Voldemort and Bella had no attention to spare for Lucius's movements. He merely gave Lucius a casual, reassuring nod in response, but in truth all his focus was on maintaining the life-preserving spell and on the Heart of Vecna in his chest. That shriveled Heart of Vecna was his hope of victory and counterattack.
But compared with the strange phenomena that had occurred after the Eye of Vecna and the Hand of Vecna were installed, this time it was so calm it was as if the heart truly had no magic at all. Voldemort kept releasing the life force within the Hand of Vecna to sustain his life. Every second of waiting was torment, and several times he even forced his head down, wanting to see whether some change had taken place in silence.
But as he bent forward one last time, the Vecna heart in his chest suddenly fell out through the hole and rolled onto the floor.
Bella, who had not prepared herself the way Voldemort had through what he sensed, still had a smile on her face when she reflexively lunged forward and caught the heart. Looking at the withered, utterly lifeless heart, terror built in the depths of her mind, but it did not delay her attempt to stuff it back in.
Voldemort, already realizing something was wrong, lifted his head with fear on his face, intending to call for his subordinate to put his original heart back in and magically heal it in place, abandoning the plan.
But after he raised his head, Lucius was nowhere in sight. After a brief moment of stunned disbelief, Voldemort suddenly realized in horror exactly who the traitor among his followers was—one of the subordinates he had trusted most in recent years. Lucius Malfoy had betrayed him.
At this