WAR OF HEARTS ↠ KOL MIKAELSON [1]

3:10

| THE AFTERMATH:
CHAPTER TEN |

The sun hovered low in the sky, casting long shadows across the cracked marble paths of the New Orleans cemetery. The tombstones stood like silent sentinels, weathered by time and secrets, but tonight they bore witness to something sacred.

Davina Claire's tomb was adorned in white lilies, lavender, and witch sigils drawn by Vincent himself—symbols of safe passage, protection, and peace. The air was thick with candle smoke, grief, and unshed rage. The compound felt miles away.

Gathered around her resting place stood those who had loved her most: Vincent, Marcel, Josh, Rhea, Kol, and Ares. Each carried their own grief like armor. None heavier than Rhea's.

The silence was reverent.

And then Vincent stepped forward.

His voice rang out through the cemetery, low and haunting, steady but heavy. The kind of voice born from carrying centuries of pain and watching the best of them fall.

"Say not in grief that she is no more, but be thankful that she ever was... and though she was taken far too soon, may her enduring light show us a way through this darkness. Let us mourn, because we must. We cannot move forward until we allow ourselves to sit in this sorrow, even if only for a while."

He paused, letting the words settle, letting them cut.

"And though the pain may at times feel like more than we can bear, make no mistake... we will bear it. We will move forward, because Davina would have wanted us to. And even now, as I stand here, the words of Ecclesiasticus ring in my ears..."

Vincent looked to the sky.

"Vengeance, as a lion, shall lie in wait for them."

The weight of it dropped like a blade.

Kol's jaw clenched.

Josh's shoulders shook.

Vincent stepped back, and silence followed. Brief. Tense.

Then Josh moved forward, hands trembling, eyes glassy.

He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a folded note—but he didn't read from it. He couldn't.

"A while ago—feels like a lifetime now—I told Davina a story. About my first boyfriend. She laughed, cried, even cursed at the ending like it was her own heartbreak. What I didn't tell her... what I never told anyone... was that I'd never shared that story with anyone else. Ever."

Josh's voice cracked, tears falling freely.

"She was my best friend. My little sister. My therapist. My person. I loved her."

"I wish that..." His breath caught, the sentence collapsing under the weight of everything he couldn't say.

Rhea's chest ached.