Dark Side. | D. SALVATORE.

Chapter 44: The Dinner Party. Part I.

A/N: Hello again! Half of this chapter was meant to be part of last chapter, so that's why it feels a bit jarring to only have one flashback. I like the nice symmetry of having two.

Thanks for waiting, again, I was ill most of August and then when I was finally not ill anymore I got the second dose of the vaccine and it knocked me back down! But hey, I don't have to self-isolate now unless I live with the person or have symptoms/test positive myself, yayy!

Also, I rewatched TVD from the beginning when I was ill, and that episode where Damon's being all affectionate with Andy and Stefan judges him for it and he's like 'keeps me from going after what I really want', oh my god :( like it's not the right way to go about it at all but it's just the fact that he loves Elena and wants to be physically affectionate and cute with her (And f*ck her into the mattress but i digress) but he can't so he needs an outlet. Poor man big OOf.

I'd like to say next chapter will be updated faster than a month, but it seems each time I set myself to do something life goes nah baby, but I will tell you that I am working on this story whenever I have a free moment. Being and adult is tough :)

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Dark Side.

Chapter 44: The Dinner Party. Part I.

"I wanna live in the hidden parts of your skin.
I wanna be inside, I wanna get locked in.
I just wanna dip you in honey."

—Dip you in honey. The Wombats.

The Kingdom of Navarre, Iberia, 1498.

Iberia was such a contrast from England. Cassandra's birthday had been but twenty days ago—a cold and short-lived celebration on the deck of the swaying ship that brought her here—the Spring Equinox just before it, and while her homeland remained somewhat shrouded in winter, Navarre had flourished into a bright rebirth.

Pasture a rich green blanketed either side of the pebbled path she and the lord Niklaus traversed, protected from the harsh sun by tall, blossoming cherry trees lining the path. White blossom petals flurried down around them, sprinkling the ground and catching on their hair as snow would in the wintertime. The air was rich with pollen, tickling her nose and sticking to her skin. This was a landscape she would not have the honour of witnessing until late spring in England, a land so enamoured with the cold it refused to leave it behind. It was beautiful, made all the more enjoyable by the company.

Lord Niklaus had definitely turned out to be what she least expected. Including that which he desired most: the breaking of a most ancient curse without one of its key ingredients. It seemed a most abhorrent caprice, a blatant disregard for that which was considered law in the world of magic, a balance that ought not be disrupted, least of all by way of cheating, but Cassandra could deny not her curiosity. Her name was already swathed in infamy, one more tally to her long list of sins would be no matter.

Only, of course, if she managed a way to turn the impossible possible. She had no idea where to begin or how.

Lord Niklaus needn't know that. No less than two days before, he had gathered everyone in his makeshift throne room to hold make-believe court and had ripped out the heart of a vampire who had dared oppose him. The vampire in question had been in the wrong, but the sight had still been brutal. Cassandra had no desire in knowing what his reaction would be if she failed.

"Forgive me, I oft forget the delicacy of the human nature." Lord Niklaus paused in his anecdote at the shiver that slithered down her spine. "You must be cold. The weather can remain unkind in this time of the year."