continued from here with @theacerbicprince
It hurt her to think that Severus really believed that, that after everything they had been through together, he still thought she would tire of him. She watched him where he sat on her bed, turning the hair brush around in her hand as she studied him. “I have never lied to you,” she pointed out, setting her hair brush down on her vanity before standing up, tightening the ties of her robe as she walked over to him.
“Severus,” she said, moving to sit beside him on the bed, moving one leg to lay comfortably over his lap as the other one tucked underneath of her. She wrapped her arms around one of his own and kissed just under his ear, moving one hand up to brush his hair back. “I have never lied to you. If I say I will not replace you, then I will not,” she said, though a churning filled her stomach. He deserved to know she would never leave him behind, never replace him. He had been there for her when others had not been, had cared for her and comforted her when no one else had. And in all that time, in her fear of rejection, she had not told him how she felt. Perhaps, just this once, she could break that wall.
“Sev...” she said, moving her lips to his ear. “I love you,” she whispered softly, her heart hammering in her chest. She had only ever told two other people in life that she loved them, her sisters. And Andromeda had taken that love for granted, while Bellatrix had not. She hoped he wouldn’t be like Andromeda and take her affections for grated, knowing how little people in the world she truly cared for.