The spell had worked. Her children were connected as one.
"Is it done?" Finn asked as the paper with their names burned on the table
"Yes." Esther glanced at her eldest son. He smiled at her reassuringly. Yet, she felt as though her heart was being cut by knives.
"Are you alright, mother? You're not having second thoughts, are you?" Finn inquired nervously.
"No," she responded promptly. "No. Of course not." She sighed. " I'm just tired..." she smiled softly at him. "I think we both should rest now..."
"Of course, mother..." Finn muttered softly.
"And Finn," Esther called abruptly as her son opened the door to leave. "Tell your siblings I want to talk to them all tomorrow morning..." he nodded solemnly and closed the door behind him.
Esther was left alone in the candle lit room. Still, she could feel a familiar presence, still lurking behind her. She looked around the room, hoping she would see the spirit of her friend Ayana. Esther wished her dearest mentor would appear and guide her with reassuring words. She needed Ayana to tell her that she was doing the right thing by stealing her children's lives.
But no spirits appeared to help her with her doubts. Though, the presence remained. It painfully reminded her of Mikael.
As she wandered through the room, a cup in her hand, she thought about him. She briefly considered bringing her husband to be the one to kill their children. She knew the White Oak Stake would not have killed him definitely, but she thought it would take more time for him to come back. Part of her wished Mikael hadn't wasted all of the remaining white oak stakes by trying to kill himself repeatedly through the centuries. Though, she thought it so very noble of him, to always try to choose death over another day harming their children ...And, yet, Esther had overheard Klaus talking to a young woman, telling her about his father's cruelty throughout the years. Esther smiled grief-strikingly as she heard the woman tell her son:
"I get it...because your father didn't love you, you assume no one ever will... That's why you scare people and try to compel them to like you or buy them! But that's not how it works!"
Oh if only Klaus knew just how much Mikael loved him...
Either way...it would be too cruel (to both of them) to have Mikael be the one to kill Klaus. So the idea soon left her. She would fine another way to do it. A kinder way, if there could be such a thing.
As Esther sat down on the sofa and felt her body relaxing, she found that she could not take her mind away from Mikael and her memories of him ... she tried fighting the urge to relive them, all their happy moments and all their sins and tragedies... but soon she gave in...Esther stared at the burning fireplace as her mind was pulled into the past...