Dying

"My heart ... hurts for you," he said grudgingly, looking away.

Alexa was not sure what she was hearing. Was that a disease? What was he talking about?

Before she opened her mouth to ask, however, Klaus had already read the question on her face, and said, rather abruptly,

"Yes. It hurts. From the first day I saw you. My heart, this stone inside me, started to beat. It stirred and shivered in my chest. Like a caged animal fighting for freedom. It was so strong that I was sure... I was bewitched. You were the cause. I was waiting for witches, and you had arrived."

Klaus approached her, so close that Alexa's entire body shook. She remembered how he reacted to seeing her, and how it had never made sense. His words mesmerized her, and the intensity of his gaze kept her paralyzed.

"Do you think I joke when I say that, inside my chest, there was always a heart of stone? But now it lives ... and it's dying."

She gasped, crushed by his words.