All Hail The King // Loki - Book 2 ✓

Chapter 44

It's been over a week.

A week since Anna has seen Loki, a week since they slept together, a week since he told her the truth about Odin. After he nearly attacked her, he left her in his chambers and disappeared without a single word.

He locked her in the room. She still can't get over that fact. Once he left, she scrambled to her feet and pulled on the clothes Jane gave her. Tugging on her boots, she took one look around the room and went straight to the door. However, as soon as her palm touched it, a current of electricity burnt her hand and sent her flying backward across the room. Loki placed some sort of wards on the chambers, preventing Anna from leaving.

After the first day, she became desperate. The only time the door opened was when a single servant slipped into the room without saying anything and dropped off a small tray of food for dinner, and - after the same servant appeared in the morning with her breakfast - Anna decided that she wouldn't resign herself to sitting in the room waiting. She tried to climb out of balcony, but the same electric force keeping her from leaving through the door prevented her from exiting through the balcony.

Of course, Loki would use electricity. Her experience with electroshock torture at Restitution prevented her from trying to escape again until the fifth day, when she tried to leave with the servant. However, Loki's magic was tailored to her. The servant walked through the door unarmed, and Anna was tossed like a rag doll across the room and left to writhe on the floor.

Now, eight days later, she's resigned herself to sitting in silence. The servant refuses to speak to her, no matter how hard she tries, and the only books in the room are written in languages she cannot read. Furious with Loki, she destroyed the room's interior in a fit of rage the night before - tearing apart the wardrobe, shattering a ornate gilded mirror, and toppling the furniture - but, after crying herself into a dreamless sleep, she woke up the next morning to find everything restored. Even the cuts on her hands from the shards of glass were healed, the dried blood washed from her skin.

Right on time, the door opens and a young woman enters the room carrying a small tray with Anna's breakfast. It's the same girl that it always is, a tiny blonde with warm chocolate brown eyes, her hair twisted down her back in an elaborate braid. As usual, Anna greets her with a hello, but the girl doesn't answer.

"More silence, then, yeah?" Anna asks sarcastically, slamming the book she's been looking at shut.

She can't understand any of the words, but some of the books have illustrations, so she's taken to studying the intricate drawings and guessing what the words might mean. After a few days, she's taught herself a few words of whatever language the book is written in. At least, she's taught herself what she thinks they mean.

"Of course," she mutters, shaking her head. "I swear, I'm going to go insane in here unless someone bloody speaks to me!"

Tossing the book across the room, it slams into a delicate candelabra that crashes to the floor. The servant flinches at the sound, shooting an apologetic look at Anna, before scurrying over to the mess and picking it up.

"Oh, God, no," Anna says, uncrossing her legs from underneath her and rushing over to her. "Please, don't do that. I'm sorry, I lost my temper. I didn't mean to make you clean up after me."

Collecting the skirts of the navy blue dress laid out for her this morning, she kneels next to the servant and starts cleaning the mess on the floor. The girl works quickly, no doubt eager to get out of the room holding the seemingly crazy Midgardian woman, until Anna sighs. A single tear runs down her cheek, and the servant glances at her just in time to see her wipe it away with the back of her hand.

"You must think I'm absolutely mental," Anna forces a laugh while more tears glisten in the corner of her eyes. "I think I am. I mean, look at me. I trusted the man who murdered my fiancé, lied about his death, betrayed his family, and locked me up like some kind of prisoner. I'm sure that's the definition of mad."

The servant pauses, her brown eyes watching Anna carefully, before shaking her head slightly.

"No, my lady," she says softly. "You're not mad, you fell in love."

Anna bites her lip, "Some would say that in itself makes me mad."

"No," the servant repeats, shaking her head. "That makes you brave."

Now playing: "My Body Is A Cage" by Arcade Fire.

*****
AUTHOR'S NOTE

If you haven't already, be sure to read the new Bonus Chapter (#5) in The Ides Of July.

(Seriously. It's going to be important in the future of these books, so you don't want to miss it.)

Also, shout-out to one of my IRL besties alessandraw11 for helping me pick out the song for this chapter. The soundtrack for All Hail The King is available on Spotify. Check out the link in my profile.

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