✔ The Way We Burn || Kol Mikaelson (Complete)

Chapter 9

His laugh didn't last long. In front of him, Nora's face had fallen and there was now a distant look in her eyes. Had he been someone else, he would have thought she was not affected by the situation. However, Kol knew Nora. He knew her well and it was easy for him to see the tension in her shoulders and the apprehension in her eyes. Oh, it was hidden. Well hidden, even. But it was there and he knew it.

"Nora...," he said in a kind voice, "Darling, surely you do not expect me to believe such nonsense? This is madness."

Her face softened and she sighed. "Of course it is." She then moved toward him and touched his cheek. "I knew your name," she continued, pleading.

"You did." He grabbed the hand touching him and squeezed her fingers. The last two years brought a few callus on her hand. It wasn't as soft as it had once been. "But how many other reasons are there to explain this?"

"I speak a language you had no knowledge of."

"From your place of birth in the old world."

"I could not survive on my own."

He smirked, "Just you being you Darling." Well, he guessed she could blame her rich family in the old world for spoiling her. Sure, she had never told him being a heiress or something, but he had caught her more than once staring towards the ocean, that vast expanse of salt water which separated them from the old world. Even the best eyes couldn't catch the barest glimpse of the birth land of his parents and his brother Finn.

His smirk disappeared and he touched Nora's forehead with his free hand. No fever. Nothing to indicate she had ingested a poisoned flora. Aside from what she said about time-travelling, she didn't look delirious.

She shook her head and slapped his hand away from her. "I'm not crazy! Nor am I sick!"

"And yet you are asking me to believe in time-travel!" he retorted. At this point, this was beyond madness and he couldn't help but get irritated. "The mere idea of travelling through time goes against every rule of Nature. Against every thing I have faith in!" Couldn't she understand him?

She bit her lips. "And me?" He tensed. "Cannot you believe in me?" She raised her eyes to meet his. "Please," she pleaded," I... I am begging you. Believe me."

The blue of her eyes was glistening with unshed tears as she stared at him with intensity. Without thinking, he stepped back and immediately regretted it when pain flashed in her eyes.

All his life, Kol believed - truly believed - in very few thing. Two, actually. Firstly, his siblings, and, secondly, the mother Nature and the magic it gifted him. The power running through his veins was as familiar as his own hands. It was a part of him, and he wielded it as easily as he moved his hand or listened to the wind. However, this power came with rules. They were few compared to the numerous possibilities offered by magic. However, they were also very strict and never had he dared to flout them. How could he? When his lips prayed the Odin's name to not needlessly clash with his father every fiber of his body vibrated for Nature. Nature was the divinity guiding each of his steps. It gave and gave, again and again, and asked for so little in exchange. How could he refused a few rules, especially when they aimed to protect the balance of the world?

And yet... Yet Nora's blue eyes pierced him as they often did. Telling him her secret had scared her, yet she still told him. Why? Because she wanted to do right by him? Could it really be so simple?

"Please," she begged him again.

He glanced away, looking instead at the forest they would need to walk though after. Would she still trust him if he were to refuse to believe her? Would she go somewhere he couldn't follow? Would he even see her again? And if... If she was saying the truth, would she travel through the veil of time, leave this world and only go back when he had been turned into a little pile of dust?