UNLEASH | D.M (UNRAVEL BOOK 6)

[ 34 ]

Voldemort sets down his goblet and huffs at his daughter's attitude. It had been more than a month since she had given him this cold shoulder treatment. Truth be told, he didn't know what to do to subdue her ire that she kept well-concealed. He even sent Cal on double the missions so he wasn't seen around in the Malfoy Estate as often and had stopped taunting her and her feeble emotions and feelings that make her weak.

He even tried treating her nicely as what 'normal' fathers would do to lighten their daughters' moods, going as far as leaving gifts of flowers and rare potion ingredients since he knew that Aine loved potions. He even tried striking up casual conversations when he was around her and acting like Elliot at times. 

However, try as he might, it had all ended up in vain as the Estoileon lady would be even more callous than ever. He was running out of ideas and patience but he needed to make sure his daughter had gotten over the ill feelings she had. He needed his army to be strong and united but instead, it was chipping, crumbling very surely.

Aine wasn't ignorant of how hard her father had tried to flatter and concede to her. It must have been humiliating for him to be behaving this way but she didn't care. From how she has been treated so far by him, she was shamed in ways worse than him. 

The bitterness was still raw in her mind, the scar he gave her by ripping away Aion from her was still fresh as though he had only cut her just yesterday with the betrayal. Even though her anger wasn't as severe as it once was, it didn't mean she was completely over it.

She wasn't stupid and she could see his true intentions masked with all of the useless attempts, as vivid as the flames crackling in the fireplace. All Aine saw from his efforts in patching things up was him being this imposter who was trying to be the person she loved— Her real dad, Elliot.

"Don't you think you're angry enough? We should let bygones be bygones! We are a family, are we not?" he asks with a disdainful frown and Aine nearly snorted aloud at his words. She never once felt that they were her family, nor considered them to be her family except Draco and Narcissa, and maybe even Cyrus. 

"I've heard about how much you enjoy family dinners from our dear friends. Thus, I have prepared this for you!" Voldemort stated rather proudly, gesturing to the group of people in the room who had graced them with their presence.

You mean when you forced them to tell you, Aine corrected in her head, eyeing the Deatheaters who were present, as though they had been put to gunpoint to obey this ridiculous dinner. Her thoughts caused Draco to pursed his quivering lips and he bit down the urge to laugh, knowing that if he did, the Dark Lord would have his head for it.

"Let us forget about the disharmony in the ranks and join hands once more to be stronger," the Dark Lord suggested as he raised his goblets to his comrades. One by one, they took their wine glasses and cups and lifted them to the ceiling, brightly grinning like their master. Although many wore pleased grins, some were forcing a smile to keep up with the mood to not bring it down.

Aine simpered boldly at how 'normal' everyone was acting at the table. Many of them had already started digging into the piping-hot dishes that just kept magically popping up from the table. Food was piling on top of their clean porcelain plates and some even began scarfing down the food as if they had been starving for days, if not weeks. The sight itself was just baffling to her because it was as though Voldemort was trying to recreate the experience of having a meal with a family.

She had no issues regarding the food choice since Narcissa had been the one who had prepared it. The Malfoy matriarch did have some impressive cooking skills that Aine has never once doubted but it was the fact that almost everyone else was treating this dinner to be something ordinary.