::: Chapter 30:::
"My Lord?" Bella's voice interrupted his thoughts. He did not turn around to see her though. Instead he just stared out of the window of his den and beckoned her to come over to him. Bella did as he had asked of her as she walked over to stand by his side. For a while they just stood in silence staring out the window, admiring the beautiful orange sky outside as day slowly gives way to night.
After a while, it was Bella who spoke, "My Lord? You sent for me?"
"Yes,' his voice was barely a whisper. It was as if he was saying it to himself rather than to her. After a while, he said in a louder tone of voice, "When was the last time that we have had the opportunity to admire a beautiful sunset such as this one?"
"It was on the day of your return, my Lord." Bellatrix said with a reminiscent look on her face.
He turned around to face her now. "Do you regret it?"
She raised her head to match his eyes, "Re—regret what, my Lord?"
Her face was filled with confusion as her eyebrows knitted.
"Having found me."
"Oh no, my Lord,' Bella said as she shook her head fervently. 'No my Lord, never. Finding you again brought back the purpose in my life; serving you my Lord."
He did not seemed very convinced as he walked over to the small table that held his decanter on a tray with glasses. He poured a drink for himself and for Bellatrix as he said, "You would do anything for me? That is what you meant when you said 'serving me'?"
She looked at him, blinking her eyes as she tried to figure out where this conversation might lead to. "Y-yes. Yes, my Lord. That is what I had meant."
He came back to her again and proffered a glass to her which she took and held on to tightly with both hands. "Am I important to you?"
"Yes, my Lord. I….you are,' Bellatrix paused for a moment, trying to find some proper words to string together. 'My Lord, my loyalty to you is without question. I would give up everything that I held most dear for you, my Lord. You should never even have to ask me how important you are to me, my Lord."
"I killed Faustus." He said as he looked straight at her face, watching and waiting for her expression.
Her eyes had widened with surprise from his sudden confession. Her mouth had gone dry and she was trying to say something to act like everything is alright and normal but she knew her voice had betrayed her. She just couldn't speak.
"Is there something you wish to tell me, Bellatrix?" he said as he continued to stare at her surprised expression and her mouth opening and closing without a sound making her look more like a fish out of water.
"I know,' she finally managed to croak. 'I know you killed him. I know." She said as her gaze fell to the floor. She could no longer bring herself to look at him. She had been denying the truth for a long time. She just could not bring herself to believe that he had done the unthinkable. Hearing him finally saying out the words, right out admitting his deed, she just wasn't sure of what to do with herself. She heard him chuckle as he moved away from her and that's when something hit her.
She looked up at his direction again, finding her voice she said "Is that why you asked me here? Is this about your stolen scripture and safe? Did you suspect that I betrayed you my Lord?"
He turned around to face her. "No, of course not. Why Bella, how could you even think that I would ever think that of you? On the contrary, my dear,' Voldemort took his time as he leaned against the table. 'Come closer to me." He said quietly as he kept his gaze on her.
Her eyes never left his gaze as she took small, unsure steps closer to him. She wondered what was on his mind. Even after all these years of living with him, she could never really understand him.
"You don't have to fear me, Bella." He said.
His gaze left her hypnotized and when his fingers touched the side of her face, she shivered. "I am most impressed by you Bella. You've known the truth about Faustus' death and yet you haven't let anything change between us."
His face was so close to hers, she could feel his warm breath tingling against her cheek.
"I just….thought that you must have had a---a very good reason for having to---kill him." She gulped down a lump in her throat, making her last two words inaudible.
"You're dying to know why I did it, aren't you?" Voldemort asked.
Bella wanted to say something else. She had wanted to act as if she did not care. That whatever decisions that he made is the only reason she ever needed. His word is law to her. Bella had never thought in all her life that there could finally be something that he could say that was not enough for her.
"I—yes." She tried to hesitate for a moment, but her desire to find out the truth about her son's death just wouldn't allow the matter to rest. She looked at him, this time with boldness as the fear suddenly dissipated away.
"Fine, I knew you'd want to know,' he stood up and moved away from her.
"The truth,' she blurted out to his back. 'Please, my Lord."
He glanced at her slightly when she said that and sat himself down in his own high chair before he started.
"Do you remember what I had said about the scripture, Bella?" he asked her.
"The scripture? You mean what you said at the unveiling of our New Movement, my Lord?"
He nodded. She blinked, trying to recall his words.
'You said it is our answer to a clean society, my Lord. You said endless power awaits us all….." she trailed away as her mind brought her back to the present again.
"Yes…yes. I knew you'd be able to recall that,' he smiled as he placed his fingertips together, though not once letting her wander out of his sight. 'The scripture allows us to get rid of all the other types of inferior races; mudbloods, half-bloods, muggles …. whatever other race you could think of, the scripture has the power to get rid of them in one clean sweep,' he paused for a while as he waited for her.
He wasn't disappointed as her neck suddenly cocked up on hearing the power behind the scripture but her expression immediately turned into a frown and she said, 'But…that would mean…you, my Lord…you wouldn't……be able to…"
"Survive it? That's right my dear. You are right. I the Dark Lord will not be able to survive it and that's why I had to take care of it. That's why I had to kill Faustus."
Bella moved over to his knees and sat down by him as she looked up at him with her beautiful big dark eyes.
"I…I don't understand, my Lord. How—how does Faustus's death help you?"
"I needed his soul Bellatrix, to merge with mine. The years that I spent by myself, I almost died. I was left with only less than half my soul and I could barely have survived if I haven't found my filthy muggle half-brother, Sebastian." his facial expression changed at the mention of his muggle brother. Bella's face too changed as she recalled her very own meeting with his revolting half-brother. Bella still felt kind of sorry she didn't get to fry his ass a little.
"He gave you half his soul?" Bella asked quietly, hoping that he wouldn't get mad at the way she is saying the fact out loud as if he still meant for it to be a secret.
"Yes. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do but I had to in order to survive,' he took a sip from his glass before continuing. 'Faustus was the only one who could liberate me. He was of my own flesh and blood and he was pureblood. Faustus was my only answer. His soul not only liberated me of my filthy muggle soul, he also made me pureblood when our souls merged into 1. So, Bella, after knowing the truth, do you still think it would not affect things between us?" he said, sighing as he did.
There was a pause as Bella fell silent. Her gaze dropped to the floor as she watched her fingers trace the wood panels on the floor as if it was suddenly fascinating. After a while, she looked up at him again and whispered, "No—no it won't, my Lord. I won't allow it to change anything between us."
"Then we will no longer discuss it,' he said in a tone that matches hers.
She glanced up at him and looked him straight in the eye, "We won't."
'We shall put this behind us and never bring it up ever again." He said as stared at her back.
"We will never bring it up again,' she echoed him. Taking his hand into hers, she said, 'You have my word, my Lord."
It was now a promise shared between them. Bella knew after what she had said, there was no turning back. She didn't know quite what to think of him now after finding out what he had done to Faustus. It was that part of her that had been loyal to him for so long that diminishes all other ill feelings she had felt for him. The words 'For the greater good' kept playing around in her head. Faustus had died a good death. He died in service of his father and for the cause of the Death Eaters. What could be a more honorable death than that? Bella herself had always hoped that the end would be by his side, for him.
As she gazed into his eyes, she wandered if he had been feeling guilty ever since Faustus' death. She wandered if it was his conscience that had driven him to confess to her what he had done.
Nothing matters now…..he told me the truth.
I can finally put all this behind me. I can finally let him go.
"Bella,' his voice called out to her. 'I have a surprise for you." He said to her with a very rare smile plastered on his face.
"A surprise, my Lord?" Bella blinked a few times before the words finally sunk in. She was slightly surprised by how fast things are moving; the way he let it move from talking about Faustus' death to suddenly revealing a surprise he had for her.
"Yes,' he said as he stood up and pulled her to her feet. 'I know you will enjoy this."
Then, he did the most surprising thing; he bent down and kissed her catching her all by surprise. She had so not expected that that she literally had the wind knocked out of her when he kissed her. She suddenly stopped breathing, all senses lost to his touch.
As suddenly as it had begun, it stopped as he pulled away. Grabbing her hand, he said,
"Come."
She wasn't exactly ready for the apparition that was about to take place. The moment she had felt his hand wrapped around hers, she was pulled into a vortex that transported them from the well-kept den to the Riddle Manor's grim and putrid dungeon.
Bella's eyes took its time to adjust to the changing light; from a well-lit room to the dark, very dimly-lit dungeon. She was there in the dungeon only a week before, letting off some steam on a prisoner who could not decide his loyalties but already she misses the place. She followed the Dark Lord walking along the corridor lined with cells on either side.
The dungeon is exceptionally quiet tonight….
Hopefully now that I'm here, I can fix that.
Bella thought with a smile. They continued walking right to the end, to the very last door. Rhys Ackart, a Scottish wizard in his thirties stood guarding the last door. He was the only one on guard duty and the way he was standing in front of the door, Bella knew the prisoner must be a very important one that a personal guard was assigned to his door. Upon seeing the Dark Lord and his Lady approach, Ackart bowed low, receiving a wave of the hand from his Master which he quickly complied and moved away from the door.
"Are you ready?' Voldemort said when he turned to Bella.
"I've always been ready, my Lord." Bella said as her excitement began to mount even more.
With a nod, he unbolted the heavy steel door and stepped inside, waving his hand at the same time at the candelabrum on the wall. Light began to fill the room as Bella stepped inside to come face to face with the surprise Lord Voldemort had held for her.
It was a man. From his position, Bella could not clearly see his face. She was about to ask who the man was but it was as if Voldemort had read her mind as he flicked his wand in the direction of the prisoner and at once his body was smashed up against the wall and his head held up by an invisible force. Finally Bella could see his face, an all too familiar face at that. All at once the old feelings of hatred came flooding back and as Voldemort glanced down at Bella's face, he knew she was very satisfied with this surprise.
"Harry Potter." Bella growled. Looking at the lack of response from the prisoner, Bella knew he must be out cold from the last torture session. She stared him down, looking particularly at the beautifully long scars on his face and arms, the bloody nose and shirt and she immediately recognized it to be the handiwork of none other than the Dark Lord himself.
"You like the surprise, my dear?" Voldemort said to her.
"My Lord, this is by far the best surprise you have ever given me." She unknowingly squeezed his hand as she said this, making his neck turn abruptly towards her. Still, she doesn't seem to realize what she was doing and how uncomfortable she had made him.
He did not pull away though as he said, "Well, you may do to him as you please. Make full use of your ingenuity, do whatever you like with him but, keep him alive,' he smiled down to her. 'I'll leave you two to get acquainted again. Make me proud."
Bella grinned up at him as she tightened the grip on her wand, hardly able to contain her excitement. She felt a cackle coming; it was just dancing over her lips. She watched as her Master shuts the door behind him before allowing herself the pleasure of breaking into a million laughs.
Just outside, Voldemort couldn't help but smile as he heard his most faithful servant's shrill laughter. It was her signature and boy did he miss it.
THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE THIS IS A LINE
Please don't forget to leave your reviews. Thank you. =)