Gifted

Chapter 57

Loki looked up at you when his tears had finally stopped. He wasn't recovered from the mind healing, not really, but you both knew that you needed to focus on getting out of here. Healing could come later. "What happened?" Loki asked, his voice still breaking.

"A lot," you finally answered. "What do you remember?" you asked, hoping for a place to start. You still hadn't let go of him, you were far too glad to have him in your arms and alive to let go of him.

"Quite a lot of pain," was his answer, in his dry tone.

You couldn't help chuckling at that. Loki was Loki no matter how bad he felt. "Well, you're not wrong. Balder kidnapped you to get you here. Apparently, he's been trying to put powers into others, and it isn't working, so he wants me back since he can put those stupid powers into me, and was using you as bait," you explained the short version of the story.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Of course you can hold them. You're half Asgardian because of the soulbond. My brother is an idiot for not figuring that out,"

"We already knew that your brother is an idiot," you replied dryly. "Anyway, after you were kidnapped, Tony took me back to the compound to heal from my injuries during the battle. That took too long for Balder's liking, so he decided to hide you from me,"

"And torture me, yes I remember that part," his voice was just as dry as before. "By the way, what was that foul concoction you shoved down your throat to boost your powers? Never drink whatever that was again, please," he groaned at the memory. It had burned through you both with power.

You laughed again, glad to be able to relax with him in this brief respite. "That was coffee brewed with an energy drink instead of water with caffeine pills and sugar mixed in for added effect. Fury has already banned it in the tower to anyone who isn't me,"

"I am banning it from you, darling. That stuff was wicked strong," Loki grumbled

"It kept you alive, didn't it? You were draining our power at an alarming rate. I did everything you could think of to keep us both alive,"

"Yes, well, Balder was not exactly pleasant to me, darling,"

You nodded, your expression growing grim and sour again. "I know. I healed all of the damage. So when you broke the soulbond, never do that again by the way, I did some things we will never tell your mother about, gathered Thor, Sif, Astrid, and Uncle Tony and we went to where Balder was keeping you," you sighed. "We lost. I don't know how, I was too busy keeping you alive and reforging the soulbond to pay attention to the battle. Balder brought the two of us here after the battle. Our friends are fine," you added hastily.

"How do you know that?" he asked with panic in his eyes over Thor's safety, over Tony's and the rest of your friends.

"Balder made a bargain. If I went with him quietly, he'd let them live. There wasn't a choice and I knew together we'd figure out how to escape from here,"

Loki nodded, accepting that answer, then thought to question: "What things are we never telling Mother about?"

"A whole hell of a lot of blood magic," you replied guiltily. He gave you a look. "I got permission from everyone involved. And used my own blood for some of it. You were dying Lo," you reminded him. That part was definitely a sticking point for using illegal magic. You really didn't care what you'd had to do to save both your life and his. "I used blood to find you through the soulbond, which if you ever break again I will kill you," you repeated. He chuckled at how often you were bringing that up. You weren't going to forget that soul ripping feeling very soon. "And Pepper offered her blood to open the portal to Asgard so I could save ky magic for bringing you back from the brink of death. I figured, correctly, that the only reason in the universe you would break the soulbond was because you were dying,"

"You are correct in that, darling, and I promise never to do it again,"

"You better not," you grumbled at him.

"So, have you come up with a plan yet?"

"Not yet," you admitted. "My first plan was making sure you were alive and going to stay that way for awhile. Next on the list is a shower. Then we need to buy some time until at least one of us has some magic at our disposal again,"

"Your eyes are jet black, darling. You should not be using any magic," he reminded you gently.

You shrugged. "I'll do what I have to to get us out of here," you reminded him. There really wasn't much choice. You could recover after your lives were saved.

"Of course you will," he sighed in loving exasperation.

"So our next step after bathing should be to figure out how to get those runed manacles off of you," you thought aloud. He nodded. "And I have to play along with Balder's plans until we figure out how,"

"And I do not?" He asked. You knew he was wondering why the execution of these plans would most likely entirely be yours, why he wasn't going to be helping. You blushed. "What is it, darling, what trick are you playing?" you thanked all the gods that he knew you so well. You reached out and took Loki's hand, speaking directly to his mind through the soulbond.

/Balder keeps calling me his queen and has said that he is letting me 'keep' you as a consort/ you admitted.

Loki laughed in your mind /My brother is a moron/ he informed you

/Yes, but you should be safe. I doubt he'll even let you out of the suite. I'm the one who has to keep up the charade/

/Darling, you are nearly as skilled a liar and actor as I am. You will be fine/

You smiled, reassured by his faith in you. You managed to extricate yourself from his hold and got to your feet. You offered him your hands. "Come along, peacock. We need to get all of that blood off of you,"

"I can bathe myself," he grumbled at you, too proud to want you to see him at less than his best.

You rolled your eyes. "So come join me, then," you replied, stepping back. He swung his legs out of the bed and got to his feet. About three steps toward the bathroom his legs threatened to fall out from under him. You had ducked under his arm in an instant, wrapping arm around his waist and supporting his weight. "Come along, peacock," you laughed and helped him to the bathroom while he growled about his useless weak body. "Love, you nearly died. The fact that you're awake is a miracle," you reminded him.

You managed to get him into the bath and all of the blood and grossness off of you without too much trouble, though Loki was embarrassed over being bathed. It wasn't like there was anything sexy going on. You dried yourself off and found clean clothes in the bedroom of the suite. All of the clothes you had been provided were skimpy dresses. So you stole pajamas that were supposed to be for Loki. He didn't comment on your choice, though you could see in his eyes that he was glad for it. You just wanted to wear pants. You didn't trust Balder as far as you could throw him. Loki laid back on the bed, drained and exhausted. "Come, darling, let's get some rest. We both need to rest in order to heal," you nodded and joined him in the bed, laying your head on his chest where you could listen to his heartbeat.

"When did Mother teach you to soulheal?" he asked while he stroked your hair. You could tell from his movements that he was just as happy to have you back as you were to have him.

"When you took me there when my eyes were black last time. I shadowed her in the healing wing a couple of days and she showed me, though I couldn't do the spells myself at the time,"

"Good thing she did," he commented.

"I think she sees more of the future than she lets on. She sent me a warning that I would need the soulbond words and warned me to memorize them well," you added softly, already succumbing back to sleep. You were safe, for now, Loki was alive and healing, you would figure out how to get out of this when you were more healed and rested.