Eliza did talk to Tom in the morning, letting him know that Dumbledore was indeed on the hunt for horcruxes and that she was somewhat unwillingly invading his privacy as she traversed through different memories. He told her not to worry about it and they moved on to more entertaining topics of conversation such as Slughorn.
Speaking of Slughorn, Eliza received her slug club invitation a week later. As did Blaise and unsurprisingly Draco now that he had proven his potions prowess. Theo didn’t receive one and couldn’t care less – never one for social functions. Daphne didn’t receive one either but Susan did which meant Daphne would probably end up joining them eventually.
It’s not a bad night all in all, and after Slughorn found out she can claim both the Black and Potter lordships he made a spur of the moment decision to bring some fancy sugar quills to the next slug club meeting.
It was a symbiotic relationship, you could say.
September faded into October and Eliza started progressing with her necromancy. She had her actual studies of course but as most of the year were still struggling with non-verbal spells Eliza figured she was safe to focus on her extra-curricular.
Animating bones was easy, hollow and ready to be infused with magic, they practically leapt to her command these days. Working with dead cells, bodies, was a bit different. They were a lot more complex than bones. She had to focus on the cells first, and then move on. She had to get the heart to pump, push her magic through collapsed veins and arteries until she could set up a fully working circulation system.
The most powerful necromancers didn’t even have to blink to call up an army of the dead. They could even manipulate dead cells to regrow, not like inferi.
At this point in time Eliza couldn’t manage any of that, but she had created a zombie rat.
She and Jormy watched as it stumbled around. It was a creepy looking thing, it pulsated with a green glow that seemed to emanate from its veins but it was up and walking – even if half of its skull was caved in.
She was reminded of Frankenstein creating the monster, defying gods will.
She remembered the tale of the three brother’s and suppressed a shiver.
Eliza had never believed in God but she did believe in lady magic. Is it that far fetched to believe in a death?
Eliza rubbed her thumb over her ring in an absent-minded gesture. She was quite sure that the stone embedded in the ring was actually the resurrection stone from the fable. But if that was true didn’t that mean the fable’s warning also held true as well? Eliza didn’t want to risk it.
Besides, it wasn’t like she had anyone to summon anyway.
"I would not like to eat that rat" Jormy said besides her and Eliza snorted.
"Me neither"
~
It was half way through October when she received another message from Dumbledore, requesting her presence for their second lesson. Theo fed her sugar quills all day to keep her calm and reasonable and by the time Eliza reached Dumbledore’s office she was ready to put up with the old man for an hour, maybe even more.
Maybe this time he would actually tell her that he knew about the horcruxes.
Eliza doubted it though.
She couldn’t tell if Dumbledore was intentionally withholding the information because it was her he was speaking too or if he would have done this to a perfect little Gryffindor. Left his hero in the dark till the last moment, put off the inevitable until the last crucial moment where there would be no other choice but to martyr themselves.
Merlin Eliza really couldn’t stand that man.
When Eliza entered the office the penseive was already sat on the desk and Dumbledore smiled at her when she took the seat in front of him.
“I see you’ve settled in to your sixth year at Hogwarts Eliza” Dumbledore said, always a fan of meaningless small talk. Eliza smiled anyway and nodded.
“Professor Slughorn is quickly becoming one of my favourite teachers” Eliza admitted with a grin and Dumbledore let out a laugh.
“Yes, I imagined you and Horace would get along”
You could always trust a slytherin to make the best of any situation.
Eliza’s gaze drifted towards the pensieve and rose an inquiring eyebrow.
“And what are we watching today sir?”
Dumbledore smiled and stood, pouring a phial of memories into the basin “This time, we are going to enter my memory. I think you will find it both rich in detail and satisfyingly accurate. After you, Eliza”
Inwardly grimacing Eliza leaned forward until she disappeared into the pensieve, landing easily on an old fashioned London street.
She was feeling uneasy about this particular memory.
“There I am,” said Dumbledore brightly when he joined her in the memory, pointing ahead of them to a tall figure crossing the road. This younger Albus Dumbledore’s long hair and beard were auburn. He strode off along the pavement, drawing many curious glances due to the flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet that he was wearing.
“Lovely suit, sir” Eliza commented cheekily and Dumbledore let out a chuckle as they started following his younger self. They walked until they reached an old grimy building and Eliza felt her heart drop to her stomach when she saw the peeling letters above it.
Wool’s Orphanage.
“Good afternoon. I have an appointment with a Mrs. Cole, who, I believe, is the matron here?” younger Dumbledore asked and Eliza worked very hard to regain a blank expression. She didn’t want to see this.
She had seen this before after all, she knew how it ended.
Eliza watched as Mrs. Cole dealt with the younger Dumbledore, so much like the matron at her orphanage. She remembered that this was the woman who treated Tom worse than dirt, who even sent him to be exorcised and she had to reign in her temper. Although Dumbledore can probably already see how much she was bristling.
Younger Dumbledore was led through the orphanage and she and actual Dumbledore trotted faithfully behind him until they arrived at Tom’s old room.
It was a small bare room with nothing in it except an old wardrobe, a wooden chair, and an iron bedstead. And there, sitting on top of the grey blankets, his legs stretched out in front of him and holding a book, was Tom. He appeared relaxed but he watched Dumbledore with narrowed wary eyes, far too wary for a child to be.
Merlin he had been so young.
Eliza hadn’t noticed it when Tom showed her his own memory of this, she had only been twelve herself, but now it was as clear as day. He hadn’t showed her this bit, all those years ago. Eliza couldn’t help but wince knowing she was soon going to find out why.
“I am Professor Dumbledore.”
“‘Professor’?” Tom repeated dubiously “Is that like ‘doctor’? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?”
Salazar how many times had Tom been put through that? He was only a kid, violent yes, with a few psychotic tendencies but still just a kid.
“No, no,” said Dumbledore, still smiling.
“I don’t believe you” Tom scoffed “She wants me looked at, doesn’t she? Tell the truth!”
Eliza could feel the magic laced in those words even through the memory and judging by the shocked look on younger Dumbledore’s face he could feel it too but instead continued to smile. Tom’s eyes widened and Eliza could only imagine what he was feeling. When you had nothing but your magic, and then it suddenly failed you? It was terrifying.
“Who are you?” he asked again quietly.
“I have told you. My name is Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I have come to offer you a place at my school — your new school, if you would like to come”
Tom leaped off the bed, a wild frantic look in his eyes “You can’t kid me! The asylum, that’s where you’re from, isn’t it?”
Eliza’s heart broke.
Tom had accepted his past but Eliza was overwhelmed with the urge to reach out to his younger self. To tell him that he wasn’t crazy, no he didn’t belong in an asylum and that one day, all those promises he made himself would be true. That he would be strong and powerful and far, far out of the reach of his old orphanage.
Tom had never showed her this part of the memory and Eliza could understand why, Salazar it was horrible.
Eliza watched as the scene played out in silence, she made no move to speak and neither did Dumbledore. She didn’t speak over Tom’s fevered ramblings, didn’t speak when Dumbledore apparently set all of his worldly belongings on fire.
And Eliza said nothing when Tom admitted he could speak to snakes, and subsequently put the last nail in the coffin that held Dumbledore’s trust.
“I think that will do” Dumbledore said as his younger self walked out of the room, in seconds they were back in Dumbledore’s office. Eliza took her seat and watched as Dumbledore packed away the pensieve in solemn silence.
“I can understand” Eliza began “why everyone believed we were so similar”
Dumbledore sighed and nodded his head gravely “His powers, much like your own, were surprisingly well-developed for such a young wizard and — most interestingly and ominously of all — he had already discovered that he had some measure of control over them. And as you saw, he was already using magic against other people, to frighten, to punish, to control. The little stories of the strangled rabbit and the young boy and girl he lured into a cave were most suggestive…‘I can make them hurt if I want to…’”
Eliza nodded, a frown on her face “It must have been hard though. An orphanage in muggle London, overtly religious and on the brink of a war?”
“Could you possibly be feeling sorry for Lord Voldemort?” Dumbledore asked but he didn’t sound wary. Well, he probably knew better than anyone what it was like to love a monster.
“I feel sorry for Tom Riddle” Eliza answered delicately because that was what he expected it from her when in reality all she wanted to do was set his stupid beard on fire “I feel sorry for this boy who had to grow up to fast, who’s first introduction to magic was distrust and ruination”
At least Dumbledore had the decency to look ashamed.
“Was he obviously already quite sadistic? Undoubtedly, but so was I once upon a time” Eliza pointed out and Dumbledore nodded.
“The difference between you and young Tom Riddle, Eliza, was that when you arrived at Hogwarts you chose to surround yourself with friends and he instead chose to surround himself with followers”
She couldn’t argue with that.
“Tom Riddle was already highly self-sufficient, secretive, and apparently, friendless” Dumbledore continued “He did not want help or companionship on his trip to Diagon Alley. He preferred to operate alone and the adult Voldemort is the same”
Not anymore, Eliza thought to herself, not now.
“And lastly — I hope you are not too sleepy to pay attention to this, Eliza— the young Tom Riddle liked to collect trophies. You saw the box of stolen articles he had hidden in his room. These were taken from victims of his bullying behaviour, souvenirs, if you will. Bear in mind this magpie-like tendency, for this, particularly, will be important later”
Of course it would come in handy later.
If Tom’s animagus form wasn’t a magpie Eliza would riot.
“But” Dumbledore said with a sigh “time has made fools of us again and it is now time for us to adjourn”
Eliza nodded, accepting that she wouldn’t be ‘learning’ about horcruxes tonight and started heading towards the door before she paused.
“You know sir” she began, looking back at the old professor “I never forgot what you told me in second year; that it is our choices that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities”
Dumbledore smiled happily and Eliza left the office with a smirk.
Dumbledore had made many choices over the years. And they would all lead him to standing in front of Eliza, wandless and defeated.
And after all these years she and Tom would finally get their revenge. Revenge on Dumbledore for leaving her with the Dursley’s, for raising her to be a martyr, a willing sacrifice. And they would get revenge for Tom, who had once been just a boy before he was a monster.
~
Like the years before the lead up to Samhain was remarkably uneventful – the same couldn’t be said for the holiday itself.
It had started with a message from Tom who Eliza was beginning to think was just an omen in pretty packaging.
She had been in the common room with her court, mindlessly writing out her predictions for divination (someone close to me is about to lose a lot of money) when her journal she had been keeping besides her heated up.
Hello Little Star, Are you busy?
She hadn’t really spoken to Tom about the memories of Dumbledore’s she had seen. She had simply mentioned he was looking into Tom’s dramatic magpie tendences and called it a day. Tom hated showing vulnerability and Eliza knew he’d hate it even more to know she had seen him scared and small in that orphanage.
Predicting death omens for divination, nothing I can’t put aside Eliza scrawled back and elbowed Draco when he tried to read over her shoulder. Daphne was out with Susan and Blaise was, well, no-one really knew but Eliza was sure he wasn’t hurt. She, Theo and Draco were holed up in front of the fireplace although Eliza was the only one who had been doing homework.
Draco was meant to be doing a history of magic essay but he had long since given up – Theo was the only one who did any work for that subject.
Samhain is coming up Tom wrote back ambiguously and Draco groaned despairingly when he read the message.
“Please don’t tell me you’re planning something – I have a bet”
“When don’t you have a bet” Theo snarked as if he had also not placed money on a Samhain disaster.
Yes it is?
I’ve organised a raid of sorts. The order have received information that a few death eaters will be bringing down Tower Bridge on Samhain. I plan to ambush them and demolish their numbers.
How fun
I was wondering if you would like to join me?
Eliza froze, staring at the page in contemplation. Tom wanted her to join him?
He was asking her to murder people with him, but it was still sort of sweet.
“No” Draco said “You can’t really be considering this can you?”
It was quite a tempting offer.
“Eliza” Draco said exasperated and Eliza turned to him with an innocent expression.
“But Draco” she pouted and Draco shook his head vigorously.
“Besides” he spluttered out “if you leave Hogwarts everyone will know you were there – you can’t be in two places at once”
Eliza’s hand drifted to the golden chain of her time turner.
What time will you be there? Eliza wrote back with a grin.
She had been very well behaved recently.
It was about time she had some fun.
~
Samhain night Eliza attended the feast with her court and headed back to her room in the slytherin common rooms.
At the same time that night Eliza slipped out of Hogwarts when her past self was in the great hall and started wandering down to the forbidden forest.
Luna did say she should visit the thestrals.
Eliza breathed in deeply as she slipped out onto the grounds, the crisp air filling her lungs as the night set in around them. Glancing around to make sure she was alone Eliza shifted into her fox form.
Instantly the world seemed bigger and Eliza pranced around in the grass for a minute, feeling the slightly damp grass beneath her paws, before she dashed off into the forest. Her sense of smell was much better in this form and it was suddenly a hell of a lot easier to navigate the forest in the dark.
Tracking the thestrals scent Eliza dashed and weaved through the forest until she finally caught up to the herd. They were stood in the clearing and Eliza shifted out of her fox form as she approached them.
The stallion closest to her let out a whinney and started prancing in a circle, recognising Eliza from their last foray. He tossed his head back and trotted closer, butting his head against Eliza in a request for treats. Eliza laughed and conjured a rat for him to snack on, running a hand down his neck and the smooth fur.
“Do you think you could give me a lift?” Eliza asked and the thestral let out an indignant snort as if to say ‘of bloody course I can’
Laughing again Eliza and the thestral walked over to a fallen tree trunk so Eliza could clamber atop his back. Tangling her hands in the mane Eliza took in a deep breath and squeezed her legs.
The thestral took off at a gallop before leaping into the air, flying higher and higher above the forbidden forest.
She had never ridden a horse before coming to Hogwarts, but Eliza figured she’d more than made up for that now.
~
They arrive at Tower Bridge an hour later and mercifully it’s not raining.
The thestral’s hooves clatter against the road as they trot down the bridge and Eliza blinked in surprise. She had never seen Tower Bridge so empty. No cars or muggles, she could see the London Eye in the distance, hear the Thames flowing beneath them.
There was nowhere to hide here, out in the open.
It guaranteed a quick and bloody fight.
Eliza trotted further down the bridge and shivered when she felt herself pass through the anti-muggle wards Tom must have put up.
Tom himself was stood at the centre of the bridge, four or five death eaters surrounding him and Eliza grinned when they all flinched at the sight of the thestral trotting towards them.
“Always have to make an entrance don’t you darling?” Tom called and Eliza cracked a grin as she slid off the back of her thestral.
“Says you?” Eliza teased and patted the thestral on his neck. He let out a pleased little snort, swished his tail, and started trotting back down the bridge heading back to Hogwarts.
“You’re the most dramatic person I know Riddle” she finished and Tom rose his eyebrows.
“Back to Riddle darling?” Tom hissed out in parseltongue and Eliza shrugged innocently before replying back in parseltongue too.
“Didn’t think you’d appreciate me calling you Tom when you’re doing dark lord things”
Someone, Barty, let out a groan “I hate it when you two do this”
She and Tom hit him with a stinging curse at the same time.
“When will the order arrive?” Eliza asked as she sauntered over, coming to a halt by Tom’s side.
“Bellatrix is out there, causing some chaos somewhere” he said airily “they should be arriving any minute” he paused and glanced at her, a reprimanding look on his face “which means you should put your mask on already”
Eliza rolled her eyes, already in the process of unshrinking her mask which she had stuffed in the pocket of her battle robes.
“Yes my lord” Eliza drawled out and felt Tom tense beside her.
“Careful little star” Tom practically growled out and Eliza felt her breath hitch. In the darkness his eyes seemed unnervingly bright and Eliza tried to suppress a shiver.
And then, the order arrived.
They came barrelling down the street, chasing the three Lestrange’s (she would recognise Bellatrix’s mad cackle anywhere) She couldn’t recognise any of the order members however, they were probably just Dumbledore’s unlucky canon fodder.
Tom lazily waved his hand and the death eaters around them leaped into action. Avery, Rowle and Rosier joining the Lestrange’s in the fray. They looked like they were outnumbered two to one but Tom’s death eaters were ruthless and efficient – the fight wouldn’t last long.
She and Tom didn’t even need to interfere, they stayed behind and watched the fight play out in front of them, the spell fire reflecting in the dark waters of the Thames.
It was a fast fight, but one of them managed to send a patronus calling for back up before Rosier dealt with him. Neither she nor Tom were worried, they wanted more of the order to arrive.
They would exterminate Dumbledore’s forces in one swift bloody blow.
“Ready little star?” Tom asked as they heard the tell tale cracks of apparition.
“More than” Eliza replied with a smirk, already feeling the adrenaline course through her. But she and Tom hang their fire and waited until the order came in to view. There were twenty or more fighters, but this time Eliza recognised some of them. Diggle, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Vance, Jones and Fletcher.
Mad-eye Moody led them forward.
For a moment they all stop and Tom stepped forward, practically dripping with arrogance and lethal intent.
“Enough magical blood has been spilled” Tom called out, voice carrying across the bridge “Put down your wands, cease your fighting”
He smirked, a dangerous thing, and languidly twirled his wand between his fingers.
“If you do that then you may leave with your lives”
Someone fired a jinx and then the fight began.
Eliza darted away from Tom’s side and joined the fray, immediately disarming an order member who was duelling Barty. Spell fire was every where and her heart was beating so loudly she could barely hear anything else over it. She sent a tripping jinx at Tonks and giggled slightly when the auror toppled over the side of the bridge and into the Thames beneath them.
Casting a glacius under Diggle’s feet Eliza smirked when Bellatrix tore the man apart as he fell to the ground. Served him right.
You’re a monster.
And maybe she was.
Eliza grinned wildly as she ducked under an avada kedavra shot of by Hestia Jones and caught the witch’s throat with a severing spell.
But weren’t they all, at the end of the day?
Blood splattered against her mask but Eliza payed it no mind, not when she had to duck out of the way of a cutting hex. Spinning around Eliza cast a protego just in time to block spellfire from both Fletcher and Vance.
Eliza began to duel them, messing with them a bit as she deflected and returned spell after spell. It was hard keeping track of both of them but other than that they were a bit, pitiful.
They had nothing on Tom.
Eliza took down Fletcher with a blood boiling curse and took down Vance in the same fluid motion, taking advantage of the woman’s distraction. Vance’s rib pierced her lung, she toppled over with a choked scream.
She moved on.
The rush was insane as she duelled and fought and killed. The asphalt crunched beneath her boots as she twisted and turned, blood shining wetly beneath the street lights. Eliza could sense the corpses around her, the death pulling and tugging on her magic as she tore her way across Tower Bridge.
Tom was doing well on the other side, sleek and powerful and lethal in a way none of the others could ever hope to match. He moved on quickly, leaving death and destruction behind him and somehow made it look effortless.
The road below her cracked and with a curse Eliza leaped out of the way just as the tarmac exploded where she had been standing. Glancing around Eliza deflected a bone breaking curse and span on the spot to face none other than Mad Eye Moody.
Oh how she had been waiting for this.
The man was a fierce duller, Eliza could recognise that as they fought, but he was old and wounded and Eliza had been trained by the dark lord himself.
Smirking Eliza found a gap in his shields and sent a bombarda at his peg leg only to watch as her curse was deflected by wards.
Dammit.
She began casting again in earnest, trading jinx and hex and curses with the old auror as she tracked his movements with unwavering focus. She was so focused that she barely caught Barty’s warning shot.
She heard a lamppost shattering above her, saw the light of a spell heading for her – and rolled out of the way, scraping her hands on the tarmac. Shacklebolt had been stood behind her, levitating shards of glass and Eliza hit him with a curse that removed his bones.
He hit the ground with a strange sort of splat and Eliza whirled around to face Moody just in time to duck an avada kedavra.
The green light skimmed over her shoulder and Eliza let out a mad laugh when she saw Moody’s desperate face. Before the man could cast again she shot a bombarda at the road beneath his peg-leg and knocked him off balance. She quickly followed it up with an entrails-expelling curse that she didn’t expect would hit him.
She was incredibly satisfied when it did.
Moody dropped to the ground and Eliza twisted on her heel to re-join the fight only to realise it was over.
A couple of death eaters were helping out with the clean up and the stench of burning bodies permeated the once crisp cool air. She watched in idle amusement as Tom simply chucked a body over the bridge and into the Thames below them.
He grinned when he caught sight of her and started sauntering over only to frown.
And then he started running.
It was only then that Eliza noticed the dull throbbing pain in her abdomen.
Glancing down Eliza pressed a hand to her stomach and found her battle robes soaked through. When she pulled her hand away it was covered in blood, slippery and horribly warm.
That- that wasn’t good.
Eliza felt the panic set in as she lifted her shirt, seeing the glass shards jabbed into her stomach. She suspected the only reason she hadn’t bled out was because the shards were still stuck in the wound.
Her knees buckled but Tom caught her before she fell.
“Eliza?”
Fuck it hurt
Eliza groaned, bloody hands raising up to cling onto Tom as her breathing came in quick pants. Her eyes were stinging as the pain filled her body and vaguely she heard Tom swear as he caught sight of her wounds.
But her eyes were so heavy and he sounded so far away.
“Eliza?” she heard him say, worried and fearful and she thought that might be the only reason she heard him. She’d never heard Tom scared before “Eliza you need to stay awake okay, keep talking to me”
“You talk enough for the both of us Tom” Eliza murmured groggily, hot tears streaming down her face as she tried her best to shake the black spots in her vision.
She didn’t want to die, not here, not now. She didn’t want to die and leave her family, didn’t want to die before she did something to be remembered. Eliza had always fought for everything but she can feel that this is the first fight she might lose.
“No, Eliza” Tom said shakily. He brought his hands up to cup her face and Eliza grimaced at the blood coating them “Eliza you need to stay awake so I can get help okay?”
“Eliza?”
“Eliza”
~
Eliza woke up feeling like complete an utter shit.
Her stomach felt tender, her muscles ached and her mouth was drier than the Sahara. Tom was sat beside her in a chair, his hand was clutching hers and even though his gaze was fixed on the fireplace his fingers were softly resting over her pulse point. His hair was in a disarray, as if he had continuously ran his hands through it and there were streaks of dried blood on his cheeks.
“You look like shit” Eliza croaked out and Tom’s head snapped towards her, overwhelming worry in his eyes. Eliza knew she was in trouble when he didn’t even respond to her insult. Instead he reached over and pressed a glass of water into her shaking hands, helping her sit up in the plush bed.
Eliza sipped her water obstinately ignoring both Tom and the tremors in her hands and glanced around the room.
There was a giant desk in the corner, covered in papers and littered with strangely shaped candles. There was a giant window on the other side of the room, the curtains covering most of it but Eliza could still see a glimpse of the dark night beyond. There were shelves upon shelves holding all sorts of books, from magical to muggle and Eliza even spied a collection of vinyls on the bottom shelf. There were small trinkets all over the shelves, preserved bird skulls, old scrolls and precious jewels.
In fact Eliza was so distracted by the copies of gothic muggle fiction on the shelf that she almost forgot about the pain until she shifted and winced at the phantom aches.
“What happened?” she asked handing the glass back to Tom who had yet to remove his hand from her own. He was absently playing with her fingers, calloused fingertips brushing against her own as he intertwined them.
“We think Shacklebolt caught you in his attack” he spoke haltingly “glass punctured your stomach. I managed to patch you up, but you’ll probably need a blood replenishing potion
“You lost a lot of it”
Eliza cursed and started trying to scramble out of the bed “How long have I been out? I need to get back to Hogwarts before my time turner catches up with me and-
Tom’s hand didn’t let go of hers and instead held on tighter.
“You almost died” he said, and Eliza froze hearing how strangled his voice sounded “I held you and you were crying, and you were bleeding, and you were dying”
Eliza shifted uncomfortably under the weight of Tom’s stare and tried to crack a grin.
“Can’t lose that horcrux, right?” Eliza joked weakly but froze when Tom leaped to his feet, a wild almost bestial look in his eyes.
“It’s not about the fucking horcrux” he cursed, and she blinked in surprise “It’s you Eliza, I almost lost you”
She had no idea what to say to that and in the moments after his declaration Tom looked strangely lost, like he also couldn’t believe he had said that and didn’t know what to say next. So, when he started walking out of the room Eliza panicked.
“Tom?” she called, fruitlessly pushing herself further off the bed “Tom where are you going?”
He didn’t answer but returned a few seconds later with a damp washcloth and took a seat next to her by the bed. Tom reached for her hands in silence, pulling them closer to him and slowly ran the damp washcloth over them.
“You’re still covered in blood” he explained, studiously focusing on wiping her hands clean of blood (her blood because she had almost died and-). Eliza didn’t point out that a cleaning spell would have done the same job. She also didn’t point out that she was fully capable of cleaning herself up alone. And when Tom leaned in closer, delicately wiping the blood that must have stained her cheeks Eliza simply leaned into his comforting touch.
“I need to go back” Eliza said, barely speaking about whisper – it felt wrong to interrupt the quiet that had settled over them.
“Stay” Tom said, raw and vulnerable in a way that made Eliza’s breath catch in her throat.
“Stay” he repeated.
And how could she say no to that?
Eliza shuffled to the other side of the bed, the chair Tom had been slumped in truly didn’t look comfy. Tom looked at her looking painfully confused when Eliza patted the empty side of the bed but still complied. Gingerly climbing in next to her as if he was scared she’d disappear the second he got close to her. Rolling her eyes Eliza didn’t waste a moment before she curled up by his side because Tom was warm, and safe, and there and Eliza had never been closer to losing everything than she had been tonight.
“Wake me up in an hour” Eliza murmured sleepily, eyelids already drooping “I have to go back soon”
“Do you have to?” she heard Tom ask and Eliza let out a soft laugh.
“Course I do – don’t worry though, I’ll come back. I always do”
She thought Tom might have said something else but Eliza was already falling asleep, curled up by Tom’s side, buried beneath the covers and smiling to herself slightly.
Because of course Tom owned bloody silk bedsheets.
It was to that stupid thought she fell asleep, feeling safer than she had in years.