The Brightest Star

Chapter 27 - A Loophole

(Loki's POV):
"Sir, I have come to inform you that your lesson has been moved until after lunch today due to a personal matter of Lady Kára's," a guard informed me as I was about to leave to meet her.

"Very well, I will go to the library this morning instead, if you would care to escort me," I replied, shielding my worry as to what was wrong with her.

She had never postponed a lesson before, I was the only one who had ever requested that it be later in the day. Part of me wished to visit her room and about what had come up, but I chose instead to respect her privacy and trust that she would inform me of the matter if it were of any importance during the lesson this afternoon.

I settled down in the window seat that Kára and I had shared when we had spent our night discussing Shakespeare. In correlation with that, I chose to read one of his plays: King Richard II. The king was weak, a role model to my younger self as to what I did not want to become. But now I found myself willing to give up any crown simply to be with Kára for the rest of our lives, to keep her safe from the forces that threatened me. Perhaps love had had turned me as weak as King Richard, but Kára made me a stronger person and therefore I believed that our love did as well.

I spent hours reading in the library before I was delivered lunch by one of the guards. Now suspicious of any delivered meal, I conjured a number of spells to check that nothing was poisoned before eating it. Once my plate was cleared, I followed the guards to the room that Kára and I used for our classroom and was disappointed when I discovered that she had not yet arrived. I was dying of curiosity as to what had happened this morning and was hoping that she would give me answers.

I waited for a few more minutes in solitude before Kára finally arrived and I could tell immediately that something was wrong. She was flushed and seemed about ready to trash the room around us in anger.

"Your father is the worst kind of monster I have ever had the displeasure of meeting," she spat, storming into the room and letting the door slam behind her.

"Kára, love, what is the matter? When did you meet my father? What did he say to you that made you so infuriated?" I questioned, wrapping my arms around her in an attempt to comfort her.

To my surprise, she burst into tears and buried her face in my shoulder, holding me close to her. I reacted quickly, rubbing her back in an attempt to be comforting, "Kára, please tell me what has happened, perhaps there is something that I can do to remedy the situation."

She shook her head, "there is nothing you can do, Loki, I am so sorry. I should have controlled my temper, I think I offended your father."

"Kára, you are a commoner, I am fairly positive your mere presence is an offense to him," I assured her. "What did he say to you to affect you in this way?"

"He is banning me from the palace," she confessed, tightening her grasp on me.

I froze, anger bubbling up inside me, "He what?!"

"He realized that I have come to love you and said that it was not proper for there to be such a relationship between a peasant and royalty. I should have seen this coming, how could I think that we could ever be happy together?" She began to ramble, trying to make sense of the situation before her. "I mean, I knew when I was falling for you that it was not right, but I could do nothing to sway my heart. But how dare he end this relationship now, just when we were starting to revel in the pleasures of our love?! Loki, what am I supposed to do without you?"

"Kára, do not worry, I shall find a way that we can get through this," I spoke, making sure that I did not take my anger towards Odin out on my beautiful angel.