Chapter Four

A bed-tussled and very irritated Finn crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at both of us. I opened my mouth to explain, but a wave of anger crashed into me. I glared right back at him, hands going to rest on my hips in defiance. Finn raised an eyebrow, realizing I was going to be a challenge to deal with.

"I am checking on my fiancee to see if he's comfortable in my palace," I growled at him. His angry expression faltered for a moment and I knew I was conquering him already. "What exactly would you be doing, waltzing into his bedroom?"

Finn paused, a hint of surprise in his voice when he said, "I was doing a late night round and saw that your bedroom door was open and you were not inside. My first instinct was to check here for your safety … Princess." He was squirming the tiniest bit under my glare and I loved it. Finally, I had shown that I could stand up for myself against him. I didn't enjoy the hierarchy in troll society that put him at the very bottom of the ladder, but Finn was being a jerk and needed to be set back into place for a moment.

"Well, before you consider barging into someone's private quarters, you should knock first. Obviously we are both fine, so you may go back to bed, Finn." I turned my back on him and slammed the door on the conversation. I almost wished I had been able to see his face before the door softly clicked shut.

Loki chuckled, brushing a strand of curly hair behind my ear. "That, Princess, was incredible. I haven't seen you stand up to anyone before." He smiled down at me approvingly and my face flushed, some of my sudden confidence slipping away.

"I'm so tired of him walking around like he can control me. I am the Princess and you are my fiancee now, he shouldn't be questioning why I'm in here so late at night. It's not his business." I shrugged my shoulders, but felt a thrill of excitement. I had finally stood up to Finn, even though I felt like I had shown my ass a little bit. I did feel bad for pulling rank on him, but the truth was that Finn had been controlling since we had first met.

"Well, it was very impressive." Loki grinned at me, but it was broken by a yawn. He looked so tired and a little haggard and I was struck again by how handsome he looked in the dim moonlit room. "Will you be joining me for the night, my Princess?"

I shivered a little at the possessiveness in this new nickname and my stomach ached with desire. I knew that if I spent the night with Loki, things I wouldn't be able to take back would happen and I wasn't sure that I was ready for that yet. "Unfortunately, Elora does still have control over me. I don't want to get either of us in trouble with her, so I think I should go back to my room." I didn't want to, but I didn't want to insight Elora's rage so soon after coming back home, especially if she might want to take it out on Loki.

"As you wish," Loki amended, dipping his head to leave a soft kiss on my mouth. A girl could get used to this. "Goodnight, my Princess, and sweet dreams." I left his room with a smile on my face and my heart racing.

—

When daylight finally came, I was even more tired and a little bit cranky. Rhys and Matt had both checked on me already and though I appreciated their concern, I wanted to be left alone for a little while. I needed a quiet place to think about everything that had transpired over the last four days.

I decided to give myself a little TLC for once. In the cabinet in my bathroom, there were quite a few beauty products that had gone unused. Willa had picked out some of her favorites before I had been brought to the palace, having helped Rhys stock up my room and bathroom before my arrival. I opened up the cabinet and grinned at the products: a couple of bath bombs, bubble baths, lotions, scented soaps, and a host of other things that I didn't even know what to call. The labels were brightly colored and the smell wafting from the cabinet was a mix of many different floral and fruit scents.

I took a bottle of bubble bath first, running scalding hot water into the giant jacuzzi-like bathtub and squirting a heap of the soapy liquid into the water, swirling it around with my hand to create the bubbles. Once I was satisfied with the amount of bubbles and the height of the water, I stripped down and stepped in. It was so warm and as I settled down, my muscles finally began to loosen. I needed to lose some of this tension so that I could think clearly.

I went over Oren's verbal deal again and again, still searching for loopholes. Still, I couldn't figure out if there were any — it seemed pretty air-tight to me. There had only been the condition that I worked with him and Sarah, which held so much uncertainty that I didn't want to think about it at that moment. I would have to get more information on my father from Elora, considering I had barely been in the man's presence. Next, I thought about what marrying Loki might mean for the kingdom, for both kingdoms. Peace. It was such a simple word, but it held so much weight behind it. Peace between the Vittra and the Trylle would mean that literally hundreds of years of fighting would end. I felt like an anvil had been dropped on my chest — we both had a lot riding on this marriage. We were going to be responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people soon, whether we were ready for it or not, and we would also be under the eye of every kingdom official who would think we were too young and inexperienced to achieve this dream.

Thoughts of the marriage brought my attention back to Loki Staad, the mysteriously gentle Vittra Markis. He had shown me so much kindness in the short time I had known him, but part of me worried if it was all a facade. After all, Elora had trusted Oren with her hand in marriage and their divorce had resulted in more war and malice. What if Loki was pretending to be kind and sweet, just to gain power over both kingdoms and take complete control over everything?

I shivered, despite the warmth of the water. I dismissed my thoughts, though I was careful with which ones I dismissed. Loki seemed genuine enough, even though he shrouded his sincerity in jokes and sarcasm. His eyes and face were usually an open book for me to read into his meaning, I just had to hope that I was right in my assumptions. I hadn't seen a single trace of malice whenever he looked at me. I closed my eyes and remembered our kiss from the night before.

I could really start to fall for him, I realized. He seemed to genuinely care about me, and he had agreed to marry me after all. Even though he knew me as well as I knew him — barely at all - I could definitely be happy being married to Loki Staad.

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft tapping on the bathroom door. I slid down into the water a bit further, my nudity covered up by the ridiculous amount of bubbles in the bath water. I should have really gone easy on that bubble bath.

Loki peaked his head inside, scanning the bathroom quickly before his eyes landed on me. Something sparked in them, something almost animalistic and very intense — it looked like lust. My entire face and neck were red when he pushed the door open more and leaned against the door frame, watching me.

"Good morning, Princess," he said politely, "Are you enjoying your bath?" I nodded feebly, very aware that I was technically completely naked in front of him.

"Well, I hate to burst your bubbles," he almost giggled, "But that Finn character has requested our presence." I rolled my eyes and sighed in annoyance, to which Loki grinned. "I know he irritates you, love, but we should see what he needs to tell us. It could be more details on our marriage. Maybe even some wedding planning."

I shivered at his new nickname and the idea of talking about our wedding, both for entirely different reasons, then nodded and started to reach for the towel folded on the edge of the bathtub. "I'll be out in just a minute." Loki nodded and left, shutting the bathroom door tightly behind him. I dried off and wrapped the towel around my body, stepping back into my bedroom to change.

Loki was sprawled out on the king-sized bed in the middle of the room. He looked up when I opened the door, his eyes quickly scanning my entire body. I blushed under his scrutiny and stood awkwardly, having not realized that he would still be in my room. It seemed that being almost naked around Loki was becoming a trend. He sat up on the bed and put his elbows on his knees, watching me.

"I thought you weren't supposed to see me naked until our wedding night." I tried to tease him but my voice wavered and clearly showed my nerves. My blush darkened, if possible. Loki stood up and walked toward me until we were standing as close as we had the night before: me looking up into his dark emerald eyes and him looking down at me with a playful smile.

"I have a habit of not playing by the rules." He reached up to brush his finger tips softly against my shoulder. Goosebumps rose immediately, a reaction that must have pleased him because he smiled. "You really are beautiful, I want you to know that." He leaned down to kiss me then.

I forgot to hold my towel up and instead wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on my tip toes to press myself against his body. He was so warm and inviting, his mouth moving against mine softly but holding so much passion and intimacy that I felt it through my whole body. When we pulled apart for a moment to breathe, our noses still touching, I reached down to readjust the towel and secure it more. It had been held up because my chest was pressed against Loki, but if I moved away, it would fall to the floor and create a whole new kind of situation.

"I don't see how this is very fair," Loki breathed, his cool breath fanning across my face. He smelled like spearmint, sweet and minty. "You're practically naked before me and I'm not allowed to do anything about it." A thrill went up my spine at his suggestion.

"Didn't Finn want to see us?" My voice was small and it was fairly obvious by the way that I sounded that I didn't care about any other obligation.

Loki smirked and brushed a stray hair behind my ear. "Do you really care about that right now?" I shook my head and leaned up into him again, pressing my lips against his. "I didn't think so," he murmured against my mouth, wrapping his strong arms tight around me. Again, I thought about how I could get used to this.