He smirked at her because he knew Cami wasn't messing around. She was the only woman brave enough to smack Marcel Gerard if he started stepping out of line. Well, maybe Davina but she was more likely to smack him with witchcraft. Davina had power, Cami had her mind and a head full of blonde hair and a smile that was irresistible to men and vampires alike. Both women were regarded highly by Marcel but they held very different spots in his dead heart.
"Oh, I know you will. Not too many people brave enough to go toe to toe with Klaus Mikaelson. I should know."
He should because he was one of them but he understood the power dynamic he had with Klaus was much more complicated than even Cami could probably understand. Klaus might have all the power in his and Cami's relationship when it came to pure physical strength but she was an adult with a strong mind and a stubborn streak. Klaus couldn't possibly hold all the power with her.
With Marcellus it had been different. He was but a boy when Klaus had found him and a powerless one at that. Being a young orphan of color meant that he was going to be stuck working a plantation and being treated like a dog for the rest of his life and that was only if he was lucky. A dog got to eat and usually a warm place to sleep, slaves weren't always guaranteed that. In fact, Marcel had seen some of the master's dogs treated better than he and his old friends were. Who Marcel was then made up every inch of who he was today and it was exactly why he had looked up to Klaus so much as a young boy and even as he grew into a man. Klaus had power and Marcel wanted to know what that felt like.
It was possible that some people might consider Cami stupid instead of brave and those people might not be wrong either. Marcel knew that most of the humans that tangled with him and his kind would end up being vampires eventually. He wondered if Cami had given that any thought or if she would cling to her humanity into old age.