At first, she thought they were falling somewhere. With a small hiccup of terror, she reached out and seized his lapels, ready to bury her face into his chest as if they were about to fall out of the sky. Instead, she realized he’d just fallen backwards in order to pull her closer. Her head spun, trying to comprehend exactly how close they’d become, both in the past year, and in the past few seconds. She’d let him into her mind, let him see all aspects of her life, some of which even Zelda didn’t know about. He leaned into her, leaned into the very spot at her temple that had been aching moments ago. She could feel a whisper of a touch skim the shell of her ear; another sensation that sent a shiver down her back.
Hearing his voice was a balm compared to the thundering of Walter’s cursing that was sure to invade her dreams later that night. She was about to be seized by the realization that she had to go home alone, that she was terrified of doing so, when his reassurances finally registered with her. “Yes I do!” she protested through another sob that was quite ruinous to the tone she was attempting to use on him. “This is my family, Raphael not yours.” She’d never spoken to his sisters before as they’d hardly run in the same social circles, but she didn’t want to know what kind of ire from the Malfoy family that she’d face if this got out of hand and the truth came to light. “You… you’re the heir, you can’t be attached to this anymore.”
The day had come for hell to freeze over: she was worried about the Malfoy family, people whom she never would have thought deserved an ounce of her fretting; moreso the eldest one — the one currently with his arms around her causing her spine to tingle in strange ways. “You have your family to think about.” Rowan drew another steady breath, feeling the fog in her head clear a little bit more. Yes, this was the only way. She’d already endangered her family by revealing herself. Who knew what kind of trail Walter had left? There had to be more dangerous people involved. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The more she worked to shove her thoughts away, to clear her mind. To realize that he couldn't be involved anymore. “You need to think about them.”
Hearing his voice was a balm compared to the thundering of Walter’s cursing that was sure to invade her dreams later that night. She was about to be seized by the realization that she had to go home alone, that she was terrified of doing so, when his reassurances finally registered with her. “Yes I do!” she protested through another sob that was quite ruinous to the tone she was attempting to use on him. “This is my family, Raphael not yours.” She’d never spoken to his sisters before as they’d hardly run in the same social circles, but she didn’t want to know what kind of ire from the Malfoy family that she’d face if this got out of hand and the truth came to light. “You… you’re the heir, you can’t be attached to this anymore.”
The day had come for hell to freeze over: she was worried about the Malfoy family, people whom she never would have thought deserved an ounce of her fretting; moreso the eldest one — the one currently with his arms around her causing her spine to tingle in strange ways. “You have your family to think about.” Rowan drew another steady breath, feeling the fog in her head clear a little bit more. Yes, this was the only way. She’d already endangered her family by revealing herself. Who knew what kind of trail Walter had left? There had to be more dangerous people involved. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The more she worked to shove her thoughts away, to clear her mind. To realize that he couldn't be involved anymore. “You need to think about them.”
![[Image: 8aGHMmh.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/8aGHMmh.jpg)