“My lord?”

Voldemort turned - running his slender fingers along his wand, not bothering to look up - - in other words, the usual. “Yes, Bella?”

He was handsome. Yes, many years later, he would not remain that way, but that was for the time to come, and maybe he knew it, or at least thought of it, even now - his eyes had, already, a tinge of red. But, in few words, the fact was that he was, for the present, very handsome. The kind of handsome, thought Bellatrix, that could have gotten him just about any girl - if only he would care.

But she was not thinking of him romantically. She had a revering sort of love for him, the kind in which a person is worshipped, looked up to, but not thought of as more than an idol. His powers were, she knew, both great and terrible, and this only added to her awe. Perhaps - no, definitely - she wanted a taste of his power, of the authority he commanded.

“Did you –” she hesitated. It was not like her, hesitation, but Voldemort was someone one did not wish to displease at any cost.

“Yes?”

One would think he was bored, Bellatrix thought. She hesitated again, and then decided to speak up. “Did – have you talked to Jen, lately?”

“Jenna was here yesterday.”

There was something very cool about his tones whenever he spoke of Jenna, Bellatrix had noticed. Not the "cold" cool he employed when speaking of an enemy, but a cold cool he seemed to reserve only for Jenna White. He was used to calling her Bella, used to calling all of them gentle names – something you would not have expected, but something which was his way - but Jenna –

Jenna was never Jen, and Bellatrix wished she knew why. The silvery-haired teenager had worked with them for a fortnight, now, and - to give credit where credit is due - she had definitely proved her mettle. Yet -- he had never called her Jenna in front of any of the death eaters.

For a moment, Bellatrix was quiet.

“Is there any special reason you ask this?” Voldemort asked, his eyes still not on her. His tones were cooler -- more bored.

Bellatrix hesitated. “I met her, today.”

“And I will meet her tomorrow night,” Voldemort returned carelessly. “I have an assignment for her.”

“Did you really ask Lucius not to talk to her?” Bellatrix blurted out. Such an un-Bellatrix action, such un-Bellatrix abruptness! But he made her nervous, at times. Perhaps often.

He turned to her, and narrowed his eyes. For a moment, Bellatrix thought she might have said something wrong, but then he spoke, and his voice was still very careless. “Do you know, Bella,” he said slowly, almost casually. “That she gets too close to people?”

“I –”

“She has been here for two weeks. She is, no doubt, the pride of my new recruits. But I have not asked her to kill anyone, yet. Should I tell you why?”

“My lor –”

“Because,” Voldemort continued, ignoring Bellatrix very completely. “I do not think she can kill.”

Ignorance - one of the things Bellatrix Black most hated, and one of the things Bellatrix Black would not stand. “Jen would kill anyone for you!” she interrupted, and her arms were crossed against her chest.

He smiled. “She would not kill you.”

Bellatrix felt as if someone had stuck a knife into her heart, maybe even twisted it around a bit. Her jaw dropped open and, for a second, she had no words to respond with. Then -- “Me?” she asked, clearly stunned.

“A good death eater, Bella," and now he was examining the wand again, almost as if it were prey. "Kills at my command. Lucius and you -" he inclined his head towards her - "Would kill at my command. Jenna? She gets too close to people. She is close to you – she can not kill you. She is relatively close to Lucius – she can not kill him, either. Though she might prefer to kill him over you, I think,” he added, with a slight smile.

Internally, Bellatrix shivered. “You would not want her to kill us.”

“I agree,” Voldemort returned, and he sounded humoured. “But if she is so unhappy at my ordering you and Lucius to stay away from her – well, I shall have to talk to her, it seems.”

“I did not mean –”

“I do not need you making excuses for her, Bella. You may go.”