Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by the brilliant mind that is J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

This chapter goes out to GhosTazer, deathlyhallow0 and alexfoguty for adding Hallowed Life to their alerts and favourite list!

Chapter 68

Ky's POV

The arctic shiver that ran up my spine had nothing to do with the stretch of cold stone wall now at my back and everything to do with the obsidian orbs set in the pale skin. Physically he was a flawless contrast as if he was drawn with nothing but white parchment and black ink, his dark hair was deliberately long, the front strands swept behind his right ear and even with the poor lighting and the distraction of my throbbing head and thudding heart, one thing was obvious... wartime was becoming for Bastian Blishwick.

Where Linus and Len were unkempt and harrowed, battle worn with scars and hardened eyes with firm lips that had a heightened threshold to eliciting a smile, Blishwick's face was unmarked... flawless... clean shaven...the smooth, unwrinkled skin that bordered his eyes prominent as his face broke into a wide, lazy, grin that never lit his coal orbs.

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" His voice enunciated consonants giving his accent a sharp edge contradicting his velvet tone.

My fingers found the back of my thigh, fidgeting with the site of the injection as I inhaled deeply, trying to calm my senses which seemed just as erratic as my breathing. There was nothing to fear, for his magic was just as useless as mine in the Dungeons, and as talented a wizard that bastard was, he was useless against the bars of iron that glinted in the torch light.

So this was what Draco had been protecting me from?

As if he read my thoughts he glanced down at the keyhole, running thin, long fingers across the dark metal bars, the smile never wavering even as the light danced across his face, "I thought Malfoy was being facetious about requiring a key." He glanced up, his long nose directed at me but his words rebounding to the boy just behind him, "I am disappointed Lucan. You've done such a good job for me this year just to fail at the curtain call. How sad."

Upon closer inspection Banner's orbs were an unwavering bottle green that lacked the sparkle required to use eyes like that to your advantage. Everything in his face was subpar, a too thin nose, too thin lips, too thin face as a whole but the most unsettling of features was the stoicism that never ebbed. "I apologise. I merely followed the mudblood down here, I didn't think to come in and test the parameters. I didn't think it possible for a room in the Castle to be warded against magic."

Banner blinked as the tiny stone flicked at his right cheek, spouting a strand of blood and the room echoed with Blishwick's amused laughter.

I swallowed in annoyance, never meaning to entertain him, my hand flicking out on its own accord and utilizing what I could to punish the boy for not only following Mi and inherently invading her privacy, but the insulting terminology. I let the minuscule pile of rubble that I collected from the corner of the cell fall from my right palm in a melodious pitter patter that shielded my ears from the Bastard's cackles.

My annoyance was twofold as well... Malfoy was being facetious about the key... so Draco... Draco and he discussed this...

Have her protection...

"Feisty as ever!" He chuckled, tilting his head at me in thought just as I took an unsteady step backwards, recalling Draco's face from my vision, grim yet determined.

I felt as if my head was banging relentlessly against a sheet of ice, the discomfort mounting with each bang until with a web of cracks I was plunged head first into frosty depths and I fought to stay on my feet as the aching grew more pronounced.

His silver eyes reflected off the glass which caught the light shining through the open French doors and threw the room into feigned warmth, yet the alertness that the cold of the Manor evoked never left the set in his shoulders and the length in his neck.

He turned away from the glass which enclosed a portrait of a beautiful man, much like Draco but with hair that framed his chin fashionably, adorning clothes from a different era, even by Wizarding World standards, yet the distinct formality that emanated the Malfoy male was evidently eternal as it shone across his ancestors flawless features.

"Has mummy managed to kiss all your wounds and make them better?"

Blishwick's black eyes roamed over the light scar that peeked out from Draco's right collar bone, it's twin at the nape of his neck, the two surviving remnants of the sectusempra curse.

"I could barely blame the school for adhering to all her wishes, even this little weekend visit of 'peaceful recovery in your own bed.'"

The raven haired boy smirked through his words, glancing up and down at Draco from his seat on the ivory sofa. The room was empty save the two, and it seemed to be a sunny day.

"It did work in well with the plans though, conversation is so much more intimate without the cumbersomeness of ink and parchment... plus there is something so untrustworthy about voiceless words..." Blishwick paused his monologue and picked up his tea, capping it with a teasing grin, briefly blocked by the rim of the light green cup as he took a sip. "Then again, I suppose, I must humbly accept."

Draco walked forward, halting a step behind the bright, square patch of light that shone through the transparent doors and sat upon the cream carpet, "Accept? I've not made a proposition as yet."

Blishwick scoffed, placing his cup back onto his saucer, and leaned back, his right thigh crossed atop his left in a feminine sort of way, "I thought it obvious. Your mission-"

"I need no help concerning that. Everything is quite ready for the month's end. I've requested your company for other matters." Draco's voice was void of emotion, his pale face expressionless, "Hermione Granger."

The dark haired man's lips quirked as he smoothed out his light grey shirt, picking out imaginary lint, "You know... Thornton I get. She's... exceptionally attractive and there's something about her wildness that craves to be tamed... to be owned..." Blishwick's eyes danced as he stared at the glossy texture of the coffee table, "But a mudblood?" He scoffed, "It's a special kind of disgusting to share a bed with such a creature..." He wrinkled his nose, "It's like fucking an anim-"

"The nature of my relationship with Granger is irrelevant, Blishwick. I am aware that Banner has found out that the mudblood that Theodore was with was Hermione Granger. I am here to ask you to refrain from disclosing this information to Trevor Nott."

Blishwick unfolded and stood up fluidly, "And why would I do that, brother. He is Head of the Muggle Hunting committee and has his brother, just as you are; it is extremely unfair to leave what he seeks so interminably, a secret. The poor man had to kill... well almost kill... his only living heir... he wants revenge, it seems awfully inhumane to deny him such things."

"Yet you will. You will not relay your intel to him." Draco was a conundrum, his shoulders lacked it's broadness and his clothes seemed to be wearing him, but the texture of his voice was that of a sure, older man that had spent the better part of his life negotiating with mad men.

"Oh." Blishwick laughed, walking to the French doors, the sunlight making his pale skin almost translucent, he turned around and faced his cousin with an amused grin, "Is that all? Or do you have any more... requests?"

"One other." Draco replied without missing a beat, "You'll call off your engagement with Daphne."

Blishwick's chuckle surmounted into a bark as he spread his hands out wide, "Of course. I suppose we should cancel the entertainment for tonight, half naked girls are hardly as entertaining as listening to the self aggrandizing requests that only a Malfoy can make. Tell me, would you also like me to kiss your arse and follow you around like Zabini and Nott, or would you esteem for a more intimate care to your rear like Rheines delivers, teach them young they say and you sure-"

"Kyrianna Thornton."

Blishwick ceased his spiel, the sides of his lips twitching yet the smile never died. Draco stepped forward, and they both stood on opposite sides of that square of light, if the sunlight made Blishick translucent, it made Draco transparent, like a ghost...a memory of his former self...

"You call of your engagement to Daphne and keep the information you know about Theodore to yourself, and I will give you Kyrianna Thornton."

Blishwick's smile fell as he straightened to his full height, he tilted his head, "You speak as if she's yours to give."

"Mine or not you will have her. Now, do we have a deal?"

The staring contest between the two purebloods conquered the room with silence that ticked by, undisturbed until Blishwick glanced away as if bored, "The betrothal has nothing to do with me. I have as much control over it has the girl does."

Draco mimicked his cousin's scoff, "Please, don't patronise me. Your sister might be the Mistress of the Imperius but she is not the only one in your family with firm hands on the reigns. Nobody makes you do what you do not want to do Blishwick."

"Yet here you stand." His eyes were maddeningly wide and a flicker of hatred spilled through.

"You don't want Thornton?" Draco egged.

"I can get her myself."

Draco raised his right brow, "Then where is she Blishwick? Three years is a lot of time to plot and plan for a little girl."

"You Malfoys' do not understand patience, a side effect of having every little thing given to you on a silver platter."

"I can give her to you on a silver platter. I will ensure it."

Blishwick laughed, a bitter laugh that made the room colder still, "You think I want her on a silver platter! Half the pleasure is in the anticipation Malfoy. And there is twice as much pleasure in the hunt and that much more in a good struggle so save your-"

"You're wasting precious time, Blishwick. Let me remind you that you are not the only one that wants Thornton and others would not be so picky on the nature of her delivery. Now, do we have a deal?"

Blishwick's eyes narrowed, "I see that keeping the anonymity of Nott's whore will garner his favour, keep him happy. And I suppose the breaking of my engagement to Daphne is to keep Zabini happy. Why, how selfless you are Malfoy." It was no compliment and Malfoy took a step forward.

"Any good leader will tell you that it is in their own self interest to keep their followers happy. Now, for the last time Blishwick... do we have a deal?"

The agonizing scream echoed off the cold walls and I grit my teeth as the thin skin that capped my knees broke apart as it ground against the unforgiving stone floors. I covered my mouth with my shoulder and concentrated on the small pieces of rubble that littered the floor, trying to stifle the pain which was so severe I could barely recall what I had seen.

The obsidian eyes glinted through the iron bars and his face lay passive, like a scientist observing one of their lab rats.

"I just spoke to Anna." Banner's attempt to come across as aloof was betrayed by his voice which shook slightly, "She's upstairs, waiting for Rheines. Apparently there was a mishap and it's taking longer than it should for Rheines to get the key from Malfoy. It won't be long-"

"Bring him in."

"But-"

"I said... bring him in." I could just about make the look of jealousy on Banner's face as he nodded his head and turned rigidly on the spot. I pressed my head against the wall; now craving it's coolness as my brain was heating up as if it were about to combust.

"I wonder what he has given you, my Lamb. I honestly didn't give the boy enough credit, I thought he was not strong enough to usher pain onto the lap of someone I thought he had some sort of... feelings for. But here you are, dirty and slightly... crazy, what is with all the screaming? I'm not complaining though, I like it." His teeth shone like a sharks in the deepest, darkest, most dangerous waters, "I really like it."

I couldn't even breathe out a swear, or a curse, how was I going to defend myself? I glanced around the empty cell save for the little pieces of rubble, much too tiny to evoke any sort of damage unless flung with force and I could barely pick my hand up due to the pain, let alone aim.

"You know I don't like it either. You in this cell." He glanced around the top of the bars as if there might be a way of getting in through there, "Chains are not really my thing. I don't like to think that there is anything as tawdry as a bit of metal that's shackling you... I like to think that what holds you in place is more permanent than any sort of physical material, a fear so pronounced that one can barely move a muscle... a fear that tethers your soul to my very whim...those kinds of chains... now that I like."

"What is wrong with you!" I spat out, frustrated at the pain and the fact that it had me lifeless in this corner.

Frustrated at being thwarted by Malfoy. Even though I proclaimed to have washed my hands off him, there was still a constant spark of hope that just maybe... just maybe he was decent. Good. Or capable of goodness. But this? This didn't just douse the spark... it doused my belief that people were capable of change...

Frustrated that if I were in my senses, I would probably be breaking down these bars to get to Blishwick because I was sure to win a fight sans magic especially with this wispy bastard.

I glowered at him as he lowered himself to my height, his black eyes like portals into the pits of hell and his face unsmiling, all semblance of playfulness extinguished, "There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Bash, darling, there is nothing wrong with you. Your mother just... she's just busy."

The obsidian eyes were glossed over with tears, tears that speckled reddened cheeks as his lips trembled, his hands tucked away to his side as he seemed to be trying to meld into the corner of the room. They danced away and stared at the cold, black tiled floors.

"Just like you'll be." The little boy pouted, "You run to Alya when she makes the slightest noise! How am I to compete with two crying babies! You hate me!"

"No you silly little goose. I love you!"

I coughed and even as I dispelled the blood the taste of rust burnt in my mouth and I fought to keep myself in the present, if I was venturing into this bastard's past that was... was much too unsettling... I needed to get out of here and I couldn't do it if my mind was not with me.

"Open it."

I blinked hard, trying to concentrate on what was happening feet ahead of me even though my head was craving the cold stone floor that held promises of sleep and sanctuary.

I narrowed my eyes, aware that Blishwick had somehow achieved the means of opening the gate and squinting for Banner but not finding him, my eyes roving the patches of light that danced in the dark just beyond the black iron bars.

Suddenly, at that precise moment in time I understood completely what Blishwick had said minutes ago... a fear so pronounced that you could barely move a muscle... even one which needed to move for your very survival, yet it sat frozen for a frightening moment that seemed to last an eternity as if it's arteries were nicked at until it was a useless mass of blood and flesh and...

My heart re-started with the rush of blood to my legs and I scrambled to my feet, the headache ever present but ignored by the sheer will of my concentration as my eyes fell on the head of honey blonde.

I scrambled towards the gate, uncaring of the shark that stood behind it and pushed my hands through the coarse bars and grabbed a hold of the flesh and blood that was him.

"Silvain!"

Hopefully that surprised you. It was meant to! Feedback as always is greatly appreciated! I'd love to know your theories explaining the presence of a certain Mr Sabre.

Thanks for reading,

Kalina