Chapter 8.

He woke first, laying on his back and the sunlight dancing through the window. He looked down at his chest and saw a head of brown hair laying there, the part shining in the light and a soft hand near his shoulder. He grinned to himself, and sighed as the need to get up and leave for the castle irritated him but pulling him from the plesant feeling near him. He gave her a gentle shake, and she stirred a bit, settling back against him and shifted.

"Floria, we have to go. I was to have you back at the Castle last evening, Frigga is bound to worry about her Ward." He said and she whimpered and sat up. She looked down at him, a sleepy smile on her face and she blushed at realizing she was still in the bed wirh him.

"I thought you would leave." She said and he laughed.

"No. You were comfortable and draped over me." He said and something stirred in him as she flushed a deeper red. She covered her face with her hands, and he looked at her in worry.

"I should not have had you stay in the bed with me." She said and he shrugged.

"You were cold, and I slept on the floor. Should anyone ask." He said and she nodded. He got up, and she lay back on her side under the blankets, he streched and looked back as her. "Don't go back to sleep Nightengale, we have a long ride back."

"Yes Sir." She said and he collected his boots and armor to dress in the Bathing Chamber. Affecting a limp as he walked, making sure everyone he crossed paths with knew he had slept on the floor.

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As soon as they arrived back as the castle, Floria was summoned away to meet with Frigga and she ran through the gates. Her nervous glance back spoke volumes, and he sighed at the knowledge of what she now faced. She would be whispered about, the venomous tounges wagging already and he had done that to her. The boy came and took his horse away, and he walked the halls to his chambers to clean himself before visiting Frigga. Possibly continuing to aid Floria in rescuing her virtue by lying that he slept on the floor, and further denying any improper act occurred.

"Loki!" Thor said and ran over, he slapped him on the back with a grin and winked. "Finally beat me to the girl? How was she?"

"She slept like a child at peace Thor. I slept on the floor however, and am a bit sore from that." Loki replied and ignored the incredulous look on his face. Thor doubled over in laughter, waving a hand and walking toward him.

"It is true then, you wouldn't know what to do with a girl if she lay on your bed in the nude." He laughed, and watched as Fandral walked up with a smirk.

"Seems someone is limping for good reason." Fandral said and Thor stopped him.

"Oh no! He was incapable of doing the deed! He slept on the floor! " Thor howled, Fandral laughing with his friend.

"You still have a chance to be the first man to plow the field then Thor." He snickered, Loki clenching his fists and felt his nails dig into his palms.

"Unlike the two of you, I do not like to leave a girl with no hope of redeeming herself after a romp!" He shouted, glaring at the both of them. "How many girls have the two of you ruined by claiming their virtue, and how many more will you before your sins haunt you?"

"Nine Hels Loki." Thor groaned, trying not to laugh more. "You sound like Mother, always worried about a girl and who is a nice one and who is not. You should worry about your little friend figuring out your secret. You have told her that you are Jotun?"

"I am half, and that is none of your concern. I will warn her away from you." Loki hissed, pushing a finger into Thor's face. "You stay away from her, or do you still want to frighten her back into her shell?"

"You fancy her then?" Fandral challenged and a thought crossed his mind. He laughed at the statement, looking disgusted.

"I am a Prince, Fandral. Rutting with a Slave Girl is like rutting with a pig. I would not debase myself in that manner, and would look down upon anyone who would." He said and laughed as her turned, standing in the hall behind him was Frigga and her Maids. And to his horror, Floria was with her and staring at the ground. His moment ruined by seeing the girl turn in her pale green day dress and running back along the halls.

"Floria!" Frigga shouted and glanced at Loki. "Well, we see now how little you think of her. It is a pity that I was going to ask you to be her escort to the banquet in two days."

"Like he would be seen with, what was It? A pig?" Thor laughed and walked away, Frigga passing him and her Maids following her. He stood quietly, looking at his hands and wanted to beat something. His anger was at a peak, and he turned on his heel and walked back to his chambers alone.

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She did not return to her chambers for the rest of the day, or at any time that night. Loki paced, and checked before sitting in a chair before the fire, only finding a neatly made bed whith no occupant in it. He groaned to himself, not knowing that she had run back to Frigga's chambers and thrown herself onto the chaise and sobbed in grief.

He did not know how Frigga tried to console her, but she only lay so still on the chaise. Her eyes puffy from weeping and she was left to rest, her heart broken for the loss of her friend. The Queen covered her in a blanket, and she slept in front of the fire in peace. Not a soul bothering her as she dreamed of sadder times, and of all she had lost.

She woke before dawn, and made her way through the halls to her chambers. There, she took off her dress and lay between the sheets, falling back into dreamless sleep. She woke a few hours later, two of the Queens Maids helping her dress and arranging her hair for the day. She left after making her bed, and a short time after Loki entered to speak to her and found the empty bed. His eyes scanning for any sign she returned, and finding none.

He returned to his chambers, sitting back in his chair and looking into the fire. A letter from Frigga arriving to inform him, that he would still be escorting Floria to the Banquet as planned. He balled the page in his hand and threw it into the fire, watching it catch and burn.

His guilt had gotten the better of him, but Thor always managed to find a way to humiliate him. And now his actions left him without her, or her soft and gentle nature. He would have to be honest with her, and then to himself. But first, he had to mend a broken heart.