my own cousins. Your father decided I was to be punished for doing so."
"Going through your stuff?" Draco grunted in annoyance. "They earned whatever they got from you then. They should show you more respect."
"My thoughts exactly." She agreed quietly. Sitting up, she winced with each little movement. The curse made her feel as if her bones weren't fully mended yet.
He stood up and started pacing again. A strange wild look in his pale eyes. "I can't believe he did that. I can't believe he would hurt you... that he would do that to me!" The blond flung up his arms in the air and then pulled at his hair again. "He thinks that I'm going to everything he says. He thinks that I am just a boy and he can command me to do anything! He doesn't want me as a partner... he just wants someone to order about and do his dirty work. I'm just a... just..."
Her big dark eyes looked at him sadly. "A tool?"
A small part of her felt badly for him. The dreamer had known all along what it felt like to be used like that. She had tried to fight it and tried to live with it. She had done neither successfully. She had been alone in it too. Now finally Draco would understand her. There was more relief at that than pity for him. She had warned him about it all along, after all.
"A bloody tool! That's it!" Draco cried out his anguish, head tipped back and shaking a fist at the ceiling. "I am his son! How could he do that to me!"
Rhyann had no answer for him. Lucius was a cold-hearted man. She did not doubt that he loved his family, but it was not the purely unconditional love that regular wizards had for their loved ones. It was about control and possession. There were times when she feared that Draco was the same way, but he had proven that love was more about the heart to him even though he had his moments of taking control of her as a prized possession. He was proving it right now in the pangs of agony he was going through realizing what his father was truly about.
His heart was not the only one aching from the actions of family. Rhyann could not stop thinking that Darcy had left her alone there with Lucius, knowing full well what was going to happen. None of her uncles had raced through the manor to come to her defense. They had left her in his cruel hands for the sake of maintaining some sort of peace with the Malfoys. They had done nothing over the summer and they had constantly dissuaded her from doing anything as well. It had been Draco that had came and protected her. Even though they had a bond, it was not the same as a familial bond.
The Rookwoods were closer than most families, she knew, and it was not because of the duty that hung over their heads either. When she returned home after being taken from the island, she had felt an immediate connection with her uncles. Those months she had been at Rookwood Manor before she went to Hogwarts had been wonderful. The link she had with them was intense and she felt incredibly loved. She had not seen any other families like her own. Even from stories other students told at school, there wasn't any bond close to what the Rookwoods had. A few of the other girls were envious of her family relations and she had been proud of them.
She felt abandoned at the moment though and left wondering if her familial ties were as strong in the way she had believed. Her uncles had left her to Lucius. Left her to be punished so that they could have an easier time of it. It would be one thing if Rhyann voluntarily offered to do it for them, but she had wanted to be rescued. She had not wanted any of this to happen. Now it would be even worse.
Draco flopped down on the bed beside her with an agitated grunt and rubbed his eyes with his palms. "I can't believe this is happening. Things aren't suppose to be this way!"
Glancing at the door, she then laid a gentle hand on his arm. "They'll be here any minute now. What are we going to do?"
"They could already be pounding at the bloody door for all I know." He kicked out at the post of his bed in frustration. "I activated my wards for the room. No one can get in and they can't hear anything going on in here. I didn't know quite how to get them right, so we can't hear anything that might be going on out there either."
"What if they blast down the door?"
"They won't do that." Draco scoffed and then screwed up his face with anger. "I don't think they will anyway. I just need some time to think of what to do!" He let out another suffering cry and wrapped his arms over his head.
Slowly she moved onto her side and place a hand on his flat stomach, stroking him soothingly. "Draco, I don't think there is much you can do. Sooner or later you are going to have to go out there and face your father..."
"How do you do it, Rhyann?" He suddenly asked, removing his arms from his face so that he could stare up at her with emotion-filled eyes. "I know all along you've told me what it's like, how angry and helpless it makes you feel. How can you live with it?"
"You... just do..." Rhyann wasn't sure what to tell him. She had her moments of despair, but she did not let it pull her down into the abyss where she might lose herself. She was too much of a fighter and she knew her boyfriend was as well. That was why it was hard on him as it was on her. Her hand stopped moving for a moment as she thought about what to say and then she spoke quietly. "I always keep up the hope that I will somehow manage to work it all out to my advantage in the end. I know I am being used as a tool... by your father, by the Dark Lord. I refuse to give in to it though. I tell myself that it won't always be that way... that I'll find some way of being free. I am getting more powerful..." She shook her head at herself, stopping herself before she continued on.
Draco looked up at her consideringly, tilting his head to the side. He propped himself up on his elbows. "How do you keep that hope going though? With everything... I mean..."
"Well..." She paused a moment, debating what to say and going with something they both needed to hear. "It use to be you... You gave me the strength to hope..."
"It use to be me...?" He looked a little hurt at that but dared to venture forward. "And now?"
"The desire to live my own life, to be free and to fight for it..." Her eyes dipped down with her voice, her long lashes shading them. "The secret hope that the thing that keeps me going will be you again..."
Cupping her face in one of his big hands, he pressed their foreheads together. "I could be that for you again... I want to be that for you again." His thumb tenderly traveled over her puffy lip. "You are the only one that gives me hope, love. If you weren't here right now with me... I don't know what I'd do..."
"If I weren't here, you wouldn't be in this situation at all." Rhyann softly yet playfully reminded him. She kissed his finger, ignoring the bit of stinginess in her lip. Something within in her felt like as if it had just popped. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to contain the unexpected tears.
"Then I wouldn't have you..." Draco kissed her lightly, his own eyes watery. "I don't know what we're going to do, but we'll do it together. I do love you, Rhyann, and I will love you forever."
She could feel the tickling of salty droplets upon her cheeks. There was new hope here and she suddenly did not feel so lonely. The petite beauty kissed him back, lips lingering. "I love you too... forever... I promise."
Her ring glimmered and he smiled through the next several kisses that he gave her. Draco eased her onto her back, tongue peeking into her mouth looking for its mate. She gave a little whimper at the movement, still sensitive from the curse. He paused. "Are you alright? Should I stop?"
Reaching up, she wound her fingers through his blond locks and gave a little shake of her head. "Don't stop... I need you right now..."
His lips joined with her again, more fervently this time. They had still been having sex even with what had happened at the beginning of the summer, but it had been more to drown themselves in it and forget what they were fighting about. It had been a distraction, an outlet for contradicting emotions. Now, for the first time since that had happened, Rhyann pulled him to her so that he would make love to her. Her agile fingers worked open his robes and pulled them off without missing a single kiss. Not only did she badly need this at the moment, but she wanted it as well. Wanted it more than she could ever tell.
She bonked her branded arm against him and drew in a sharp breath. Draco turned his head to see to it, but she drew him back with kisses, helping with her own robes. She could feel they were still damp at the bottom and they fell more heavily than his to the floor. His urgency mirrored hers and they both went to do away with each other's shirts at the same time. Rhyann lifted her arms up first, her small breasts poking up in the expensive fabric. He did not bother with the buttons on her blouse but drew it up over her head and dropped it somewhere beside him.
His lips were hot upon her pale flesh as he rained kisses down along the slope of her neck towards her chest. There had been countless times when he had done the same thing, but it was as if it were a feast he had never had before. Draco went about savoring every inch of her as if it were something new and delightfully rare. He kissed her where he heart hammered inside of her and then the shallow valley between her breasts before he freed them of their confines. Her bra opened in the front and he touched his lips to every bit of soft flesh as it was revealed.
Rhyann moaned softly at his heated attentions. She had untucked his shirt, but she had only slipped her hands up underneath as his mouth feverishly lavished its affections upon her. He captured each tiny nipple in turn, playing with it between his lips and wetting them with small circles with his tongue. Her face had already been flushed and that pink of arousal spread through the rest of her body. She folded her arms back momentarily, letting the bra slide off and then more insistantly pulled on his shirt to rid him of it.
His own body was a deeper aroused red than her own and when the two of them pressed together, their flesh seemed to bleed into one shade. The dreamer nipped at his neck, her tongue making teasing little patterns, and laced her right fingers with his left ones. She glanced down to see the great hideous mark upon his forearm. The serpent seemed be mocking her, bragging about its victory. Its serpentine eyes, so much like the Dark Lord's, boring into her. She did not even dare to look at the brand on her own arm. The one on Draco looked unnatural as it was.
Turning her eyes from it, Rhyann looked only upon her lover's face and into her eyes where her hope resided. As her nails raked up his back, she wasn't sure how she was suddenly without her skirt and him without his bottoms as well. Perhaps his quick fingers stole the last of the clothing away or he could have used magic to melt them into the bed spread. Whichever it was, she couldn't care less. Draco's hard member throbbed against her thigh and she squeezed her thin legs out from underneath him to wrap around his muscular body. She groaned her encouragement, raising up her groin to meet his.
Her stomach quivered at the intensity of the moment. The handsome young wizard wasted no time in accepting her invitation and plunged into her. Both of them gasped, catching one another's breath in their kisses. His fingers traced her fae features to entrance her as his hips made tight deep circles. Rhyann kissed each of his hands and then took them in hers to lock them above her head. His body was flat against hers as he moved within her now. The rhythm smooth, slick as he was with her sweet nectar, and the pace increasing with every dozen heartbeats.
Without words, she urged him to thrust harder and take her to heavenly heights faster. Their tongues romped frantically to match slap of flesh upon flesh. Her whimpering moans grew louder as well as she rocketed towards climax. Though her eyes were squeezed shut, she felt dizzy with it all. She was swimming with physical and emotional bliss that she had not known in what seemed like centuries. Rhyann thought she could still feel a few rogue tears leaking out but they were forgotten as soon as she shuddered, back arching with a powerful orgasm. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and the cry she let out was one that had been pent up for months.
"Oh... Rhyann... gods..." Draco pressed his mouth harder to hers. Neither of them noticing the taste of the blood that had freshly bloomed from her lip. Her spasming loins sent him over the edge and with a final few grunts, he came as well, only slowing to a stop once he was starting to go limp again. He did not pull out of her, but remained joined afterwards, staring into her beautiful dark eyes and caressing her wherever his hand wandered.
Rhyann lovingly kissed him and gently sucked on her lower lip. There was a small bruise forming on the side of his face and she guessed there was a much darker one on her own. They seemed like echoes of the Dark Marks on their arms. "I never want to be without you, Draco. Promise me that it will always just be you and I. Together we can be free of them all."
"I promise, together we'll be free." He kissed her in return and they took no notice of the garnet stone shimmering with the vow. The blond nudged his nose against hers. "What now though? We can't stay in here forever..."
"No, we can't... but together we'll think of something." She wiggled teasingly underneath him. "For the moment though, I'll let you catch your breath before I take you again."
Chuckling, he sprinkled kissed upon her battered face and held her tightly to him. Rhyann knew that this moment would have to end soon. Lucius and her uncles were probably battering down the door as they lay naked and entangled. She already had an idea of what to do though and thus she was going to prolong this wonderful bit in time as long as she could.