Rue | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 11

She looked like a queen, literally.

The background was of the Bayou. The blades of grass and the tiny flowers bursting from mounds of dirt were from the patch right outside her cabin, where Klaus had been sitting. The trees were the same ones where she'd hung the rope to set up a clothesline.

Then there was her, in the center. Wearing her wedding dress, except it had a much bigger skirt, and had been refined to make it look like what a real queen would have worn, perhaps in England or Spain where Klaus spoke of having actually met queens. She wouldn't know any better; his stories came with no visual component. It was the color of blood, making her stand out from all the green around her.

She had a crown, in the shape of what a royal crown should look like, but it was woven with flowers and vines, entirely natural rather than being made of gold. What interested her most was her hand placement. One arm was over her heart, and the other was holding up her skirt, allowing the hem to create a shadow at her feet of a wolf. Its eyes glowed, as if two fireflies had settled upon the shadow to give the effect.

"Beth," cooed Henry.

"Yeah, it is me," agreed Ibeth, not daring to reach out toward the painting. She'd likely ruin it.

So this is why he was staring at me last night. He wanted to paint me.

It didn't seem like painting her had made him happy, if one could judge from the state of the room. Or maybe the mess was a good thing, maybe it was what happened when he was really into a painting.

Why am I hoping that he enjoyed painting this?

"Hungry," Henry whined.

"Let's get you some food, then," said Ibeth, forcing herself to leave the room.

Klaus did not appear at breakfast. Ibeth brought Hope down to join herself and Henry while they ate, then sat at the table again once the other children had woken up. He didn't seem to be home.

Freya and Elijah both arrived in the evening, offering to watch the children so she could have some time to herself. Something told her that Cami or Vincent had made a comment based on her lack of excessive exclamation marks in her texts that day. Nick suggested they have a movie night in the ballroom, which Elijah fully supported. After much debate, they settled on Wreck-It Ralph. Ibeth thanked both Originals with a kiss on the cheek and skipped off to Rousseau's to meet her friends.

"I figured the world was ending," said Vincent, confirming it was the tone of her texts that concerned them. "I said to Cami, Ibeth hasn't used one exclamation mark or smiley face all day. She's losing it. She has to be."

"I think I was just tired," she lied, not about to tell them that she'd been thinking of the painting all day, even when she'd taken the kids to the park for a few hours. "I didn't realize I was doing it."

"Well, tonight, you de-stress!" said Cami, pouring her a drink. "You know, Freya told me there's an event next weekend at the club, and that she wants us to all do a girl's night. Rebekah can't come, unfortunately, but she would really like if you and I were there."

"That sounds fun," said Ibeth, downing her portion. "I'll talk to Klaus and Elijah beforehand, see if either of them are willing to stay with the kids overnight in case I come back needing to go to bed immediately. I can't be driving them anywhere with a hangover."

Vincent chuckled. "Well, I perhaps shouldn't say this, but it's a good thing that you might have a hangover. At least it'll indicate you had a good time the night before. You haven't done anything for yourself this past month."