Chapter 20

Loyalty

I sighed before opening my eyes, I felt disoriented, like I would have slept too much. The first thing I noticed was the arms around me, my head was leaning on someone's chest.

"It's alright, darling," Kol's voice said before I had time to react. "It's just me."

"My lord?" I muttered sleepily. "How…how long did I sleep?"

He pulled away and looked at me; the look in his eyes confused me.

"Almost the whole day. How is my beautiful wife?" he asked and touched my cheek with his index finger.

"I…I am fine, my lord," I muttered, trying to understand what was going on. Why was he acting like this?

"Good. You are not hurting or anything like that?"

"No, I am fine. Are you…fine, my lord? I was there in time, right? You did not drink the wine?"

"No, I did not."

He cupped my face and looked into my eyes.

"You saved my life, darling."

"Of course I did."

"Yes… Why did you after how I have treated you? You could have just let me die. Our link would have been broken and you would have been free."

I looked at him disbelievingly.

"You still do not understand, my lord? My loyalty to you is unconditional. It makes no difference how I feel about you; I would still do anything to keep you safe. I thought you knew that."

"I did, but…"

"You did not really understand it," I stated.

He bit his bottom lip.

"No, I suppose I did not. Why… The link does not force you to be loyal to me, does it?"

I shook my head.

"No, it does not. You had my loyalty the moment we…"

I lowered my head; I definitely should have kept my mouth shut.

"What?" he asked and lifted my chin. "Tell me. Please."

"It is a part of what I am," I muttered. "I am loyal to my spouse."

"I see. By spouse you mean…?"

I hesitated for few seconds before replying.

"The person I lost my virginity to. My kind… We…It is our curse to imprint to the first person we… That is why we usually stay as virgins. There are some spells that could prevent the imprinting, but my father certainly wouldn't have done that."

His eyes widened, we were both quiet for a long while before he spoke.

"Cassandra… I am sorry. If I would have known…"

"It does not matter," I muttered.

"Yes, it does. I am sorry for not making it more pleasant for you. And… for not getting to know you first."

I didn't know what to say, but he didn't seem to expect any reply, he simply wrapped his arms around me and snuggled his face in my hair. The whole situation felt strange at first, but finally my body started to relax.

"Do you love my brother?" he suddenly asked.

I tensed immediately, but I didn't try to move.

"I…"

"You do," he stated. Surprisingly he didn't sound angry at all, his tone was very calm. "Why is that? You have not known him for very long."

"He makes me feel safe," I muttered. "He is kind and considerate."

"Yes, I am sure that he is. Was Marco like that?"

I froze, how did he know about Marco?

"I… I can explain, my lord…"

"There is no need," he cut in. "Tell me about Marco. I know that he was important to you. Your first love?"

"Yes," I muttered. "He was a servant."

"Ah. And your father killed him?"

"Yes. We were supposed to run away together and get married."

I had no idea why I was telling him this. The whole situation was weird, we weren't even looking at each other, but he was still holding me and his hand was stroking my hair.

"You still love him," he stated, it wasn't a question.

I didn't say anything, talking about Marco made me feel vulnerable.

"That's alright," he continued. "Your feelings for Elijah however… What do you think we should do about that?"

"I have not done anything inappropriate and I never will," I replied. "If you want to punish me…"

"No, I do not." He paused and sighed. "Do you think that you could someday feel something similar for me?"

I was stunned.

"I… You want me to feel something for you?"

"Yes. Do you think that could be possible or do you hate me too much?"

"I do not hate you, my lord."

"But I am guessing that you do not like me very much either. That's alright, I can certainly understand. Perhaps you could consider giving me another chance?"

"You are my husband and I would like us to coexist peacefully," I replied. "I think that would be more pleasant for the both of us."

"Yes, I definitely agree." He paused for few seconds before continuing. "We will still have to leave. It is only the matter of time before Nik realizes what you are. He would not hesitate to enslave you."

"I understand," I muttered. I was sad when I thought about Elijah, but I had known from the beginning that I couldn't have him.

"We will leave tomorrow morning," Kol continued.

"What?" I gasped and pulled away. "So soon?"

He nodded.

"Yes, I am afraid so. Nik is already asking questions."

I pressed my lips together and cupped Kol's face.

"I need to see…"

He didn't say anything when I closed my eyes. What I saw was him and Elijah daggered and myself sitting at the table next to Klaus. His witches had found a way to link me to him and he always kept me near. He smiled and kissed my hand.

"My sweet Cassandra…"

I was gasping when I opened my eyes, my hands were shaking.

"We… we need to leave," I managed to say.

Kol nodded and helped me into a sitting position.

"We leave at first light. Have some water, darling."

I emptied the goblet quickly and asked for more. I was thirsty and hungry; Kol helped me to eat some bread and an apple.

"Are you feeling any better?"

I nodded, eating usually helped.

"I…I would like to say goodbye to Elijah," I said as calmly as I could.

He was quiet for a moment; I couldn't see what he was thinking.

"How are you planning to do that?" he finally asked.

"I just want to say goodbye," I replied tensely. "I do not think that is too much to ask."

"No, it is not. You have few hours before morning."

"What? I do not need few hours…"

"What you do during those hours will be completely your business," he cut in. "I will not ask any questions afterwards or ever bring it up, I give you my word."

I stared at him disbelievingly.

"What are you saying, my lord?"

His face was completely blank when he looked at me.

"I know I have done plenty of mistakes, some of them I probably cannot fix… I know this is not much, but I want to give you this one thing. Just for tonight."

"No, my lord," I muttered. "I gave my vows to you…"

"Yes, to be mine and to obey me. As your husband I release you from your vows for tonight and I order you to spend the next hours however you want."

I still couldn't believe this, but he seemed to be very much serious.

"I need to take care of few things before we leave," he continued and stood up. "I will meet you here before dawn."