The Dawn of Darkness || T. Riddle

Chapter 16: Muffins and Wine

Chapter 16

Estela scanned the crowd for Alden, but he was nowhere to be seen and so she went to sit down at a small table in the sidelines of the busy ballroom.

It disturbed her how much she had enjoyed the look of horror on Ethan Fawley's face earlier. She had poisoned, threatened and blackmailed him within the space of five minutes. It wasn't like her. But she couldn't deny that wonderfully dreadful feeling of dark and glorious accomplishment that had rattled her bones in a way it shouldn't have.

"Markorp," came a voice from behind her, and she turned to see Leonard Rosier looking down at her. "Someone has asked to see you. They want to discuss a deal you offered them."

She smiled up at Rosier, thinking that it must be Fawley who had changed his mind and finally seen sense. "Where is he?"

"In the lounge upstairs."

"Inform him I'm on my way." She said as she got up and made her way out of the ballroom.

***

Estela opened the door to the lounge, it was dark and silent, though the faint hum of the music from the ballroom below could still be heard through the thick marble floor. She looked around the dark room for Ethan, who was nowhere to be seen. She wondered why he hadn't ignited a lamp or at least used the tip of his wand to see better.

"Fawley?" she called into the large room, her voice reverberating off of the large walls.

The room was cold as she moved in further, and her hairs stood on end when she noticed one of the long windows was slightly ajar at the other end of the room, the light, wispy curtains blowing softly in the breeze.

She made her way over to shut it, the sound of her heels echoing throughout the room with each hesitant step she took on the white, marble floor. She shivered and shut the window with a wave of her hand.

She squinted around the darkness. Everything seemed far too still. She could hardly see very much, either, and the only visible light was the streaks of moonlight that stretched their way across the floor through the long windows, creating shapes and shadows that seemed to dance serenely across the marble floor.

A horrible feeling hit her in the depths of her gut as she slowly began walking to the centre of the room. There was no sign of Ethan. She called once more. "Fawley?"

She jolted and turned as she heard the slow creak of a door before she heard it shut gently, and she was sure she heard the soft click of the lock, but it was too dark for her to see who was there.

"Lumos maxima," she said, and her wand shone brightly as a round orb of light made its way up towards the high ceiling, where it floated serenely and illuminated the room.

The sound of footsteps could be heard slowly making their way towards her, and her hand grasped her wand tighter as someone approached out of the shadows.

It was a strapping man in a suit of navy with a hard, gruff face, dark eyes and a distinct handkerchief embroidered with the letter 'S'. Ifan Selwyn. Her fourth target.

"Selwyn," Estela said, trying her best to mask both the look and sound of surprise that it was him and not Fawley who was walking towards her. "You wanted to see me?"

She was confused. Selwyn had agreed to her deal and said that he wanted to meet Tom, so why had he brought her here now? She kept a firm grip on her wand as he strolled towards her with a face as hard as stone. Perhaps he just wanted more information? Perhaps he wanted to change the terms or back out? She tried to convince herself that's why she was here, but the locked door and the look on his face told her otherwise.