Adjectives ~ REGULUS BLACK

52

Regulus was standing outside the mahogany doors petrified. The atmosphere of the Malfoy manor was getting colder and colder and he forced himself to relax before knocking on the door, the knock echoing through the marble walls.

Putting his wand in his coat's pocket, he entered the room after hearing the sound of confirmation coming from the other end.

The long wooden table was the same as ever, the dark oak chairs surrounding it, and on the head of the table was the Dark Lord himself, with eyes a dark chocolate brown and a head full of dark brown curls, at fifty and something years old, Tom Riddle had the best appearance, someone, his age could have.

"Regulus, please join me."

His voice always had that quirk that send a chill down Regulus' spine. It was honestly amusing, Regulus was never the type of kid to shy away from something dangerous, much like his brother the younger Black had a nick for mischief, even though he did not show it as much.

But whenever he was at his parents' house or this very own room, the hairs on his arms raised, a feeling he had wished he could forget.

"My Lord," he said, his voice dripping with poison, Tom couldn't taste it but he could. The words rolled off his tongue familiarly.

And Merlin, he fucking hated it, so much that he would cut his tongue if it continued to sound so familiar.

"As you know Regulus, my boy, you have been a great asset to our army. Many of our own hold high respect for your family, as do I, and I think you are one of the most trusted men I have as y follower, with great ambition, skills in fighting, a good academic record, excellence in all your classes I heard? Congratulations."

Even if his tone was threatening, the compliments sounded sincere, almost kind.

Regulus was so familiar with manipulation that he could almost taste it as the words left Voldemort's mouth. Dark brown eyes stared back at Regulus, a crazed look in those eyes.

This was not going to be good, he knew that the decision he made at sixteen was going to cost him a lot, but fuck his sixteen-year-old self that wanted attention and validation from his parents. Damn his younger self that couldn't help but be a coward, a follower, as if he was a sheep.

"Thank you, I've been trying to keep up with my responsibilities, I sincerely hope I have reached your expectations."

Regulus Black knew how to charm people, how to sugar coat his words.

Regulus Black knew how to lie.

"More and more, Regulus, you seem to have already curved your path and it's the right one," Tom said, his lips quirking up, oh how wrong he was, he had no idea.

"What I want to talk to you about are Horcruxes, I'm sure you are aware of them, we talked about them last time, I'm expecting you have done your research?" Riddle's eyebrows shot up in question and the blood drained from Regulus' face.

He couldn't know, impossible.

If he did, Delilah would have known, she would have seen it in her visions.

"Of course, I'm aware of them, they are immortality objects, kill someone to get one more life, there is a book about them in our home library, I studied some material I could find but nothing too exclusive on them," he answered casually, relaxing a bit in his chair as he was familiar with the topic.

The confusion and wondering thought did not stop in his mind, questions ran at a lightning speed inside his brain but no answer could be found.

What more could he want from Regulus?