A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed! Wow! I appreciate every word, thank you thank you thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
3rd POV
The bidding was already over when Cass had gotten there. Ioa was already being hauled away. Her heart sank to her stomach. I'm too late.
"Cassie!" Ioa screamed. The sounds broke her heart. "Cassie!" Fear overtook the hopelessness, and the girl desperately reached out.
Cass set her jaw. Not too late. And she moved forward, pulling the pouch of money from her pocket.
"Hey!" She yelled at the slave driver, feeling bold. He turned, looking surprised to see a young woman. "I'll buy the girl from you." She outstretched the money.
Yes, maybe one noble throwing one gold coin was only a little. But she had danced for more than a hundred nobles, and most of them had tossed her money.
The slaver eyed the bag hungrily, but shook his head, smirking. "Sorry, lass, not sure if it's enough for this prize." He gestured towards Ioa.
This prize. She's a damn person, you slug! Cass wanted to scream at the man. This just made her so mad, how they treated slaves. It made her want to hit him with something.
"Nonsense." Cass said firmly, trying to get a grip on her anger. She loosened the drawstring on the bag and let him see the money within. His eyes were drawn to the gold. "It's plenty. A hundred gold coins."
He looked like he wanted to snatch it from her, but still he hesitated. "Still not sure. After all, she is a rarity."
This time, Cass did lose her temper. "Her name is Ioa." She hissed. "And she's a person, not a thing."
"She's a slave." The man said scornfully.
"A person. A real person, a child, you monster!"
"You'd better watch your tongue, girl. I might get so impatient that I'll cut it out." He sneered.
Cass brought her hand up before she could stop it, and slapped him right across the face. Before she could do it again he grabbed her wrist.
She tried to struggle, to break free, but his grip was too strong. She opened her mouth furiously, but someone beat her to it. "What's going on here?"
Both turned. Cass froze, and her heart went from "slow walk" to "fifty-meter dash".
It was him. It was him it was him it was him. She felt her mouth drop and her eyes widen.
She could never have mistaken him. The blue-green eyes, pale complexion, deadblack hair. It was that little prince, all grown up and confident now.
The thought somehow made her sad. He's not the crying boy I comforted in the Library. Now anymore. He's probably forgotten all about me; after all, I was just a slave. Her heart dropped into her shoes. He probably found another little girl to play with.
She looked so familiar it wasn't even funny.
He frowned, searching his brain and sifting through memories. It was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't place her face, especially when the shock in her expression melted to calm and then impassivity. She bowed her head, and the slaver dropped her wrist, bowing as well.
Cass bobbed into a hurried curtsy, lowering her eyes until she looked at his shoes. "My lord." She said quietly, proud that she didn't sound like she was being strangled, which is how she felt.
He looked at her once- a searching, almost confused look- and then frowned at the slaver. "What is going on?" He repeated.
"W-well..." The man stammered. The prince rolled his eyes.
"Since both of you look like you have speech impediments-" The sarcastic note in his tone was not missed. "-I shall explain what is going on. This girl wishes to buy this slave from you-" He nodded to Ioa. "-and is offering more than enough money, but you are being a stubborn brute and nearly hurt her."
The slaver's face turned purple and Cass suppressed a sad smile. No longer that crying boy indeed. She felt a little proud of him, as a mother might be proud of her child.
"She did not offer enough." The man muttered.
"Really? I was under the impression that she was being generous." Loki reached a hand out, gesturing for Cass to hand him the money, and she gave it to him without a second thought.
He poured it out into his hand, and Cass breathed in sharply.
She didn't think that she had that much. The gold spilling through his fingers must've counted at least to two-hundred.
The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Magic. She threw the prince a hard look, but he ignored it, keeping a straight face as he stared at the slaver. There was a brief test of wills.
Finally, the man unlocked Ioa's chains and thrust the blonde at Cass, snatching the pouch of money from Loki. "Take her." He growled, and left.
Ioa grabbed Cass and hid her face in her skirts, sobbing. "He-he took me! I didn't want to leave; he took me! They sold me!" Tears streamed down her face as she cried.
In that moment, no one else existed to Cass but herself and the little girl. She knelt down and held the shaking slave in her arms, murmuring words of comfort in her ear.
"You can't take me away!"
"You can't take me!"
She closed her eyes and stroked her golden hair.
"Touching." Someone murmured, and her eyes shot open. She had totally forgotten Loki was still standing there, regarding them with curious ocean eyes.
Cass straightened and curtsied again, averting his gaze. "Thank you, milord." She stammered. "Thank you for helping me."
"It was my pleasure." He was still looking at her like that, like she was a puzzle to be figured out.
Please don't recognize me. Cass prayed. Please don't recognize me please don't recognize me please don't recognize me.
"Do I know you?" He asked politely, leaning against the side of a building. Cass took Ioa's hand and started to walk, trying to get away from the prince.
"I-I do not think so, my lord." She murmured. He followed them, keeping pace easily.
"Really? I thought I knew all the courtiers of Asgard."
Damnit. "Oh, I have seen you, my lord. But you just haven't noticed me; I mostly keep to myself at formal parties." She lied, frantically fabricating a story. She tended to ramble when she lied.
"Mm." She wasn't sure he believed her. "What is your name?"
"Ca- Beatrice." Cass internally cursed herself for the verbal slip-up.
"Beatrice." Loki repeated, testing the name out. "Like Beatrice and Benedick?"
Against her will, a smile crossed Cass's lips. "Yes, very much like Beatrice and Benedick."
Cass had her arms around Loki's waist and was looking over his shoulder as they sat amid the stacks of books in the Great Library. He was reading Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" to her.
"I like Beatrice." Cass decided, interrupting the story. "She's very bold. She doesn't care much about being mean to Benedick."
"Yeah, and Benedick doesn't care much about being mean to Beatrice." Loki replied, grinning.
"They're both real nasty to each other."
"But they still fall in love."
"Sh!" Cass put a finger to his lips. "You're spoiling it for me."
Loki nodded, being unable to speak, and she put her hand down. His lips burned from the contact.
"I like Beatrice." Cass repeated thoughtfully. "Her name is so pretty."
Cass blushed at the memory, at how bold she had been, and Loki seemed a little distant too. His eyes slid out of focus, but he snapped back to reality when Ioa suddenly moved forward and hugged him.
"Thank you so much!" She said happily. "Thanks to you, I don't have to leave!"
Loki raised an eyebrow at Beatrice- Cass- who shrugged, but he knelt down so that he was eye-to-eye with the girl.
"Can you do a favor for me, Ioa?" He asked her seriously. She smiled, that beautiful, innocent little girl smile, full of sunshine and adoration.
"Anything."
"Okay, then." He snapped his fingers and suddenly he held a rose in his hand, a white rose, with a long green stem. The prince leaned forward and whispered in her ear, eyes flicking up once or twice to Cass.
Finally Ioa smiled. "Of course!" And she took the flower from his hands.
He winked at her. "Counting on you." And then he looked up at Cass and bowed, never breaking eye contact. "My lady."
She flushed at the thought of the Prince of Asgard paying such respect to a slave in disguise, but curtsied. "My lord."
There was the briefest moment of silence as they stared into each other's eyes, both of them dying to ask a question, both too shy to say it. And then Cass forced herself to tear her gaze away, grabbing Ioa's hand and pulling her away. "Let's go."
Her face was burned in his mind.
So familiar... so familiar... he could not place it. It was as if every time he tried to remember, he hit a wall that seemed impenetrable.
It was immensely frustrating.
Beatrice. Beatrice. He could hear her saying the name... Beatrice.
I know of no Beatrices. It could be a lie. He thought to himself.
Or she could be being truthful. He argued back. And you are merely confusing her with someone else.
But no, he knew that he was not confused. That caramel hair, those hazel eyes... she was someone he knew, and she was lying to him.
"Quickly, quietly." Cass hissed, pulling Ioa in the kitchen through the back door.
The blonde had been humming, so euphoric by her rescue that she had been smiling nonstop. She caressed the white rose in her hands.
Both slaves breathed a sigh of relief as they entered the kitchen. Cass immediately started to pull the pins out of her hair, letting the light brown cascade down her back. Her scalp ached from the tightness of the braid.
Morwena- who had been waiting for them- dropped her knife and the vegetables she had been cutting and pulled Ioa into a tight hug. "Oh, my dear. You are safe."
Ioa squealed in protest. "You'll crush it!" She struggled in the cook's grip, holding the flower aloft in her hand, trying to protect it.
The girl was released, and Morwena sighed in relief. "Thank the gods. I thought something had gone wrong."
"Went off "without a hitch", as the Midguardians say." Cass lied.
Ioa smiled. "Yeah, there was a prince-"
"Oh!" Cass slapped a hand over the girl's mouth. "Come, Ioa, do you mind helping me out of this dress? I doubt I can do it alone; you know, the finery that nobles wear." She tugged the girl out of the kitchen.
"Don't tell anyone about Loki, okay?" She whispered furiously once they were out of ear-shot.
"You mean Prince Loki?"
Cass cursed herself internally. Already you are slipping back into old habits. "Yes, Prince Loki. Don't tell anyone."
"Why not?"
"Just... don't."
The meeting had shaken her more than she had realized. She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to calm the erratic beat of her heart. The last time she had saw him... no, that was a dangerous place, a secret place she had locked the door to. She couldn't enter anymore, that was forbidden territory.
"Cassie?"
The older girl snapped out of her reverie. "Hm?"
Ioa extended her hand, handing her the rose. Cass took it, surprised and confused. She arched a brow. "And why are you giving me this?"
"Because he told me to." Ioa said it as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "He said, 'Give the beautiful girl a present for me, will you? I'm afraid this prince is a little too shy.'"
Cass flushed scarlet. "Hush, surely you are exaggerating."
"Nope!" Ioa ran away, skipping.
The older slave examined the white rose in the hall, a small smile tugging on the corners of her lips and threatening to emerge on her face. Not so changed then, is he. Sees a pretty girl and can't string a sentence together. The grin melted from her face. That's all it was then. The lingering stare; he merely thinks I was pretty. No recognition. She sighed. As if there would be.
The little girl rose from her bed cautiously, her entire body tense. She turned her head from side to side, straining her ears for any bit of sound.
Hearing none, she leapt from her seat, scurrying towards the window.
This had been before people had grown possessive and paranoid, before the bars had been drilled onto the window frame.
Her small body easily slid through the whole in the wall, and she dropped onto the soft grass outside the room.
I have to go back, I have to go back, I have to go back... Was all she could think. She had to go back and tell her prince what had happened, that she was sold, that she could never see him again.
The thought of him so alone without her made the slave sad as she ran through the abandoned streets of Asgard. Her heart was beating like mad, from both adrenaline and excitement.
She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the footsteps until they were too close to avoid.
Cass froze, terrified, when she saw her old slaver, no doubt going for a drink at one of the bars. She tried to move, to duck out of sight, but it was too late.
He saw her and his eyes widened once before narrowing. A crooked grin alighted his features.
"Well, well, well." He had a whip, of course he did, he always did. He uncurled it from his belt, wrapping the handle around his fingers. "Look who it is. Lucky I brought this along, isn't it?"
The lashes rained down, one after another, like bits of fire. She couldn't scream; the pain stole her breath away and she writhed on the ground in silence. It robbed her of all thought, leaving only one:
Stop, stop, stop, stop, please, someone make it stop, Mother, Father, God, Loki, anyone, just someone make it stop...
That night found Cass in the slave quarters, on her back, late at night, holding the chess piece in her hands and just staring at it.
The white marble was cold as ice under her fingers. She ran a fingertip over where the face would be if it was modeled after a human.
"Will you be my queen, when I grow up, Cass?"
"Of course, Loki!"
"Promise?"
"Promise!"
And he has the black king, to remind himself. Cass thought, smiling faintly at the memory. It was a sad smile, and soon faded. We were but children then. Those words mean less than nothing now. She wrapped the piece back in the silk handkerchief and shoved it under the mattress again, wondering if she would be able to fall asleep that night.
And if she did, if the dreams would find her again.
She pulled the thin blanket over her form and smiled again to herself.
Well, if they did, they wouldn't be entirely unwelcome.
Loki held something in his hands, turning it over and over as if words were supposed to appear and he would find the answer in those words.
Now I know why she looks familiar... Cass. She has Cass's eyes.
But not her standing. Cass disappeared long ago... she's most likely dead. A thought hit him like a blow. Maybe it was my fault, for being her friend. Father never liked me hanging out with her. Maybe he took her, and killed her...
The image of her broken and bloody body made him squeeze his eyes shut and clench the black chess piece in his hands. No, no, no...
There was a knock at his door. "Brother?"
Loki sighed. "Not right now, Thor. Leave."
Of course, his brother didn't listen, and Thor entered, a concerned look on his face. "Brother, where were you? Mother missed you at dinner."
"I was lost in thought and lost track of time." Loki said shortly. It was half-true. He had been thinking, but had on purposely not gone to dinner. Frigga could always tell when he had something weighing heavily on his mind. He did not need her interrogations today.
"Oh..." Thor took a seat next to him. "Loki, what is it that plagues you?"
Loki's stomach twisted. Was he really being that obvious? "What do you mean, Thor?"
The blonde nodded at his hands. "You keep playing with that chess piece." He cracked a grin. "Did someone finally beat you?"
The Dark Prince snorted. "As if! Not even the Allfather has beaten me at this game."
"Then why...?" He gestured towards the black king again.
Loki examined it, running a finger over the base and sighing. He replaced it back on his shelf, where he normally kept it, half-hidden from sight. "It's nothing, Thor. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone."
His brother nodded in understanding and left.
Loki stared at the chess piece for a long time.
A/N: Sorry you had to wait so long for this to come out. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, and please tell me if there is some plot hole or anything!
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