Heartlines ▹ Elena Gilbert [1]

CHAPTER FORTY

CHAPTER FORTY
TWISTED CINDERELLA FETISH

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Rowan woke up late the next morning, her entire body healed but her mind full of thoughts. Remorse and guilt, mostly, after reuniting with Rebekah last night. She couldn't stop seeing the look in Rebekah's eyes, on her face. She couldn't stop thinking about all they she could've done but didn't. She could've tried harder to convince everyone that Rebekah wasn't a threat. She could've taken the dagger out in secret and freed Rebekah entirely. Rowan was sure she could've talked Rebekah down from killing Elena in revenge. Rebekah wasn't much of a killer already. She had a violent streak, but compared to even Rowan, her kill count since she was woken in Chicago was very low. Rowan rolled out of bed with a deep sigh, showering quickly before throwing on some black leggings and an oversized gray t-shirt. She was pulling her hair up into a lazy bun as she descended the stairs, and saw Damon holding a glass of blood. He was staring into the fire, lost in thought.

"Guess who came to visit me last night?" Rowan asked, stopping a few feet away from him and crossing her arms over her chest. Damon hummed and took a sip of his glass. Rowan was hungry, so she reached forward and plucked the glass from his hand, draining the rest of it in one go. Damon gave her an unamused look when she placed the empty glass back in his hand.

"Well, considering Elijah undaggered his entire family last night," Damon revealed casually, making Rowan's eyes widen in alarm, "I'm going to take a wild guess. Blonde, hot, anger issues?" Rowan stared at him for a long moment, speechless.

"The entire Original family is awake?" she finally asked, her voice rising a bit. Damon grimaced at the volume and rubbed at his temple. "So not only does Rebekah think I betrayed her, I have to deal with her possibly insane daggered brothers? Why does everything have to suck all the time?"

"Rebekah thinks you betrayed her? Oh, if only she could've heard your lovesick declarations when she was in our basement."

"You're not funny!" Rowan snapped, turning away from him in exasperation. Just having Klaus around was bad enough. Everyone had assumed that Elijah would simply take control of Klaus and then the both of them would leave. No one had guessed that Elijah would undagger everyone. Rowan was glad that Rebekah was awake, at least, but she wasn't looking forward to meeting her other two siblings. There had to be a reason both of them had been daggered for so long.

"Elena wants all of us to meet at her house as soon as possible," Damon said to her retreating back, making Rowan come to a halt at the console table by the front door. Her purse was resting there, as well as her phone, which someone had plugged up to charge last night. She gathered both of them, stuffed her phone into her purse, then turned to look at Damon again. "She said she spoke to Elijah last night. I'm guessing she wants to talk about Bonnie and her mom getting that coffin open last night?" That was another piece of news Rowan hadn't been aware of, but then, she hadn't spoken to anyone after Alaric was attacked last night aside from Rebekah. Rowan nodded and turned to leave again, but stopped when Damon appeared in front of her. He was smiling in a way Rowan wasn't familiar with. "Do you need a ride?"