Look here she comes now
Bow down and stare in wonder
Oh how we love you
No flaws when you're pretending
But now I know she

Never was and never will be
You don't know how you've betrayed me
And somehow you've got everybody fooled

Without the mask, where will you hide?
Can't find yourself lost in your lie…

~Evanescence, "Everybody's fool"

She finally heard the double doors of the dining room open, and she lifted her head to see a still sleepy Rodolphus Lestrange, with messy brown hair and dark circles framing his eyes walking in, dressed in perhaps his simplest outfit. He yawned and then smiled as he saw his wife sitting on the table, waiting for him.

"Good morning," he said, his smile never leaving his face, and he took his usual seat at the other end of the table. Bellatrix felt her stomach leap from nausea; he looked so happy, almost peaceful after what had been told between them two nights ago… If only he knew…

Compose yourself, a cold voice snapped inside of Bella's head. You cannot back down now, you must not be weak. It is just another task to complete for your master, for the cause. You will find another husband, and what if you don't? You don't need him, do not care about him.

As much as she wanted to believe that voice, it was extremely hard for her to do so. Then there was another voice, that screamed that she should stop this before it was too late, that she could not kill her own husband, that she should save Rodolphus, stop him from drinking the poisoned liquid from the cup.

However, she did not make any move or said anything as Rodolphus once again smiled at her, and, out of habit, took the Daily Prophet that had been delivered early in the morning and opened it to the front page.

"It says here that the Minister made some statements regarding the mysterious death of minister employee named Shawn Greggory, whose corpse was found in the woods… That they are investigating the cases and blah blah blah… Same as always, this last couple of months… Soon they'll realize they'll be forced to announce to the people what is really going on…" he said bitterly, and turned to the next page.

During the last couple of weeks, Rodolphus seemed to have lost all his interest in what Voldemort was doing, since he did not attend any meetings or take part in any tasks. At moments like this, Bellatrix didn't have to think too much to figure out why the Dark Lord wanted her husband dead, but she still couldn't bring herself to do it.

It was a fact that Rodolphus had changed over the last weeks. He constantly seemed to be tired, as if he wasn't getting enough sleep, and always refused to talk about anything regarding Voldemort or the other deatheaters. He had lost contact with them and the only one from Voldemort's inner circle whom he was talking to was Bellatrix.

In fact, his behavior towards Bella had changed, too. He wasn't anymore treating her as the victim of a human sacrifice, but was obviously trying to behave as normal as possible around her.

Bellatrix could tell that he wanted to forget everything that had to do with the Dark Lord and have a life as normal as possible; she thought that to be extremely foolish from his part. She knew one could not simply pretend to have nothing to do with Voldemort when it was known how furious the Dark Lord still was at them.

Bellatrix somehow preferred this new side of Rodolphus, even though she knew how much pain he felt inside. Now, watching him read the newspaper so casually, without knowing anything about Bellatrix's previous actions, made her heart sting. She did not love Rodolphus, not like a wife was supposed to love her husband. She did not care about him the way Narcissa did for Lucius, the way so many other women she knew did about their husbands.

And yet, she knew she needed him, and in fact, she could not deny she somehow appreciated him, despite having lost a great part of her respect towards him due to his behavior during the last weeks.

She thought how it would feel like, watching him die, and knowing that it was because of her, knowing that she was her husband's murderer. She had never had a problem with killing a muggle before, she wouldn't have a problem with killing a traitor, but Rodolphus was her family, whether she liked it or not. She couldn't kill her own family.

But she had no other choice.

"Bella, are you alright?" Rodolphus's voice snapped in her head, and she lifted her gaze, to see her husband looking worriedly at her. She realized she must look like a mess, so it took all of her willpower to force herself to smile. She had no idea how she managed to pull it off, but a small smile did appear on her face.

"Yeah, I'm good," she replied, hoping that her short answer would reassure him.

"Are you sure?" Rodolphus insisted, his eyes narrowing. Obviously he could sense something was wrong with her.

"I didn't get much sleep last night, I'm a little sleepy, that's all," Bellatrix shrugged, wishing that he would buy it and stop with the questions. She couldn't take this anymore, she just wanted him to drink that damned coffee and be done with it.

"Oh," he said simply, and Bellatrix silently thanked the gods for the change in her husband's expression. "Well, I have to admit I had a pretty good sleep," he said, and placed the newspaper on the table.

"Why didn't you sleep?" he asked worriedly once again, but then sat back in his chair again and picked up the 'Daily Prophet' again. Bellatrix thought he did that because perhaps he already knew the answer, and didn't want to hear it from her, as well. Perhaps he had guessed she was with the Dark Lord.

She decided not to reply, and to her relief, Rodolphus didn't press the subject.

She felt like she was sweating, and she wanted nothing more than this to end. She wanted him to drink the poisoned coffee, she wanted him to die and then she could forget about everything and start her life from the beginning. She doubted she would be able to do this, but she knew there was no turning back now, he should die. She couldn't do anything.

"Bella, are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I told you, I'm tired, perhaps I'll get a nap later, I have a clear day."

"Alright," Rodolphus said cautiously, and once again left the newspaper. "Bella," he started, and he looked as if trying to decide about something. "Look, if… If there is something bothering you, you know you can tell me. I'll help you out, whatever the problem is, you know that you can rely on me," he said softly, yet his voice was serious. He meant what he said.

Bellatrix nodded, and she felt her eyes burning. Why was he doing this? She could not let him die, she could not murder her husband, not after hearing him talking to her like that… she bit her lip, trying to force her tears back. She had never been one to cry, but during the last week she had found herself in tears more often than she would have ever allowed herself.

Rodolphus stood up from the chair and rounded the table to find himself next to her, bending over her body, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Bella, what's wrong?" he asked, and now she could not suppress one single tear that ran down her cheek. It was the first time she was genuinely crying in front of him, the first time she wasn't acting.

"Bella, please, don't cry," he whispered, and stroked her hair. Bellatrix gulped. Her master had sharply ordered her not to cry, in a tone that left no room for objections, where her husband begged her not to, since he could not bear the sight of her looking so broken.

And still, she knew she would never love Rodolphus as she loved the Dark Lord, no matter what her master did to her, no matter what he put her through. She couldn't believe her own thoughts, her own emotions. She had no idea whether she controlled her own mind and life or not anymore.

"Bella, tell me what's wrong, and I'll help you, I'll never leave you alone, just tell me…"

That was her breaking point. She couldn't take this anymore. She pushed Rodolphus away and stood up, wiping the tears away from her face. She walked over to where her husband had been sitting, took out her wand and disposed of the cup's content, then grabbed it and threw it on the floor tile, causing it to break in small pieces.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Rodolphus asked, shocked with his wife's behavior. He too stood up and looked at her with eyes wide open. The sight of her truly was not pleasant; she was almost trembling, tears were running a familiar path down her now lifeless, pale cheeks and her hair was a tangled mass that framed her face. He had never seen her so lost, so defeated, so broken.

It scared him. He took a few steps closer to her, but froze where he was standing when she pointed her wand straight to his heart, a terrifying glow in her dark brown eyes.

"Bella?" he questioned, his voice barely audible, struggling to find out what was wrong with her. She looked like she had lost it, like she was at the most desperate point of her life. And then he knew, he knew it was his fault. He had known since that very first night, that this would break his once fearless, unbreakable wife.

"I'm sorry," her voice trembled, "I'm sorry, I really am…"

"What-" he did not have to ask anything else. He realized. He realized everything. The hand that was holding her wand was shaking; her eyes seemed unfocused, and her tears wouldn't stop running down her face. Only he didn't know why. He changed his question. "Why?"

He didn't flinch. He didn't shake. He didn't beg. He just wanted to know why. He felt his eyes burning, his heart breaking. Why was she doing this? What had he done wrong? "Why?"

"I have to do this." Now her voice sounded steadier, and he could tell she was putting up gigantic efforts to stop herself from breaking down. "I have to do. Even if I don't, he will kill you anyway. I just have to."

He inhaled deeply, and closed his eyes. He opened them again, he focused them on her trembling form. "Okay." He whispered, and smiled. At least, he could smile. He could see there was no other way now. After all, he had known since the first day of his punishment, that his days were being counted backwards. He just didn't know when this day would come.

Her brows narrowed, obviously she was confused with his words.

"Bella, do it," he said simply, softly. "Just… I just want you to know that I love you. I've always have, since the day we met. At school, remember? We were both eleven, and I was already imagining how you would look like dressed all in white, walking down the wedding aisle…" he smiled.

Against her own will, she laughed bitterly through her tears. "Back then, I thought you were an idiotic arrogant little fuck who only cared about outshining everyone," she chuckled, and he did the same.

"Yeah, I thought so," he commented. There was a long silence, awkward from both parts, but Rodolphus forced himself to remain calm. "Bella, don't think about it, just do it. You'll definitely have a better life without me."

"Perhaps I will," she whispered, as if talking to herself. But her wand still shook in her hand. She opened her mouth to utter the curse, but no sound came out. Just when she was about to regain her strength and try once again, her left forearm felt as if it was burning. Her wand dropped to the tiles, and her right hand caught her forearm, a hiss escaping her lips.

Quickly, once she overcame the burning sensation, she grabbed her want from the floor and straightened her back. He was calling her, now, and that meant she should go straight away, no matter what. She should leave Rodolphus. Perhaps he would still be at home when she returned, this she didn't know. But she had to go.

She gazed at her husband, and wiped her tears away. She couldn't look like a mess in front of her master. She saw Rodolphus look sadly at her, but he said nothing, as she apparated to her lord's manor.

AN/ So, I updated again, and I like to believe it was quite quick! Yes, I did not kill Rodolphus. Yet? Who knows… Perhaps she'll kill him, perhaps she won't. next chapter will most likely be the epilogue. It is a 90 percent likelihood for it to be so.

Anyway, I hoped you guys liked it :) many thanks to everyone who reads this, and many special thanks and gifts and cookies to those who review! You make my day!

Please let me know if you liked/didn't like this, and do hit that little button below :)