Chapter 22

Ashes burn the morning after

Klaus opened his eyes when he felt a sunray on his face. It was a beautiful morning. He was holding Zora. She seemed to be awake.

"Good morning, love", Klaus said smiling.

She didn't say anything; she just gave him a look full of hate and contempt.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She pushed his hands away and got up trying to wrap a blanket around her naked body.

"What's wrong?" Klaus repeated annoyed and grabbed her hand.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted. "Don't you ever touch me again!"

Klaus was so surprised that he let her go. She marched to the bathroom and locked the door. What had happened? Last night had been amazing. All that power had been stunning. He had felt intoxicated. Then they have had amazing sex and… she had asked him to stop. That couldn't be right. He wouldn't have… Shit. Klaus got up and knocked the bathroom door.

"Zora? Listen, about what happened…"

"Leave me alone!" she shouted. "I never want to see you again!"

"Just calm down sweetheart. Open this door."

"No!"

Klaus sighed.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Fine."

Klaus kicked the door open. Zora was sitting on the floor leaning to the wall.

"Listen love, I never intended…"

"Don't", Zora said tiredly. "Just don't. If you are trying to justify what you did…"

"No, it's not that. Can we just talk about this?"

Zora looked at him coldly.

"Fine, let's talk then. We're done. I'm leaving."

"No you're not", Klaus said calmly.

Zora stood up.

"Yes I am. If you want to stop me, you'll have to kill me."

"Come on Zora, don't you think you're overreacting? Maybe I was a little rough…"

Zora's eyes were full of ice cold hatred.

"Tell me, you didn't just say that. What you did was disgusting and I'll never ever forgive you."

"Zora…"

"Get out", she hissed. "Get out!"

"Fine, we'll continue when you have calm down", Klaus said and walked out.

His memories from last night were a little hazy. Why was she so mad? She had enjoyed it. He remembered how her body had reacted to him. So what was the problem? He went to the kitchen and started to make coffee. Maybe she would feel better after breakfast. The fridge was full of food. Klaus wasn't sure what she liked so he took out a little bit of everything. Fresh fruits, strawberries, toast, cheese, cereal, croissants, marmalade and some apple pie. Finally she came out wearing a long skirt and a turtleneck shirt. She headed straight to the front door. Klaus moved in front of her.

"Where are you going, love?"

"I told you, I'm leaving", she replied coldly.

"And I told you, no you're not."

"Get out of my way."

She tried to get pass him but he grabbed her.

"Let me go!" she screamed hitting, kicking and scratching him furiously.

"Zora! Stop that!"

Suddenly she started to laugh.

"Funny, that's what I said to you last night but it didn't help me much now, did it?"

Klaus didn't know what to say.

"Look, maybe things got a little out of control but don't tell me that you didn't enjoy that."

Zora slapped him as hard as she could. Klaus grabbed her arms holding her still.

"Do you have any idea what you did to me?" she said icily. "No one has ever hurt me so much in my life and I have been stabbed almost to death once!"

Klaus looked at her confused, trying to understand.

"What do you mean?"

Zora scowled him.

"You used me like some kind of object. What I wanted meant nothing to you. But you want to know what's funny, as much as you disgust me, that's nothing comparing how disgusted I am with myself right now."

There was a long silence. It had been centuries since Klaus had felt guilty about anything but he certainly felt it now.

"I'm sorry", he said quietly.

"Good for you. That doesn't chance anything."

"I know but I can't let you leave."

Zora looked at him venomously.

"Why, you want to rape me again?"

Her words shocked him.

"No! And it wasn't… I didn't…"

"Yes you did", Zora said coldly. "And you want to see what else you did?"

She lifted her sleeve and showed him her badly bruised wrist. Klaus examined it carefully.

"I did this?" he asked not really wanting to hear her answer.

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…"

He didn't know how to finish his sentence. He hadn't meant what? Act like some kind of monster? Hurt her like this? Made her hate him?

"You are my wife and I'm not letting you go", he heard himself saying. "I said that I'm sorry and I meant it. End of story."

"Do you honestly think that I would stay with you…"Zora started angrily but Klaus interrupted her using his leverage.

"You will stay with me if you want Nathan to live."

Zora froze. There was no expression on her face. Her eyes were like ice.

"Fine. Just know that I despise you and I always will."

She turned around and marched back to the master bedroom. Klaus knew that he had really screwed up this time. He had no idea how to fix this. But he had to do something. He could give her presents. According to his experience women liked that kind of gestures. Something expensive. That would prove to her that he was sorry. It had to, right? Why did this have to be so difficult? But that didn't matter, he would solve this. He had dealt with many challenges before, this was just one more.