The Devil In Me

Chapter 39

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"Niklaus, I do not expect to come home, and find out that you are upstairs with Caroline, in her room, and compromising her once again."

"How can a man compromise his wife? Since we are apparently still wed"

Elijah looked at him, his mind rapidly making connections. He raised an eyebrow in askance and Klaus laughed humourlessly, as Elijah's eyebrows lowered.

"Katherine" he muttered pouring two large drinks. Klaus accepted his, and sat down. He felt strange, giddy almost. As thought there were too much blood flowing through him, he could not stop moving. His heart was beating quickly and his breaths were coming fast. He could not name the feeling exactly, the light headedness, and shortness of breath.

"Niklaus. We must talk of how this is to proceed" Elijah was saying tiredly before him, yet he found it hard to focus on his words. His mind was still in Caroline's room, surrounded by her sweet scent, his eyes full of her pale skin and shimmering hair, of her fine features, so painfully beautiful, and her skin, creamier than he could have imagine beneath his fingers.

"Niklaus!" Klaus snapped his attention back to his brother, and tried to focus on his words.

"As I said, I have spoken to the judge, and all that is needed is your consent, and to present a united front at the meeting, which will be in two days"

"I am sorry... I wasn't listening"

"The divorce... I checked into the legal complications, and it should be relatively straight forward." Elijah said, and Klaus suddenly felt the words settle like a stone in his stomach. Divorce. Klaus kneaded his temples, his tiredness over the past days catching up to him all of a sudden. He was aware that Elijah had ceased talking, and was now regarding him over his glass. He met his gaze. There was no sound but the clinking of ice.

"A penny for your thoughts brother" Elijah finally said, unable to decipher the myriad of emotions that were chasing across Klaus's features.

"I – I do not know... I am stunned, perhaps." Klaus said, sipping his drink, hiding his true feelings.

"She does not want to remain married to you." Elijah suddenly stated, and Klaus swallowed, the starkness of the statement too hurtful to ignore.

"I have enquired. I even made it known that if she could find, even a shred of feeling left for you... that she not divorce straight away... but wait."

"She refused?"

"She did. She implied that she felt your feelings would not be positive toward a continuation of the marriage, and that she did not know when you would leave again." Klaus bowed his head, trying to clear her smell from his nostrils.

"And if I... didn't. If I wanted to stay?" Klaus asked, and braced himself for his brother's words. Every instinct he had was screaming at him, telling to keep his promise, to do it for her sake. But then, his heart... his heart whispered of the way she leaned into his hand, of how her hands trembled when he touched her, and how she pushed him away, with eyes that begged him to stay. If she still loved him... despite everything... it was too much to dare to hope.

"Niklaus, she has already agreed to marry Tyler Lockwood."

"I thought as much" Klaus said, gulping his drink. Elijah stared at him, conflicted. He had seen Caroline's face, and his brothers, more tormented that he had seen in a long time, yet also happier. There was electricity in the air around them, like the air before a storm, and he almost felt like he was intruding on something so much greater than himself. He saw his brother sitting in front of him now. His excitement was coming off him in waves. He was more alive than Elijah had seen him, since the before the night of his father's death. Caroline had breathed life into him again, reanimated him, and now he sat, his blood finally coursing his veins again. Elijah paused, deliberated once more, and then made a decision.