Flashback

Despite the plush carpeting of the palace halls, voices could still carry, which was why courtiers tended to speak in whispers, lest their scheming be overheard, or worse, that someone declare that loud voices were crass.

So, when he hears the bickering, he is surprised, before noting the voices and then he is pleased.

He follows the sound one flight of stairs to where one of the late Queen-Mother's suites had been retrofitted into a cinema for the younger generations.

He knew some new movie was out that Rebekah was absolutely dying to see and, as it wasn't due to be released in Valhalla for another two months, Esther had pulled some strings to have a private viewing in the palace.

The kitchen was sending up popcorn and the princes had been planning to watch the movie too, until they'd heard the word romance and quickly come up with excuses.

Not that Rebekah wanted them there anyway.

It was a girls-only event.

Including the two Petrova girls fighting in the hallway.

"You're sick!" one of them snapped and he pauses, giving himself a moment to try and guess which sister it was making that statement.

"And you're a whiny little tattletale." The other one responds and he knows that is Katerina.

Curious now, and not a little amused, he rounds the corner to see the girls just as one sneezes violently.

She raises her head, curls tumbling out from the beanie and the scarf wrapped around her neck, while the other sister puts her hands on her hips,

"Told you so."

Elijah doesn't quite catch the response but judging from the way Elena's eyes widen, he figures it wasn't a comment about the weather.

Katerina wipes her nose with a tissue and straightens herself up, "I'm fine and you can go right to…"

He clears his throat, alerting the two of them to his presence and Elena blushes in mortification while Katerina blushes for another reason entirely.

He hopes at least.

It had been a month since that day on the beach, although Elijah swore he could remember the touch of her warm flesh beneath his fingertips and how she'd trembled against him. Unfortunately, with the start of the university semester for him and her second-last year of school for her, he hadn't had the time- or admittedly, the nerve- to meet up with her.

Instead, he'd had to settle for texts messages that had grown in frequency until he could be positive that she would be one of the first people he would speak to in the morning and one of the last he would hear from before going to sleep at night.

He smiles at her before looking to Elena, "How are you?" he asks and she grins, "I'm well, your highness, Katerina, on the other hand has a cold."

Elijah leaps upon this chance and puts his hand on her arm,

"You're unwell?" he asks, and she raises her face to his, her lips dry and chapped,

"I'm fine," she pouts sulkily, her voice raspy and her nose red, and her cheeks are flushed with a high color while her eyes are bright.

Elijah presses the back of his hand against her forehead as he had seen his mother do hundreds of times and winces at the heat he finds there.

"The coffee stations here are stocked with honey and ginger tea for the colder weather," he begins, "Might I suggest a cup or three?"

Katerina rolls her eyes, even as she's smiling, "I'm not si…"

Her sentence is cut off by another dainty sneeze and Elena laughs,

"I'm going to go watch Ryan Gosling," she announces proudly, "You shouldn't come in unless you make the Princess sick."

If looks could kill, Elijah rather suspects his afternoon would be hijacked by a dead body in the Palace.

Fortunately, he is rather certain that there would protocol in place for that. Considering how blood-thirsty some of his ancestors had been, he's sure that there's a royal body disposer somewhere in the building.

Or would that duty just fall to Ansel?

And is that a question one can ask without causing immediate concern?

Katerina sticks her tongue out at her sister but otherwise lets Elijah lead her away, down to the end of the hallway where one of the new coffee stands hadn't lasted the morning siege.

Drops of honey leave sticky marks across the counter and the waste bin is almost overflowing.

There's no water in the kettle, but there's bottled water on the shelf, so he twists off the cap, checks that it's still and pours it in.

"You don't have to take care of me," Katerina murmurs, sitting down on the window seat and leaning her forehead against the cool glass,

"I'm sure you had other stuff to do today."

Two essays, three chapters and a revision of the first constitution.

"Actually, I had nothing on," he lies, smoothly, "I was going to join my sister until your own mentioned Ryan Gosling."

She chuckled and rubbed her temple, "I can't believe that I'm going to be defeated by a sinus infection."

He hums in sympathy and pours the water into a porcelain mug, stirring in the honey before dropping in the tea bag and carries it over to her, sitting down beside her, admittedly a little closer than necessary, and waiting for her to pull off her gloves.

"Drink up." he orders, as she takes the tea from him, blowing gently on it before taking a small sip and moaning in appreciation.

And Elijah can't help but notice how even when she was sick she was beautiful.

Her eyes are closed and he takes the chance to wet his lips before she opens them again,

"I feel better already," she says and he laughs,

"You know lying to your Crown Prince is a punishable offense?" he jokes and she widens her eyes dramatically, feigning fear.

"Well, I can't bribe or threaten you to forget my crime," she sighs, glancing up through her eyelashes, "But you aren't going to have me arrested?"

Never.

A smile crawls across his lips, "I can think of one way to make me forget," he murmurs, shifting closer to her and her blush is no longer caused by her temperature or the steaming mug in her hands. She glances down, visibly fighting her own smile,

"I don't think that's a good idea," she whispers as the air between them becomes electric and he reaches over to cup her cheek,

"Why not?" he asks gently, brushing his thumb over her lower lip.

"I think," she breathes, "That to kiss you would be to fall in love with you."

He grins and bends his head closer, "Then I'm afraid I must insist."

Elijah opened one eye as the door to his study brushed across the heavy carpet.

Katerina stuck her head in, looking to the king's desk where the papers of state had been delivered an hour ago, and frowns when she doesn't see him sitting on the same chair his father and grandfather had graced during their reigns.

He waits patiently for her to glance around the room, her eyes alighting on him spread out on the gold settee, using his arm as a pillow as he looks out the window to the lightly falling snow.

She steps inside, leaving the door ajar as she crosses the carpet, sitting down on a chair and quirking an eyebrow,

"Still working off that hangover?" she guesses and he nods,

"That," he allows "And I think whatever is left of my immune system has gone on vacation," he quips,

"But don't tell Aiden, he's still on the horseradish vinegar as a cure-all."

She laughs and rests her chin on her hand, "What about Ansel?"

Elijah snorts, "He's on mandatory vacation and I'm reasonably certain trying to detox after his caffeine overdose."

She reaches over and places the back of her hand to his forehead, bringing a memory to the forefront of his mind and he catches her fingers as she goes to withdraw, pressing a kiss to the tips.

"Do you remember when you gave me a cold?" he prompts and she blinks in surprise before laughing,

"You mean, when I was obviously sick and you kissed me anyway?" she challenges, moving over to sit on his lap,

"Besides, a week later you gave me the flu, I couldn't go back to Switzerland for a month because of that."

He grinned and raised her hand above his head, spreading her across his body.

"Was I your first kiss?" he asks, wrapping his arm around her back and she bites her lip but shakes her head regretfully,

"No, there'd been others before that, but it was the most romantic I'd had."

He marks that down as a win and celebrates with a quick peck on her lips, making her smirk as she lays her head on his shoulder,

"But if anyone in the press asks," she says, "Our first kiss was at my debutante ball."

Elijah frowns slightly and tilts his head to look down at her, "Why?"

She walks two fingers across his chest, smoothing down a crinkle in his shirt,

"Because my debutante ball was five months later, which meant that it sounded better for me to be closer to seventeen than I was when we first kissed."

He runs his tongue across his teeth,

"That doesn't leave much time between our first kiss and our engagement." he points out but she shrugs,

"No, but we can claim that we took things slow…until we didn't," she makes a face,

"Either way, it's done now, as far as Rose knows, we were platonic until my official entry into society."

He thinks about that day, her debut into society, how she had snuck away from her friends to meet him in the garden. And when she was formally presented to the Court, she had worn a crooked smile of pride and glee, laughing at the irony that she was wearing white.

"I thought we were past the lies and subterfuge." he whispers, so quietly that she can't hear him.

Her phone buzzes and she pulls it out of her back pocket, smiling when she reads the message,

"Caroline is doing a Starbucks run," she tells him, "You want a venti?"

He yawns and slings an arm across her waist, "I want to relax," he decides,

"Just stay here watching the snow until it turns dark."

She ignores him, tapping away on her phone as she pushes herself into a sitting position,

"Venti mocha latte with an extra shot it is."

She climbs off him and heads to the desk, "Come on," she encourages, trying to open the sealed box of state, "You have work to do."

She opens the top desk drawer and finds the key to the box, breaking the seal before lifting the lid,

"I can do that later," he argues, "Everything is winding down for the holiday season anyway."

Katerina looks at the first sheet of paper,"Government might be winding down, but society is winding up," she looks over at him,

"Have you forgotten that tonight is the first play of the season? Part of the celebrations for the beginning of your rule."

"You sound like your mother." he groans, but she only hums in amusement,

"No, I sound like yours," she counters, "Except with a university degree, access to contraception and every intention of reading these reports."

She winces and holds up her finger, turning on the desk lamp, as she examines a papercut,

"When the ministries have finished hiring, we should consider a green initiative, get the government into the modern era."

Elijah gazes up at the ceiling, "What do you think about a film?" he muses,

"We could visit the cinema, watch that romance film I stopped you from seeing the day I first kissed you."

She smirks but her response is interrupted by a knock on the door,

"Your Majesty?" a page stepped into the room, "A Miss Forbes, here to see you and the Lady Katerina? She is carrying beverages and believes that you are expecting her."

"Send her in." Katerina orders him, barely looking up from the papers on the desk and the page stares at her incredulously before turning his face back to the king.

"Send her in," Elijah echoes, pulling himself into a sitting position with a sigh, "Thank-you."

The page bows, exiting and per protocol, Elijah knows Caroline would have been left standing in the hall, and walking from there to the study, through three different rooms took at least two minutes. So, he had time to turn to his fiancé,

"Perhaps wait until we are married before you begin the usurpation, darling."

She raises her head, a placid expression on her face that morphs into a happy smile as Caroline bustles in,

"Sorry it took so long!" she gasped, giving Elijah a curtsey whilst juggling the cup holder.

"There was a line and then the barista didn't speak English and couldn't understand my Valhallan, so someone else had to translate for me and then they wanted to make small talk while waiting for the coffee and then the guy at the gatehouse is new and didn't know who I was, so I was trying to convince him to let me in when thankfully, Klaus drove past, oh…and he tried to steal your coffee, Your Majesty, I may have stomped on his foot to stop him."

Elijah chuckled, "Just listening to you is giving me all the energy I need." He teased, as she made her way to the desk, holding out a coffee for Katerina,

"Oh, Care," she said, "You have to serve Elijah first."

Caroline faltered and blushed, "Right, sorry."

Elijah frowned, "Really, Katerina, it's coffee, not the first course of a banquet."

He rose to his feet and helped Caroline take his cup from the cardboard, throwing his fiancé a chastening glance but she isn't the least bit fazed,

"And if we were in my rooms, or in Rose Seng, it wouldn't matter, but in the King's rooms, the king is served first."

He rolls his eyes at Caroline, making her giggle, "Sit in the Royal Box tonight, and I'll personally see you served before anyone," He offers,

"You can even have my seat."

She makes a noncommittal noise while taking her own coffee, sipping on it and unknowingly breaking protocol by not serving Katerina next,

"I'm sitting with Bonnie in the Salvatore box," she told him, "She's an old friend."

"Well then," Elijah grins, "By all means, enjoy the show, the audience is almost as interesting as the intended spectacle."

Bonnie pressed her lips together to try and hide her nervousness and flexed the arm linked through Damon's as they reached the red carpet leading into the theatre.

"You look amazing," he whispered in her ear, wearing a tight grin as a camera flashed right in their eyes.

"People are staring because you're super hot." He continued and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes while wearing a friendly smile she'd stolen right from Caroline.

She didn't want to state the obvious, but she doubted the sole reason people were staring was because her green silk dress was stunning.

One of the first things she'd discovered in Valhalla was that there weren't many black people, even in the capital city, which meant she'd got a lot of weird looks.

She'd talked it over with Caroline, not sure that her fiancé would understand, not that her best friend really did either, but she provided a sympathetic ear.

At least it wasn't like back in the states where she in some cities she couldn't go into a store without the security guard keeping an eye on her, or service people giving her the side-eye as she handed over her credit card, when they finally got around to serving her that is.

Still, she could feel eyes on her like pin pricks on her skin as they walked into the theatre, through the crowd milling about in the foyer, waiting for the royal family to arrive.

Giuseppe Salvatore was standing by the bar, carrying a beautiful walking cane that matched his white silk scarf and Bonnie quickly took her eyes off it because it looked a little too much like ivory.

He nodded to Damon but bowed to her and she has a moment wondering whether she's supposed to curtsey or bow back when Giuseppe takes her free hand and brings it to his lips, kissing her fingers dryly and she blushes, unused to the greeting.

"How lovely to see you, dear," he says, his voice kind but a little loud considering they're standing barely five feet from each other, "You are looking resplendent."

"Thank-you," she replies, in carefully rehearsed Valhallan tongue, "I am so happy to be here."

He gives a curt nod and, pleasantries done, looks over their shoulders, muttering to Damon, too quickly for her to understand, though she could pick up a word or two.

Damon huffs and responds before tilting his head to her,

"He's just commenting on everyone being here," he explains, "And how they'll all see Stefan and Elena arriving with the Royal family."

"Oh," Bonnie taps his arm, suddenly remembering, "He knows Caroline is sitting with us, right?"

He nods, "Yeah, I had them put a seat in for her,"

"Speaking of which…" he trails off and she twists to see her friend coming in the doors, lifting herself up on her toes to look over the heads of the crowd before bounding over.

"Hi!" she squeals, pulling her in for a tight hug and nearly dislocating Damon's arm as she tugs them apart,

"Oh my God! It is so good to see you, I've missed you and you really need to get a number here so we can contact each other, Facebook messenger isn't enough because I can't really be on Facebook when working, even if Katherine probably doesn't care but the wifi is really bad in the Cousin's palace so I can't have too many pages open at once and…"

Damon is staring at Caroline in shock, "What's she taken?" he asks Bonnie, who shakes her head,

"Care?" she disentangles herself and puts her hands on her friend's shoulders,

"How much caffeine have you had today?"

"You're not my mother," Caroline snaps, almost automatically before scoffing self-depreciatingly,

"Sorry, coffee is a serious thing in the Palace, Katherine and Elijah- the King- practically mainline the stuff, and Aiden- his p.a- he brought me a coffee just before I left and I'm pretty sure it was mixed with energy drink."

Bonnie glances around and sees that they're being watched by people around them, but she can also see by the confusion on their faces that Caroline is talking too quickly for them to understand her, so she draws her into the group and turns to Damon,

"She'll be fine." she assures him, even as Caroline bounces on her toes next to her.

A sudden silence falls over the crowd and a man dressed in livery stands before the doors, stomping his foot and announcing something loudly that Bonnie takes to mean that the royal family had arrived.

What happens next is the most- and only- civilized stampede Bonnie has ever seen, as people push their way forward to form a line either side of the long red carpet leading across the foyer.

She and Caroline stand back and lose their chance, settling for second place with the others who hadn't made it in time and were graciously surrendering, as opposed to those who were still trying to shove their way in.

The king enters first, with Katherine on his arm and one-by-one, the people curtsey or bow as he moves past them, receiving a nod in return.

Bonnie wonders if it's lese-majeste to think that the king looks very bored as he moves past, certainly, Katherine looked a lot more excited than him to be there, waving at her as they reached the stairs and she's about to say as much to Caroline when the Crown Prince- who was a step behind his brother- pauses and looks to her, jerking his head at her friend.

Caroline shakes her head and points to Bonnie, mouthing something and he frowns, starting when poked in the shoulder by Stefan, who had come in with Elena and the Petrova's after the royal family, and hurrying after the king.

Bonnie turns to her friend, "What was that?" she asks but Caroline only shakes her head,

"Oh, he was just wondering why I wasn't with Katherine and I told him that I'm in your box."

When the royal family disappears from sight, people start climbing the stairs in their wake, holding their tickets in hand as they enter the theatre.

Bonnie follows behind Giuseppe, Damon on one arm and Caroline bouncing along beside her, they walk along the second floor, past one curtain with the royal crest and then another three red curtains drawn back with red tassels, until they reach one with Salvatore stamped on a gold sign on the wall beside it.

The box is the first one she's been in, but Bonnie thinks it's much nicer than the ground floor, with velvet seats, a table drawn out from the wall of the box to place drinks on, and an ice bucket under it already filled with champagne.

She moves to the front of the box and looks over the theatre, down into the crowds which were filling their seats, up to the decorated ceiling where ornate chandeliers hung and over to the royal box where people were milling around, the king standing at the front like her, except his shoulder was turned to the audience and he was talking to his sister.

She counts fifteen boxes all up and notes that some of them were so badly placed that it wouldn't be possible to see the stage properly, she is about to point this out to Caroline when she hears Giuseppe's voice behind her, sounding even more formal than usual.

She twists around and sees the Crown Prince had come into the box, greeting Caroline and blocking the entrance for one of the theatre ushers, who was turning red with mortification.

She's about to speak up when Caroline notices them and tugs on the prince's sleeve, leading him into the box and perching on the edge of her seat so that there's room for him to stand.

The usher approaches Giuseppe and Damon, speaking to them and receiving a reply before turning to her, she shrugs and blushes slightly when he speaks to her and looks to Damon for a translation,

"He wants to know what you want to drink," he explains, "You can order a cocktail or anything from the menu."

He hands her a thick piece of parchment with a drink menu written in calligraphy, and there's so many options that she gives up,

"Um…I'll just have the champagne and maybe some sparkling water later." she tells him via Damon.

The lights dim once and she takes that as a signal to take her place, which was beside her fiancé, in the front row, Caroline sitting beside her, and Stefan and Elena arriving to take up the second row along with a few family friends.

Or that was what was supposed to happen.

Caroline had perched in a second-row seat to speak to Klaus, who was leaning over the chair to speak to her and the two of them were so caught up in the conversation that they didn't notice the lights dimming a second time.

Elena falls into the seat beside her with a huff,

"Hi," she says, "I spoke to the theatre and they gave me these," she holds out her hand to reveal a pair of Bluetooth headphones,

"They're linked to a system that provides translations for people in the audience who don't speak Valhallan, they're all set up so you just have to put them on."

Bonnie smiles, thanking her before setting them over her ears, catching the end of an instruction to take her seat because the curtain was about to rise.

The lights go off completely and she hears Caroline shush someone and looks over her shoulder to see the crown prince glaring down at the stage before whispering something to her friend before stepping through the box curtain just as it came down.

Elena catches her eye and jerks her eyebrows meaningfully, causing her to smother a giggle as she settles properly in her seat. A modicum of quiet had fallen over the theatre, although the darkness was interrupted periodically by the bright light of phones and there was the dull roar of people whispering to one another, ignoring the requests for silence.

One of those people being Damon who is staring at the royal box,

"What the hell?" he mutters, before leaning past her to Elena,

"Where is your sister?!" he demands and she's frowning,

"What? She's beside…"

Elena trails off and Bonnie follows their gazes to the royal box where the king is sitting looking even less excited than before, his sister Rebekah is sitting next to him looking haughty with her chest sticking out and Katherine was nowhere to be seen.

Katherine resisted the urge to scream or kick the wall as she swept out of the royal box into the hall.

When she was queen, she would take every last piece of royal jewelry intended for female use and lock them up in her cabinet and forbid Rebekah from touching any of it.

And see if Finn or Freya were ever invited to any event at Court ever again.

Everything had been running smoothly, like clockwork until the family had reached the royal box, to find Mikael's bastards already sitting there.

Courtesy of Rebekah's invitation.

Elijah had been distracted by his younger sister while Katherine had quickly counted the seats and realized what the princess had been intending.

With the entire family in the box, there was no room for Elijah's fiancée, and etiquette meant that even the bastards could take precedence over her.

She should have known Rebekah would pull something like this, the spoilt little brat must have been watching too much Gossip Girl and thought she could scheme with the best of them.

Well, for the moment, she was right.

It was the first event of the winter season and Katherine had essentially been kicked out of the royal box, with nowhere to go.

Her parents didn't have a box at the theatre, her grandfather had been refused one when he was alive and now, out of respect for him, they refused to purchase or rent one, preferring to throw their money at good seats at the symphony instead.

The Salvatore box was full and she could technically kick Caroline out of her seat, but people would have already noted the blonde there and would figure out pretty quickly what had happened.

If they hadn't already.

Her seat was beside Elijah's after all.

Perhaps she could go down to the bar and have them call an ambulance? Fake an illness of some kind?

She's standing at the top of the stairs, contemplating 'tripping' and falling down them so as to have a real injury for the press that would inevitably end up in the ER with her- and to elicit sympathy whilst maybe making Rebekah feel guilty- when she hears her name called.

"As I live and breathe, Katerina Petrova."

The voice is jocular, with a hint of British accent that came from having spent his childhood with British au pairs, and she's smiling as she looks down to see a handsome man with black hair and friendly eyes staring up at her,

"Lucien Castle!"

He takes the stairs two at a time, showing energy deemed uncivilized by the upper echelons of society and when he reaches her, he doesn't take her hand but pulls her in, kissing her cheeks boisterously, "Hello beautiful, how are you?"

She smiles flirtatiously, "Always glad to see you."

He laughs, "Liar."

"Flatterer," she corrects, "Never accuse a woman of lying."

He makes a face, and looks to the curtained boxes, and the usher glaring at them as much as they dared, "Am I late?"

She gives a half shrug, "Only a few minutes…"

She trails off and reaches into his jacket pocket, seeing the corner of the tickets and scanning them quickly, "You have a box?"

He grins, "Don't sound so surprised, Kat, Kingmaker Enterprises has been growing this quarter, despite the market."

She hands him back one ticket, "You waiting on someone?"

He glances down, "Aurora was supposed to accompany me to Valhalla on holiday, but she was invited by the Orleans to Nice instead."

Katherine slips her arm through his, "Then you'll have to settle for me."

She begins steering him towards his box, which she suspects that he had chosen to rent based on view of the stage as opposed to proximity to the royal box, which was a common mistake for those not born to nobility or wealth.

Lucien had been born into the family of caretakers who tended the De Martell estates, he had grown up playing with Tristan and Aurora until they were sent to boarding school and he had been reminded of his 'place' in society.

In love with Aurora, he had applied to De Rosey, getting in on scholarship, much like she had done and they had often been paired together, not because they had similar ranks in classes, but because the more 'titled' students didn't want to work with the gypsy or the gardener.

He had been her first boyfriend and they had kept in casual touch over the years.

He had started Kingmaker enterprises when he was still in university and made his first million before the year was out. Katherine couldn't even guess his wealth now, but she knew that no matter how many chalets, chateaux, or cruise ships he owned, Tristan de Martell would never let him marry his sister, and he still faced exclusion for not being born into wealth.

Still, in spite of this, he was kind and generous. For her twenty-first birthday, he had gifted her a thousand shares in his company, a real estate firm that paid quite nice dividends. In return, she had promised that he would always have a place at her family home and now, he was about to enter society with the future queen on his arm.

They are asked to be quiet as the usher draws back the curtain and the two of them exchange cheeky glances as they take their seats, the only two in the box, while Katherine looks to the ice bucket where the champagne was resting.

She sees that it's pink and guesses that it must be Aurora's favourite.

Honestly, Lucien could do so much better than that airhead, but she had to respect his devotion.

"Should we ask the usher to pop the cork quietly?" he jokes, whispering in her ear and her shoulders shake as she reaches behind her, handing the bottle to the same usher whose disembodied arm reaches through the curtain and withdraws slowly.

"Do you know the play?" she asks, putting a hand on his arm and he nods,

"I watched the French version on youtube," he tells her, "And I'm sorry Kat, but it's much more romantic in my language than yours."

She gasps theatrically, putting a hand to her chest and he puts a finger to his lips, "Shush! Quiet!"

The two of them giggle and the usher appears with a condemnatory glare aimed at Lucien and the champagne which he pours into two glasses before disappearing again.

Katherine hadn't seen the play before, but she's not a fan of Chekov, however, having Lucien beside her whispering the French translations into her ear made it a lot more interesting.

Especially when he started improvising and adding random bits of dialogue or commentary.

"'Lijah,"

"'Lijah!"

Elijah tore his eyes away from the stage to glance quickly over his shoulder,

"Shut up, Kol." He hissed at his little brother, who was himself twisted in his seat with Freya's vintage opera glasses in his hand.

He looks to Niklaus, hoping to delegate the task of controlling Kol, or at least keeping him entertained so that the rest of them could enjoy the play, but the Crown Prince wasn't meeting his eye, instead he was watching the Salvatore box where Caroline Forbes was engrossed in the play.

Kol is still whispering his name and he wonders if the theatre is dark enough that he can throw something at him without being caught?

Probably not.

"What?!" he snaps, turning in his seat to get a better look at his brother, "In the name of all our gods, what do you want?"

Rebekah glares at him from the queen's seat, apparently annoyed that he was ruining the performance for her.

Kol faces him with a malicious expression, "I thought you might like to know that your fiancé is enjoying her date."

Elijah shows his bewilderment and exasperation, "What are you on about?"

Freya clears her throat delicately and jerks her head in the same direction Kol was looking earlier and Elijah scans the area until he spots his fiancée.

In another man's arms.

No.

He blinks, clearing his vision and sees that the man merely has an arm over the back of Katerina's chair, and she is only leaning in to him, not against him.

But she is wearing such a smile that he hasn't seen on her face in a long while and has tucked her hair behind her ear so that the man can whisper into it without impediment.

Was this the boy Katerina had played with in America?

Whom did he have to call to have a visa revoked?

Or could he just order Aiden to have it done?

"It is nothing," he murmurs to Kol, before running his tongue along his teeth and facing the stage, "She had to sit somewhere."

Although it remained to be seen why the Salvatore box hadn't been good enough.

When the curtains fell for intermission and the lights slowly came on, Katherine braced herself and deliberately kept her eyes on Lucien who was taking her empty glass from her,

"Should we hit the bar and see if they have themed cocktails?" he asks,

"I know you've always preferred your alcohol with enough sugar to kill a dentist."

She laughs, and pretends not to notice that half the theatre is staring at her, pointing her out to their neighbors or friends and she can almost hear the whispers as they wonder why she isn't in the royal box and who she was with.

"The one on this floor though," she tells him, turning around as he drapes her wrap over her shoulders, "The one on the ground floor will already have a line ten deep."

He puts a hand on her back instead of offering his arm and she smiles to herself, wondering how she can tell him how to escort her properly when they step through the curtain and almost immediately run into Stefan.

"Hey," she starts in surprise, "Everything okay?"

He nods but swallows nervously, "Uh…Elijah requested that you join him in for the intermission."

She quirks an eyebrow but smiles, turning to Lucien, "You only have to bow once and refer to him as 'Your Majesty' until he tells you to call him Elijah."

His eyes widen but he otherwise appears calm and in control as Stefan leads them along towards the royal box.

Katherine sees something out of the corner of her eye and pauses slightly, giving herself a moment to run the image back through her mind before turning for a second look.

And a third to confirm what she was seeing.

Aiden was leading a woman through the crowd, checking his phone casually, as if he had no idea who she was.

She was wearing a purple dress that looked beautiful against her darker skin that few women could pull off, except that it was a few inches too short for the event and the skin around her ankles was red, showing that her high heels were either new or rarely worn.

She looked nervous, biting her lip and tugging on the clutch slung over her shoulder, climbing the stairs a lot more carefully than Aiden, who nodded to her respectfully as he passed.

Thinking quickly, Katherine turned to Stefan, "No one enters the box after you two," she tells him in a whisper, "And you stay there til the curtain goes back up."

He frowns at her tone but nods and leads a confused Lucien into the royal box, a few seconds before Aiden reaches the entrance and, by 'accidentally' pulling the curtain closed behind them, stops Elijah's private secretary in his tracks.

Katherine descends on him with a forced smile, stepping closer than necessary, throwing him off as he tries to figure out what is happening.

"A little advice," she murmurs, "Don't forget which royal you work for."

He blinks, "Uh…Rebekah asked me to bring her friend…"

"I know," Katherine interrupts, "Hence my suggestion."

He realizes something beyond his understanding was taking place and murmurs a polite excuse before making a beeline for the bathroom.

Katherine makes sure he's gone before catching the attention of a passing usher,

"Two glasses of champagne please." She requests, and guesses her future position was enough for the usher to deign taking on the role of waiter this one time.

With a short exhale, she turns with a sweep of her skirts around her heels to face the woman,

"Keep smiling," she tells her as she takes her arm and leads them out of the middle of the corridor to the railing where they could look down at the foyer,

"If you show your emotions, we'll attract more attention than we already have."

The woman slips her clutch off her shoulder and takes it in her hands, "Uh…Rebekah, the princess is expecting me."

"I know," Katherine says, keeping her posture open and welcoming, despite her inner turmoil,

"Except by bringing you into the royal box she would have forced a public meeting between you and Elijah, who, despite his best efforts, wouldn't have been able to cover his shock well enough, which would have betrayed you both to the very people you least want to know your secret."

Gia Mohan blanches, "You know who I am." She says, clearly mortified and Katherine feels a thrill of sadistic pleasure,

"Of course, I do," she replies, feigning surprise, "Elijah and I have no secrets from one another."

Gia stares at her, taking her in and, judging from the mounting contempt in her eyes, not liking what she saw, "And what?" she demands, "You're okay with this?!"

The usher arrives with the champagne and she takes the two flutes, handing one to Gia who takes it automatically, Katherine sips at the drink and swallows the bubbles, "I was away a very long time," she allows, "But if I wasn't okay with this," she echoes Gia, "It would have already ended."

Gia slips her clutch back under her shoulder and leans back slightly, "Do you even care about Elijah?" she asks, "Because right now all I see is a heartless bitch."

Katherine laughs lightly, "You need to smile," she reminds her in a singsong voice, "Because there are press in the crowd."

She moves closer, lowering her voice, "Do you see all the people around us? The courtiers and the socialites, the press and the hangers on?"

She waits for Gia to nod before continuing, "Some of these people call themselves my friend. Some tell me that they love me and would die for me, but every last one of them would jump at the chance to destroy me. They'd betray me in a second for their own advancement. How could I put myself through all this on a daily basis if I wasn't deeply in love?"

"Because the lure of the crown is an addiction for people like you.

Katherine straightens up, surprised to be facing anti-ziganism from an American,

"People like me?" she asks, "Gypsies you mean?"

Gia shakes her head, colouring at the implied accusation. "No, ambitious power players, nobles..."

"Oh," Katherine hums, "I can't exactly deny that, but I will say, that ambition alone wasn't enough to get me to where I am today, love played the major factor, unfortunately…"

The lights dim and she finishes her glass, leaving it on the railing, "I know I'm the last person to give you advice or tell you to avoid the king," she makes a face,

"But…do be careful not to get caught."

She gives a flirtatious smile, an air kiss on the cheek and sweeps away, maintaining a carefully cultivated air of serenity until she reaches the female bathrooms and can move around the exiting women to lock herself into a stall.

She can't utter a sound, she can't risk betraying herself, but she puts her hands to her mouth as she twists it into a silent scream.

A/N- Tell me what you think