Curse of Ravens // Mikaelson

7 We Summon Thee

"'Raise the shadows from the deep, make them form, make them weep.'" I read aloud from the grimoire, sitting a couple feet away from Aleksandr. The warlock listened to the spell, which was disguised as a poem. "Have you ever done it?" I grin mischievously at him.

"When you look at me like that, I wonder if you're planning to sink me in the lake." Aleksandr joked, gesturing to the still water. We sat on the docks at dawn, the early sun was barely lightening the sky. I procured a small laugh at his words.

"Sometimes I come off as more intense than I intend." I admit. "A trait I get from both my parents. Are you close with yours?"

Alek pushed his hair out of his face, but the long strands fall back into his eyes. The black locks were not braided back today. Through his earlobes Alek wore earrings. They were feathers of blue iridescence coupled with silver chains and beads. They seemed much more authentic than the pearls I wore in my ears, a gift from my mother.

"Maria Ravenson is my mother. Our line comes from the same tribe that yours did." Alek begins. But I already knew that, as all of the Clan Hela have ancestors from that single Viking tribe over a thousand years ago. "My sister is older than me by four minutes." Alek looked out over the lake. "It's an understatement to say my parents prize her."

"'The plight of the second born.'" I echoed words Simon once told me when I studied the Clan's teachings. Alek nodded, the only indication he heard me. His hoodie was a dark green, distressed in a few places, bleached in the shape of ferns. He wore warlock sigils around his neck. Xavier echoed the world of the aristocracy. Aleksandr was the image of the ancient magic that ran through the forest.

Two completely different worlds that I was always torn between. I didn't like the continued silence once he stopped talking. The birds started to call their morning song, and the buzzing of insects was fading away.

"My sister, as everyone knows, is forced to remain apart from our family because if they come together, the Hollow will rise." I begin, deciding to share with him, if only a little. "For that reason, for as long as I can remember, my father has pulled apart the world in search of a way to bring about a permanent solution. The mighty Klaus Mikaelson, brought to his knees by love for his daughter."

Aleksandr looked at me now as I spoke. I closed the grimoire I had open before me, no longer focused on magic.

"I'm not cursed in anyway. I can see my family face to face, and while Hope was forced to grow up here... I could travel the world." I snorted at myself. "I hate that I envy her. Who would envy someone in her position? When I joined Clan Hela, finally I had something she didn't. Yet... the first question that I was asked in Norway? Eldre søsken?"

"Elder sibling." Aleksandr translated the words aloud.

"They accepted me because of my bloodline, but they would rather have her." I tilt my head at him. "That's why I haven't told her about it. Because Hope might take that from me." Perhaps this tactic was manipulative, but garnering empathy from Aleksandr might benefit me in the long run. And based on the look of sympathy on his face, I think my words were working.

In actuality, Hope didn't know about Clan Hela because no one did. The Clan would have Klaus and I on it's wanted list until the end of the world because we stole from them. They'd hunt my father and put him down, and for my betrayal, they would strip me of the runes down my spine, and sacrifice me to their goddess so that she might forgive them.

"I promise I won't speak of it to her. And neither will my sister. Anastasia may be the eldest, but she has reasons to loathe Clan Hela."

I raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. Aleksandr scratched his chin, debating on whether or not to tell me. He decided I was a safe pair of ears and decided to confide in me.