Chapter 49.
She sat in front of him on the horse, his arm around her and keeping her safely tucked close to him as he urged the horse to run faster. She squealed, her arms straining to keep close to him and he urged the horse across the field. Her fingers fisted his cloak, and he slowed the horse gently and it trotted along. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes shone with life, her shaking stopping as she caught her breath and he laughed.
"Did I do to much to thrill you My Dear?" He asked her and she let go of his cloak. She blushed, her face filled with mirth and she kissed him.
"I was only worried that you would run thos poor animal into eternity." She replied and he grinned. He felt it again, the sensation of something radiating from her skin and he frowned at it. She giggled then, causing him to forget it and he smiled down at his wife.
"I would never have done that, how would we get back?" He asked her and she blushed. Her hands folding neatly, and he watching her closely.
"I know, I would have missed everyone terribly." She said and he laughed at her. She gasped suddenly, holding her stomach and cried out in pain and she nearly slid from the saddle as her body went rigid. He held her, watching her breathe and she whimpered at the sudden onset of pain. Her fingers flexed again, tears streaming down her cheeks and she screamed.
"Norns! Floria!" He said and turned the horse, his worried for her and she held her stomach all the way back to the Castle. His heels dug into the horse's flanks and he pressed Neverwhere on, praying she was not dying and she went limp in his arms. His mind turned to the strange sensation her for from her, hoping to remember to ask the Healers to look for any magical influence that may be over her and he rode on. The horse protested, but pushed forward as if the animal sensed his urgency.
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"We still cannot say what it is My Prince." Eir said and wrung her hands. "We ran every test we could and found no reason for her illness. Her body is functioning as it should, she even shows that she is able to have children, but she still suffers through these pains. She also seems to be a bit delusional, expletives coming from her and awful threats. It is so unlike her, so to say."
"Are you sure? Did you check for Sorcery or some posion working an influence over her?" He demanded and Eir nodded, her face grim.
"There were no signs of such." She replied and she walked close to him. "I have called for Erus, the Master Sorceror. If this is Dark Magics, he will find it no matter how well the villian covered their ... We still must consider that she may be going mad."
"Do not jump to conclusions with this, madness can be controlled with certain options and rest. I will wait for Erus, I respect that man. He has written several great books that I have read, I praise your choice." Loki said and nodded to her. He felt a sense of great honor that she would ask the Legendary Master from his home, and to see his Wife. He was known among all as being able to stop a Dark Sorceror's spells, and could place protections over the victim of such attacks that would keep any further works from ever taking hold.
"He is the best, and I shall await his letter to see if her will come. We cannot keep her here though, she is screaming and throwing herself into a rage everytime an assistant approaches her. She is finally calmed enough to let us help her dress again." He said and he saw two women helping Floria to walk toward him. She still looked pained, and she trembled as she walked toward him.
"Please send for me as soon as you get word he is coming. I will write him as well to see if I can stress the urgency of this matter, better than you can." He said and Eir nodded that she would. Loki took Floria's hands, helping her to walk and he looked down at her pale forehead.
"I am so sorry." She said and gasped at another pain. Loki lifted her chin gently, looking into her eyes.
"You have nothing to fret over, don't worry." He said and she smiled up at him. Loki kissed her forehead, taking her along the halls and to his Chambers.
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"There is a certain slant of light to this Mother, I can feel it. No person I have ever known has just gone mad, I will find answers to this." Loki said, pacing in his sitting room as Floria slept on the bed behind the doors next to him. Sari took her dress from that day away to be laundered and he turned to look at Frigga. Her patient smile showing, and her silent concern evident in her demeanor.
"But Eir said she could find no reason for her being ill. If Erus does come, and she has no curse over her, it will be for nothing." She said and held her hands open. "He is an old man, and old men rarely like traveling far from home. Perhaps, you should come to accept That, this illness is of natural origins and keep her company. For the eventuality that she may leave you."
"I need to know it is nothing then, and I will not allow her to die! Please have faith on what I am saying, I can sense something on her. Something dark, but it is hiding in wait to strike." He said and Frigga took his hands, her eyes wide at the words he spoke.
"I know Dear and believe that you feel something, which is why I will write to him as well. There persons begging his presence here may do good, and I do hope and pray it is not mortal. We must find a reason for this and soon, I do not want any further suffering to befall her." She replied, her eyes saddened by the sudden onset of illnesses that was occuring for her new daughter. She embraced Loki, his hands on her back and she smiled at him.
"She is such a gentle natured girl, she embraced Lady Yolanda and suggested they be friends this very morning. Her kindness, and forgiving nature knows few bounds." Frigga said and Loki smiled at the praise of Floria. He looked out the window and sighed, folding his hands behind his back and closed his eyes for a moment. His heart was aching for answers, and he was so scared that she would be lost to him.
He turned to address Frigga again, and a scream echoed through the room from the bed next door. He ran, slamming the doors opened and he saw Floria on her knees and she was covered in sweat. The soft white silk shift that she wore was soaked from the waist down in blood and she was crying in pain. Her hands gripped at herself, and tried to stop the bleeding but the pain was too great.
"No. I don't want to die." She whimpered, her hands slipping between her legs and she screamed again as she fell to the mattress. Her body trembling as Loki ran to her and held her to him. Her hands and arms were covered in blood, the room thick with the smell and she cried out again with the pain that held her prisoner.
"I am here, what is wrong Floria?" He said to her and she moaned in pain, Frigga screaming in the other rooms for a healer.
"It... It hurts... my ssstomach." She gasped and Loki used some magic to stop the bleeding. Sari ran in and gasped in horror at the scene, running for cloths and towels to staunch to blood and clean her Mistress. Floria screamed, the pain becoming too much and passed into darkness. Loki holding her back to his chest as she went limp, his hands smoothed back her hair and he wanted to rage at what was happening to her. He would find the cause if he had to walk through Hel itself, and he would send the person who caused her suffering there as he traveled.
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Amora and Yolanda smiled as they watched the Princess suffer, a bit of anger as Loki cradled her in his arms but they celebrated the victory nonetheless. Both women knew that making the girl suffer would be easy, and now all they had to do was make Loki loathe her before they struck their final blow.
"Well done Sister." Yolanda said, taking the new posion ring and putting it on her finger. The toxin in it to ensure she was a Widow by sunrise, all her careful plans coming to fruition. Soon she would visit the suffering Floria again, pretend to be a friend and slip her another potion to rob her of her appetite and make her slip into an unmanageable madness.
"How far she reached, and how far she has to fall." Amora said, sipping a goblet of wine. She reclined in a chair and set her feet up, adding new ingredients to her potion to give her visions of Loki with a mistress. Another to add an uncontrolled rage to the soft and sweet girl, and she grinned to herself as the steam floated in a hazy mist.
"She is a Little Fool, and she will be brought to her own end. I have hated Odin and his lot since I was a child, and hope to see his family broken soon." Yolanda said and laughed with Amora.
"Of course. Now we drive her to madness and make sure that she pushes him away." Amora said, smiling at the potion and sent the spell she wove out over the city. The newly cleaned and calmed woman sleeping in the dimly lit room inhaling the new curse and not realizing the danger she was in.