First, thank you to all the kind reviews and the follows and favorites I received. Here's another update! I hope you all like it. It's going to start getting juicy. Let me know what you think or any suggestions you may have.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Caroline wrote the letter she had been dreading. It was never a secret that the Lockwood's and Mikalson's were anything but enemies and that's why she told the queen about the alliance. The two most powerful kingdoms, who Caroline imagined could defeat anyone, were now tied together, making them an unstoppable force.
She informed the queen about the future marriage between the prince and princess, hoping it would be enough. Being one of the ladies in waiting to the queen one would think it would make Caroline privy to secret information, but she had nothing. All she had was information that would be public knowledge soon enough and she had to pray that this was going to be enough to keep her mother safe.
She sat back in her chair, the candle that sat beside her flickering from the mentally exhaustive sigh that came out of her mouth. She hated telling things to the queen, but it was for a good reason. The best reason, she told herself. There was no other way to keep her family safe.
She gazed at the full moon that was so bright it made the night feel less dangerous. Still in her day clothing she made her way out of her bed chamber and around the twisting hallways until she found their hallway, as she liked to call it.
"Can we go outside tonight?" she asked the figure that stood so still she thought he may have been a sculpture.
When he turned, setting his bright blue gaze on her, she took a deep breath, the butterflies already making themselves known.
"As you wish, Sweetheart."
The air was cold enough she could see her breath, puffing out like smoke as they walked in silence through the empty gardens.
"The night usually feels so scary or forbidden. My mother never let me out at night when I was younger." She let out a short laugh that instantly made her sad and homesick for the woman.
"You've never been outside at night?" he asked, disbelieving.
She smiled sideways at him. "I never said that."
"Not as innocent as she seems," he pondered with a smile. "Tell me more about your family."
She frowned, looking straight ahead at the maze they had entered. She had mentioned to him before how she came from a poor family and he never bothered asking how her station in life had risen. Should she add more lies to the already mountain of them she kept?
She absently shook her head. She didn't want to lie to him anymore. He made her want to be herself. People thought Klaus was broken, but she was too. Was that why she wanted to be around him? Were they that much alike or were they both trying to save one another from an already sinking ship?
"My father was a merchant, always traveling," she confessed. "My mother worked in the laundry."
She gave him a sideways glance when he only nodded. Was he going to ask her the question she didn't have an answer for?
"Where did your father travel?" he asked instead.
She shrugged. "Everywhere I assume. We could never write to him when he was at sea and we didn't speak much when he was home. I always wanted to know though. I wanted to hear about the different and exotic lands he traveled to. It's silly, but I always dreamed he'd ask me to go with him."
"It surprises me you didn't ask him," he said to lighten the mood. "Or at least tell him you were coming with him."
"Am I that stubborn?"
"I like to think you're persistent."
She smiled and squinted her eyes at him. "Are you sure you're not speaking about yourself?"
He laughed, a sound she thought she could get used to if she were someone else. Maybe if she was the honest noble woman she claimed to be. With the lies she had to weave someone was bound to find out and then she'd be gone and forgotten. She would just be another betrayer, charged with treason. She thought back to the man in the courtyard who had been stabbed and bled out due to his crimes. She pressed her hands to her stomach, trying not to imagine the pain.
She stopped walking and they faced each other, blue eyes meeting blue, their breath mingling in the frosty air. She couldn't take it anymore. She needed to tell him and beg for her family's safety. She didn't care if she was stabbed and forced to die in a public forum. Once she told him she'd be free, she'd be signing her death warrant, but she'd be free. Maybe Klaus will take pity on me and concede to my last request of helping my family, she thought optimistically.
"I have something to tell you," she announced suddenly, catching him off guard.
He searched her determined expression. "Alright."
Her mouth floundered for a minute as she thought about how to phrase her words and wiped her clammy hands against the inside of her cloak, but instead of a confession she asked, "What was your childhood like?"
His eyebrows raised in surprise and he shrugged, continuing walking down the stone path. "Normal for a prince, I assume. My father was very strict with my brothers and sisters. He didn't seem to like me much though, but I was my mother's favorite."
"Was he mean to you?"
Klaus let out a humorless laugh. "He was evil. Probably more so than I am. The way he taught lessons to us was harsh, but I think I'm stronger for it. When I was six years old I had a horse. He was a beautiful black stallion." As he spoke Caroline couldn't help but smile at the way his eyes lit up. "He was loyal and so fast that when I rode him I felt like I had wings." His face grew dark. "I remember the day I came down to the stables to ride him just after breaking fast and found him on the stable floor, his neck practically decapitated from his body."
Caroline was stunned at his admission that her own eyes started to tear. How could someone do that to a six year old or kill a healthy animal that brutally. Her warm hand slipped into his cooler one, surprising him with the gentle touch.
"It was my father's way to show me that love is a weakness and to show me what he was capable of," he finished.
"I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened to you," she said quietly and wondered how many other tragedies had happened in his life. How many betrayals? A tear slowly made its way down her cheek, but she looked down, hiding it from Klaus. She was another betrayal that would harden his heart.
He stared that their entwined fingers. "Love is a person's greatest weakness," he said quietly, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself, not her.
She stepped into his body, bringing their hands to rest on his chest. She had an innate desire to make him feel better. She wanted to see that light come back into his eyes. "It can be a strength too."
"How do you make me forget everything?" His eyes seemed confused, but so did hers.
"I don't know. You make me forget myself too."
"I don't love the queen," he admitted suddenly and brought his face closer to hers.
This admission couldn't change anything between them though. She thought they could be friends, but there was a pull towards one another that was undeniable. This attraction had her constantly seeking him out in crowds and kept her sneaking out of her chamber late at night to see him.
"It doesn't matter. You're married."
"And what if I wasn't married," he whispered, his cheek brushing against hers.
"But you are," she whispered back, her breath warming his neck as she inhaled his spicy scent.
"And if I wasn't?"
She pulled away to look into his eyes. They were as serious as she'd ever seen them. "You can't divorce her or get an annulment."
He ignored her statement. "Would you be my queen?"
Her lips wanted so badly to turn upwards, but she kept her expression neutral. "Klaus."
He pulled away, untangling their hands and walking away, the stones under his boots being kicked up with each stride until he stopped ten feet away from her. "I would for you, Caroline," he said, his back still facing her. "I've meant everything I've ever said to you." He turned back towards her, his eyes shining in their sincerity. "I'm irrevocably in love with you."
Her mouth opened in an inaudible gasp. She hadn't thought he felt that strongly for her. She had felt the stirrings of falling in love with him, but she tended to ignore it. She never imagined that she would find a place for herself in the arms of someone like him. She didn't deserve someone who when they did love something they loved it passionately and wholeheartedly. He wouldn't hold back his love for her. He would tell the world, she thought.
"I'm a," she began to say, but was interrupted by a squire running full tilt towards them.
"Your Majesty," he yelled as the made his way through the twisting corners of the hedges. "It's the Queen," he gasped out. "She's sick and bleeding."
oooOooo
Klaus sat at the table in the darkness of his study, his feet elevated and his eyes closed. Hayley had miscarried. He couldn't say it was a blessing of sorts, but was it so bad that he was relieved? Apparently no one had known she had been pregnant besides herself and of course Elijah. He wondered what other secrets his brother had kept hidden from him.
Speaking of the devil.
The door creaked open and Elijah slipped in quietly, keeping his stance by the door. "Hayley is fine. Upset, but fine."
His voice sounded loud as a drum as it echoed through the silent room and Klaus didn't acknowledge his unwelcomed intrusion. He kept his eyes closed. He had been so tired this past week. With the Lockwood's still staying within the palace walls he hadn't been sleeping well. He was usually a light sleeper to begin with, but having them around, people he still considered the enemy, had him only lightly sleeping for three hours a night if he slept at all.
"You should probably see her, Klaus. She is your queen after all."
Klaus let out a heavy sigh. "She wants comfort and I'm the last person who could provide that. Go to her yourself."
"She wants to see you. She thinks this was a curse put on her by a certain maiden."
Klaus scoffed. "So dramatic that one."
"Klaus," Elijah said with authority that Klaus hadn't heard since he was a young boy. "At least put on the facade that you still care for her."
Klaus's eyes snapped open and he stalked toward Elijah with fire in his eyes. "Or what?" he asked defiantly, daring his brother to rebuke him.
Elijah straightened himself. "Hayley isn't in her right mind at the moment. She may do something that she'll regret or will just fuel your anger even more."
Klaus said nothing as he left the room, too prideful to admit that Elijah had been right.
His daughters surrounded Hayley's bedside, dabbing her forehead with a damp cloth and running their fingers through her hair. When Klaus's presence was finally noticed only his insolent fifteen year old, Adrianna, ignored him, obviously still sour from their previous encounter.
"Klaus? Is that you?" Hayley asked in a weak voice that made him want to scoff. He could always tell when Hayley was playing damsel in distress and this was one of those times.
"She's better, Father," his second in line, Juliette offered as she stood from the bed and hugged the whimpering Gwendolyn.
"Why don't you girls go and help the ladies in waiting make your mother tea?" he asked nicely, his nine year old, Alice, hugging him before being pulled away by Adrianna.
Once the door was shut and they were left alone Klaus dropped his worried husband persona and Hayley sat up straighter in bed, her eyes once again sharp, not at all unfocused as she'd let her children observe.
"That's better," Klaus commented as her behavior went back to normal.
"The baby was a boy. I know it."
"And you loosing this child is the work of a witch Elijah tells me," he commented, already bored of her silly suspicions.
"It had to have been a curse," she supposed with no proof.
Klaus rolled his eyes. "And who is this evil witch who cast such a curse." Her lips tightened and her eyes grew defiant. That was when Klaus knew. "Where is she?" he asked lowly, his voice coming out like a feral growl.
"Where she belongs."
Klaus stalked to the bed and shook Hayley by her thin shoulders. "Where is she!"
Hayley's dark eyebrow arched. "You care that much for her? You're willing to defy me?"
"You are nothing without me, Hayley, so it is you who defies me."
She held her chin high. "I never thought you'd actually learn to love. Too bad she's a commoner."
"No, it's a true shame you're still alive."
