Cecelia awoke the next morning to someone stroking her hair.
"Ah, you are awake," said Loki softly as she rolled over to look at him.
"I am sorry," yawned Cecelia. "Did I doze off? What time is it?"
"Well into the morning if the sun is to be a guide," laughed Loki. "You did a fair more then doze off."
Cecelia's mind leapt up, but her body lay resting. She was not ready to leave the warm cocoon of Loki's arms. She was still shocked, however, to find herself so close to him in such an intimate way.
"You mean I slept here all night?" she could not keep the surprise out of her voice.
"I suppose we both did," laughed Loki a bit, smiling at her shock. "I honestly do not remember much. You fell asleep while I was reading to you, and then the maid came in to tell me that your bed was ready, but by then it seemed pointless to move you. Quite a funny girl, she seemed to find the situation rather laughable."
Cecelia hid a smile. She had a feeling she knew which maid had been the one to see her and Loki together in bed, and she was sure she would hear of it nonstop later.
"So, are you ready to get up?" asked Loki, raising himself slightly.
"Not yet," answered Cecelia sleepily, pulling him back to her. "Stay for a few more minutes. Why rush to be up so early?"
"I am in no rush," conceded Loki, lowering himself again.
Cecelia propped her head beneath her arm and reached out with her free hand to brush Loki's bedraggled hair out of his face. It was as soft as it had been the day before, albeit a little more messy after his sleep.
Loki gently closed his eyes as she smoothed his hair. Feeling brave, Cecelia reached around his face, cupping his chin in her hand. His face was smooth, as though he had only shaved the day before. Cleary he had not let all of his personal hygiene go while he had been bemoaning her silence the week before.
Loki opened his eyes to find her watching him intently.
"You seem to be watching me quite closely, miss," he growled, pulling her closer to him and wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Do you like what you see?"
Cecelia laughed, leaving his face and returning her hands to the softness of his black hair.
"I like it very much," she whispered seductively, leaning closer. She had no idea what she was doing, laying in such a way with a man she had only known for a few weeks, but something about Loki made her lose all sense of thought.
Loki smiled happily as if this answer pleased him. He was watching her eyes, but every once in awhile they would flick to her lips, as if he were trying to avoid it but his eyes were being drawn there anyway.
"What are you thinking about, Loki?" asked Cecelia, feeling she already knew the answer.
"I am thinking how very much I would like to kiss you again."
"Well then, why don't you?"
"I am waiting for you to say that I may. Some women, I have heard, do not like such things this early in the morning."
"Oh Loki," sigh Cecelia, touched by his considerateness. "I could never not want your feeling at anytime in the day."
"So that means I may kiss you?"
"Yes, of course you may."
Loki murmured in pleasure. He carefully angled himself closer to her, and Cecelia could feel her heart rate increase as he pulled her in even closer to his body, and lowered his lips to kiss her.
He did not kiss her lips at first, but rather the edge of her mouth, cheeks, and neck. He kissed her lightly all across her face so that she felt she was being tattooed across in kisses. When she could no longer stand the suspense, she turned her head, forcing him to meet her lips.
Their kisses were slow and delicate at first. Loki held her as though she was a china doll he was afraid might break at any moment. After a while their kissing became quicker and more passionate. Cecelia ran her hands along his back, pulling him closer to her, wanting to hold him as close to her as possible.
Their lips were glued together, moving in perfect sync. Cecelia could feel their combined energies pooling around them, connecting them as if by magic.
Loki gasped as he pulled away for a second, but Cecelia did not want him to leave that quickly. After he caught his breath she quickly pulled him down on top of her again, wanting him not to leave her. His hands cupped her face as he gently turned her head towards his and continued kissing her. Cecelia wished she could stay in the moment forever.
"Oh Cela," moaned Loki as the broke contact for a second between kisses. "I think I'm in love with you, Cela."
Cecelia gasped and pulled away, peering at Loki in the morning sunlight.
"What did you say?" she gasped, her breath short.
"I said I loved you," said Loki, with the utmost sincerity. "I've loved you since that day in the forest. And more every time since. I know it seems a little sudden, but I also know it is true. You are so spontaneous and adventurous and so many other things. I love everything about you, and I love you."
Loki leaned in after his speech, reaching for another kiss, but Cecelia pushed him away.
Loki opened his eyes, hurt evident on his features.
"Are you crazy?" she asked, shoving him off of her.
"What? What is the matter?"
"You have got to be kidding me, you can't love me, and we've only met for four days!"
Loki laughed. "But I do not need very long I suppose, to fall in love." His joy faded to sadness. "Don't you love me?"
"No, I do not," said Cecelia firmly, though her heart was screaming otherwise. "And you don't love me." She pushed herself away from him and got off the bed.
"Of course I do!" exclaimed Loki, hurrying after her. "Of course I do Cela!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" yelled Cecelia angrily, turning to face him. Loki jumped back at her tone. He was confused.
"What? Your name? Why shouldn't I call you that?"
"Because it is the name of a girl you think you love when you are wrong," snapped Cecelia meanly. Her heart was breaking at her words, at Loki's face. She wanted to stop hurting him, but there was nothing to be done; he was falling in love with someone who wasn't her. She had tricked him into loving a fake. It needed to stop.
Cecelia took a deep breath. She wiped her face with her hand; it felt hot and sticky from tense sweat and left-over makeup.
"You—you have freckles," said Loki suddenly, peering at her cheek.
Looking down at her hand in horror, Cecelia saw she had accidently wiped off some of her concealer.
"How much makeup are you wearing?" asked Loki.
Darn. She needed to get out of here fast, before he got a good look at her exposed face. She needed to end this.
"You don't know a lot about the real me," she said in a scarily even tone.
"But I want to!" cried Loki, and she was shocked to see he was near tears. He reached for her hand but she pulled it away. "Please, I want to know everything about you! I know that I love you; it only grows the more time we spend together! Please, let me get to know the real you!"
"You have already met the real me!" yelled Cecelia, frustrated. "And you didn't like what you saw."
Loki looked confused and hurt. She could see he had no idea what she was talking about, but she did not want to explain. If he loved her as much as he claimed to he would have realized who she really was.
"You don't love the real me, and you never could. That is why I cannot bring myself to love you in return. I am sorry, but I am afraid I can never see you again."
Cecelia turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
"NO!" cried Loki after her. "Please, come back!"
He rushed after her, but Cecelia was too fast. She ducked into the nearest servant's door and hid herself among the maze hidden within the castle.
She could hear Loki calling for her, but she didn't stop running. She felt tears streaming down her face, and she brushed them away roughly. Her heart felt as though it was being torn in half. She felt horrible for what she had said to Loki. It had been hard, but it had needed to be done. She could not let him think he loved a girl that did not exist. It would only lead to disappointment once he found out who she really was. This whole plan had been a mistake.
Dashing down Astiror's hall, she pulled open the door and dashed inside without looking around.
The door slammed shut behind her.
"Well, look who has decided to return from their night escapade," said a cold voice.
Cecelia turned around, and through her blurry vision, came face to face with her stepmother.
Edel was wearing a wicked smile. "I told you our little servant rat was getting a bit above her pay grade," laughed Edel to someone behind her.
Astiror walked out behind her mother. "And I suppose you were quite right. I never would have guessed such an awful thing would gather anyone's attention."
Cecelia stood there silently, too hurt to think of anything to say.
"I suppose you were too busy with your prince to hear our carriages pull up," said Edel, taking a threatening step forward. "Although how you managed to keep his attention so long really baffles me. There is nothing special about you in the least."
"How…?
"How did I know?" Edel finished. Cecelia nodded. "Dear, I have many ways of getting information. You need not tell me, your dress confirms it. You were the girl who caught Loki's attention the night of the ball, were you not?"
Cecelia felt helpless. All she could do was nod.
"I knew it," said Edel smugly. "I knew you were up to something that night. Something has been off about you ever since we got to this castle; you seemed to be even lazier and more distracted then usual."
"What do you want, Edel?" snapped Cecelia suddenly. Anger was boiling beneath the surface of her weakness and pain. She had been caught, and she knew it. She didn't know why Edel was dragging it out so long. Why didn't she just have her revenge and get it over with? What was her stepmother to gain from taunting her?
Edel's face turned a nasty shade of grey. "What I want," she whispered dangerously low. "Is of my concern. That is a plan long in the making that I do not have the time or care to explain to you."
Cecelia was utterly confused. As confused, she thought, as Loki had probably been when she'd turned on him so suddenly. She could feel more tears threatening to come with the thought of him.
"But for now, I will settle for your information. And my daughter wedding who is soon to be the most powerful man in the kingdom."
Astrior looked up in surprise. "Me? What? But Thor…"
"Oh no silly girl, Thor couldn't care about you in slightest, can't you see that?"
Astrior looked shocked, but she nodded solemnly. Even though the girl barely had two brain cells, even she could recognize the prince was not interested in her attempts.
"I was worried this might happen," said Edel, turning back to Cecelia. "Worried what might occur if my plan did not work out. If Thor did not fall for my daughter; the girl I had trained and plucked so perfectly to be the desire of any man in the land. But then, my darling Cecelia here, had to go behind my back and assure that everything was all right. Everything would work out. Such a dear, you didn't even know how much you were helping me, were you?"
Cecelia was now utterly shocked and completely out of it. "What do you mean?" She croaked. "I've done nothing to help you. Just like you've never tried to help me in my life."
"Tsk Tsk," tsked Edel. "Don't let your temper get away from you, lest you forget how much I helped you after your dear old father passed away. How much I took you under my wing then."
Cecelia let out a burst of laughter at that, but Edel ignored her as she turned back to Astiror.
"My daughter, don't you see? Our plan was for you to marry Thor, sure, but that is obviously not working. Now, you can take Cecelia's place, and marry Loki instead. Not a perfect arrangement I'll admit, but we'll make it work. You'll still have plenty of power and position to get a lot of things done around here."
Astiror and Cecelia had never agreed on anything in their lives, but it seemed in that moment that they could both agree Edel was crazy.
"What? Astrior pretend to be me?" snapped Cecelia, laughing heartily now at the thought of Astiror in a blonde wig, trying to dance her way through the forest with the prince. "She would never be able to pull it off. She looks nothing like me. It's almost as though we aren't really sisters." Cecelia smirked.
Edel only smiled. Then she lifted her hands. "Why of course, I forgot you didn't know."
And suddenly the room was filled with a golden light. The light first surrounded Cecelia, then left and wrapped around Astiror instead. When the light faded, Cecelia found herself staring at her twin.
"What?" she gasped, taking a step back and staring at her stepmother in horror. "You're a-a—"
"An enchantress?" finished Edel, smiling. "Why yes, I am. How astute of you to notice."
Astiror, meanwhile, was examining her appearance in the mirror.
"How did I never know…?" asked Cecelia, in shock.
"Well because I never saw fit to tell you, I suppose," laughed Edel, her cruel voice raising the hairs on Cecelia's arms.
"It still won't work," said Cecelia defiantly. "I told him things. About me. I told him my parents were dead—"
"Oh, so that's the story we're going with now then, is it?" Edel clapped her hands together delightedly. "Did you hear that, Astiror? Your parents are dead now. Both of them. You will tell the prince Igor and I adopted you, the poor orphaned friend of my beloved daughter, who unfortunately had to return to our home this week because she felt ill of being in the castle. Of course you came to visit her and at the ball, where you met and fell in love with Loki. Igor would never leave one of his fellow noblemen's daughters to fend for herself."
Cecelia's head was reeling with the new information she was taking in. If she hadn't seen it all for herself, if an exact copy of herself wasn't standing before her, she never would have believed it all.
Astiror paused in pushing her hair back. "I look different," she commented.
"Well of course you do, are you dumb, girl? I have enchanted you to look like Cecelia, the girl Loki fell for."
"I mean, I look different then I did at the ball. That girl didn't have freckles. Or eyes as bright."
Edel spun to face Cecelia. She peered intently at her makeup. "Well of course, you hid your identity quite well with all that makeup. You always had such a flair for it. I must say you could rival my magic at times." Edel turned back to her daughter. "Do not worry, Astrior. I will make you the spitting image of the girl Loki fell in love with. You will become—" Edel turned to Cecelia. "What name did you give him?" She barked.
"C-Cela," gulped Cecelia before she could think.
"Pitiful attempt to hide your poor identity, but fine." Edel turned back to Astrior. "You will become Cela. Cecelia will tell you all she has told the prince, whatever cock-and-bull story she cooked up to get him so hooked on her. You will go to him tomorrow, admit who you are, and marry the second prince of Asgard."
"She will not!" claimed Cecelia, drawing herself up in indignation. Edel turned slowly to face her. Her face was dangerously calm. "I will not help you trick Loki into marrying your filthy, stupid daughter, Edel, I won't do it. I won't tell you anything."
Edel smiled deeply. She walked carefully to Cecelia until their faces were inches apart. When she spoke, it was with an unearthly chill in her voice.
"I am a more powerful enchantress then you can ever fathom," she said. "I have done more terrible things then you could imagine. Have you ever wondered why your father fell for me so quickly? Surely you have realized I wasn't really the old fools' type. Same with Igor. Have you ever wondered why your father's heart gave out so suddenly? With some unknown illness no doctor could diagnose?"
Cecelia felt her knees weaken. Her father's death? Could Edel's magic have really been behind it the whole time? Edel's face was answer enough.
"There was a time when he was the one person you cared most about. And I took him from you. Now there is someone new you care about. I can take him just as easily. It will slow down my plans, to be sure, if I had to kill Loki of Asgard. But I would do it. My magic might work better on my own matches, but I could enchant Thor to fall for Astrior if I really worked for it. This just seems to work better in my favor. But I warn you, if you do not comply, do not do everything you can to make Astiror successful, as you always promised you would," Edel's smile encompassed her entire face now, a wide grin of malicious evil. "Then I will kill your beloved Loki."
Cecelia quaked under her stepmother's glare. With a final freezing stare, Edel turned back to her daughter.
"But, mother?" asked Astrior. Cecelia looked up to Astrior in desperation. Surly she could not stand by and let this happen.
"What is it?" snapped Edel.
"Mother, I want Thor. I want to be Thor's wife, please. I can't pretend to be Cecelia, Thor will notice I am missing." Astrior looked near to tears.
"Are you really that stupid? Surly you cannot believe Thor will notice anything. He has not given you the slightest thought the time you have been here, I doubt he knows your name."
Astrior turned back to the mirror, silent tears running down her—down Cecelia's—face.
"We will make this work," said Edel forcefully, to herself or to them, Cecelia couldn't be sure. "On Odin's life, we will make this work."
Cecelia could hardly believe she had awoke that morning feeling so safe and happy in Loki's arms.
A/N-Oh no! Things are getting bad...Keep reading and reviewing! Hearing what you guys have to say about updates keeps me writing! Thank-you for all of your support! :)