45__A heart in stitches

Viktor slowly pushed away the folder before him as he kept his gaze fastened on Kamilla’s troubled face.
With his foot, he pulled out the ottoman under his table and set it beside his chair.
Kamilla watched him swivel the chair to face the cushioned stool and crook a finger at her. “Come here.”
Clearing her throat, she slowly walked over.
When she was close enough, Viktor took a hold of her hand and tugged her down onto the ottoman.
When Kamilla was seated, he withdrew his hand and leaned forward on his knees so they were face to face.
She blinked at him, surprised at just how jolted her heart got when he brought his face so close. You’d think she was used to his perfect beauty by now. Apparently not.
Viktor tilted his head as he studied her expression and Kamilla resisted the urge to imitate the action.
He impatiently ran his tongue across the inside of his cheek as he looked at her and Kamilla’s eyes fastened on his mouth. Viktor sighed. “Well? Go on.”
Kamilla blinked, taking her gaze away from his mouth. “Huh?”
Viktor flicked his finger against her forehead making Kamilla jerk back. “Focus,” he told her.

Kamilla hissed in pain and rubbed her forehead as she glared at him. “Get your Greek god face further than an inch from mine and I might just focus!”
Viktor leaned back with a scoff and a smirk as he glanced away. “I didn’t know my good looks affected you that strongly. My apologies.”
Kamilla’s chin jutted out. “Not *that* strongly!”
“What did she tell you to tell me, Kamilla?” Viktor demanded, putting an end to their senseless argument.

She went silent at his question before quietly clearly clearing her throat and straightening her back. “It’s… about Charming.”

Viktor was immediately focused again and leaned forward, gaze set intensely on her face. “Just tell me everything,” he told her in a hypnotic whisper, his eyes encouraging her. “Who’s Charming? What happened back in England? Huh? What the hell was that? I feel like I was hallucinating.”

Kamilla bit her lip and lowered her gaze. “Viktor, that was all in your mind. I didn’t physically see it because it’s *your* mind that’s affected by Charming. I’m not sure how you saw the actual switch between you two—”
“Wait.” Viktor held up a hand and closed his eyes for a moment. Releasing a breath, he looked directly at Kamilla. “Just tell me. Give it to me straight. It’s a spell, isn’t it? One of those sorceresses got to me, didn’t they?”
Kamilla pouted in thought and slowly shook her head. “Well… no… I don’t think it’s that. Damon said you weren’t possessed.”

Viktor leaned even closer, his eyes hot with interest. “It’s not a spell? That’s impossible.” His gaze wandered about before it returned to her face. “Nothing could possibly affect me this way if it wasn’t sorcery, Kamilla. It has to be sorcery. And even that has to be very powerful sorcery.”
Kamilla sighed as her fingers fiddled. “It’s not sorcery, Viktor.” She raised her gaze to his. “It’s… it’s split personalities.”

Viktor’s expression froze, his frown deep. Kamilla watched his face then slowly slacken, every ounce of expression slipping away as he leaned back in his chair and stared at her.
“It’s… what?” he questioned.

It was Kamilla’s turn to lean forward. “It’s split personalities, Viktor. You have another personality in your mind. That’s why you have those symptoms of dizziness and unexplainable time lapses. His name is Prince Charming and—”
“Woah, woah, woah!” interrupted Viktor, pushing out of his chair. “Just… stop for a moment.”

Kamilla hurried after him as Viktor stalked around the room. Rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, he turned back to her. “What? What did you say?”

Kamilla put her hands together and prepared to explain. “Viktor, I said it’s a split personality. The first time I saw Charming was when you caught me trying to leave with Rogan. Remember? You carried me through the garden—”
“And the next thing I remember is being back in the castle,” Viktor completed with narrowed eyes. “You and Sasha were arguing in my chambers and I didn’t know what the fuck had happened for the past few hours.”
Kamilla nodded energetically. “Yes! Yes, that was when Charming came out! I… I hit you a bit too hard on the head and it triggered a switch.”

Viktor’s mouth curved in a disbelieving smile and he scoffed, shaking his head. “No way… no fucking way.”

Kamilla grabbed his wrist. “Viktor, it’s true! Charming said you created him!” Viktor was still shaking his head, but Kamilla didn’t stop. “He said he was made to protect you—”
Viktor snatched his wrist away. “That’s bullshit!”
Kamilla’s eyes widened and she stared silently up at him.
Viktor shook his head. “I’m a Vampire King, Kamilla. You have *no* idea how much dark power fuels my soul. There is no reason why I could have such a weak, human disturbance in my head! No reason at all!”

Kamilla swallowed the lump in her throat. “V-viktor, it’s caused by trauma—”

“What kind of goddamn trauma can break a Vampire to *that* point?!” he roared, making her gasp. “Vampires aren’t human! Okay? There is nothing in my past that would affect me that way. Not even my mother and father’s murder! *Nothing!*”

His glare bore heavily down on her as he breathed heavily, his anger overriding everything else.
Kamilla looked at him silently, trying to remain upright on her quivering knees.
A sound broke their silence and Kamilla turned to look at the opening door.

Damon stood in the doorway with a raised eyebrow. He moved his green-eyed gaze from Kamilla to Viktor and back. “What’s going on?”

Kamilla silently turned her gaze back to Viktor who was still staring darkly at her. With a snarl, he ripped his gaze away from her face and stalked out of the room, pushing past a startled Damon.

Damon blinked at Viktor’s departing back and turned back to Kamilla. He pointed a thumb behind him. “What was that? Did you two fight?”

Kamilla bit her lip and lowered her gaze. “I…” She sighed. “I tried to tell him about Charming.”

Damon nodded. “I see.” Kamilla watched him freeze. “Wait.” Damon’s eyes went wide. “What?! *What* did you do?!”
Cringing, Kamilla put a hand over her eyes.
Damon rushed over and pulled her hand away. “Now’s not the time to be embarrassed! Tell me what happened!” Kamilla opened her mouth. “Oh, my God!” interrupted Damon as he started pacing. “What do we do? Back in Cassius, he said he knew something about what we’ve been keeping from him, but I figured he didn’t know everything, else he definitely wouldn’t react as calmly as he did in the carriage.” He turned to Kamilla. “Did you tell him everything?? That Charming’s… his other personality?”
Kamilla bit the inside of her cheek and slowly nodded. Damon’s eyes fell closed. “Holy shit…” he muttered. He looked at her and sighed. “What do we do if the ‘irrevocable damage’ that Charming told me about happens to Viktor?”

Kamilla saw the actual worry in Damon’s eyes and felt so bad. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Damon. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him yet.”
Damon blinked at the tears in her eyes. “Oh… don’t cry. It’s-it’s alright. We’ll figure this out.”

Kamilla’s mouth only turned down even more. “H-he got so angry at me…” She sniffled and Damon was horrified to see a tear slip down her reddened cheeks. “I n-never saw him that angry before.”
Before Damon could figure out what to do, there were fat tears rolling down Kamilla’s face. “Oh!” he said in fright as she sniffled again. Flustered, Damon awkwardly shot out a hand and patted the top of her head. “I-it’s okay, Kamilla,” he said, his eyes wide. “Please don’t cry… I’m begging you.”

Kamilla wiped at her face with the sleeve of her hoodie and sniffled again as she looked up at Damon. “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to Viktor!” she promised. Damon nodded as he awkwardly withdrew his hand. “I’ll help him understand and accept it. The sorceress said that he and Charming need each other in order to heal, so it’s better Viktor knows about him. But since I started it, I’ll take all the blame so you don’t have to face his anger.”
She gave a single firm nod after her gallant little speech and Damon watched as she stalked determinedly out of the room.

When Kamilla was gone, Damon released a shaky breath and ran a hand through his platinum-blonde hair. What was going on? It seemed like both his king and his queen were losing their minds.
Damon shook his head. The late King seriously over-estimated Damon’s abilities when he set him in this position.
**************

Kamilla dragged her feet dejectedly around the castle, head hanging low. She sighed. She’d been looking for the past thirty minutes, but couldn’t find Viktor. Had he left the castle? Kamilla bit her lip as she stopped in the wide hallway. She shouldn’t have tried to force the idea into his head that way. That’s why he’d gotten so pissed off.
With a sigh, she let herself into a brightly lit reading room on the third floor, wanting to stare out of the large windows.

Kamilla froze in the doorway with a gasp as she looked into the large room. Across the doorway, sitting cross-legged in a position of meditation on the wide windowsill was Viktor.
He sat with his back to her, staring silently out of the wide windows. She gulped. What if he was still furious and told her to get herself out of his sight? The very thought made her heart ache. But, she had to speak to him. Quietly closing the door, Kamilla walked as quickly and silently as she could over to his side.
She stood to his right and clasped her hands together as she leaned over warily. “Uhm… Viktor?”

His intense gaze finally broke away from the sky and he slowly turned his head to face her.
“Kamilla.”

At the sound of her name being called that way, Kamilla’s face went slack. She stared at the man before her.
“Charming?”

His blue eyes stared up at her, filled to the brim with a sadness that was too deep for anyone to have to carry. “Kamilla,” he whispered. “I don’t think… I don’t think Viktor’s going to wake up again.”