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The first rays of dawn spilt through the twisted forest. The sky, a wash of orange and gold, promised to give way to a new day.
Heiress Scarlett Potter shivered, hugging her blood-red cloak tight around her body.
Eerie sounds whispered on the breeze. The call of the mythical creatures that inhabited the enchanted forest bordering Potter Manor played a mystical tune in the background.
Her mother, Lady Dorea Black Potter, would give her an earful if she were to learn about her escapade. Ezio–her personal elf–would make sure that no one took a whiff of her absence, but one could never be cautious enough.
As she made her way deeper into the forest, something slithered, crept like a cold hand, slinking slowly behind her. The wind whipped through her wild hair as she tried to brush it back. Her heart pounded a chaotic rhythm in excitement, and a mischievous smile twisted her lips. She glanced up at the massive trees that towered above her. Skeletal branches twisted gnarly fingers heavenward. It was easy to imagine the forty foot behemoths might at any moment open sappy maws to suck her up.
Clenching her cloak tighter, she picked up her pace and gripped the handle of her basket. Her grandfather never tasted the delicacies she brought. Perhaps he would try the ones baked by her mother. She had missed him. It had been a fortnight since she’d been to the forest. Graduating and then helping her mother arrange her birthday had taken almost all her free time. Hence, she took the first opportunity to sneak out of Potter Manor and visit him. Actually, they were not blood-related. Her grandparents had died long ago, she could barely remember their features. And though it might seem strange, she hadn’t even seen her grandfather’s face. His hood was always down and the flowing sleeves of his obsidian cloak hid his hands. Time and again, she felt his piercing his eyes on her as they chatted and bantered, but she had never seen their colour.
With a sigh, Scarlett picked up her pace, nearly running. Her lungs heaved with the effort to climb the steep hill leading to her grandfather’s cabin. Perhaps she should take it easy on her Healing Apprenticeship and get back to Quidditch.
Morning was closing in quickly. Already inky blue of the silver-studded sky was giving way to the colourful splash of the new day.
A huge grin split her face when a familiar raven cawed. It was taking residence at his favourite apple tree. Bushes rustled behind her as he made her way toward the door.
She wondered why her grandfather would plant an apple orchard when he scarcely ate. But she had to admit that the apples made a sight to behold. Never had she seen fruits so red, they looked like freshly split blood and made her mouth water for a bite. A giggle left her throat when a black blur brushed her cheek.
The raven circled back around and, with a loud caw, dove for her shoulder. “Hello to you too,” she smoothed a finger down his soft feathers and pushed the door open.
“You are back, my dearest.” The voice could belong to no other. It cracked through the room with power, making all the fine hairs on the nape of Scarlett’s neck stand on edge, then a black blast of light poured through the room in a wave until it closed the door and set fire on the hearth. It astonished her how strong her grandfather was. Wandless magic was not an easy deed, but her grandfather used it as if it were nothing. As if he were part magic.
“Take a seat, Scarlett. You should be tired.” Though his voice was rough and demanding, the way he cared about her well-being warmed her to the marrow. She knew she was loved. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes. However, her grandfather’s love was paramount. It was something she came to cherish beyond all else.
“Thank you, Grandfather,” she did as asked and offered him the basket. “I brought you some of the sweets Mother and Ezio prepared for tonight’s ball. Would you try them?”
He snapped his fingers, and the basket disappeared, making her groan in exasperation. She heard amusement in his voice as he drawled. “You mean your debutante ball, my dearest?”
Scarlett rolled her eyes, but a blush stained her cheeks. “I have no interest in receiving betrothal contracts. Potters bond for love and for life.”
“True,” he tilted his head, and for a fleeting second, she thought she saw two blazing flames where his orbs were supposed to be. She blinked, and darkness covered his face again. “You spoke like the sole granddaughter of Iolanthe should.”
Scarlett instinctively sought the warmth of the Resurrection Stone in her pocket. She was the only daughter born to House Potter in seven hundred years; the only granddaughter of Lady Iolanthe Peverell Potter. Her grandfather had taught her all there was to know about House Peverell. Even her father wasn’t as well-versed in the history of the oldest House known to Wizardkind as her grandfather. It was her duty and her privilege to uphold Lady Iolanthe’s legacy. She was blessed at birth by the Peverell Family Magic and embraced by Death. The look of reluctant acceptance in her parents’ eyes pained her at times. Her burden was too hefty, but like every Peverell, she would prevail. While there was no Heir to House Potter’s Lordship yet, Scarlett knew that her mother would give her a younger brother one day. Her dreams never led her astray. What she saw happened.
Whimsical fingers of smoke caressed her left cheek, and she raised her head, looking into her grandfather’s hidden face. “Did you make up your mind, my child?”
Scarlett wound up blushing. “I told you, I will not settle for less than what my parents have. I don’t want a pompous prat like Heir Lucius Malfoy or an overly law-abiding partner like Heir Robert Bones.”
Her grandfather hummed. “Of course, your heart is too wild and dark for that.”
‘’I-I don’t know what you mean,” she licked her suddenly dry lips.
“Don’t you, my dearest? Shall I help you, then?” he offered with patent mockery.
She closed her eyes. Her mind drifted to intense silver-grey eyes and a face made to haunt her dreams.
Heir Orion Arcturus Black….
The future lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black was yet to send a betrothal contract. Several young hearts were shattered while waiting for a second glance from him; something they never received. There was something wild and intoxicating about him that even his exceedingly fine robes could not hide, like a predator who undoubtedly liked to toy with his prey before killing it. Oftentimes, he reminded her of her wolf. She shook her head at the absurd thought.
Staring into the raging fire, Scarlett thought of their last meeting. His pale, iridescent eyes had glittered like rare diamonds when they met hers. Beautiful eyes that showed no emotion when he smiled. The smile itself was enough to steal the breath from her body…the sensuous, cynical mouth, the flash of white, perfect teeth….Heir Black was a dazzling man who would not leave her thoughts.
“Worry not, you will meet him tonight,” her grandfather said with a hint of amusement.
“I don’t think he’ll attend tonight’s ball,” she countered, and the reminder sent an indescribable jolt of pain in her chest. Heir Black could not attend tonight’s ball unless he intended to ask for her favour; something she doubted he had any interest in.
It was unbelievable how much her magic sought his, like a moth to the flame. She didn’t even care about the whispers pertaining to him, the rumours that the Black Curse found a prey in him.
“It did not,” her grandfather read her like an open book again.
“Would you stop?” she had meant to sound abrupt and firm, but the words had come out kind of breathy.
“Orion Black is a blessed man,” he ignored her protest. “Just follow your heart and you will not regret it.”
But what would happen after she did?
Scarlett did not want to touch heaven and then settle for less; much better never to know what she could not have. Orion Black did not make the situation any easier. At times, he looked at her so intently that she flushed in pleasure and confusion; how heady it was to be the centre of attention of such a man.
‘’You shall leave, now,” her grandfather prompted gently. “Follow your heart and you will not be disappointed, my dearest. No child of mine shall be left wanting.”
Scarlett yearned to throw herself at her grandfather and be hugged by him, alas, it was not meant to be. At times, she wondered if he were human; if he had a body at all under the absolute darkness that was his clack.
A sound from the doorway caught her attention, and her gaze went instinctively to its source. She couldn’t hold back a smile as two sharp star-bright eyes gazed adoringly at her.
“Grimm!” She surged to her feet. “I missed you.”
In her haste to run her fingers through her wolf’s silky pelt, she missed the flame-like eyes boring into her back and the smirk that lifted her grandfather’s lips.
Skeletal fingers slid from under the obsidian cloak woven by the Fates ages ago and tapped against the table playfully.
Scarlett followed the wolf, eager to spend a few moments with her friend before she headed back home. And as such, she missed the scene that unfolded as soon as she and the Grim were out of sight. Death glided soundlessly out of the dilapidated cabin, and with a click of his fingers, he made it disappear as if it had never been there.
Amusement and anticipation warred within him for supremacy as the icy wind roared and ripped through the ancient trees. His sisters had woven Scarlett and her Grim’s thread aeons ago. His favourite child was to be spoiled rotten and protected from all harm. Even his icy heart warmed a bit as the Grim’s possessive, glowing eyes stared intently at the girl who chatted happily about sweet nothings.
His child was safe and content. It was all that mattered. All that remained was for her to bond with her Mate; the one she would lean on as she carried the heaviest burden known to Wizardkind. For the Mistress of Death needed her Grim Guardian. It was written in the stars that they would meet and fall in love.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
“You are only a fraction of an inch away from being hexed viciously by Lord Potter,” Alphard Black said, his eyes flicking to the profile of Orion’s obsession.
“Would you remind me again why are you here?” Heir Orion Black made some noncommittal sound, having no desire to look at any other person. Alphard snorted, and he ignored him.
He felt a sudden ripple of awareness and turned with a start. Heir Lucius Malfoy was standing just inside the room, his posture relaxed, his head slightly tilted as he watched Heiress Scarlett Potter. A peculiar sensation passed through him, and the Grim snarled in indignation. How dare the abysmal creature covet what was his?
Thirty years….He’d waited thirty years for her. Thirty years filled with hopelessness and plagued by loneliness. For a while, he lost all hope of finding her until that fateful day seven years ago.
Orion was in his Grim form, roaming the forest when he caught a most alluring scent. His nostrils flared, and his paws brushed over the grass as he made his way through the thick tree trunks toward her.
A young girl, no older than eleven, gasped when he emerged from the shadows and stared down at her. She gripped her flowing red cloak tighter around her body and gaped at him.
Red…As in heraldic Potter red.
As in Dorea’s daughter, the first daughter born to House Potter in centuries, the one they seldom let out of the protection of Potter Manor’s deadly wards.
Heiress Scarlett Potter, the child he hadn’t seen in years and apparently, his Mate.
Fearlessly, she walked to him and squatted. “Hello, there,” she whispered. He bowed his head and rubbed his jaw against hers. She giggled and stroked his pelt. “You are so beautiful. Do you live here?”
He shook his muzzle, and she pushed away from him. “I’ve never seen a wolf as huge or black as you. I am going to call you Grimm. What do you say?”
Orion smirked and licked her offered hand. She might be younger than expected, but he could wait. He had waited for a while as it was. Grims were known for their patience and perseverance. Both virtues were bitter, but their fruit was the sweetest.
For years, Orion thrived in the stolen moment he spent with Scarlett in his Grim form. He listened avidly to her stories, her worries and her dreams. He loved it when she kneaded his nape, stroked his pelt–the movements soothing, relaxing, and reverent or simply laid her head on his belly and dozed off. His Mate was everything he had hoped for: beautiful, brilliant and skilful with a mischievous streak he adored.
For her, he broke his rule of no associating with the crowd and chased her like a starved wolf. Patiently and diligently, he waited for her to grow up, making sure she was aware of him.
A predatory smirk played over his lips when she dodged Heir Malfoy’s attempts to start a conversation and hurried toward the other side of the ballroom.
She stopped abruptly, and their gazes caught and melded together in a starved completeness. Sweet Salazar! She was perfect, every single part of her. Blushing, she gazed away.
“This is your chance,” Alphard whispered, reminding him of his existence.
Orion became aware that the orchestra had started playing the unmistakable accented rhythm of a waltz.
“The first dance,” his insufferable cousin hissed. “There’s no louder declaration of your intent than receiving the privilege of her first dance. Unless…Oh? Isn’t Heir Diggory in a rush to…”
Orion glared at his cousin, and in a flush of sure, elegant steps, he was beside her. “Heiress Potter,” he bowed and took her gloved hand in his, bestowing a soft kiss upon her knuckles.
“Heir Black,” she curtsied.
“Would you care for a dance?” His sharp eyes glinted with a flash of the Grim as he waited for an answer.
At once, she wore a beaming, astonished smile and nodded a little breathlessly. “I’d like to.”
It tugged at his heart that he made her doubt his interest, that he had basically missed out on years with her. However, teenage years were about personal growth and fun and finding one's identity, and he did not want to intervene and make her miss a crucial part of her youth.
“I’m honoured, Heiress Potter,’’ he responded silkily, and she allowed him to pull her into the centre of the room before it became crowded.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed the way Lord Charlus Potter stilled and clutched his glass with a death grip. His nostrils flared and his face contorted with trepidation when he smiled and lowered his lips to the delicate shell of her ear. “I must speak with Dorea. She outdid herself again,” he remarked playfully, sliding an arm around her waist with the caution of utter propriety.
“You mean the ball?” she sighed, wrinkling her nose at him in an adorable manner that was utterly like her.
“Your debutante ball.” He was surprised he had somehow managed to suppress the growl that wanted to rip out of his throat. His gaze flickered over the myriad of curious, envious and enraged eyes that followed them. Lord Arcturus Black arched a mocking brow at him, and he felt his lips curve with his first genuine smile in a long time.
“I have no interest in being displayed like a fragile doll,” she muttered against his neck, and his arms tightened around her. “You are anything but, Heiress Potter. Only a fool would be blind enough to overlook how capable and brave you are.” He acknowledged easily.
He was amused by her gasp of surprise. “But…you don’t know me so well.”
“Don’t I, Scarlett?” he studied her intently. He had her scent in his nostrils, on his skin. He was familiar with the drag of her long, wild hair over his throat and belly. Had memorised her gentle touch, her soft whispers. No man or creature knew her better than him. From the moment he had laid eyes on her, she had set off sparks in his soul, awakened the Grim and ignited a fire that would never be extinguished. At first, he’d been overprotective of the sweet, kind girl that was his Mate, but as she grew up into herself and embraced her true self, he simply wanted to possess her, to collect all her smiles and blushes and see the stars in her eyes twinkle for ever and ever. The knowledge that the Potters would soon arrange her debutante all had soothed man and Grim. The promise that he was merely a breath away from claiming her favour was what kept his beast sane.
Searching his gaze tentatively, she asked. “What do you know about me, Orion?” She stared at him steadily, refusing to look away even though the prolonged shared gaze made her flush with discomfort and shyness.
“My dear…” he said tenderly as he lowered his head until his lips grazed her cheek. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you to ask me this question.”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
As Orion’s husky voice washed over her, Scarlett was suddenly consumed by a rush of feelings that threatened to suffocate her.
Did this night ever have to end? she thought, caught in an indescribably painful moment of realisation that no hour, no minute of her life would ever be this perfect again.
It seemed that they had danced the entire night without stopping, and she clung to each moment until it was wrenched from her, revelling in the cloud-woven hours as Orion turned a considerable amount of charm completely toward her. No woman ever could survive a charming Orion Arcturus Black, but by a miracle, she persevered.
He stared into her eyes with an enigmatic and steady gaze as he swept her around in wide, circling steps. Their clasped hands, the music, the privacy of an intimate glance—it was a sweet flash of fulfilment, too brief, elusive. She was caught between night and day in an insubstantial dream, able to do nothing except follow where he led. All along, her grandfather’s words reverberated in her head. ‘Follow your heart,’ ‘Seize the night.”
It cemented what she’d known all along. She’d done it and lost her heart to him. She didn’t know how or when, but she had allowed it to happen, she thought, and her breath caught in her throat. She loved a man she might never, never have, someone that perhaps no one could ever have. Like every Potter before her, her flourishing love for Heir Orion Black would likewise be impossible to dispel.
And then, he did it and rendered her speechless. “My dear…” he said tenderly as he lowered his head until his lips grazed her cheek. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you to ask me this…”
Her heartbeat quickened, her veins dilated with a rush of tingling blood as he took one of her hands. His hand was so warm, his fingertips velvety, the nails short and smoothly filed. A strong hand, like its owner. “Would you come with me, Scarlett?”
She gulped more air in her lungs, struggling to breathe. Her gaze went inadvertently to her mother. Lady Dorea Black Potter held her glass to her and winked. Lady Melania Black, who was standing next to her, waved at her. She dared not look at her father. She would deal with his outburst later. She nodded, and Orion laced their fingers together lightly, drew a small circle in her palm with his thumb, then slid his fingers up to match them against hers.
Ignoring the intrusive gazes that followed them, they walked out of the balcony, then some more until they reached the border of the forest. Stars twinkled like brilliant jewels above them, and somewhere close, a snow owl hooted. There was magic in the woods. In the quiet serenity of nature, it hummed all around her, through her, even her blood sang with it. Fluttering with something potent.
Scarlett became slowly aware that Orion was standing next to her, his hand gripping hers. She had never been this close to him before…her senses were swiftly imprinted with the smell and feel of him…the subtle touch of expensive cologne and clean skin covered with layers of fine silk. He radiated power and virility. She was surprised by the realisation of how large he was—his size wasn’t appreciable until one stood very close.
Orion’s diamond eyes glittered in his shadowed face as he started. “I know everything that matters about you, Scarlett. Your inner strength, your spirit, your sensuality, your big heart, your loyalty, your tenaciousness, your bravery and even your sarcastic streak–it all came together to make a package that called to me and made it impossible to feel anything but love for you. The realisation doesn’t even scare me as it once would have done.”
“Love?” The word left her parched lips like a prayer.
“Of course.” That rough, gravelly voice caressed her senses and almost succeeded in making her shudder. “Where would I find a mate who brings a basket full of sweets to Death’s doorstep?” He shot her a wicked smirk.
“How do you…”
“What do you know about the Black Curse, Scarlett?” he asked tenderly, a forefinger caressing her hot cheek.
“I’ve heard rumours, but nothing of a certainty.” Her heart pounded so heavily that she wondered if her pulse was visible.
Orion lifted his hand, and she watched in amazement as coal black fur covered the fair skin. Her head snapped up, and a gasp left her lips when his eyes shone like the heart of two stars. A quick glint of memory appeared before her eyes. She knew those eyes; she had stared in them just hours ago.
“Grimm?” she drew out the word slowly,
“It was never a curse,” he smiled. “Like you, the Family Magic chose me. After mourning Lord Hyperion Black's demise for centuries, the Black Grim chose me. You have not the slightest idea how painful the wait was, but now that you are here,” he shook his head ruefully. “Heiress Scarlett Potter, do you accept me?”
So now that the thread of fear and uncertainty had been removed from the knot of emotions inside her, Scarlett stared at Orion with all the love and longing she had kept close to her heart for years.
“You are my Grim.”
“Yours,” he grinned lazily, winding one of her stray curls around his finger.
“I want to have you both,” she said, resting her forehead against his chest. “I can’t lose my best friend.”
“You won’t,” he replied, kissing the top of her head. They stayed like that for a long, delicious moment, clasped securely, love exchanged in the silent vow of closeness. “But you must be warned…”
She lifted her face from his chest and smiled at him enchantingly. “You will never hurt me.”
“No.” His smile held a seductive promise as he combed strong but supple fingers through the smoothness of her hair, his thumb lingering to trace the rim of her ear. “You are too sweet, and I might as well devour you.”
Scarlett lifted a brow in challenge. Before she could retort, his lips met her in a passionate kiss.
‘’Mine …” He breathed against her mouth. “No more adventures or escapades for a while. I want you all to myself.”
“Yours, I promise," she agreed, smiling secretly to herself.
Now that he had her Grim close, why would she sneak around looking for him?
Her grandfather, on the other hand…