Guardian

Chapter 16

1643.

Elizabeth walked down the streets of London, her eyes tearing up as she looked at the remnants of the theatre before her. For the first time she had found something that let her disappear into another world. It may not have always let her forget her troubles - she had found herself reflected in many characters she had watched on stage. But it was a reprieve from her life.

But now it was all gone. And as much as she found refuge in the bustle of the city, it left her with nothing but pain. She did not understand what was so sinful about theatre, why the roundheads had been so desperate to close them - no, not just close them. They felt it necessary to destroy theatre.

Elizabeth knew that there were groups of traveling players performing in secret and more than once she had been tempted to seek them out. But it was too dangerous and she could not risk getting caught over some play that had been hacked apart to please audiences while simultaneously making it short enough to protect the players from being found out.

"I am not surprised to see you back here," a voice spoke behind her, a well-dressed man approaching her.

Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder, fear passing through her eyes when she realized that he was indeed speaking to her. She turned back to the remnants of the theatre as she replied, "I believe you must have me confused with someone else. I do not know you, sir."

"But I do know you, Elizabeth." The way her name fell from his lips caused shudders to run down her spine. "Did you truly think that you could remain here so long without anyone noticing? The last time I saw you was forty-two years ago and you have not aged a day since."

-

(Olivia's POV):
A pounding on the door pulled me out of my deep sleep and I gazed around my surroundings in confusion. Loki and I were entangled on the bed with the cats on either side of us. My head was resting atop Loki's chest and his arm was wrapped around my waist, holding me close to him. He hadn't seemed to have wakened despite the loud pounding on my door and looked rather peaceful in his sleep. But I could not take the time to admire him as panic set in as I quickly slipped out of his hold, stirring him in the process, and dashed to look through the peephole to see who it could possibly be banging at my door.

My heart stopped when I saw Tyler standing there, seeming to be growing increasingly impatient. I rushed back over to Loki and whispered, "it's Tyler, I'm going to need you to use your magic, please."

The please came out as almost a plea as I grabbed our mugs from the night before and threw them in the sink, trying to clean up any evidence that there was anyone else in my apartment with me. Loki had already transformed when I turned back to check his progress and I took a deep breath before opening my apartment door to let Tyler in.

I let out a yawn as I pulled the door open and spoke, "Ty, what are you doing here?"

"What, a man can't just come see his girlfriend? You look like hell, by the way."

"Well, I did just wake up to your pounding. I can go freshen up if you'll give me a few minutes."

Tyler shook his head as he tried to step into the apartment. However, his path was blocked by a mischievous black cat who refused to let him inside.

"Sorry," I muttered, picking Loki up and moving him to the side so that Tyler could enter, giving Loki another one of my warning looks. I was sensing a pattern of this happening whenever Loki was in his cat form.

Tyler said nothing as he stepped in and his eyes scanned the apartment. We fell into an uncomfortable silence, allowing me to hear my heart racing in fear that he would realize that something was out of place and discover that I was housing an Asgardian fugitive.