A/N (12/30): I've just begun working on this story again; that being said, a few things have changed from what I originally planned, namely: Leah's chapters are no longer vital to the understanding of the story. If you enjoy them, awesome! They'll enrich your experience. If for any reason you decide not to read them, you'll miss some backstory/character development, but your overall understanding of the plot will not change. Happy reading, and don't hesitate to PM me with feedback, questions, or concerns :)
First and foremost let me give a HUGE thank you to my fantastic beta reader Scarlett Kingston, without whom very little of this would be possible. Please favorite and follow if you like what you read, and know that I will reply to every review, good or bad, that I receive. Hope you enjoy!
Loki Laufeyson, King of Asgard and Midgard, tapped the arm of his golden throne, looking down at the whore that stood before him. She was beautiful, even by his standards, with bronzed, golden skin, raven black hair that fell down her back like a sheet of silk, and a figure that the eyes followed willingly. The expression on her face was the one she usually wore, full of haughty boredom and disdain, her green eyes looking past him. That look always made him conflicted; he either wanted to slap it off her face, or laugh and enjoy her more because she was so different. He did both as he pleased.
"Why was she brought before me?" he asked the guard who stood behind her. "I did not send for her." He did not see his concubines unless he ordered them brought to him. It was strange that the guard had taken her; she must have done something wrong. Although, Carmen had been one of the first girls to join his harem, and was one of the only original girls left (the others had become boring and broken, and were sent away when they no longer interested him).
She knew the rules, so what reason would she have to break them after all this time? She was almost as self-preserving as he was, even with all her haughty confidence. The guard shoved Carmen forward, ordering her to speak. She gave him a look of annoyance before speaking, her voice languorous and self-assured.
"I committed no crime, Your Grace, despite what this idiot might say. I'm just…pregnant." The king froze at her words.
He studied her face, her body, attempting to find some sign of deceit that would give her away. He looked to the guard. "Leave us now." His voice was smooth and sleek, but each word was laced with a hidden poison that slid from his gilded tongue. As soon as the guard left, he looked at Carmen, a cold fire flickering behind his eyes. "Come here." He had to confirm it himself. Quickly, she stepped up the steps that lead to his throne, and tentatively sat down on his lap.
"I'm not lying, you know. Why would I?" Loki did not deign to respond. Narrowing his eyes, he placed his hand on her stomach. Even before he did the spell, he could feel a soft, curving roundness where her midsection had once been flat, and he felt a sinking in his own stomach. Just to be sure, he reached out with his own mind . . . and gave a sharp intake of breath at what he felt. The energy inside of Carmen was too much for any one Midgardian, or even any one Jotun; there was a babe within her womb, without doubt.
"How are you pregnant?" he asked, looking at her critically. How had she done it? He'd cast spells on all the girls to stop this very thing from happening, so how was this child even possible? He didn't want children, not now, maybe not ever. Yet to smite his own blood, his own progeny, his possible heir . . .
The girl looked at him with what passed as an innocent expression on her face. "I don't know. Maybe you cast your spell wrong." Loki's jaw clenched. She was being forward with him. Carmen looked away from his eyes, the sudden intensity brought from her comment sending a small quiver through her spine.
Loki's tongue rolled and moved about in his mouth as he sought for words. "It is not supposed to exist," he growled. "How did you get past my spell?" It had to be her fault, the insolent little swine.
Carmen shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't do anything, it was your seed."
Loki seized a fistful of her hair, turning her face to look into his. "This child is in your womb, ingrate; the fault is yours. Be careful how you speak to me or I will kill you both."
"You won't," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She held his gaze as she continued talking. "Because this child is strong. This child broke through all your spells, and is your blood. You would be a fool to kill something so powerful, so determined to live, and I know you are not a fool." He let his hand slip from her hair as he sat back in his seat, a silent resentment beginning to well up inside him.
"You're afraid, aren't you," she continued, this time louder and more bold. His eye flicked back to hers, lips thinning. "You're afraid you're going to be just as bad a father as both yours wer-"
He shoved her off his lap. She tumbled down the stairs, landing part way down with a small thud. Angrily, he descended after her. "You little slut. You think to lecture me on how terrible my parents were, but I will put them to shame. They never dared kill their own children, but I will strike you and your brat where you stand and be glad for your absence."
Her eyes were steely as she looked up at him. "You say that, but you don't mean it," she said, determination in her voice. Carmen raised her chin proudly. "I am not afraid of you."
"Oh, you are not afraid of me?" Loki laughed mockingly. "Then why do I hear a tremor in your voice? Why do your eyes skate past mine?" He looked down at her with contempt. "You are nothing but a farce, and a pathetic one at best. I should punish you for your insolence."
At the threat of punishment from Loki, most people quailed and resorted to groveling and begging to avoid his wrath. Carmen did neither. To be sure, she looked shaken, and her confidence was not at its highest, but she refused to back down completely. "If I broke down every time you threatened me, I would never have a moment of sanity in my life."
A miniscule part of him couldn't helped but be impressed by her backbone. The rest of him, however, was filled with cold fury at her continued defiance. He lifted his booted foot to kick her solidly in the abdomen, a smug smile forming on his face when she shrank away. For a single, satisfying second he saw her arrogance disappear to be replaced by delicious worry and fear as she wrapped her arms protectively around her waist.
He crouched in front of her, placing his fingers under her chin and forcing her to look up at him. "You are all just cowards, in the end," he said in his silky voice. "And you are all mine to command." Loki rose, snapping his fingers. "She will be moved to the quarters adjacent to mine," he ordered the Chitauri that rushed forward. "I will not have her foolishness endangering the child."
The Chitauri pulled Carmen roughly to her feet, practically dragging her out of the hall when she failed to move quickly enough. The king turned silently and walked back up to his throne, the smug look still etched on his face. That was what it was all about; breaking those haughty creatures and teaching them who their real master was. Carmen had taken the longest to crack, but the child within her would be her undoing, and a beautiful undoing it would be.
x X x
Carmen groaned and rubbed the side of her head as she left the throne room. That had been...rough. Not only was she tired from her baby (which was Loki's fault, because normal babies just didn't grow like that), but she was mentally worn from keeping up her front of strength. But it wasn't like she had done really well with that either. He'd seemed crueler than usual, so she couldn't wait to see what he'd be like once the baby actually came out. At least her baby felt okay in her womb; she'd been worried it might've gotten hurt when he pushed her down the stairs. And when he'd lifted his foot to kick her...she shuddered just thinking about what could've happened to her and her baby.
Many people scurried past them, but they all gave the Chitauri guard and the king's concubine a wide, respectful berth. She was a slave in all but name, and Loki did hurt her when the mood struck him, but she was his, and no one touched her but him. They stopped at her rooms, which were guarded by two Chitauri (the king didn't trust any men with his harem). Carmen barely spared them a glance as she pushed open the gilded door and walked inside.
The door opened right up into the bedroom; whoever had set this place up clearly didn't believe in wasting time. The room was large and regal, but it seemed smaller with all of the beds crammed inside. The king didn't believe in wasting space; they all had to share a bed with another girl, but with all the adding and subtracting of girls that went on, there were no claims made to any particular area. Organization wasn't the name of the game for Loki's harem. Meg was the only one in the room, enjoying the space as she lay sprawled out sleeping. Loki had enjoyed her company last night, so she was left in peace to recover.
"Hi girls," she smiled wearily as she went into what passed as the living room. Scattered about the large, open space were several small couches and chairs of green velvet. Some of the girls played chess on the floor or practiced mandolin duets in the corner, while others lounged on the soft couches and merely talked quietly or braided hair. A girl was crying in at least one of the conversations.
"Shut up, I'm trying to concentrate," a girl with platinum blonde curls hissed as she stared intently at her sheet music. That would be Eloise. She was the only one other than Carmen who had been there since the beginning, and she fancied that they were in some sort of competition for Loki's affections. Carmen knew better; the king would never give all his love to just one girl.
"Psh, we'll work on it later." That was Amala, one of Carmen's best friends. The Indian girl gathered up their music and set her instrument in its case, ignoring Eloise's fuming. "So how did it go?"
"Are you okay? You look tired," Hayden murmured, her round freckled face full of worry that made even Carmen's guarded heart ache. Hayden, little Lucille and sweet Zahira were all very young, just in their early teens, and were all virgins. Loki liked to get a few young ones, but they never lasted long. Even though Carmen knew none of the girls would be around after a month or so, she never failed to develop a motherly, protective love for them. At least most of the older girls had experience, but the little ones…it almost made her weep how innocent they were. That innocence would be gone as soon as Loki took them to his bedchambers.
"Is he gonna take the baby?" Timid Jamie with the deep auburn curls whispered, putting aside her book.
Carmen slung her arm around Amala as her friend approached, gratefully taking the support though she tried to make it look casual. The others looked up to her; she couldn't show them how weary she was feeling. "Fine, mostly, I don't think so," she replied, putting more belief than she felt into those words.
Amala pursed her lips at that response. Her dark eyes glimmered with curiosity about what had really happened (Carmen had never been able to fool her, even for the short amount of time they had known each other), but she didn't voice her doubts. "You've got to give us more than that, Car. We're all dying for some good gossip."
Trying to regain some of her usual playfulness, she smiled and said, "Well he was pissed at first, but I don't think he'll hurt the baby, not really. I just have to move into the rooms next to his so he can 'keep an eye on me.' I think he means 'get to me quicker whenever he wants to bang me.'" Knowing, but almost sad laughter followed that.
"He's still keeping the rest of us, right?" Eloise asked, worry creeping into her voice.
Carmen snorted, her disdain genuine. "What do you think? He's too horny to stick with just one person. Although…" she bit her lip, glancing over to Hayden, Lucille, and Zahira, who were so full of light yet so small and scared. "Maybe he'll let them go."
"Do you think?" Zahira asked, hope shining out of her wide brown eyes.
"I could see my mom again," Lucille whispered.
"I'll try," Carmen promised. Neither she nor any of the others had the heart to tell them that their chances were slim, but she'd try her best to get the younger girls freed. As slim as the odds were, maybe Loki would be slightly more willing to listen to her now that she was carrying his child.
Many of the girls looked like they had questions (some more well-meaning than others), but before they could put them to words, Amala left the room and brought Carmen with her. Sighing, they both collapsed on a bed, which was softer than it was large. Carmen felt her body finally relax, and her mind began to as well.
"So Carmen, what really happened?" Amala asked gently, putting her hand on the other girl's shoulder.
Carmen bit her lip, deliberating. She told Amala almost everything, and she trusted her more than any of the girls still there...but she wasn't as true as Leah. Amala had a tendency towards gossip, where Leah had been fiercely loyal and unrelentingly stubborn. It was her stubbornness that had made her break, in the end; she snapped where Carmen would bend. But she was gone now, sent back to who-knew-where down on Midgard, where Carmen would likely never see her again.
"He got mad at me," she admitted. "Angrier than I've seen him before. His anger is...weird. He goes from that scary calm of his to hitting me to laughing because apparently I'm funny." A small smile curved her lips. "But I was the winner. I got to keep my baby and my life." At the risk of her pride and some of her strength, but it was a small price to pay.
"For now, anyways," replied Amala, raising an eyebrow. "You know how he likes to get his way."
"He shouldn't get his way all the time," she muttered. Easy enough for her to say here alone in their bedroom, but out there, he was king. He'd get what he wanted; she just wouldn't let him get it without a struggle.
"But he does, and that's not changing anytime soon," Amala sighed. "I don't know why you try to be so difficult all the time. He gets mad at me sometimes, but I think it's only fake mad, so he can spank me or tie me up or whatever. You're lucky he hasn't killed you yet."
"Not lucky, careful." Carmen knew where his breaking point was, and while she pushed the boundary sometimes, she'd never crossed the line. She yawned, propping her head up on her hands. "I should probably go now, to my fancy new rooms or whatever. But he never said when I had to be there, so we should play a game of chess first." Little rebellions. Little rebellions kept her strength alive.
The Indian girl shook her head adamantly. "No, you've done enough damage already. Those Chitauri could hurt you if you made them wait too long, and I don't even want to think about what he would do."
"Nothing he won't do already," she grumbled, reluctantly pulling herself up to a sitting position. She raised her arms over her head in a languid stretch as she stood. "Fine, I'll go. But only because I love you, and because you're going to help me change this baby's diapers. I better say bye to everyone." Carmen stuck her head into the sitting room and waved. "I'll see you lovely ladies later."
A chorus of goodbyes rose from the girls, some sincere but some scathing and sarcastic. She wasn't friends with everyone.
She didn't have any bags to pack, as the girls shared their expansive wardrobe. Loki would find her some new clothes. With a final tight squeeze from Amala and some last minute hugs from Hayden, Lucille and Zahira, Carmen left the harem's room behind and walked outside, hoping she was ready for whatever fate had prepared for her.