So I presume you all hate what I've done now, from the wonderful comments I received. Anyway, thank you for your reviews and just so you all know, I know what I'm doing. I know this looks like a weird-ass story and it's nothing to do with Tom any more, but it is, so look forward to the future chapters of master and slave, you crazy Bellamort shippers. Just remember, Bellatrix craves attention, she's only 18, her master is on her mind and because he doesn't love her, she craves love from anyone else she can. Plus, if you don't like this story, don't read it, it's really quite simple.
"Oh it's so beautiful!"
"Magnificent!"
"Oh doesn't it suit her hand?"
"What a lucky girl, he's so handsome!"
"But what a lucky boy! She's a stunning girl."
Bellatrix let out a low groan, low enough so only her mother could shoot her a glare to silence her and the other ladies crowded around her outstretched arm couldn't. The ring on her finger felt like it was searing through her skin but she grit her teeth and remained emotionless none the less. Her mother had forced her in to a tight corset and a dress that felt like it went on for layers. She hated the damn thing but at least it was a deep red lace, a colour she liked. The corset black on her waist, tightened her to the point she couldn't breathe in properly, it fell in layers down to just a few inches above her ankles and the stockings underneath held by garters her own little addition wasn't awful either, not to mention the 6 inch stilettos to match. Her hair pinned only half up not completely back, she let some of the loose waves fall down her back, and the others bundled up as neatly as her mother could afford to do without Bellatrix going off in what she liked to call a, 'bad spell' once more.
It'd been two weeks since then and Bella had seen Burke almost every night after. They had spent evenings in together; drinking, making love, talking. That was all they could do of course, all they could without attracting attention to themselves. Their conversations seemed to go on for hours, they always had something to talk about, they were relaxed and he knew her so well, as did she know him. She had developed a taste for gin, from his lips of course, the drink she could stand before hand, now she started to like it even more. Her mother and father of course had no idea she was going out to see him so often, they had no idea she was gone every night.
The doors to the room opened and several men entered, the first ones to catch her eye her father, Rodolphus and Evander Lestrange. They were followed by a few others, Rabastan Lestrange, Regulus and Orion Black, Abraxas Malfoy and his son, -Bellatrix and Rodolphus' age, Lucius.
Cygnus sat beside his daughter, Rodolphus on her other side of her, his arm went around Bellatrix and several of the women around, including his mother and her own mother made a rather sickening 'aww'ing to them both. She shot him a glare and he only smiled at her, his eyes dark on hers, he knew what she was thinking but he only pulled her closer. They'd been good friends in school, slept together several times though mostly when drunk or high and it'd always been that kind of relationship, friends with benefits. They were good duelling partners and almost inseparable, she wasn't usually so cold to him but she wasn't going to give her mother the idea she was alright with this. He made it hard to scowl at him; he was handsome, dark haired, dark eyes, slightly tan skin from the amount of holidays he went on, a good head taller than her and muscular but lean.
Now the men had come in to the room, no one really paid too much attention to them, her mother was conversing with Abraxas and Rodolphus' mother, Lucius with Narcissa who was playing with her long, straight blond hair, chewing her lip and giggling while playing with the pink silk of her dress while her father and Evander Lestrange had their conversation over a glass of whiskey though they occasionally kept checking back on them both.
"Lighten up, it's not forever," Rodolphus teased, giving her his charming grin he always used to try and cheer her up when her mood was off but she only shot him a glare and scowled, "Bella."
"That's not funny Rodolphus; of course it's bloody forever. Get your arm away from me." She snapped back, folding her arms across her chest.
"What's made you hate me all of a sudden in the past few weeks? You don't speak to me anymore," he said with a slight frown as he stood and offered his hand, "Let's get a drink."
Always so charming, she thought, always looked good, always smelt nice, there was nothing wrong with him, but they were friends, they weren't in love, "I don't hate you," she muttered lowly as she stood without taking his hand but followed him never the less, "Please don't tell me you're going to try and get me to drink wine."
"I wouldn't dare, I know you don't drink anything but whiskey and gin," He shrugged, running his hand through his dark, messy hair and glancing back at her as he poured two drinks, "plus you look like you need it. Something heavier to douse the pain of having to marry me, Madame?"
"Shut up," she grumbled to his last comment though she couldn't help but grin the slightest bit at it, after a momentary pause she sighed, "I love you Rod, you know I do but just as a friend."
"Well don't you think it'd be better to marry a friend you love rather than a random man ten times your age who's probably going to hate you for the rest of his life until he dies?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and handing her a glass before glancing around the room to see no one had noticed them taking the whiskey, his mother would probably scowl at him, as would hers.
She pouted her crimson lips slightly; dark eyes heavy with makeup, of course rebelling against her mother who had told her to keep her face clean and not put too much make up on if she was going for the crimson on her lips, "Don't expect me to be a housewife."
"Perks of marrying your best friend... You know them better than that," He raised an eyebrow and gulped back his drink, finishing it in a mere three before he moved closer to her, his hand stroking back a strand of her dark hair, "You trust me don't you?"
She said nothing, of course she trusted him, too much if anything, he knew her perfectly well as she knew him, they were perfect in everything together, it was what had made them such good friends in the first place.
"Bella?" he asked, lifting her chin so she'd have to look up at him.
"Yes, okay, I trust you. But I don't love you like that."
"I don't expect you to, we get along, there are not many girls I can stand and I know you're the same with men and admit it," he grinned once more, naughtily this time, "the sex is damn good."
She raised an eyebrow at him, but gave in to his smile and pressed closer to him, "You really think so?" she asked furrowing her eyebrows momentarily before fluttering her dark lashes up at him rather innocently though he knew better as her nail dragged down his shirt's from, undoing the button of his suit jacket on the way and resting on the belt of his trousers as she leant to him to whisper, "You'll have to remind me."
He cleared his throat after his breath catching but before he could speak, she had let go of him and started to walk back to where they were sitting before. He gulped and joined her as their fathers turned to speak to her.
"Nice to see you again," his father said lowly to her as he leant and kissed her knuckles, making her smile sweetly and flutter her lashes once more to him, "And how are you?"
"Always a pleasure, sir." she said sweetly, trying not to cough at both of the men with their cigar's lit and beside her, so close to her.
Before she could say more, Rodolphus interrupted, "You've met before have you?" he asked, his eyes harsh on her, "Where was that?"
"That was my doing," Cygnus started, glancing over Rodolphus before eying his daughter's cleavage hungrily, none too subtly either as she had clearly kept her strap dropped on purpose before he shrugged, "I took her to dinner one night, we met your father there. And your father came by another night to discuss, well this and Bellatrix happened to stumble across our conversation. None too curious were you darling?"
"Of course not daddy," she smiled sweetly as her hand went to her dress to fix the straps slipping off her shoulders before turning back to Evander, "And how are you, Mr. Lestrange?"
"I'm well thank you. Rodolphus come with me a moment, won't you?" Cygnus asked, Evander's eyes not once leaving Bellatrix who had her lips slightly pursed and her eyes hungry on him.
Slightly hesitant but doing as he was told, Rodolphus got up and walked away with Cygnus to pour himself another drink, to which Evander's arm went around her shoulders as he leant to her, "You'll keep what we did to yourself, won't we now?"
"Sir, you know my father well," she started after a momentary pause, speaking quietly, batting her lashes as if she was thinking carefully, "I'm his eldest daughter, you tell me, if he was given an opportunity to do something in order to get his way no matter what he's done, would he not?"
"What are you asking?" he growled lowly.
"I'm not asking you anything, I'm your son's best friend, and I wouldn't dare to do anything, would I? I'm a good girl," she purred, her hand moving back to his lap to rest on for just a moment, trail up his leg and rest dangerously close to his crotch, "But if I'm given an opportunity to do something, I'm not going to be afraid to use it against you. So yes, it's our secret for now, but not forever, Mr Lestrange."
His growl deepened for a moment and before he had a chance to spit something back spitefully, the doors opened. Dressed in a completely black suit with a blood red tie, his hair messy but looking good, Tom Riddle cleared his throat and barely took a glance around the room until his eyes were on Bella.
"My Lord," Bellatrix said as she stood but quickly bowed rather neatly to him to which he smirked slightly, about to say something –though he managed to gesture for her to stand, before he was engulfed in the sudden commotion of Druella and several other women he didn't recognise joyously praising his choice of coming to the 'party'.
"Mrs. Black, always a pleasure." he said huskily, nodding rather courteously but clearly unappeased as she thrust out her hand as if expecting a kiss on the knuckles, which he merely dismissed and turned to Cygnus and Evander who were lighting new cigars and talking over a drink.
Walking to both the men, they stood, shook his hand and suddenly they were in a deep conversation about something private –though Bellatrix strained to hear, she simply couldn't over the high laughter from her mother, Rodolphus' mother and whoever else the women around were.
She hadn't seen him in weeks, two months almost. Biting her lower lip as he turned to her once more after what felt like hours of staring at the back of his head, she looked down in to her lap and pouted slightly, looking at her long red nails in her lap, facing more towards Rodolphus as he put his arm around her shoulders, which she shrugged off but remained close to him. For a remainder of the evening, they sat together, silent, people admiring them though they both looked the least bit amused. The night only dragged on more, and more, people around them were buzzing and a few women came and made idle talk with them, most people remained in little clusters until finally, one by one, they started to leave the Black Manor. A selection of people remained by around 2am, Rodolphus, his mother and father, Cygnus, Druella and Bellatrix, not to mention the Dark Lord. Narcissa and Andromeda had gone up to sleep, not used to being up so late, and Narcissa had gotten bored when Lucius left, Andromeda when Regulus left.
Finally deciding to leave, Tom cleared his throat to attract their attention and glanced over Druella.
"If you'll excuse me, I ought to be leaving now." He said with a slight inclination of his head, the night had worn on; everyone around them was laughing, talking, drinking and smoking. Bellatrix had barely made an effort to speak though the occasional question someone would ask her she had to reply to.
"Oh, so early? Bellatrix, show the Dark Lord out, won't you dear." Druella said over pretentiously.
She said nothing but stood from her seat and followed him out of the room after he shook Cygnus and Evander's hand.
A small elf handed over Tom's heavy cloak but Bellatrix snatched it from it before it could even try, why should it, it didn't deserve to do that, no one but she did, she shoved the elf with her shoe and it scurried off quickly in fear for being attacked as it so often was by her.
"You're not going to ask where I've been?" he asked her as she held out his cloak to put around his shoulders.
"I see no point to it. You'd not answer me." She said back perhaps a little too harshly as she put it around his suit, being careful not to crease it in any way. He turned around, hands idle by his sides though his face the usual, hard wearing, ice cold look he held.
"Now why on earth would you think that?" he asked, gritting his teeth ever so slightly as she pouted at him, her eyes not daring to meet his, "Angry with me, Bellatrix?"
"You haven't been around for almost two months," She spat back snidely, to which she raised an eyebrow and leant back. She knew she was playing with fire but her eyes didn't meet his though her heart was hammering once more, her hands shaking slightly as she fixed the front of his robe, though for a moment she met his eye as she ran her hand down the front, straightening it out, making him dismiss her with a wave of his hand, "And you're not going to tell me. You always tell me and you're not going to."
He said nothing, so she continued, her breath slightly shaky, "its one thing to go somewhere without telling someone, but another thing to go for so long."
"Oh do forgive me, I forgot we're married." He said coldly to her, making her pause. He could almost feel the heat radiate from her.
"I have the right to know."
"Do you? Poor baby, was she worried? Thought I'd left you for good?" he growled lowly, now getting slightly angry. She looked at him as if she didn't know who he was, that irked him, he owned the bitch, she was his to do with as he pleased, hadn't he reinforced that enough, obviously not. His voice rose ever so slightly and he grit his teeth, "Do you deserve to know where I am all the time? Do you? Should I tell you where I go all the time? I couldn't care less about you, Black."
"Then why did you come tonight?" she said suddenly, refraining from letting her eyes water before she lost her temper, "Why did you even bother with me in the first place!? Why did you make me one of yours?! Why would you do that to me? I love you and you can't eve-"
He cut her off with a sickeningly hard slap, but before she could even say anything except let out a pathetic whimper, he had grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her head back, forced her to look him in his cold eyes.
"Love? You are pathetic. You're weak and useless and you wonder why I leave you with men you don't know, why I sell you to them in return for something that will never help you but me and only me. You are the most pathetic excuse of a witch I have come across and if you dare tell me you love me again, so help me I will tear your fucking throat out," His voice remained quiet, though his grip didn't release on her hair, didn't let go. His eyes stayed on hers which were brimmed with tears of hurt, "Oh don't you fucking give me that look, that 'don't hurt me' pathetic look, tears aren't going to stop anything, change how I feel about you, bloody pathetic excuse of a witch."
A single tear fell down her cheek and again he slapped her, with equal brutally hard force, with precision that didn't leave a mark but stung like nothing else as he let go of her hair, leaving it messy and slightly dishevelled.
Pushing her hard against the parlour wall; away from the laughter in the other room, he grit his teeth, his hands on either side of her head.
"You're no good for me, witch." He murmured quietly, his eyes momentarily dropping, eyebrow creasing as he looked away from her.
"Let me be your secret. I always have been." She said through the thickness in her throat, through the pain she felt, the adoration for this man she wanted back but would never get. She craved his attention, craved his need of her, his desire, his lust, his anger, his greed, his love.
His eyes on hers once more, she pulled him closer, her eyes still wet with tears, she craved his punishment of her, his desire of her as she said quietly, straightening out his jacket once more, refraining from angering him more though he growled as she did, her hands on him making him hiss lightly, "my Master. Forgive me. I didn't mean it, I'm pathetic, I'm young, I don't know as much as you do, as much as I want you to show me, I want to learn, I am forever your slave."
"Tomorrow, be ready at 9am, I want show you where I've been." He said simply as he moved back from her, though she remained against the wall for a moment more to wipe away the tear with the back of her hand that had fallen down her porcelain skin.
"Yes Master." She said simply, watching him move away from her and walk out of the door without so much as a glance back at her.
Leaning back against the wall, she couldn't help but feel angry, angry she couldn't be angry at him, upset that he thought so little of her, that he could hit her, use her and abuse her. She wouldn't stop him, but he was driving her to the point of insanity at this rate, the man didn't care if he tore her to shreds, he openly admitted he would. Saying nothing, not even bothering to go back in to her room, she told an elf which she passed to remain quiet about it and tell her father alone, that she had gone to sleep.
Stripping out of her dress, unpinning her now messy hair and removing her make up with a simple spell; she climbed under the duvet of her unnecessarily large bed after using another spell to put her clothes away and rest back, letting her eyes shut and her mind to try and quieten for just a while.