Klaus looked wrathful, but Elijah chuckled. It was a low, strange sound in the tense air of the house, and Rebekah wondered how many times she would get to hear it again. Because she knew, before Elijah stepped forward to clasp forearms with Eric like a brother, that they were going to let her go.
As if Elijah’s reserve had been the last thing shoring up his own anger, Klaus’s glower dissolved into a rueful smile. He nodded grudgingly toward Eric first and then Rebekah, who impulsively threw her arms around him and held him tightly. He kissed the top of her head the way he had when they were children, and she stretched onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek in return.
“We should drink to your happiness,” Klaus said, smirking suggestively at Eric’s throat before stalking into the dining room to pour some whiskey into four glasses.
They drank and talked until the sun was low on the horizon, its red final rays drifting in through the homespun curtains. Once the tension between them was settled, Rebekah realized with a bittersweet pang that her brothers and Eric got along well. She could tell that Elijah liked him, and Klaus was considerate and well-behaved enough that she understood he was signaling his approval. If only they could have stayed here.
“This does not need to be forever,” Elijah reminded her when the green glass bottle on the table between them was empty. “We have a voice here now, and we will use it. The witches’ prohibition against making new vampires cannot stand eternally. In time they will waver, and we will send for you.”
“We will return,” Rebekah promised, and Eric pressed her hands lovingly between his own.
“We will,” Eric agreed. “And if we find another place in our travels where vampires are welcome and safe from hunters, we will send for you.”
The words hung in the air for a long time before Rebekah realized that there was nothing else left to say. Her brothers would throw their glittering party to cement their place in New Orleans while she left it. There was nothing to keep her, now that she’d said good-bye to her brothers. She and Eric could sail that very night.
Looking at her brothers’ faces, she knew that if she stayed even one more day, the guilt of separating their family would break her heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“MY LOVE,” KLAUS MURMURED, whisking Vivianne aside into an empty corridor. “Are you ready?”
She looked magnificent in a long silver gown that trailed away into unexpected shadows of lace. So far she had held up her end of their bargain, which required her to keep their secret while the Mikaelsons maneuvered for power. But the next steps would probably be harder.
“I have been ready since the morning after the full moon,” she replied. A peal of laughter filtered in from the main hall, and Vivianne’s head swiveled toward it for a moment. Beneath the powders, curls, and silk that made up her elegant armor, she was tense. “But they are all so happy tonight. I can’t imagine many of them will want to see my side, once I tell them.”
Klaus lovingly ran his thumb along the line of her jaw. “I am on your side, Vivianne,” he reminded her. “What the rest of the city does is of no concern to us as long as we are together.”
She swayed closer to him, her entire body seeking contact with his own. “I know you would rather fight your way out of a banquet hall full of enemies,” she teased, a smile playing on her lips. “But as you say, we are our own allies now. And so I will be your ambassador in this, and keep you safer than your own instincts would.”
“A bit,” he conceded with pretend reluctance. “I won’t give up all my fun, but it’s true that the Navarros have far more to answer for than your witches. If they are prepared to accept the new order, so much the better.”
He pulled her face up to his, kissing her in earnest this time. She responded eagerly for a minute, then set her hands on his chest and gently separated them. “Let’s wait,” she told him seriously. “Just until I have officially called off the wedding.”
“You want to be free of Armand, to tell him first,” Klaus interpreted.
“You understand, then,” she said, looking so relieved that he hesitated to tell her no. “Whatever else he is, he is technically my fiancé. It is only decent to tell him first, before making a spectacle of the news.”
A spectacle was just the sort of surprise that Klaus wished on Armand Navarro, but Viv looked resolute.
“Very well,” he agreed, “Tell him, then announce it to the rest, and we’ll deal with whatever comes. Things could get out of hand quickly if he has time to spread the news.”
“What’s the hurry?” she purred, wrapping her arms around his neck. “We still can have a few more minutes of peace.” Klaus folded her against him, inhaling the lilac fragrance of her hair.
“I knew you were a faithless whore, but to betray me with this thing?” Armand’s voice was thin and strangled. “How could you, Vivianne?” Vivianne gasped and spun around in Klaus’s arms.
While Klaus had kept half an eye on the door to the banquet, Armand must have approached stealthily from the other direction. He must have noticed that they were both absent and begun a calculated search. It was a dreadfully inconvenient time for him to have grown a mind of his own, and Vivianne looked absolutely stricken by the development.
“Armand,” she cried, straining forward while Klaus held her back. “I was going to tell you tonight. Within minutes. You should not have seen this.”
“Tonight?” Armand asked, his tone bitterly mocking. “And what about all the other nights you have spent ‘taking air’ in our garden, or sneaking out through your bedroom window? You never thought to tell me then?”
“You knew,” she breathed, shame flushing her cheeks to a deep red. “All this time, you knew.”
“I didn’t know it was him,” Armand spat. “I had nothing but gossip and rumors. No one knew you’ve been spreading your legs for a dead man.”
Before either of them could answer—although Klaus certainly had a few things to say about that—Armand ran in the other direction, making for the lights and music of the party. Vivianne squirmed out of Klaus’s grasp and hurried after him. Klaus saw a few heads turn their way even before they emerged from the relative privacy of the corridor. He was losing control, but he could not intervene without doing even more damage.
Vivianne caught Armand’s arm just inside the brilliant pool of candlelight, where everyone could see Armand shake it off and slap her across the face. Klaus could have slit his throat on the spot for that insult, but he had promised to try to avoid a war. Quite a few eyes had turned toward the supposedly happy couple already. It was unlikely the brutal murder Klaus had in mind could go unnoticed.
The music faltered, and Klaus saw Elijah gesturing furiously to the band. Elijah had arranged a spectacular party, Klaus noticed belatedly. The room glowed with thousands of chandeliers and candelabras, and every bit of space was packed with flowers and vines. The music was lively, the wine flowed freely, and up until this unfortunate interruption, everyone had seemed to be having a good time. The musicians resumed their cheerful reel, if a bit shakier than before. Klaus stepped between Vivianne and Armand, ready to defend her from another blow if he couldn’t avenge her for the first one, but Vivianne was only getting started.
“We were never in love, Armand,” she shouted recklessly. “You coveted me, and I was willing to do my duty. But once I understood what you demanded of me, what you let your family put me through...I never loved you, Armand, but after that I could not even bring myself to respect you.”