Work Text:
Niklaus Mikaelson
My love, my sweet Caroline, today I stand before you as a man who has understood salvation, I stand as a man who has felt it’s soft touch against his cheek and it’s softer lips against his brow. In your hands my heart lays, beating, thriving, brimming with a light, with a love, it has never known before, and it is all because of you, my sweetest love.
As the hours of our marriage drew near this morning, I couldn't resist the joyous singing of my soul that my heart relentlessly insisted on, and as every moment passes; as I approach closer and closer still to calling you my wife, as mine and mine alone, I understood: This beating pulse of love and life you have anointed my heart with, this will not cease with time.
This love will hold strong as the day you held my back as our horse recklessly took to the wind at a frightening pace, that left you squealing in my ear. This love will be full of cheer and joy as your eyes are when you dance in the moonlight singing your own tunes, my heart. This love will keep me on my toes for the rest of my days as you have done each day since the day I met you: a fool I was that very day, to think a simple glove amiss would escape your keen and agile mind, and when I had perjured myself most willfully in hopes of escaping your ire, a fool I did not cease to be, for I would've never seen the wrath in your eyes turn into the gentle, iridescent love you now so uninhibitedly, unendingly, shower over me, had I succeeded in absconding away with your silk.
And while the night you chased me across the ballroom for a singular glove might have been our beginning, the start of our lives together, as husband and wife, with you as my love as I am yours, is today, and today I promise you as I will promise you everyday henceforth: this love of ours will remain cherished and nurtured, protected and treasured….always and forever, with all my beating heart and all my singing soul, I promise you this, my Caroline.
Caroline Forbes
Niklaus Mikaelson, I have many words I wish to tell you, and to tell you is to see the warmth of your face grow warmer and your smile grow brighter, for you listen, as you always do with nary a moment of inattention, and your eyes speaking—no, sparkling of a reverence and a fondness that has left me bereft of breath with a heart flailing for purchase more times than I dare to tally, but as it is, your mere presence, your smile, your voice, your arms wound around me steadfast as they are gentle have challenged me to find the courage to endeavor to unravel the immensity of your love.
Your love for me, I have always known of it; you were never one to burden yourself with such secrecy, or for that fact...decency. Your love, A covetous thing you nurtured it to be, all the while foisting a notion as inane as being incapable of such an emotion on yourself, but your Love is not an emotion dearest Nik, In my endeavors to elucidate your love I have found it to be a breathing, living, ever-flourishing being between us; Sometimes, when you stand close to me, your warmth my own, your eyes intent on mine, as you caress my hair behind my ear with a smile on your lips tender as your hand against my skin even while mumbling forth utter mundanity, in those moments as I feel your breath against my cheek and your hand in my hair, I can’t help but imagine your love is just as alive: teeming with life, as you and I are, and for that I thank you. I thank you for showing me a love so real, so true that although I have only ever dreamed of such a love, it bids not a moment of doubt in my mind as to the….genuine beauty of it. You are a pulsing reminder in my heart that I am loved and cherished….and understood, it is so profound to be understood, love is beautiful but to know that your heart tangles with mine and finds a rhythm that you and I are capable of following, hand in hand, neither too fast or slow, that Nik, is something that fills my eyes with happy tears on days I allow myself to sit down and think about it. Your love is a steadfast stubborn thing, reckless as it is gentle, a love so intimate and palpable, I believe your heart thunders in my chest on days I can’t feel mine.
And so my darling Nik I will thank you for what you have offered to me—your heart a cup full of love, friendship and trust that you have poured over me, unhaltingly— and for this, everyday for the rest of my life I will thank you by embracing you in the same love you have shown me. You confess your heart is in my hands, and I proclaim the same, and I trust it in your hands knowing fully, undoubtedly that it is safe and cherished and protected, as is yours in mine.
These are the vows of Lady Caroline Forbes and Lord Klaus Forbes.