Chapter 33
Draco was suspended.
There was no space, no time. There was only him, and yet... it wasn’t him.
He couldn’t move. His body no longer belonged to him; his skin was light, his breath a silent beat in the void. He felt everything and nothing. Emptiness enveloped him like a cold, dense cloak, yet inside him something burned—a spark pulsing with the very rhythm of the universe.
«Lythiel.»
A voice. Not his. Not human. A voice without a voice—a call that made no sound, yet still reached him.
Draco felt a shiver run down his spine, but his body did not move. The voice called him by a name he did not know, and yet, deep inside, something recognized that sound.
«Mine.»
It was everywhere. A whisper and a roar. A promise and a curse.
Draco tried to breathe, but there was no air. He tried to escape, but there was no way out. He tried to respond, but he had no voice.
The whisper wrapped around him like invisible chains, seeping into his mind, into his soul.
And then he saw it.
A spark. Tiny, yet brighter than a thousand suns. It was fragile and powerful, untamable and formless. He tried to reach it, but the void surrounded it, clutching it with ravenous, famished greed.
Something constricted around him—shadow and hunger, chains of absolute nothingness. It enveloped him, it suffocated him. He couldn’t move; he couldn’t escape.
«Mine.»
The voice crept into his mind, into his bones, into his soul. There was no emotion in that whisper, only an eternal, desperate need.
The void refused to let him go.
The spark struggled, trying to break free. And Draco felt something… a fear that wasn’t his, an anguish that choked his throat. He felt liquid terror coursing through his veins. He writhed, trying to free himself, but the nothingness wrapped around him tighter, constricting him, suffocating him.
A searing pain. As if something inside him were breaking, as if his very essence were being torn away. The spark pulsed desperately, trying to escape, to resist, but the void offered no reprieve.
A pain he didn’t understand.
A desire for freedom, for escape.
«Let me go.»
The voice was faint, broken.
«I can’t.»
And then an explosion—light and shadow clashed in a whirlwind of power so immense that Draco felt himself torn apart. A scream, or perhaps a thousand, filled the void.
Draco felt himself falling, plummeting into nothingness, and at the very moment when the darkness seemed about to completely swallow him, he suddenly woke up.
His breath was ragged, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. He was drenched in sweat, the sheets tangled around him like a shroud.
It took him a moment to realize he was in their room, in Velmoria, in their bed.
He sat up abruptly, gasping for air, his heart hammering madly in his chest. Sweat clung to his hair on his forehead, and the room around him appeared blurred, unreal.
He turned sharply and met a pair of green eyes, luminous in the dim light.
Harry was sitting beside him, his brows slightly furrowed in restrained concern.
«Draco…» Harry’s voice was calm, but it carried an undercurrent of alarm that he couldn’t ignore.
For a moment, Draco remained motionless, his breath still uneven. Then, with a trembling hand, he ran his fingers through his blonde hair, trying to slow the furious beating of his heart.
«I’m fine.»
But Harry didn’t seem convinced. He couldn’t take his eyes off him, his penetrating gaze as if he could read every thought, every fragment of that nightmare still clinging to Draco’s skin like a second shadow.
Draco lowered his gaze.
Mine.
A shiver ran down his spine, but he ignored it.
It was nothing. Just a dream.
«You're not well.» he repeated in a low, controlled voice «I tried to use the bond, but I was sucked into a chaos of emotions and then thrown out.»
Draco stiffened for a moment. The bond between them was strong—a connection that went beyond body and mind, an invisible thread that had united them for years. Harry had always been able to sense his moods, to read his thoughts if he allowed it.
The blonde cleared his throat, trying to keep his voice light «Calm down, Harry.»
He pulled him close, sliding an arm around his body and drawing him against his chest. The dark‑haired guy let himself be pulled in, but the tension in his muscles did not completely dissipate. Draco placed a hand on his nape, his fingers sinking into his dark hair in an instinctive caress.
«It was just a strange nightmare. I'm fine.»
Harry remained silent, his face pressed against his skin. He felt his warm breath against his chest, his heart pounding rapidly.
«You can’t lie to me.» he finally murmured.
The other sighed, continuing to stroke his hair in a mechanical gesture.
It wasn’t just a nightmare. He knew it. And yet, he didn’t want to talk about it. Not now.
«We'll talk about it tomorrow.» he finally said in a softer tone.
Harry didn’t reply immediately, but after a moment, he pulled himself even closer, as if to make sure he was still there—real and tangible.
Draco ran a hand through his hair in irritation—it had been a week since that dream—or perhaps nightmare—and yet its memory continued to haunt him like a whisper in the night.
He slowly stirred the amber liquid in the cauldron, watching it change consistency under his wand. They were in the eastern greenhouse of the palace, a place enclosed by a glass roof through which the light refracted into a thousand shades of green and gold. The scent of herbs and flowers filled the air, rendering the atmosphere almost surreal. The pungent aroma of the herbs infused into the potion mingled with the light steam rising from the cauldron.
On the other side of the table, Elyss was precisely pouring a vial of moon powder into the mixture, her movements fluid and controlled. She had been silent for several minutes, yet her attentive gaze hadn’t missed the slightest tremor in Draco’s hands or the heavier-than-usual rhythm of his breathing.
«You were about to say something.» she observed, without looking up from the potion.
Draco hesitated. He had considered keeping everything to himself, burying that nightmare and ignoring it. But every night he woke with the memory of the void crawling beneath his skin, the whispering voice he couldn’t forget.
«I’m having strange dreams.» he said simply, his voice flatter than he would have liked.
«What kind of dreams?»
The blonde clenched his jaw, casting another glance at the cauldron. The liquid was taking on a lighter hue—a sign that the process was working.
Elyss shot him a sideways look, a glimmer of interest flashing through her golden irises.
«So... you dreamed you were someone else?» Elyss asked, tilting her head as she looked at him. Her amber eyes studied him with careful curiosity, while her fingers lightly drummed on the surface of the carved wooden table.
«It wasn’t just a dream.» he muttered, crossing his arms «It felt... real. Too real.»
«Maybe it’s a memory.»
The voice that spoke was melodious, dreamy, with a soft echo like wind rustling through leaves.
Draco turned toward the other person in the room: Aisling.
Her eyes weren’t one solid color but changed hue depending on the light, as if the sky and the sea were battling for dominance in her iris. Her hair, lunar white, seemed to almost shine from certain angles, and on her fair skin were small golden spots, reminiscent of those on a wild animal. Yet what attracted the most attention were her ears, slightly elongated and pointed, covered in soft silver fuzz, and the long tail that emerged from her gown, moving slowly as she spoke.
Draco sighed «A memory of whom, exactly?»
Aisling looked at him with an enigmatic smile, twirling a vial she’d taken from the side counter in her hands.
«Of someone who existed before you, perhaps.»
Aisling moved a few steps closer with a casual shrug, her movement as fluid and silent as that of a wild creature.
Draco didn’t have time to reply because a familiar presence made him turn around.
Harry entered with his usual relaxed bearing, hands tucked into his pockets and a barely amused look on his lips. But he wasn’t alone.
Behind him walked a boy that Draco would have recognized among a thousand—unfortunately.
His skin was grey—not sickly pale, but a lunar tone, cool, as if carved from a block of stone kissed by the night. His eyes were a golden amber, with vertical pupils reminiscent of a predator’s. His hair, short and black, was disheveled, as if he didn’t care to fix it, or perhaps as if the wind were the only thing that combed it, giving him an even bolder air.
Kael.
Draco had to suppress an exasperated sigh.
He couldn’t stand him.
To Draco, Kael was an annoying brat who acted as if he had some special right to cling to Harry like a leech ever since he was a child.
«Look at that—the dear Prince of Poisons accompanied by two gorgeous ladies.» Kael commented in his usual sarcastic tone, throwing a smile that was far too cheeky at Elyss and Aisling.
Elyss raised an eyebrow, clearly immune to his charm. Aisling, on the other hand, observed him with her usual enigmatic expression, as if studying the way his pupils narrowed in the light.
Draco shot him a look that could kill.
«What the hell are you doing here?»
Kael leaned casually against one of the greenhouse columns, arms crossed with an irritating swagger.
«I’m here to attend his father’s course at the Academy, of course. And since I have some free time, I thought I’d come see my dear Harry.» he said with a falsely innocent smile.
Malfoy restrained himself from casting a spell at him.
Harry, as usual, seemed completely indifferent to the tension between them. He merely looked at the blonde with his characteristic inscrutable expression and walked over at his usual relaxed pace, hands still in his pockets.
The blonde felt that familiar weight settle on him—not oppressive or intrusive, just Harry’s silent, constant presence, as if he were making sure he was intact, that he was okay.
He huffed softly, but when the dark‑haired guy stopped just a few centimeters away, his own body moved without thinking. He grabbed Harry by the wrist and pulled him close, enveloping him in an embrace, completely ignoring the presence of the others.
Their minds brushed—a thin, familiar thread.
«I’m fine.» he reassured him mentally.
The shorter one remained still for a moment, his face pressed against Draco’s shoulder, then relaxed slightly, letting a hand slide along his back.
«Mmh.» was all he replied, but it was enough.
Draco didn’t let go when Harry turned slightly toward Aisling, keeping him embraced from behind, his chest pressed against the shorter one’s back.
«A memory?» he repeated, more to himself than to the others, his eyebrows barely furrowing as he considered the possibility.
It seemed he had already weighed the odds, for he nodded to himself as if he had reached a logical conclusion.
Aisling tilted her head to the side, her ethereal eyes shimmering with a strange awareness. Elyss beside her looked just as focused, her fingers idly playing with one of the beads woven into her hair.
«A memory? What are you talking about?» asked Kael, interrupting the moment with his usual curt, curious tone.
No one bothered to answer him.
Elyss nodded slowly «It would make sense.»
«The best option would be to speak with Elyndra directly.» Harry added in a flat tone, as if it were an obvious decision.
«But what are you talking about?» Kael insisted, his expression growing increasingly exasperated and irritated.
Once again, silence was the only answer.
«So, should we go to Lytheria?» Draco asked, tightening his grip on Harry slightly as he looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
Harry nodded, looking thoughtful, while Aisling clapped her hands happily, her eyes bright with enthusiasm.
«I just wanted to go back there!» he exclaimed, shaking his head, his silver hair fluttering like strands of silk around his curved horns.
The blonde sighed, this time more heavily «For you, anything is an exciting adventure.»
Aisling stuck out her tongue at him «It’s not my fault you’re old inside.»
Draco sighed again, already anticipating that this trip would be anything but relaxing «Fantastic.» he commented sarcastically.
«Oh yes, it surely will be.» Aisling chirped with a radiant smile, completely immune to the blonde’s tone.
Kael snorted, crossing his arms «Why should we go there?»
Draco gave him an impatient scowl «Us, not you.» he specified, tightening his grip on Harry slightly, as if to underline the point.
Kael raised an eyebrow, amused «And take away the pleasure of my presence?» he met the blonde’s gaze with a cheeky smile «Not a chance.»