Chapter Thirty-OneSeverus
I sat alone at my small but functional dining table, head in hands. I shook, my teeth chattered, my head ached. My thoughts, usually so clear, assaulted me, a jumble of unfamiliar patterns and sensations.
How, I asked myself, have I allowed that woman to inveigle herself so far and so deep into my mind?
In truth, no one had ever been able to 'read' me as Elizabeth Hamilton could. In her presence, my mind became an open book, as though she only need look at me to read my innermost thoughts. Could she see even deeper, into the darkest recesses of my soul, where my most fearful and basest thoughts lay dormant until the need arose for satisfaction? If she ever found that deep dark place within my private self, what would I do? Kill her? No. I'd come to care for her
