A/N: Thank you to all who decided to read this! First chapter, hope you enjoy. Reviews are appreciated!
3rd POV
He was in the Library, his sanctuary, when he met her.
He was hiding from Thor, and Sif, and Fandral, and Volstagg, and everybody else. He hated the way that they would look at him, as if he didn't belong.
Which was accurate.
Being seventy years old, he hid himself among the piles of dusty books and began to cry, silently, quietly, so that the no one would be able to hear.
He needn't have worried. Asgardians were warriors, not scholars. They found delight in the sharpening of a bright weapon, not the turn of a page in a book. The Great Library was more often than not abandoned.
Hot tears rolled down his pale cheeks as he remembered words that had been said to him, blows that had been rained on him, statements that had been sneered to him. They are all so cruel.
It was dark. Night was falling, and no doubt his mother would be looking for him by now to bring him to dinner. But he would not come. Most likely Thor would have invited his friends to eat with him. He could not bear those looks.
His face was hidden in his arms, so he didn't see her coming. He didn't hear her coming over the sound of his own misery.
So you can understand that he jumped nearly three feet in the air when he felt fingers brush his shoulder.
The first thing he noticed about her was her eyes. Hazel, golden brown with a bright ring of green mixed with a bunch of other colors. Sparkling, dancing, alive. Her hair was a dark caramel color.
She seemed to be about the same age as himself, but she was wearing a drab brown dress that went to her knees, and her hair hung loose around her shoulders.
A slave girl. He thought with some surprise. I did not know they could be so young.
"Why are you crying, boy?" She asked, crouching down to his level, hugging her thin knees to her chest.
Loki wiped his eyes. "I'm not crying." He said gruffly. This girl might be a nobody, a slave, but he refused to be weak in front of somebody.
"Yes you are." She reached out a hand and brushed his still-wet cheek. "Why?"
The prince looked away. Finally, he said quietly, "My brother and his friends won't play with me."
She looked sad. "Why not?" She seemed utterly confused as to why they wouldn't.
"They say I'm not like them. They say I'm different." He spat the last word out with such bitterness. She cocked her head to the side.
"Well, that's not bad." She sat beside him. "I'm different too, if that makes you feel better."
The words made the corner of his mouth twitch. "Aren't you scared?" He blurted out suddenly.
"Of what?"
"Talking to me."
"Why would I?"
"Aren't slaves forbidden to talk to princes?"
"They are," The girl admitted with some sheepishness. "But I couldn't just let you cry. I mean, that's not very nice. And you seem like a nice person."
The compliment made him blush, and he was suddenly very glad that it was dark enough so that she wouldn't see. "You seem like a nice person too."
"Thanks!" She grinned. "Your name is Loki, right?"
He nodded. "What's your name?"
"Cassiopeia." She said proudly. "But you can call me Cass."
"Okay, Cass."
Suddenly the girl shot up, as if she had been poked with a white-hot pin. "I know what'll cheer you up!" She said cheerfully. She started to run away, then stopped, whirled around, and yelled, "Wait there!" and ran off again.
"How did you get these?" Loki asked in wonder, words muffled since his mouth was full of cake.
Cass swallowed her own mouthful before speaking. "Kitchen. I stole some cakes off the counter when the aides weren't looking. It's easy, if you know how to do it right. I'll teach you how to do it."
"Great!"
The slave girl licked the frosting off her fingers before brushing crumbs off the front of her dress. "Why aren't you enjoying your fancy dinner with your family?" She asked.
Loki shrugged. "I don't want to see my brother right now."
"Thor?"
"Yeah."
"What's he like?"
"He's nice, I guess. But his friends aren't very nice at all!"
She stared at him. "Then why do you want to hang out with them?"
Loki opened his mouth to reply, but found he had no answer. So he merely shrugged.
"Hm, a nice person like you shouldn't play with such nasty people." Cass said matter-of-factly. "Nastiness is con-con-"
"Contagious."
"Yes, that's it. You can catch it, like a cold. That's what my mother told me."
"Your mother?"
"Yeah. She had to let me go due to the economy."
The prince stared at her in open horror before she started giggling.
"Joking. You should see the look on your face. That's just a sentence I picked up from the kitchen aides. Really, my mother is in Valhalla."
Loki put a hand on her shoulder, not being able to comprehend his own life if there wasn't Frigga. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. She's always with me, so I'm not scared." Cass put a hand over her heart, and then looked out the window before frowning. "I have to go." She got up, straightening the wrinkles in the front of her dress. She started to leave.
Loki grabbed her arm. "Will I... see you again?" He asked hopefully.
She turned around and raised her eyebrows. "Of course you will. Do you want to meet me here tomorrow? We'll go to the kitchen and I'll teach you how to steal stuff."
"That sounds great!" Already Loki was wishing it was tomorrow.
The kitchen in the morning is a bustle of activity, with steam wafting off of the savory stews simmering softly on the stove, the oven on and radiating heat, and people running to and fro, carrying pots and pans and yelling for one another.
No one noticed the two children hiding underneath the center table.
"You have to wait for the right moment." Cass whispered to the prince, who listened carefully. "If you go too early you'll get caught, and if you go too late... you'll get caught."
He nodded.
"So, you have to wait until the baker is focused on something else..." The slave girl watched the baker's shoes and then suddenly she darted out, reaching a hand to the surface of the table and snatching a cake. She looked pleased. "Easy as pie." She nodded at him. "Your turn."
A little too eager to start, Loki went too early and got smacked by the baker. He clutched his hand, wincing, and Cass giggled. "Try again." She suggested. "Usually, they let us stay a little longer until they chase us away completely." She pointed upwards. "The cooks feel bad for us slaves; we usually don't get enough food, so they let us try to steal. They probably think you're one of us. Go again."
By the end, both of them had two cakes each, although Loki's hand was sore.
"You just have to practice." Cass grinned as he frequently winced. She elbowed him playfully in the ribs. "You're a bit of a baby, aren't you? I guess that comes with being a prince."
He scowled at her, but there was little menace in the expression. She merely grinned.
In the light of day, Loki noticed that her caramel hair shone brightly and that she was actually quite beautiful, for a slave. There was a spray of very faint freckles across her coppery skin.
"Don't you have stuff to do?" Loki asked, looking around curiously at the abandoned hall.
"Loads of chores." Cass stuffed half a cake into her mouth.
"And the reason why you're not doing them is...?"
"You're more fun to hang out with." She shrugged.
"Won't you get punished?"
"Oh, yeah." She nodded vigorously. "But a few lashes are worth it to have a bit of fun."
He seemed horrified, and she added quickly, "Not that they actually whip us." She lied. "I mean, they say they will, but they never do. It's kind of stupid actually..." Cass babbled on, cursing herself on the inside, knowing that she tended to ramble when she lied.
Finally, he shook his head and put on the sternest look he could manage. "Cass, as prince of Asgard, I forbid you from talking to me until you have your chores done."
She stared at him, aghast, and started to whine. "But Loki-"
He turned away from her and started to ignore her. She huffed childishly.
"Well, fine then. But you better be ready when I'm done!" She quickly finished the rest of her stolen contraband and took off down the corridor.
"Loooooooookiiiiii!"
The sound became a common noise in the palace. No one could believe the change that had come over the young prince in the past month.
Before he had been quiet and reserved, shy, like a little ghost. Nothing like Thor, who had been loud and friendly and bold. Loki had let himself be bullied and often disappeared for hours at a time where no one could find where he had gone.
Now, in the span of a month, he had become almost as bold as his brother. Always playing pranks, always tricking people, and soon, whenever things went wrong, the little boy was always blamed. The Asgardians didn't know it, but the reason for his newfound love for mischief was a little slave girl named Cassiopeia.
Or Cass, as he called her.
The two were inseparable, often seen running away from an angry guard or enraged maid, laughing their heads off, both of their eyes twinkling with mirth.
"When I get ahold of you two-!" The head maid furiously yelled as the pair in front of her dashed around a corner.
"Loki, quickly!" Cass grabbed his hand and pulled him behind a statue. They crouched down, squashed against each other in the cramped space. The head maid rounded the corner and looked around the empty hallway, fuming.
Cass gripped the prince's hand, her knuckles turning white. Both of their hearts were beating frantically, and not all of it was due to the adrenaline of the prank and their run through the palace.
As the girl looked out into the hallway, cautious, Loki resisted the urge to count the colors in her eyes, or the freckles on her nose.
"Safe." She breathed, pulling him out. They exchanged looks and both burst into peals of laughter again at the sight of the head maid screaming like a banshee at the sight of a snake in her bed.
"Brilliant." Cass gasped, wiping tears out of her eyes. "Brilliant."
He grinned back. "Genius."
Both of them sat shoulder-to-shoulder in the library, Cass looking over Loki's shoulder as he read aloud. They were surrounded by piles of books.
"...and so the prince cast her out, ordering her to never show her face again."
"This is so sad." Cass murmured, looking mournful. "Why is it that you always pick the sad ones?"
"Sh, it gets happier." Loki assured her before reading on.
When he finally finished, Cass clapped her hands. "That was really great! The ending was nice."
"You always like the happy endings." Loki closed the book.
"Nice girls always like happy endings." She replied.
The slave girl stumbled backwards and fell on her back, feeling the wind getting knocked out of her as a wooden sword point dug itself into her throat.
"I win." She heard Loki say, and he sheathed his fake sword with a look of satisfaction on his face. He held out a hand.
She took it gladly, although she still whined. "You're so much better at me in everything." She said with a pout, crossing her arms. "Why is that?"
The prince laughed, and flicked a lock of her hair playfully out of her face. "Because I'm a boy."
Her face reddened, not just from anger. "Oh, you're going to pay for that." She promised, and ran at him, tackling him to the ground.
He was so surprised that he didn't even know what was happening until he was on the floor.
"You dare attack your prince!?" He cried out, for dramatic benefit. He was rewarded by her high-pitched giggle.
"I am loyal to no Asgardian." She said in a slow and low voice. "I am a Frost Giant, and I am to kill the heirs to the throne! Feel my power!" She started to tickle him, on the sides where she knew he was most vulnerable.
Soon he was laughing uncontrollably, and she was smirking in victory. "Admit it. Girls are better than boys sometimes."
"Al-alright!" He cried out, gasping out the word between laughs. "G-girls are better than b-boys sometimes!"
She stopped, smiling, victorious.
"Sometimes." He added, grinning as well, as soon as she ceased her assault. She punched his shoulder.
Loki cried quietly underneath the table in an abandoned room somewhere in the palace. It was late at night, the room was completely dark, and he was again hiding from Thor's cruel friends. Their words echoed in his head.
"Thor is the reason Odin had a second child, you are the reason they decided to keep it at two."
To others, the statement might not seem so harsh, but he flinched whenever he remembered it. He was always being compared, no matter what he did, no matter who he was.
Suddenly there was a face in front of his, and he yelped and drew backwards, thinking, in his moment of fear, that it was a ghost. But then the figure giggled, and he knew who it was.
"Found you!" Cass said gleefully, crawling next to him. "Aw, you were crying again." She put a hand to his cheek and brushed the tears away. "Why?"
"Thor's friends."
She sighed and put an arm around his shoulders. "You're always letting them get to you."
"But what they say is true! I have always been a disappointment." Loki said bitterly. "I can see it in my father's face-"
"That's not true." Cass interrupted him firmly. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. "I have served in the hall of King Odin. There is nothing but love in his eyes when he looks at you." She smiled. "With Queen Frigga it is especially prominent."
Loki stared at her for a moment, and then suddenly leaned down, putting his head in her lap, bringing his knees to his chest.
He heard a sharp intake of breath, and then timidly, she began to stroke his hair. He found it calming.
"You're not allowed to leave until I fall asleep." He ordered, and she nodded, smiling softly.
Cass flinched and cried out as she felt another lash rained onto her back. She was in the slave quarters, and it was past curfew.
And she was being whipped. Again.
"Little worm! I hope this serves as a reminder to make sure that you never stay out late again!" The head slaver snapped at her, pulling the whip back for another blow.
I will stay out late again. If my prince orders me. Cass wanted to say, to throw the words in the slave driver's face. But she didn't dare. She bit the inside of her cheek and tasted blood.
"Check." Loki moved his chess piece forward, and Cass sighed.
"I'm never going to win, you know." She groused, swinging her legs. They didn't even reach the floor.
They were in Loki's room, sitting at the table and playing chess, which Loki always beat her in. About a year had passed since they had first met.
Cass knew that she would be punished for this; she was skipping out on her chores again. But the time she spent with Loki was worth it.
She moved her piece backwards, defending, trying to evade the inevitable.
"That won't work, you know." Loki said, grinning. "You're still in check."
"I give up." Cass sighed in defeat. He laughed and started to rearrange the pieces.
"Which piece do you think is the strongest?" Cass asked suddenly, watching his deft hands with interest.
"Hm..." Loki paused briefly to consider, and finally plucked the white queen from its place. "The Queen definitely has the best mobility and attack range, but most people aren't bold enough to use it. But in the right hands, I think that it's the strongest. Fitting," He added. "That the Queen piece would be stronger than the King."
"How so?"
"Some say that if the King is at the head of the kingdom, than the Queen is the heart. Some people grow more attached to the Queen than the King."
Cass grinned. "Like your mother!"
He smiled back. "Yes. Like my mother."
"Well, when you're king, make sure you pick someone really nice to be your queen." Cass grinned.
"I already have."
"Really? Who?"
Loki offered the white Queen piece to her. "Will you be my queen, when I grow up, Cass?"
Cass took it, smiling, face alight with a strange glow. "Of course, Loki!" She took the piece and ran her finger over the white marble.
Neither of them knew the significance of the words.
"Promise?"
"Promise! You keep the black king piece, to remind yourself."
Loki picked up the black King piece, and held it tightly in his hand. "Right."
Cass glanced at the clock and grimaced. "Got to go. Bye, Loki!" She stuffed the chess piece into her pocket and left with a wave.
They snuck out at night, when it was dark, creeping towards the kitchen. Both were on edge; they had never gone this late before. Cass was trembling with excitement.
They were planning the biggest kitchen theft that they had ever attempted before, and tonight was the night. Provided they didn't get caught.
Cass was barefoot, and the marble floor sent shivers through her foot. Her shakes were not just due to eagerness, but also to the cold. She shuddered; her dress was so worn and thin.
She was so distracted by the chill that she didn't hear the footsteps until they were almost around the corner. Suddenly aware of her mistake, she stopped, grabbed Loki's arm, and started running in the other direction.
"What's wrong?" He hissed at her.
"Someone's coming! Do your invisibility thing!"
He obeyed, and then he was gone. Cass knew that he had used his magic to cloak himself from the normal human eye. She was the one that had helped him practice.
Not a moment too soon. The head slaver rounded the corner behind her, and she heard him shout in alarm. She whirled around.
And then he grinned, pulling the whip from his belt. "Well, well, well. Look who it is. Staying out late again?"
She felt Loki tense beside her. "You said they don't whip you!" He whispered furiously.
Cass swallowed. "I lied." She answered, low enough for only him to hear.
The slaver flicked the whip and sent it flying through the air, and it hit her shoulder. She cried out in pain, crouching down, covering her head with her arms. I hate this.
Another lash. Another tongue of fire across her back.
They rained down, blow after blow, constant with no sign of stopping. She whimpered as she felt the hard leather reopen the scars and scabs on her back, making her dress stick to her skin with blood
She hoped that Loki had left, had run away; she never wanted him to see her like this.
He couldn't move. His feet were frozen with horror as he saw the man flick the whip again, and again, and again. Each time the tip made contact with her skin, she let out a little yelp of pain.
Is this what the life of a slave is like? Loki thought.
The man found a hole in her guard and she screamed as the whip hit her face, leaving a cut across her cheek.
That scream awoke something inside if him. Anger, white and boiling, filling him up with its rage. He was moving forward, lifting the spell, reaching out.
But the whip was already moving again as he threw himself between the slaver and Cass. Suddenly he felt like half of his face was on fire, most prominently right beneath his left eye. He clenched it shut as it started watering.
The slaver looked shocked and hastily bent over in a bow. "P-Prince Loki! What are you doing out of bed?"
"What did you do to her!?" Loki yelled. The wound on his face was starting to bleed, and it only fed the flames of anger in his chest. I can barely stand one lash. How could Cass survive twenty?
The man shifted uncomfortably and muttered, "She is a slave, sir, and she snuck out after curfew. It is not allowed..."
"She's an Asgardian!" Cass seemed barely conscious. "She's just like you and I! How could you hurt her?!"
The man was silent, finding that he had no answer to the prince's harsh questions. Finally, Loki just turned around in disgust; he knelt down at the girl's side. The slaver took that as his cue to go, which he did quickly.
"Cass," Loki whispered frantically. "Cass, Cass, Cass, please wake up."
Her eyelids were fluttering. "Wha-?"
"Sh, it's going to be okay." He gently took her form in his arms; she was surprisingly light, and this just made him angrier. They probably starve the slaves too.
He half-carried half-dragged her to his room, where he cleaned the cut on her face and the ones on her back, managing to heal them with his magic. The multitude of white scars on her back didn't escape his attention.
He managed to heal most of the cuts with magic. After bandaging them, he lifted her onto his bed, sat down in a chair at his bedside, and fell asleep looking at her face.
When Cass woke up, the cuts on her back didn't hurt nearly as much as she thought they would. In fact, they barely hurt at all.
Maybe it was just a dream, then. She thought sleepily. It wouldn't be the first.
She snuggled deeper into the warm covers, yawning, pulling the silk blankets up to her chin.
Wait... silk?
Cass's eyes flew open and she bolted upright, looking around her. What in Helheim?
She was in a bedroom, not the slave quarters, and had been sleeping in a bed, not on a mattress on a floor. She panicked for the briefest moment before noticing the figure at her bedside.
She gaped at him. "Loki?"
Instantly the prince was roused from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, yawning, wincing.
Cass saw the cut under his eye- scabbed over now- and gasped. "Where did you get that?" She dropped from the bed and put a hand out.
He waved her away. "Slaver." He said blearily.
"You're a prince!"
"So?"
"They would never whip a prince!"
"Obviously not." He rolled his eyes and pointed to the wound.
"What's going on? Why am I here?" Cass turned around in a slow circle, examining her new surroundings.
"I fixed you up after the man whipped you."
She stared at him. Finally she said, "You're joking."
"Ever wondered why your back doesn't hurt?"
Immediately she felt her back. Stiff bandages beneath her dress. "But... why?"
It was his turn to stare, except he looked more confused than surprised. "Because we're friends. And you're going to be my queen someday, remember?"
The memory of the promise made her suddenly smile and put a hand to her pocket where she knew the chess piece was. "Right. I remember."
"She's been talking to your son, sire." The slaver informed the king seriously. His pride still hurt when he remembered the way the prince had yelled at him for doing his job. And he wasn't even able to answer the brat. He just stood there, staring.
"A slave? Talking to Thor?"
"Not Thor. Your other son. Prince Loki."
"Ah." Odin looked uninterested. "It matters not. She is just a servant."
"But I fear that the boy is growing attached to her. I was giving her a punishment for staying out late, and he got in the way. He was invisible, and I accidentally hurt him."
Now the Allfather looked angry. "My son, standing up for a slave? He was hurt, you say?"
"Yes, indeed, sire. I think that the girl is getting a little too bold, talking to a prince."
Odin nodded. "I agree. But there's a simple fix."
"What's that?"
"Sell her."
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Don't worry; we flash forward in the next one.
Review, favorite, follow.
