Beware the Ides of March

A cloaked woman ambles down a sun-beaten path. Her journey has been great and each step brings her to her demise. It's been a year since she's been granted clemency and today she would be brought to heel. The king was owed and she had a debt to pay, but silver and gold were lost to her. The land was barren, plagued with drought, her husband abandoned her and the children and one by one, she watched their cherubic faces wither to nothing. She was destitute; hope abandoned. The drought had come and taken her tears with it.

The corpse of her children was buried behind the small hut they dwelled in and her feet set out to begin her march to death. Suicide was too kind. She couldn't save them and so she deserved a wicked death at the hands of the king. If she was lucky, he'd torture her slowly. She needed something else to think about before she greeted the sweet release of death. Her dead babies could not be the last thing on her mind when she left this wretched world. The king was cruel. He'd grant her this mercy.

The stone palace was now in view. Her feet were tired and moved on their own accord. The laces of her sandals popped each time she dragged her feet. Her cloak was battered and wind-beaten. She was a shell of the woman she once was. She was a proper lady once. Married to a member of the Praetorian Guard. Damon. He was the love of her life. From him, she bore two children whom she loved dearly. But Damon died and as was the custom, she was taken in by his trusted cousin, Kai. Kai was an evil man. She suffered hell in the hands of Kai and to her dismay, bore two children from him. The best thing he did was leave them alone to fend for themselves once the famine struck. Kai's children died first, then Damon's. As much as she hated to admit, she was blessed to have more time with her and Damon's children. For with the death of Kai's children came the severance of all ties with him. She felt free, though she grieved tremendously.

Her body propelled her forward until she could no longer walk. Mere meters before the castle walls, the woman collapsed. Her body had given up and her mind accepted her fate. She closed her eyes as the faces of her children plagued her thoughts. This wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to see their faces last. She didn't want to feel sand invading her lungs as she struggled through her last breaths. But it was welcomed. Any release from this impossible world was welcomed.

-X-

A soldier comes across a seemingly dead body during his tour of the castle walls. He'd been collecting the bodies of beggars all morning. Beggars who died just before they completed their journey to the castle walls. This was an everyday thing. Expecting to retrieve a body, the soldier tosses the woman over his shoulder and is startled when he hears a soft grunt escaped her lips. The woman is beautiful and so he spares her a ride back to the castle in the wagon of corpses behind him. He plans to keep her if the king will allow it. She will serve as his concubine.

However, when brought to his feet, the king assesses the woman before him. Her skin was naturally dark, however, it was made darker from the sun during her journey here. Her cloak hid her face and most of her body but he could see from her tattered appearance that the journey had been rough. On her left hand, she wore a signet ring given to men of the guard and he wondered what circumstances lead her to his doors.

"Sit her up," he commanded. The men pulled the lifeless woman to her feet. Her body remained limp. The king snapped his fingers and without a word, a servant appeared with a vase filled with cool water. Gently, the king poured the water over the woman and watched as it poured down the length of her body. Immediately, the woman's eyes snapped open and the king was met with striking green eyes. His brows raised with interest as he took a step back to assess the woman once again. His guards did the same.

"Why have you come?" The king's gruff voice barely registered as she tried to get used to the water temperature and the heat in the castle. A shiver shook her body. The hood of her cloak slipped from her head giving the audience of guards a better view of her. The king grew impatient when the woman failed to answer.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"Bonnie," she breathed before continuing, "Bennett is my maiden name. I was married to Praefectus Damon Salvatore," at her words, a flash of recognition crossed the king's feature. He knew of Damon. "I was then widowed to Malachai Parker of the Guard," as she said his name, the bitterness seeped from her lips. The king noticed. "I do not know of his whereabouts. At the start of the famine, he left me, our two children, and Damon's two children. I have not seen him since." The king frowned at her words. The surrounding guards began to murmur as well as the servants. Abandonment was a sin against marriage. Abandoning your children was disgraceful. Abandoning a widow you've sworn to protect and care for was punishable by death.

Bonnie's tongue played with the dryness of her lips. The king's eyes met one of his servants and within moments, a chalice filled with water was at her lips. The king watched as the woman guzzled the water faster than he thought possible. Once she was finished, the servant refilled the golden chalice and Bonnie drank some more. Guilt stung her eyes as she thought of her thirsty children. Too thirsty to shed tears. Before finishing the chalice, Bonnie pulled it from her lips, a sob broke through her chest.

"Where are your children?" The king dreaded the answer.

"Dead." A tear rolled down her eyes as she thought of each of their faces. Each one lost to the dry sands she buried them in. "Hunger and thirst proved to be too much for them," Bonnie muttered as she recalled all of her efforts to keep her children alive. Short of cannibalizing one another, she did what she could to keep them alive but none of her efforts were enough.

"Why have you come," he asked again. Bonnie stared into the king's blue eyes and straightened her spine as best as her weakened body would allow.

"After my, husband, left," the word husband tasted like chalk in her mouth. "Members of your guard appeared stating that he was behind on taxes and was there to collect. I explained my situation and was then granted clemency, in your name. I was told I had until the Ides of March to pay. I cannot pay you and I do not know where my husband is. I don't have any children to sell you and I am not the woman I used to be after bearing four children. I simply ask that you put me out of my misery once and for all. I will endure the torture for as long as you see fit. All I ask in return is relief in the form of death."

The king measured her words carefully. The woman was remarkable. To have survived the bowels of death four times and escape unharmed, only for your precious gifts to die due to a cruel famine and a shell of a man she, unfortunately, had to endure for a husband was a Herculean journey to surmount. And yet, she'd defied all odds, including nearly dying outside of his gates.

"How long have you been traveling?" Bonnie raised a brow, confused by the shift in the conversation.

"My last child died in my arms in January after the last of the snow had fallen. I gave myself a few weeks to grieve, hoping I'd die too but, when death alluded me, I began my journey sometime in the first week of February," she explained. The king regarded her with a pensive look. "I do not know what day it is, therefore, I cannot account for the time correctly, Your Majesty." It was the first time she addressed him with a title, letting him know that she knew all along exactly who he was. Most people had never seen his face and he lived for the element of surprise that level of anonymity afforded him.

"You've seen me before?" He sounded amused. Bonnie almost smiled at the memory.

"Yes, long ago. Damon brought me to the castle after we learned of our first child's existence. He showed me around as much of the castle as he could. While there, you passed us with your Royal Guard and Damon pointed you out. I never forget a face. Your eyes were almost as blue as Damon's," she recalled. Her heart ached at the thought of her late husband. Her only husband in her eyes.

"I remember your Damon," the king announced. "A fierce soldier with a heart of gold. No matter how arrogant he presented himself to be," he stated, earning a small smile from Bonnie.

"His arrogance was his greatest shield," she confirmed and the two shared a laugh. His laughter faded as he regarded the woman before him.

"Is death what you truly desire?" Without hesitation, she answered.

"Yes."

"I feel as though you shouldn't punish yourself with death. Your children died so that you may live. I believe dying would be an affront to their memory."

"I feel as though living is a greater affront to their memory. To enjoy the pleasures of life while they whither away in a sandy tomb seems morally wrong, don't you think?"

"Quite the opposite, actually," The king paused a moment. "What you see as punishment, I see as another chance at life. For The Divine to have spared you from death's jaws so many times, you must have been blessed with a higher calling."

Bonnie stared into the king's eyes and asked. "What purpose is that?" She dared to question the Divinity and the king smiled at her tenacity. "If you die, I believe we'll never find out."

The king made a great point. "There's still the issue of my debt to you. I don't hav—" The king silenced her with a single digit pressed to her lips.

"Your debt is forgiven." The words felt like iron being lifted from her shoulders. "You've inherited an impossible situation that is of no concern to you. My grievance is with your 'husband', not you." Tears slipped from Bonnie's eyes.

"I don't deserve your kindness. I couldn't save my children." The king reached into his toga and pulled a handkerchief into view. He gave it to her and Bonnie wiped her tears. As she spoke, she stared down at the initials embroidered into the fabric, NM.

"It's because you couldn't save your children that lets me know you deserve my kindness, and more, Love." Bonnie's eyes met his. Her voice was gone but the gratitude was in her eyes.

"I will let you sleep here and should you decide to tarnish their legacy with death, I will sentence you. Though should you chose to live, I will ensure you no hunger, no thirst, and no more sorrow." He paused a moment before making to leave. "I do hope you stay awhile."

-X-

And stay she did. She slept, she ate, she drank, (lots of wine) and she danced. As promised, she lived in the king's court comfortably. The guilt she felt in the earlier days soon ebbed away. Within two years, she was unrecognizable. A shell of a woman was dragged inside two years earlier and now, standing before the king in a beautiful white gown was his beautiful bride to be.

"Your Majesty." Her voice was sweet in his ears. "You've summoned me, My Sweet?" A small smile played upon her lips as she curtsied before the man she was to marry.

"You are not obligated to niceties, Love," Bonnie smiles as he offers his hand to her. She accepts his gesture and allows him to pull her in close to him.

"Allow me to stroke your ego, Nik," she smirks. Their eyes glowed with mischief as they grinned at one another. Perched in his lap, Bonnie gingerly runs her fingers through his hair and stares down into his face. She places a soft kiss on his lips and wonders how her life could have possibly increased in quality after so many years of heartache. When was The Divine ever this kind?

"I believe I've found your former husband." The words make her go still. Since her king proposed over a year ago, he has scoured the country searching for Malachai Parker. Not only for his crimes against the mother of his children, but for abandoning his children, his duties to protect a widowed woman, as well as his act of treason for abandoning his sworn duties to the crown. The king was determined to make the conniving, pestilent, waste of a human pay.

"Kai?" The king nods.

"You know what must be done," he tells her. Her heart twists with anxiety. For them to get married, her husband must shed his blood. It is the only way their union would be accepted by The Divine.

"I know," she sighs. In that sigh was years of emotions she has struggled to come to grips with. The king sidelined his anger and jealousy to tend to the needs of his bride to be.

"What are you thinking?" Bonnie stares up at her handsome king and chooses her words carefully. Though she is sure he'd never lift a finger towards her, his anger is something to marvel.

"He is evil. He forced me to have children my heart had no room for and then he left me alone to watch those children die. I want him to get what he deserves," her words spewed out of her angrily as she relieved painful memories of her not-so-distant past.

"However…" Her husband was so receptive.

"This famine has brought so many deaths, so much anguish. Kai is still human. I've been granted leniency so I feel in good faith, I should grant the same." The king smiles up at his sun-kissed goddess and nods his understanding.

"You realize that keeping him alive means we can never wed." Though he wanted to cuss, he also wanted to kiss her breasts where her beautiful heart lay beneath.

"I know," she mutters. He moves to kiss her neck gently and whispers in her ear. "Haven't you suffered enough by his hand?" She doesn't answer. "Say the words and I'll lay him at your feet, Love."

-X-

Kai Parker is brought to his knees before the king. His list of crimes is stacked against him and he begs for mercy. The king sits on his thrown and stares down at the maggot before him. He wants nothing more than to cut him down but due to his beloved's wishes, he will hear the man out. What he hears is not to his liking.

"My wife left me and took the children. Another man could care for her better than I," he pled. The king agreed with him on that, at least. "I had to leave town when her new beau chased me out. I've spent years wandering the desert," he explained. "I feasted on scorpions and drank from the cactus. Please spare me, King Mikaelson." The king rolled his eyes. For a man wandering the desert for two years, he looked well kept, well-fed, and rather clean, sans the straggly beard on his face.

"I'd be apt to believe you if you came to me sooner, Malachai. However, there's a witness that states otherwise." At this revelation, Kai's eyes stretched as his wife appeared from behind the king. Her dress was elegant and trailed behind her as she rounded the King's throne and stood at the top of the steps. Slowly, she made her way down towards him and the king's guard stood at attention, much like they would a queen. Kai's eyes darkened. He was sure she wouldn't survive without him.

"My Love, you've returned to me," Bonnie saw through Kai's act.

"It wasn't I who left, Malachai." Bonnie stared down at him as she grew closer. Kai reached out to touch her and the guards drew their swords swiftly, placing it at his neck. Kai gulped as he stared up at the beauty before him. It was staring at a raging sea. Beautiful, yet, terrifying.

"You left and our children died because of it," she wanted him to know. At the revelation, there was no remorse on Kai's face. Tears stung her eyes. "All of them," she stressed. But still, no reaction. Taking a deep breath, Bonnie took a step back from him and lowered her head in what seemed like defeat. Kai then leaned in to whisper, low enough so that only she may hear.

"Consider it a blessing. We wouldn't be alive if they survived." Bonnie's eyes snap open. In them, was a fire Kai had never seen before. Without hesitation, she pulls a smaller sword from the waistline of the guard next to her and swiftly plunges it into Kai's neck. Blood gushed from his jugular and stained her dress crimson as life poured out of him. As he coughed and choked on his own blood, Bonnie leaned in close to his ear.

"No. I wouldn't be alive if I hadn't survived you." Kai's eyes widen as Bonnie yanks the sword from his neck. A pool of blood grows beneath him as his life force drains out of him. Bonnie stands up straight, covered in blood and shell shocked by what she has done. She turns and is suddenly face to face with her husband to be. She shivers, plagued with the task of feeling all of her emotions at once.

"Niklaus," she's afraid. Afraid that he will throw her in a dungeon for the murder she has committed.

"Shhh…" He calms her by pulling her into his warm embrace. He kisses the top of her head. "Look at me," he urges. When she finally musters the courage, he kisses her lips; not at all bothered by the fact that Kai's blood has gotten all over his garments.

"I love you," he tells her with a soft peck to her lips. "Kai owed the crown a debt he could not pay and as your first act as queen, you sought justice the best way you saw fit," he smirked, earning a small smile from her. "The Ides shows no mercy and you have proven as such. Well done, Love."

Well done indeed.

A/N: Hey guys, I had this on my mind today since it is the Ides of March today. :) Don't ask where all of this came from because honestly, I just went with the flow. It probably will just be a one and done. Let me know what you think of it or if one of you lovelies want to expand upon it, hit me up. :) I'd love to read it. :)