It happened in an abandoned house, when Rose and Trevor kidnapped Elena, Katherine’s doppelgänger, the key to the curse and the source of suffering for your brothers and for your love. For Elijah Mikaelson.

You were together in secret, and it was there that all the lies came undone. Elijah beheaded Trevor, and he and Elena almost managed to escape, but it was too late. You, Stefan, and Damon were already there.

The fight was short. You only shielded Elena, unable to raise a hand against Elijah. And when it was over, you were sobbing in Stefan’s arms, while Damon drove a stake fashioned from a broken coat rack straight through Elijah’s chest, incapacitating him. You saw his face drain of color, dark veins surfacing beneath his skin.

After your brothers learned that you had been involved with a Mikaelson, they began watching you closely and locked you inside the house, hiding Elena away. You were devastated.

A knock at the door.

“Good evening, my dear…”

Elijah stood on the threshold, impeccable, composed, alive, as if death itself had passed him by. He had come back to you, knowing that you knew where Elena was.

He crossed the threshold without an invitation, because he could.

“My name is my bond. No harm will come to Elena,” he said evenly.

But after everything that had happened, you did not know whether you could believe him.

You had already promised your brothers. Sworn to keep the secret and not reveal Elena’s whereabouts. For their sake. For their lives. And now you were torn between duty to your family and love for the man who had become everything to you.

He raised his hand, as if asking permission, and only then brushed his knuckles along your cheek. The touch was restrained, almost chaste, but all the more unsettling for it. His thumb lingered at your cheekbone, forcing you to lift your eyes.

You knew it was becoming harder to resist. You looked into his dark, attentive eyes, and he knew you were weakening. He did not withdraw his hand.

“You know me well enough to understand,” he said more quietly. “I do not resort to cruelty without necessity. And I certainly do not break promises once given.”