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Autumn, 1001 AD
Everything reached her ears through a thick layer of river water. Sounds were loud, distorted and wavering. They seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.
There, at her left, came the unmistakable sound of crackling logs burning merrily in the hearth. Nonsensical as it sounded.
And at her right, a voice, the cadence known even if the words were indistinguishable to her comprehension.
With concentrated effort she managed to open her eyes and blink. After a long moment she focused on the bloodied dagger Kol gifted her shortly following her arrival in the village. She waded through the fog of her memory until she found the image of the knife, clutched in her own hand, penetrating her own breast.
Then it all came rushing back.
Esther and the wine.
Mikael and the sword.
Elijah’s death scream.
And above it all her desperation to protect that which was most precious to them both.
Her final spell.
Kol’s mouth formed words she couldn’t understand through the ripple of water and rush of wind.
Strange, since she could make out Rebekah’s sobs plain as moonlight in the next room.
And, that too, was also strange.
She knew beyond a shadow of doubt that her life ended near the hearth. Defiant of Mikael’s blade until the bitter end.
Her eyes dropped to the blade again, dripping her own blood unto the sheets of their bed. A ravenous hunger burnt the back of her throat, claiming every fibre of her being. With shaking hands she snatched the knife away from Kol and dragged a trembling finger through the still warm red.
Thoughtlessly she popped the gathered blood into her mouth, ignoring the widening of her husbands eyes as euphoria gripped her.
He grasped at her shoulders, forcing her to face him.
She made out her name and not much else, before her dawning realization smacked her in the face.
Slowly, she dropped the dagger into her lap and raised her wrist. Her sleeve slid away easily revealing the bold lines of ink he tattooed on her wrist nearly three years ago. The black glistened, ready to melt from her skin.
Without thought she pressed the heel of her palm to the wed of wyrd, willing the ink to fuse once more with flesh.
The tingle of magic overtook her, racing from the soles of her feet to the ends of her hair. Wind rushed in her ears for three precious heartbeats.
“Did you just fix that, my light?” Kol’s voice sounded broken to her ears.
When she grasped his wrist she understood immediately why. The call of magic that had been so strong beneath his skin not hours earlier was gone. Replaced by hollow emptiness.
“You still have-“
She cut him off with a hard kiss, swallowing the words he would have uttered for all to hear. Nobody could hear him. Nobody could know.
This, she knew with certainty.
Esther’s wicked spell had clearly had a designed purpose. One that somehow, someway, she had thwarted.
She doubted her mother-in-law would be pleased.
“Don’t say it, my love,” she murmured, trembling hand against his wet cheek. “Please don’t say it.”
Unfortunately, her wonderful husband had never been good at keeping his mouth shut. He did seem to glean her meaning though.
“Your face, darling,” he whispered, voice bruised and broken.
“My face?” Her heart stuttered. Her eyes darted to her palm, free of blemishes and freckles. The air flew from her lungs.
“Rebekah found you,” he cupped her left cheek and threaded his fingers up through her dark hair, twisting the strands enough so she could see them out of the corner of her eye.
“The glamour’s gone?” Her lungs ached with the effort of drawing breath.
Her face was her own again, and Rebekah had seen.
“I brought you to our bed,” he nodded to the door where the voices of his siblings could be heard. “I didn’t think you’d want anyone to see you like this.”
“And what was the plan after this? After hiding me in the shadows?” She wanted to retch, but the moment the feelings of nausea rose they calmed. All that remained was the burning hunger, but she had more pressing matters to deal with.
“I thought I could fix it, but then…” tears gathered in his crimson flooded eyes, falling over black veins where they pulsed in his cheeks.
She didn’t need him to finish the sentence. He couldn’t fix her. He would never feel the rush of magic in his blood again.
She drew him down, laying his brow in the crook of her neck as she drew her her palm up and down his spine. Words escaped her, refusing to come in comfort he was in no mood to receive, so she held him and wished things could have been different.
“Zephyr,” she sought with her eyes, finding her faithful companion pacing the foot of her marital bed. Her amber eyes lit up, shoulders raising to attention. “Find Ayana and tell her what happened.”
Zephyr tilted her head silently to the left.
Is that truly what you need in this moment?
“But you don’t-“ She shook her head, placing her freckled fingers gently over her husband’s mouth as Zephyr darted from the room. “Shh.”
Her shimmering eyes threatened to spill over. She blinked, feeling a tear roll over her freckled cheek as a figure loomed in the door.
She swallowed and drew a slow breath, fingers tightening their grip in Kol’s shirt.
Rebekah stood in the open door, eyes glassy but shoulders back. Tall and determined with hurt in her eyes.
“Hello Bekah,” she sighed, letting Kol go as he sat straight, shooting his sister a warning look.
“I think I deserve some answers brother,” she exhaled, stepping into their room and focusing her full attention on her sister-in-law. “I know what I saw while our parents and brothers were too occupied to notice.”
“Rebekah,” he started, gesturing to her freckled cheeks and hair, “clearly you can see…”
“Do not attempt to deceive me, Kol!” She snapped in a whisper, causing a hush to fall in the main room of the house.
She left her husband on the bed and appeared before Rebekah in an instant, grasping her thin arms. She fully expected the blonde to pull away, but she returned the embrace, curling her fingers tightly around her elbows.
“Not here,” she breathed, so quietly not even Kol could make out the words. “Not now.”
“But you will…” Rebekah lowered her voice to the same level, from the corner of her eyes she saw Elijah approach with a knot between his brows.
“Everything,” she swore, “I promise.”
Sunlight streamed through windows, forcing everyone to hide in the shadows: prisoners in their own home. Most of the family had retreated to the darkest reaches of the house, hiding from the sunlight in their rooms while Esther went about her day as normal out and about in the village.
She seemed perfectly content to leave her children in the dark.
Kol loathed the darkness, and she couldn’t even do what she normally would to make him more comfortable. She dared not weave starlight around her skin in the confined space. Somebody else would see.
Nobody could know about the magic still flowing strongly through her veins.
Not yet.
Her husband sat curled beneath the window, as close as he dared venture to the light without being burnt. His head rested against the wall, tipped backward so he could stare at the light filtering in from the outside.
She knew he wanted to feel the sun on his skin. She suspected it might be the closest he could get to feeling magic anymore.
“Kol,” she edged closer, careful to avoid the sunlight.
“I’m fine.”
“Liar,” she accused lightly, carefully nudging his shoulder. “You’re not, and its okay to not be. You’ve lost something monumental. Pieces of you are just gone.”
Her heart ached as she glanced to the hearth where the cradle once stood, dissolved to ashes now. He had lost more than he truly understood, and he couldn’t until they were truly alone.
“There’s a hole in my soul,” his fist curled over his heart.
She nodded. Had Esther’s spell worked completely as intended she would understand precisely how he felt, but something - and she had several theories about what - had created a loophole.
“I’m sorry,” she lifted onto her knees to face him.
“Darling!” He yanked her down, holding her tightly to his chest.
“What?” She frowned. Her hands curled around the back of his neck. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t feel it?” He frowned, smoothing hair back from her face. “My light, you were in the sun.”
“I…” her eyes widened, she saw Rebekah peek her head into the open space and sensed Elijah, Nik and Finn listening. “I was too focused on you, my love,” she smiled, casting a pointed look to his siblings as he touched her flawless features.
“Take care, darling,” he frowned, tapping freckles along her cheek. “Thankfully it was only a second.”
“I barely felt it,” she swore.
“The pair of you should retreat further into the house,” Elijah warned, tone morose, “before you get burnt.”
“Of course,” she nodded, lowering her eyes to the floor. She scooted away carefully and stood in the shadows, holding out a hand for Kol to join her. “Just give us a moment.”
Kol moved away from the window slowly.
She flicked her eyes to the left and right, silently asking if his siblings had disappeared again. When he nodded once she slowly held out her palm until her hand rested in the light of day, whole and unharmed.
Without a word Kol lowered her arm back to her side.
“Are we not far enough away yet?” Rebekah whispered, trailing her hands over the narrowing walls of the tunnel. Her nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff of ashes still clinging to her hair. She had stood with her Nik and Elijah and watched the white oak tree burn to ashes before joining Kol.
“Probably,” he shrugged.
Silently he kept following his wife into the darkness, eyes drawn to the cool light wrapping around her skin in the gloom. She was his beacon, guiding him through the night.
“I want to try something before we talk,” she glanced over her shoulder, watching the light reflect in their eyes.
She followed the narrow tunnel to the opening of the cave and paused before taking a breath and waving her hand into the open space. With heart in her throat she stepped inside and turned to watch Kol and Rebekah halted at the threshold.
“It’s like the spell on the doors,” she explained, wrapping more light around her body.
“Does this mean you could cross those as well?” Kol frowned.
“I’m not sure,” she hummed, tapping her upper arms with her fingers. “I think we’re going to be figuring everything out as we go along.”
She cut her eyes to Rebekah as she uncrossed her arms and pulled a bundle of herbs from the bag at her hip. Fire flared in her palm.
“Bekah, I need you to do something for me before we talk.”
“Of course,” she nodded, still willing to do anything for her family.
“I want you to walk to the end of the corridor, maybe all the way to fork,” she lit the bundle and waved the fragrant smoke, then swept her skirts a few inches off the ground and started tapping her heel as she waved the smoke. “Listen with all your might and stop when you hear the tapping cease. Wait a few seconds, make sure you hear nothing and then come back.”
Rebekah nodded and started back the way they had come.
She moved to stand closer to Kol and let the glamour she had sculpted melt away.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” He pressed his palm to the air, longing to reach out for her.
“She saw me, Kol,” she sighed, blowing out the flames at the edge of the bundle of herbs. “Thanks to her, and your quick action, nobody else saw me, but Rebekah did. I can’t hide from her, and I won’t lie to her. She deserves more than that.”
“I appreciate that,” Rebekah reappeared, gaze flickering over her exposed features. “So… this is what you really look like?”
She nodded once.
“Not some disfiguring scar you longed to forget about.”
She shook her head and sighed, sinking to the floor in the threshold so Kol could reach out and hold her hand.
“You’d better sit down Rebekah,” she nodded, breaking off a piece of metal from the arm band at her wrist to reshape into a bead as they talked. A small blue stone leapt from her bag into her palm. “It’s not a short tale.”
She waved her hands, forming a narrow tube and inlaying the blue stone.
She pulled more silver from the band and shaped a ring around her husband’s middle finger, setting a small blue stone in it before she pulled it from his hand and repeated the process with Rebekah.
“What are these?” Rebekah picked up stone where she had set the pile of round blue gems.
“Lapis Lazuli,” she explained. “When anybody asks, the rings and bead were formed by a silver smith. I found them and purchased them tonight, do you understand?”
“Whatever you like, my love,” Kol nodded. “What are they for?”
She passed him a small piece of parchment, covered in a spell.
“I wrote this earlier today,” she offered a small smile. “Cast on the lapis lazuli it will allow you to walk again in the sunlight. I’ll present these and the spell to Esther at sunrise where everyone can hear and she’ll have no choice but to cast the spell.”
“Couldn’t you do it yourself?” Rebekah frowned. “You still have your witchcraft.”
“I could, but then I’d have to admit that I still have magic,” she nodded, frowning in concentration as she used Kol’s ring as a modal to make identical rings for his father and brothers. “And I have a feeling magic was stripped from Kol and Finn deliberately.”
“Say nothing of her power yet, sister,” Kol held her elbow and stared into her eyes. “I have had my magic ripped from me by force, I will not see that happen to my wife. I don’t know how she kept her power, but I’ll be damned if I let her lose it.”
“I’ll say nothing, I swear brother,” she nodded. “Believe it or not Kol, you can trust me.”
“He knows that,” she finished forming the rings and set everything back in her bag, “and I know it too, Bekah. I am counting on your discretion.”
“I think I already know why you wear the glamour,” she nodded once, “I can see why you would want to, but I don’t understand why… how it happened. How is this your face?”
“Like I said, Bekah,” she sighed, motioning to the cave behind her, “it’s a very long story.”
“Hours until daybreak,” she glanced down as Zephyr appeared, curling near her knee.
“I know,” she nodded, pushing hair behind her ear and squeezing Kol’s hand. “I promised to tell you everything, Rebekah, and I will. But I guess I should start at the beginning.”
“And where is the beginning?” She glanced between husband and wife as they shared a soft smile.
“It starts here,” she waved with one hand over her shoulder. “In this cave.”