cont. from here with @stagsnobility
katherine flinched, the sound of the glass shattering against the fireplace making her start. her eyes widened as the flames flared higher, reflecting in the planes of her face, catching in her pupils like twin sparks of danger. she could feel her heart tighten, a rare tremor of fear threading through her calm exterior. this was not the measured, composed elijah she had known; this was someone unrestrained, unpredictable, and terrifying. she recoiled slightly, her fingers tightening against the edge of the nearby table, eyes locked on him as if expecting that he would attack her as well.
"is this... the moment?" she asked, her voice flat, almost dry. "the moment you decide to kill me?" the question hovered in the air, absurd and surreal, as if detached from reality itself. for a heartbeat, she allowed herself to disassociate, to step outside of the room, outside of the centuries of history that bound them together, and witness the scene as if she were a stranger.
then she blinked, reality snapping back with a painful clarity, and the tension in her body coiled tighter. "do you honestly believe," she said, her voice sharper now, the tremor of fear barely contained, "that i’ve ever felt safe in my life? that i have not felt threatened at every turn? that i feel somewhat invulnerable today just because my trauma was caused five hundred thirty-three years ago?" her gaze hardened, meeting his directly. "i am not unassailable, elijah. i feel fear, very real fear, of dying, of being trapped, of being tortured. i know i'm probably just being paranoid but that doesn't change the way i feel." her tone edged with disbelief. "and you, somehow, think i enjoy the violence i commit? that it brings me satisfaction? that is … that is sick."
she exhaled slowly, the firelight dancing across her face. "you have no right to judge me," she continued, her voice rising slightly, "not when you condone, excuse, and even support the far worse atrocities of klaus. and yet you presume to lecture me on morality?" somehow she refused to believe he had really reacted that way. but he did. it somehow broke something in her because she came to realize that he has given up on her. probably already had a long time ago, but decided to mask it up until it slipped. that he apparently felt so ... appalled by her the entire time.
finally, her shoulders slumped. "i expect nothing from you, elijah," she admitted, the rawness in her voice unmistakable. "you did not save me then, and apparently, you do not intend to now. and perhaps," her eyes glimmered with a mix of anger and sorrow, "perhaps i should be grateful for that honesty. at least it spares me the pretense of hope."