The Vixen & the Fox II

Chapter 316

Kol just sat there waiting for Davina to wake, Hayley had left to attend to her girls, which was fair. Marcel had called to check in on Davina and informed Kol of his travel plans; Rebekah, Louis, Étienne, Rémy and Alizée, they would be back tomorrow. Kol was a bit relieved, but he kept quiet about it. Davina was sleeping soundly, and Kol had started reading over his latest book because he didn't want to leave Davina alone. He should go find Elijah or Klaus, but he really didn't want to leave Davina, so he wasn't going anywhere. A light knock on the door had him lifting his gaze to see his brother holding a bundle of blankets.

"Hey," Henrik smiled tightly and Kol closed his book as his little brother walked in. "I'm sorry," Henrik blurted out.

"For what?" Kol raised a brow in confusion.

"For... for everything," Henrik sighed. "I know about what happened to Davina, and I'm sorry, Kol."

Kol took a sharp breath as he closed his eyes. "Henrik, the choices made were not yours to make, and you have nothing to be sorry about. The curse casters are dead, and their names stricken from New Orleans, their souls discarded, they cannot harm anyone else. The tool of their curse is destroyed. And it was not your fault what happened to Davina; we decided to save Monique, it just came at a higher cost than we were anticipating, so there is nothing to be sorry about."

Henrik nodded slowly.

"Who is this?" he asked softly as he looked at the baby he had delivered a day or two ago; Kol couldn't keep track of where he was right now after the rush of the last day or two blurring together.

"Vérène Hlíf Deveraux-Mikaelson," Henrik smiled a bit placing the baby in Kol's arms. Kol was startled at how small his niece was, she had a thatch of black curls, big blue eyes, and her mother's complex, but that was Henrik's nose. "Vérène is from Verena and it means 'true' in Latin, possibly. Hlíf for protection."

"True protection?" Kol snorted.

"Mock me all you want, but yes," Henrik smiled.

"It's a lovely name Henrik," he assured. "Thank Odin you look like your mother else you'd be ugly as your troll of a father."

Henrik snorted. "I think she's got my nose!"

"Poor child," Kol mused.

"Thank you for saving my child," Henrik said softly as Kol passed the girl back to Henrik.

"Of course, I've saved all my nieces and nephews," he murmured looking at his wife. The lengths they went to for his siblings' children... He loved all of them, he did, he loved each and every single one of his nieces and nephews with a ferocity of wolf, he'd kill for them, he'd die for them, he'd unleash all the Nine realms to keep them safe without questions asked, but it didn't mean he had wanted to do it at the expense of his wife and their choices.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Henrik knew Kol was hurting, he knew, he knew his elder brother well enough to know when Kol was hurting. But there was nothing they could do for Kol, no way to alleviate the pain, just like there had been no way to comfort Rebekah for her losses. However, Henrik knew that being here, showing Kol what he had saved, it would make a little bearable. Vérène had done her job too, she had made his brother smile slightly, which was more than Kol had done since Davina had slumped in the chair after taking the curse from Monique.

"You did a good thing," he whispered to his daughter as he left his brother. "You made your uncle smile," he informed his daughter who just wriggled a little in his arms. He took her back to Monique who roused slightly, her bleary eyes opening to look at him with a worried look before she relaxed.