Chapter 6

Draco

***

I helped her back to my bed and got her settled, placing the tray with the leftover food that had been kept warm over her lap. "Eat some more!" I didn't say anything about what she'd told me while she picked at her food again, but my mind replayed it all as I tried to get my thoughts together. If I'd found her pitiful before, that emotion was now magnified by a thousand.

Sometime later, I realized that she'd fallen asleep sitting up with the tray still across her lap, her food pretty much untouched. I'd been so lost in my head I didn't even realize that she'd dropped off like that without a sound. I removed the tray without jarring her and eased her down on the bed. She was so tired she didn't even stir.

As I pulled the blanket up around her to protect her from the cold, something soft and tender unfurled in my chest. It was such a foreign emotion that it caught me off guard. Still, I didn't play into it too much as I sat back to watch her sleep. I felt a huge sense o