Bride
Part 3: Your Beauty is My Sin
By
Callisto Callispi
"Well I'd say that you're a natural upon a horse, Hermione," Draco remarked as his horse trotted beside hers.
Hermione smiled back brightly. "I enjoy this. Why have you not taken me out before on a horse?"
His smile was crooked. "I had many things to teach you first, my dear."
A sea of green grass sparkled like emeralds before her. Hermione closed her eyes, brushing back loose strands of curly brown hair from her pale face. Such a length of time passed since she first woke up from her sleep. What a deep, deep sleep.
"Was it a day like this?" Hermione asked quietly.
He cocked an eyebrow. His hair glimmered like new gold under the sun. "Pardon me?"
"When you found me. When I came . . . to you."
A sound of annoyance. He always got like this. "I didn't find you. One of the men in the village did." Then he rode away. She made him angry again.
He came to her when the sun set. When bruised purple streaks of darkness washed over the sky. Hermione pretended to sleep yet her heart thumped in her chest. He watched her, sitting quietly on the chair by her bed. He will go away soon. He always does . . .
But no, not this time. Fingertips gently brushed across her cheeks, pricking goosepimples across her skin. But Hermione did not move for fear of what he would do if he found out that she was awake. At times, this Draco Malfoy was not the kindest of men.
Suddenly, his lips grazed hers. Hermione could not keep quiet. She gasped, eyes flying open wide to catch his hard, pale gaze with her own. He withdrew his lips slowly, never blinking. His warm breath sent chills up her spine.
"It's difficult," he said throatily. "Your beauty is my sin."
And before Hermione could ask what he meant, Draco pulled back and walked stiffly out of the room. She gasped, her breaths quick. A heat she had never before left her desiring for his presence again.