Author's Note: Thank you for your patience. Although I have loved writing for as long as I can remember, I can't say I've ever written anything particularly mature themed (dark and gory yes, but sexual not so much), so any feedback is appreciated. This story is mostly practice anyway so I can get better at it while working on the novel I'm writing, anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 7 - Healing
By the time Amber returned to the room a while later, her cold wet hair twisted into a fishtail braid behind her head, and in considerably more clothes than she had been in previously, Loki looked an entirely different man than the injured bird with broken wings she had found a couple nights before, and this was the first time she had been given the opportunity to consider just how handsome he was.
He had used his magic to right his clothing and fix his hair, now slicked back from his face. When she walked into the room he looked at her grinning like the cat that ate the canary and Amber was entirely unconvinced that Loki had not conjured the vision before just to mess with her.
She trailed back into the room with small scissors, a butter knife, a piece of scrap metal from her garage, and a Dremel tool. "I think it's time we free you from some of this casting too since your bones seem to be doing well enough on their own." she said, setting everything down and taking a deep breath before moving near him.
She pulled back the robe from his chest again and set to work removing the bandages. Once she had unwrapped his cuts, she was amazed by just how well he had healed, it wasn't just that the burns had evaporated before her eyes earlier, or even that the deep gashes had healed in a matter of two days, but now that she examined him more carefully, the only indication the skin on his chest had ever been marred in the first place was the black stitches standing starkly against the pale perfect skin of his chest and side.
She snipped each of the stitches with the scissors before pulling the stitches free and even the small pinprick holes from the stitches seemed to close before her eyes. "Asgardians must heal really fast," she said in wonder.
"Not typically quite this quickly," Loki stated, watching her work. "I would like to think the excellent care I am receiving seems to be speeding things along," he teased.
Amber scoffed slightly, and then moved to the cast on his hand.
"How exactly do you plan on getting that off of me?" Loki asked curiously. He had been injured plenty of times before, but never badly enough to need Midgardian forms of medicine. Usually he would have been put in a healing pod on Asgard if it were that severe, but he supposed they didn't have that kind of technology here yet.
In answer, Amber picked up the metal plate and slid it down his hand inside of the cast and then flicked the switch on the Dremel tool, bringing it to life. Loki's eyes widened briefly as she brought it down to the cast, but relaxed when he realized what the metal plate was for. She cracked open the cast around his hand before using the dull butter knife to protect each of the casted fingers in turn before cutting the cotton batting with the scissors and freeing his hand from the casting material.
Loki flexed his fingers experimentally, he could move them, but they were sore and stiff, though that would go away soon enough.
Amber moved the metal plate down and stuffed it down the top of the cast, along the side of Loki's leg, slicing down the side of the cast from hip to the heel of his foot, and then around his ankle, to separate the foot piece from the rest of his leg. She used the plate to slice down the top of the foot, then the knife down the side of his foot before sliding it off and moving up to the rest of his leg. When she tried to open it, however it became obvious that a single cut would not open it all the way. Amber considered her options before glancing up at Loki. "We have two options, I can either try to pry this open, which may hurt, or I can make another cut, but I would have to start it up on the opposite side as this cut," looking pointedly at his lap for a moment.
"As tempting as that offer is, pet, I would prefer if we keep the power tools away from my family jewels. I can take the pain," Loki said, eyes wide.
Amber chuckled lightly before putting the plate and Dremel tool to the side and grasping the sides of the cut down the cast near his knee, swiftly pulling it apart until she heard it crack, before moving up near his hip and doing it again, and a third time down by his calf. True to her word, the process wasn't pleasant, Loki thought, but before long she was able to slip it down his leg, and the freedom felt serene.
Amber carried the pieces of cast and the tools out of the room and returned with a warm wet rag, washing first his hand, then his leg, and the warmth had Loki closing his eyes in comfort again. Something about this odd girl just seemed to put him at ease.
When she was done she looked back up at Loki, "Feeling better now?" she asked. In answer, Loki waved a finger in a half circle and a stray lock of hair that had escaped Amber's braid was swept behind her ear with magic. The touch had Amber drawing in her breath in surprise, she still wasn't used to being around someone else as sturdy as she was, let alone someone who could use magic like she could, and it was altogether unsettling, but she was getting used to it.
"I'll take that as a yes," Amber said with a smile in her eyes as she walked off to go get some food.
After they ate, Amber took up her place at the canvas again, now that the light was high in the sky, and Loki had been cleaned up and healed, she had to admit that the sight of him was far more striking than she had originally even thought.
Loki sat and watched her paint, enraptured by every movement of the paintbrush on the canvas, wondering exactly what she would capture of him on the canvas. It took a discerning eye to capture him effectively in paint. He had only one painting of all the ones commissioned by artists over the years as a member of the Asgardian royal family that he actually liked. It captured him, standing in his full armor, helmet and all, arms spread wide glancing up at the stormy sky as though daring his brother to interfere with his day, sword in one hand, dagger in the other. His father had wanted to hang that painting in the great hall alongside the others of their family, but Loki had snatched it away and it adorned the wall in his bedroom instead. It had captured him so well that he felt as though displaying it to the world would be like laying his soul naked and bare for the world to see. He had always had an appreciation for good artists, the command they had over color and style seemed to breathe life into flat images.
After a while, Amber got too warm with the number of layers she had put on in her earlier embarrassment and she stripped off her sweatshirt and long-sleeved shirt, leaving her in only a camisole. Loki let out a low whistle at the sight. "I almost can't tell which is supposed to be the art," Loki jested, "You, or the canvas."
Amber flushed red, but laughed slightly, rolling her eyes as the tension melted from her shoulders.
After long they were chatting again while she painted. Amicably telling stories and joking around like old friends, the rest of the day seeming to pass by in the blink of an eye. After dinner, Amber bid Loki goodnight before returning back to her bedroom to contemplate this strange connection between her and the god of mischief.
Amber slept fitfully that night, plagued by that vision she had shared with Loki running over and over in her mind. The dream was so vivid she could have sworn she could feel his eyes on her, hear his rich chuckle as his every touch brought every dark corner of her very soul alive. Details she hadn't noticed before sprang forth, this time from her own eyes instead of his.
Loki was bare from the waist up, his torso lean and lightly muscled. His legs, clad in tight leather pants, unbuttoned at the waist, were between her own, spreading her thighs with his knees while his hands explored freely. She could feel her body respond to his touch, arching her back as his fingertips danced over the peak of her breasts teasingly as his lips followed before twisting in her curls, grabbing a fist full of hair near the base of her skull with his right hand and pulling her head to the side to bare her neck before him as he nipped right where her neck and shoulder met, in a way that she thought was sure would leave a bruise.
She could feel his amusement at the thought of marking her as his own. The ringing of swords and the shouts of soldiers sparring grew louder and was accented by the loud clap of a thunderbolt as Loki's magic swung the rich curtains shut, muffling the noises and she could feel her own magic rise in return, building a barrier to the sound as the candles flickered to life around them.
She could see the animalistic urgency in his eyes as he reached down and pulled his pants down a couple more inches, effectively freeing himself from them before descending on her like a wolf who hadn't seen a meal in days.
She woke just past dawn, a her own screaming orgasm ringing in her ears. Her eyes shot open in surprise just in time to see a flicker of green mist disappearing through her closed bedroom door.