A/N- Why yes I am an idiot for starting another story while still finishing New Choices, Alpha Female and...well Moving In is never going to be finished because that's just Kalijah drabbles but this story hit me and I ended up writing five chapters in three days so I decided that it was worth pursuing.
Disclaimer- I own nothing associated with TVD or TO.


While there was never a good time for Death to come knocking, there were occasions when it was far more inconvenient than most.

Katerina Petrova, or Katherine Pierce as her chosen nom de guerre, had been using Mystic Falls and Whitmore College to fulfil her fantasies for the past five years. Like a modern day Marie Antoinette, Katerina treated Mystic Falls like her own Hameau de la Reine. She flitted about town in casual albeit couture clothes, hiding her accent and pretending to be an ordinary college student, just one who didn't know the first thing about laundry or cooking for herself.

Still, she had gotten away with it and been enjoying her life. Until the very moment the text came, at four thirty in the morning, when she was abed with a very cute med student named Liam who, stupidly, considered himself the richer and more entitled of the two of them.

But it did give him confidence in the bedroom that worked in her favour. He was kissing his way up her thigh when she teasingly rolled out of bed to check her phone. Her laughter giving away to stunned silence before the heavy utterance,

"Fuck"

Liam's head rose slowly, they'd been at a rave last night and were both still pleasantly buzzed,

"What's wrong?" he asks, his lips still upturned in a lustful smirk.

"Mikael of House Lothbrok is dead" she tells him, striding across the room and throwing open her closet doors, pondering for a moment before choosing couture over comfort.

It was going to be a long day but who knew when she'd get the chance to change again?

"Who?!" he pulls himself up onto his elbows as she grabs a towel and hurries into her bathroom, shucking her lace panties and bra from the night before and dithering before deciding that she wouldn't have time to wash her hair and tucking it into a shower cap.

She's washed and dried in ten minutes, checking her appearance in the mirror.

Blood shot eyes? She dabs eye drops into them.

Her breath reeked of alcohol and pot. Quick brush and mouthwash.

Make-up? It'd have to be mourning appropriate. Less femme fatale and more innocent virgin.

Less Katerina and more boring younger sister Elena.

Her phone buzzes again and she reads the message as she is brushing her hair, trying to get some of the glitter out of it and wondering how they'd got hold of her number in the first place.

'Car will arrive in half an hour'

Yeah right.

In the quiet morning, she swore she could already hear the tires on the cracked asphalt of the visitor parking lot.

No need to guess who'd sent that instruction.

"Mikael Ragnar Sebastian Lothbrok" Liam reads aloud from his phone, "King of Valhalla, sixty-three years old, doesn't say he's dead here…"

"He is" she assures him- and herself- as she drops her towel and pulls open her lingerie drawer, wondering if even her panties would have to be demure today?

She remembers about seven years back when some asshole had tried to take an upskirt photo.

Hell, make it black silk boy-cut.

"One of the wealthiest kings in Europe…one of the remaining kings in Europe" he adds with a snort and she hums in agreement as she clasps her bra and steps into the dress, zipping it up and sighing with relief that it still fits her like a second skin.

"Ruled since he was fifteen years old, married to Queen Esther who died five years ago, fathered seven children with her Christ what was he an Irish Catholic?!"

"Norse actually" she provides as she reached into the hidden compartment of her desk and pulled out the lockbox she'd kept there.

Unlocking it she sighs as the jewellery still manages to glow the weak morning light.

She takes the black diamond pendant out first and clasps it around her neck, the damn thing is heavy but it's her signature jewel so she can't be seen without it, as for the ring she has to slide onto her fourth finger, well if she tried showing up without that she'd probably be locked up in a dungeon somewhere until the damn thing was retrieved.

It hasn't sat there in nearly four years but still manages to feel like it belongs on her finger.

Liam is too busy checking the messages on his phone to realise that she's now wearing nearly twenty million dollars' worth of jewellery and she glances about her room with dismay.

No time to pack anything, she'll have to have someone come do that for her.

"Why do you care that some King somewhere in Europe is dead?" he questions with a confused groan, only now seeming to realise that she's getting dressed.

"Because" she sighs as she slips into her most conservative black heels, Christian Loubouton with the characteristic red sole but nothing can be done about that, and slides on her black jacket. There's a discreet knock at the door and she hurries across the room to open it, recognising the man standing there and acknowledging his respectful bow while he pointedly ignores the naked man on her bed.

"It means that I am about to become a queen"


Katerina was driven in silence to the first large clearing outside of Whitmore College where a helicopter was waiting for her.

Noting the damp earth she walks carefully across the grass, her hands in her jacket pockets to keep warm and allowed the bodyguard to lead her to where a solider was waiting in full regalia just far enough away from the helicopter that she could hear him over the roar of the engine,

"Madam" he saluted, "I am General Ford and I will be escorting you to the capital"

She nods, taking in this remarkably young man and figuring he's probably one of the best that could be sent out to retrieve her,

"Thank-you General, I assume we're flying out from New York?"

He shakes his head, "No ma'm, we've been ordered to land in Washington D.C and wait there for His Highness Prince Kol"

Katerina perks up with a smile as the General takes her arm and helps her onto the helicopter, making sure she was clipped in before sitting beside her and signalling for the pilot to take off.

"Where is the Prince now?" she asks, shifting in her seat to try and make herself comfortable,

"By now he should hopefully be flying over the Gulf of Mexico and about to enter U.S airspace" he informs her and she frowns, leaning back as she works out the mathematics, trying to figure out the time and the distance travelled.

"When was he collected?"

General Ford glances down at his shoes, "Three hours prior madam, he should arrive in D.C an hour after you do"

Clearly he's expecting a tantrum, for her to be furious that she hadn't been first notified and first collected. He seems almost frightened that she with her ninety-five pounds and lack of weaponry might put up a fight.

Katerina smirks and shrugs to alleviate the tension before looking out the window, down at the forests and the small houses where people were just beginning to wake up without the slightest idea that a king was dead or that an entire country was about to face upheaval.

She wasn't offended that Kol had been notified before her, it actually made perfect sense. Protocol dictated that upon the death of a King, the heirs to the throne were to be summoned back to Valhalla as soon as humanly possible, whereas the consorts could wait, unless they were with child.

In fact, Katerina wasn't even Queen consort, she was only the King's fiancée, so in the eyes of tradition and protocol she was easily replaceable.

And could have enjoyed a few more hours' peace and quiet.

But considering she and Kol were on the same continent, it was also logical to collect them both at the same time, especially as the royal treasury would be footing the bill for this as opposed to her poor father.

The lowly Baron Alexander Petrova. MD.

A thrill of fear courses down her spine when her father's title runs through her mind.

Doctor.

Her father was the Royal Doctor.

Mikael died on his watch.

She checks her phone but she has no messages and no internet connection,

"Do we know how the King died?" she asks the General who jumps at her question and goes pale.

She realises that he hadn't been briefed on the reason she and the royal siblings were being picked up, he'd only been told to bring her safely home.

"I'm afraid I don't know madam"

Madam.

It's on the tip of her tongue to tell him to call her by her name but she could imagine Queen Esther rising up from her grave with her customary expression of disapproval,

'Queens do not act familiar with the servants or security'

Filthy hypocrite.

Katerina briefly imagined Esther's reaction to the idea of a future Queen getting drunk, high and rolling around in bed with men they weren't engaged to. The idea has laughter bubbling on her tongue and guilt poking her in the stomach,

All in all, the woman had done her best by her.

"I'm sorry" she offers the General but when he opens his mouth she sees that the wheels are spinning frantically in his brain, trying to figure out the correct title for her,

"Of course…"

"Still madam" she quips, "Marriage can't yet be performed via text. I am still the daughter of a lowly baron"

For the remainder of this trip at least.


The moment helicopter lands on the helipad, Katerina is making tracks from the tarmac into the airport, hungry, barely sober and with General Ford right behind her when a middle aged woman in uniform meets her at the doors,

"Greetings miss" her false smile is coloured with coffee stained teeth, "My name is Brittany and I'll be showing you to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge"

Katerina blinks in surprise at the lack of formality or the use of her title, funny how it had been years since she'd acknowledged her noble blood and yet after a few hours she's already falling back into her old life.

Funny and frightening.

She pastes the polite smile on her face, "Thank-you Brittany"

The woman can barely keep the snarl of disgust off her face, the disdain for the young wealthy, over-privileged elite is apparent in her tired, lined eyes. Still, she leads Katerina to the Lounge, stopping only at the automatic door,

"May I see your ticket please miss?"

Katerina raises an eyebrow, "I don't have a plane ticket, I'm not flying Lufthansa I'm taking a private jet"

At least, she assumes she is. It's not like Kol can or even would fly commercial- security reasons aside- he could not be trusted on a public flight.

Brittany is positively beaming with pleasure now, "I'm sorry miss, but without your ticket or loyalty card I cannot…"

General Ford clears his throat and steps forward, whispering in the woman's ear. Katerina watches as the woman goes deathly pale and then deep red.

Katerina steps into the lounge with an inward sigh of relief and scans the area until she finds the carpeted area with leather armchairs, she sinks into one in the corner and gestures for the General to take the other as a server appears and hands them two menus.

She glances to the bar and the alcoholic coffee selection with longing before deciding that she definitely needed to start sobering up,

"Cappuccino thanks"

She settles in the chair and pulls out her phone, it would just be nearing midday in Valhalla and if Kol had been summoned three hours before her that meant Mikael had to have died sometime around midnight.

She looks up at the television on the wall as the news begins to play.

"Good morning, I'm Scarlet Rose and our first story today is the death of King Mikael of Valhalla…"

Katerina glances around the lounge, it's sparsely populated at this time and most people are only paying cursory attention to the screen, she tosses her hair over her shoulder and resists the urge to stand up in front of the television,

"King Mikael came to the throne of Valhalla at fifteen upon the death of his father, he ruled for forty-eight years. Valhalla is governed as an absolute monarchy and has been so since 983 AD when King Bjorn Lothbrok discovered and settled the land. Valhalla is a small island west of Iceland but rich with natural resources, including oil, hydroelectricity and minerals. The country is one of the most environmentally friendly in the world with most homes and businesses being powered by hydroelectricity. The capital city is called Hjart and the Royal family resides in Kattegat Palace where the heir to the throne Prince Elijah, will address the nation tonight at Nine pm local time"

Nine pm.

Katerina checks the time on her phone. It was a six hour flight from D.C to Freydiss airport in Hjart, she and Kol would be hard pressed to make it back with only a few hours to spare before the address.

Which Kol would surely know that he would have to be at.

Unfortunately that wouldn't guarantee that he was doing his best to get back as quickly as possible.

Kol staggers into the lounge an hour later just as she's checking her phone again and continuing her internal debate over whether to book a commercial flight home and just pray that she wasn't recognised or wait a few minutes longer.

"There's my favourite Queen-to-be" he calls loudly from across the room, clearly having drunk and smoked a lot more than she did last night.

Worse still, by this time, the room was beginning to fill up and people were definitely taking notice of her now. She ignores them all and stands up just as Kol collides with her, his arms going around her back and her head tucked under his chin,

"How're you?" he slurs quietly and she squeezes him in comfort, "I'm sorry for your loss"

He snorts and steps back releasing her, "You absolutely hated the man Katty"

She rolls her eyes and rests a hand on her hip at that old nickname, "I've never hated you though"

Kol had always been a good friend to her, in fact when this talk of marriage between the Petrova's and Lothbrok's had first come up, she and Kol had been the intended match.

That of course was before she'd met the man who was to be King.

Kol's bodyguard Josh appears at their shoulders, "Your highness, ma'm…the plane is ready for you"

Seeing that the Prince, now second in line for the throne, is as ragged as she is, she leads him to the buffet and piles whatever she can reach onto the plate, "You have two minutes"

He grins and ends up eating as they walk, taking the plate right out of the lounge and dropping crumbs and bits of bacon onto the tarmac before washing his mouth out with peppermint schnapps.

By the time the plane finishes its ascent, she and the Prince are in the bedroom, curled up on the beds sound asleep, the morning light filtering across their faces as they momentarily escape their future.


Katherine is roused by the turbulence of the plane and yawns, cuddling the pillow and stretching her legs, a blanket is draped over her body and she opens her eyes, blinking through the blurriness caused by tiredness and sleep. Kol is sitting on his bed across from her,

"Sorry" he whispers, "Didn't mean to wake you"

She shifts under the blanket and enjoys the warmth, "How are you?" she asks and he shrugs,

"I managed to get in and out of a country without drinking it dry or starting an international incident" he smirks, "I'd say that's progress"

She feels sleep pulling her back under and fights it momentarily, "Has Elijah called?"

Kol stiffens but relaxes again, "Just to check in, they had trouble locating Bekah in Paris but they've got her now and aside from some damage control she should make it back before us. Nik's already there and Henrik's being collected from boarding school"

She nods, "Like pieces on a chess board"

A strand of hair falls across her face and she wrinkles her nose in annoyance but she's far too comfortable to move and Kol chuckles before leaning over and brushing it behind her ear,

"We still have a few more hours Katty, go back to sleep"

She's already going under when she manages to murmur "Goodnight Kol"

"Night sweetheart"


They are roused by the hostess as the plane begins its descent into Freydiss, and thanks to Katherine's decision to mimic her sister's make-up style, there's very little she needs to fix before the plane comes to a smooth stop on the runway.

Their arrival into Valhalla was much different than their departure from America.

A red carpet has been lain across the tarmac and an honour guard sent to greet them. When the door opens Katherine immediately takes a step back for Kol to take precedence. He glances askew at this habitual move, well-practised and exceedingly graceful and subtle but doesn't comment.

He descends the stairs and she follows three steps behind looking over his shoulder to see the familiar stature of Ansel Wolfsbane, head of Security for the Royal Family. A silent, unassuming man who had been such a fixture in their lives that they emotionally acquainted him with safety. The man had watched over the royal children their entire lives, talking to them as if they were normal children and taking injuries that had been meant for them. His face was scarred but his heart was pure and seeing him waiting at the end of the carpet has a sense of calm washing over her.

He bows respectfully when Kol reaches him, "Your Highness, allow me to offer my condolences on the loss of your father"

Kol nods and holds out his hand for Ansel to shake, "Good man Wolfsbane, you've managed to keep your job then?"

Ansel fights the smirk on his face, "If I am to find myself unemployed Your Highness, the man best suited to replace me is your brother Prince Niklaus"

"Oh Gods no" Kol shivered dramatically, "Between Elijah and your proper influence, Nik would be as much fun as a ton of bricks, how are Katty and I to have our pleasures with the most boring trio in the country looking over our shoulders?"

This level of familiarity was typical with those who were trusted by the royal family and although one guard within ear shot showed surprise at the casual banter, Ansel was entirely nonplussed, stepping aside to usher the prince to the waiting car. Katherine waited until Kol had moved before offering her hand to Ansel who kissed it with the tenderness of family,

"Perish the thought that I should ever, in any way, impinge on the debauchery of our beloved Lady" he remarks wittily, tucking her hand into his arm and she grins, ignoring Kol's surprise at the level of friendliness between the two of them.

For while the royal children had grown up with the man, she had not met him until she was sixteen years old, yet they had forged a strong enough bond that she threw him a flirtatious wink, "Oh Ansel, no matter where our paths lead us I shall always remember our nights together"

They chuckle with their established intimacy and he gestures to the second car,

"His highness is to be driven to Kattegat Palace and you will be escorted to the Cousin's Palace" he informs her and Kol jerks his head, "She's not coming to Kattegat?"

Ansel blinks in surprise, "No, Your Highness, His Majesty wished to see his family before the address tonight and asked that you be brought to the Palace to be made ready"

Kol frowns, his hands fisted in his pockets, "Katty is family"

She grimaces at the use of her nickname in such a formal setting, "I am sure Elijah and I will be seeing each other later Kol, but surely he'll want to see his siblings before his fiancé?"

Kol scowls and shrugs roughly, "Fine, you're right"

He stalks towards his car, the chauffeur opening the door for him and barely a minute or two later the vehicle is driving smoothly into the early evening.

Katherine looks up and admires the overcast but not overly chilly day. Autumn was just beginning in Valhalla, a rather convenient time for Mikael to die actually, had she been asked to guess she would have assumed he'd die in the dead of winter and leave them to plan a funeral and coronation during the most inhospitable season on the island.

Her hand is still tucked into Ansel's and she looks up at his stern features,

"I notice you didn't offer me condolences for the death of my fiancé's father," she notes with feigned innocence,

"My would-have-been father-in-law"

He walks her across the tarmac, "You shall no more grieve King Mikael's passing than I" he comments before stopping before her car,

"There is a secretary awaiting you at the Cousin's Palace" he whispers,

"Replace her as soon as you are able, her loyalty is not yours and cannot be bought or won over"

Katherine lifts her head and gives him the winning, noble smile she had been taught by Queen Esther herself. One of polite secrecy that gave nothing away.

He nods his approval and helps her into the car, closing the door and tapping the hood before it too pulls away toward the city.