A/N: Guys, I know it's been too long, and I apologize! Here's the next chapter, a little short but gearing up for some interesting things to come *maniacal laugh* We're far from over. Also, I again apologize for the long wait, but I rewrote this like five times before I was happy with it. ENJOY!
Loki hadn't heard a peep from her all afternoon. Strange, since she usually got into some kind of mischief or another. She had a strange propensity for ruining tables with ink spots, as well as pulling books out onto her own head. He tapped a finger on the table before him, wondering whether or not he should go after her. It seemed she had either had an uneventful or clumsy afternoon, or... something might be wrong. He shouldn't have left her, but this meeting couldn't wait.
What if, again, his absence caused her distress? There were so many variables to how that woman reacted around him. First, a fireball, then a scared little imp. How would she react to a danger beyond her knowledge?
Loki smiled softly despite his growing anxiety. He knew, very well, how the Nancy he'd first met would react to such a threat. She would hit, kick, and punch until she had no strength left in her body. Just as she had done to him their first time in each other's company. Memories he treasured fondly.
But, now... now he had changed her. Not for the better, he assumed. A warped moral code led to the destruction of all he held dear. Ever since that day on Jotunheim, everything he ever loved had been ripped from his grasp as soon as he realized how much he cared for it. A trick of fate, perhaps, or a curse laid in fallow ground by the Allfather himself. Either way, he didn't have a good feeling about Nancy's silence today.
Loki held up a hand to signal a stop to his advisors' chatter, and stood from his chair. "I say we adjourn for the day, and revisit this in the morning when we've all had a good night's rest. Traitors are no small matter." With a nod, he dismissed them all and turned to find his woman. The fact his pets and his collar hadn't alerted him bothered him endlessly. What in blazes could she be up to?
A smile spread on his lips as he walked. Whatever it was, wouldn't she be surprised to see him? He hardly ever managed to pull himself from these strategy meetings any more. He knew she missed his presence, as he missed hers.
In the past, he should have made more time to remain by her side, but this whole traitor business kept him busy and occupied. Besides, until recently, he hadn't realized what she truly meant. Curses on his skewed emotions! Why could he not have been born a war-crazy hero, like his half-brother? At least Thor knew enough to recognize when he loved a mortal and to act on it accordingly, not subject her to the harshest terrors he could think of. If he thought the Asgardians were his people, he knew he was sadly mistaken. They were far different than he, although... he tried to rule as the Allfather would have, justly but strictly. If only it were as easy as Odin made it seem.
A red splotch of liquid on the ground shattered his musings. Halls were never left a mess. Never. Had something spilled, it would have been immediately cleaned and shined. Loki bent to touch it and, as he thought, came away with fingertips smeared with blood.
He squared his shoulders as his spine stiffened. Few traipsed halls this close to the 'Trickster's room'. Even fewer had cause to smear blood on his halls. One by one, more drops met his trained eyes, and his heart beat faster in his chest. A huff became a snort as he tried to calm his breathing and still the red flaring in his vision. This anger, this rage, he hadn't felt since news of Frigga's death. Valhalla help the men who dared lay a finger on the woman he loved.
Determined to find the source of this travesty, Loki followed the trail the way it had come. Back to the doors of a library. His library. Any small hope that perhaps the blood didn't belong to the woman he cherished died with the light in his eyes. Ice filled his veins and turned his fingers to fists.
Last time someone had dared touch her, she had forever changed. It took him weeks just to pull her from her frightened shell. What more could be done to her? What treacherous thoughts could any attacker think suitable for the woman the Trickster King swore allegiance to?
A tight ball of panic settled in his chest and took up residence. He spun on his heel and followed it the other way. Through the garden. And to a blind spot.
His blood froze solid.
A guard lay in a pool of black liquid, turned solid by hours of solitude. Around him, Loki could see the signs of a struggle, a scuffle, a mission accomplished as they came to a stop in one central location on the gravel path. As did the blood trail from the library. Nancy's blood, he would wager money on. Only she would create such an obvious path and expect him to find it led to this wicked crime.
He was in no mood for this game of cat and mouse. The traitors on his realm must all be put away and silenced. This was no war of the gods, as some thought it. This was strictly a king protecting his throne and his closest friends. A sliver of hope blinked in his eyes before he extinguished it again. Now was not the time for childish expectations. However, there was no body. Had they killed her or tortured her for his benefit, Nancy would lie beside the guard on this darkened path.
The collar. Earlier, he had remembered the collar she still wore. Oh, thank the gods. A true chance of finding her lay just before him. Clearing his mind of the hard, boiling anger, Loki thought only of his beloved. With each breath, each heartbeat, a map built in his mind. Roads wound around a city he knew well and the gilded collar beckoned to his call.
Loki's eyes flew open, ignited by a fire consuming his soul. If anyone so much as looked at her the wrong way, they would all pay. Every single traitorous dog who stood guard around her. If he had no idea where to find the men destroying his precious realm before, he certainly knew now. There was no other explanation for the dastardly plot unfolding before his eyes. How dare they make Nancy the center of their evil intentions!
A helmet formed in green light and a cape flew behind him as Loki spun on his heel. With steely determination, a staff formed itself in his hand and punctuated each step with a sharp beat of the metal spear into the ground.
"Guards!" he demanded as he marched into the hall. Men scurried to aid him, aware of the green wrath pouring from every inch of their sovereign's being. Loki never looked away from where he was going, but the order flew in all directions anyway. "Call the warriors. NOW!"