Narrowing her eyes as she watched her older brother and the queen in the middle of the dancefloor, Rebekah glanced sideways through the crowd looking for Elijah. Everyone congregated near the edge of the floor, riveted on Klaus dancing with the queen as if they'd never seen two people dance together before. Preoccupied as they were, it was easy enough for her to find her oldest brother standing several yards away.

Cutting her gaze back to Klaus's show, she glared after them for a moment before a small, dark smirk curled the side of her mouth. She was still miffed with him for spoiling the queen's secret for his own gain, but now she had a plan to get even with him. Nik was always winning these petty little arguments between them, but not this time.

Slipping gracefully through the crowd as everyone was thoroughly distracted by the queen and her dancing partner, Rebekah arrived beside Elijah, a soft smile on her lips. Her golden mask made her hair look like polished gold and accentuated her blue eyes. Her tulle dress was wide and fluffy, the pale blue reminiscent of the afternoon sky and the blue of her eyes. She looked like she was floating on a cloud as she arrived at her eldest brother's side, her hands resting comfortably intertwined in front of her.

"They dance exquisitely," she commented quietly, and Elijah smiled as he nodded in agreement.

"For all of his recalcitrance, Niklaus does fit in nicely into society when he puts forth an effort," Elijah agreed, lifting the glass of wine in his hand to his lips.

"Mayhap he is fitting in... too well," she added, raising her eyebrows slightly. Her golden mask covered only her eyes so her eyebrows lifted above the gilded edge and exaggerated her expression even more.

A crease formed between Elijah's eyebrows for a moment, but a wry smile settled on his face. "You sound almost envious, sister," he commented, glancing away from the dancers to look down at her before he took another sip of his drink.

She half-laughed, half-snorted and looked away from him as she shrugged her left shoulder upward. "I wouldn't say I'm envious..."

"I would," Kol commented as he arrived behind her, leaning his head over her shoulder and taunting her before moving to her other side. Elijah watched him for a moment, most likely assessing his condition for anything out of order, and then looked away when all appeared in line.

Rebekah glared openly at her brother, the heat in her glare toned down by the golden mask over her eyes, and Kol ignored her as he grinned broadly. He held a glass filled with a dark liquid, and as she drew in a breath through her nose, she realized he was drinking blood from a wine glass.

"You're jealous you're not the center of attention, Bekah," Kol clarified, looking over at her as he took a deep sip from his glass of blood. She sneered as she looked at his drink and then up into his eyes. He irascibly smirked at her as he licked his lips and held the glass out to offer her a drink. Holding up a hand, she drew her chin back and turned her face away from him. Like always, Kol showed up at precisely the wrong time to mess up her plans.

Leaning closer to Elijah, she ignored Kol and entreated their oldest brother. "This has nothing to do with how I feel," she clarified sharply with a slight shake of her head which made the curls pinned to the back of her head bounce. "Rather, it seems to have everything to do with how Nik feels."

Elijah frowned again, clearly not following her line of thought. Before she lost him in his confusion, she continued, glancing pointedly toward the dancefloor as the song abruptly came to a finish. Klaus's arm was around the queen's back as he dipped her to the floor, her arms wrapped around him in a familiar way that was quite unbecoming in polite company. Elijah lifted his chin and narrowed his eyes as the dancers stood and stared at one another for a long, charged moment. Rebekah smiled; this was going to be easier than she'd thought.

"Has Nik taken a liking to the queen?" Kol asked, his voice lilting playfully behind her. She wondered if he was playing along with her, or if he was merely being his characteristically irascible self. Either way, his commentary was helping her plan so she didn't shush him.

Elijah breathed out an audible sigh through his nose as Klaus disappeared through the crowd and the king greeted the queen where she stood alone on the dancefloor. Rebekah didn't know what was going through her oldest brother's brain, so she decided to feed his doubt more.

Shrugging her shoulders upward slightly, Rebekah pursed her lips and ran the tips of her fingers on her left hand over the tip of her right thumb as if she was deep in thought. "It could be nothing... but he does love a challenge," she noted conversationally. Behind her right shoulder, Kol nodded in agreement and tilted the rest of his glass upward so he could down the rest of his blood drink.

"Nik loves nothing better than a challenge," he added, and Rebekah recognized the helpful tone in his voice. She didn't know why, but Kol was playing along with her game.

Ignoring her skepticism about Kol's intentions, she looked back at Elijah as he watched the queen leave the ballroom by herself. "Perhaps our brother's umbrage with the queen is not so based on dislike but on something... else," Rebekah finished, her eyebrows raised pointedly.

Elijah glanced at her, and she noticed the light of comprehension in his eyes. A soft smile teased at the corner of her mouth, so she pursed her lips again and feigned a worried look as she met her brother's gaze.

"If Niklaus has become infatuated with the queen, then that could certainly pose a threat to our peaceful existence here," Elijah commented, and Rebekah resisted dancing in glee as he caught on to the thread where she was leading him. She nodded vigorously and Kol stepped up between them to rest his arm across Elijah's shoulders as he leaned in conspiratorially.

"What ever will we do?!" he asked incredulously, biting his bottom lip. Rebekah stifled the urge to giggle by glaring at Kol. His overacting could spoil their entire ploy, but Elijah seemed too distracted to notice.

"Something must certainly be done," Elijah confirmed, raising his gaze from where he'd been staring thoughtfully into the flowing fabric of Rebekah's skirt at his feet. Looking from one of them to the other, he nodded slightly as if he'd come to a conclusion. "I'm only sorry I hadn't noticed this before."

Distractedly, he extricated himself from Kol's arm and turned, excusing himself politely before leaving the ballroom. The two remaining siblings stood together as they watched him disappear through the double door entry before Rebekah turned to Kol and fixed him with a hard look. When he turned to meet her eyes, a half-smirk had turned his face into its characteristic mischievous mask.

"What are you doing?" she asked him suspiciously, planting her hands on her hips.

"Don't get so defensive, dear sister," he replied, absently handing his empty glass to a passing servant before he turned back to smile at her. "If you plan to make Nik's life a living hell, then I want a part of the action."

She raised her chin and examined him down the length of her nose. "I don't want to make his life a living hell... I just want to repay him for making the queen angry with me."

Kol chuckled and stepped toward her, leaning in and dipping his head so he was looking at her out of the top of his dark eyes. Reaching out, he snatched her elbow in his hand and smirked knowingly at her. "You can be a spiteful thing, sister. You should enjoy it instead of resisting it." His eyebrows raised suggestively before he released her and pulled out his sleeves, straightening them down to his wrists.

"I am a lady," she argued dispassionately, unwillingly accepting he was right. She did want to spite her older brother, and she didn't feel remorseful about it. Klaus was always interfering in her life. She felt he was due with a little interference from her to make them even.

A dark smile spread over her lips, mirroring Kol's. He was a devil, but he was right. She would enjoy this.