They Don't Understand

Alyse's fist clenched in the sheets as the maid tightened her corset, drawing in her already narrow waist. With every tug, she sucked in a sharp breath.

Tears flowed silently from her eyes, saturating the sheets as they had been ever since she'd been brought here. She couldn't stop crying. Not from pain – even though it had hurt when the healers had examined her earlier, checking her for injury. They'd sure found enough; the red, angry skin from where Thor had hit her this morning, the remnants of bruises from before…

She knew what they thought. They hadn't asked her where the wounds had come from, and Alyse was pretty sure she knew what they had assumed.

But she couldn't tell them any different.

She hadn't said a word since she'd left Thor's chambers. What was there to say? There was nothing more she wanted than to go back there, hide under his sheet and wait for Thor to comfort her, to tell her it was all a dream…but he was gone.

She wondered if he cared that she was gone. Would he be looking for her? She hadn't seen him. Nobody had told her if he was asking after her. There was nothing.

It made her feel so lonely. He was the only one who had filled her days for months and now he was gone…she didn't know what to do without him.

She didn't know how to talk to other people. She didn't know what to say to them, to the healers, the maids - the Queen! They were doing everything for her – even helping her dress! She didn't remember how to manoeuvre a corset on or what difference underskirts made to how a dress fell around her figure. Those things hadn't mattered when she was with Thor. She hadn't thought they'd ever matter again.

Vaguely, she remembered someone telling her that her family was coming for her. It filled her with dread, the thought of seeing her parents. They must know now. They knew what had happened to her.

Her lip quivered in fear and she drew her knees up to her chest as her hands started to shake. Gods…then she noticed the maid was gone, the tugging on the corset absent. When had she gone? She hadn't noticed the girl leave at all, so lost in her thoughts.

Alyse preferred it this way though, as she realised that everybody – not just the maid – had left. The healing room was cold and vast, emptied just for her as the Queen had marched her through in the guard's arms, draped in only a sheet to cover her nakedness. The men had been moved to different rooms, the place all to herself. It gave her the peace and quiet to think, nothing to distract her within the golden walls of the healing room.

But she couldn't think of anything – nothing except for the moment she'd been found, playing over and over in her head…

The look that had been on the Queen's face haunted Alyse; so full of horror… but it hadn't stopped the Queen from rushing to untie her. Her nimble fingers had been shaking as she picked away Alyse's tethers, helping the girl to sit up against the headboard. The moment Alyse was free, the Queen had pulled her into her arms. Alyse still remembered it clearly: the soft touch of her silk clothes, the fresh scent of her perfume, the tender touch of her fingers as they stroked Alyse's hair and the heartbreaking care in her voice as she'd whispered comfortingly in her ear.

"Oh, my poor child."

The words still echoed in Alyse's head, unable to forget them. At how normal they were. The Queen had held her, soothed her, her royal tears on Alyse's shoulder…as if she wasn't the Queen and Alyse wasn't a servant girl; just one woman comforting another.

She wasn't sure why the Queen had cried like that, but she could guess. Shock? At finding a bruised, naked girl literally tied to her son's bed.

Maybe she felt guilty too. Like somehow what happened to Alyse was her fault. Maybe that was why she was doing so much for her: clearing the room, giving her clothes, the way she'd cupped Alyse's cheek tenderly before she'd left, sweeping from the room like an angel…

And soon it would all be a dream. Soon, the maid would come back and drape that dress over her head, call her parents in to take her away…and where would Thor be?

She pulled her knees up tighter to her chest, fingers shakily brushing the blood hair out of her teary eyes.

XXX

"Let me see her!"

Thor raged against the guards that blocked the corridor to the healing room from him, battling him back and away. Away from Alyse.

He still couldn't believe it – it was like a dream, like a nightmare. Just an hour ago, he'd come back to find a guard waiting in his room, ordering him that Odin and Frigga demanded to see him in the Great Hall.

Alyse was gone. They'd taken her.

He still wasn't sure where he'd gone wrong, where he'd slipped up in his safeguarding of her, but it didn't matter now. All that mattered was that he find her, see her. And he knew where they'd taken her – the healing room. He remembered the light red graze on her skin from where he'd spanked her, the remnants of bruises from what he'd done…gods, what would they all think?

He hadn't hurt her… not like they would think anyway! He loved her. Yet now, he wasn't allowed to even see her. They'd taken her away… he just wanted to see for himself that she was alright.

She must be scared, he thought. He didn't know how she'd been found out, but now she was alone, exposed, in a world she'd not interacted with for months thanks to her confinement. She knew nobody that was with her, just thrust into the wilderness to brave it alone. And everything was happening so fast…

And what if he never saw her again? He'd rather get his last glimpse now; see her, just because he didn't know when – or even if – he would again.

"Let me pass!" the god roared, grappling with the guards, but more only held him back. He was easily, vastly outnumbered. "I'll have you flogged for this!"

"Our orders come from Odin himself!" insisted one of the guards through clenched teeth.

Odin… this was his parent's doing; banning who he could see and not see like he was a stubborn child with poorly chosen friends. How dare they. Thor's teeth gritted together as he seethed with anger, longing to just fight endlessly until he could see Alyse.

But he shrugged the guard off, glaring at him with contempt. He could not fight his way through this one. That would get him nowhere near Alyse. His best bet was to speak to his parents, convince them this was a misunderstanding… that was his best bet at seeing Alyse. Even then, it might not work. Still, it was the best he had.

He turned reluctantly from the guarded corridor, eyes lingering bitterly on the guard blocking his way. "I shall return," he growled darkly.

XXX

"You will explain what has happened, and you will explain quickly." Odin barked, his voice quivering with his barely contained anger.

Not that Thor could blame him.

Thor cut to the chase: "I did not keep her against her will." he insisted calmly and swiftly. "She chose to be with me-"

"She was tethered to your bed." The Queen cut him off, his own mother. She stood beside Odin's throne with her mouth a thin line, fists clenched at her side. "What element of that indicates freedom of choice?"

Thor swore in his head.

He stood in the middle of the Great Hall, just him as his parents loomed over him from their throne. The room had never felt so large, so intimidating. He felt like a prisoner on trail. Two guards hovered behind him, having followed him forward as soon as he'd strode inside – like a common criminal. His parents knew.

"Her parents have been notified and are on their way to the palace now to collect their daughter." Odin said stiffly. "I'm sure they will want to know why their daughter was missing for months. They will want answers, as do I. Why was she there?" His staff clanged down against the hard marble floor at the last note of his furious demand.

The breath caught in Thor's throat – if her parents took Alyse away he would never see her again. Once she was gone…his mind scoured for an answer his parents would accept. He needed to explain. He hadn't done anything wrong. He hadn't forced her… except for that one time, the time he'd beaten her; he'd given her no choice about that. In that, he had forced her.

His blood suddenly ran cold; any excuses he might have been about to spout to his parents dried up.

"I stole the maiden from her post and kept her as my prisoner for my pleasure." He admitted in a cold, dull voice, eyes hovering on the marble floor. The words spilled from his lips like a trance. "I acted alone and the fault is all mine."

He bowed his head lower in shame as the words fell smoothly from his mouth – but none of them were lies. That burned the most. He could sugar coat what happened all he want, but when it came down to it, that was how it had started. That was what he had done. He took Alyse against her will and kept her like she was less than a pet, just an object for his use.

Everything else had come later – the caring, the love… but it hadn't started that way. It had started with him stealing her in her sleep and tying her down. That was a fact. That was a crime.

The breath hitched in his throat. Gods, what had he been thinking when he'd done that, all that time ago? Didn't he realise – that it was as good as kidnap! Had he ever even asked her if she wanted to stay? As in, before he'd beaten her to within an inch of her life? He didn't think he had…

The guilt welled up inside him, like it was choking him. His lips hovered apart, instinctively searching for words to smooth over what he'd just admitted.

But that wouldn't make it okay.

The silence from his parents said it all. It just made Thor's thoughts all the bolder in his mind, dwelling on his wrong doings. Kidnap. That was the word: he'd kidnapped her.

"Do you understand the punishment we would give to a man in your stead, were he not the son of Odin?" Thor's father's voice said solemnly.

The thunder god's fists clenched at his sides. "I know." He gulped. "I freely accept any punishment you see fit. I only ask the chance to see her one last time. To say goodbye."

And to say sorry, he added silently in his head.

It was a long shot, he knew. But it was all he wanted. He didn't care if his father had him whipped or thrown in jail… but if this was the last time he was to see Alyse, he had to make his peace with her. He just wanted to see her again...

"Do you take me for a fool?"

Thor's heart sank like a stone in water at his father's curt words. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to his parents - they were burning furiously.

"You must let me see her." The prince insisted boldly, taking a step forward. "One moment is all I ask for-"

"The healers found bruises and healing wounds on her person," The Alfather raged, cutting his son's objections short. "Ones that they say were obtained while she would have been in your care!"

The words stuck in Thor's throat as his protest died. His anger flittered; his father was right. The memory of how he beat her burned in his memory, bringing a sickening taste to his mouth as Thor recalled the sight of her bleeding, bruised flesh…his doing. His. "I understand-"

"No, you don't understand!" roared his father, the king storming to his feet in outrage from his throne. His eyes were blazing enough to send even a flicker of fear through Thor himself. "You have no idea what you have done! You flaunt your way through this palace irrespective of the duty you must carry and shame your family with outlandish behaviour! But now you take a maiden from her home, from her family, hold her hostage and beat her – this is a crime in my kingdom! And I will not have it!"

Now Thor could see how his father could rule a kingdom, command respect from armies, conquer worlds. The man before him wasn't the old man who had raised him – he was a king. He seemed bigger, powerful, intimidating, his voice echoing around the room even though there was only Thor, Frigga and a few guards to hear him. The fire in his eyes wasn't something to argue with.

A similar blaze raged in Frigga's orbs too. Eyes shifting to his mother, Thor saw what made her such a formidable queen. Frigga had over looked a lot of his wrong doings in the past, defended him… but now there was nothing affectionate in those cold eyes. Only a quiet, blazing fury. She was not seeing her son – she was staring down at someone who had harmed one of her subjects and now she wanted justice for it.

The prince had no words. His eyes travelled between his parents, as if he could change their minds somehow. Gods, how could he explain? He didn't mean Alyse harm..

Not that it mattered, he realised as he understood how his parents now saw him. In their eyes, he'd mercilessly taken a girl, hit her and raped her – as far as they were concerned. If he were in Odin's place, would he let himself see Alyse?

No. No, he would not.

His heart hardened at the realisation, knowing there was no hope of changing his parents' minds. He must be disgraceful to them, absolutely sickening…

His head lowered, mind whirring fast for what to do. How could he see Alyse when there was an army guarding her from him, and the one person who could let him through was denying him? Simply: he couldn't. Alyse was out of his reach.

The thought hit him hard.

Everything seemed to blur. The Hall, the voices, time itself...by the time he blinked his head clear he was lying on his back on his bed, vague memories of Odin confining him to his chambers and the guards escorting him there flashing in his mind. He stared up at the ceiling blankly.

He wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't see Alyse and her parents would be here to take her away before long. And then where would they take her? Thor had no idea. He didn't know where she lived, or who her family even were. If she left this palace, she was as good as lost to him. How would he ever find her again?

His hand rose to his head, running his fingers through his hair. How could he see her before she left? There had to be a way. Thor wasn't going to give up. He just needed to see her. Then there was a chance. He could find out where she lived, have messages delivered to her, meet secretly…but to get that he needed to see her. And Odin was making every effort to ensure that didn't happen.

A small company of guards blocked Thor's chambers from entry, soldiers even patrolling the gardens beneath his balcony to ensure the god did not go anywhere. He was trapped.

He had no idea what he was going to do.

Mind racing, brow furrowed, he turned on his side on the bed and sucked in a deep breath – his mind froze instantly.

The sweet fragrance, soft and warm and somewhat tangy, wafted up from the pillow his head lay on – Alyse's side of the bed. Gods, it still smelled like her. He took another deep breath. It was so like her. Feminine, but feisty; something about it mysterious and exotic, just like her.

His lips curved slightly as he spotted a stray blonde hair of hers draped over the pillow case, barely visible it was so blonde. The only evidence left that she had ever been here at all.

A thick finger traced over the fine blonde hair on the pillow case, Thor's eyes following it sadly. He missed her. She should be here, with him.

But she would never be here again.

Thor screwed his eyes shut.

"I wish to speak to my son."

Thor inwardly groaned as he heard his father's quiet, dark voice outside the door. He just wanted to be left alone in his silence; to think and remember and bask in what was left of Alyse while it was still fresh, just in case...

The doors to his chambers opened heavily, and Thor rolled onto his back, throwing his arm over his eyes. The last person he wanted to see was his father.

The anger flared up in his heart as he listened to his fathers footsteps striding purposefully into his chambers. He must still be furious, Thor guessed. If he was chasing Thor down in his chambers for a further interrogation, there must be more lingering on the king's mind that hadn't been settled in the Great Hall.

The footsteps slowed and finally ceased, and Thor waited for more of the criticising, the lecturing, the condemning, ready to be as incompliant as possible…

"Are you just going to lie there all day?"

Thor's head jerked up sharply – at Loki's voice.

He glanced down the room from the bed and saw his brother standing in the middle of his chambers, the last remnants of magic raining from his form and evaporating into nothing. That sneaky… "Loki…" Thor breathed, sitting up in the bed. "What are you doing?"

Thor was aghast: it was treason – impersonating the king. And Loki was doing just that. Even for him, that was brave. If Heimdall saw…

Loki's blunt eyes just met Thor's squarely, his hands tucked calmly behind his back. "Do you want to see the girl or not?"

Thor's eyes widened.

A/N

Who doesn't love Loki, huh?

Cutting through the excuses - university, guys. University. It's long, it's tough, it's knackering so writing is now...a fourth priority. After exams, work, and essay writing. Understandably, this causes delays. I'm just making sure you get why updates may be dinosaur slow lately. I am not quiting! It just takes a while is all. Thanks for your patience and ..well, I'll work hard to get the next chapter to you all as quick as I can.

Please review!