The Dragon s bride Page 0,85

it stung. There were also a few smears of blood under his nose and around his mouth and chin.

He looked battered and bruised and despite the fact that he was Satan, she couldn't help feeling for him.

A minute or so passed. When she was satisfied he was probably going to stay like that for a while, she made to leave. If he wanted to look at her, so be it.

"Where are you going?" he asked, almost as soon as she had made her mind up.

She stared at him as if he'd asked her if trousers came with two legs or three. "Away from you. Have a bath. The room's yours."

"Stay," he said, simply. There was only the smallest trace of pleading in his voice. It was minuscule, but it was ridiculously hypnotic.

Hermione was certain that Malfoy was the kind of person who'd rather have his tongue cut out and force fed to him, before he pleaded with anyone.

"Draco, you are stark raving mad, you know that?" He really need to know that.

"Stay." This time, there was nothing nice or polite in the look on his face. It was like the time he accosted her outside his father's study when they were at Malfoy Manor. He had been all business then, the Draco who always got what he wanted. "Stay or I'll tell Potter and Weasley we fucked liked rabbits last weekend and that you give the best blowjob I've ever had the pleasure of receiving." There was that familiar cruelty in his voice now.

It probably had something to do with the knowledge that her reputation was a powerful bargaining chip. Hermione felt her face lose its colour. "You wouldn't do that," she challenged. "You have just as much to lose as I do."

"Not really," he informed her, shrugging with his good shoulder. She realized then that his eyes had changed colour. It was relatively dark in the bathroom, and they had gone from bright silver out in the sunlight, to a deep, grey that was the colour of old iron.

He pushed off from the edge, startled her by taking hold of her hand and bringing her back with him. When she didn't immediately struggle, the grip on her wrist eased and he began to massage the fragile bones of her hand with maddening leisure.

"Potter and Weasley might make the odd, bungling attempt to beat me up, but I can live with that," he told her, still stroking at her hand. The sensation of his fingers tracing patterns into her palm was dizzying. "My father will get over it. He needs me. He knows I'm determined to take over eventually. And if Lucius does decide to throw a tantrum regarding his arrangement with the Ministry, I'll enlist Professor Snape to settle him."

She felt like taking hold of his shoulders and shaking the logic free from wherever it was stuck inside his head. "A week ago, you were just as put off by all of this as I was!" she insisted.

"I've had time to think of the pros and cons. If anything, snaring you will confirm my reputation." His smile was sudden. "You can be the white elephant to my Ahab."

"That's white whale, you snotty, creep." He obviously had no idea how Moby Dick ended. She had half a mind to tell him that Ahab died a horrible death in which he accidentally speared himself in the foot and slowly bled to death over the course of a week on his stupid ship.

She was shaking with anger and with some other, indescribable emotion. It was a probably sadness, she realised. Disappointment was too trivial a word for what she was feeling. "So it's come to blackmail has it?"

Curse her voice for breaking like that. She tugged stubbornly at her wrist. He held on just as stubbornly. They were silent for a moment and both of them seemed content to merely watch the other. Hermione found it amazing that he could still look her in the eye after saying everything that he had just said.

"Will you just rub the ruddy salve into my shoulder," he snapped, sounding impatient for the first time since he entered the bathroom. He threaded his fingers with hers. "Please. That's all I ask."

"Why?"

"Because the pain is killing me," he said, wryly. He retrieved the balm from where he had placed it on the floor beside the tub.

Hermione watched as he uncapped the jar, scooped out a healthy glob of the stuff and slapped in into her hand. Under

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