Alexandra Roberts walked through the crowd at the museum gala. Many of the attendees spoke in German, a language she was still learning to master. She knew enough to earn her art school scholarship and her internship at the museum, which got her into the gala, but the number of conversations around her, echoing through the large room, made it hard to focus. She found a place near a large art piece in the middle of the room and stood off to the side to watch people mingle. When the curator stepped up to the microphone, the conversation died down. Alexandra kept her eyes on the people. She scanned the crowd, admiring dresses she could never afford, and the handsome men who no doubt bought those dresses for their wives. She glanced up at a balcony, and noticed a lone man. She hadn't seen him all night. She would have remembered. His look was... unique. His posture and stance gave an air of confidence and strength. He glanced over the crowded floor before he moved to descend the staircase. She watched him as he came down with a cane in his hand, obviously an adornment since he simply held it in his hand without using it. Something drew her to that cane, and her eyes fell on the blue jewel at the top. Her vision blackened before she saw a flash of this same man in a horned helmet with a massive army. Another flash saw him again, bound and beaten, kneeling before a monstrous figure, his army turned against him.
The blackness faded from her vision in time to see the man swing his cane and strike a guard with unbelievable force. He grabbed a man from the crowd and forced him back onto the flat art piece just steps away from her. He removed a strange metal contraption from his long overcoat and jammed it into the man's eye. At that, the crowd dispersed, running and screaming from the building. Alexandra was frozen to her spot until the mad man's eyes locked onto hers. Unable to think, she let herself get swept into the crowd until she was outside. She couldn't keep herself from looking back at the building, practically walking backwards as the crowd pushed her along and people ran past her. She saw the man exit the museum. His long coat and suit became illuminated as they changed into a type of armor, and the horned helmet Alexandra had seen in her vision. The crowd was suddenly surrounded by several copies of his intimidating form. He yelled at the crowd to kneel, and everyone went down to their knees. Alexandra lowered her head as her sight blackened again, and the same visions assaulted her.
She heard the man's voice, heard him speaking, but couldn't register his words until the visions had faded.
"You were made to be ruled," he said. "In the end, you will always kneel."
"Not to men like you." Another man's voice rose over the crowd.
Their captor had walked into the crowd. He now stood just in front of Alexandra. She saw his fingers twitch around the scepter in his hand, which held the same blue jewel that had once been in his cane. She knew this was going to end badly for the old man who had spoken up.
"Wait," she said. Her voice was soft, barely audible even to the man standing before her.
But he did hear her and he looked down at her. "Did you speak?"
With her head still lowered, Alexandra nodded. "Yes."
"And was that a command you spoke?"
"A request."
"To wait? You wish me to kill this man later?"
"No, I wish you not to kill him at all."
The man laughed. He grabbed a fistful of Alexandra's hair and yanked her head back to look up at him. "What makes you think you are in any position to make a request?"
Alexandra spoke quickly. "I've seen... something. I can't explain it. I don't know how, but... I saw you with an army, attacking a city. Then I saw you bound and beaten, your army turned against you. Whoever you are working with, or for, they will betray you. If you continue on this path, if you don't leave now, if you keep trying to taunt your enemies, you will lose."
The man's face became rigid. "Do you know who I am?"
"No."
"How do you know these things?"
"I don't know. When I saw the jewel on your cane inside I had flashes. I don't know how or why."
"And if I am to lose, why don't you let me lose?"
"No one else has to die... not that man, and not you."
He let go of her hair and she let her head fall forward. It seemed ridiculous, and she wouldn't admit it there, not to him, especially not in front of all of these people, but she felt drawn to this man. Something in that blue orb. Something in his presence. She wasn't sure exactly what.
"You want power? Subjects," she asked. "If you leave with me now, I will serve you willingly."
"To save the life of one old man?"
"No. To save the lives of many... and to save yours."
The man was silent for a moment, then spoke in a loud voice. "When your heroes arrive, as I expect they will soon, tell them Loki was here, but granted mercy when begged for it." He reached down and took Alexandra's hand, lifting her to her feet. "But make no mistake, this world will be mine. You will all kneel before me."
Loki. Alexandra repeated the name in her head. This was the man she declared service to. She questioned why as he pulled her by the hand, through the crowd, back toward the museum. She heard a noise in the sky and turned to see an aircraft flying low to the ground as they re-entered the building. Loki spoke, but not to her.
"Barton. Plan B."
Loki and Alexandra walked quickly to a back exit to find a limousine waiting. A man with unnaturally blue eyes held the back door of the car open and Loki pushed her toward it. She climbed in and Loki followed. They were alone. Alexandra had so many questions, including questioning her own actions, but she was too afraid to speak. When Loki had grabbed her hair before she thought he was going to kill her. But he didn't. Why not? That was another question.
She felt his eyes on her. His intense gaze bore into her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the same glow that she saw when Loki's suit and overcoat turned into his armor and helmet. She risked a glance and saw that he was now in a type of tunic made of green and black leather.
"Do you like my trick?"
Alexandra looked into his eyes. "I've never seen anything like it."
"No, I suppose not." Loki let his eyes glide over Alexandra as she stared at her hands in her lap. "Do I frighten you?"
"Only what you might do to me."
"And yet, you spoke up. Why?"
"That vision I had... I don't want to see that happen."
"That's why you need not fear me. You willingly serve me to protect me. We'll put these visions of yours to good use."
"I don't know if I'll have another one. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."
"Interesting," Loki said as he stared at the glowing blue orb on his scepter.
Alexandra stared at it, too, and her vision blackened. There was a ringing in her ears that didn't occur the last time, and it made her blindly reach out and grab Loki's arm.
His eyes shot to her hand, then up to her face. There was a look of panic there, and her eyes were pitch black.
"Very interesting," he whispered.
Her eyes soon cleared. Her chest heaved with rapid breathing.
"What did you see," Loki asked.
"The same army, and the same monster who saw you bound and beaten... but you were dead."
"So, following your pleas has worsened my situation."
He roughly thrust her hand from his arm, but she shook her head.
"No. You've been changing your tactic since we left the museum. You're already planning revenge for the betrayal. That's your new path. My vision is showing you where that path leads."
"You sound pretty sure for someone who has never had visions before."
"I can't explain it... but I know this is what my visions are showing me. I can feel it."
"And I ask again," he leaned in so that his face was just inches from hers, "why do you care?"
Alexandra sucked in a breath. She stared at his lips, so close. The rush of attraction she'd felt when she first saw him in the museum hit her full force. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn't.
Loki grinned and sat back in his seat. "We've got another half hour to reach our destination. Relax."
Alexandra stared out of the dark window, wondering where they were headed, but knowing better than to ask.
The car eventually pulled onto a long and winding pathway that led to a large estate.
"This is yours?"
"It is now," Loki said with a grin.
Alexandra faced him at the tone in his voice. "And what happened to the previous owner?"
"He's driving the car." He saw the look on Alexandra's face, and grinned. "Don't worry. I don't kill people who are useful."
"Every person alive is useful."
"Not to me. You'll do well to remember that."
The driver helped Alexandra from the car, then followed her inside as she followed Loki. She watched him walk. A determined, purposeful strut. It exuded the confidence she felt from him at the museum. Some people bowed as he passed. All of them had the same eyes, that unnatural shade of blue. She followed Loki as he ascended the stairs and into a large bedroom. She stopped just inside the doorway, unsure if she should enter. Loki began removing his tunic as he walked about the room. Alexandra averted her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Is there somewhere I should go," she asked.
Loki saw a blush on her cheeks as her eyes darted across the floor. He removed all but his pants and walked toward her, stopping just a few feet away.
"Do I make you nervous?"
"Extremely," she admitted.
Loki grinned. "Well, then, let's ease your mind. There are several rooms just down the hall. Only my most trusted subjects are allowed to stay so close. There's a vacant room just next door to this one. You'll stay there."
"Because you trust me, or to keep an eye on me?"
Loki grinned. "We may have to work on you speaking out of turn, but no one can say you're unintelligent."
"I'm sorry, sir," she said as she cast her eyes downward.
"Do not call me 'sir,'" he said.
"The others do."
Loki lifted her face with a finger under her chin. She was surprised at the gentleness of it.
"You, Alexandra, are my first willing subject. You are to address me as King."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"No. Nothing so formal. Not for someone who will be at my side, helping to guide my plans."
Alexandra stared into his eyes. "My King."
A grin spread across Loki's face. The briefest thought of the insanity of her situation flashed through Alexandra's mind, but it faded as Loki turned away from her. She saw wounds across his back that disappeared beneath his pants. It was then that she saw how he walked. He was slightly bent.
"My King, are you in pain?"
"What makes you ask," he said without looking at her.
"Those wounds on your back look like they hurt."
He spun around. "What wounds?"
Her eyes widened. They were all over his torso and chest. How had she not seen them before?
"My King, they're all over."
"How can you see them?"
She stared at him with confusion in her eyes. "How could I not? They're-"
When she looked back to his chest the wounds were gone. Without thinking, she reached out and ran a hand over his chest.
"I don't understand," she said. "They were all over."
"Perhaps it was another vision."
Her fingers ran over where the scars had been. She felt him tense beneath her fingers, but she felt no wounds. "It didn't feel like the visions."
"Then perhaps you need rest. Either way, unless you plan on touching me more intimately, I suggest you remove your hand."
Alexandra pulled her hand away quickly and lowered her eyes.
"Sorry... My King."
"It's forgiven. This time. I'll send someone to your room to get you whatever you may need."
"Thank you, My King."
Alexandra backed out of the room, the walked quickly into hers. She shut the door and sat on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands.
"What have you gotten yourself into?"
