Trigger Warning: This chapter has some sexual content that could be a bit triggering for those with trauma, so just be aware and read at your own discretion.

Chapter 4

Nightmares... There had been nothing but

terrible

gut wrenching

nightmares...

Astrid awoke in a panic, sweat dripping down her forehead. She tried to catch her breath as she took in her surroundings. She was in her large black stone bedroom, tucked into the silken grey sheets on her bed with small bandages on her body and nothing but her underwear. The tall windows showed it was very dark outside; several hours must have passed since the explosion in her healer room.

Her maid, Hilde, was sitting on an old wooden chair beside her reading a book, almost leaping out of it when she saw Astrid's eyes open.

"Oh, thank the gods!" she said, discarding the book onto the floor and grabbing a warm washcloth out of a bucket next to the bed. "How are you feeling, mistress? You gave us all quite a fright." she asked as she patted Astrid's forehead, her brow wrinkled with worry.

"I'm fine… I think..." She was still trying to gather herself and remember what had happened. Her head felt sore and cloudy, just like the rest of her body.

"Loki… is he alive? Is heal right…?"

"He is in his cell with the other healers. You're both in a pretty bad state but he's alive. Do you remember what happened?" Hilde asked with a panicked tone, feeling her forehead for a fever. It was unlike her to be so coddling. Astrid found it unnerving, but pushed the feeling aside as she tried to remember what happened; the red blast, the strange substance in Loki's wounds. The event was like flashes in her mind, a puzzle with mismatching pieces. And she felt... strange. A slight buzzing sensation ran throughout her whole body like nothing she had ever felt before.

She needed answers. She pushed Hilde's hand away and started to get out of bed. Her body ached more than she anticipated so she moved quite slowly, holding onto the dark old wooden furniture for stability.

"Mistress, please you must rest! You still have a fever, and Miss Gertrud and the other healers are with him, he should be fine." Hilde said, trying to plead with her to get back into bed, but Astrid was not having it. She was dizzy and weak, but she tried to shake it off as she got dressed. Her body was covered in quite a bit of bandaging from her wounds, so she grabbed a light grey floor length silken evening robe to throw on quickly. It was only meant for going to and from her bathing room nearby, not quite the royal clothes she was supposed to wear around the palace, but she didn't care. There were more important things on her mind and no time to waste.

"He's in his cell, you said?" she asked, ignoring Hildes' pleading look of concern as she buttoned the robe up.

"Yes, with the other healers. Please I beg you get back to bed and-"

"I must see him. Is he awake?"

"I'm not sure, mistress, but-" she hesitated, "there's something you should know." Astrid ignored her, not really listening, and kept getting dressed.

"Mistress, please! Just STOP!" she finally commanded; in a way she never would normally dare to speak to her princess. Astrid finally paused and gave Hilde her full attention.

"What is it, Hilde?"

"When you were asleep… you spoke." she hesitated again, and looked down, nervously fidgeting with the rag in her hands. "It was the old language... the forbidden language." Astrid was confused.

It's not possible...

"Hilde, there's no way, h-how can you be so sure-" She looked into Astrid's eyes intensely, as if she were frightened.

"Mistress… Astrid… I'm sure. Your voice, it was like it wasn't you speaking. And there's something else." She then grabbed a hand mirror from the bedside table and held it up to her.

"Look… y-your eyes…"

Astrid grabbed the mirror from Hilde and sat back on her bed, staring at her reflection, dumbfounded. She couldn't believe what she was seeing; her eyes were not glowing their usual sky blue anymore but were instead bright purple. It changed her whole aura, and made her feel like she was looking at a stranger.

"What happened to you in that room, miss?" Hilde was frightened and spoke more quietly. Astrid put the mirror down and stared blankly for a moment. She then looked at Hilde, stood slowly from her bed, and took her hands pleadingly.

"You must speak of this to no one, Hilde. Can you promise me? My father cannot hear about this until I figure out what is going on. Please." Hilde nodded; Astrid had always treated her with much kindness, which couldn't be said about her father.

"I won't tell anyone. But Miss Astrid, he will see your eyes, he'll know you're… different. Sooner or later, you will have to tell him something." Astrid nodded, knowing Hilde was right but also knowing she had no idea what she would tell her father. After all, she didn't really know what had happened. She then slipped on some shoes, excused Hilde for the evening, and headed to Loki's cell, hoping to find some answers.

~oOo~

Astrid noticed the feelings of dizziness and weakness subside rather quickly as she hurriedly walked through the hallways. It was a bit odd, she thought for sure she would be feeling much worse after the accident, but she was starting to feel strangely energetic. She thought back on the moments before the explosion; some strange, almost living substance had been in Loki's wounds. It must've reacted with the potion she made him take for his headache and caused the accident... there didn't seem to be any other explanation.

But what could it be?

Whatever it was, she had a feeling it was somehow linked to her new eye color, even though that really just left more questions than answers.

When she got to his cell Madame Gertrud, the second in command healer, was leaving. As Astrid approached it took her by surprise.

"Princess, shouldn't you be in bed?" she said in her old shrill voice that never failed to make Astrid's spine flinch, "You hit your head very hard, I'm surprised you're even awake-"

"Is Loki alright? I need to ask him some questions." she said, ignoring her statement. Madame Gertrud stared Astrid down with suspicion, most likely noticing her eyes had changed color.

Please don't ask me about it, just let me through...

"Are you sure you're well?" she said, her tone dripping with the usual condescension. "You look different -"

"I'm quite alright, thank you. I've had plenty of rest." Astrid's tone was commanding. Madame Gertrud seemed to pick up on it and reluctantly replied.

"Well, you won't get much out of him, he's in deep sleep. Hasn't awoken since the... accident, was it?" Astrid didn't care for her tone.

"I'm not sure what happened, its why I need to see him." Her face remained stone cold, same as her tone.

"Are you sure it wasn't one of your experimental elixirs gone wrong again?" She always had to find some way to take a jab at Astrid's methods. They had always had very different approaches when it came to healing. She was much older and more conventional, and when King Ivaldis had made Astrid head healer it made her despise the young princess. She always did was she was told by her head healer in the end, as was her duty, but never without pushing back.

"Give me the alethometer," Astrid held out her hand, "I'll check on him myself. That is all." Madame Gertrud reluctantly gave Astrid her scanning device and muttered under her breath as she left, hating that she had to listen to the command.

Astrid commanded the guards to not let anyone disturb them no matter what they heard, and closed the doorway behind her as she entered Loki's cell. He lay on is bed, unconscious like Madame Gertrud told her. She paused suddenly as she noticed he didn't have any bandages anymore; his wounds had almost completely healed. She walked over to take a closer look and studied them closely, no red glow. She felt his forehead, no more fever, yet he was completely comatose.

It doesn't make any sense...

She meticulously scanned his whole body, studying the 3D chart above him trying to find something that would indicate what could have happened, but there was nothing. In fact, he seemed to have healed dramatically in the last few hours, despite being in deep sleep. She stood behind him, looking down at his peaceful handsome face, baffled and in deep thought.

She suddenly had a feeling, or thought, come to her as though it were a memory. The memory was of a spell or incantation, she wasn't quite sure because it wasn't hers, or it didn't feel like it was hers, yet... it came to her from within, some deep dark corner of her mind. The feeling then enveloped her body and seemed to be trying to guide her.

The next thing she knew, Astrid was kneeling behind Loki with her right peace fingers on his forehead, between his eyes, and her left in the middle of his chest feeling his heartbeat. She felt herself speak but didn't recognize the voice. It sounded like the voice belonged to someone else, so deep it almost sounded male, channeling through her.

They were speaking the forbidden language.

As she spoke the incantation, she felt her vision be taken over by memories. Not flashes of her own memories, but of Loki's, so many at once that it was hard to absorb the information. They went all the way back to his childhood; playing with his brother, crying when he fell and hurt himself, the comfort of his mother, the scolding from his father, lying in a crib as a baby. Then the memories began to feel heavy and dark…

why is it so cold...?

Loki suddenly sat up and gasped, leaning over the side of the bed coughing and dry heaving. Astrid fell back and snapped out of it, not sure what had just happened. Part of her had been conscious, but it was as though someone, or some-thing, took control and put her in a trance. He suddenly vomited what looked like a black tar all over the floor, then rolled onto his back, trying to get his bearings. Astrid stood, not sure what to make of any of this, looking down at her shaking hands then at the horrifying substance that just came out of Loki's body.

"What – what did you do to me?" he asked between gasps. She just stood there, unsure of what to say, trying to process the memories she had seen by somehow casting a spell in a forbidden language she couldn't possibly know.

He then slowly and painfully sat up, wiping his mouth and spitting. She snapped out of it and got him a cup of water, some of it spilling onto the floor as her hands shook. He snatched it out of her grasp and used it to rinse out the putrid taste in his mouth and catch his breath. When he finally turned and looked over at her it made her stomach turn with terror. He looked fierce and angry, a look she had seen only once before when he had broken her wrist, only this time he wasn't chained up or being held down by anything. He also happened to be between her and the door. Her body tensed with panic, and she tried to subtly look around for something to use as a weapon, but his cell was not equipped with much. He slowly stood, never taking his eyes away from her... those piercing blue eyes. He was tall and strong, not hunched over and weakened from his wounds anymore.

"S-stay away from me..." She warned, but her voice was shaking, and she wasn't hiding her fear very well.

"You dare look into my mind, try and poison my memories..." he said with calm anger. As he inched closer, she stepped back, until she hit the wall and was trapped like a helpless animal, frozen. "You were speaking the old language... last I checked it was banished by the dark elves long ago. Where did the beautiful Princess learn to cast spells like that…?" he said, his face turning into a sneer. He got closer and closer, until he was leering over her. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she felt the warmth of his breath on the nape of her neck, felt the nearness of his strong muscular body. He brushed her hair away from her forehead gently with his right hand, while grabbing her wrist and pinning her to the wall with his left.

"Your eyes, they've changed... you've changed..." he said quietly, studying them intensely, "Such power. So beautiful..."

He caressed her face somewhat gently, then ran his fingers down to her throat and closed them around her neck, his gentle touch turning into a menacing grip, not enough to choke her but enough to give her the sensation. She felt like she should be crying from fear and pleading for her life, but a sudden uncontrollable jolt of arousal coursed through her as his body pushed up against hers. He leaned in and spoke softly into her ear, his breath giving her chills down her spine.

"I could just snap your frail little neck, so easily," his grip tightened a little, "Or better yet, cast your mind into a dark oblivion, until you plunge into madness." He let out an evil chuckle and softened his grip a little, then stood straight so their eyes met once more. Their noses were almost touching, and he could feel how tense her whole body was. He thought she would be more visibly upset but she just kept staring into his eyes fearlessly, breathing heavily.

"You would have killed me by now if you really wanted to." she said, her voice raspy from his grip on her throat. He looked down at her body in a robe that had come slightly undone and left little to the imagination, noticed her breasts heaving as she breathed heavily, and a smirk crossed his face.

"That may be true... or maybe... there are other things I want to do to you first." he said seductively. He released her wrist, then gently slid his left hand down her body, and into the slit in her robe. When he caressed her thigh, his cold touch gave Astrid a slight jolt. He then slowly made his way up to her hip, and between her legs, her undergarments an easy barrier to cross. She closed her eyes and gasped as he slipped his fingers inside of her, tilting her head back as a soft moan escaped her lips. He smiled slightly at her reaction. "Doesn't feel like I'm the only one who wants this..." He then pushed his fingers in deeper which got another jolt out of her whole body.

Astrid knew she was supposed to resist, she wanted to so badly, but he was surprisingly gentle. The pleasure washed over her as he moved his fingers in and out, gently massaging in all the right places, rendering her powerless. Their lips barely touched as she gasped, his hand still around her neck, which was unexpectedly making it feel even more passionate. She was lost in the moment for longer than she would care to admit, even putting her hand over his, egging him on.

Just when she was about to give in, release herself to the pleasure, to him, she suddenly came back to the moment, and like a lightning bolt the reality of how fucked up this situation was hit her. She put her hands up to his chest and pushed him away as hard as she could, hoping her strength was any match for the Asgardian prince. To her surprise, he stumbled back, much more easily than she thought he would. He held up his hands in surrender, but still had that seductive smirk on his face. A look that made her wonder how many women he had brought to their knees.

Astrid would be lying if she denied that a part of her wanted to pounce on him right then and there, but he was her enemy, a prisoner of her father's, who had just violated her in a way no man had ever dared. She was deeply ashamed that she let him touch her like that without a fight, and even more ashamed that she enjoyed it. She felt conflicted, two sides fighting inside of her, and she just wanted to get away from him before she regretted anything else. Without saying anything she hurriedly ran past him to the doorway. While it opened, she looked back at him over her shoulder, making eye contact with him once more. He sniffed his fingers and winked at her, making her both enraged and feel a jolt of arousal at once.

She commanded the guards to clean up his cell and get him fresh sheets, then made her way back to her chambers quickly, clutching her robe closed the entire time.

Why why why

He let you leave, he could have killed you if he wanted, but he didn't… he wants you… or he wants to use you... silver tongue... womanizer...

When she got to her chambers she collapsed on her bed, exhausted but her mind still racing and overwhelmed. Loki had really riled her up, so she had to finish what he started to relax, thinking of him as she touched herself and brought herself to climax. Eventually she was able to fall asleep, but it was restless and filled with more nightmares.