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Part 16

No dreams. That was the first thing Tristan realized when he woke up, he hadn't had any dreams. His chamber was dark and quiet with only some faint light coming through the tall window. Obviously it was still very early. He sighed when he started to become aware of his surroundings. His cheek was leaning on something soft and he felt a warm woman's body curled up against him; his arms were around her. Her thigh rested between his and her dark hair was wrapped around his arm.

It took a brief moment before he realized who he was holding. Nadine. She was breathing peacefully; his cheek was leaning on the top of her head. She felt very nice. How had this happened? She had whimpered in her sleep and he had tried to calm her down. Clearly he had succeeded, her body felt completely relaxed. The strange thing was that he had never before held anyone like this. He didn't even hold his lovers after sex, he never had. Holding Nadine didn't feel too bad at all.

Very slowly he moved his head in order to see her. His puppet. Carefully he touched her sleep-pinked cheek and buried his fingers in her soft hair. He had no idea what he was doing; he only knew for sure that he wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman. He wasn't sure how long he had looked at her when she opened her eyes and blinked sleepily. She looked much disoriented. He didn't move, trying not to startle her, but he could tell the exact moment when she became aware of his presence and recognized him. Her eyes widened in terror, the look in her eyes was the look of a trapped deer. He had hunted enough to recognize it.

"It's alright, puppet…" he started, but she seemed to be panicking, she struggled to squirm away from him. His soothing words didn't help; she was too scared and confused.

"Hey…"

She got up as quickly as she could since he didn't keep her in place by force, but her legs couldn't hold her. He caught her before she collapsed on the floor.

"Calm down, puppet, it's alright," he muttered and guided her back in the bed.

She was shaking, clearly she was very upset. Her fearful eyes looked at the undergarment she was wearing; she wrapped her arms around her. He had dressed her last night, but he hadn't had any of her clothes here. Her dress had been dirty, so the undergarment had seemed like a better option.

"It's alright, puppet," he repeated and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Can you remember what happened yesterday?"

She looked confused; she didn't nod or shook her head.

"You went to the orchard and hurt yourself," he continued. "Can you remember that?"

She hesitated for a moment before nodding, she wasn't looking at him.

"Then you came here, showed me your bruises and fainted. My physician examined you and said that you shouldn't be moved, so you rested here. How are you feeling now? Are you hurting?"

She blinked few times, looking more than confused.

"Are you hurting, puppet?"

Very cautiously she nodded.

"Where does it hurt?"

She pointed at her head and her back.

"Yes, you have a bruise there and my physician suspected that you hit your head. You need some time to recover."

Slowly she looked up; there was nothing but confusion in her eyes. Her question was very clear, why? Perhaps she thought that he would have simply left her on the floor or threw her out.

"You have served me well, puppet," he stated. "I am capable of showing mercy. In some rare occasions."

She didn't seem to know what to think; cautiously she glanced at the undergarment.

"Yes, that… If you recall, you had no clothes on when you fainted. Your dress was very dirty, so obviously you couldn't wear it, but I thought you would be more comfortable wearing at least something. Was I wrong?"

A flush was rising in her cheeks when she quickly shook her head.

"Good."

She bit her bottom lip and kept her eyes down; her arms were still wrapped around her.

"As I said, you couldn't be moved," he stated.

She was blushing even more.

"No need to be nervous, puppet. I am not as unreasonable as you seem to think, I do understand that you were hurt."

She wasn't looking at him, but he could easily see what was going on in her mind. He could probably understand her fear; she had been completely at his mercy. Still he wasn't very pleased by the way she apparently saw him.

"Perhaps you find this hard to believe, puppet, but I do have some standards," he stated coolly. "I wouldn't take advantage of a defenseless woman. I have no need to do something like that."

She nodded and blinked nervously.

"It's fine, I think we can forget the whole thing."

She nodded again and cautiously looked at him.

"Alright, as I said, you need some time to recover. I will give you couple of days for that."

Her eyes widened, but she got over her surprise quickly and nodded gratefully.

"You will have new living quarters, a room you can share with your brother."

Now she was definitely stunned, she stared at him disbelievingly.

"Does that please you, puppet?" he asked calmly.

Quickly she nodded and bowed her head.

"Good."

He really, really wanted to tell her to show him how grateful she was, but of course he didn't say it. This wasn't the right time.

Kol smiled when he returned to his chamber and glanced at the sleeping girl in his bed. His sweet Emeline wasn't very smart, but she had been useful to him. Slowly he walked over to the bed and observed her. Her mind was quite simple, easy to mold. Much easier than Tristan's mind, but he did enjoy a little challenge. It truly was strange how the human mind worked. He doubted that none of his siblings were able to manipulate people's dreams like he could; it was the only thing left of his magic.

He had discovered this ability a while ago, but he hadn't told anyone about it. Why would he when all his siblings did was complain. Everything was so difficult and unfair, their parents had turned them into monsters, their father wanted to kill them, blah, blah, blah. So what? Sure Kol had been bitter too at first, but why would he waste rest of his life for that. Being a warlock was the only thing he had ever been good at, it had been a part of him, the most important part, but now… It didn't matter. And Henrik…

He had been the only one of his siblings who Kol felt that had truly accepted him and cared about him. Elijah, Rebekah and Nik had always formed some kind of alliance and Finn liked to keep to himself. Kol had often felt like an outsider, but he wasn't complaining about it. He didn't expect anyone to understand how it felt like to lose something so important. He had no problem being a monster. In fact, it was liberating. Emeline sighed in her sleep.

"I love you, Roland," she murmured.

She really did. Kol had practiced with her, but he hadn't learned yet how to create dreams, only how to manipulate them. To bring out the hidden desires. The fact that Tristan had secretly drooled over his servant… It had been a lucky guess. All Kol had done was give Tristan a little push, his mind and his naughty hidden fantasies had done the rest.

The whole thing was nothing more than entertainment to Kol. A funny game to play. It really had been fun, but he probably wouldn't have started the whole thing if Nik wouldn't have told him to leave the girl alone. Well, he had left her alone. She would eventually be the one who would come to him. Still he wasn't completely heartless, so he had made sure that Tristan wasn't a savage, he wouldn't attack the girl. No, he would simply be very…friendly. Kol doubted that Nadine appreciated that. She would no doubt be looking for some help very soon.