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“My reputation being…?”
“Burning homes and destroying clans. Killing folks left and right.”
Let it go. It’s what everyone thinks of you.
“State an example,” he found himself saying.
“The Rodgers Clan. I heard about them begging for their lives while you burned their houses down.”
Let it go.
“Did you hear about their slaves begging for their lives when the Rodgers Clan invaded their territory and took it for themselves?” he asked. “I bet it was a well-kept secret.”
There was a sense of satisfaction in the stunned look on her face, even when he knew he had nothing to prove.
“Then what about the Atkins Clan? Rosa—”
“Rosa has no clue who she's allied with because again, some of them keep their secrets well,” he cut in. “Olga was a prisoner of the Atkins Clan. They snatched her from her parents when she was a child and made her do the most humiliating tasks just so she would be allowed to live. She was just nineteen when I found her, broken from years of abuse and set to be married to the clan leader who was three times her age.”
Silence. This time, he let it go, his shoulders slumping as he looked away and waited for her to slip out of the cave—to walk away from him as most people did. But she inched forward instead, stopping only when she was close to his wounded form. Her pale face told him what she thought of Olga’s plight before she schooled the emotion down.
“You said that I was going to be your witch ally,” she said after a while.
What was she getting at?
“You are.”
At his response, she nodded decisively and crossed her arms again. “Well, then. You can't expect me to be one and be kept in the dark about all this, including the reason why you came home injured and barely able to fly. It doesn't work that way. Pick a side.”
Klaus stared at her, just barely registering that she wasn’t…attacking him. Something inside him swelled in what might have been hope, but he fought it and kept a straight face. Uncertainty fluttered about what he should reveal before he realized this was Sapphire and she was going to wring it out of him, anyway.
“I broke the pact with him.”
“Him...oh.” Her confusion cleared and her eyes widened. “Gunther. What about his people?"
“Safe. And before you get any ideas, it won’t break for you and me. It turns out that he has weaker magic than he banked on and the damage didn’t manifest as it was supposed to. It’s different from you. Our pact involves Sutton magic. Powerful magic.”
“I wasn’t getting ideas,” she shot back, defensive. But the worry was forming. “Our pact’s intact. Klaus, where are his people?”
“They’re on the island. They were no longer satisfied with his ruling and were planning a coup de tat. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
More silence.
“You were looking for the slaves,” she guessed.
“They’re free,” he confirmed. “They’re with the new clan leader now.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. It’s what they wanted.”
“And your wounds?”
“Gunther shot me before he went down. Let’s just say he wasn’t pleased that I was no longer being cooperative.”
“I see.”
She was looking at him too closely again as if she could open him up and see right through the barriers. Klaus attempted to stand up.
