"No, you're not." Stefan knew her well enough to know that no, she wasn't okay with this. It had been stupid of him to ask when he knew the answer. None of this was okay, and it wasn't okay in ways Elena wasn't even aware of yet. No-one was. River didn't count, because she knew due to the talents she possessed and not because Stefan had told her. He was avoiding talking about it with everyone.

He lifted a hand to her face, pushing some strands of hair behind her ear. "We're going to have to fight, pretend that we're annoyed with one another. That being chained like this is the last thing we want, and we're going to have to make it believable. Especially for Katherine."