Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Fifty-One: Unbreakable

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The manor house was colder and emptier than I had ever seen it before. As we entered the estate, seeing the state of squalor the Gaunt's were heading in made things begin to click.

He needed gold, and if he couldn't have gold, he'd settle for power, even if it wasn't his own.

Thorfinn led us up the dusty staircase, and pointed to the same bedroom I had occupied while living here. He waited as Abbi pushed it open, and spoke lowly as she stepped inside.

"Tomorrow, we will start going over the details of just how you'll be earning his freedom."

She nodded and shuffled her feet anxiously at the foot of the bed, waiting for him to leave. I made to follow her in, only to be stopped by Thorfinn's iron clad grip closing around my arm.

"Any funny business from you, and you'll wish I'd killed her in Feldcroft. Understand?"

"Yes." I bit at him, ripping my arm from his grip. He smiled his silky smile as he turned away, and with a sinking feeling of doom, sealed the door shut.

Prisoners to the Gaunt's.

I turned and looked around my room. Robes draped over the chair where I'd left them this summer, waiting for my return. A small pile of crumpled parchment where I had started a thousand letters to her and torn them apart still littered the desktop.

I couldn't help it as I watched her as she paced the small room. And despite myself, I couldn't help but think about all the times I had wished she'd be in here, brows drawn down as she thought, hands wrapped around herself just as they were now, and in my dreams I'd have pulled her to the bed and comforted her.

I was too angry to even do that.

"What we're you thinking?" My voice was thick, strained, even I could tell. She'd pick up on it instantly despite the aggressiveness I had laced into it, the accusation eager on my lips. "You're smart enough not to let him fool you! What happened to that witch?"

She whipped her head up at me and glared, her face wet with tears. Instantly I regretted the venom my words had lashed her with, wanting to take it back.

"I saved you," she whispered fierce and fiery, just the way I loved her. "You couldn't stay in there, Seb, I could feel you draining! And if you think I was just going to sit by and feel the life drain out of you, you're not as brilliant a wizard as I thought."

I flinched at this, but pressed forward, knowing that fear must have gripped her. "Abbi, there is no way out of an Unbreakable Vow. The only way out is if one party dies, or the vow has been finished. You do realize that he left things vague for that exact reason?"

"Yes, I'm aware he left it vague. I have no intention on being his slave." Her voice was low and I rushed forward at this slapping my hand over her mouth.

"You can't be serious!"

She glared and pulled away from my grip. "What was I to do Sebastian?! I can't cast a Patronus, never bothered learning how! How was I supposed to get you out of Azkaban otherwise?"

"You weren't!"

"Sebastian-"

"You should be back at the school, or in Feldcroft with Anne! You shouldn't be here!"

She flinched at this, and I felt my stomach drop. "What? What is it?"

She didn't look at me, but hung her head in shame, avoiding my searching gaze. Something was wrong, and I had a feeling it was to do with Feldcroft. Something the auror had said while arresting me rang through my head.

"What happened to Anne?" I whispered, panic flaring.

"She's been cursed, Sebastian. Imperio. I- I-" She paused, and took a shuddering breath and seeming to collect herself before continuing. "If I had done anything to Marvolo, she was under orders to kill herself. I protected both of you by agreeing. She- I-"

Her breaths were rattling and ragged, tears pouring down her cheeks as she sobbed. I wrapped her into my arms and smoothed her hair. I'd done it so many times before, held her and let her sob, but this one felt different. Heavier. As though there was more she wasn't telling me.

I found I didn't care.

"Abbi, it's alright," I breathed into her ear, my own voice shaky as I thought about my sister cursed again. Used as the final pawn to make Abbi bend to their will.

Marvolo had to go first.

"I thought she'd turned you in."

"I know."

"I went there to-"

"I know."

"Do you ha-"

"No."

Her sobs grew louder at this, her small hands clinging to my robes as I looked down at her, holding her tiny body closer into my own, breathing her in.

We stayed like that for a long while, clinging to one another as we stood in the middle of the room. Her heart pounded against my chest, as though desperately trying to beat itself out of hers. She was shaking, and sobbing and her body was small in mine and I had failed her.

I had done this to her.

I'd set it in motion two years ago, when I took her into the Scriptorium. I'd sealed her fate when I murdered Solomon. I'd tied her to my twisted love and she was suffering the consequences.

"I'm sorry, Abbi."

I failed her.

It repeated in my head like a canon. Each time the phrase repeated I felt the knife in my heart twist.

"It's not your fault Seb."

"It is," I hissed back, holding her even tighter, knowing soon I was sure to make it difficult for her to breathe.

"I'll fix it," she whispered. "I made this vow. I'll fix it."

My heart stopped beating in my chest.

"Do you want him to find out you're up to something?" I hissed, panic flaring. "Merlin, Abbi, you need to be careful!"

"I'm not up to anything! I have to follow through with this, or I die, Sebastian. I'm not going to let him keep me forever. He can have what he wants and then we are getting away from him."

She didn't see it.

He had her, hook line and sinker. She still thought that there was a way out of this where she was free or alive. My hands ran through my hair and over my face, pushing and pulling, making me feel that I must look as mad as I felt.

I sighed, frustration tearing my soul apart, and putting my hands on her face and pulling her eyes up to meet mine, breathing in the familiar honeysuckle and vanilla that was her.

"Abbi, he won't let you go. He's not going to give up the most powerful witch in the world. But I swear to you," I paused, forcing myself to say the next words and keep my composure. She was shaking under my fingertips as I pulled back to look into her dark green eyes, finishing myself missing for the first time how light they used to be. "I swear, Abbi, I'll break that vow if it's the last thing I do."

"Seb-"

I didn't let her finish the thought. I pulled her into me, my lips crushing onto hers desperately, needing her to understand that this was my own Unbreakable Vow to her. One that would only risk my life, and keep her safe.

Keep her free.

I'd do anything it took to let her be free again. Death was welcome, I didn't care, so long as she was free.

All I knew was that I'd take Thorfinn Gaunt with me.