Infatuated with a God

Chapter Twelve

I was sat bored again in this tiny cell. Nothing but a bed, a table, and a chair to occupy the space. The glass that surrounded me was, I realised, the same as the one from the training room upstairs. This certainly hampered my plans. Even had these handcuffs come off I doubt I could break through the glass. It was rather advanced technology from such a primitive race. As annoyed as I was at its existence, I couldn't help but feel almost proud in a way. I was clearly the reason such a material had been invented, it's ability to block magic as well as brute strength meant it was much more efficient of a cell than the one I was in before. I had no concept of how much time had passed since the assessment that had been carried out. With nothing more to do I cast my thoughts back to the sparring session. It was a surprise that the small mortal wished to face me again, the look in her eyes previously had been so deliciously terrifying. And yet she fought so much more valiantly than before, despite looking more fragile. Her frame was smaller, her golden-tinted brown hair duller. Regardless, her seiðr was much stronger now. I had felt it slowly growing during my time here but was unaware of what had caused such a drastic improvement. It was now clear that she had been training exponentially hard since I almost killed her. It was pathetically cute. Like watching a house pet become aggressive despite it's complete lack of ability to do any real harm.

She didn't, however, cause no harm. Her shields were becoming worryingly strong, not even shattering under my strongest attack. Moreover, her attacks stung when they managed to land. The first had not been too bad, merely catching me off guard. But during our sparing when she managed to hit me directly with such force I was thrown back... that was overwhelmingly worrying. No mortal should ever be able to possess such a power. It was too similar to seiðr to ignore it any longer. It was not entirely the same, but something different. It was similar to the power I could feel from the redhead in the room, but almost fused with Æsir magic. Such a thing shouldn't exist in the hands of a human. I needed to understand it more, but I would never be able to get closer to the girl. Even more troubling was how my seiðr had reacted to it. They swirled together in a way I had never seen before. The gold and green almost began to fuse together and she seemed to not know how it was happening. It was a dangerous weapon for her to possess and I wondered my Odin had not removed it upon meeting her. Surely he could not trust the mortals with such a weapon. As my mind drifted over the thoughts of the girl I remembered how she sparred with me. She was not like other opponents who attacked without thought or hesitation. It was like she was studying my movements, recalibrating her own to mirror my technique. She certainly fought interestingly. She moved more gracefully than any female warrior I had met, especially Sif. It had been a pleasant change of pace until she kicked me. I glowered as I remembered my mistakes which had allowed her to gain an edge. It must have been the way she fought and the improvements she made that threw me off my guard. I couldn't help but think that is she were Asgardian perhaps I would have aided in her training, she would have made for a lethal assassin. A perfect weapon for a King. It is such a shame these talents were wasted on a Midgardian.

My thoughts were interrupted by my brother storming into the dungeon.

"Two visits in one day? To what to I owe this pleasure, brother?" Venom dripped from my words heavily. As bored as I was on my own in this cell, I much preferred my own company to Thor's.

"I have half a mind to open this cell and kill you where you stand." I rolled my eyes at the dramatics but was surprised at his words. Thor always tended to pretend he held affection for me, that I was anything more than someone he could humiliate and defeat in his race to the throne.

"I merely repaid a favour." I spat back at him, knowing that my use of magic at the end of the fight had to be the reason for his anger. Truthfully, I hadn't expected much out of the parlour trick. It was merely a way to win the sparing match, after all I was asked to show my full range of abilities. "What did she expect when she lowered her shields?" I sighed at the idiocy of my brother and decided to lie down in my bed instead of standing any longer. Conversation with my brother was often dull enough to induce sleep. "Plus, I proved a point. The mortal judges me for killing when she has done just as horrible things herself. How was I to know she would react in such a way to her own memories?" It had confused me, watching her scream and drop to the ground. The memory had been years old, long enough for her to move on and cope. I did wonder how she managed daily if this was her reaction upon thinking about it.

"You idiot, Loki. Lady Kaya does not have access to all her memories." My head snapped up to look at him. He was not lying, I could tell. But there was no block placed in her mind. My brow furrowed as I remembered accessing the memory. It had seemed hazy to me, almost distant, but I had assumed that was just Midgardian's inferior memory access. Could it have not been due to natural memory deterioration? "I need to know what you showed her. Now." I sighed, making note of how he was behaving towards yet another mortal girl. This would, however, make excellent torment material if I were to see Sif once more.

"She was being held in some pauper's cell, starving alongside a young girl. They offered her food in exchange for killing the girl. She was refusing until the brought out a bucket and cloth. For some reason these items panicked her so much that she stabbed the girl." I spoke nonchalantly, still wondering how such simple items could have driven such a strong-willed female to go against her conviction.

"Was there water in the bucket, brother?" I nodded in confusion and pain spread across Thor's face. "I have seen some Midgardian digital plays where it shows such items being used for torture." He spoke angrily. How utterly barbaric.

"How could you stand to be in their presence, brother? These primitive apes who torture and murder their own kind for trivial things such as their interpretation of a book. These are the people you protect so diligently?" I sneered at him.

"You act as if Asgardians do not kill each other. We both know very well that is not the case."
"Ah, but you are forgetting something, brother dearest. I am not Asgardian." Thor sighed at my words but did not speak further. Instead, he took his leave, and I was left alone with my thoughts once more. I thought back to the mortal. How her golden eyes had glossed over at the memory and how she collapsed in pain at the memory. The scream she let out was so blood-curling that I was glad to be rushed out of the room as quickly as I was. Her reaction made much more sense knowing she was living out her memories anew. I frowned, wondering what had blocked them from her in the first place. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I drifted off to sleep. In my dreams I found myself in a strange room. Golden-brown hair was spread across black satin pillows. Her golden eyes were glowing faintly as a wide smile spread across her face. Even as a mortal she was jaw-droppingly beautiful. I felt a possessiveness over her as she smiled so purely at me. Then she leant upwards and captured my lips softly with hers before gently whispering,

"I love you, Loki."