The Shattering of Souls

well, here we all are. same bat time. same bat channel. when we last left the dynamic duo, they were in a bit of a pickle. the penguin had..... ~covers mic with a hand. indistinct mumbling in the background~ oh, pardon me. ~blushes profusely~ that was the wrong channel. what you should have just gotten was a standard disclaimer. you know... the characters in this story you recognize are not mine. they belong to one j.k. rowling and i\'m using them for my own twisted purposes for a bit. i make no money from this. its merely something to pass the time and keep me off the streets. trust me, the streets thank you.

as usual, i will enact a smut warning. just bring the wet suit and whatever else you feel you may need. cold drinks, hot men, toys, chocolate, cigarettes.... you know, the normal things. its always best to be prepared.

finally, if you like this offering, please feel free to let me know. i do so love to hear from you. but please, if you\'re going to tell me what you see wrong. be nice about it. the dragon is just not himself and i\'m afraid he wouldn\'t eat the flamers properly. half chewed flamers isn\'t pretty at all.

Chapter Twenty: Reluctant to Fit In
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Bri lay in the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Or, to be more precise, at the canopy overhead. Severus had long ago woken and gotten about to do whatever it was he did when he wasn\'t busy shagging her senseless. She was sure he\'d be in eventually to rouse her from her apathetic stupor. He\'d done just that every day for the past week since they\'d returned to Hogwarts from Otherworld. As far as she knew, he still hadn\'t caught on to her ruse. But that didn\'t mean she could keep it from him indefinitely. The man was too smart for his own good and he\'d eventually see through her disguise.

Truth be told, she didn\'t want to climb from the comfort of his bed. It was large and soft and she felt, oddly enough, safe in it. Oh, she had her own rooms. There was a small suite just off his, where she was supposed to be staying. But only her clothes occupied the room. More often than not, she didn\'t bother to dress. She simply wandered about his chambers in his dressing gown. A garment she found to be rather out of keeping with his character. It was a pale, sky blue with dove gray pinstripes decorating its length. It was made of something soft and she rather thought it was cotton. At any rate, it was comfortable and she found it more enjoyable than her own garments.

She was supposed to go visit Harry and Izzy. Just as she\'d been doing for the past week. She found it to be a chore and more than uncomfortable for her. She was supposed to have a blank memory and that meant all she was supposed to know about them was what she\'d witnessed in Otherworld. She wasn\'t supposed to know that Izzy had been her best friend for more years than Bri cared to count and that Harry Potter was her charge. That he\'d felled the Dark Lord with one mighty curse. Those weren\'t things that they\'d discussed in the last seven days. And Bri couldn\'t very well bring it up. Though she had noticed that, upon coming back, Izzy spent more time with Bill Weasley. The man seemed to find any opportunity he could to come to the castle and visit with her.

Secretly, Bri was happy for Izzy. She knew her friend had taken the loss of Bill\'s brother during the final battle as a personal failure. Bri was aware, from personal experience, that one could not completely control what one\'s charge did. Percy had given his own life to save his younger brother. Ron Weasley wouldn\'t be alive if not for the love and sacrifice of his older brother. Izzy had nothing to blame herself for.

She was sure, in the beginning, Bill was as quick to blame Izzy as she was herself. Grief and deep loss would do that to the most level headed of people. But she was also sure that Bill had gradually come to the conclusion that Izzy wasn\'t to blame any more than Percy was. Percy had simply done what he\'d thought was right. He probably hadn\'t thought about the consequences. He\'d just done it. Maybe it would be good for her friend to have Bill Weasley watching out for her. She needed someone to take care of her since Bri couldn\'t do it herself.

Frustrated with how happy her friend was and just how miserable she was, Bri rolled and buried her face in the pillow. It was a lush, full feather pillow that was soft beneath her head at night. Snape\'s bedroom was as much unlike the man as his living room was. The drapes were thick, heavy velvet. They were pulled back at the corners, done in a shade of what she could only call a steel powder blue. The sheets were the same color, the bedspread a dark, charcoal gray. The accent pillows were the same as the bedding. Thick, plush carpeting in a charcoal gray covered the floor while panoramic paintings were scattered across the walls. The furniture was done in solid woods that were stained with warm colors. It was a very comfortable and relaxing room.

\'Still lounging in bed, pet?\' Severus\' voice flooded the room and brought Bri\'s head up out of the pillow. She forced the blank look to her face and rolled to give him an adoring look and smile, as if he were her very reason for existing. \'Only lazy women lounge about in bed all day long. I thought you were scheduled to go spend the day with Izzy and Potter?\'

She didn\'t need to fake the stretch or the yawn. The man had an insatiable appetite when it came to sex and she was starting to feel as if she were nothing more than someplace for him to deposit his sperm when he found release. She was sure that he\'d have gotten her pregnant a dozen times over by now if not for the contraception potions he brewed for her. She took one daily, under his watchful eye. It wouldn\'t do for the man to beget a child with a woman he was using for his own twisted pleasure.

\'Professor Dumbledore seems to think that my memories will return if I spend time with people I knew well before they left me,\' she shrugged. She thought she sounded appropriately indifferent and skeptical. He smiled at her and moved to sit on the bed, one hand reaching for her. She went to him easily, even as she felt part of her mind screaming that it was wrong. Their lips met and they kissed hungrily. She poured all of her passion and need into the kiss. She was determined that she would do to him what he\'d done to her so easily and without remorse. She would make him love her before she walked away from him.

His tongue delved into her mouth and she offered him no resistence. She relished the feel of his lips on hers, his tongue sliding back and forth along her own. Plunging deep into her mouth before pulling back and teasing the softness of her parted lips before diving back in to thrust forcefully along her own. His kisses did odd things to her equilibrium and set her very blood on fire. Just the touch of his lips made her nipples tighten and muscles clench with need. She was as addicted to him as she was determined to leave him.

When he finally pulled back, she was so hot that she actually groaned as he stood up and walked across the floor. He left the room. Bri sat there, feeling the tingle of desire pulsing between her thighs. She was tempted to put off the meeting with Potter and Izzy and stay in bed today. She was fairly certain that she could convince Snape to return to the bed and join her. It really didn\'t require much effort. Just grab him, then grab his crotch and that should be enough to convince him. If all else failed, she could strip naked and perform lewd acts with her wand. That would most assuredly grab his attention.

She was so caught up in her musings that Bri didn\'t notice his re-entry into the room until he once more sat on the bed by her. She smiled at him, thinking that she might not have to abuse her wand too much, and leaned toward him. \'Your clothes for the day are laid out in the bathroom, where a shower is already running for you. Go now, or you will be late for your little gathering with Potter and Izzy,\' he told her.

She wanted to slap the shite out of him for that. By the smug look on his face, he knew well enough what she\'d been contemplating. Then again, one didn\'t need to be a genius to know that she was more than willing to let him climb between her thighs when ever he wished to. Instead of giving in to her first thought, she plastered a smile on her face and slid from the bed slowly. \'Are you sure you don\'t want me to stay here? I could help you do.... something,\' she offered sincerely. She was so tired of these meetings with Potter and Izzy. They were dull and boring and the meetings were growing more and more tedious as the days passed.

Bri wanted to be outside the castle, doing her job. She wanted to be searching for Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange. She wanted to see them both dead. She was woman enough to admit that she had her own personal agenda when it came to those two. She definitely wanted them dead for herself. But she also wanted to see them dead for what they\'d done to Percy Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Sybil Trelawney, Madam Hooch and the hundreds of others who had fallen before their wands. She was going to punish those two for every ounce of pain they\'d ever inflicted.

And then, she was going to kill them. Like Malfoy had killed all of those innocent people. Like Lestrange had killed her mother. She was going to personally see them both dead for that and so much more.

\'No, I do not need help today. I plan on spending my time in my private lab, working on potions,\' Severus told her, his tone crisp and cold. She mentally rolled her eyes. What else was new? That\'s what he did every day. Instead of frowning and calling him a boring old fuck, she smiled prettily... unintelligently.... and nodded her head.

\'Very well. I\'ll go shower, then I\'ll go visit them. Will you come fetch me for lunch?\' she asked him, hoping that he would at least grant her that much of a reprieve. She knew he hated her. And she hated him. But he was still infinitely better company than her charge and her best friend were at present. Potter wasn\'t bad. He was still battling his less than savory side, his temper exploding on him every once in a while. He would move to hit Izzy or break something, his face full of black fury. Then he would simply stop and stare as if he couldn\'t believe that it was actually him acting that way. His face would fall and he\'d slink away like a punished dog with it\'s tail between it\'s legs.

At least Potter didn\'t treat her as if she carried plague. Izzy constantly looked at her as if she were somehow defective. Izzy stared at her and through her. There always seemed to be some kind of accusation in her friend\'s eyes, as if Bri had forgotten to do or apologize for something. She couldn\'t, for the life of her, figure out what it was that she\'d done that was so wrong. Her best friend treated her with the same kind of disdain and disregard that she treated people like Malfoy with. Bri was fairly certain, last time she checked, that she wasn\'t a traitor.

Standing under the spray of water, set to the perfect temperature, Bri allowed her mind to wander. There was still the matter of the traitor. She could recall mentioning that to Potter and he\'d obviously told Dumbledore as she\'d instructed him to. On her second day back, the Headmaster had asked her about it. The two of them had discussed it at length, but neither of them had been able to come up with anything beyond that fact that it was someone currently in residence at Hogwarts. Which meant the list was long and it would take time to check out each and every one on it.

She didn\'t like sitting here, waiting for the traitor to make their move. She was used to doing something. This inactivity was as foreign to her as her past acquaintances seemed to be. It was as if everything had changed during the time she\'d been held captive and lost her memory, then struggled to get it back. The moment she could recall everything, it seemed to alter her entire existence. The need to be outside still pounded in her veins, but more muted now. As if she\'d turned the volume down on it like one did with radios and televisions.

Her shower was quick and to the point. She lathered her hair and her skin, then rinsed and climbed out. She chose to let her hair dry of its own accord, dressing in what Snape had laid out for her. he had picked something feminine. A gown with matching robes in a soft lavender and black underthings. The man was obsessed with the color black. Especially when it came to her knickers and bra. As much as she loved their nights of passion, she was starting to resent being caged in with him. She needed to get back to work.

She sighed and dressed, deciding she\'d avoided starting her day as long as she could. It was time to play dumb for the crowds.

~*~*~*~*~

Bri looked at Izzy and frowned. The woman was impossible. She\'d tried everything she could think of to draw her into a conversation and nothing had worked. The two of them had been given private rooms in a small, rarely used tower near the Headmaster\'s own private chambers. It was done tastefully in dark woods and brilliant reds and golds. It was obviously decorated for the hero of Gryffindor. She was starting to hate coming here and wanted to do nothing more than shout at the two of them in her frustration.

They had been discussing Quidditch when Bri\'d entered, but that conversation had died off quickly. She\'d attempted to speak to them and get them to talk of her past, as if she were trying to gain her memory from that. But Izzy wasn\'t cooperating and Harry seemed to be more interested in the view from his window. It had been like this all week. Neither of them seemed willing to speak to her. When they did, she couldn\'t understand the animosity coloring their words.

\'How did we meet, Izzy?\' she tried again. Izzy gave her a cold look, one that would have surely seen Bri battered and bleeding if it had held any physical strength to it. Instead of answering, Izzy turned to look at the door. Bri grit her teeth and forced her smile to remain in place when she wanted to get up and beat Izzy about the head for being so damned stubborn and stupid. \'Harry?\' she looked to the young man.

He was once more staring out the window.

The door opened and she looked at it expectantly. It was Bill Weasley. Izzy\'s face lit up and she positively glowed at the man entered the room and moved to where she sat. Bri wanted to be sick at the display that followed. They hugged and kissed like long lost lovers. Then they both settled on the couch and fell into conversation between themselves. Bri sighed and stood, moving to look out the window with Harry.

The tower\'s window overlooked the Forbidden Forest. Seeing the trees, lush and ripe with foliage, brought that awareness back to life with a vengence. Her blood pulsed slow and sure with the call of the trees. The tall, wooden sentinels beckoned her so strongly. \'What are you thinking, Harry?\' she asked him softly. The young man\'s green eyes flicked to her briefly before turning back to the clear pane of glass once more.

\'That I want to be out there. On my broom. Flying around without a care in the world. I hate being penned up in here,\' his words were bitter. They echoed her own sentiments exactly. \'Ever since I killed Voldemort, I\'ve been locked away like a child. Let Malfoy find me. I\'d rather deal with him than be forced into hiding like this.\'

\'Why would you say that?\' she questioned, wanting to know if he\'d answer her. \'From all I know of the man, he seems to be a touch on the mad side and I don\'t understand why you would want to risk his capturing and punishing you.\' And she didn\'t. She knew first hand what that man was capable of. She wouldn\'t wish that kind of horror on her worst enemy.

\'Because you wouldn\'t have been taken and tortured if not for me,\' he answered so softly and calmly that Bri wasn\'t sure she\'d heard him correctly at first. Then she realized he blamed himself for what happened to her. She wanted to kick him for his stupidity, but didn\'t. Instead, she put her hand on his shoulder and remained silent a moment before speaking and offering him a small amount of comfort.

\'That which does not kill us makes us stronger, Potter,\' she told him in a low whisper. \'And this has made me stronger. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange will pay for what they\'ve done. For all of it.\'

She turned to stare out at the trees, watching out of the corner of her eye as he turned to stare up at her. There was disbelief on his face. She didn\'t know if it was because of the promise she\'d made or because he understood what she\'d told him without saying a word. He blinked behind his glasses, then turned and once more looked out the window with her. \'The trees look peaceful. Not forboding. I wish I was there,\' he said, acting as if she\'d never spoken to him.

Bri could understand that. She sighed and inched closer to Potter, pressing the length of her side against his. Her own eyes, the color of midnight sky with stars twinkling in their depths, looked out over the trees and allowed the call to gain strength and volume. \'The trees call to me. They\'re begging me to come outside and join them,\' she told him, her voice soft with something that rarely graced it. Pure need and desire. She wanted so badly to give in and run through the forest as her father\'s people had done for centuries.

She pressed a hand to the glass and sharpened her focus until she could feel the tree\'s lives pulsing in her veins. She swore she could almost hear them speaking. To her. \'My blood is burning with the need to be among them. Their song is in it, singing to me of the joys and pleasures to be had with in their tender arms. Mother Nature herself calls to me and begs me to become one with her. Its so hard to resist,\' she ended softly.

The room was silent and she glanced up, noticing that not only was Harry staring at her like she was mad but so were Izzy and Bill. She felt herself blushing. How embarrassing to be caught waxing poetic like that. \'Forgive me. I have no idea where that came from,\' she bade them. Before anyone else could say any thing, the door creaked open and Severus stood there. She made sure to give him a dazzling, empty smile.

\'Come along, Bri. It is time for lunch,\' he told her, his gaze narrowed on her in what she thought was a calculating manner. She nodded and started forward, only to stop when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked back at Harry and noted that he was staring at her, frowning deeply. He was hidden behind her body and she watched as his gaze flicked to where Snape stood in the opened door.

\'Why, Bri?\' he asked her so softly, she barely heard him. But there was a look of betrayal on his face and she knew he had understood her earlier. She gave him a pained smile and hoped he would understand now.

\' I can\'t discuss it. Not now. Please give me time and I\'ll tell you everything. Just... a secret, Harry,\' she implored then turned with the smile once more upon her face and made her way over to where Severus stood waiting for her. With one last look to the room, Severus gave one last sneer to the room and closed the door behind them.

~*~*~*~*~

Lunch had been a silent affair. So had dinner. Bri sensed at both affairs that Snape was in some sort of deep, contemplative stage. He didn\'t speak to her unless she spoke first and he barely touched both of his meals. They ate in his quarters because, for the moment, Dumbledore didn\'t want her seen. The same was done with Harry and Izzy. They ate in their tower rooms, away from the general populace of the castle. After lunch, Bri had elected not to return to the tower and her meeting with the two hiding there.

Her head was whirling with the newly discovered information about herself. The more she allowed herself to consider what she\'d told Harry, the more she realized it was so very true. She wanted nothing more than to be free to run through the forest as she would. She wanted to become one with nature and no amount of arguing with herself could convince that wild part of her any different. Her father had opened up something in her that had long lain dormant and was now struggling to break the control she had over it. It was driving her to distraction.

It distracted her so much that she failed to notice the considering look that Snape sent her way over the course of the evening meal. She had no clue that he\'d heard what she\'d told the three people in the tower room with her. She had no clue that he\'d stood outside in the hallway and listened to that and had been possessed of a chilling sensation that rolled down his spine at the possible implications. She was not privy to the thoughts that tumbled through his head as he watched her secretly from the corner of his eye. It wasn\'t until it was late in the evening, nearing eleven, when he finally turned his full attention to her.

\'Come here, Bri,\' he ordered softly. She looked up from her book and saw that his eyes were filled with black flames of desire. She smiled at him. The look was genuine this time and she closed the book before standing and moving to where he sat. He stood when she neared, his eyes boring down into her own with intense heat. His hand slipped into her hair and jerked her head back, his mouth crushing down over her own. She moaned softly with the rough treatment and pressed herself close to him.

His mouth on hers was fire. It spread from her lips down into her arms and hands. Into her chest where her nipples tightened. Further down, into her thighs and legs so that her toes curled. Into her womb, where an answering fire exploded to life. She drove her hands into his hair and let them slide through to the ends and then down over his shoulders and back. No matter how much she despised him, she would never grow tired of touching him like this. Of feeling him against her, hard and hot and ready for her.

He finally drew away, his hand dancing down from her head to skin over a breast and stop at her hip. His fingers curled about it then he spun her, his other arm catching her and slamming her body back against his. She moaned, the feel of his hard cock pressed into her bottom sharpening her need. He pushed her forward and she would have stumbled to her knees if he hadn\'t caught her. His body urged her to move toward a table and, as they walked, he spoke a charm and cleared the surface of its clutter.

Bri found herself naked at the exact moment her hips hit the edge of the table. Snape\'s hand was there, positioned between her shoulders. It pushed on her back until her body was pressed tightly against the table top. She heard the low rumble of his voice and found her hands bound to the other side of the table a moment later. Her arms already hurt, pulled tight by the cuffs connected to the legs. She was up on tip toes, the table top ending higher up than her hips. Her legs were trembling with the position.

\'Someone has been a very bad girl,\' he purred near her ear. She felt a hand curl over the rounded curve of one of her cheeks, his fingers trailing over the skin for a moment before lifting away. She sighed, only to yelp loudly when his hand made sharp contact with her bottom. The swat stung and burned as he lifted his fingers up. Then they trailed across her skin again, caressing the heated flesh gently before once more laying a sharp slap to it.

Bri moaned. He never laid his hand down in the exact same spot twice. Instead, he dropped blows evenly across the pale flesh of both cheeks so that her bottom burned as if it were on fire after each slap. Between each individual slap, he caressed and teased her skin with the softest of touches. Though her bum was on fire from the abuse he heaped upon it, she was so desperately in need of him. Her body was strung tight with desire and throbbing for release. Just his hand on her arse alone was pushing her closer to the edge of orgasm.

She lost track of how long his hand delivered stinging swats to her bottom. She only knew that the pain intensified her pleasure. She knew that, when he sank himself into her, she would be right on the verge of orgasm. His thick shaft sinking into her moist depths might be all that was needed to set her off. Just that image alone was enough to send her muscles into convulsions. \"Please,\" she pleaded softly.

He made no reply. Instead, she heard the rustling of clothing as he shed the garments he wore. She shivered when she felt his hand on her back, trailing up her spine in a light caress.She felt his fingers slip into her hair, playing with the long strands almost idly. His other hand slid between her thighs and she shuddered to feel his fingers slip into her dripping pussy. She moaned, hey eyes slipping shut as pleasure spilled into her veins like water spilling into a dry creek bed. It consumed her and set her entire body ablaze with need.

His fingers delved into her body as deeply as they could go, thrusting in and out and moving back and forth inside of her. her hips rocked back into his hand, silently pleading with him to stop teasing her and do it. His fingers swirled and drove a bit more before removing themselves from her dripping pussy. She tensed when she felt the same fingers press firmly against the rim of her arsehole. No one had dared touch her there other than Malfoy and she was sure she\'d lose every last bit of enjoyment she was feeling.

She was surprised to find that the fingers sliding into her bum were only adding to her pleasure. He stroked in and out. Her hips wriggled in invitation. She needed him so badly.She felt the head of his erection as it prodded her swollen nether lips. The hand in her hair stilled for a moment. Then, at the same moment that he slammed himself deeply into her throbbing cunt, his hand curled tightly into her hair and dragged her head back on her neck.

Bri couldn\'t help the scream that rolled up out of her mouth. She felt full, stretched not only by his thick length but by the two fingers pressed so deeply in her bottom. His hand in her hair had her head pulled back at a sharp angle. She barely had time to adjust to his sudden invasion before he was thrusting in and out of her.

Each forward stoke of his cock saw him buried deeply inside of her. His stomach slapped against her abused arse, sending more pain shooting through her body. He was fucking her with relentless determination. She could feel anger in his actions and wondered what had happened to put him in this mood. He never took her in anger. \'You are a very bad girl,\' his voice was low and it flowed over her like silk. She shuddered beneath him, feeling his words stroke her body like the finest of velvets.

\' I\'m a very bad girl,\' she repeated, her hips starting to rock back into his driving hips.

\'You need to be punished,\' he chanted, each word punctuated by a hard thrust.

\' I need to be punished,\' she gasped, her fingers curling around the chains connected to the cuffs about her wrists.

\'Beg me, my little whore,\' he ordered.

\'Please,\' she pleaded, her voice heavy with want and need.

\'Please, what?\' he asked, slamming his hips forward so far that she was screaming. The pain was stronger than the pleasure and she had lost the fine line that blurred the two. Her body still cried out for release, but the cries were softer now. The pain that radiated out from where he was buried in her body was becoming more and more intense. She felt as if, with both his prick and a pair of fingers filling her, she would split in two.

\'Please fuck me,\' she ground out, hoping that her pleas would mellow him out some. Her words seemed to only incite him more. He leaned his weight into her, his hips plunging hard and fast. She couldn\'t understand what had driven him to do such a thing. Her body was tight with pain and the need to find release. While she didn\'t entirely like what Severus was doing, she didn\'t entirely dislike it, either. She was still wet for him, could feel how easily his cock shifted back and forth. It was only that he was thrusting so hard. It was only that his fingers pressed deeper and deeper into her bottom.

The strangled cry that left her throat was loud in the room when he decided to add a third finger to arse. He drew his fingers back and forth in time with his pistoning hips and Bri could do nothing but lay under him and let him practically rape her like that. Though, if she were honest with herself, she was enjoying this more than she probably should have. She tried to push the pain away and concentrate on the pleasure. It was hard, but she could just manage.

Her body was tightening, preparing itself in the hopes that he would bring her to orgasm. She could tell that he was nearing release himself. His body was moving in a frenzy and she could already feel his cock swelling inside of her. It would be long before he couldn\'t hold back and he came within her. She rode him, her hips slipping back into his each time he buried himself to the hilt. Her orgasm was there, just out of her grasp. She wanted it so badly.

And then he pulled free of her well fucked pussy.

Before she could groan, the fingers in her arse were gone and he was pressing the head of his thick erection against the tight ring of muscles. With one might shove, he slid deep into her bottom. Bri cried out loudly, her body once more burning with pain. Something was different tonight. Something had upset Severus and he was taking it out on her.

His thrusts were fast, hard and deep. Her body was on fire, still burning with pain from his entry into her anal channel. He wasn\'t allowing her body to adjust to his invasion. He was simply driving himself into her. She knew he was about to cum. She knew that he\'d changed from one hole to the other because of it. She knew he was mad, but she couldn\'t begin to fathom why. Nor could she figure out why she was bearing the brunt of his anger.

\'Filthy little whore,\' he hissed at her the same moment his release broke over him. She felt the hot, thick ropes of his seed fill her arse. Then he pulled out and grasped his erection, his hand finishing the job while he allowed himself to paint her back and bottom with the rest of his orgasm. \'My sweet, filthy little whore. How lovely you look covered in my seed. With my seed dripping out of your arse. Perhaps I should repeat this and cover your face with my seed. Would you like that? Whore?\' he snarled at her.

\'Severus, I don\'t understand,\' she told him, for once not having to fake the confusion in her voice.

\'Look at my whore. Willing to let me do to her whatever I wish. Because she loves me,\' he snarled. Bri had the unsettling notion that he was mad at her. For what? He stalked around to the side of the table her face was on, one hand reaching down to once more take hold of her hair. He jerked her head up so he could glare down into her eyes. Bri froze when she saw the look of complete hatred in them.

\'How long have you known?\' he barked at her, his hand tightening in her hair until she felt tears sting her eyes. She managed to keep them from falling, but she couldn\'t stop the sigh. Somehow, he\'d figured it out.

She was in such trouble.

end chapter twenty.
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thanks go to everyone who reads this. i appreciate it alot. all my girls know who they are and i thank them tons and tons for their love and support.

please feel free to let me know what you think. any mistakes in grammer and spelling are entirely mine.

to Sali: thank you so much for the kind words. this one was started mostly for myself. a test to see if i could do dark properly. normally, i write with humor. so this has been a challenge and a very interesting ride for me. i appreciate your compliments. they mean alot to me.

to Echo: your constant support always means so much. thank you, honey. thank you thank you thank you.

to Flying Minister: i am so glad that you were intrigued enough to read this even though it isn\'t finished. i understand about not being easily impressed and the fact that you feel you can \'fall into\' my story is more compliment than anything else. i don\'t know about being a great talent, but i know that i like to be able to fall into my stories and become part of them. blessings.

to Kenly: glad you\'re enjoying it, as always.