Author's note: Hello hellooo gorgeous people, here is a new chapter to make the last day before the weekend a bit easier ;) I hope you are doing well! Enjoy.
Solweig was lying on her bed when she heard a loud thud and footsteps hurrying in the corridor. Muffled conversations from which she grasped only snatches made her stand up. It was prince Loki's birthday and according to the time it was, the official festivities must have ended. She expected to spend the night alone in the slaves' quarters as she knew all of his concubines were expected to join the afterparty in the prince's chamber, an event that often turned into some kind of libidinous orgy only Asgardians could think of.
She pressed her ear against the wooden door, trying to figure out what was happening outside. A female voice was audible and sounded like she was arguing. Words such as "unfair" and "spoiled" arrived to her and she frowned as she heard a male voice telling her to calm down.
Solweig almost fell on the ground as the door suddenly opened, Kleve appearing in the doorframe, her face showing extreme discontentment. She handed a dress to the girl before saying harshly.
"Prince Loki is expecting you. Now."
She slammed the door shut in the face of the former princess who was stunned. Why would Loki want to see her? Would she be released tonight? She shook her head a little, briskly taking off her own clothes and sliding into the fabric that she'd been given. She looked at herself in the mirror and brushed her hair in an attempt at looking decent. The dress was long and green, hanging from the shoulders by two golden and finely decorated clasps. The colour complimented her skin tone. She opened the door again, only a few minutes after she had been ordered to change.
In the hallway, all the concubines were staring at her, seemingly as dumbfounded as she felt. She searched for Erik's gaze but he did not glance back, his grasp on Daia's shoulders, as if to hold her back. The girl's hand was wrapped into a red stained linen. Blood, Solweig thought, her eyes staring at the bandage for a while before looking up and noticing that Daia was shooting her a murderous look.
"You really can't help but to make it all about yourself, can you?!" squealed Daia as Solweig was getting closer. "Everything for the poor Vanir princess" she added sneeringly.
"Behave Daia" threatened Kleve from down the hallway.
The brown-haired girl was now facing Solweig in the middle of the corridor, blocking the way as she successfully extricated herself from Erik's grasp. Solweig really tried not to roll her eyes, lifting her chin instead as she walked around Daia and ignored her elegantly. The girl spitted: "You think you're so much better than us…"
Solweig stopped, her back now turned to the girl and the rest of the concubines. She had no idea what was about to happen but she had a bad feeling. All her muscles were tensed, as if ready to fight. Soon enough was the slave already hurling another unpleasant comment at her.
"You think he cares about you, don't you?" she asked nastily.
"Stop it Daia" whispered Erik.
Solweig turned around, facing the girl and the rest of the crowd, her back towards the entrance of the slaves' quarters. She shot the girl a disdainful smile.
"Are you scared I'd steal your precious master's attention from you?"
Daia's face contorted in anger as she reached for the Vanir girl, suddenly grabbing her by the collar, her eyes shooting daggers before she whispered, so quietly that only the two of them could hear: "Ask him what he was doing the night you were beaten up"
She was so close to Solweig's face now that the blond girl could smell the sweet scent of wine in her breath.
"Did you know he was the one who sent King Harald to the barn?" she added before giving her a sardonic smile. "I was there you know… He asked me to help him"
Solweig jolted backwards, shaking her head in disbelief. Loki had claimed her purposefully so she would be safe, away from that animal… He couldn't have possibly done that.
Daia kept her eyes on Solweig's and she was pleased to find fear. She brought her face closer as to murmur:
"Oh... Am I crushing your little fairy tale? You thought it was an accident?"
She laughed scornfully as the Vanir girl pushed her brutally on the ground.
Solweig's mind went blank as the proceedings of that night's events played on a loop in her mind. The golden hair of her mother, the pang she'd felt when she left, asking her to wait. Harald's fists on her back, her cheeks, her sides as he hit her, punch after punch. The excruciating pain she felt when she tried to crawl away from him, his breath on her neck as he was lowering his pants. The sound of people rushing into the barn as her mind fell into darkness, black screen before her eyes. She thought she had died.
"Who knows, maybe he even stayed to watch? Maybe he likes you better covered in bruises, princess"
Solweig raised her arm, ready to slap some courtesy into that whore.
Her gesture was stopped half way through the air as she was lowering her hand.
"Enough!" ordered a forceful voice behind her and she turned around to see the God of mischief holding her wrist.
Kleve gasped, a hand on her mouth. All concubines stared at Loki's sudden appearance in their quarters, holding their breath at once as if stupefied. Solweig swallowed with difficulty as she had almost forgotten how tall he was.
The prince breathed in, raising his head with authority while scanning the hallway with an irritated look. "I came to see why it took so long for my wishes to be granted… Only to find two of my slaves fighting like roosters in a yard"
His jaw was clenched in disapproval. He let go of Solweig's wrist and glanced at her. "You, in my room, immediately! And you!" in turned to Daia, his tone furious. "You and I will have a word tomorrow"
"I am extremely displeased Kleve" he said before turning around and grabbing Solweig by the arm as she was still standing there. He dragged her out of the corridor, all the way to his apartments.
Once they reached his bedroom, het let go of her and she massaged her arm which was aching from his grip.
"She provoked me-" she started, feeling the need to justify herself as she was embarrassed that he'd caught her in the act of losing her temper.
"Is this how you would react to your people in Vanaheim? They tell you something you disapprove of and you would slap them in the face?"
She opened her mouth, ready to argue because clearly, Loki was not famous for his anger-management skills but she refrained herself. Instead, she looked at him as he was closing the door behind them, his back turned to her. She needed to know the truth before what might or might not follow. After her last conversation with Erik, she had given some serious thought to what he'd told her. Weeks after their argument, she considered herself ready to make an extra step to meet the prince halfway but not if he was being dishonest.
"She told me you sent King Harald to the barn"
He froze and her throat tightened.
"I did" he declared coolly before turning around, holding her gaze.
She felt her chest constricting and the urge to cry overpowered her.
"Why?" she whispered, her eyes widened in distrust. "Why?! " she cried out, searching for an ounce of remorse on his face but finding none.
"I thought I would die" her voice broke and her eyes welled up with tears. He tried to reach for her but she pushed him away. "Don't touch me" she yelled, hiding her eyes behind her fingers as tears were running down her cheeks.
"I trusted you" she squawked, her shoulders shaking. "All those years, even though you proved to be deceitful and... insidious..." she sniffed, biting her lower lip as if to control the sobs that were making her chest quiver. "Somehow I thought... I thought that you would never seriously harm me" she howled tragically.
"Sólveig listen to me" he ordered. She pushed him away as he tried to reach for her again. "Listen to me" he gripped her wrists and tried to remove them from her face but she debated herself fiercely. "I'm sorry" he whispered but she hit him on the arms and chest. He hugged her close. She kept fighting for a while until he held her so strongly that she could do nothing else than sob uncontrollably in his arms. Between two hiccups, she asked whether he liked to see her hurt, whether it turned him on, which truly made her feel more miserable but she couldn't control her speech anymore. "I should have probably married Thor after all, he would have taken better care of me." She wanted to upset him, to bring him to the edge and to push him over the cliff. Instead, he did nothing, keeping his arms around her as she wailed for what seemed like hours, wiping out all the frustration she had accumulated in weeks.
He held her tight until he felt her body relaxing against his. She had rested her forehead against his chest, as if in resignation and he was resting his head on hers, breathing the smell of her hair before asking in her ear: "Can we talk?"
She nodded and exhaled as she felt a sense of relief from her outburst.
"Have you eaten tonight?" he asked first, gesturing at the table where food was lying. She nodded and he led her towards the sofa, sitting her down before taking place next to her. She shivered and he asked whether she was cold, which she was. With a movement of the hand he made a blanket appear around her.
He rubbed his face with one hand and she thought he looked exhausted and old. For the first time, she realised how ancient they both truly were, acting like teenagers even though they already lived hundreds of years. He asked her if she wanted a drink and she nodded, for she felt like all the water in her body had been shed with her tears.
"I owe you an apology" he started, falsely contemplating the liquid within his mug as if to give himself some composure. A brief pout settled on her mouth for she expected him to finally say something sarcastic that would make his amends worthless.
"Thor and I have been searching for a way to counter Odin's plan all along. We were far from imagining that finding a satisfactory solution for the long term would prove to be so difficult… We could not simply hide you somewhere and wait for the Allfather to forget you ever existed…"
He sighed. "On that night, I caught that vicious elf red-handed trying to sneak in the servants' quarters, drunk out of his mind. It gave me the idea to use his own weaknesses to our advantage… My initial plan was to take King Harald's shape and simply let him take the blame"
He was quiet for a moment, still inspecting the inside of his cup.
"When I saw you waiting in that barn, obediently waiting for me disguised as your mother to come back I just... I couldn't bring myself to do it. I guided Harald to you instead"
She looked at him, met his gaze for a second before he looked away.
"So to answer your question, no it doesn't turn me on to hurt you Sólveig. At least not this way…" he had a small smile, as if he'd found his last comment rather witty but she ignored it. Considering who he was, she was already grateful for his sincerity.
"Why claiming me then?"
"Believe it or not but I felt pretty miserable"
"So that's the reason? You wanted to redeem yourself?"
He gave her an inquisitive look. "Is that what you want to know? Yes, that is one reason why I did it"
She averted his glance and instead looked at her own hand holding the mug he had given her.
"You pitied me…"
He frowned, genuine.
"It is not pity Sólveig. I felt a lot of things about you: curiosity, lust, affection… exasperation sometimes… but pity was never one of them"
She blushed at his words.
"Why did you summon me tonight?" she whispered.
"Ah!" he laughed and she realised for the first time that he was slightly drunk. "I think I missed you"
She glanced at him again.
"Why not summoning me before?"
"Do you think I remained in Asgard all this time?"
She raised her eyebrows, confused.
"You might not be aware of this my sweet girl, but I'm an extremely busy god. Especially when my weekly routine includes saving a gorgeous princess from the Allfather's evil plan"
She smiled, a bit light-headed, from the wine or from his praising.
"I thought you were angry with me" the girl whispered.
Loki glanced at her, serious and asked her if she was. Solweig took a while to respond as if what she was about to say was meant to be said with care. After a few minutes she replied that she had missed him very much, and that her resentment had soon been replaced by an empty space. Loneliness had settled and the assumption that he might never call for her again had frightened her.
The raven-haired prince reached for her hand and brought it to his face, kissing it tenderly. He said against her palm that he would never abandon her. A small moan came out of her throat as she shut her eyes, enjoying the light brush of his lips against her skin.
She asked him when he planned on releasing her and he said he would do so once the first buds would show in Asgard's trees.
"So we have three months" Solweig whispered, opening her eyes again, studying him as he nodded quietly. It was about time, she thought. It was time to start over.
She pushed away the blanket and stood up. She positioned herself in front of him, reaching for the golden clasps on her shoulders. The green dress fell at her feet, revealing her naked body to the raven-haired prince. She kneeled before him.
"I will be good now sir. I promise"
