Ardent | Elijah Mikaelson

Chapter 46

Acquiring Finn proved difficult.

"He's not in New Zealand anymore," said Evangeliya darkly when the search yielded nothing. "Which likely means he's here. Likely at Freya's request. Maybe we risk too much. Yes, he hates the others, but he loves her so much he would do anything for her and if she told him to show mercy... he would. She's the one who helped me get him to New Zealand in the first place. I never could have convinced him to give up the hunt for Hope if she hadn't made him feel ashamed of what he was doing."

"Either way, we have our ways to make him help," said Lucien pointedly. "I have eyes and ears on Vincent Griffith. You told me of that pendant that can hold a Mikaelson soul. If we must, we seize Finn, place him in the pendant, trap him, transfer him over to Vincent's body if need be so he has no other choice. He will do it or Freya will die. We will pose threats if need be, if helping us would risk him damaging his precious sister's mental health. Freya is a fool for caring so much about the others."

"But it is understandable. She didn't have a family for so long, now she does, and they're all alive, all more or less available for her to know and love. She and Kol are quite close, too, given they were friends in the 1900s and we all worked together to defeat Dahlia. She loves Rebekah, she has always respected Elijah. We can guarantee Klaus's death with this, I'm sure. Freya might not care so much to stop that, and Finn definitely would allow it. It's the others that pose a problem."

She mulled it over in her sleep. She dreamt about all the ways she could make Finn (and Freya, by extension) do their bidding.

And in her sleep came the memories of how she and Freya had met, how she'd helped Finn be free. If he did this, he'd be helping her be free. He'd be paying back what might be a perceived debt.

Her time with Finn had been what led her to realize she loved Elijah. Their first intimate night together had been cause of what happened in Arkansas.

She was too weak to fight the compulsion even with the memories.

But a singular thought did come to mind: Finn can free me of this.

He can free me of Lucien more than anything.

Hadn't she wanted a witch to remove Klaus's compulsion, to make it harder for her to submit to Lucien's will? Hadn't she needed some way of sending an SOS, to let everyone know she was alive?

Despite the fact Finn might not go through with it for Freya's sake, there was something he'd do for his sister. Evangeliya knew that Freya cared about her, at least enough to try and find her. Wouldn't it ease the stress in the family if Finn were to send the message that Evangeliya was alive? Wouldn't that make things better for Freya, ease a bit of anxiety, and help her not be surrounded by brothers who were snarling at each other?

Finn loved Freya more than anything, and Freya wanted (more than anything) to have a family. A united one. And despite how much Finn might hate them, he wouldn't dare be the author of Freya's misery, even if it would satisfy him.

There were many paths and all led to Evangeliya's freedom. If Finn helped her and Lucien, they would be free and she could kill Klaus. And if he didn't, he might still let the Mikaelsons know she was alive and one way or another she'd be liberated from Lucien's control.

They soon confirmed that Finn was, in fact, in New Orleans. Rebekah had been found in the ocean; it was just going to take a few tries to get her out. Soon enough, all the Mikaelsons would be within the city. And then the attack would be launched.

"The Strix are stationed here," said Lucien, leaning over a map. He pointed at the Davilla Estate. "They have access to one of the tunnels that can lead to the Quarter, right beneath the Mikaelson Compound. No doubt the many witches within the home will put up a Boundary Spell. But we can lure them out or burn them out, even. Then, if The Strix has not completed the spell by then, we could kidnap Finn, have him tell us the final ingredient, and finish it so that when we take down the Mikaelsons, we can perform the de-linking immediately. The pool at the Davilla Estate will conduct the magic, and as we decided, we test first... Elijah, Rebekah, and finally Klaus. The others will either die trying to stop it or be subdued by The Strix Coven."