Infatuated with a God

Chapter Fourteen

It was late when I made my way to the cells, somewhat surprised FRIDAY had allowed me access to the lower level. Stark had tinkered with the device a few more times and I wore it twice more. The first time I had access to more power accidentally, but the second he had reduced it ever so slightly from the initial test. As he worked I picked out one of the books I was carrying for Loki and read. He listened to some music and I asked FRIDAY to add the playlist to mine, delighted to find some more that I enjoyed. Overall, it was quite fun, even if wearing the device put me on edge in a way I hadn't felt since at Hydra. When the doors opened I was greeted by Alex who just looked at me with confusion.

"Kaya what are you doing down here?" Suspicion was thick in his voice, and I rolled my eyes.

"Thor wanted me to allow him to apologise. Trust me I would rather be anywhere else." He nodded at my response but shot me a look that told me he would be asking me more about this soon. With a sigh I stepped through and into the room. I noticed how long the corridor was, all filled with glass rooms that resembled the glassed off section of the training room. I noticed Thor pacing outside of one of the rooms and made my way towards him, noticing the hammer he usually left in his room in his hand. I tried everything in my power not to look towards the glass but immediately failed. Stood in the centre of the cell was Loki. His hair was dishevelled slightly, and his eyes were dark with sleeplessness. My steps faltered slightly as I took in his appearance. He was usually so well kept from head to toe. But here he stood, looking like a man who had not slept well in a week. His green cotton shirt was untucked and crumpled slightly, matching the state of his black cotton trousers. I hadn't noticed before, but he seemed to always wear a leather over-shirt, but it had disappeared. He looked almost human in these clothes, I could have easily passed him on the street without knowing who he was before these past few months.

"I didn't think you would see me." He stated calmly and I shrugged in return before gesturing to Thor.

"I didn't do it for you." He nodded at my response and began pacing the floor. I sighed and waited for him to collect his thoughts. I turned my attention to Thor who also looked on edge. I noticed how his gentleness seemed to fade around Loki, he looked like he was ready for anything and everything to happen. Due to the amount of time, I had spent with him relaxed and friendly I had somewhat forgot how overwhelmingly aggressive he could be give the correct circumstances. Loki cleared his throat, forcing my attention back onto him.

"I did not know you could not remember the event I showed you. You had used a similar power on me before, though I had since heard from my brother that you also did not know you could perform such a spell. The aim had not entirely been to hurt you, my intention had been to win the sparing match between us. I also wasn't aware of the torture you had suffered from this group that raised you. I did not mean to cause you such intense emotional pain and for that I apologise." My eyebrows shot up at his words. I hadn't actually expected an apology from him, and although he made too many excuses for my liking it was more than enough for me be to surprised. Thor also visible relaxed at his words, though I made a mental note to warn him not to expect too much from this apology.

"Thank you." I whispered, causing a similar surprise to dance across his face, raising his eyebrows into perfect arches and mouth to drop slightly. It was an interesting reaction.

"I also have a proposition for you, Midgardian." It was now Thor's turn to react. I watched as he visibly tensed and stepped towards the glass. He growled Loki's name in a deep and commanding warning, and I shivered slightly at the tone. Trying to ignore my body's reaction to him, I focussed on Loki who was looking at me with intrigue. "This energy you possess, you are unused to wielding it, correct?" I nodded in response.

"It was a result of the sceptre I believed you had in New York." It wasn't lost on me how he flinched at the memory, and I rolled my eyes at him. He clearly didn't take losing very well.

"That makes more sense. Do you remember when they used it on you?" I paused trying to reflect on the time scale, but my memories were too disjointed.

"I-I'm not sure. I had my powers for a while before Wanda was given hers, and I know that was just a year and a bit ago. Why?" He paused before choosing his words very carefully.

"You can feel my seiðr can't you? You felt it when we met, and again when we fought, but you can also feel it as my power is heavily restricted, yes?" I nodded, not entirely following where he was going. "I wish to understand the power you possess, if I am honest it confuses me. It does not feel like only the spectre's energy within you like the red witch's magic does. If you allow me to study your power, I believe I could help you train it as it is similar to the powers of the Æsir."

"That is not possible, brother. Mortals could not possess seiðr." Thor spoke up, leaving me to think about his proposal.

"And yet you can feel it from her, Brother. Look at how she fights with it, you cannot tell me you do not notice the differences between mortal magic and this ones energy." They launched into a discussion, mostly consisted of Thor's lack of knowledge about magic and Loki being annoyed at the lack of knowledge his brother possessed. Had it not been for my inner turmoil I could imagine finding the discussion amusing.

I could not trust him. This much was clear. He was the God of Mischief, and he would do anything to break out of his cell. I was worried he would try to gain my trust and use it to escape. But I doubted he could ever gain my trust fully. If I was weary enough around him it should be safe as long as the handcuffs remained on.

"I have my own conditions." I spoke up, breaking up the brotherly bickering that had developed. Thor went to try to stop me, to convince me it was a bad idea, but I held my finger in the air to stop him. I already knew it would be a bad idea to do this, but my curiosity over my powers were winning. When Wanda and Pietro was introduced to the programme I had already possessed some basic powers and I had remembered that they took on a greenish essence before the real experimentation started. When Hydra became more successful in their experiments I obtained my full power and the green had faded into the gold. It turned my eyes from their dullish brown to a bright golden hue and lightened my hair. It ran throughout me in a similar way to Wanda. Her hair had been brown but took on a reddish tint and her eyes often glowed red with power. It had struck me as odd that different powers developed between us despite it happening at a similar time. My confusion had died down with Pietro's speed developed and I put it up to chance. But it could have been more. "The handcuffs, obviously, stay on. I will keep my dagger on me at all times. And I do not wish to do so down here. I will visit you until I can convince the others to allow you to the training room for this reason only." He nodded as if these conditions had mostly been obvious but looked shocked when I mentioned training upstairs. "It is for my comfort, not yours." I reminded him, causing a poker face to settle over his emotions as he nodded firmly.

With that settled, I motioned for Thor to unlock the small slit in the door which was designed for his meals to be passed to him. I muttered as I realised how small it was and changed my plan to hand him the books individually instead of passing him the bag.

"What are you doing?" He had walked over to the door with curiosity as I reached into my bag.

"Well Thor is a lot nicer than you deserve and asked me if I could find some books for you." His eyebrows furrowed at me, and I slid the first hardback through the slit. He took each book from me once I made it clear I would not let them land on the floor. I passed him a collection of ten books, noticing how he looked at each cover with intrigue. Once I had passed him each of them I smiled at his curiosity as he examined the copyright information of each one. "I had no idea what to bring you, but I thought you would enjoy some older works we consider classics. The first six are plays but a 16th century playwright. Three are popular tragedies I thought suited you." I smiled as he inspected the first three books I handed him: King Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth. "The other three are his historic plays, though their historical accuracy is questionable at best."

"And these?" He gestured to the other four he sectioned off from the Shakespeare's.

"They are from four different authors, but also classics. These are novels that I enjoyed. When you are done with them if you let me know which ones you like, and if you haven't tried to kill me in the meantime, I can adjust my recommendations accordingly." With that I took my leave, mentally preparing for the conversation with Steve and Tony I needed to have in the morning as I told FRIDAY to send them an invitation to have breakfast with me.