"I'm sorry, your highness." I said softly, gulping before I continued. "I believe it'd be quite the betrayal to share that with you without Loki's consent..."
I could feel her disappointment in that answer, but a small hint of pride showed in her eyes.
"Not willingly." I added, hoping she understood what I meant. I knew, if Frigga wanted to, she could take anything she wanted from my mind. She could likely pick me apart piece by piece if she desired it.
"If you were in this position, my position, what would you do?"
"I..." I faded before I could get more than a word out. I knew what I would do, I'd do anything I had to to know what happened to my child, in Frigga's position. But by doing so, she'd likely anger him.
"My son was locked in our dungeons for years. Even now, he is incredibly confined and scrutinized. Tell me now, if we had known what you saw in your vision, would that be different?"
My lip found it's way once more between my teeth, my chest beginning to feel hollow with anxiety. My feet tapped quietly on the floor, a futile attempt to remove some of my energy.
"If his imprisonment was dictated only by the invasion... I believe so."
Even that felt like too much to say. I felt horrible, wanting nothing more than to encourage Loki to speak with his mother himself.
But he wouldn't, that I was sure of. Loki's pride is everything to him, he would rather be viewed as evil than weak. He would always choose evil.
"Then I will take it." Frigga responded certainly, sitting back down across from me. "And you will fight it when I do. As much as you can."
I stared with a blank expression for a moment, before nodding. She waved me over to a couch against the wall.
"This will be incredibly painful." She said as she towered over me, "And it will also have some... adverse affects for you, if you fight as strongly as I believe you can. This is the price of me knowing."
"I can take it." I said quietly, taking a breath.
In all honesty, I was terrified. 'Incredibly painful' in description to an Asgardian... That had to be excruciating. My jaw was clenched just at the thought.
She nodded as her hand reached for my forehead. "You won't be joining us for dinner this evening."
'Incredibly painful'. It was a good description, though didn't seem strong enough at the moment. The pain was nothing I had ever experience before, my head feeling as though several daggers were being pierced into it simultaneously.
Frigga saw everything about the vision, and I fulfilled my end of the deal by fighting it, resisting it internally. That only made the process take longer for her, but I trusted she had a reason, even if it was just for my own plausible deniability.
I still felt as though I was betraying Loki, by even allowing Frigga to do this. Yes, in all likelihood, if I had tried to run she could have easily had guards contain me, but I knew the truth was she probably wouldn't.. Or wouldn't want to, at least.
Maybe she would. Loki was her baby; she did have a far stronger duty to protect her son than she did to leave a random girl unharmed.
When she stopped, I laid there, immobile in my pain for minutes, tears streaming down my face and the occasional whimper still escaping my lips.
"I'm so incredibly sorry for the pain, dear girl." Frigga whispered softly.
I managed to pull myself together enough to sit up, but tears still streamed down my face. It was almost as if I couldn't stop them.
"You're incredibly strong." She continued as she handed me a small silk cloth. I wiped my eyes, only to find myself staring in horror as the tan silk turned crimson with every stroke.
Frigga must have sensed this, because she quickly went to comfort me, holding me into a hug as I tried to steady my heavy breathing.
"It will stop soon, nothing permanent. I would not do any permanent harm to you."
I whimpered when I tried to nod in response, my head in a crazed amount of sharp pain.
"Collect yourself, then go to your chambers, wash yourself off, and get into bed. The bleeding will slow in a moment, but will likely continue for most of the evening. I will have the girls bring you your dinner and a tea to help the pain. Go through the library, you'll avoid Thor and the warriors that way." She wrapped me in a cloak, pulling the hood over my head. "Keep your head down."
"Loki is going to be mad if he sees me like this." I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut as my head only ached more when I spoke.
"He will be angry with me, yes. Trust it's not the first time I've faced his scorn."
I did as Frigga said, walking directly across the hall to go through the library rather than the halls. It was a huge room I hadn't been in previously, but it was a straight shot to the other set of double doors, which led directly to the two princes' wing.
I quickly made my way through the room, keeping my head down and my cloak's hood pulled, but halfway through I felt a presence. A familiar presence. That same 'eye of the storm' feeling I adored now instead made my stomach drop in anxiety.
I hurried to the second set of doors, silently praying he hadn't seen me as I tried to remain quiet, muffling any sounds that escaped my mouth from the pain with my hand. After I got out of the library, I practically sprinted down the hall to my door, closing it behind me.
As soon as I got to my room I went straight to the bathroom to get a look at myself in the mirror. The lights in the bathroom were brighter, making me wince for a second before I finally looked. Holy hell.
My eyes didn't have a single ounce of white left in them, red tears still trailed down my cheeks. If someone told me in that moment I was a demon, I would've whole-heartedly believed them. Bloody Mary could've appeared in the mirror beside me and we likely would've looked like long lost sisters.
"Dove?" I heard a soft call on the other side of the bathroom door. In my frantic state looking at my face, I must've missed Loki coming into my room.
"Just a second." I tried to say loud enough for him to hear, cringing through the pain as my voice cracked. I threw on the sink and snatched a hand towel from beside it, cleaning the blood off my cheeks.
"Are you alright?" He sounded concerned, worried as I could hear his hand rest on the doorknob when he spoke.
"Y-" I tried to speak, but the pain engulfed my head once more, causing a whimper to escape my lips as I threw my head down in a wince. I grabbed the cloth and covered my eyes in an attempt to lessen the light shining through my eyelids, desperate to dampen the pain.
Not even seconds later I felt hands on my arms, Loki's cool touch grasping me and turning me to face him.
"Is that blood?" He asked, sounding almost horrified. "Dani?"
He practically ripped the towel out of my hands, making me wince again and squeeze my eyes shut. He made a noise when he saw my face, what I could only describe as a mix between a scoff and a gasp.
"Lo, I'm o-"
I didn't understand what he said, it sounded foreign as he whispered something under his breath and pulled me back towards the bedroom. He sat me on the bed, running the cloth on my eyes softly as he knelt in front of me. "What happened? Who did this?" I could feel his emotions crashing around the room, smashing any space of neutral air to nothing.
"I-" I had to stop again, and as he saw the look on my face he put his hand on my cheek, rubbing what I could only assume to be more blood off of me. Just as I began to try again, there was a knock on the door.
Loki stood and I kept my head down as he opened it, an irate "What?" coming from him.
"Forgive my interruption, your highness. The queen requested we bring Lady Eirdottir dinner and a medicinal tea."
I heard the tray passing through the door before it slammed shut, not another word passing through Loki's lips before he set it down on the desk. He placed the tea lightly in my hands, continuing to wipe my face a couple more times with the towel. "Take a couple drinks."
I did as told, and only moments later the pain in my head began to subside, turning instead into a throbbing.
"She did this to you?" He sounded almost as hurt as me and took the tea from my hands, setting it down on the bedside table before guiding me to sit against the headboard.
"It's okay, Lo." I whispered softly.
"You're crying tears of blood, Danielle! She hurt you. And for what? Her ridiculous conquest for someone who doesn't want found?" He lightly scolded. "She had you run to your room? She couldn't even bother having someone escort you in this state?" His voice raised slightly, making me wince once again. "I'm sorry." He said softly upon seeing my reaction.
He sat at the foot of the bed, his hand sitting in my lap as I played with his fingers.
"What happened?"
"Any time I tried to exclude anything, she knew I was hiding something. She wanted to know what I saw in 2012."
"And you wouldn't show her... You... Tried to fight it off?" He said flatly, his voice holding almost no emotion.
"I didn't want to betray your trust." I mumbled, now fiddling with my own fingers in my lap as I kept my gaze on them. "You didn't ever want me to see it, you didn't even want me speaking of it... I figured it obvious you wouldn't want me showing anyone."
I felt Loki's lips press lightly against my head, but I could still feel his anger. "She should've came and spoke with me, inst-"
"Lo, we both know you wouldn't have done that." I whispered softly. "She's your mom, if I were in her shoes I wouldn't have done anything differently. And it's not like she tied me down to do it."
"No, she only overdosed your magic and hurt you." He nearly growled. "Wait, are you saying I'm to blame?" He stood from the bed, causing my head to snap up. I ignored the pain as he looked at me, the hurt expression on his face hurting almost as much as the now dull head pain.
"No, love, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying no one should be blamed for anything here. It just... Happened. I'm okay, everything is okay."
Loki's jaw clenched after I spoke, but he only went to the desk, grabbing a plate and walking it back over to me. "Eat, then finish your tea."
Another knock at the door made Loki stand abruptly, and I thought he was ready to fight anyone on the other side.
"Elle?" I heard Thor's voice.
"Come in." I called softly.
He strolled in, stopping as he saw his brother's expression.
"What's going on?" He asked abruptly. "I didn't see either of you at dinner. Mother was incredibly late as well." Before getting an answer, Thor looked at me. His eyes went wide, sudden rage filling the room as he saw my face.
"There was an incident, while I was practicing magic with your mom. Everything is fine." I said quickly as he turned back to Loki.
I knew what he was thinking without having to read his mind, and most definitely wanted to avoid that fight.
Thor's eyebrows furrowed, "What incident?"
"It's fine, nothing really. Here, I wrote Tony a note." I quickly held the piece of paper out, which Thor came and grabbed. Loki stayed quiet, but I could feel he was frustrated.
"You're alright?" Thor asked softly, wincing when he looked at my face closer.
"I'll be fine. Thank you, Thor."
"I can stay here with y-"
"No, really. I've just... learned how horribly mind magic can go. I'm okay, please go let my brother know I'm okay."
He nodded once, giving his brother a look before walking out the door.
Loki stood there for another moment, staring at the ground, before he grabbed a second plate off the tray, sitting across from me.
"Why'd you go through the library?" He asked after a minute of us eating in silence.
"She told me to." I said with a small smile. "My guess would be she knew you were there. I'd guess that's also why she sent two plates of dinner."
He nodded, huffing a bit. "Yes, I do believe you're right."
"She loves you. A lot. Don't be too harsh over this mess."
Loki looked at me, staring for a second before he simply nodded in response. After we ate, he took the plates and set them back on the tray.
"Thank you, for... Your loyalty." He looked down at his feet, a sudden wave of insecurity I hadn't ever felt from him becoming evident in the room. "I never wished for you to endure any pain on my account."
"I know you didn't, Lo." I stood and walked in front of him, hugging him. He sighed contently, his hands finding their way to the small of my back and his head nestling in the hair on the top of my head. "I'd endure far more for you if need be."