THE QUEEN'S CROWN [2]

27 : SAY HELLO AGAIN

        Kol hadn't shown up. Lily was beginning to wonder if he was even going to.

"Hey, he loves you." Albus was sitting on the couch, a glass of whiskey in his hand. "You don't have to worry about that."

"He should've been here by now." She remained on the windowsill for a moment longer, but knew that there wasn't any point. Kol would likely walk right in, probably from the backdoor if she had to guess. "What if he decides he has something better to do?"

Ryan, who had been home when they arrived half an hour earlier, frowned from where he was spawned out on the armchair. "Like what? I thought he hated his family?"

"Hate's a strong word, but even then Rebekah's the only one in Mystic Falls."

"So there you go." Albus insisted. "He's saying goodbye to her and then he'll come see you."

Lily doubted it, simply because the last time Kol saw Rebekah, he'd been threatening her. She knew he had loved his siblings, but they hadn't exactly had the same relationship and she felt selfish for admitting that she wanted his limited time to be spent with her. He was going to end up back on The Other Side before long, and she just needed to tell him that she loved him, that she would never give up on him, something she hadn't had a chance to tell him before he was killed. She knew that he loved her, he hadn't even had to say the words for her to know, so she hoped he knew the same thing about her, but how was she supposed to know that? Lily knew she had to tell him, to make the most of this chance she had been given. Kol had deserved so much more than what he had been given and she knew he didn't always believe himself worthy of what he had, but she was determined to prove that he could be the centre of someone's universe, that he was worth being saved. She had always had that with her sister, knowing the lengths Charlie would go to protect her. Kol hadn't been as lucky. She just needed him to know, but he had yet to even show up.

Perhaps that was the issue. Kol was likely back, like so many others she was certain, but if he hadn't immediately come to see her, then that probably meant one thing. He definitely hadn't gone to say goodbye or to see his sister, as she thought she knew his relationship with Rebekah well enough to know they hadn't parted on good terms, so he had gone looking for revenge. Kol hated being bested, he was even petty with games, and he had been killed by two teenagers. She had wanted to avenge him herself, but ultimately knew that she wouldn't have, even if Jeremy had lived longer than three days longer than him. She wasn't naturally a killer, but she also couldn't fault him for wanting to make the most of his chance to hurt the people that had killed him for simply wanting to stop Silas from being risen. Kol had been right. They risked everything for the cure, and it hadn't been worth it, and Kol had died for nothing. He literally just wanted to stop them from being stupid. She understood where his need for revenge came from, but she still hated that that was his first priority when she wanted it to be her. They were soulmates, did that not count for anything?

All of a sudden, her phone rang. Her heart leapt into her throat, but when she looked at the Caller ID, her shoulders dropped. "It's Matt." She told the watching men, turning her back on them before answering. Albus would hear Matt speaking anyway. "Hey," she greeted with a sigh.

"Lily." The older boy said. "I'm at the Grill. Kol was just here."

Her eyes widened. "He was? Was he looking for me? Is he okay? What happened?"

"He...He was looking for Elena." It sounded as though it was the last thing he wanted to tell her, but she appreciated him calling regardless. She knew Kol would've been on The Other Side, but this just confirmed it, which she hadn't realised she had needed until now. "I didn't know where she was but I wouldn't have told him anyway-"