I'm sorry it's been so long! I know I said there would be two parts, but surprise surprise it ended up getting a teensy bit longer. Sighhh... Thank you to Kelly & Laura for your beta work. I would be lost without you.

When Caroline arrived in the foyer of the palace, she was surprised to see Klaus waiting for her, a dimpled smile on his face. "Hello, love."

"Hi," she said, looking around the seashell-encrusted walls with interest, the beautifully clear blue sea just outside the windows, tropical fish swimming lazily between the rocks of the coral reef. "This is really pretty."

"Thank you," he said, and she nearly giggled at the obvious pride he took at her words. "Shall we?"

He offered her his arm and she hesitated a moment before she took it, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. The touch of his calloused palm to her skin sent shivers down her body, the feel of it almost distracting as they walked out of the castle together. She couldn't resist glancing at him, flushing when she met his eyes and found him drinking her in. "You look beautiful."

She wanted so much to be annoyed by the compliment, but something in her gut told her that he was being genuine, and she quickly looked away, swallowing. "Thanks. Where are we going?"

"Do you like horses?" he asked, shooting her a glance that could almost read as apprehensive, if she wasn't so sure he was just trying to seduce her to his bed.

"Yeah."

"Well, in addition to my dominion over the seas, I'm the guardian of horses. I have quite the collection. I thought you might like to meet them."

She resisted the urge to inform him that she did indeed know exactly who he was, that she didn't live under a rock, but resisted the urge. She just had to survive the next three hours and fifty minutes.

She let him steer her through the foyer to the archways that led to the sea, a magical barrier preventing the water from rushing into the palace. A carriage was floating just outside of the door, a walkway of woven seaweed leading to the palace. The second they stepped through the doors she could feel the warm ripple of the water against her skin, bubbles escaping her mouth as she exhaled. He opened the door for her, and she was unsurprised to find herself dry the moment she crossed the threshold, sinking onto the velvet cushion covering the seat. She turned to watch as Klaus sat down next to her. Though he kept a respectful distance, which she appreciated.

She looked out the window as they sped away from the palace, entranced by the clear blue of the water, the brightly-colored fish darting around them. Her little part of the ocean had been polluted by trash and man-made gunk for so long. She'd been alive barely a hundred years, and she almost couldn't remember how much better it had been when she was a child. She often felt it cry to her, calling out for help that she couldn't give, for a cleansing that she wasn't powerful enough to provide. Her fish were sick, her algae dying, humans ruining her little piece of the world that she'd desperately tried to protect.

This piece of the sea where Klaus had made his mark was somehow still pure and full of life. She'd never seen water so calm and clear, so clean. Every part of her longed to sink into his little oasis, to feel the comforting embrace of the ocean like freshly washed sheets.

She wanted the long-forgotten taste of untainted sea salt on her tongue.

She could have stared out the window forever, even with the prickle on her neck that told her Klaus was just as fascinated by her as she was by the view. The carriage slowed to a stop much too soon, Klaus holding the door open as she raised her eyes to the lush pasture that stretched out form the stables.

Her lips parted slightly as she drank it all in. Some of the horses were winged and circling the sky above them, and others of all colors and sizes roamed among the wildflowers. There was also a large lake in the center, and Caroline grinned as she saw a golden-scaled fishtail make a large splash before disappearing again.

"Finn created this for me," he said quietly. "It was a gift after I got him out of a rather sticky situation with his wife."

"It's beautiful."

He looked so pleased with her approval that she had to fight down a laugh, and when he spoke again his tone was a bit more enthusiastic. "I designed it, actually. He just molded the land to my specifications. It's quite remote. Only the two of us know the location." He stopped and shot her a dimpled grin. "Well, three of us now, I suppose."

That had to be a lie, she decided. He was just trying to make her feel special. It didn't make her any less excited.

She was immediately drawn to the lake, curious about the tail she'd seen. Hippocampuses were rare, but it wouldn't surprise her if Klaus had managed to get his hands on one.

As they approached, a pure white horse head broke the surface, its silver-scaled tail swishing in the water excitedly as it came to the lake's edge, clearly excited to see him.

Though the animal was beautiful, she felt her eyes drawn to Klaus, to the softness in his eyes as he reached down to the water to stroke the hippocampus's muzzle.

"There's another one, Helios, but he's rather shy. He usually dives to the bottom unless I have food for bribery."

"I think I saw his tail."

"This one is Selene," he said quietly, and Caroline's lips twitched.

"You know that's what the humans named Hayley right?"

He grimaced. "Yes, well, I didn't know they called her that when I found Selene. It just meant moon. I found it fitting for the glint of her scales."

"How? Isn't it your job to know everyone?"

Klaus snorted. "Hardly. Very few of the gods are useful to me, let alone the demig—"

He stopped, clearly seeing the look on her face. "I didn't mean you, sweetheart."

"Am I useful?"

"You're different," he said softly, and she scoffed.

"Oh, am I not like other girls?" she asked derisively.

He seemed to want to say yes, but knew it was for some reason the wrong answer, instead threading his fingers through Selene's mane for another few seconds before he pulled away and reached for her hand. She inhaled sharply when their fingers touched, her heart skipping a beat at the brush of his skin against hers. Her eyes were somehow drawn to meet his, flicking up as his fingers wrapped gently around her wrist, guiding her hand down to Selene's mane. The hair was remarkably soft against her fingers despite how wet it was, and she relished the familiar lap of lakewater against the tips of her fingers as she stroked Selene's neck.

"You can touch her muzzle as well. She won't bite," he said quietly, his gaze never wavering from her own.

Caroline had to look away, couldn't handle the pull of him, and she gently stroked Selene behind the ears before stroking the soft hair of her muzzle, smiling at Selene's satisfied hum at the touch.

Klaus grinned, his hand settling on her upper back as she stood up, and she found that she didn't mind the touch. "Do you want to see the others?" he asked, and she nodded eagerly, freezing when she realized that she was enjoying herself.

He was attempting to seduce her with cute animals. And worse, it was working.

She quickly schooled her face into an expression she hoped could pass for at least semi-neutral, not missing the smirk of satisfaction that briefly crossed his face before he gestured to the pasture. A winged horse with ink-black coloring beat its wings, dandelion seeds scattering in the draft. "After you, love."

The time flew by as she went one-by-one through the animals in the pasture. Klaus seemed to have a story about each one, whether it was how he obtained it or something they'd done, and she was surprised at how good he was at making even the most mundane story sound fascinating. Sometimes she found herself distracted by the way his lips formed the words, and each time she managed to catch herself only after he had.

"Let's see if we can coax him out," Klaus murmured as they sat back down on the lake's shore, having come full circle on their tour. She watched as he pulled some treats out of his pocket, handing them to her before tossing one of his own into the water.

"I found Helios in the North Sea," Klaus said, throwing another treat after they saw a flash of gold under the surface.

"Really? I've never seen a hippocampus in my territory."

"They've mostly died out," he said grimly. "They're finicky about their habitat, and the humans have managed to drive them all away with their rubbish."

Caroline wrinkled her nose. "Oh."

"He was sick when I found him. He'd eaten some sort of plastic bottle and was in quite a bit of pain."

"That's awful."

"The humans poisoned him. Everything," Klaus murmured, and she could hear the rage bubbling underneath his words. "They're wasteful and ungrateful. They take with no regard for what they leave behind. They've torn Finn's skies and clogged my seas. I don't know how they'll ruin Kol's domain but I have no doubt they'll manage it somehow."

Though Caroline honestly kind of agreed in terms of the overall impact, she was still surprised by the vehemence with which Klaus spoke. "Is that why you hurt the sailors?" she asked. "Because the humans make the sea sick?"

"Partly," he said, shooting her a smirk. "I must admit that I do enjoy it. There's something about the fear when they realize how close they are to death, about having the power to cause it...it's immensely satisfying."

"That's disgusting," Caroline said, wrinkling her nose.

"So is throwing trash in my sea. I don't dump dead fish in their sitting room."

Caroline scoffed, though she could see his point.

"They pray for you when I come," Klaus said quietly, watching her throw another treat for Helios.

"Well, they have good reason," Caroline said irritably. "The wrath of Poseidon—"

"Klaus," he interrupted firmly. "Unless you'd rather I call you Amphitrite."

Caroline wrinkled her nose. "God, please don't."

"Well, since you prayed so nicely—"

"Don't be gross. I almost didn't hate you for like, two seconds—"

"Almost?" he asked, smirking. "Perhaps I was mistaken, but I was under the impression that you've been enjoying yourself."

She flushed, clearing her throat and looking away. "What time is it?"

"I only have you for another ten minutes or so," he said before giving her a dimpled smile. "It's a pity you're so determined to flee as soon as the clock hits the hour. Perhaps we could have gone for a ride."

Selene's head broke water and she let out a loud trill at the word "ride" (maybe she'd learned what it meant the same way dogs knew "walk"), and Caroline felt a stir of longing.

"Next time," she said impulsively, inwardly wincing at her phrasing. "Which will be the last time," she added firmly, trying to salvage her image of standoffishness, the one Klaus had seemed to immediately see through.

He was clearly pleased at her slip, his eyes sparkling as he looked at her. "Next time," he agreed, holding his arm out for her. "Shall I escort you to the carriage?"

After a moment of indecision, she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, unable to resist giving him a small smile.

XXX

Caroline was entranced by the story unfolding in front of her, the actors weaving the tale so beautifully that she felt her throat close up near the end. She'd never been to the theatre before, her reluctance to be seen by the humans too great, but Klaus had convinced her, the past year of 'one last night's' having taught him how to best tempt her into another outing with him. In the beginning she hadn't expected to enjoy it so much, but in the last year she'd had to face that it felt good to be wanted, to be pursued, and that she was reluctant to let it go.

As one of the youngest of fifty sisters, she often felt forgotten in the older Nereids' shadows, unable to break away from her insecurities when she compared herself to them. Klaus made her feel like she was special, like she could be more than the baby sister trying so hard to fight to be recognized. She watched as the curtain opened for the actors to take their bows, standing to clap with the rest of the audience, and she felt movement beside her as Klaus did the same. Even now, as they stood to clap for the actors' taking their bows, she caught him glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, his attention never far from her.

He already saw her, already understood that the labels she'd held all her life were constraining her, and having that sort of recognition was heady and intoxicating. She knew that it was possible he was manipulating her, making her feel like he valued her just to use her and throw her away, but despite her own reservations she was absolutely certain that he cared for her, could feel it deep in her bones. Over the past year he'd slowly coaxed out her smiles and her laughter, had made her feel comfortable and secure in his attentions.

When the play was over he offered her his hand and she took it, allowing him to transport them to the beach of her island. He raised her knuckles to his lips and kissed each one as he held eye contact with her, the heat in them making her heart beat faster in her chest, anticipation building over the kiss she wasn't quite brave enough to steal. Her breath caught in her lungs at the light brush of his lips and the familiar trace of his thumb over her skin, the familiar ache that she'd been trying to ignore igniting, flushing her skin. He never tried to touch her other than little gestures like these. A chaste kiss to her cheek, a hand pressing lightly against the small of her back for just a moment... He was waiting for her to give in, and she knew that she was too close to it for her own comfort.

"I'll see you soon, Caroline," he said, letting go of her hand, his voice warm as he met her eyes.

"Yeah. Bye," she breathed, waiting until he disappeared to sink onto the sand, leaning back to look at the clouds.

She'd hardly begun to let herself drift off for a nap when she was distracted by a familiar voice behind her. She sat up, looking over her shoulder to see Tatia, one of her oldest sisters, wandering towards her to sink down beside her, burying her toes in the sand. "Hello, Caroline."

"Hi," she said softly, already dreading whatever conversation was about to start. She couldn't help but naturally fall into defense mode when a certain few of her sisters came to visit. They were always poking holes in her confidence with sweet smiles and pointed backhanded compliments, and her anger often rose too quickly, resulting in her snapping at them in a way that an outsider would see as unnecessary, but to her felt perfectly valid.

"I've heard that you've been receiving visits from Klaus," she said bluntly, and Caroline resisted the urge to groan and flop back against the soft sand or teleport far, far away. Tatia had had a short romance with Klaus more than a few centuries ago and she had always been annoyingly possessive over anything she considered to have been hers.

"I have."

"And do you know why?"

Tatia's tone made her wary, the condescension making her spine straighten, her teeth gritting. "I'm assuming you have a theory?" she bit out.

"Not at all, actually," Tatia said, propping her chin in her palm and looking at Caroline with deceptively innocent eyes. "I wanted to know what you thought."

"I don't know," Caroline muttered, shrugging. "He likes me."

"Why?"

Caroline bristled. "Why shouldn't he?"

Tatia seemed to consider her words for a few seconds before speaking softly, laying a hand on Caroline's knee, and she tried her best not to flinch away. "You just don't seem like his type."

"What's his type?" Caroline asked, trying her best not to sound offended and failing miserably.

"You're so young, Caroline," Tatia said with a soft smile. "You must understand that Klaus... he's old."

"What are you saying, Tatia?"

"I'm simply saying that you have such a limited experience. He probably wants someone-"

"Like you," Caroline finished coldly. "Look, I know that you think I'm shallow and tactless and that I don't know what I'm talking about, but even if that's true, he still chose me. Yeah, maybe he's manipulating me or I'm being naive or whatever, but I like him, okay? And he chose me."

"This isn't a competition, Caroline."

"I'm not the one making it a competition. You were the one who came here all like 'Oh, Caroline he's so old, you'll never be good enough for him' because you're jealous of your little sister who you always thought would never be good enough. Well, he thinks I am, and I think I am too."

"And when he leaves you?" Tatia asked, her voice no longer soft, but cutting. Vicious. "When he realizes that you have nothing to offer him other than a pretty face and an impulsive tongue?"

Caroline knew that telling Tatia that he believed that they were soulmates wouldn't make her sound like any less of a child, but as she thought about it she couldn't find a reason that Klaus would like her, all of her old reservations and insecurities seeming to have bubbled to the surface with Tatia's cruel words.

Tatia wore a cold smile as though she could read Caroline's thoughts, and she stood, dusting the sand off of her dress. "Just think about it," she said, and Caroline's teeth sunk into her lower lip.

As if it wouldn't be all she could think about now...

He'd always seemed so genuine, and it hurt to think that he might be using her. At the same time, she was also terrified that Klaus had been telling the truth when they first met, when he didn't even know her. If he wasn't pretending, if magic had pushed him into her arms and he only loved her because he had to and not because he chose to, then it would almost be worse. All magic faded at some point. No spell was strong enough to last for eternity, even when cast by a god.

If she held true feelings for him that he didn't return, that he only thought he had because of some sort of bond, he would wake up one day and the spell would have faded and he'd leave her behind without a care, heartbroken.

Alone.

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think! Did you have a favorite line? A favorite part? Any predictions? What do you think of Caroline's conversation with Tatia? Did the chapter feel in character to you? Please let me know your comments in reviews! They inspire me to write more and make me a better writer.