Chapter 4

I stepped out of the washroom and nearly screamed as I spotted someone sitting on the couch in front of the LED in my room. When a head of raven hair greeted me, I was confused. The person sitting on the chair hadn't turned around yet and I was sure that I didn't know anyone here with raven hair besides the Donna and Severus.

"W-who are you?"

I questioned, clutching my robe tighter towards myself. It wasn't at all comforting to know that I was nearly bare in the presence of a stranger- or anyone for that matter-

I heard a sigh that sounded awfully close to a depressed one, but from the tone of voice I could tell that this intruder was anything but depressed.

"I see you've forgotten all about me princess."

I frowned at his words and stared at him in confusion, this clearly meant that I had known him. At one point or another, but that was even more confusing as I wasn't very well acquainted with the people here. Sally and some of the guards and maids were the only ones that I knew. And most of them didn't even speak to me.

The maids would only nod or bow their heads in a greeting silently, not even responding with one word. That might've been because every time they came around, the guards kept the doors opened so they could observe everything that went on inside. Maybe they feared that I would attempt to escape.

"I know you?"

I finally dared to ask and got a thoughtful hum in return.

"We've only met a handful of times and I would like to introduce myself to you, of course, that is after you're done dressing up."

My face heated up at his mention of my lack of clothing and I quickly picked up my clothes from the bed and ran back into the washroom. During all this, luckily, the intruder remained turned away and...sipped? something.

After I was properly dressed, I stepped out of the washroom and into my room. The male kept himself turned away and busied into the football match being played on the screen. Well he continued that for another minute or so, as that was all it took for him to realize my presence.

He stood up calmly and I tensed, ready to holler at the top of my lungs. But he didn't turn, instead he marched to the table in front of him and picked up the remote before turning the LED off. The room fell into thick silence, him still being turned away from me and me still contemplating about my chances of making it out of the room alive.

I heard the cup in his hand slam into the table of hard glass and flinched, before he turned towards me with a mischievous grin. I nearly gasped at the resemblance, the raven, smooth, black hair. The black color suit that he wore and the posture that he carried himself with. If I hadn't quickly found a few differences between the two, I would've actually passed him off as Severus.

But no, this wasn't Severus. His eyes were green while Severus had silver eyes, not only that but whereas the intruders eyes were filled with mischief and mayhem, Severus's eyes were always hard and calculating. Even in the calmest and most safest of moments, he seemed to be speculating and suspecting everything, but the person standing before me was simply taking me in.

In a way that was not friendly at all, in fact it was almost as if he was judging me, for something that I didn't know. He whistled quietly to himself before dragging his eyes up my figure to meet mine.

"No wonder brother keeps you all to himself."

"Brother?"

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. But, his reference to who I could imagine to only be Severus, would explain the nearly reflective looks.

"It wounds me how he has deprived me from making your acquaintance before today, princess."

Severus had stopped him from meeting me? All I knew for sure was that Severus had promised to protect me, so I didn't see a reason beside the only one that clouded my mind as to why Severus would do such a thing: He's not an ally.

He took my silence as an agreement for him to continue talking hence he spoke up again.

"I am Edward, younger brother to your future husband, second heir to the underworld and of course, your future brother-in-law."

I nearly trembled from the way he said it, a dark promise glinting in his eyes. The same eyes that were observing my reaction very carefully right now.

"Your turn princess, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

He cocked his head to the side and his simple action seemed so much more dangerous than the innocent one someone would imagine. I managed to gather what little of my courage I could before speaking up. Unable to keep the tremors out of my voice.

"Adira B-Blaustein, your future s-sister-in-law."

He grinned in return and plopped down on the couch besides the one that he had been previously seated on. Though he didn't sit down on it in the way one would expect him to, instead he threw himself backwards, his feet resting on one end of the small seat while his back rested against the other armrest.

"So princess, how has your stay been so far?"

His eyes once again raked over me and I could almost see a small frown tugging at his eyebrows as he assessed my silence.

"...It has been... Fine."

The grin returned to his face as he sighed and relaxed against the armrest. His eyes searched the ceiling, his mouth still stretched into a grin that clearly held a more sinister meaning than the one he let on. And without even glancing at me, he spoke a few very chilling words, words that sounded like a clear threat.

"From the way you say it, one can only guess how desperately you want to get away. So, in case you were thinking that, let me warn you. You will not make it out of here with the number of servants lurking around, not only that, but if you get caught father will deal with you personally. Or maybe, if he's in a good mood, he might leave you in our capable hands. Severus of course will not have a say in the matter, so he can only sit around and watch as these hungry vultures feed on you."

I had frozen at his words, even the chills running through me had stopped as I managed to stay rooted in place. He couldn't possibly mean what I think he did, did he?

I glanced at him to be sure and found his eyes trained at me. A serious expression resting on his face as he took in my reaction. My eyes stayed stuck to his green ones, his gaze spoke of things I couldn't even imagine but the same deep dark promise resided under it too. A promise I could not decipher but before I could look deeper into it, he turned his head away.

I stood still at his words, the Donna had said something similar but it had slipped my mind and only now did I realize that her words implied the same thing:

He will throw you to his men.

The wind howled from outside and the window burst open. In flew a few leaves of the autumn trees along with a body disguised in black. I knew almost immediately, who it was. And so did Edward, as he straightened up.

Severus ignored his presence as he walked towards me and grasped my chin in his hand. His eyes gazed deep into mine, reading all of my expressions before his grip tightened.

"What the hell did you say to her Edward, she's as pale as a sheet."

I guess I was as pale as a sheet, I could almost feel the blood draining from my face. Edward chuckled behind the man whose eyes were still focused on me.

"I just told her a few harmless facts, brother."

Severus stared at me a while longer, his gaze probing at the gate of dumbfoundedness that my brain had discovered. His cool look slowly unwinded me and I heard a door shut in the background somewhere as the tears started streaming down my face.

I quietly buried my head in his chest as his hands circled my waist. I could hear him calling my name as I gave in to darkness.

________________

There was a curtain of darkness that engulfed my room as I woke up. Just a small flicker of light coming from a laptop placed on a certain someones lap, on the couch. His back was turned to me as he went through what looked like blueprints.

I quietly sat up an rubbed my eyes, Severus seemed too focused on the screen, the contrast of light against the darkness was clearly beginning to give him a headache, as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Sevvy...?"

His back stiffened before relaxing as he closed the laptop and placed it on the table, before striding his way over to me. He sat down in front of me, his eyes glinting in the darkness as they continued to take in every inch of my facial expressions.

"What did he tell you?"

Once I started talking, I couldn't stop. I let everything spill out, from what Donna had told me to what Edward had implied. By the time that I was done, his grip on my face had loosened as he sighed but didn't say anything else.

"Its true isn't it?"

I waited for a moment that was filled with anxiousness. That was until I realized that his silence was answer enough.

"I'm not in-charge yet Adira, but I promise you that when I will be, I will fulfill every vow I've made to you."

I could almost hear the 'when the time is right' floating in the air but didn't comment on it. I had been missing my parents immensely and with all the nightmares I was having I only wanted to see if they were okay. I wanted to meet them even if it was just once, but as Severus had said. He wasn't incharge, and the one who was, wasn't the most pleasant person I had met.

I sighed resting my head on his shoulder. With Donna not being able to come here that often nowadays, I had no one to talk to and Severus was held back for most of the days, only ever managing to visit once or twice a week.

I could only hope for things to get better, when Severus took over. But I didn't know how wrong I was back then.