A/N: Helloo, thanks for the awesome reviews, favs and alerts! ;D
There might not be an update next week as my exams are coming up, but I'll try seeing if I can update some of my stories ;)
Enjoy!
xoxo Ascha
Chapter 7:
"Ow! My head!" Kol said, groaning as he woke up in his bed.
I looked up from the book I was reading and closed it, placing it on a table before walking up to Kol and helping him sit up properly.
He groaned again and rubbed his sore neck, looking utterly bewildered of how he ended up in his bed after last night.
"Uh… did we…?"
"Oh God no!" I blurted, making him scrunch up his nose. "But you did pass out because you drank more than you can handle."
Kol sighed. "So we did not kiss last night?"
I blushed but shook my head and saw a look of disappointment in his eyes, but he quickly hid it with a smug smirk.
"Hmm, I must have dreamed it then." He winked flirtatiously and stepped out of the bed carefully.
I didn't say anything because every time I looked at him I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss we'd shared and a part of me wanted to feel his lips against mine again.
"I should go." I said, turning around and leaving before he could say another word.
My heart was pounding fast inside my chest as I stopped outside in the corridor and I leaned against the wall, feeling utterly flustered about this entire situation.
I kissed Kol.
I kissed the incredibly annoying, arrogant and posh Kol, whom I'd sworn I'd never fall for as long as I lived.
Of course our relationship had changed and we had grown closer after I became a vampire, but he was still like he was over 400 years ago – just more arrogant and malevolent than before.
I gently touched my lips with the tips of my fingers and couldn't resist the urge to smile, but I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps and turned my gaze to Klaus as he walked into the corridor towards me.
"Is he awake?" he asked, nodding towards Kol's bedchamber.
"He is, yes," I answered. "I hear you are going somewhere today…?"
He nodded. "I was going to ask Kol to join me, but since he is still recovering from all the trouble he caused last night then I will ask you instead."
"Oh? Where are we going?"
He signed for me to follow him and I did, walking out to the horse carriage with him and stepping inside.
Klaus ordered the coachman to take us to another town about five miles from where we lived and as we rode he told me that we needed to go to a fortune teller or a völva as they called it in Old Norse, who knew where we could find the moonstone that was used to curse Klaus.
"What exactly happened last night when you and Kol went out drinking?" Klaus asked curiously when we arrived at the völva's house.
"Oh Kol merely got into a fight with a couple of Swedish sailors…" I answered, deliberately avoiding telling about the kiss.
He didn't need to know worry about me falling for his brother and I did wonder sometimes if he felt something more for me than trust.
"Ah… the usual then?"
I nodded and knocked on the door, hoping that Klaus would stop asking questions about last night and focus on finding the moonstone.
"So that kiss between you and him was nothing?"
My mouth fell open and I stared at Klaus with wide eyes, but before I could say a word the door suddenly opened and we saw an elder woman standing in the entrance, who slammed the door shut again as soon as she saw us.
"I am guessing she knows what we are…" Klaus said calmly, looking at me. "But about that kiss–"
"Kol was immensely drunk and kissed me," I interrupted. "I may have been a little drunk too."
He raised an eyebrow. "So it was merely the kiss of a drunken vampire?"
I nodded without showing any emotion on my face and tried knocking on the door again only to be shouted at in what sounded like Danish.
"Allow me." Klaus said, gently pushing me aside.
He kicked the door so hard that it fell to the ground, revealing a frightened elder woman, who was searching for something in her home.
"Frída, there is no need to be frightened! We only wish to find something we have lost… or do you want us to pay your family a visit too?"
"No!" she exclaimed. "I will help you finding what you have lost, but I will only allow the woman to enter. She does not have a dark heart like you."
Klaus rolled his eyes, but sent me a look that I knew what meant and stayed outside while I was invited into the woman's home.
She still eyed me suspiciously as we walked into another room and sat down at the table where she accordingly told her about visitors their future merely by touching their hands.
Frída told me to give her my hands and I hesitantly did, hoping that she wouldn't harm me in any way despite the fact that Klaus had threatened to kill her family, so it was only to be expected that she did something bad to me.
"You are a witch…" she stated more than asked. "You may not have your powers anymore, but you are still a witch deep inside."
"Is that why you let me in? Because you could sense it?" I asked curiously.
She nodded. "And I know that you never wanted to become a vampire like him. You feel remorse for all the humans you have killed and know that Mother Earth will punish you for it."
I was stunned by the fact that she knew all that merely by touching me and pulled my hands back, fearing that she'd find out more about me – things that I didn't want anyone to know.
"Can you help me finding a moonstone that was used to curse my friend?" I asked.
She was silent for a moment, but nodded and fetched a bowl with some dried herbs I recognized as rosemary, savory and witch hazel.
She set the herbs on fire and began chanting in Old Norse, casting without a doubt a locator spell to find the lost moonstone.
The fire soon turned bright purple and I started seeing an image of the moonstone in the fire, lying in a box in someone's home and the owner of the home could easily have been a duke from the look of the home's size and beauty.
"Is it here? In Denmark?"
Frída nodded. "Near the home of the king."
She suddenly took my hand in hers again, but only to sprinkle the ash of the herbs on it as soon as the fire died out.
"Now the image is in your mind, but it will only stay in your mind for a week or so."
"Thank you, Frída."
She smiled weakly. "As for the question you are looking for an answer to, then yes. They are both in love with you."
I frowned at first, but then I realized what she meant and blushed. She was talking about Kol and Klaus – the two vampires who saved my life with their blood.
"Niklaus loves me too?" I asked to be certain.
Klaus had never told me that he saw me as more than a friend, but it did make sense. Whenever I spent time with Kol he would always ask about what we'd done or his gaze would linger quite a lot on me when we were alone.
"Thank you again for helping me. I will have someone fix your door." I said, handing her a bag of gold coins.
I went back out to Klaus and felt my heart beat a little faster when he looked into my eyes – mainly because I now knew for sure that he too had feelings for me.
But now that I knew this then I also knew that it was a good thing that I lied to Kol about the kiss. I couldn't start something with one of them without hurting the other.
"Did she tell you where it is?" he asked impatiently.
"She did, yes," I answered. "We have to go visit a duke who lives near the king of this country. Apparently he keeps it in his home."
Klaus nodded understandingly and gazed at me, pondering over something for a moment before he turned around and walked back to the horse carriage.
"If Kol asks then the kiss did not happen," I said. "I do not want him to know that his dream was not just a dream and that he finally got to kiss me."
Klaus chuckled. "Do not fret. Your secret will be safe with me."
I smiled and squeezed his hand lightly, making him look into my eyes with his blue ones. "Thanks. I do not want Kol to get the wrong idea and I did have a bit too much to drink too."
"I know Kol and even if you convince him that the kiss did not happen then he will still try wooing you. He truly is one stubborn man."
I laughed. "Indeed he is. But now that we know where the moonstone is he will be distracted for a while."
He nodded in agreement and opened the door for me, helping me inside the horse carriage. For the first time in my life I felt a spark inside me when our hands touched and I knew it was because I was aware of his feelings for me.
Once we got home we packed our belongings and left the mansion, travelling to the capitol of Denmark where the king currently lived.
I kept my eyes and ears open and tried recognizing the beautiful mansion I'd seen the duke live in, but it was quite difficult when some of the mansion looked so similar.
In the time we spent searching for the mansion I noticed that Kol was unusually silent throughout the entire day, but he kept his gaze on me as if he was thinking about something related to me.
We eventually did find the right mansion, but we could first get in next week when the duke of Copenhagen held a ball in celebration of his 30th birthday.
The plan was to charm our way inside and then I had to catch the duke's attention and make him take me to the room the moonstone was in.
In the meantime we tried settling in our new home in the city – a beautiful but rather small house that had only four bedchambers, so I shared a bedchamber with Rebekah even though Klaus did offer his while he slept in Kol or Elijah's bedchamber.
I decided to go to bed early while Rebekah and Kol went out, trying to catch some sleep even though I didn't feel the slightest tired or actually needed the rest.
I merely wanted to be alone and forget about my worries regarding Klaus and Kol, because there were much greater things to do than to worry about their feelings for me.
But in the middle of the night I began dreaming about Kol and I lying in a meadow of tall sunflowers nearby my home.
It felt like a memory but I never remembered going to the meadow with him and we certainly didn't lay that close to each other.
"There is something I need to tell you, Aliana…" he said, leaning closer to me. "Remember the first time we met?"
I giggled and thought back on that warm summer day when Tatia and I were out in this very same meadow, enjoying the weather and plucking sunflowers for my birthday party.
I was only 8 years old and my father still lived then, but he was out hunting with one of the other men in the village – a man named Mikael.
Out of nowhere Kol had jumped forth and nearly gave us a heart attack, making the only 5-years-old Tatia cry and me really furious at him.
"Of course I do. You scared me and Tatia."
"Only because I liked you. You… caught my interest."
I snorted and rolled my eyes, but he suddenly pulled me close to him and kissed me passionately and I felt myself kissing him back.
"I knew it! You did kiss me that night!" he exclaimed, making me wake up from my dream.
I opened my eyes and sat up instantly, seeing Kol lying the bed next to me, smirking smugly because he'd just tapped into my dream and seen that I really did feel something for him.
I didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or furious at him.
"Get out, Kol!" I snarled.
"Oh come on, Ally! I–"
"I said get out Kol!"
He flinched of my sudden outburst, but jumped off the bed and left my bedchamber.
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