Envy (Sequel to Deceit)

The Wrath of Alice

Amelia

I didn't bother to heal the cut on my face, instead I left it, intending to let it disappear in its own time and even scar. It was a reminder, a trophy almost. Alice scornfully remarked that it made me look harsh, ghostly but that didn't bother me, very little that Alice said bothered me. Our rivalry became a silent game, a whisper here and there, a pathetic cat fight. Nothing more.

The people she surrounded herself with seemed petty and vain, like many of the girls who came to the manor from time to time. But what else should one expect of the daughters of Death Eaters? We were the future. Youth and dark blood pulsed through our veins. How could we be anything else? A few I knew from school. One, Riley McCarthy, had been in the year below us at Hogwarts. I had been close friends with her in second year but now she followed Alice around like a devoted puppy; then there was Amanda and Analie, the double agents. I barely knew whether to trust them or not, their shifts in allegiance confused me so. There were only two people I felt I could trust: Adrienne and Khaeos. Khaeos certainly stood out among us with her bright violet highlights, though she and Adrienne were certainly not people you wanted to upset I felt oddly content in their company. They were my closest friends there, it was difficult to not have the constant wise chatter from Arielle to advise me but between them they almost made up for it; Khaeos, her advice as sound as the granite rocks the land was supported by, she consoled me in times of indecision and I came to learn that in many ways we were very similar. Adrienne on the other hand, was completely different, she was the strong minded one, the strategical one, the person who always had a comeback and was invaluable in a fight.

Together we made quite a group. Of course Alice had her group too: Riley and a girl called Ebony whom I knew little about. Sebastian was there too. With Alice. He hung on her every word like a lovesick child, his gaze never wavering from her. He was always at her side. I can't say that it didn't have any effect on me but it didn't anger me, after all I never loved him. I felt merely pity, pity that he had been ensnared by Alice's thorny trap, doomed to be dumped as soon as something better came along. Believe me it wasn't long before she had her eye on someone else, in fact most of the girls did. Not because he was handsome, I mean he was nothing special, a relatively average looking guy, but because of his name. A name that promised power beyond belief.

...

The golden sun shone brightly through thin wispy clouds, the pure blue sky a sign of the glorious summer weather. I sat in the garden with Khaeos , she was talking and I was sketching. The fluidity of her words was calming and I found I could both listen and draw with ease.

"... Sometimes, I just feel like we're different from everyone else here, you know?" She murmured. I nodded, laying my pencil down on the ivory paper of my sketchbook.

"Even Adrienne" I mused.

"Yes, I never feel like I belong here" she sighed, then paused a smile spreading across her face "can you imagine the lecture Adrienne would be giving us if she were here?" She chuckled.

Smiling I put on a chiding voice, pretending I were Adrienne "You are pure blood children of Death Eaters, the most noble blood there is! How can you even think that you don't belong here? Of course you belong here!"

Khaeos giggled, then pointed to a pair of figures approaching us from the house "it's Draco" she smiled "but who is that with him?"

I squinted, making out the features of a pale boy with messy dark hair but couldn't make out much more as the fierce glare of the sun from behind him cast him into shadow. As they came closer, I noted the pride with which he walked, the ingrained arrogance and sense of superiority. "What are you doing out here?" He demanded, trailing a rather bored looking Draco behind him.