When Darkness Falls - LOKI - Book One (Editing)

41. Promise

Athelia tried to push pass the madness that had seeped into the halls. Her sword had drawn the moment she stepped foot into the dungeons and was pushed away from one of the golden warriors, shouting at her for being in a place as unsafe as this. It was like they forgot, just who the new Princess of Asgard was.

She dropped bodies left in right as she tried to make her way into the dungeons and she quickly caught glimpse of Siff and the warriors three, who she didn't even realize we're absent from the festivities.

"What's going on?" She shouted at Fandral, who was neck deep in Maurader prisoners. He managed to shrug his shoulders before he was attacked from behind and she threw a dagger, piercing the throat of his attacker before smiling and closing her eyes.

She wanted to help them contain the prisoners, but she needed to make sure Bronen was still locked up and when she appeared half way down the hall, she didn't look back before rushing to the very end of the corridor, where Bronen's cell was very much empty.

"Damnit," she muttered as she turned to leave. She knew he could be anywhere and she had to find him fast, but first, she had to check one last thing.

She made her way slowly through the halls, peering into every empty cell. The warriors had nearly dropped them all at the very end, but the clashing of metal swords still echoed through her, sending pulses of energy into her fingers.

"Athelia," her name sounded behind her and she froze, his voice scratching at every nerve in her body. It sounded pained and when she turned slowly, her hands came to her mouth as a bloody Loki limped towards her. "Help me."

Athelia glanced back down the hall to his cell where the ongoing battle raged in front of his cell. She knew she had to find Bronen, but the blood seeping from his thin shirt through her into overdrive and she rushed him, slipping her arm under his and helping him down the hall until he couldn't walk any further.

They were only feet away from fight when he collapsed on to the steps in front of the empty cell where she once nearly destroyed Asgard. She heard Thor's voice boom from the other side of the doors as she crouched down in front of Loki, who was clutching at his stomach.

"What happened?" She asked him, setting Eiri on the ground next to her. She tried to rip a piece of her undershirt, but her armor was in the way and in a wave if frustration she quickly pulled it off and began shredding the clean fabric.

"I don't know," he panted. "One moment I was reading and the next, the sirens wailoed and this beast started breaking the barriers. I tried to stop him, but, well... You can see how well that went."

She grabbed his hips tightly and pulled him up, working quickly to untuck his shirt. She pulled it up to find the wound her eyes following each fine line if his slender torso, but unable to find a wound.

"Loki, there's nothing here." She said as she continued to search. Her hands slid against his slick, red skin as she searched for a wound but when she finally looked up at him, but it wasn't the pained expression on his face that stalled her movements. It was the reflection in the glassy surface of the shield next to him and the green eyes that stared at her.

She turned around slowly and froze. Loki was standing in his cell, a heartbroken plea on his face as he stared at her. He didn't speak or try to warn her that the man underneath her was not him, he couldn't, every bit of him froze until Athelia gasped as her illusions faded and blood began to seep through the fabric of her wedding gown.

The lights flickered around as Loki wailed from within his cell. Despite the currents that trembled through his body, his fist met the barrier over and over again as she attempted to crawl backwards away from her attacker.