Notes:
This took much longer to get out then I would have liked, but I needed to be happy with this chapter, and I wasn't until today, when it finally all came together.
Enjoy!
Frosty Throne
Chapter 11: Emerald Eyes
Darcy was trying to listen to Ragnvaldr, she really was, but her attention kept shifting to Loki's quiet voice weaving through the back of her mind as he spun his tragic tale, eyes cast low; filtered back through her mind, stealing her precious attention away from the Aesir scholar. Her heart ached just thinking about how alone and frightened he must have felt all those years trapped in his own mind. Her eyes slipped closed, the feeling of his soft curls running between her fingers as the cool touch of his magic saturated the air like the first touch of snow. She knew she was in trouble, her heart slowly melting for the trickster god, and not quite in the same way it had melted for her assassins at home. The fleeting feel of his lips and the minty taste of his breath curled through her. Darcy was so lost in her thoughts that the sudden slap of the heavy leather tome on the table in front of her nearly sent her tumbling to the floor, her eyes flying open to the stern face of her Aesir teacher.
"Lady Darcy," Ragnvaldr's voice was just as bland in anger as it was during his long winded account of the Last Great Battle with the Dark Elves, which had put Jane to sleep the day before. "I am sure that Crowne Prince Thor did not place you under my tutelage to give you leave to day dream," the man's monotone nearly sending Darcy's already tired eyes rolling back in her head. "The Lady Jane must learn the intricacies of state craft, you on the other hand have no such obligation, and there for, I must ask you to take your leave."
"You're kicking me out of class?" Darcy asked, suddenly wide away. Truth be told, the Aesir governmental system was fascinating, just the teacher sucked.
"I believe that would be what I have asked, Lady," he waited, hands clasped behind his back, subtly leaning over her, his expression blank and bland as ever. He was worse than Coulson on even his worst day.
"I'll see you at dinner," Jane looked pained as she squeezed Darcy's hand, giving her best friend a weak smile. Darcy could tell that Jane wanted to be anywhere but in the library listening to laws and regulations; preferably somewhere she could see the sky.
"I guess so," she went to gather her books, several of which she'd borrowed from Loki's rooms, hoping to have a chance to ask their teacher about a couple of things she'd read, but Ragnvaldr stopped her with a heavy hand on top of the stack. "Those are Loki's."
"I believe that the disgraced prince is deceased," the scholar said, for once feeling slipped into his dry tone, the edge of malice rising hairs on the back of Darcy's neck. "These books belong in the Library from which they were originally stolen."
"I borrowed them from Loki's rooms," she growled through clenched teeth, pulling herself up to her full height and into the looming Aesir's personal space. "I wish to return them to where they were found."
"Then you will be disappointed, child," he wrenched the stack out from under her hands, causing her to stumble into the table, her hand slipping against the earthen wear mug that Thor had given her, filled with tea, the dark brew seeped across the table and into the pages of the book Jane had been studying, and the cup broke under her weight. Darcy shook the broken shards from her hand, clutching it to her chest as she watched the carefully handwritten words bleed across the books pages. "And now you are destroying Aesir History," Ragnvaldr raged, his blank face coloring a bright red. "Get out of my sight," he bodily shoved her towards the door, causing her to slip on the wet stone, catching herself against the door, leaving a bloody red hand print on the gilded door. "Lady Jane, I believe we were discussing the Vanir System."
"I believe we're finished," Jane shoved the sodden book into the Aesir scholar's chest and followed Darcy out, letting the gilded doors slam closed behind them.
"You didn't need to do that, Janie," Darcy slumped down on a bench, cradling her injured hand tightly to her chest.
"You okay?" the Astrophysicist went to pull her friends hand to her, but Darcy just turned away, not wanting Jane to see how bad it really was. It was an easy fix once she got to Loki, but Jane didn't need to know how badly she'd been cut. "Darcy."
"It's fine," she mumbled, peeking down at her hand, her palm starting to fil with bright red blood. "Just a scratch."
"Darcy Elizabeth," Jane tried again, her voice stern, the way her momma's used to be when she was being abstinent. It almost made Darcy change her mind. "Let me see, please?"
The younger woman sighed and carefully held out her hand, ruby liquid leaking from between the gaps in her fingers. "It'll be okay, Janie," Darcy watched the blood drain from Jane's face, panic licking at the edges of her eyes. "I've had worse, with less medical attention on hand."
"We need to get you to the Healers, right now," Jane wrapped her hands around Darcy's wrist, pulling her down the corridor. "That looks really deep."
It felt really deep too, it had started to throb painfully, but she wasn't going to tell her friend that. Darcy carefully pulled her hand from Jane's grip. "I'll take care of it," she smiled at her friend and cradled the hand against her chest again, blood staining the front of her emerald green dress a dark black. "Go find Thor," Darcy urged. "Get my books back."
"But," Jane made an aborted effort to grab for her friend's hand again, but Darcy just smiled at her softly. "I'll see you for lunch?"
"I'll be there with bells on," the younger girl winked, turning to stroll as confidently down the sun strewn hallway as she could, sucking the pain filled tears in as she made her way to her borrowed rooms.
"Nor real bells," the Astrophysicist called to her friend's retreating back. "Right Darcy?" Her only answer was Darcy's warm laughter echoing against the stone walls as she disappeared around the corner.
Darcy stood between the pillars in the throne room, a swatch of green fabric curled around the palm of her hand, and Skrymir at her hip, waiting for the last person to finally finish with the AllFather. She knew he'd seen her, a small smile flitted momentarily over his face before he'd turned back toward the man he'd been conversing with.
Finally, the last Aesir citizen made his way down the long aisle to the main entrance of the hall, the echoing footsteps fading into background noise. "Lady Darcy," the AllFather's voice carried through the hall easily. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company on such a fine day?"
Darcy slowly ascended the gilded stairs, the fullness of her dress clutched tightly in her uninjured hand so that she wouldn't trip, her other hand throbbing thickly in time with her heartbeat. She looked at each of the guards around the room under her lashes, making sure none of them were close enough to hear a privet conversation with the king. "Can I not just want to see my friend?"
"When you are supposed to be learning the ways of the Aesir State?" Loki's smirk looked wrong on Odin's features, but it settled the tension that Darcy's been holding since she'd followed Skrymir from her rooms.
"Ragnvaldr kicked be out," she shrugged. "Actually, I do have a reason for coming," Odin's eye fell on the scrap of fabric, turned a dark black from the blood soaking through the green cloth.
"Come," the AllFather stood, his hand coming up to hold Darcy's arm, steering her to the antechamber behind the throne. As soon as the door shut behind them, a soft click of the lock and the lick of frost along her lips, Loki shed his disguise and pulled her injured hand between both of his, carefully unwrapping the makeshift bandage from the bloody wound. "What happened?"
"Cut myself," she mumbled, trying not to look at the deep gash that was still slowly weeping blood into her palm. "I broke my cup."
"By crushing it?" the trickster dropped the sodden cloth on the table and cupped his hands around hers, her blood leaking along the white skin of his fingers as the icy green magic crawled over Darcy's skin, sinking deep into her bones, making her simultaneously cold and hot right down to her core. The feeling of right settled inside her as the blood faded to nothing.
"When I got kicked out of class, I tried to pack up my books, but Ragnvaldr stopped me," she shrugged, watching the skin of her hand reknit itself, unconsciously licking the taste of magic off her lips, so fascinated by the way her skin was reforming that she didn't see the intent way that Loki watched the tip of her tongue working over the fullness of her bottom lip. "When he pulled the books away, I slipped, and," she flexed her healed hand, it felt a bit tight through the center where the still slightly pink scar slowly faded. "My tea went over and I caught myself with the cup under my hand."
"And you came to me instead of going to the healing wards? Eir is a very skilled healer, much more so than I," he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, tilting her face up.
"Didn't even think about it," Darcy sighed, shifting closer to the trickster, seeking comfort despite the fact that her hurt was gone. "I got hurt, so I found Skrymir, who brought me to you."
"He is a very good cat," a slow smile spread over Loki's face, his long fingered hands still bracketing her face. He slowly sank his fingers into her long curls, searching Darcy's eyes for understanding as he lowered his lips to hers. She gasped as the last vestiges of magic swirled inside of her, gooseflesh rising all over her body. Loki pulled away quickly, dropping his hands to his side. "I'm sorry," he took a single step away, a pained frown replacing his teasing grin. "That was improper of me, I should not have done that," he looked down at his feet, stepping back further without looking at her. "I just assumed."
"Loki," Darcy's heart clenched as he shrunk back from her like a dog who'd been hit too much. "Loki, look at me please," she implored and waited for those emerald green eyes to settle back against hers. "I seem to recall, I kissed you first," she felt her lips turn up slightly at the corners as she fisted her hand into the front of his tunic and pulled him sharply back to her, crushing her lips against his. Darcy licked gently at the seam of his lips, the cool mint of his magic slipping out on his breath and along her tongue, a deliciously warm feeling building low in her gut as he opened his mouth to her kisses.
"You are truly too good to me, my Lady," Loki's breath came in puffs as they broke apart. "But I should have words with Ragnvaldr for his treatment of you, it is intolerable." He moved to step away, but Darcy held him fast, her arms around his thin frame, his sharp edges pillowed against her soft curves.
"Not just yet," her tongue snaked out and licked the minty taste from his bottom lip. "I'm not quite finished with you."
"Indeed?" the trickster smirked, hands ghosting down her hips as he pulled her a fraction of an inch closer. "And how might I serve you, my dear?"
"Shut up and kiss me, mischief," Darcy growled, lifting her face back up to his, a small squeak escaping her lips as he lifted her bodily off the floor, cursing the full and heavy skirt of her dress that prevented her from wrapping her legs around his hips.
"As my lady commands," Loki said between teasing kisses. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he held her effortlessly off the floor. "Do you kiss all your new friends like this?" He asked, enjoying the feeling of her tight against him, his nose rubbing along hers as she caught her breath.
"Only the very lucky ones," she hummed and nipped at his mouth. "Less talking, more kissing."
"We will have words about this," he told her, a serious expression on his face. "You know my darkness, why would you wish for me to taint you this way?"
"Because I also know your light," Darcy laid her forehead against his, her feet still dangling inches off the floor. "I like you, is that so hard to imagine?"
"It is," Loki gently set her down on her feet, his eyes drifting back to the floor. "It's been a long time since someone has wanted me, longer without any agenda."
"Loki," she threaded her fingers through his, fitting herself in his arms, her head resting against his chest under his chin. "I like you, you make me smile, and when you kiss me I feel safe and whole. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I'd be happy to just be your friend," she tipped her head back so she could look into his face, a small smile on his lips. "But the kissing is really good."
"I think so, too," he dipped his head again capturing her mouth in a slow chaste kiss. "It's just a little new."
Notes:
Thoughts?