Sweet Maeve Mikaelson

Chapter 13 - Klaus' Sabotage

Maeve was nervous to walk on egg shells around Elijah after last night. She knew he was furious about what had happened.

But she still didn't fully understand what had happened.

He explained he wanted her to be happy and to make choices on her own, but nothing made sense. She was sure he was simply testing to see if she would be a good woman for him. When she had simply nodded to everything he said, it had riled him up further and she didn't know what she had done wrong.

It had been a hard, long night of overthinking.

Downstairs she could hear them all talking but she couldn't understand their language. It was probably about her, she was all they talked about recently.

She felt like a burden on them.

After getting changed into one of her long pink dresses, she tiptoed to the kitchen. Naturally, their vampire hearing picked up her movements with ease.

"Good morning sweetheart, how did you sleep?" Elijah beamed at her, permitting her tense muscles to relax.

"I slept so well," Maeve smiled back. "Did you?"

At his affirmation he came over and complimented her dress.

"You look beautiful my darling."

Maeve stuttered her gratitude and blushed, a sight Elijah was enthralled by. He offered to make her breakfast which she didn't refuse and they sat and enjoyed eggs and bacon together.

"I'm sorry for upsetting you yesterday," Maeve started as she swallowed some tea. "I didn't mean to."

"There's nothing for you to apologise for sweetheart. The bond pushed me and I shouldn't have allowed it," he responded pondering over how to approach the chat they needed to have.

"Well I'm sorry anyway," Maeve repeated, trying to keep him happy. And she was sorry. She kind of wanted to kiss him again, to see if she would enjoy it.

Elijah pursed his lips but remained silent for a moment, getting more and more infuriated by the second as she refused to accept they were equals.

"Maeve, I don't know who taught you about your role as a woman but I don't want you to submit to me."

This was not the first time he had said that to her and she realised he really meant it. She hadn't imagined him saying those words last night, but she didn't quite know what they meant.

"I want you to make choices and decisions of your own. Without my input. And if it involves us both, I want to hear your ideas. I will not discard them."

"Elijah..." Maeve stared at him incredulously. "I can't make the decisions. I'm... I'm a woman."

"Oh I know you are sweetheart," he smirked, holding himself back from tracking his eyes up and down her body once more. "You have far more freedom with me than you've ever been told possible. Your clever brain is just as useful as mine."

Maeve gaped at the ridiculous notion.

"You are not a delicate flower, you are a woman. A rather strong woman at that," Elijah added on the end, making Maeve's heart bloom at his words.

She caught herself quickly. Was she really that pleased by his words? Surely her family would have been shocked at this... and she had no idea his 'equality' would look like.

So she stayed quiet, absorbing all the new information. Elijah grinned to himself at the first time she didn't rebuke him. Was this progress?

Then she spoke up again quietly.