A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Klonnie Week-AU Day. Participation in one of my favorite fandoms motivated me. Horrible grammar as usual.
Disclaimer: Not Mine.
Diversion
She was at a loss. This was not what she expected.
"Bonnie, where do you want this?" Bonnie looked around the small shop with so much movement around her. She had no idea.
"Just put it down. I will straighten all of this out later." Bonnie answered. Lucy hesitated but after a moment placed the basket in the corner. On her way out of the door she grasped her cousin's shoulder.
This rundown hut had seemed like freedom several months ago, but now it felt like a dungeon. He was punishing her in the most cruelest way possible, he had given her what she asked for, her own shop in the most bustling portion of the village. She could not object. Emily swept. Gloria unpacked, and Lucy moved items from the cart with Mari, Maddox, and Cara's help. Bonnie could hear Lady Caroline arguing with her mate, urging him to do something, anything. Lord Stefan could not be heard but it was clear from Caroline's ever growing frustration, he did not think anything could or should be done.
Bonnie laughed at that thought. Emily looked up from her chore. Bonnie shook her head to dismiss any further worries her behavior was transmitting. Lord Stefan was right. She had betrayed him. It was a fact, and these were the consequences. Emily walked over to her niece.
"Priestess, I want to thank you." Bonnie turned to her in surprise.
"Thank me? For what?" Bonnie said pretending to sift through the piles of her belongings.
"The state of lost you are in has helped the mage community find their way. Your sorrow has wrought peace for so many others beyond yourself. You continually sacrifice yourself and the things you want for your community and your family. There have been many who have questioned your ability to lead because of your lack of experience, but I have never questioned you. Your talent and power is awe-inspiring, but it's your heart Bonnie. Your heart that has saved us all."
"It's unfair that she must give so much of herself." Lucy said placing a box of books next to Gloria.
"Yes, but it is an unspoken requirement of the role fate has bestowed on her." Gloria answered.
"Ridiculous." Lady Caroline said from the door. Bonnie turned to her amused.
"This isn't some unspoken requirement. She's been banished to this rat infested shack because the King is an arrogant child who didn't get his way and now he is throwing a temper tantrum."
"Actually, the King has abided by the contract he and the companion agreed upon." Lord Stefan said helping Maddox move the bookcase from Bonnie's chambers into the old shop. All the women stopped their activities to regard the vampire.
The companion. Bonnie sighed as the room erupted into heated debate. She slipped into the back room of her new home. It was small but hers. Bonnie tried to remember all the plans she had for the place but they wouldn't come to her. The word companion kept skittering across her mind. From consort to companion within weeks, Bonnie thought sardonically. At least the new Merlin got 50 years.
-o0o-
"You summoned my lord." Malachi asked stepping into the King's somber study. Marcel was seated next to the king. Both had clearly been drinking. Women in varying levels of undress were about the room. Malachi couldn't tell if the King's diversions were just beginning or ending for the night.
"Where is the intelligence on my brothers and that witch?"
"Sire, my sources have heard not a word for the past few weeks. It's as if they have disappeared."
"And Greta?" Marcel said sipping from his glass.
"The Merlin has taken control of the citadel in the heart of mage country. She has already posted new guards and her army grows as rumors and distrust of the vampire court grows. The sapphire coven has taken on fifty new apprentices."
"I should kill her." The king says into his goblet.
"I would advise against sir. With the mantle of Merlin, Greta's power has grown exponentially."
"I wasn't referring to the Grand Wizard."
"A year ago you would have killed her instead of giving her property." Marcel complained.
"When you are man enough to tell me that you want to make Lady Vanessa your wife, then you can deem to tell me about mine." Niklaus said putting down his goblet. He beckoned one of his toys forward. Constance was a handsome brunette, her bust heavy. The king suckled at her breast before pulling her into his lap.
"Sire, please forgive me, but my duty is to you and the kingdom. The consort is a liability. She sided with the Merlin. Her coven since then has admitted 75 apprentices. Two hundred witches of blood coven are in the heart of our kingdom. This coven has been our enemy for-"
"The blood coven was the only thing standing between Du Lac and our downfall." Marcel countered.
"Yes, but they were here because of the consort. What if this has been the intention all along."
"The grand plan was to make Greta, Merlin?" Marcel chuckled. "Why would that be any sane person's plan?"
"No, it was to infiltrate the kingdom. We still do not know how your siblings escaped. Now the whole of the mage community has turned on us."
"Malachi, you are stung because the consort stole the Merlin away from you. Now you are seeing things that are not there." Marcel countered.
"I am telling you the consort-"
"Silence. I ask for evidence and intelligence I can use and you bring me gossip. And, You, you sit her drinking my wine when you should be defending the castle, and where the hell is Stefan?"
Malachi looked to Marcel. Marcel swallowed. "He is with Lady Caroline and the consort."
"Maybe he's a traitor too." The king said one hand full of breast and the other buried between thighs. Malachi's brow quirked.
"Don't be ridiculous, Niklaus." Marcel said gently.
"Ridiculous?" Niklaus said incredulous.
"The consort needed-"
"I don't care what she needed, and stop calling her that. Call her what she is…my companion."
-o0o-
Greta gazed at the stars on the balcony. The sky here looked so much different from the one she used to look up at white oak castle. She closed her eyes and walked back into her chamber. After all that had happened she still had a hard time trying to forget that it was no longer home. This place was, this room at the top of the tower in the heart of the realm of the mage. A place she thought she would never see again. A place she was unwelcomed in not a month ago. They made her Merlin. These idiots actually put her in charge of protecting them from Niklaus. Who would protect her? She immediately dismissed the memory of the self-righteous witchling.
The rage and jealousy were subsiding and suddenly she was left with fear and doubt. And regret? She was the Merlin.
"The Merlin." She said staring at the mural on the wall of the original Grand Wizard. The staff in his hands lay not three feet away from her. The robe hung around his shoulders kept her warm on her morning strolls. Blessed be. She was the Merlin.
She dined with the triumvirate. She held mediation sessions within mage factions. She had an army of witches and spies at her control, and she had sent four men to the caves for disrespecting her. The traveler coven wasn't happy to be usurped. They had enjoyed the benefits of being the coven in charge for far too long. They had grown arrogant and entitled and couldn't bear to cede power to Sapphire, the forsaken coven and their whore of a priestess. They would learn their lesson and Greta would release them. She would not have to kill them even though she wanted to.
She was much more then a spiritual leader now, she was a politician. And there was nothing more satisfying to the witch than politics. She knew this game. Well. It took her years to jockey for her position at Niklaus's side and she had stayed on top longer than any other. It's the protector and guidance aspects of her job she would have to familiarize herself with. The magical community needed the travelers. They needed every coven to stand against white oak castle. Greta sat at the large desk in the corner. She had to continue her research on the blood coven.
"Don't you look comfortable?" Kol said stepping into the Merlin's chamber.
Greta smiled despite her surprise. "I've been waiting for you? Where's Elijah tonight?"
"Have you been waiting? You denied our visitation." Kol said walking around the room his hands skimming across various surfaces.
"I couldn't accept you with the king's spies lying in wait, and with the state of the realm. Vampires aren't very popular right now in the magic community."
"But they are being led by a vitch."
"You should know that, unlike you and your family, witch is the only thing my people see."
"Your people. If I am not mistaken the vampire court has been your people for the past 75 years."
"Past is the key, my lord. This is my future."
"I hope me and my brother can be a part of that future. When we siege White oak Castle we will make powerful allies. There will be no stopping us."
"Lord Kol, what is that you want?"
"The same thing I have always wanted. The same thing you want, revenge on Niklaus." Greta sighed.
"Don't tell me you are softening."
"Softening? I want nothing more than to see Niklaus groveling in the dirt where he belongs, but I am a part of something bigger now. Something I thought I had lost 75 years ago." Something my father can be proud of. Greta thought to herself. Jonas hadn't shown up yet but she had recognized the elders of the old coven immediately amongst the crowd that welcomed her to the citadel.
"Killing Niklaus will strengthen the triumvirate."
"At what cost? How many more mages am I to lose to you and your brother's pissing contest."
"And here I thought I had a friend. I made this possible you know. Without me, you would not be the Grand Wizard."
"Am I to believe your charms have somehow affected your brother's wife? Bonnie is the most loyal person I have ever known."
"His wife? So that's her name…Bonnie." Greta looked up at the sneer on the original's face.
"Those thoughts will get you killed, my lord."
"I am not afraid of my brother, witch."
"I was not speaking of him. The High Priestess of the blood coven has a lot of friends in the right places. She also packs one hell of a punch. Make that mistake and you may find Niklaus won't be the only one on your trail." Greta informed. Kol watched her carefully. For once in his life, he was silent.
"So if you are not referring to the consort, how is it that you arranged my ascent to power?" Greta was curious how he thought he had anything to do with her insane life right now.
"I set into motion the chain of events that got you here. I beseeched your predecessor to act in his best interest as I am doing now with you. Du Lac never got justice for the witches who died in the north. He was summarily executed before he could. What will the magical realm think of a Merlin who does not seek justice for their brothers and sisters?"
"The brothers and sisters you condemned when you used them in a scheme exploiting sex magic to thwart your brother…by contract, you break the rules you die."
"You sound just like the King's whore."
Greta's spell missed him. The spinning blue orbed crashing to the wall instead of Kol's face. She dropped from her chair just in time to be spared from a nasty paralysis curse, knocking over the books on the ancient's genealogy she had been studying all night. Her lasso summoning shot out from beneath the chair and wrapped the original around the ankles. The transmutation spell worked up the chords until Kol's body was completely encapsulated in a suffocating chokehold only an Amazonian anaconda could administer.
"You originals never cease to amaze me." Greta said getting up from the floor. Kol fought against the spell but it was no use. His body was bound and his mouth gagged by scales and powerful slithering muscles.
"You come into my home. In my realm, claiming you want an alliance. Alliance requires partnership. Something you and your forsaken family have no conception. I am Greta of the House of Martin. High Priestess of the Sapphire Coven. Daughter of Jonas Martin, Seventh Intercept of the Triumvirate, The former consort of the vampire court, the ripper of realms, guardian of the innocent, the protector of mage, and the Merlin of the magick. I have no use for your inane petulant war with your brother." Greta proclaimed her hand glowing indigo. Kol mumbled against the creature holding him. The snake slithered around the vampire tightening its grip on his neck, his vocal chords being crushed in the process. The movement created a whole small enough for the original to mouth his response. Greta watched his lips until she understood his meaning. She sighed. Politics were a bitch. She released the indigo ball. It crashed into the being before her. Blue light swallowed Kol as he disappeared. He would wake up deep into the heart of Niklaus's territory. She prayed Marcel's guards would stumble upon him.
She had made the mistake of revealing Qetisyah's secrets once, and now she would be punished for it.
-o0o-
Niklaus moved through the castle rudderless. He had grown tired of the women and drinking very quickly and had been looking for other things to occupy his time. He thought he was going to the library but took one look at the corner housing classics and decided against it.
He wound up in the east courtyard. He watched Stefan train his men. They looked formidable, but when he challenged one aspiring recruit to a sparing match he folded without much of a fight. Niklaus looked up from the quivering mass on the ground and then grimaced at Stefan who had the good sense to look ashamed. He could hear a bit of the old ripper emerge in the reaming happening as he left the space.
Niklaus ducked into the upper court kitchens when he saw Damon coming up the hall with another gaggle of women for the King to sample. He was amazed at Damon's ability to trick young women to sacrifice themselves for his political and monetary aspirations. For the first time he wondered what he promised them? What made them agree to such a lifestyle? The king was sure some were just as power hungry as the Lord themselves. Some seemed to enjoy the carnal nature of their work. While others looked like they had loss their souls. He waited until the halls were clear before moving to the door.
He unfortunately waited too late because the head cook walked through the door and instantly started bowing and ordering the staff into motion. The king left an hour later full of roasted boar, parsnips, and potatoes. His head swam with wine and mouth still tasted of chocolate truffles filled with fresh blood. He was stuffed. The cook was a magician. The thought led him into the bowels of the castle.
He spent the rest of the afternoon helping Kael complete a ritual like he used to do when he was a boy.
"You remembered." The dragon smiled watching him stir counter clockwise towards the west because the sun was setting.
"Sometimes I think you believe I am a complete dullard." Niklaus said concentrating on making his strokes measured and consistent.
"You sire, no." Kael smiled mischievously. She added softly, "Only when you are acting as one." Niklaus grumbled but continued his work.
"I miss this." Kael said pouring the herbs she had been chopping into the elixir as Niklaus stirred.
"I forgot how diverting it could be." Niklaus admitted, as he looked out the slit in the concrete wall Kael called a window. The twilight buzzed. Fireflies dances and lit up the sky. Were did the day go?
"Diverting?" Kael emphasized. She knew the king had been struggling. Court Gossip was cruel and undiscriminating. King or pauper they would whisper your secrets, exaggerations and even lies for entertainment. When Niklaus surprised her this afternoon with his visit she realized court gossip also dined on truth. Her boy was lost. The King looked over to his advisor and the magic had faded. Reality crept back into his thoughts.
"The elixir is mixed properly. I have matters to attend to." Niklaus said walking out of the dungeon. Kael sighed.
"For once, I wish you would attend to your heart, and not your ambition." Kael said to the door.
"My father would have you killed dragon if he heard the nonsense you say these days." Niklaus voice rang back down the hall.
"How fortunate, I am speaking to his son, and executioner." Kael answered pouring the morning sickness treatment in a bottle.
Niklaus left the room his mind wondering. Kael was always over sentimental and doting on him. If only his mother has cared enough. If only his parents gave a damn about the bastard child under their roof. Kael would mind her place instead of leaning on the familiarity they shared due to his circumstance.
He checked in with Maddox, and the vitch gave him a report on the village. A new shop had opened for business, and had instantly cut into the profits of the local apothecary. It was only a matter of time before old man Zan would be bringing complaint to Lord Marcel in the lower court. The other townsfolk were happy with the new business because it brought in mages from across the country and even from the mage realm itself. Malachi saw it as a security risk but Kael disagreed.
Niklaus sat quietly. Mostly tuning out the constable. He looked up when the man stopped speaking.
"Is there nothing else? What about the string of thefts and muggings we discussed last week. Have you put in place appropriate measures?"
"There was no need sire. After an apprentice was mugged, the blood coven has taken to patrolling the streets at the companion's behest." Maddox watched indifference bloom into disdain when he uttered the companion name.
"I want guards patrolling also. Tell them to keep an eye on the goings-on of this coven. Malachi is a bit zealous but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution."
"You do realize Mari submits reports everyday. She is the best in all three nations. She would notify-" Malachi stopped talking when the King grabbed him by the throat squeezing just before crushing his windpipe.
"Yes, sire."
"I'm glad we understand one another." Niklaus said walking out of the guardhouse at the castle gates.
The king was about to visit Mari's chambers when he realized she had been given new quarters outside the castle. He went to Malachi's quarters instead but he was missing. He almost found himself in his war room but changed his mind. He instead descended into the dungeons again, walking the underground tunnels. He followed the passages towards Qetsiyah's quarters until he was peering inside the room. The blood coven had claimed their legacy and the contents lay to the south of the castle now with the witch and her family. Her family had surrounded her with protection until she was free of the castle walls. Her family followed her without question. Her family loved her. His family was trying to kill him. He had thought for just a moment that she was family. When he looked up from the fog of his thoughts he was staring at a face he had hoped to never see again.
"Why are you here?" Niklaus said stalking towards the iron bars that held the only family member he actually thought loved him. Besides Henrik, but that was guilt-ridden memory he did not wish to dig up at the moment.
"I have told you brother, I come to ask for your pardon." Rebekah said. Her voice was a rasp. He skin gray and cracked from dehydration.
"How naïve do you think I am?" Niklaus said walking over to the guard on the wall, ripping into his neck. The man screamed as Niklaus collected the gushing blood into the ladle waiting for Rebekah's one feeding a week. He walked over to the bars and held it out to his sister. She ripped it out of his hands and drank greedily. She licked the spoon savoring the taste. The guard fell to the ground whimpering.
"Silence. Go let the healers see to your bite." Niklaus spat at the man. The guards blood flying in his own eyes. The man crawled towards the exit gripping his neck. His tunic drenched in blood.
"I am here too brother. Will you not spare me also?" He heard Finn whisper from inside another cavern in the dungeon." Niklaus sighed. His eyes dilated.
"Because I am so merciful and gracious, feed my traitorous weakling of brother also, and then you can seek help." Niklaus said turning back to his sister. Her grey skin had revitalized into the peaches and cream he remembered. She stood stretching coming near the bars regarding her big brother.
"Naïve? No." Rebekah said peering into the angelic blue eyes of he devil. "Selfish, petulant, rash, narcissistic. Yes."
"You are amazing." Niklaus smiled in spite of himself.
"I'm amazing. You are here expecting me to grovel and apologize for being angry that you assassinated our whole family." Rebekah seethed.
"I did assassinate our whole family. I did not stake you." Niklaus said seriously.
"I'm aware, you coward. You couldn't look me in the eye when you betrayed me. You let your sycophant do it."
"I did not order Greta to do either" Niklaus admitted earnestly. He watched his sister's surprise, and then turned his back on her. "But she was right. You would have stood against me."
"How do you know that Nik? You never gave me the opportunity." Rebekah replied.
"I know. Look at your actions now. You sided with Kol of all people." Niklaus turned back to her with disgust.
"You stuck me in the ground for 75 years. What was I supposed to do?" Rebekah said her hands gripping the bars.
"Not this." Niklaus answered.
"You will let me out. You will give me my land Niklaus. You need me, especially now that all your paramours have turned against you. I am your family." Rebekah pleaded despite her earlier proclamation.
"Not anymore. I don't need family. I don't need anyone." Niklaus told himself as he had every night for the past few weeks.
"And what of my niece or nephew?" Rebekah said watching her brother. "Do you not need them as well?" Rebekah knew Niklaus like the back of her hand. She knew what drove him, what made him tick. She knew that his reaction was not lining up with the words he was trying to tell himself. "If that was true you would have stuck a dagger in the witch's stomach the moment the Merlin was chosen."
"You know nothing of me Rebekah, like you said you have been dead for 75 years."
-o0o-
This room made him nauseated. How could one tiny creature that wasn't even here yet so affect his life? Wooden toys and hand-stitched dolls were neatly placed throughout the room. A shelf housed an impressive collection of fairy tales and lullabies. Sea worn wood had been crafted into the most beautiful crib the Hybrid King had ever seen. The white blanket with teal stitching looked beautiful against the grey of the wood. He knew he had to order someone to move this room closer to his chamber now that…
The king was overwrought with so much emotion looking around at these things. This room was a place of dreams, hopes, joy, magic, and yes…love. Delight, betrayal, confusion, and the most disconcerting, fear crashed into him. His whole life had been full of turmoil but this test, this web of lies, was almost unbearable.
He yanked the portrait from the mantel. The cloth covering it was ripped away as well. It was meant to be a gift. It was meant to be unveiled. But life had unveiled an ugly truth he was struggling to reconcile. He stared down at her face.
It took him nearly a month to just get that crooked smile right, another to capture the determination in her eyes. She stared up at him now mockingly. The fool beside her was unaware that she would deliver one of the biggest blows to his kingdom and his ego.
His brain screamed trouble when he saw her. He ignored it because what could a country bumpkin do to the hybrid king? Now he knew, she could hold him and his seed hostage until her agenda was satisfied.
He wanted to kill her. He wanted her to pay, but he knew their son would be lost without her. He didn't want to handicap his heir before his life had even begun. He stood in this room, this temple to their union, the ultimate manifestation of their alliance absolutely blindsided. He wanted to devolve, escape into his base instincts but he knew he could not.
He made a promise to his unborn child that he would never experience the childhood Niklaus had to endure. That kind of pain bred patricide. That kind of pain left you with guilt and bitterness. He could no longer dwell on things he could not change. He would not.
He had a kingdom to protect. He had to be smart. Brute force would not work against the three powerful mages plaguing his life. Kol, Greta, and Bonnie were making him fight on every level of his soul, mind, and being.
He had underestimated the witch. He would not make that mistake twice. He would surprise them all. He put the picture back where he found it instead of ripping it to shreds like he wanted. It would serve as a reminder. This is his son's chamber. He would not destroy the work that went into making him safe, comfortable, and happy.
He would not let his failed relationship with the child's mother tarnish something so pure. He looked at the door leading to the other room, her room. He dare not go into the hollow space. He would absolutely lose the grasp he had on the malice that had taken hold in hi chest. He knew not to tempt fate. He backed out of the nursery, and headed to his study, stopping to ask a guard to summon Damon on the way.
-o0o-
"They are watching our every move." Gloria said coming in out of the rain. She lugged the bundle of vegetables in from Frida's stand in the market.
"We are enemies of the state." Bonnie said smiling her hands deep in the vat of clay, rose essence, and olive oil. "Ignore them. We have more important things to attend to."
Cara came from the storage room and grabbed Gloria's bags, stalking back into overstuffed pantry.
"Is it wise to have a member of the King's coven working in your shop?" Gloria whispered at the priestess.
"Probably not, but technical she is Gemini, and before that Sapphire. Cara is looking for her place in the world, and I can understand that."
"This is what got you here, priestess. You're always trying to save someone."
"A week ago it was fate, Gloria." Bonnie said letting honey drip into her concoction from the comb.
The old woman grunted but started rinsing the fresh mugwort she had just picked in the forest.
"You do not need to protect me. Go home to your beautiful rose garden." Bonnie said aware the woman grew more homesick every day. With Bonnie's permission, half of the coven had returned to their homes. Just because she was trapped here didn't mean they would have to be. They were of the Order and deserved to be with their own people. She would call them if she needed. Besides, most of the veteran witches had taken on apprentices. Some were responsible for the magical tutelage of two or three witches. Her exploits had cause a surge in membership. When Bonnie was settled she would send for five of the most talented and instruct them herself. It was tradition of the blood coven even though she barely had just finished her own training.
"I have been the second priestess of the blood coven for 15 years. I will not abandon my duty."
"Honorable, but I'm sure Emily needs help preparing to ascend. In fact, she will need an attendant when she takes her place on the triumvirate. She needs someone she trusts with her life, someone who has served with her for 15 years. I am sending you as a representative of the blood coven to serve our elder." It was an honor most witches dreamed of. To be connected in anyway to that kind of power was humbling. Gloria would make an excellent addition to the senior ministers of the order of the mage. They served and protected the three points on the triumvirate.
Gloria eyes misted up. "Who will attend you?"
"I will." Lucy said walking through the door of the shop. Two tiny people brushed past her and almost tackled Bonnie. Grams laughed as she strolled into the shop carrying her bags to the back.
"Auntie. Auntie. We missed you." Bonnie hugged her niece and nephew to herself.
"What are you guys doing here?" Bonnie smiled down at them kissing them on the cheeks.
"Mama says we are your new shop assistants." Jax said jumping up and down. Mimi immediately took off around the shop plundering for anything that would keep her attention or create an appropriate amount of mischief. Grams came from Bonnie's cozy bedroom and hugged the pregnant women to her chest. She hugged her old friend Gloria, and then she went straight to the pantry to start making some dinner. Hey baby was looking haggard instead of round and full like a six months pregnant woman should. She found a bottle of mead amongst the vegetables, and decided to partake for her and Bonnie while Lucy settled things.
"Did she?" Bonnie said eyeing her cousin.
"She did." Lucy said setting her bags on a counter.
"Isn't that going to be hard when you live a days ride away."
"That would be hard but me and Taimak have decided to relocate. He has already begun setting up his shop. And of course, Grams wouldn't be left behind. Besides I need her to tend to the kids."
"How is that possible? The village is packed with merchants?"
"We brought the apothecary. Well we traded with old man Zan. He gets the cottage, shop, and garden in our village, and we get his shop, land, and cottage here in the kingdom."
"Lucy?" Bonnie said alarmed. Lucy's garden was worth more than half the land in the kingdom.
"He was losing profits. He didn't want to issue a complaint because you're the cons…" Lucy paused mid-sentence wondering if the title applied to Bonnie anymore. "So we offered to take it off his hands."
"Your garden, you spent years cultivating it. Why would you do that?"
"Because you're here because of me. You're pregnant, and trying to run a coven and a busy shop. I know Auntie would have stayed out of loyalty even though she misses the realm. And, I felt like I was the only one not making sacrifices for this coven. Taimak is a jack-of-all-trades. He is looking forward to building a thriving business here. I made cuttings, harvested sprouts, and collected seeds from my garden before I left. That's actually what took us so long. It's settled."
"I'm the high priestess." Bonnie said to her stubborn cousin.
"Yes, magically and spiritually you guide our lives. Everything else is up to me. I'm the big cousin." Lucy said starting to unpack he magical tools.
"And I am the Grams, and we are done discussing it." Grams said appearing in the threshold of the pantry for a second with a full goblet in her hands.
"I suppose you are going to want to sell your potions here." Bonnie said looking round at her small but already well stocked shop.
"If it pleases you, High Priestess." Lucy said already shifting things on shelves to make room for a few of her best selling potions she brought along.
"Of course." Bonnie said smiling at Lucy. She looked over to Gloria.
"See, I am well protected."
"You're both good girls. You will need to choose a new third priestess. And a sentry."
"I am the sentry of the blood coven." Lucy said staring at Gloria.
"No. Your are now the second priestess of the blood coven."
Bonnie smiled at Lucy. It felt right.
"I have never sought to be anyone's spiritual counselor. I am a fighter it is what I am good at." Lucy said thinking of all the mischief she got up to over the years.
"And yet fate has bestowed the title upon you." Gloria said staring down the warrior.
"Are we back to fate?" Bonnie smiled washing her hands of the healing mask she would use to treat burns.
"It has never left us, priestess. I will submit the names of the women I think who are talented and amenable to becoming the third priestess or knight of our coven before I go." Gloria said heading into the back room to do just that.
-o0o-
"What is this stuff? It's flying off the shelves faster than I can put it on there." Cara said bringing out more of Lucy's elixir to the front of the crowded shop.
Mari opened the bottled and sniffed. Her eyes glazed over and a dreamy smile spread across her face. She shook her head quickly. "It's a powerful aphrodisiac. No wonder the vampire court seems to be buzzing with happiness of late." Mari said capping the bottle and stuffing it into her robe. She reached into her pocket and handed Lucy a talon.
"Is this what I think it is?" Lucy said examining the claw. Mari nodded slyly.
"What do you want?" Lucy asked wondering were the guardian had got it from.
"I want ten more potions to go with the one I have, but a tad more powerful."
"For one talon?"
"There are four more where that came from if you deliver." Lucy took out a dagger tried to scratch the talon. The metal screeched in effort.
"Deal. We talking locked in a bedroom for weeks powerful?" Lucy said adjusting her recipe in her head.
"Months." Mari said quietly. Lucy looked at the small woman before her with a new interest.
"You sure you can handle that." Lucy said, her brow rose.
"Mari can handle anything." Bonnie said coming from the backroom with more string for the smudge sticks she was making.
"What are you two plotting?" Bonnie said glancing at their expressions. She sat on the stool Taimak had made her to keep her off her feet.
"A business transaction," Lucy said pocketing her new treasure.
"That doesn't sound ominous. Where is Grams?" Bonnie asked looking around at the shop full of customers, family, and friends except one stubborn old witch.
"She took Mimi home for a nap. She got into Gram's molasses cookies again." Lucy said looking over to Jax playing on the floor. Her boy was a saint like his father. Her daughter was just like her…trouble.
"Yikes, poor Mimi." Bonnie said grabbing her stomach.
"Is something wrong?" Lady Caroline said placing the fish cakes she had brought for Bonnie on the counter. Now that she was showing significantly it was all the witch craved.
"It's nothing." Bonnie said sighing. "Bean…she's restless."
"What's restless?" Jax said playing with the coins Lord Tyler had traded to buy his mate some tea that would not harm the baby.
"Oh she is dancing and squirming in Auntie's belly all the time. She won't go to sleep." Bonnie said soothingly to her stomach.
"She misses her father." Kael said eyeing the swell of Bonnie's middle.
"What did I say?" Lucy said to the dragon. "I only allowed you over that threshold if you promised not to mention his name."
"I'm sorry. I am only concerned for the child."
"Luce, it's okay."
"It's not. It's like she can't stop herself from serving him."
"I serve Qetsiyah. I was her second for 150 years."
"The ancient one has gone on. Maybe it is time you served yourself." Mari said.
"Blasphemy. Power that great lives forever." Kael said rearranging the dried herbs into the correct order. Lucy shook her head but continued her work. Just then Lady Vanessa and Camille walked in with their attendants.
"Caroline come quick. You have to see this." The Lady said. Naturally everyone rushed to the door of the shop. Cara helped Bonnie from her stool. She eventually stood in the door of her shop.
Bonnie stared as a shimmering sea of cobalt flooded the street. A parade of the Merlin's soldiers walked in formation in front of the carriage carrying the Grand Wizard. When the first of the witches approached the shop their heads bowed in respect.
"What the hell does she want?" Lady Caroline said staring at her friend. Bonnie pursed her lips. She watched the procession in silence until the carriage was upon them. Greta nodded from the window. Bonnie nodded back aware that Marcel and Stefan's men watched her closely. She looked up and Malachi himself watched her with suspicion. Bonnie went back into her shop, the cell she had asked for.
-o0o-
"Shouldn't you and Kol be plotting my demise." Niklaus said from the shadows of his throne room.
"It still hurts you know." Greta said quietly.
"What's that, Merlin?"
"The idea that you really think I could betray you."
"You've done so on more than one occasion. You finally got the power you always wanted and now you have the courage to show your face here."
"I am not your enemy Niklaus."
"What do you call the army sitting outside my gates?"
"Protection, a warning."
"A WARNING?"
"To abide by our agreement. The Order of the Mage and The Vampire Court are at peace and I would like to keep it that way."
"You came all the way here for peace."
"Actually I came here to see the consort." Greta smiled. "That feels really weird saying that."
"I don't understand. If you are here to see my companion, why are you standing in my throne room."
"I know you."
"Obviously, you don't."
"If I would have come to White oak Castle without speaking to you first you would have the circumstantial evidence you need to kill her. I am extending you a courtesy. I want this to work Niklaus.
"A courtesy? What exactly are you talking about?"
"I am not the enemy."
"You told me you were when you stuck a stake in my stomach and threatened me."
"That was different. That was between you and me. This is bigger. We are responsible for so much more now."
"Are you serious? You know me? Well I know you as well Greta. The woman who lay beside me for fifty years could care less about responsibility."
"Your right. The only thing I cared about was you. I threw away my family, my friends and my home for you, and then you accused me of betraying you after you replaced me with the witchling."
"I did not replace you."
"It doesn't matter. I didn't come here for this. I didn't come here for you. I came to speak to the high priestess of the blood coven, and because I want to foster understanding and peace between our two nations I am telling you this as a courtesy."
"Our two nations. You're a vitch Greta. I turned you myself. You are vampire."
"Not anymore. I am the sentry of the order of mage. The Grand Wizard. The Merlin of the magick realm."
"If you lay one hand…"
"Niklaus, I intend to grant more respect to the mother of your child than you are currently showing her."
"What does that mean?"
"It means for once in your life, think of someone besides yourself."
-o0o-
"Kael said you would come." Bonnie said lying on the cot in her backroom.
"Are you comfortable? I brought you some gifts from the citadel." Greta said turning towards the guards who stood outside the back entrance of the shop. Greta's soldiers placed item after item in the storage room then left them alone.
"I'm fine." Bonnie said trying to sit up. Greta grabbed one of her gifts.
"There is a woman who makes the most beautiful silk pillows stuffed with softest goose feathers." Greta said propping one of the pillows behind Bonnie's head. "I brought you some supplies from the gardens and store rooms as well. The herbs are the strongest I have ever seen." Bonnie looked up at the witch. She was being…kind. Bonnie tilted her head in suspicion.
"Why are you here, Merlin?" Bonnie asked. Greta smiled. The witchling wasn't dumb. She would give her that.
Instead of starting where she should have Greta asked, "Why did you do it?" Greta went and sat on the small bench near the fireplace awaiting an answer.
"I don't know." Bonnie said rubbing her stomach. Bean had finally calmed.
Greta watched the witch, a tiny pang of jealousy forming in her chest.
"It's funny."
"What's that?" Bonnie answered.
"Not that long ago, I would have given anything to be were you are."
"That is funny, because I have given my entire adolescence to be where you are." Greta laughed.
"How did we get here?"
"Love." Bonnie said honestly. "I suppose that's the answer to both of your questions. I had to do something. I had to protect the order."
"From the man you love? The father of your child?" Greta asked incredulous. "Why me?"
"Your stronger than you know, Greta. Sure, you're the powerhouse but even when you were completely besotted, you were not afraid of him. That is more than I can say for everyone else that stood in that circle."
"I don't think it's enough. I don't know what I am doing."
"The one thing I remember everyone saying about you was that you were conniving. I have witnessed your cunning, and we all know you are lethal. Use those skills for good."
"I want you to serve as my advisor." Greta finally said getting to the point. She knew the witch was already on shaky ground with Niklaus but she needed her.
"Greta, look where I am. Do you really think that is smart?"
"Probably not, but when has that ever stopped you? Besides, you're right. I am conniving. I have only thought of myself all my life and I have brought shame and sorrow to my coven, and more importantly my father. I want to do this right and restore the Sapphire coven. I never thought I would say this, but I could use someone with a strong moral compass. I can't think of a more self-righteous witch for the job. From what I've seen in my research it's kind of the blood coven tradition." Bonnie shook her head. Tears formed in her eyes.
"He banished me." Bonnie said her voice quivering. Greta rose looking around the room for a cloth. She sat on the cot Bonnie lay on and wiped her face.
"And in doing so he punished himself. He is lost without you. He will yield." Greta predicted deeply pained by the truth she knew she was speaking.
"You don't know that."
"No, little witchling, but I do know him."
-o0o-
She sat quietly trying to focus the magic coursing through her blood. She had been feeding the spell for weeks and was close to having enough energy to release. She hoped her magic was strong enough to melt the bars in front of her. Most of her mother's magical talents went to their fallen sister, and Kol of all people. Her eyes popped open when she smelt the familiar scent of lilac and cacao. Her stomach sickened.
Her simmering magic boiled over itching to be released at a new target. She stilled to calm herself, breathing the putrid air of the cell into her lungs, and then releasing slowly. There was only one person who could affect her this way, besides her idiot brothers.
"Have you come to finish the job?" Rebekah said rustling control of her magic.
"I've come to make amends." Greta responded unaffected by Rebekah's clear disdain.
"Amends?" Rebekah smiled sardonically.
"I've come to free you."
"Really, what will that cost me?" Rebekah said turning away from the vitch and looking out at the night sky. She just wanted to go home to her country estate.
"I understand… I committed a grave act against you." Greta admitted. Rebekah spun. Greta's tone was condescending at best.
"You stuck my father's dagger in my back so you and my brother could murder my parents." Rebekah said marching forward her face inches away from the silver bars. This time Greta turned away.
"I know you see it as betrayal, but the truth is I spared you."
"Spared me? You trapped me in a prison of soil for almost a century while you and my brother have risen to power. You were my best mate, my sister."
"Exactly." Greta said looking Rebekah in the eyes. "Better you sleep with your brothers than die with your father."
"I could have lived." Rebekah returned. "Me and Marcel…" Greta rolled her eyes.
"You wouldn't have stood for Niklaus' reign, and at that time nothing would have stopped him."
"Don't pretend as if you took no joy in what you did."
"I didn't." Greta said taken aback.
"You are a liar." Rebekah said staring at the one true friend she ever had.
"Did I have a fleeting thought about having Niklaus to myself?" Greta answered honestly. "Maybe, but I truly detested what I had to do."
"And what is it that you have to do now?" Rebekah questioned so very tired.
"Save my people."
"And what atrocities are you willing to commit in their names?" Rebekah said going over to her cot and sitting. She closed her eyes picturing the gardens of the summer estate.
"I simply want to see you regain the things my actions have taken away, and perhaps, in time, you will forgive me." Greta reasoned.
"Greta, you forget I know you better than anyone." Rebekah said glancing over to the woman in front of her. "You want something."
"Always." Greta nodded. Rebekah pursed her lips.
"Did Kol send you?"
"Not intentionally." Greta said pacing. Rebekah could not bear this woman. She was always plotting.
"God, you're a snake."
"And you are a prisoner. Do you want your freedom or not?"
"I rather rot in this cell than take anything from you."
"Unfortunately that does not work for me." Greta said as blue power punched into the bars shattering them. Metal pieces clattered to the ground. The blonde jumped to her feet and stared daggers at the wizard.
"I am certain Niklaus's guards heard that. It will only be a matter of minutes before he has murdered my decoy, pulled up his pants, and stormed down the hall to this cell."
Rebekah glowered harder. Greta sighed and added, "Save this tantrum for a later date. We have so much to catch up on."
Rebekah's white-hot magic shot out of her. The burst slid to the ground and dissipated against the wall of blue energy.
Both mages turned when they heard the clatter of keys around the corner.
"One day we will settle what is between us. I promise you that sissy, but today we do not have the time." Flume of blue light flooded the small cell and swallowed both women.
When the guard passed Finn's cell. He regarded the doomed man. "You're too late. I would mimic my dear sweet sister and vanish, or you will find yourself suffering the same fate as your friend back there."
The guard turned back towards the direction of the male courtesan he had just eliminated. "I hope his charms were worth your life, but then again you could find respite in my freedom."
-o0o-
Stefan lay bloody and unconscious on the floor with Caroline slightly bruised and crying beside him. Marcel clung to life as he was being slung across the room. Malachi sat shaken with a deep gash across his face. He was balled up in the corner wrapped in layers of green magic. Maddox was missing an arm, and Mari hung from the corner, her claws and fangs descended, out of the psychopaths reached.
The doors of the war room flew open. Everyone except the hybrid king turned to Kael as she slithered in covered in scales, and golden magic. Sated on Marcel's blood the king dropped the body of his lieutenant to the floor and turned towards the scent of new prey.
"Leave the room." The dragon commanded. Before the words left her mouth, Mari scuttled down the wall pulling Lady Caroline from the room after her. Maddox slowly moved to a nearly unconscious Marcel and they helped each other crawl out of the room. A portion of Malachi's magic uncoiled from around him and drifting over to the hybrid unconscious on the floor. Stefan body rose and began to float on a sea of green waves as Malachi slowly backed out of the room. When Stefan's head cleared the door, the entrance slammed shut and Kael regarded her king.
"I see you have taken to doing Kol's work for him. You are destroying everything that makes this kingdom great. Your ego and obsession will turn your most loyal followers against you, and I will not abide it any longer."
"Abide? This is my…"
"This kingdom was handed to you on a platter by Qetsiyah and yes, me. I don't want to see you destroy yourself. But you will not destroy what my priestess has built."
"And what is that, dragon?"
"Your future, or rather our future."
"Our?"
"The three nations have been at peace for decades, Niklaus. Are you really going to let your little brother manipulate you?"
"Kol has no power here."
"No power. You have maimed and brutalized your inner circle."
"They were incompetent and deserved to be punished. I have grown lax over the years. I must reinstate order."
"Your companion and child live in squalor."
"Your on dangerous ground dragon. I am full of blood but I will gorge myself if necessary."
"Niklaus, you act out of fear, instead of love. Love is the more powerful of the two because it requires trust and courage. She is working herself to the bone for diversion. Your child and its mother are in misery."
"It is of no matter. I fulfilled our contract, and the conditions of your prophecy. Yet, my Kingdom is falling a part. Perhaps you should focus on finding my sister and brothers with those bones around your neck, instead of lecturing me about an emotion that doesn't exist."
"It exists and you know it, or perhaps, your more like your father than I originally imagined."
-o0o-
Bonnie finally got Cara to calm down and sleep after the day she had been through. The witch had still heard no word from Lady Caroline even though she sent healing poultices to her, and Lady Vanessa.
"We should leave." Lucy said when Bonnie appeared at the front of her shop.
"No, he will use it as an excuse to lash out."
"This is all my fault."
"This is something that has been coming for decades. We just got caught in the crosshairs. I know I just sent everyone home, but call them back."
"Most of them returned this evening."
"How?"
"Your magic." Bonnie sighed.
"I have no idea what is happening from one minute to the next." Bonnie said taking a seat on her stool.
"None of us do, little cousin." Lucy responded sighing. She watched the guards across the way. They were not even trying to hide their surveillance anymore.
"I think we should be readying healing poultices, protection wards, and battle spells."
"You think?" Lucy asked turning to her priestess.
"I know." Bonnie returned.
"I'll get on it." Lucy said gathering for her own spells.
"We need a sentry."
"I can be…" Lucy started. Bonnie knew Lucy loved her role as protector and knight but she couldn't be a priestess, knight, and mother to her two children.
"No. I need someone I can trust as second. There is no other person except you. I actually think we need two sentries."
"Do you really think it's that bad?" Lucy asked already knowing the answer.
"Yes. Unfortunately, I do." Bonnie said pulling the chain to release her large cauldron from the ceiling pulley. She could start the base of her suture spell tonight and finish it before the full moon in two days.
"Rochelle and Selina" Lucy proclaimed making the decision she had been wrestling with all week. Bonnie looked to her cousin thoughtfully. They were excellent choices and even better witches. Lucy would make a wonderful second and even more formidable High Priestess one day. Bonnie considered the choices and prepared for the disagreement they were about to have.
"I think Selina is ready for third priestess."
"Then who?" Lucy asked looking up at Bonnie. "No. She's not even blood coven. She's a Gemini. Sapphire before that. She has no idea what loyalty and being a part of a coven means. She has lived under the Hybrid King's rule all her life."
"Exactly." Bonnie responded calmly. Lucy stared at her cousin until she understood. She snickered.
"I don't know if I should be sad, ashamed or proud right now." Lucy confessed. Bonnie brows bunched. She didn't know how to feel in this moment either.
"Sad that they have done this to my sweet and naïve little cousin. Ashamed because I didn't think you had it in you, and proud that you do. It is an honor to serve you priestess." Lucy said bowing. Bonnie eyes misted at that.
"Thank you. You don't know how much I needed to hear that, but it doesn't feel like an honor." Bonnie said wiping her eyes, her hands subconsciously traveling to her stomach. She exhaled and sobered quickly trying to get her head in the game.
"We have soldiers to prepare."
"I know. The question is who are we going to war against?" Bonnie sighed.
"I honestly have no idea."
"Well, the blood coven will be waiting for anyone stupid enough to try us."
"Good. Tomorrow we will need a boar, and ask Grams if she could prepare the robe. Let everyone know we are preparing for ascension and battle. Now, go home to your family."
"You're my family too you know."
"I do."
-o0o-
Bonnie worked in her shop refilling the shelves with potions and wares they had in the supply room. She hung fresh herbs and mushrooms to dry. She cleaned all her utensils from the day, and at the last minute decided to rearrange her lumbered bookshelf. She was standing on her tiptoes trying to dust the top shelf when the doorbell clang as someone entered. She had forgot to bolt the door again. If they meant her any harm the ward would have disintegrated them.
"We're closed." She said grabbing her stomach. Bean had woken up.
"The lights are still on. Even in the dead of the night." Bonnie lowered herself to the ground slowly, and turned to face him. Her body seized. Every part of her was suspended in that moment. He regarded her than dismissed her quickly.
"Kael says your work is causing my child to suffer. I will close this shop if you do not have the wherewithal to take care of my seed."
Bonnie stared at the man before her. Was he here to attack her as well? Perhaps tear her arm from its socket. Drink her blood then discard her body like a tissue as her family lay crying beside her. Niklaus glanced at her then proceeded to trounce about the small room as if he owned it. He stopped at the offending crimson cloak on the wall. The cloak he had given her. The one that had his insignia embroidered in gold stitching. He was surprised she was still wearing it. She had chosen this life over him after all.
"Because of your political stunt your coven membership has grown rapidly. Since you are not aligned with the vampire court within this kingdom they will have to be disbanded. We simply can't host your entire coven it is a security risk. I will not allow more than 15 blood coven witches inside my walls including you. If my son has magic he will be considered a blood coven witch also. Until further notice my personal army will guard you at all times, or rather your stomach."
Political stunt, Bonnie thought exhausted. Here he stood after weeks of not seeing her, the cause and cure for this nothingness that had enveloped her, and all he could talk about was his politics. Did the love of her coven and people sever the love of this ass standing before her?
"Are you listening to me?" Niklaus questioned taken in the blankness of her face.
"Yes sire, intently." Niklaus was…unsatisfied.
"Perhaps you are distracted. Squalor will do that to a person who has grown use to luxury. It doesn't look like your eating. I will have the cook and gamesman start sending you food to see that my child is properly nourished. Your hobby might not be enough to sustain my child."
"I thank you for your graciousness sire. Even though I am the most successful merchant in the village a well prepared meal and hefty ham is always welcome."
"Are you mocking me?"
"I am simply trying to understand what it is you want, sire."
"If only you had sought such understanding a month ago."
"If only." Bonnie countered before she knew it. He stalked over to her until his face was crowding hers.
"You are lucky I have allowed you to bare my child or I would sew those sarcastic lips shut." Niklaus hissed. His breathe tickling her nose.
"I am unaware of what you speak sire." Bonnie sneered.
"I'm sure." Niklaus straightened to his original height. Bonnie knew she should let it go but this man had her speaking before her brain could catch up.
"Sire, please forgive me but it is clear that you have come here looking for a fight. I would think you would be tired from today's event, but obviously I don't know you as I thought I did. I am weary from my work in this shop, from the duties of my coven, from carrying your child, and from all of these games."
"Games? Are you not the architect of your own misery?" Bonnie closed her eyes.
"For Heaven's sake, I am simply trying to do what is right, for once just shut up, and come here." When she touched him he stiffened, but did not move away. She laid her head against his chest and slowly pulled his arms and hands to around her middle. After a month of her growing belly, he still fit. Bean flipped happily in her stomach. They stood like this in her shop for what seemed like an hour. They both turned off their brains and gave into the very human need of touch. There was no one else they would rather be touching.
Cara had awoken and found them like this. She quietly backed out of the rear entrance. Niklaus finally pulled away from her with tears in his eyes longed after the fires had died down. He walked out without another word. Her tears joined his on the floor of her prison.
-o0o-
Bonnie had extinguished all the candles and was about to bolt the door when one of the men from Niklaus's painting walked into the room. Where was this private army the King had mentioned? Probably all dead, Bonnie thought to herself.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Priestess." He said bowing.
Bonnie gulped and took one step towards the back of the shop, but her back brushed against someone. She turned and spied another Mikealson sibling. Magic rallied inside her despite her fatigued state.
"Brother. I didn't expect to see you here, but then again, great minds think alike."
"Rebekah, I thought you would have been buried by our psychopathic brother by now."
"I could say the same for you, Elijah."
Hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to check out the Klonnie Tag on Tumblr this week if you love this ship.