Marked • Tom Riddle

His Punishment

   Everything had seemed like one big blur once I'd safely made it back to the house. The maids had immediately taken me to a bath and scrubbed me clean of any and all physical evidence of the events that had occurred, as if all the scrubbing was supposed to help erase the memories from my mind. They'd placed me in fresh clothes and sent me into my room where a doctor had inspected my wounds and bandaged me up, before leaving me by the fire, a cup of warm tea in my trembling hands, and a blanket placed around my shoulders that was meant to counteract the cold. But no, the cold was in my bones and flowed through my blood, which is why I couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't get Lucinda out of my head, the sound of her skull cracking, the feeling of her blood flowing down my hand, the image of her lifeless body against the ground, I couldn't get any of it out of my godforsaken head. 

   The door to my room was slowly pushed open, but I didn't bother taking my eyes off the fire to see who it was. There was only one person here that had the right to open doors without knocking first.

   "I killed her," I said, but couldn't bear to meet his eyes, not with the feeling of shame that was preventing me from doing so. I had fallen apart against him, I'd held him like a child as I'd cried. I'd just been so scared, so terrified in the moment and when he'd come to protect me, to save me from those people, I just couldn't stop myself. But now I was reaping the consequences. He already thought of me as so weak, what would he think of me now. 

   There was a moment of silence between us before he approached me and stopped just before my knees. I didn't want to look up at him, but the sudden feeling of his hand against my shoulder snatched my attention and before I could give it a second thought, I was looking into his eyes. 

   "I'm proud of you," he said, seeming completely unfazed about the events that had occurred, as though he hadn't just killed a group of wizards only moments ago. Proud? He claimed he was proud. I almost had to choke back a laugh at how ridiculous that sounded. How could he say that? How could he possibly be proud of me? My confused expression must have spoken for me, because with a sigh, he took a seat next to me by the fire. "You did what needed to be done. You demonstrated power."

    "Power? I killed her. She was under the Imperius curse. She was innocent," I explained, but his cold and unfazed expression made me realize just who I was talking to. He didn't care for innocence, he didn't care who he killed. Killing was how he had risen to power. Killing was how he handled things, handled problems. In his eyes, I had done something to be proud of. 

   I turned my face away from him again, realizing he wouldn't understand no matter how much I tried to explain myself, because, truth be told, he didn't need an explanation. To him, I had done nothing wrong. 

   "Thank you for saving me," I said. 

   "I said I would protect you."

   "You mean you took the burden of protecting me, remember?" 

   "Ah, yes," he nodded. "Protecting you has definitely proved itself to be quite the burden."

   "Merlin, I must have appeared so weak when you found me," I shook my head, embarrassed by the thought. Those who worked for the Dark Lord, especially Death Eaters like myself were not supposed to be weak and definitely would never have acted the way I had. They were supposed to be composed, merciless, cold when in battle, but I had failed, I had done the opposite. 

   "You were anything but weak today, Karina," he said, his words earning my attention once more. He wasn't looking at me, which gave me a chance to better inspect him. His hair was disheveled, as were his clothes and I realized they were the same clothes he'd been wearing when he'd found me. I could see remnants of the battle evident on his white shirt in the forms of dirt and a splatter of blood. He hadn't changed, which meant he must have come straight to me once he'd finished outside. He glanced in my direction and I immediately averted my gaze before he could catch me staring.