Sorrow was on her way to Loki's chambers. She hoped he was in a better mood. She didn't want to put up with his temper again. Her back stung and ached. She hated lashes. She was carrying Loki's food tray, and refused to look at it. If she was to go a week without food, she would want to avoid looking at it as much as possible. She knocked lightly on Loki's chamber door and entered. She couldn't see Loki anywhere in the room. She set the breakfast tray on the table by his chair and walked around.

She decided to straighten up the room since Loki wasn't even in here. Where was he then? She opened the thick drapes that surrounded his bed and gasped. Prince Loki was still asleep, blues eyes shut, shirtless, and really peaceful looking. The blankets settled at his waist, showing off his muscular pale white chest. She quickly turned away from the bed, a furious blush spreading across her face. What was she doing?! Staring at a half dressed prince while he slept?! She was losing it. She turned away quickly from the bed, but stopped when Loki called her name.

"Sorrow?" The groggy prince asked.

She slowly turned back around to face him. She could feel her face burning. "Yes, my lord?" She asked shakily.

"What are you doing?" He asked. His lean muscles pushing him to sit up.

"Uh… I… Don't…." She stuttered for a response.

The prince smirked. "Speak up, pet. I didn't hear you." He said with a devilish grin.

"I didn't know you were still… asleep…" She said with wide eyes. She tried to keep her eyes on his face, but they kept flitting nervously around the room.

Loki was sleeping peacefully, when light suddenly entered his dark bed. It took a few seconds of convincing before his eyes finally opened to see who had disturbed him. He saw Sorrow slipping away, blushing hard. Loki smirked. He remembered his plan. He called her name and she reluctantly turned back around, her cheeks turning an even darker shade of pink. After a brief conversation, he changed the topic.

"Have you never seen a man shirtless?" He asked.

The blush burned harder. "No, my lord."

"Not even on accident?"

She shook her head.

"I apologize for ruining your innocence." Loki said with a grin that said otherwise. She quickly turned away and left Loki.

Thor was walking towards his brother's chambers. After three years since his last visit, he decided to check on Loki. He was nervous. He knew he would just make his brother angrier, and Loki might not attend his wedding if Thor bothered him. He really didn't want to, but he walked towards the door anyways.

The maid he had seen Loki drag away at the feast a few months ago slipped out of his room, blushing heavily. Thor could only think one thing when he saw this. Did Loki have a lover? "Maiden!" He called out.

She walked right past him, apparently not have noticing him. He tried again. "Serving girl!" This got the girl to turn towards him. Her deep blue eyes meeting his for a fleeting moment and then lowering to the floor.

"My lord." She said.

"What is your name?" That was the only question Thor could think to ask.

"Sorrow, my lord." She said.

"Please, call me Thor." Thor said with a grin.

"Yes, Thor." She replied.

"How fares my brother?"

"Okay… I guess." She said. The blush was deepening at the mention of Loki.

Thor grinned. "Are you the servant girl he took away after the feast? You two seemed to be in a hurry." Thor commented.

"Yes. He helped me escape a drunken man." The maid responded.

"How very kind of my brother."

"I believe it was more out of possessiveness than anything." She said quickly.

Thor knew Loki was very possessive of his things. If this serving girl truly was important to him, he had done at least one thing to prove it. "Do you know him well?" Thor asked.

"I don't know. He isn't a very open person." Sorrow said.

Thor's grin faded. He knew that all too well. "Have a most pleasant day maiden." He said, then he turned and walked away, hope blooming in his heart. Maybe his brother did have a chance.

After the encounter with Thor, Sorrow knew what the Prince was now thinking. She needed something to distract her. Hopefully Loki wouldn't mind if she took an hour off. She walked to the library and found her book, starting to read.

"The brave young man who had captured the heart of the fair princess failed like all the others. Princess Rosa grieved over the loss. Her very reason for living had been taken away from her. The Midnight Ball grew harder to bear. Her health was depleting rapidly.

When the King saw how his daughter was suffering, he again begged her to tell him where she and her sisters went at night. The princess knew that she could not tell, for if she did, the words would come out in a jumble or nothing would come at all, for the curse prevented her from saying. She again cried that she could not tell him.

Distraught and afraid to lose his daughter, the King decided to do what no parent should. He had her chained in her tower, but this time the chains were melted together so they could never be unlocked. The princess begged her father to release her, for she would die if she did not go. But the King refused.

"Unless you tell me, you will stay here forever!" For the King thought it was his daughter's choice to keep the secret.

"I can't tell you." The princess sobbed. She cried and screamed for her father not to leave her, but the King didn't even steal a second glance. As midnight approached, the Princess knelt by her window, staring at the stars. She cried silently, for her heart ached knowing she would die. The stars stared down at the Dancing Princess, knowing that she would die if she did not dance. In a shimmering light, they froze her beauty, turning her to stone. For the stars wished to always see her face, and could not bear to lose another dancer.

The stone princess remained still, staring at the sky on her knees, her hands clasped together in a prayer. A single tear slid down her cheek and her face frozen in an eternal look of sorrow. The chain that had been on her ankle, now stone where it touched her skin, stayed on her ankle, showing that she was forever enslaved to the will of another. And when she was turned into stone, the stars decided to spare the eleven younger sisters as well, turning them into stone as well.

In the morning, when the King strode proudly to the Princess' tower, he knew she would be there. He opened the door and when he saw his daughter had turned into stone, he cried out. "My daughter! My beautiful Rosa! You tried to warn me and this is all my fault!" The King cried over his daughter.

When he found that all of his daughters had turned to stone, he had them moved to the garden back home, surrounding the lilac tree that grew above their mother's grave. The eleven younger sisters had been dancing when turned to stone, so each was stuck in a graceful twist, sadness and sorrow etched on their faces. Only the eldest was on her knees, as if begging the sky to take her away.

The King watched his daughters day after day, studying their beautiful, but sad faces. He had done this to them, and he had no way of freeing them. Freedom was but a lie now."

Sorrow set down the book. Sometimes, she wished she could be turned to stone. For nobody, cared and she was imprisoned just like the Princess. Forced to slave her days away. She slid the book back onto the shelf and stood up. She smoothed the wrinkles in her dress and walked back to Loki's chambers.

Later that night, Sorrow was sitting on a chair across from Loki who was explaining to her how yarn was made. Apparently he had finally found an interest in the book and was now torturing her with boredom.

"And then the string of yarn is wound into a ball and shipped off to be sold…" Loki's voice trailed off as Sorrow tuned him out.

"Are you even listening?!" Loki asked abruptly.

Her head snapped up to meet his gaze and she stopped playing with her strand of hair. "Uh… no…" She admitted. "Sorry, my lord."

Loki chuckled, clearly amused. "I was trying to see if you would ever lose your patience. Apparently that's not possible for you. I guess I'll have to try something else." Loki pulled out the small cracked hand mirror that she hid underneath her mattress.

"Have you been stalking me?!" She asked without thinking, more surprised than upset.

"Yes, pet. I find your routine intriguing." Loki said with a coy smile.

She tried to snatch the mirror out of his hands, but he quickly moved it out of her reach. "Give me my mirror!" She demanded. She didn't know where her sudden courage to demand something of a prince came from.

Loki stood up. "You'll have to find me first." He said. With a flash of light, he was gone. Sorrow looked around frantically. The mirror was the only thing she had left of her mother. She had been holding it when the slavers had taken her. It had gotten cracked on the rough journey, but she still had it. Anger boiled in her. She charged through the room, not finding him. Her heart sunk. That meant he was somewhere in the massive palace, or the gardens. It would take all night to find him! The sun had already gone down and the moon was out.

She stormed out of his room. She checked every room in the first three halls. Deciding that he wasn't going to be in one of the rooms. She checked every place she knew of. The library, the armory, the servant's quarters. Finally, she decided to check the garden. She wandered through the moonlit garden, searching for any hint that the prince had been there.

It was winter now, and the ground was covered in a fine layer of snow. The royal gardens had a few types of flowers from Niflheim that bloomed during the winter, so at least some flowers were still in bloom. She shivered, not having anything to keep herself warm. She didn't have any winter clothes, and hadn't expected to be going outside. Snowflakes lazily drifted down to the ground, highlighted by the moon. There were some heavy snow clouds above her, blocking out most of the stars. There were a few off in the distance but not many. She had been wandering so far into the garden, she soon found herself lost.

"You win." She heard a voice behind her.

She jumped and nearly screamed. "Loki!"

Loki held out the hand mirror, but paused when she used his name instead of "my lord". He cocked an eyebrow in surprise. Sorrow quickly realized her error. "I am sorry, my lord. Forgive me." Her eyes sank to the ground.

"You don't have to call me "my lord" if you don't want to, Sorrow." He said calmly.

She looked back up into his eyes. It was strange being alone with a prince… in the middle of the night… outside… did she already mention alone? "It would be improper of me, my lord." She said.

Loki frowned. "Then I must command you to call me by my name."

Sorrow looked at him in confusion. "Why?" Was all she could say.

"Do you not want to call me by my name?" He asked.

"Yes!... wait, no! I-I mean, I do… Loki." She stuttered awkwardly

Loki pressed the cracked mirror into her hand. "I do enjoy these little games." he said with a smirk. "We should play them more often."

"If you want to, my lord… I mean Loki." She quickly corrected herself. They sat on a bench nearby. There was an awkward silence. Sorrow shivered, wishing she could go back inside.

"Are you cold?" She heard Loki ask.

"I little."

She felt something drape over her shoulders and realized it was a green blanket. She looked at him in surprise. Why was he being so nice to her all of the sudden? What was he up to?

Loki chuckled. "Now you look confused. You must stop being so confused all the time. Is it wrong for me to do one good deed? Even if it is for a small servant girl?"

Sorrow noticed how he hadn't called her a slave. He always called her a slave. "I suppose not." She said. She pulled the warm blanket tighter around her shoulders. She let out a deep breath, a cloud of mist erupting in its wake.

"Was it true what those slave girls said about your mother?" He asked.

Sorrow's blood seemed to freeze. He had been following her that whole day?! "I'm not… sure… what you-"

"Yes you are. Tell me."

After a few minutes of hesitation, she finally decided to tell him. "My mother was walking home alone late one night when a group of ten drunken cowards took her. She was found a few days later and refused to tell what had happened, but it became clear when she grew with child. She refused to even look at me when I was born and begged the Healer to take me away. She was forced to take me in, and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. I don't blame her… I was just a reminder of how she had been disgraced. Early in the morning on my twelfth birthday, she dragged me out of bed. At first I thought she had finally accepted me, but I knew I was wrong when I was chained up and thrown in a cage. I screamed and cried for her not to let them take me, but she didn't even look back. Eirrah and Sadine were in the cage with me when it happened. That's when I first met them. From then on, I decided nobody would ever care about me, so I might as well slave away the rest of my life." She told her tale quietly and Loki listened to every word.

"They said your mother was of noble birth."

"Yes. She was Lord Cedric's daughter. That's where I learned to read and write. Even though I was a disgrace to the family, they still had to teach me." They sat in silence for a few moments longer. "What about you?" She asked the prince.

"I don't want to talk about it." Loki snapped.

"Okay." Sorrow said. She stood up and started walking back down the path she had come.

"Where are you going?" She heard Loki stand up and he was soon walking next to her.

"Back to the palace. There's nothing more to talk about." She replied simply.

"I may tell you someday, but today is not the day. I am apologize Sorrow, for I do not enjoy my past very much." Loki said gravely.

"I understand." Sorrow said. She did understand.

When they reached Loki's chambers, she held out the blanket to him. "You keep it. You need it more than me." Loki said.

"But… they'll think I stole it." Sorrow said.

"Not if I tell them you didn't." Loki replied with a tired smile.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Loki watched Sorrow go, forgetting for the moment that he was going to destroy her in the end. That was his plan… wasn't it? To destroy her? Asgard? Asgard yes… but maybe not Sorrow. As of now, she was the only person who understood him. Maybe he would tell her someday. Just maybe.

I don't think I'm very good at writing romances... I should just stick to writing about assassins with insanity issues. :P Anyways... wow! I already have 15+ followers within the first three days! Thank You! Please comment and tell me what you think. Also... PLEASE give me some suggestions to help the story...

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