"My Lord," he took a deep shuddering breath in through his nose and narrowed his eyes at the witch in front of him, "we have done as you commanded. We have placed Pius Thickness under the Imperius Curse," his hands flexed around the arm of the throne he had claimed as his. He tightened his grip. He felt as if he were feeling everything through a filter. Through a membrane. Everything had felt like that recently. The only thing that he could feel with any surety, was the ring on his index finger. If everything else felt muted, the touch of the ring’s metal to his skin practically burned.