"Did you see him, did you see him?" Rodolphus was near hysterical. "Taking her, right there, right in front of all of us! My wife!"

"Calm down, Rod," Rabastan said, though he looked shaken too.

"Did you see what he did to her? Did you see what she did?"

"Rodolphus," said Rabastan, "none of us is pleased to have seen that – you shut up," he added to Nott who looked like he was about to disagree. "But we've promised she'll be punished. You have to trust us."

"They just get worse, every time he touches her," Rodolphus muttered, running his fingers through his hair. "And couldn't she at least try to pretend she doesn't love it?" He shuddered, trying to dispel the mental image of his wife bending back into the Dark Lord, crying out with pleasure. The table had been more than bad enough, how dare they do this…

"Rod–" Rabastan began, but Rodolphus cut him off.

"I can't stand it," he said. "Punish her tonight. Please, punish her tonight."

Rabastan looked around, at Malfoy, Nott, Dolohov and Avery, all of whom looked some combination of sympathetic and angry.

"We will, Rod," Rabastan said. "We'll punish her tonight."

)O(

Bellatrix was so tired she could scarcely stand upright. She had made it through to the end of the ritual before the exhaustion had really set in, but now she had to clutch at the doorframe to keep herself standing.

"Master," she said, stifling a yawn, "did I do well?"

The Dark Lord appraised her, then smiled. "Admirably, my Bellatrix. Did you want a reward?"

She considered, knowing full well the sort of reward he had in mind. Bellatrix knew she was too tired to be able to pleasure him properly, and he had, after all, taken her less than an hour ago outside, before all those men…

Bellatrix collapsed into the bed, too tired to shed her robes, though she did manage to kick off the shoes she was wearing. The Dark Lord joined her, though he did take the time to remove his robes, lying in the bed at her side, stroking her gently.

"Such a pretty little thing," he hissed, running his hands over her breasts, slowly pulling her robes off her. "Though prettier in white, I daresay…"

She sighed softly, tipping her head back and closing her eyes, though her lips curved into a mischievous smile. "You like me pure like that, my Lord?"

"Yes, Bella, pure so I can corrupt you."

She moaned, and rubbed her body against his. "I'm horribly, horribly impure…" She slid her hands over his arms, down his chest, and to his groin, feeling him carefully. Her fingers brushed over the leaking head. Voldemort groaned quietly, and Bellatrix rubbed him harder. "Would you like me to show you how impure I am?"

"I would, Bella, I would like that a great deal…"

She smiled, and rolled on top of him. The Dark Lord had never let her top before, but she was too giddy with excitement to be nervous about it. She knelt over him, leaned down to kiss his cool lips. " Then I'll show you. I'll do horrible things to you…"

He regarded her with far too much detachment in his eyes. "You're very bold tonight, Bellatrix."

She threw her head back and laughed. "I am! I am bold! I am a Death Eater, I have no reason not to be!" Her exhaustion had left her, replaced with pure joy, and she lifted herself up and sank down on his cock. Her head fell back and she moaned shamelessly.

The Dark Lord let out a soft moan. "You're quite attractive when you're dominant, Bella," he murmured. Bellatrix dug her fingers into the pillow on either side of his head and rocked back and forth on him, grinding down on his erection. Her heart seemed to be beating ten times its normal rate, and she thought a good bit of that was due to the excitement of, for once, acting the dominant in their bed. Much as she loved when the Dark Lord took her, showing how far superior he was to her, dominance was in her nature, and she preferred it.

To her surprise, the Dark Lord seemed to be enjoying this as well. He groaned, and his body heaved as she pounded him down into the bed. "My Bella, oh yes…"

He grabbed onto her hips, controlling her motions in just such a way that his cock pressed against the most sensitive spot inside her with every thrust. Bellatrix moaned and cried out, and grabbed onto her own breasts, palming them as the Dark Lord moved her on him. He flipped her onto her back once more, spreading her legs to take her hard.

She shrieked, not caring who heard, as he buried himself to the hilt, filling her completely. "Oh God, yes, Master, yes!" She reached down with one hand to rub her clit while he worked at her, shuddering and moaning. "I'm so close, Master, so close…"

He pulled out completely, grabbing her hand to stop her ministrations before she could come. "Stop, Bella!"

Bellatrix moaned and thrust her hips forward, trying to get him back inside her. "Why–"

The Dark Lord let her writhe for a moment, smirking at her obvious discomfort, then thrust back in, moving twice as hard, hitting the perfect spot with every stroke, and Bellatrix felt herself tighten hard around him. "Oh Master, I'm coming, I'm coming– oh God!"

Her back arched almost grotesquely, she felt liquid gush from between her legs, and she saw stars. Her nails dug into his shoulders, she couldn't have let go of him if she tried, all she knew was that she was in more pleasure than she had ever been in her life. She was vaguely aware of his hardness breaking inside her, of him coming inside her, but she was far too lost in her own ecstasy to notice.

"Bellatrix," she heard him moan before he lay still upon her, and tears of pleasure sprang to her eyes.

"Oh Master, my Lord," she almost-sobbed, clinging to him. "My Lord, my Lord, I love you so much–"

Bellatrix was brought out of her joy by the sudden absence of the Dark Lord's touch. She blinked, trying to clear her thoughts and eyesight, and looked at him. He had moved away from her, and was looking at her with an expression of utter disgust.

"What?" she asked, pulling herself half-upright.

"Love," he said, spitting out the word as though it tasted bad. "Love is disgusting, Bellatrix. Love is a weakness. This you know."

She was confused, and looked at him, perplexed. "What are you talking about…"

"You said you loved me," he told her icily.

Bellatrix's face flushed crimson. "I… I did not mean to offend… I am sorry, my Lord, I apologize…"

He was standing now, closing off to her. "You may sleep in this bed if you wish, Bellatrix, but I shall not return. Not until you realize how very foolish it is to love another."

"But my Lord–"

"Silence, Bellatrix!"

She struggled to her knees on the bed, crawling forward to grab at him, but he shook her off, redressing himself in his robes and sweeping out before she could say another word. The door clicked shut behind him. Bellatrix stared in dismay at the closed door, then pressed both hands over her mouth to stifle sobs. She hadn't known he would react so strongly to her words. Of course she knew he did not love, but she had not realized that he would be angry if she expressed her own emotions.

Bellatrix fell back onto the wet patch on the bed, plucking at the soaked sheet. Then she turned over, taking one of the pillows from the bed and clutching it to her chest, trying to imagine it to be the Dark Lord. Not a very effective substitute.

She buried her face in the fabric and cried, letting out all the hurt she had felt at his rejection of her emotions. It stunned her that she had gone so quickly from joy to misery – she was not used to her emotions changing this much, this quickly.

Perhaps when she woke in the morning, the Dark Lord would be ready to forgive her. Now, she wanted to lie in his bed and rest and recover from everything that had happened that night. She curled up, arms still wrapped around her pillow, pressing the newly formed Dark Mark on her arm into the cool fabric and letting her tears soak it. She just needed to be left alone to recover.

Just outside the bedroom door, Rabastan glanced once more at Lucius, Avery, Dolohov and Nott. Lucius gave a tiny nod of encouragement, and Rabastan turned the door handle.