"She loves no one," he’d told her, his eyes cold as he glared at the family portrait that hung above the fireplace. Their absence - his and his sister’s - was mocking in the picture it gave. "Not grandfather or uncle, or you, or even me. The Gaunt heir," he said, his tone mocking. After his grandfather passed, the Gaunt name would be passed to his uncle, and after him - no one, if he died without issue. Merope couldn’t carry the Gaunt name, nor could he carry it, with his bastard status, and his sister -