"Katerina's only reason for anything is survival. That's always been her excuse. She didn't turn out of choice, merely of circumstance, for survival, and she broke our family apart for it too. And does she care? No, only that Nik is so persistent." he paused, tilting his head slightly, very nearly resembling a confused puppy for the smallest of moments. "What is Caroline's motivation?" He had to admit, he didn't know as much about the situations revolving around his brother and the cheerleader as he might have liked. "And just so we're clear? I'm not making excuses for her. For either of them. Katerina's excuse only grows weaker each time she uses it."
Kol frowned at the story she told him about Nik leaving her, saving the cheerleader over his own family. He'd heard mention of it, but he hadn't known all the details behind it. Now that he did, it didn't make him any happier, any more content. Some forever and always. "Let me guess... you could handle yourself. Or... he had a plan, right? Nik always has a plan." Sometimes, those plans were at his own siblings' expense and Kol wasn't sure how much of it they were all supposed to take, even for the sake of family.
The downright heartbroken look about his sister in that moment brought a certain rage to Kol's attention that caused his hands to ball into fists. Rage towards his brother. Rage towards Caroline. Rage...he really could do nothing about. For how long had this been their lives? Bending to Nik's whims, edging the line to keep him happy, to avoid certain conflicts? And how much longer still would it be the same old story for them? The truce they'd all agreed to since arriving in Lawrence only made it all that much worse. Even if they couldn't kill them, they had magic far greater than what was known to Mystic Falls, and perhaps they could contain them, which wasn't something Kol wanted either. So he would still do nothing. Because that's all he could do.