Klaroline Drabbles

57 part 1

The first girl was stillborn. Nothing to worry about, her mid-wife had said, she was young, she would bear many children.

The second girl was born barely a year later, with a head full of blonde curls and blue eyes. They called Klaus harsh and cruel in the land; she knew him to be harsh, she never had and never wished to see his cruelty. But when he looked down at his daughter, a simple smile on his face she knew he wasn't as simple as they made him out to be. Her husband was a complicated man.

The third daughter was born 4 months early, and didn't survive the night.

The fourth daughter was born 11 months later, her dirty blonde hair smoother and softer like her mother, with early signs of her father's dimples. Klaus was content and smiled in resignation.

The fifth daughter was born a year later. Klaus didn't hold her until she was 4 months.

Then, he stopped coming to her bedchambers, stopped touching her, stopping seeing her altogether. Without any warning, she was shifted to a smaller bedchamber as far away from Klaus' as possible, and informed by her mother-in-law that since she could not bear her son any male heir's, her services would no longer be needed. And that he would find someone else to bear him a son.

Their marriage had been an arranged one, but with time she had come to love Klaus, and come to believe that he reciprocated her feelings. Which fueled her determination to speak to him before he took drastic steps.

"You could say no," she pleaded with him, trying in vain to control her tears as she sat on his bed. It had taken her a full week to manage to get an audience with her own husband.

"I want a son, Caroline," he replied sternly, "Is that so wrong of me?" he questioned, his eyes cold and hollow, and she longed to see any sign of the man who sketched every inch of her as she slept, who wiped her tears when her mother died, who rocked her back to sleep when she had nightmares about her unborn child dying, some sign, any indication that she meant more to him than a working womb.

"Is it wrong of me to want a faithful husband?" she retorted back, traitorous tears sneaking down her cheeks. He hesitated for a second, before turning away from her as he said, "It isn't uncommon."

She knew he was right; it wasn't uncommon for men to take lovers, but that didn't mean it didn't sting her. She had nothing more to say, no meager words would change his mind. Gathering her skirts as gracefully as she could, she made her way out of his chambers.

He spoke her name softly, making her turn around as he whispered, "I'm sorry, Caroline."

She watched from afar, burying the pain and betrayal she felt, focusing all her attention on her daughters. She didn't know her name, she didn't want to. She saw her at time; making herself believe that Klaus had chosen a blonde, blue-eyed girl for a reason.

She watched and ignored and mourned, until his lover gave birth to a son. Klaus no longer smiled at her, never even looked at his daughters. She was no longer the woman of the house, she was the woman who wasn't good enough. Then she spiraled down a deep abyss that had no bottom.

****

Klaus heard the servants screaming as he played with his son in the garden. Handing him off to his caretaker, he ran into the mansion, following the screams.

They came from Caroline's bedchambers. Where he found his wife hanging from the ceiling, her tears still wet on her cheeks.