Chapter Two
Loki watched her sleep. She'd cried for hours and hours until finally she'd lost consciousness. He'd laid her on the pillows and covered her with a blanket. Her face was now calm, her full lips parted slightly as her chest rose and fell in quiet breaths. Her hair was smoothed back from her forehead but one strand fell over her forehead.
Bending down he reached out and gently tucked it behind one ear. He froze.
Slowly his fingers trailed her cheek where her tears had dried.
Tears...
For Thor...
His hand shot back and he stood abruptly, striding away from her. He winced as his side erupted in pain. Ignoring it he walked over to the bookshelf and began to examine it.
The writing oddly, was a mix of Midgardian, or English as Jane would have put it, Light Evlish, and Dark Elvish. Quite the collection he mused.
Running his fingers over the thick leather bindings he walked the length of the shelves. Spindly ladders were stacked here and there, for the room was perhaps twenty or more feet tall with four walls all lined with thick bookcases. Each bookcase nearly seemed to sag underneath the weight of the books stacked on top of them.
He could spend centuries here and be content. His eyes flicked over to the sleeping form outlined by the firelight.
His heart thumped.
He frowned.
Turning he continued his venture.
VVVVV
She was warm...
Safe...
She gave out a low purr...
She rolled onto her side, the bed soft underneath her...
Her eyes opened for a fraction...
She smiled...
Then she frowned...
Opening her eyes she looked around the dark room. It was beautiful, elegant with greens and blacks with books stacked everywhere but in elegant, neat piles. She lay in a huge, feather soft bed with soft black curtains falling from the four banisters. Chests rose in great, sturdy heights, carved elegantly, dark green curtains adorned the large windows that led out onto the balcony as it overlooked a beautiful city.
Asgard...
She was in Asgard...
She felt someone stir beside her and she turned over. The man who greeted her took her breath away.
Loki...
And he was sleeping...
There was no sorrow and weariness in his features. His shoulders were not stiffened with bitterness. He simply slept. His lips parted slightly as his chest rose and fell with quiet breaths. His silky black hair was disheveled, falling around him in a beautifully, tumbled mess. His chest was naked and a blanket pooled around his waist.
Her eyes ran over him. His lithe body was covered in muscles, not muscles that jumped out and bunched but were smoothly blended as if in an elegant pattern. Her cheeks flushed as her hands tingled.
She wanted to touch him.
Reaching out her hand it hovered an inch above his chest when he stirred. A chuckle left his throat, one that sent warmth spreading throughout her entire body. Her heart hammering she looked up at him and froze.
Emerald eyes, so beautiful, so breathtaking they shined from the morning sun that drifted in through the windows, looked down at her. They were devoid of malice, of hate; they were warm, tender and filled with genuine mirth that it made her heart flutter.
Freeze...
Then floor to life inside her chest to halt and flutter once more...
"Ah, good morning my Jane." He whispered while reaching up and touching her cheek, his thumb stroking her bottom lip.
She halted...
Unable to move...
Her thoughts grew muddled...
Jumbled...
"Enjoying the view?" He purred and she felt her cheeks flush. He chuckled while bringing her face closer.
Wait...he wasn't going to?!
His lips touched hers...
Jane sat up abruptly, flailing about as her heart hammered in her ribs. She looked wildly about and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that they were still here, in the Time Warp.
Glancing around it took her a few moments before her eyes found the tall figure in the corner. He cradled a book in his hands, his head bent and she noticed that he'd removed his dark riding coat, revealing a better look of his toned body.
His face was smooth, elegant once more as he continued to read. His emerald eyes caught the firelight as he read, his forehead and high cheek bones catching the light as well. Her eyes trailed farther down his face to his sensual lips. They were relaxed, soft as he read and her gut heated to pool into a muddled mess at the pit of her stomach.
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away.
"Feeling better, little mouse?" Loki ventured without looking up from the book and Jane jumped.
He knew that she'd been watching him!
Anger and embarrassment flushed her cheeks and she clamped her jaw. Deciding to skip onto another subject she stood and stretched, unaware of the fiery green eyes that watched her before they flicked back to the book.
"Actually, I'd be better if I had some food." She said as she lowered her arms and yelped when a table appeared in the middle of the room.
After a few moments glittering white and gold plates shimmered out of the air and settled down on the deep mahogany of the table. Then tiny wisps of air began to form, swirl around the table and before their eyes the wisps began to take shapes.
Food...
Loki raised a brow and shut the book.
"My, my dear Jane," he whispered as he ran his fingers along the golden dishes that adorned the table, "you are filled with surprises, aren't you?" He ventured and looked up at her, a smirk touching his lips and Jane's eyes widened.
She did not think that he was just sexy!
Shaking her head to clear it she strode over to the table as well, keeping it between her and the God of Mischief.
Loki's eyes narrowed as he saw her. She reminded him of a frightened doe. He tilted his head at her, his smirk growing and she glanced up at him. She jumped and her eyes narrowed.
"What?" She demanded and he chuckled softly.
"If I told you, dear Jane," his lips curled higher, "I suspect you'd try to do bodily harm to me."
Jane rose a brow at him, her chin going up into the air even as her soft brown eyes twinkled.
"Try?" She teased and she crossed her arms over her chest while cocking her hip against the table. "I think I could do more than that." Her answer was light and teasing but Loki straightened, for it was nonetheless, a challenge.
He cocked a brow at her, a smirk teasing at his lips.
"Pray tell," he ventured while sliding around the table, his fingers still trailing the edges of the wood, "as to how." He halted in front of her, his fingers still on the table and her arms tightened around her.
"I took self-defense classes while I was at college. I might not be able to overpower you but I could lay a few hits down." Her words were firm and Loki smirked. He raised his fingers from the wood and placed his hands behind his back.
"I accept the challenge then, but you should eat first." He dipped his head in an elegant gesture towards the simmering food on the table. A dark grin touched his lips as his eyes shimmered with mirth. "I do not want to overpower you so easily." His low voice did not hide the bite to his words and Jane stiffened.
Anger flashed in her eyes and Loki chuckled while moving behind her and towards the head of the table. He ran his eyes over the food, as did Jane and she was surprised at what she found.
Mashed potatoes, beef stew, rosy red apples, roasted rolls, salmon cooked in butter, pies, everything she might imagine lay on the table. Her stomach growled in response.
She heard Loki chuckle in response and she flashed him a dark look as she hesitantly went to pull out a chair. Before her hand could touch the back Loki was beside her. She gasped in surprise but her cheeks reddened when he elegantly pulled it back.
Thor had never done that for her...
She shook the thought from her head and raised her wide eyes to his laughing, mocking green ones. Anger flashed through her and she raised her chin.
"Are you trying to be funny?" She growled and his smirk lifted higher.
"On the contrary, I am simply playing the role of being a Prince of Asgard." Jane huffed and crossed her arms.
"Since when did you start playing the princely gentleman?" She asked and his brow rose in skepticism.
"I have always played that role, since Mother—" he stopped abruptly and she saw the pain enter his eyes. Jane stiffened and silence struck the room.
"Alright then, Prince Loki," Jane said as she slowly sank into the chair, "I shall accept your act of a gentleman with the kind act of a lady." He blinked at her but said nothing. His face was now guarded and his sensual mouth was pinched slightly at the edges.
She felt his hands on the wood as he helped her push it in and she shivered.
He didn't seem to notice as he elegantly walked to the opposite end of the table, every stride smooth and filled with purpose. He lowered himself down into his own chair and smiled at her from across it.
It was still tinged with grief and her heart tightened in her chest.
She frowned.
Shaking her head she smiled at him.
"Shall we begin dining, Prince Loki?" Her eyes flashed in amusement and slowly, that same dark grin graced his lips.
"If you so wish it, Lady Jane." He quipped and at his low, sensual tone her cheeks flushed. He did not seem to notice as he reached for a goblet of what looked like red wine.
Jane gave a silent sigh of relief and started filling her own plate.
VVVV
Loki had noticed her little reactions and found them odd. The mortal claimed that she was in love with Thor and by how hard she'd cried earlier she must have been.
Love...
What a stupid word...
It was much like loyalty...
Or family...
His mind flashed back to his mother and the spoon clattered out of his hand. Jane frowned at him from across the table.
"What's wrong?" She asked while setting down her own spoon. Loki's fingers curled into a tight fist at her rude, irritating and irrelevant question.
Of course nothing was wrong...
Of course nothing was wrong!
"Nothing," he snapped and he saw her stiffen, saw the fire enter her eyes and he inwardly winced. Usually he was up for games, for banters and lies but not now.
Now...
He only wanted her...
"You were thinking about her, weren't you?" Jane asked softly and her hesitant, almost sweet question caught him off guard.
"No." It was a lie and she knew it. She sighed and rested the napkin on the corner of the table.
"Look, Loki, I don't know—"
"Exactly!" He growled, cutting her off as he slammed a hand onto the table, rattling the plates and silverware. "You don't know! So do not presume, little mortal, that you do!" He hissed and Jane narrowed her eyes.
"No, I don't know exactly how you feel Loki, but I lost both my parents when I was younger and I had to go live with my grandmother. She was kind, but she was not my parents. Not to mention that in order to cope, I started looking at stars, at anything that would not remind me of them and because of that I learned faster than the other kids. That led to me being alone." She stood and stared evenly at him. "So no, I don't know exactly how you feel, but I have a pretty fair idea."
Angry she turned from the table and marched over to the fireplace where she plopped down onto the couch. Loki stared at her in silence and was surprised to find that his hands were shaking.
His appetite gone he stood and slowly crossed the space towards her. He silently stood beside her, his hands behind his back as he stared into the flames.
"I did not know that." He whispered faintly and Jane glanced up at him. His expression was soft and laced with regret and pain.
"No, I don't even think Thor does." She whispered and her heart tightened painfully at his name. Loki glanced at her, noting her pained expression.
Oddly, it gave him great satisfaction to know something about the intriguing little mortal that Thor did not.
He glanced back at the fire.
"Once, when I was little." He softly began and Jane glanced up at him. "The other children had found out that I had magic. They were jealous and so took it out by excluding me, not letting me play with them." A sad smile twisted his lips. "They thought I would cheat, trick them, even after I swore I wouldn't." He whispered and Jane's heart constricted at the pain that was in his emerald gaze.
Minutes past but she did not speak and nor did Loki.
Then softly, he began again.
"So I read. I practiced so I could cheat, I could trick them." Another sad smile touched his lips. "Mother of course, found out about it, for she was one of my many teachers, she was very angry." His eyes glistened. "She told me that I was beyond that, that I was so much better than them. She said that they'd made me strong and brave." His gaze darkened and Jane watched, transfixed as a single tear trailed his cheek.
"I never..."
He stopped...
Swallowed...
"Got to say goodbye..." his words were so soft, filled with so much sadness that it tore at her heart. Another tear trailed the one prior and another. Loki's jaw clamped with rage and his hands fisted. He went to turn away but Jane reached out and touched his wrist.
He halted.
"I'm sorry...so sorry..." She whispered and Loki closed his eyes. The agony tore at his heart so he couldn't breathe, couldn't think.
And her hand...
It was so soft...
So warm...
Her fingers slowly entwined with his and she stared at their locked fingers.
Gently, she squeezed.
Loki squeezed back.
His shoulders shuddered and his knees grew weak as the grief washed over him in full force. He hadn't been able to grieve, openly grieve for her, and it seemed as if the overwhelming shock had knocked the breath from his lungs.
He stumbled down onto the couch, his back facing her. Her fingers tightened and the first sob left his lips. They grew in volume as his body shook and Jane edged closer to him, putting her arms around his midsection and resting her cheek against his back. Their fingers were still entwined.
Slowly, he begun to grieve quietly, Jane's fingers still wrapped tightly, securely around his own. He could feel her breathe fan the tips of his hair and her presence, so warm and bright like his mother's, comforted him.
Hours seemed to pass before he stopped. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from him and he sighed, craning his head back to rest against the top of Jane's.
Silence.
What an odd thing...
His heart didn't feel like a chunk of ice inside his chest...
It felt warm...
Alive...
They stayed like that and slowly he felt her breathing slow but he did not let go and he found something out.
He didn't want to...
Jane mumbled something and he glanced back at her.
His heart seized.
Her eyes were closed, her lips were parted as she breathed softly. She looked so delicate, so beautiful. A strand of her hair fell across her forehead. The firelight flickered across her face, highlighting her cheekbones, the swells and rises of her lips. His eyes fastened there and something in him tightened.
Her arms were still around him.
Slowly, he lifted her arms from him and untwined his fingers from hers. She grumbled something but curled up onto the coach. He stood over her, a slight, amused smile on his lips.
Reaching out his fingers touched the strand of hair, brushing it from her forehead. She sighed and turned her face towards him.
"Loki," she whispered and he froze. His fingers fell away and he stood. Narrowing his gaze he glared down at her and his fingers tightened into a fist.
She wasn't supposed to say that...
Say his name like that...
He raised his hand and dragged it over his face...
What the hell...
VVVV
Pain...
It flooded through him...
Filled him...
He didn't know what day it was...
If it was morning...
If it was night...
Thor grunted and his hand sought for the handle of Mjolnir but it closed over air. Straining against the shackles that bound him he rattled the chains but they did not snap. He growled in irritation. Licking his lips and tasting dried blood he sought to stand but the room was dark, cramped.
Silence...
It was nearly deafening...
Then slowly...
Footsteps...
It echoed faintly off the walls and Thor flicked his blue gaze to the only iron door of the stone cell. It opened to reveal the shadow of Kurse. The monster grunted and lumbered into the cell. A dark, evil grin on his lips as he hefted a long, barbed club.
Thor swallowed...
Steeled himself...
And the torture began...
AUTHOR NOTE: Alright, so this is the second chapter. I wanted to show a more vulnerable side to Loki since I showed a more vulnerable side to Jane in the previous chapter. I tried to keep him in character as much as possible without completely destroying the tender moment between them. As for Thor we will just see!
And I wanted to thank all my reviewers! I was so excited to see everyone's opinions and I loved them! Continue reviewing please!