Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter series.
Note of Coherence: This will follow chapter by chapter; no artistic leaps and bounds in time.
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"Bellatrix lies tangled in her own bruising limbs and pride."
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Her breath settles slowly as his lips graze upon the flesh above her heart. Her eyes close, with bliss of course, but she is also tired and she wonders if her services have earned her an overnight stay with her master.
"My lord?" she murmurs sleepily.
His mouth moves against the slopes of her collarbone and his thumbs kneed her thighs.
Bellatrix can feel him lurking through her mind, but when he answers against her throat she cannot understand him.
"My lord?"
His tongue has crept to her ear and licks away the blood his teeth had previously won. As his lips rove behind her ear, Bellatrix's breath grows heavy in her throat.
"Such pure blood," he says between licks. His mouth vibrates against her ear as he chuckles darkly, "We'll have to be sure not to spill any next time."
Bellatrix dares to open her eyes and turns her head to find his eyes. His lips are covered with her blood, but his lips are so close, and Bellatrix dares. She presses her mouth against his and reclaims her blood from his lips with her tongue.
"Next time?" she asks with a chuckle dark enough to match his own. Her lips find his ear. "Surely not so soon, my lord?"
She slides her leg between his and readjusts her hips so that she is pressed against him. He responds by rolling over, one leg on either side of her, his hips sliding against hers. Bellatrix sighs and sinks deeper into the mattress and farther under him. His hands work diligently up her body from her waist to her breasts to her arms until he is holding her chin between his two hands. He stares into her eyes and does not need Legilimency to know her thoughts; her body tells him enough. As her legs open and her eyes close, he grips her jawline tighter.
He sears her lips with his own and delights in the gasps that escape her when their mouths separate.
"Surely not so soon, my Bella," he whispers cruelly.
He leaves the bed, leaves Bellatrix with unfulfilled yearning; this is his revenge for her earlier impudence.
Bellatrix's eyes flutter open as though in a daze.
"And to your unspoken request, my answer is no," he says icily. "You have a husband who is no doubt waiting for you."
Bellatrix does not dare enough to protest her master's reasoning, though her head is beginning to ache and she does not look forward to answering Rodolphus's questions with carefully constructed lies.
"I will not have this cause derision in the ranks, Bellatrix. You will construct your lies or I shall compromise and find someone else to use for these purposes."
Bellatrix nods and silently pulls on her clothes. When she has finished, she kneels before her master and kisses his feet.
"You need not do that, my lord."
"I thought not."
Bellatrix stands as he hisses softly for she knows it's not for her. Indeed, as she grabs her wand from the nightstand, the crack in the door widens and Nagini slithers into the room. Bellatrix scowls as Nagini flicks her tongue at her.
"You will not be late for your training tomorrow, Bella," he says dismissively.
"No, my lord."
Bellatrix leaves the room, reluctant but obedient.
When she walks through the gates of her craggy castle, no lights greet her from the window of the master bedroom and she thinks perhaps her husband has fallen asleep. It would be easier for her and better for Rodolphus. Bellatrix is a Slytherin; lying comes easily. But she fears that if she continues to lie to her husband, she'll have to face that she is lying to herself. Tonight is not the night for consequential thought, Bellatrix decides as she travels the long staircase to her bedroom.
She pauses before entering and decides instead to enter the adjoining bathroom. Bellatrix is a warrior but a Black foremost and retains a familial vanity and pride that denies her the ease of falling asleep with the shadows of blood on her skin. And to Bellatrix, spoils of love are little different to those of war.
She draws a bath and sinks into the water, reveling in how the scathing liquid burns into her newest scars. The pain is a reminder and the reminder numbs the pain. Bellatrix allows herself to slip underwater. How long she stays under, Bellatrix doesn't know. She is aware only that the breathless sensation reminds her of being in his presence, so she welcomes the ache in her lungs.
Far away, Bellatrix hears someone calling her name. She keeps her eyes shut as her mouth widens in a smile, as she pretends it is his voice.
A hand suddenly disturbs the water, and Bellatrix's eyes flash open and she surfaces with a gasp.
"You must not be human," Rodolphus says with unfortunate affection.
Bellatrix raises an eyebrow and pokes her legs out of the water to rest on the side of the tub.
"How is that?"
"Is even air below you that you don't need its services?"
Bellatrix sloshes a handful of water at her husband.
"I just have a higher sense of endurance," Bellatrix teases.
Rodolphus rolls his eyes and begins to untie his robe, but Bellatrix reaches a dripping hand to his chest.
"Only room for one tonight," she says gently. Her forefinger caresses the skin that exists under the folds of silk. "I'm filthy and too sore for any tricks in the tub."
Rodolphus takes her hand and presses a kiss into her palm.
"From visiting your sisters?" he asks with muted cynicism.
Bellatrix laughs idly. "Is that where I said I was going?"
Rodolphus dips the bar of soap into the water then travels it along his wife's leg. He lathers it against her foot then places the soap in Bellatrix's waiting hand.
"Can I help it if adventure finds me?" Bellatrix asks as Rodolphus thumbs dig into the sole of her foot.
"You might not tempt it so much," Rodolphus replies as he dips her foot into the water.
Bellatrix rubs the soap across her chest and hopes the water is murky enough to hide the bruises that are blooming there and elsewhere.
"Rodolphus, if I didn't tempt adventure, how would I have ever caught you?"
Bellatrix's words are as silky as the soap that slips from her fingers into her husband's fingers and then out of his. The soap falls to the bottom of the bathtub.
"I'm sure you had other means of ensnaring me, Bellatrix," Rodolphus says as his hand slides between Bellatrix's calves to reach the soap.
His fingers wrap around the soap but his hand remains underwater as Rodolphus locks eyes with his wife.
"And I'm sure all of those other means were very adventurous."
Bellatrix is keenly aware of Rodolphus's intentions so she draws her knees closer to her chest and presses her wet feet against his chest.
"No means no, Roddy," she teases. She even pouts for him if it will keep him away from the Dark Lord's most recent markings.
Rodolphus wraps his hands around Bellatrix's ankles and yanks her so that she submerges once more. Underwater with Rodolphus clutching her legs and the Dark Lord clutching her heart, Bellatrix floats in a dislocation from reality. Her lungs again ache for air, but breathing merely to stay alive seems insignificant to breathing in ragged breaths with him. Bellatrix feels her feet slip from Rodolphus's hold as his hands pull her arms. She splutters as her lungs gulp the air.
"Do not tease me," Rodolphus orders.
Bellatrix notices that when he reclaims her legs his grip is fiercer, more possessive. Yet still he kisses her feet. Bellatrix breathes a sigh of relief, not for her husband's affections but because, for now, lying is not so difficult.
A/N: Looks like this is going to turn into something; many thanks for the encouraging reviews! I do have a vague plot line in my head since it can't be all Bellamort sexy time, unfortunately. I will give you a clearer idea of the time-frame in relation to other events once that becomes a bit clearer to me. I do know it takes place fairly early in Bellatrix's career as a Death Eater.