“Subtlety is for gossiping wives and cheating husbands,” Bella muttered darkly. “People should know what is at stake if they’re to double cross us. If they don’t fear the true severity of retribution, then what’s the fucking point?” The time for diplomacy was over – they were on a sinking ship, and there was hope yet of making sure they all didn’t drown, but only if they took firm, decisive action. No beating around the bush, no mincing words. She supposed Rodolphus would disagree with her – he’d always appreciated a more rational approach – but frankly, he could use a bit of brashness every now and again, and Bella had no issues reminding him that, just because he didn’t agree with her, didn’t mean she wasn’t right.
Her eyes stayed glued to Rodolphus as he contemplated her words, scouring his face for any detail it gave away about what was going on in her husband’s mind. Bellatrix knew Rodolphus, knew him in more ways than she could count, but still, even after ten years, she couldn’t decipher the slight cock to his head, the way his lips pressed together as he considered her. She was too invested in his response to be objective, to piece together what it all meant. So, when he finally spoke, she felt something in her chest relax. Even the cruelest words were better than silence. “Lucius,” she spat darkly, as though the name had brought a foul taste to her mouth. And maybe it had. “You cannot be serious. I’ve taken shits more menacing than him.” She rose to her feet, approaching a cabinet across the room, opening one of the panels to take out an ornate decanter, pouring herself a fresh glass of Rodolphus’ whisky. “I’d rather no one lead than Lucius,” she growled. “I don’t trust him, Rod. He’s not like you and I – when the wind stops blowing in favor of the Dark Lord, he will abandon us all and sell our secrets to the highest bidder. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the source of the leak.” Perhaps she was being unjustly harsh – she knew Lucius would never do anything to endanger Narcissa, and she knew he was too proper to ever cause any real damage, but her jealousy mixed poorly with her anger at his indifference.
She glanced back at him as he continued, eyebrows raising. “I never asked you to flatter me,” she said shrewdly, although they both knew better. It had been a test, of course it had been a test, and Rodolphus had passed, the way he always did. Too much flattery, and she would’ve known he was lying. Too little, and she would’ve hurled hexes at him until he recognized her as his equal. But this – it was just right. “No one will ask me to lead,” she muttered. “They will say it’s because I don’t have the temperament for leadership, but what they mean is no one’s going to take orders from someone with a cunt.” She swirled the whisky around in her glass before taking a long gulp. “Even though I’m twice the wizard of every person in this pathetic army, yourself not included. It doesn’t matter. It never will.”
Another hefty sip and then a pause. She was disarmed by the smile, however slight, that curved his lips upwards, the compliment to their compatibility, the suggestion that they work together. Bellatrix was rarely good at sharing, and she was sick with envy at the idea of Rodolphus getting even half of the attention she so desperately desired, but she supposed half was better than none. And admittedly, he was right. Rodolphus mellowed her out and threw her best traits into sharp relief. They were opposites in every way, and yet, perhaps, that’s why they worked so well together. She could do a lot worse than lead the Death Eaters with Rodolphus at her side.
But, of course, it was too good to be true. “Do you want to know what they’ll do if we lead together?” she asked, reluctant. “They’ll give you all the credit for our success, and they’ll blame me for every ounce of our failure. It’ll rip us apart. And then, the Death Eaters will really be done for,” she sighed, giving her husband a bitter smile. “There’s no winning here. It’s all just…shit.” She turned to Rodolphus, seized by a wistful idea, desperation getting the better of her. “Why subject ourselves to the politics? Let’s leave, right now, and go find him. Isn’t that why we’re here? Isn’t that why we’re doing all of this? We are not them, Rod. We know better. We know it isn’t about who takes the Dark Lord’s place now. It’s about who finds him, about who restores him to power, about who proves their worth beyond just a simple servant.” She stepped closer, kneeling in front of him, taking his hands in hers. “Come with me,” she urged him. “I need your help.”
“True. But wouldn’t they fear it more if they were trapped before they saw it coming? It would be a lesson to others, to watch over their shoulders, because we could be closing in at any moment.” That was the true power of subtlety, at least in Rodolphus’ mind. If you gathered enough information so that you knew, without a doubt, who it was you needed to go after and then manipulated and maneuvered them until you had them where you wanted them, it was incredibly effective. Rodolphus knew that from past experience. People certainly feared a witch like Bellatrix, her volatility and unpredictability, but there was also something ot be said about a sort of constant, creeping fear. People could see Bellatrix coming - more often than not, they didn’t see Rodolphus coming for them until it was too late, which is how he preferred it. He knew better than to think he would change her mind, but he’d never held his own opinion back from her just because of that.
She reacted poorly at the mention of Lucius’ name, but that was a hardly a surprise. It was no real secret she didn’t like her brother-in-law, not that that’s how she ever referred to him. Still, Rodolphus knew Lucius was wily, slippery, and clever and those were all things to watch out for since it meant he could maneuver himself into a position of power. “I don’t fully trust him, either.” Rodolphus agreed, watching from his seated position as she helped herself to more alcohol. Again, he didn’t comment, just took note of it. It was a stressful time, she no doubt felt she needed it. When she accused Lucius of being the source of the leak, however, Rodolphus should his head. “I highly doubt that. It would be too much risk for him.” Lucius, just like Rodolphus, was a man who avoided risk or who generally only took very calculated ones. “I don’t want him there any more than you do, but it’s not entirely up to us.” They weren’t the only people who had sway and could influence decisions, after all. It would all depend on how the meeting went.
“I didn’t.” He answered, plainly, because they both knew it wasn’t what he was doing. Rodolphus was simply stating the truth as he saw it and whether others were blind to it made no difference to him. She pointed out that unfortunate blindness and sniffed slightly. “Then they’re fools.” There was more heat to the words than there usually was, displaying the strength of his belief. He knew there were those in their elite community who viewed women as little more than breeding stock but anyone who could look at Bellatrix and still think that was a fool indeed. Rodolphus had always treated her as his equal (she would never have tolerated anything less) because that is what she was. She was a force, a storm, and getting caught up in that for even a moment should’ve been enough to change anyone’s mind. His mind hadn’t needed changing but he’d gotten caught up in her storm nonetheless and had never truly left it.
Bella hadn’t seemed to be expecting the smile, since they were so rare from him anyway, and he could see it gave her pause. At least she hadn’t reacted badly. Still, it dropped into a slight frown as she countered his suggestion with perhaps an accurate, if frustrating, description of what would happen. He took a moment to think about it, absently sipping his drink again, but not entirely agreeing even after that moment. “They couldn’t rip us apart, try as they might.” He looked at her squarely as he said that, quite adamant about that point. “It might make things more difficult for us, though.” Rodolphus would admit that much. Her pessimistic and bitter assessment didn’t quite sit well with him but there wasn’t time to respond to that before she’d switched tactics, suddenly. It used to off balance him, how quickly she could shift, but he’d mostly gotten used to it by now. This time, it was the words themselves that off balanced him, or at least unsettled him in some way. It was the one thing she could’ve said that had real power to sway him, make him question everything he thought he’d decided, especially because of how impassioned (if desperate) she was when she said it. Rodolphus kept tight control of all of his own wants and desires, mostly so no one really knew what they were, but she already knew and she’d just given voice to them. What he truly wanted to do, more than anything, was seek out the Dark Lord, turn the world upside down looking for him and restore him to glory as quickly as possible. His rational mind had come up with many reasons not to do that. If he abandoned everything, what would they come back to? Could the Death Eaters survive the sudden absence of two of their most powerful members? It held him back but with her kneeling before him, he had a very strong urge to throw all those considerations away. The fact that she knelt, practically implored him, affected him to. Bellatrix was not a woman who begged or put herself in a vulnerable position, and yet here she was.
His fingers curled around hers when she took his hands and it almost physically pained him to hold himself back from agreeing but no doubt the conflict showed in his eyes. Rodolphus had to struggle to master himself before he spoke. “It’s tempting.” He finally managed to say, quietly, which was a vast understatement because he was practically brimming with wanting to say yes or I want nothing more but even with her, he held back from that, at least for the moment. His grip on her hands had tightened though so maybe he was telling her that way instead. “But there’s too much to consider.” The words almost choked him because he didn’t really want to say them, they tasted like regret, but he said them anyway. “If we both left, who could we trust to take care of things? Finding the Dark Lord is paramount, of course, but bringing him back won’t do much good if they’ve torn each other apart in our absence. I won’t argue we need to look for him and I’ll do as much as I can to help but I don’t think we can both leave, not completely.” The words sounded reluctant even as they came out and she would probably pick up on it but they still needed to be said because, rationally, he knew how much sense they made. Still, it was difficult not to change his mind right then and there and follow his true desire, follow Bellatrix, but it was a dream and he couldn’t let himself have it, at least not yet.
