The Good Daughter

Fifty

"You look beautiful." Elijah leaned against the doorframe of my new room.

It was one of my favorites.

Nik had clearly spent some time in here, painting little butterflies hidden among the subtle clouds on the walls.

The room itself was as if we were in the sky during sunset.

I loved it. "Thanks."

"You do not have to attend."

"And risk not seeing my brothers one last time, I don't think so." God, I hoped Bonnie told them and that they weren't going to do something irreversibly stupid.

"It's for your own good."

I crossed my arms. "Mine or yours? What good would killing the very people who kept me alive the first decade of my life do?!"

He sighed. "Their presence has you making dangerous choices. I will not have you caught between us and them. Better to take them out of the equation entirely."

"Elijah-"

"How did that man know where you were?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your location is something we hold secret among us. It got out somehow."

"You're suggesting my brothers gave up where I was for what? What would they possibly have to gain?!"

Elijah folded his hands in front of him. "Your trust."

"That's insane." I already trusted them, and they knew that.

Right?

"Is it? Stefan found the two of you before even Niklaus or myself."

It was impossible. Had to be. Stefan and Damon wouldn't do that. "He said you guys were already there and were taking care of the man and his minions."

"And you honestly believe that had I been there, that I would not have immediately been at your side?"

I hesitated. It'd made sense at the time. Elijah never let anyone hurt his family. Ever. To hear that he was actively destroying those who hurt me...

Elijah crossed the room in only a few strides. "Stefan brought you to us, bloody and bruised and barely conscious. Had you not been as ill as you were, I fear he would have tried to keep you."

I barely remembered what happened after we left the cell. I'd woken up back in my room at the old house.

My chest grew tight. "They couldn't have- they-they wouldn't."

"Are you so certain?" He caressed my cheek. "If they are as I think them to be, they are the cause of your fear and your pain, and I won't allow that to stand."

"I thought you'd only kill them if they attempted something."

"You still beg for their lives?"

"Where is the proof beyond your suspicion? Connecting two dots doesn't mean a damn, especially since you've clearly been looking for any reason at all to slaughter them." I stepped back and Elijah's hand fell to his side. "Let me speak to them. I'll know if they're lying."

Would I?

They were so different to the men I knew at ten years old. Stefan put up a pretty good front but Damon was completely changed.

Were they capable of it? Had they drawn that man here?

"No." Elijah said, after a moment. "If they are guilty they will not be near you. If they are innocent, they would still have you between myself and them, choosing."

"But-"

"That's enough." He gave me a look and my jaw shut with a click. This was far from over, but chess it was. He'd made his move. "Now, there are going to be far too many people downstairs within the next hour. Niklaus and myself have compelled our staff to ensure if you need your space, you'll be the only one let up those stairs. That is, if one of us are not readily available-"

"No. It's not enough." His brow lifted in surprise. "I'm going to speak to my brothers so I can put this ridiculous accusation to rest. You can't stop me."

"Can't I?"

It was well within his power to do so. "I took Elena from under your nose and hid her the last time there was a threat to them. I can be just as creative."

"Yes. You were quite clever. Though I would not attempt something like that again, Niklaus won't be so forgiving."

He was right.

That'd only work once. "I'm going."

"It's not as if they don't already know this ball is intended to be a trap." Nik stood by the door.

How had I missed him?

Elijah glanced between the two of us. "What have you been doing?"

"She alerted Bonnie to your plan the first chance she got. Then she asked me to keep it a secret from you, a promise I intended to keep until you told me of their involvement in the little one's kidnapping."

I crossed my arms, shooting him a glare. "I wasn't gonna just let them be lambs lead to slaughter."

"If you were to go, and did not find the answers you seek, what would you do?" Why was Nik the voice of reason here?

"I wouldn't kill them if that's what you're asking." Honestly, I don't know how I'd react. "Neither will you."

"I say let her go." What was happening? "It'll give her the chance to say her goodbyes."

There it was.

I reluctantly met Elijah's analyzing gaze. "Please."

"Not without a chaperone."