Lucius watched his nephew walk away with his son. Draco appeared to be wearing an invisible chain around his neck.
He tried to drag himself to the wheelchair. His body was weak.
"Twink!" he suddenly shouted, having only just thought of the house elf. The blonde man waited for a few seconds. She didn"t appear. "Twink!" he shouted again. Again, there was no response. "TWINK!" he practically roared, before coughing uncontrollably.
"Will you shut up? Your daughter is sleeping," said Narcissa.
Lucius looked at his wife. She looked exhausted, as if she had spent hours being chased by a troll. She was wearing only a revealing nightgown. Perhaps her nephew had forced her to wear it.
"Narcissa, help me. I need you to send a letter to the ministry. I want them to invalidate what I signed and to report Altair as a demon. We have to find a way to free ourselves from this," he begged desperately.
"Why would I do that?" she asked, confused. "It"s already been signed. Cassiopeia will be your heir. Her children will rule this house. It was your fault. You couldn't endure a little pain," she continued, acting as if nothing had happened. She ignored the fact that, if Lucius hadn't signed, their son would have died; his death was necessary to make Cassiopeia the heir.
Lucius looked at her silently. He searched her face for any sign that she was acting, that it was a joke or that she was just going along with Altair.
"Narcissa, you can find a way to tell me how he controls you, like a code. I'll find a loophole, one you ignored or weren"t able to see." Lucius didn't think Narcissa was the brightest person, or at least not as bright as he was.
"He fucked me hard," she said, as a drop of semen dripped from her vagina and slid down her thigh, calf, ankle and heel to the floor.
"Damn degenerate! For a long time, I allowed your debauchery. I thought that being free would make you less problematic," he said angrily.
"Your best decision. I would have killed you otherwise," she said, yawning.
"Ungrateful... You've lived like a queen for years! Years! All thanks to me!" Lucius's face began to turn a frightening shade of red.
"I gave you two heirs. I did my duty."
The blonde woman seemed unaffected by his comments.
"And now I'll only have one. A woman!" he spat angrily. At this point, Narcissa began to worry a little.
Deep down, she hoped that Altair would forgive her son. She knew this was impossible: her son would be punished, and the severity of the punishment would depend on what her nephew planned.
"Cassiopeia will have grandchildren," she said at last, ignoring her son's fate.
She tried not to think about it. Narcissa noticed with some horror that she didn't care as much as she used to.
'Cassiopeia can have a child. I'll call him Draco. I could even have one myself,' she thought, caressing her belly and imagining it swollen.
She quickly took her hands away, knowing that a mother shouldn't think that way. She shouldn't be thinking of ways to replace her son.
'I'm tired; that must be it,' she thought, trying to cheer herself up.
"A damn half-blood!" Lucius shouted furiously.
"A strong descendant. Just look at Altair; he's stronger than most wizards at his age. Imagine what he'll be like in five years. And imagine his children. The House Malfoy will live and prosper." Narcissa spoke, not knowing why she was trying to justify everything to her husband. Perhaps it was her way of convincing herself that everything happening to her family was for the best.
For her, sex was undoubtedly the best.
"Altair is going to destroy everything! Do you think he cares about our family? He will ruin it! Just imagine when they find out he's a demon!" Lucius was frustrated. He had lost his entire life. His entire existence had revolved around prestige and social status.
Even if his family would prosper under someone else's leadership, he would never give that up. Only his son would be worthy of being the head of the family at some point.
"Your family!" Narcissa replied sharply. "Before Malfoy, I was a Black. If the Malfoy family is finished, my children and I will be Blacks again," she finished.
"All this time and you never cared?" Lucius asked incredulously, unable to believe that he was the only person concerned about the family fate.
"I care about my children," 'Now more about Cassiopeia than Draco; after all, she will give me grandchildren,' she added in her mind. "The family name only matters as long as it brings prestige. If it loses that, why should I care?"
"Because Altair doesn't need you," Lucius whispered. This affected her; he was telling the truth.
"He won't abandon me," she said, her voice wavering. "He's a proud man. He considers me a trophy, one he snatched from you. I am proof that he defeated you," she told him.
Lucius let out a small laugh.
"He defeated me?" Even from his position on the floor, he looked at her as if she were foolish.
Yes, he was disappointed in his family. His daughter had turned out to be a slut and his son a faggot. His wife did not obey him.
But had he been defeated? Not at all.
He could get everything back, he just needed time.
He needed something else, too. His master.
"Ah, there's hope in your eyes," said Narcissa, seeming almost moved by his attitude. "You know, what you signed doesn't say that Altair can't hurt you." Lucius's eyes narrowed at that.
Lucius believed that in his current condition, Altair would never touch him. He would see him as a crippled man who had lost everything. Someone unworthy of attention. Perhaps he would simply make him watch as his daughter and wife were corrupted. He never signed anything else. That's why he had hope.
He could no longer trust his wife. He was alone. He had to find a way out of this.
'I need the Dark Lord,' he thought.
It was a somewhat hypocritical thought, considering that he had benefited from his absence and had even hoped that he would not return.
"Damn it," he whispered, trying to crawl back to his wheelchair pitifully. His mind formulated plans. He needed to visit the Lestrange vault. With Lyra under his guardianship, he should be able to access it with a small bribe to the goblins.
Of course, that was assuming the goblins didn't simply decide to exclude him for being unable to use magic.
"Crucio," he heard his wife say.
Lucius felt the curse again, raw and alive. His body spasmed with a force he didn't know he had. His fingers clawed at the floor until the skin peeled away, leaving bloody marks.
Lucius had used the curse for years. He had tortured with it. Hundreds of Muggles and Mudbloods would bear witness to his exploits in hell.
Lucius didn't realise the curse was so painful.
For minutes, he kicked like a child unable to stand on its own. He whimpered, torn apart like a wounded animal. His eyes bulged as he looked at Narcissa; even without words, she knew what he was asking for.
"Mercy?" she said, amused, the curse never stopping.
Lucius alternated between pain and rage until, little by little, it stopped.
His voice calmed down, ending in a low, guttural sound that was constant, as if he were unable to control his vocal cords.
His body occasionally convulsed, though not as strongly as before.
Narcissa stopped the curse and felt an intense heat build up between her legs. Had Altair been nearby, she would have begged him to fuck her without restraint.
'Too bad,' she thought.
Altair had not left clear orders about what to do with Lord Malfoy after he had signed. She did not know if he wanted him dead or simply incapacitated. Torturing him to that extent demonstrated that she was under Altair's control.
"Twink!" she shouted, and a house elf appeared at her side. She had freed the creature from the Malfoys. Now it served Altair and had been ordered not to obey Draco or Lucius. However, there had been no mention of Narcissa or Cassiopeia. Narcissa would take advantage of that. "Get the Draught of Living Death potion. Take Lucius to his room, clean him up and change his clothes. After that, administer the potion." She gave orders without arrogance or disrespect; after all, it was Altair's house elf, not hers.
Narcissa didn't wait for an answer, she took a few steps into Lucius's office and walked towards her daughter's unconscious body.
"Cock, mmmm" she muttered in her sleep.
Narcissa made her float with a spell and carried her to the nearest guest room. She lowered her daughter carefully and fainted on top of her.
The Cruciatus Curse was not just any curse; it exhausted the caster.