Chapter 24 - Power-  Yennefer Interlude

— Yennefer —

The heavy oak door of the master bathroom clicked shut, followed a few seconds later by the muffled rush of running water.

Yennefer let out a slow, shaky breath, pressing a hand against her chest as a lingering shiver ran down her spine.

She had always been attracted to power. And watching Ingris casually slam the entire Slytherin common room to their knees with nothing more than his raw aura had left her extremely hot and bothered.

She had grown up on stories of power, tales of terrifying Dark Lords whose names reverberated through the ages. Her father, of course, had told her all those bedtime stories to try and ingrain the idea of purebloods and just how inherently superior we were.

And she had actually believed it for a time. Right up until she found out that the most powerful mages of the last hundred years were half-bloods with few exceptions.

Oh, Lucius had certainly attempted to gloss over that little tidbit.

But between her own research and digging through old family diaries (with a little help from Ingris later on), she had learnt the truth about Voldemort's real identity. Honestly, it wasn't even that much of a secret in the pureblood community.

Her own grandfather and plenty of other dark faction lords had gone to school with Tom Riddle. They knew exactly what he was, and they still decided to join his little crusade anyway because it suited their political goals at the time, and, most of all, because he was unfathomably powerful.

Hypocritical bastards, the lot of them.

And then there was Dumbledore, another half-blood. The old fool commanded sycophants who were somehow even more blindly loyal than the Dark Lord's Death Eaters.

If you were to believe her fiancé, the Headmaster was something called a 'Light Lord'. Something that, according to Ingris, was infinitely more dangerous than any Dark Lord.

Because while a Dark Lord ironically operated out in the light, loud and proud. She remembered letting out a snigger when Ingris explained it like that. A Lord of Light hid behind those so-called Dark Lords as a saviour, slowly corrupting and moulding the world into their own vision.

Two very different paths, really, but at the end of the day they led to a remarkably similar result. A world remade in the image of a single, powerful being.

Growing up worshipping that kind of strength, Yennefer had decided early on that she was going to be the powerful one. She would be the one standing above everyone else.

The magical world had suffered more than enough male lords, she figured, so why shouldn't she become the next Dark Lady? A being of unimaginable power. This generation's Le Fey.

That was the plan, anyway. Right up until her mother brought home a young boy named Ingris Buer and casually informed her that he was to be her husband once they came of age.

She had hated him at first. How dare this random, quiet boy think he could stand next to the future Dark Lady?

So, naturally, she did what any petulant, arrogant child would do: she challenged him to a duel to decide their fates. Her parents had just thought it was a cute little spat between children and allowed it to go ahead.

Honestly, as eleven-year-old kids, neither of them knew nearly enough magic to actually be dangerous. And as it turned out, Ingris didn't know any at all.

The little shit hadn't even cast a single spell. Yet still accepting the duel.

He had simply closed the gap between them, effortlessly dodging the few basic jinxes she managed to get off before walking right up and punching her square in the stomach. She had crumpled to the dirt immediately, gasping for air like a landed fish.

Then the bastard had leaned down and whispered right into her ear.

"We should do this again," he had said, making her glare up at him through watery eyes.

And that was exactly what they did.

Every single month from that day on, she challenged him, and his initial inability to cast magic quickly became a non-factor as he began learning spells like a man possessed. The exact same result began to repeat itself over and over again.

Her losing, flat on her back in the dirt.

At first, she had actually enjoyed it. She figured that maybe he really could stand beside her in her quest for power, someone strong enough to push her to greater heights.

That comforting delusion hadn't lasted long.

Eventually, she realised he was no longer taking her seriously at all, treating their monthly duels as a casual game just to play with her, as if she wasn't even a real challenge anymore. It all came to a head on her fifteenth birthday when she challenged him again, practically begging him to stop holding back and show her just how far apart they truly were.

She might as well have been that eleven-year-old girl again for all the progress she had made compared to him.

He hadn't even needed to draw his wand or cast a spell. He had simply released his magical aura and pushed her straight to the floor with sheer pressure alone, knocking her completely unconscious in a matter of seconds.

She had woken up late that night in her own bed, looking up into her mother's worried eyes, and for the first time in years, she had cried. Somewhere along the line, between all the bruises and the banter, she had fallen hopelessly in love with Ingris, and now she felt like she wasn't even worthy to stand next to him.

That was the night something inside her finally broke.

And the exact night something else awoke.

Her Sacred Gear.

The Corvus Umbra had been an absolute godsend. While she knew deep down that she would probably never compare to a freak of nature like Ingris in terms of pure, raw power, she now had shadow clones to help her close the gap and eventually surpass him in sheer technique.

And that was exactly what she had done.

She had spent every single waking second she could muster with her clones, ruthlessly researching, casting, and training in secret until she was ready to drop from exhaustion.

The payoff had finally happened last summer. After a full year of avoiding their usual matches, she had challenged Ingris out of nowhere, and for the first time in her life, she had actually managed to surprise him, and even defeat him.

Granted, the very next time they sparred he had promptly put her on her arse again, and back and forth it went for the rest of the year.

Right up until he became a Devil.

The second she had felt that suffocating demonic energy rolling off him in the courtyard over the summer, she knew that if she didn't take the plunge with him, he would leave her behind forever. So she had jumped headfirst into becoming his Queen without a single second of hesitation.

All so she could once again stand proudly by his side.

Letting out a low breath, Yennefer stripped off her heavy Hogwarts outer robes and tossed them carelessly onto the floor, leaving her in the sheer black lace she had picked out specifically for tonight.

Climbing onto the centre of his massive four-poster bed, she propped herself up on one elbow just as the bathroom water shut off.

It was time for the Queen to claim her reward.

An. Don't own anything recognizable.

Small Interlude before the Lude. 

NSFW chapter will come out tomorrow and then we will see what Ingris 2.0 has been up too.