Lucius Malfoy's Second Wife - COMPLETE

The character of Lucius Malfoy belongs to J.K.Rowling. I am only borrowing him for a while. No copyright transgressions are intended and no profit is made.

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Chapter Twenty-Five – Lord and Master


Olivia and his son arrived at the estate one morning and demanded entrance. Lucius was notified and reluctantly allowed them in, but he stayed away from them at the far end of one wing. Olivia left him alone for two days while she settled into the manor with her son, then she went after him. She cornered him in a small parlor.


“I’m here to answer questions you may have about my family’s special attribute. I think it’s time to give you some answers whether you want them or not.” Olivia glared at her husband. “And don’t you dare apparate away from me. You have a son you’ve hurt and a marriage to either keep or end.”


Lucius stared at his wife angrily. He knew she was reading his anger. And it made him even angrier to know she was reading that he still loved her. He couldn’t shield himself. He felt exposed and helpless and for Lucius, to whom control was everything, this was unbearable.


“Lucius, try to read me. After all these years how can you not trust me? Try, Lucius. I am not here to take advantage of you, or wrest power from you, or whatever monstrosities your fertile mind is conjuring. What do you feel coming from me?”


“I don’t want to read anything. I want to be the way I was. Your invasion of my mind is impossible for me to live with.” Lucius knew he was sounding sulky rather than outraged. He turned away from her but didn’t leave. His mind started to calm down and her emotions started to roll through him. Fear, overwhelming love, …and exasperation. He smiled to himself, then stopped. He realized she would know that he was becoming a little more amused and a little less angry. Sweet Goddess, this mind stuff was confusing.


“We are Pureblood, just like your family, although we don’t revere it like you do. It just happened that way. The empath gene came into being spontaneously about five generations ago, as far as we can tell. We can’t trace it back any farther than that.” Olivia tried to explain, “We didn’t ask for it, it just happened and now we have to live with it much like someone who is born a squib, or born with pale gray eyes and silver blonde hair. It’s not really an advantage so much as a liability a lot of the time.” Olivia offered some hope, “With experience, it’s just another attribute, like your eye color, which is totally mesmerizing, by the way. Perhaps you should always wear sunglasses so as not to have extra power over others.”


Lucius was diverted by her compliment for a second, but weighed back into the argument saying angrily, “Your family and its spontaneous genetics have done enough to me. I can’t live a normal life now. I appear to have purchased you at a cost I would not have been prepared to pay, had I known the risks.” He continued nastily, “My old life is lost to me, my son is lost to me, you were apparently always lost to me. I just didn’t know it.”


“Oh, balderdash. Cut the dramatics. Are you so mired in your bloodlines that a loving, committed wife and family are worth less than your precious dynasty?”


“I’m not talking about my dynasty,” Lucius yelled, incensed, “I’m talking about being turned into a mind reader and having one for a son.”


“So you see us as monstrosities? You aren’t like us, you know. You have no innate ability to read emotions. You can only read me because I bonded with you, unintentionally I might add. And you can read your son because he is your son. You can’t read anyone else. Haven’t you tried?”


“Great Goddess, no. Who would I practice on? All the people who hate me because of my past? Why would I want to feel intense animosity, even though I may deserve some of it? I have no visitors and I want none.” Lucius was definitely lying there, Olivia thought.


“Are you reading my mind now?” asked Lucius, suspiciously.


“I do have the innate ability, yes, but only to read your emotions, your sadness and regret. I don’t know why or for whom you feel those emotions.” Olivia was exasperated, “Can I say this any more clearly? I CANNOT READ YOUR MIND!! None of us is telepathic, only empathic. Emotions, Lucius, emotions, NOT THOUGHTS!”


“Well, yes, I remember you saying something like that. But I could feel your apprehension and sadness in Scotland. It was invasive and I couldn’t turn it off. Your feelings just ran across my mind like a play.”


“You’ve been feeling my emotions for quite a while before that. You just didn’t know it for what it was. You always knew when I was sneaking up on you with a phototaker.”


“Yes, but that was just me knowing you so well.” Lucius frowned, “Wasn’t it?”


“I’m afraid not. How could you have known every single time, without exception? You felt my anxious secrecy.” Olivia was trying to keep a calm demeanor, but really, did she need a sledgehammer? “I can’t hide anything from you either. The process is reciprocal.”


“Can it be stopped?” Lucius was finally asking questions more rationally.


“Not that we’ve ever discovered. But it’s just like any other attribute or disability, if you want to think of it that way. You learn to live with it. You adjust.” His wife brought out the big guns. “You have a son who thinks you don’t want him. I need to know if that’s true. If so, I want to start breaking his memories of you, by not talking any more about you or how you really do love him and you’ll be with him soon.” She was firm, “I need to know for his sake. He’s going to have enough to deal with in his life without the constant rejection of his father.”


Lucius had been the most hurt about his conflict concerning his son. He wanted to be a father, had been ecstatic and so proud to have a new child, but he had been so angry with Olivia he couldn’t bear to see her. So his son had suffered. Lucius knew that had been selfish and he made a decision. “I want to see my child but I don’t want to hurt him any more with my ambivalent feelings. Can’t I shield myself from him – and you – at all?”


Olivia was feeling a small island of serenity and acceptance starting to grow within his bristling, self-protective anger. “You can learn to do some shielding from him but not me. He wants to help you, Lucius. He offered to teach you how he is learning to shield himself. He’s new at it too, so he can understand what is happening to you. He thinks empathy is normal, but finds it a bit odd that his father shouldn’t know any more than he does. It was so sweet of him to offer.” Olivia smiled, “He loves you, Lucius. You’ll be able to feel it coming from him. There’s nothing more wonderful than feeling your child’s unconditional love. It’s one perk of this quirky gene.”


Lucius was feeling her love and it was…nice. Maybe more than nice. Lucius took a mental breath and said, “I dislike intensely feeling helpless and vulnerable. Actually I hate it. I have to live with it? No way out?”


Olivia just shook her head. “Our bond means that we are both mentally crippled if we are too far apart for more than about six months at a time. We can recover, but it takes a long time to repair that kind of damage. It’s one small reason I made sure I had access to you in prison. Definitely not the major reason. Can you read how I would feel about losing you?”


Lucius felt strong waves of pain from her. Then it ceased. Her love gently flowed back into his mind.


“That’s the major reason I couldn’t stay away from you even in prison,” Olivia said aloud. “It hurt. So I don’t think about it any more. It’s over.


“Originally, we needed the money because my mother was hurt in an accident that made her unconscious. Helpful Muggles took her to a Muggle hospital in an ambulance before we could get to her. They plugged her into an EKG machine and unintentionally damaged her mind. Your generosity has helped us rebuild her awareness and repair the damage. She’s almost back to normal now, thanks to you. I’d really like you to meet her soon, when she’s well.”


Lucius wasn’t sure he wanted to be surrounded by his wife’s extended family and be forced to form associations with them. Olivia could feel his reluctance.


“Or not.” She said, “You don’t have to meet my mother, Lucius. It was just a wish of mine.”


Lucius could see that this emotional connection business was going to require a great deal more verbalization to keep misunderstandings from happening. He was not thrilled that a mind connection actually meant more talking to keep things straight. “I don’t object to meeting your mother. I just am not interested in pursuing personal relationships. Social situations are acceptable…”


Olivia interrupted him, “Because you can still protect yourself from any real interaction with anybody.”


Lucius grimaced, “I suppose so. However, I entered into this marriage because I was forced into it by Voldemort. I did not expect to be bothered with relatives.” He could feel Olivia starting to bristle and held up one hand defensively, then let it drop again. “I understand that your relatives will be an exception now, and I am very grateful to your father for protecting our assets, but I will not be browbeaten into anything that I don’t wish to do.” He added emphatically, “I will say what, where, and how much I wish to participate with anyone but you.”


She said admiringly, “That’s my Lucius. It certainly didn’t take long for you to find a way to take control again. I think you’re already finding a way around your helplessness and vulnerability, yes? Lucius, if I know you, it will only take you a few days to figure a way to make your empathic connection to me work to your advantage.” She smiled, “My lord and master.”


Lucius could feel the happiness burbling from her; she was happy telling a simple truth – he was her lord and master. Some of his tension disappeared. This was much more familiar ground. He liked her acceptance of his authority. That was as it should be, as it had to be for him. Lucius held out his hand imperiously, “You may take your lord and master to his son.” A glimmer of a smile appeared in his amazing eyes.


Olivia smiled coquettishly up at him and said, “He’s having his afternoon lie down right now. I don’t suppose we could rest, too?” Lucius could feel her rising desire and his body started reacting to it. She took his outstretched hand and kissed it, and then dared to run her own hand down his chest and past his waist. She, in turn could feel his desire both in his mind and increasingly, in his trousers.


Lucius decided that more discussion could wait for another day. He wrapped his arms around his lady, bent and whispered in her ear, “Naptime!” and apparated them to their bedroom.

THE END


A/N Many thanks for reading!! If you've come to the end of this story and liked it, I would very much appreciate a review from you. If you can't think of what to say, just pick out some part of the story that appealed to you and let me know about that. That's it!! Thank you in advance for your time.