#bl01

“I’ve heard the most interesting rumor.”

Curiosity when it came to his in-laws was not a path that Lucius often indulged. The Lestranges were so frequently bad for the business of political intrigue that reminding the world of their ties more often than was strictly necessary had always seemed to Lucius unwise. There was little space in politics for madmen, the socially inept and murderesses — not when they had little inclination or talent for hiding it, but they had drawn first blood by taking his son.

They would have to forgive him for a little blood-letting of his own.

He took a seat within the booth without invitation, balancing the martini glass that had served as a prop for the night in the cradle of his hand and settled back into the plush back drop of the booth to eye his sister-in-law shrewdly. The Raven Club was not in the spotlight. It was a little vault of secrets, smothered in shadows and intrigue, a relic of an old world order. It made perfect sense that Bellatrix had begun to appear more frequently here.

Bellatrix was not well suited for the harsh glare of the political spotlight. Rodolphus was a fool to think so.