The Red Queen | Lucien Castle & Tristan de Martel

Chapter 19

Lucien and Tristan were waiting for her at the airport.

She rushed up to them, tucking her head between them, arms reaching as far as possible to keep them close. "Oh, I've missed you both. Thank you for meeting me here."

"Always, love," said Lucien, kissing her cheek, the other hand sliding down to give her bottom a firm smack. "I see you were eager, otherwise you wouldn't have bumped up the date of our meeting."

Tristan cleared his throat, taking her hand to give her a small spin. "If you'd paid any attention the past few days, you'd know why we have met earlier," said Tristan. "That is quite the revelation about your sister's transgressions... Vivalda."

"We don't need to talk about things like that unless she asks it of us," said Lucien tightly. "After all, this weekend is meant to be fun. When we return to Germany on Monday, we can have more in-depth discussions, can't we?"

Vivalda let out a weak laugh. "Why do I feel like there's something you two aren't telling me? Look, we don't need to do anything you guys aren't comfortable with..."

"It isn't that," said Tristan quietly, eyes flickering between her and Lucien. "Vivalda... we ought to get to the hotel. There is something we need to talk about."

She wasn't sure what to expect. She had no idea what the conversation was going to be about, and with each second it took to get to the hotel, her dread grew more. Both of them were silent, staring out their respective windows, every now taking a break to check their phones. Someone kept texting them, but she was forcing herself not to look, not to spoil it for herself before they were ready.

And when she found out the truth, she hated it.

"Oh my god," she whispered, holding her head in her hands. "So Elijah... he... oh my god. Oh my god. When I found out he compelled you all to be himself, Nik, and Rebekah, I hated him. I hated knowing that we all allowed it to happen, that you were all made bait for my father. Your identities ruined, your safety forever compromised. And now you're telling me that Aurora... that she... oh my god."

"She wanted to be the one to tell you," said Tristan softly. "For years when you'd come by, she'd consider it might finally be time. But she hesitated, she convinced herself not to, convinced us to stay silent. Though she knew you would keep her secret if she asked, she knew you'd encourage her to speak to Niklaus, she knew admitting it would mean opening up the possibility of rekindling their relationship. I have discouraged this a great deal. I... can admit I did not like when she was with Niklaus. I felt he was a bad influence on her. He encouraged her to be wild when she needs someone more grounded. I worried he would hurt her, I worried that it wouldn't be the same. I convinced her not to seek him out."

"I understand," whispered Vivalda, knowing that there was too much uncertainty, especially with all that had happened in the past thousand years. The vampires who knew their family and kept informed would have been well-aware of Klaus's behavior, and even she could acknowledge her brother wasn't the same man who'd initially fallen for Aurora and caught her eye. She wanted to believe he would never hurt her, but how sure could she be about that? Things were too different. He was different, Aurora was different.

Lucien cleared his throat. "I admit, I have disliked Elijah for many years after what he did. Most of all because of what he did to Aurora."

Vivalda nodded, not wanting to invalidate any hatred he or Tristan could be clinging to. She'd always known they couldn't stand Elijah and Klaus for what was done to them, but now she really saw why it had never gone away. "And it means Elijah knew the whole time that Klaus had killed our mother but he let us believe a lie. He let us believe Mikael did it while we ran alongside Nik. He let us believe that Aurora had broken his heart, he let Nik believe that he was thought to be this awful person. And in some twisted desire to prove her right, it's exactly what he became. But those weren't Aurora's words, those were Elijah's."