Chapter 70.
The audience thundered out their applause, cheers as their new King sat upon his throne and Loki looked out upon them. He saw Floria, her face grim, but her hands meeting in applause. The adulation he had hoped for was not on her face and he frowned as he watched her. There was something about her that he tried to ignore, but it nagged at him.
"Everything is set for your Wife to be anointed as Queen in two days My King." The Councilman said, leaning over him and he nodded his approval. His eyes fixed on her and she looked away, Thor whispering something to her and she listening closely.
Something was being planned, he could sense it.
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The night dragged on, and the feast was attended by many persons. Floria was polite, nodding and smiling when she had to, but not truly present. Sari stood close to her, her daughter whimpering in the Maid's arms from being up far too late and she started yawning. Thor joined her, Sera and Velora watching how Loki imbibed and he laughed with Odin and Frigga.
"We are ready, are you?" Thor asked and Floria nodded, her heart pounding as she walked toward the table and curtsied. Loki looked at her, his eyes bleary with drink and he smiled at her.
"My beautiful Wife, bloomed from a seed into the delicate rose I see now." He said and pointed to a Guard. "Is she not a vision of perfection and grace. Intelligent, sweet, and so very gentle."
"She is all that My King." The Guard replied and Floria smiled softly, Loki gestured for her to speak and she gave another curtsy.
"Thank you for your generous praise My King. Our Daughter has grown so very tired however, and I ask your leave to tend to her and to kiss our Son goodnight." She said and he smiled at her and laughed, his cup hitting the table and he gestured for her to take her leave.
"Kiss them twice, once for me." Loki said and addressed the audience. "A gentle Mother, always with her mind set to the joy of her children."
His words rang in her ears, and she left with Sari behind her and saw Thor and Sera waiting in the hall. The women ran, racing through the halls and to the room they hid their acrotuments for their plan. The four women hurried, Sari running to get Falfar and they grabbed the bundle and began changing Floria into a plain, brown dress of wool and cotton.
"I have him." Sari said, entering with Falfar and the three women hid her gown and shoes in a closet. Floria took her son, cradling him close and they ran down the servant stairs to the kitchens. She stopped, kissing everyone and embracing them.
"Hurry, the carriage will take you there and you must remain in the house." Thor said and Floria nodded, she pressed a purse of gold into her hands and she tucked it away. She almost ran to the coach, stopping when Sera grabbed her wrist.
"You left a jeweled comb on your hair. You must not take anything." She said and Floria pulled it from her hair, giving it to Sari. She gave the girl a final embrace, the door behind them opening and she ran for the coach. They opened the doors, letting her climb up and she froze, looking back at the Castle and blinking.
"We will come in four days, when all is calmed and we will be able to move freely. There is food enough for all of you, and other provisions." Thor said, and she sat next to her daughter. The wooden bench was far from the luxury of a Royal Carriage, and she settled her infant son in her lap.
"Be very careful, this is treason and I am afraid for all of you." She said and the women stepped back from her ride to freedom. The Coachman cracked the reins, and she saw the lights of the castle fade into the distance. She rested her head back, a tear falling from her eye and she looked down at the plain dress she wore. She sighed, holding her daughter with one arm and let herself attempt to relax her tense muscles.
"What have I done?" She asked the empty space, the darkness closing around her, and she fought the urge to tell the man to turn it around and take her back. She felt a tightness in her chest, and another tear escaped her eyes.
The night was quiet, but the castle would soon be in chaos looking for the Missing Queen and Children.
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"How could anyone have slipped her past the Guards, I thought that all the gates were secured for the evening!" Loki shouted, the Castle in a stir as people rushed to and fro, two Guards escorted Sari toward him and the girl curtsied with shaking hands.
"The Maid My King." One said and she looked about her in worry.
"You were the last to see Floria and Alarea, do you have any information that would help us find them?" He asked and the girl shook her head, she looked down and started to weep.
"No my King, she dismissed me to go to my rest. I left as she tucked the child in and heard nothing, she is my friend and I pray she is found safe." She said and began to sob into her hands. Loki put a hand on her shoulder, his pity for the girl evident and she looked at him.
"I pray the same as well, my children are missing as well. They will be found, and all involved executed." Loki said and dismissed her. She left, running and Frigga walked toward him with a rose colored gown in her hands. Her face was grim, and Lady Velora wept as she stood next to the former Queen.
"Find my daughter My King, I will die of heartbreak at losing her." The woman wept, holding the gown and cradling it in her hands. Loki stepped forward, taking it from the stricken woman and he looked at it in fear. The last gift he had given to her, a crumpled mess and soaked in tears.
"Where was this found?" He asked Frigga and she looked at him.
"Off the Servant's stairs. In a small room with her jewels, why would they not take the items of value?" Frigga said and Loki crushed the gown in his hands. Velora wept on, and her fingers held a handkerchief.
"Because I no longer think her taken." Loki said and gritted his teeth. "It seems that my Wife has taken our children and run away."
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They arrived at the small, two room farmhouse and entered it silently. She looked about it, bolting the doors and looking in the bedroom she would share with the children. She lay Falfar down on the smaller bed, making sure he was comfortable and Alarea sucked her fingers as she looked around.
"Want Papa." She said and frowned, her small face screwing up and she starting to cry.
"We cannot go back Darling, Mama will be in a great deal of trouble with Father." Floria said, picking up the toddler and laying her down on the other bed. The little girl shook her head, pulling at Floria's sleeve and whimpered.
"Sway Sowwy." She said and yawned and Floria shook her head.
"I do not think he will accept an apology this time Dear. Sleep now, all will be better in the morning." She said and the little girl started to cry, rolling on her side and ignoring her Mother.
"Want Papa." She whimpered, and Floria sighed and sat on the larger bed for her. She stared at the shuttered window, unable to sleep out of fear that every sound outside was Loki coming to strike her down and take her children back to the Castle. She wondered if it did happen, if she would be able to plead for mercy or if her lamentations would fall on deaf ears. She looked at the small candle on the table, watching it burn down and felt a tear fall down her cheek. She wiped out away, feeling something brush against her fingers and her heart stopped. She felt upwards, feeling the earrings in her hands and she nearly screamed at forgetting to remove them in her rush to escape. She prayed they were not enchanted, and took them off and placed the house to find a place to hide them.
She took the candle, and went into the main room. Near the fireplace there was a crockery jar on the mantle, she opened it and found it empty. She put the purse and the earrings in it, closing it and replacing it. She placed, worrying at her thumb with her teeth and he heard a branch snap outside. She ran to the window to see what caused it, finding nothing and she shook in fear for her life. She returned to the room, sitting on the bed and jumping at every sound she heard.
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Loki paced his Chambers, the wine having worn away hours ago and he waited for any word about where she had run to. He held the gown in his hands, casting it aside and it lay against the wall in a heap. She had said she wanted to leave, and she made good on her word. He heard the doors open, Frigga walking in and she looked at Loki in sadness.
"There is no further sign of her, are you sure she had run away?" Frigga asked and he turned and glared at her.
"She said she wanted to leave, she said that she was afraid of me. Now, I am truly the force she should fear, for everything I have handed to her is gone! That girl will know no mercy, as I am no longer her comfort but now her master!" He shouted, his calm slipping and Frigga jumped at his shouting.
"And now you see the source of her fear." She said and she looked at him. "For all you have given her, she has given you so much more. Birthing your Daughter nearly killed her, yet she bore the responsibility to give you a son. She has given you so much happiness, praising you even, looking past the faults, and you shouted at her for asking you to spare her children the sadness of being trapped in marriage without love. How dare she, I have seen her beg you time and time again for the smallest favors, and you were blind to them. She was even trapped in a curse, and you did not see it until she was nearly destroyed."
"Do not lecture me, I put my faith and trust in her and she cast it on the floor." He hissed and Frigga picked up the leather volume that Floria had written her most private thoughts in, handing it to him and he took it from her.
"Perhaps, you should read as I did, it was most enlightening." Frigga said, her lips tight and he looked at the journal. She gave him a curtsy, stepping away from him and looking at the door.
"She will pay for abandoning me..." He started and ge wanted to throw the journal into the fireplace. Frigga stopped him before he said more, her hands folding and she looked at him in a calm demeanor.
"Who abandoned who first?" She asked, and Loki looked at the book, opening it to a marked page and began reading. He sank to a chair, Floria's mind, her sadness, her pain, and all her worries opening to him. And the one hurting him most, the realization that she never wanted to bother him with them. Nor did she think he would care, for she could not heal or sooth away his troubles and pain anymore.
I have failed him again, and he does not speak to me. Thor has touched my body, and now I am a disgusting and awful thing again. Why do I feel as though I am property again? Why does he not smile at me anymore?
He read, his eyes filling with tears and her heart opened to him until the last entry:
He is to be King now, and I am so very afraid. I was not taught how to be a Queen, and out Daughter will have so much put upon her small head. My Son will ascend, and I will be the lost woman standing in the shadows. It breaks my heart, and I shake with fear that he will never love me again. For so many more will love him, and seek his attentions. I am told that I will sleep in these Chambers alone, that it is my duty to look away when he entertains other Ladies. I cannot bear it, and now I am so very afraid because he only shouts at me. Barking orders as if I am his slave and not his Wife. I leave tomorrow night, and face execution for this treason, my body and children nothing more than property to be used at other's whims. I pray I am never found, but if I am, and killed for my actions, I will watch over my children from afar and ensure they always find happiness.
Loki closed the book, his hand resting on top of it and he closed his eyes. Everything he read, every last word all the things he ignored and now regretted. He sat in silence, and he heard the door open and close. Sari walked around the chair, her hands folded and she curtsied to him. He saw the sun rising outside the window, and she picked up the gown to take it to the laundress after leaving the breakfast tray on the table. She picked up the Jewels, and he stopped her. His eyes narrowed at them and he opened her hands, something missing from the array of stones and gold in front of him. He thought about it, and his eyes widened and he grinned.
"My King?" Sari asked him and he walked and turned his back to the girl. Sadness was not in her eyes, but fear and she closed her hands over the gems and trembled. He lifted a finger, looking back at her and she swallowed hard.
"She still has the earrings Sari, I can find her. Now, be a good little Maid and tell me where your Mistress has run away to." He said and Sari shook her head.
"I do not know where she is Sir, she did not tell me a thing of her plans." She said and Loki narrowed his eyes at the girl. He took a step toward her and he grabbed her arm, slapping his hand against her forehead and flashes of information filled his mind. The directions to the hovel she hid in among them, and the girl she blinked in fear.
"You were part of the conspiracy, now if you don't mind, I have a Wife and Children to collect." He said and walked toward the door. She ran after him, her eyes filling with tears and she grabbed his arm.
"Please don't kill her, she was protecting your children and nothing more." Sari begged him, he shrugging her off and he gestured for the Guards.
"Come with me, and have my horse saddled. I know where she is, and will need you to assist me in bringing them back here." He said, Sari shaking in the hall.