My muscles clenched as I tried to pull back against Loki's tug, but his grip was too firm and I'd been caught off guard. I lost my balance, falling into him with a surprised yelp as he quickly maneuvered me. I landed sideways in the space between Loki's legs with one of his arms wrapped around my back and my legs dangling over his other knee. "Loki!"
He chuckled, tilting his head to the side to face me a bit more, "Yes, darling?"
Still surprised by my sudden fall, I stared at Loki, who was still leaning his chin on his propped- up fist, looking rather comfortable and pleased with himself. His amorous eyes were watching me with a smug humor as he smirked at me, clearly amused by how stunned I was. I could feel my entire body tense up even as my heart started fluttering, my eyes widening as I stiffened under that sultry, smug look of his.
Breaking from my momentary trance, I pushed against his chest, starting to try to struggle out of his grip and to stand up again, my mind going into a flustered overload. What had gotten into him? Why was he looking at me like that? Cheeky trickster! Oh gosh, I'm sitting in his lap! This is way too intimate! He is looking far too pleased! Gosh, my face is burning! I ducked my face down even as I felt Loki's hand grip my side firmer, his other hand moving from his chin to rest upon my knees, holding me in place as I tried to wriggle away from him.
"Let me go!" I gasped, nonplussed as Loki pulled me closer to himself.
"Why?" Loki faked a clueless expression, as if he didn't know exactly why I was a shy, flustered mess sitting in his lap. The expression was ruined, of course by his teasing, self-satisfied grin, "There's plenty of room here for the both of us."
"That's not the problem here!" Why did it seem that the more I tried to twist and wiggle out of his grasp, the closer he held me to himself? My eyes shot down to Loki's hand on my thigh. It was such an unfamiliar feeling to have his hand there, squeezing it just a bit as he tried to keep me from shifting and removing myself from my position on his lap. The pressure of it made my fluttering heart race.
Loki's hand left my thigh, raising up so his elegant fingers caressed my chin, tilting my face towards his so I could see his smirk, his thumb running over my bottom lip, "I see no problem. All I see is the love of my life looking beautifully flushed and rather flustered as I hold her in my arms." His beguiling words and the sultry look in his eye had seemed to draw me back into his irresistible trance. My body ceased to struggle against him even as my heartbeat quickened, my whole self completely seeming to halt under his gentle, loving touch on my lips. Once I'd stopped trying to escape him, Loki allowed himself to look me over slowly, his lips curling higher into an even more pleased smile before locking eyes with me, drawing my face closer to his as he rumbled, "I also can't help but notice how positively ravishing you look in this color."
"Th-thank you." I could feel my nervous need to babble rising up my throat as I watched Loki's eyes wander up and down my figure, so I cut myself off short after thanking him, actually biting my lower lip to silence myself. I could feel my breathing quicken under his intense inspection, feeling even more self-conscious about being in his lap and the fact that his hand had returned to the top of my thigh, running lightly up and down its length.
Was it just my imagination or were his eyes seeming to grow a bit darker, his pupils growing? How could he stare at me like that, so intensely and confidently, that emerald fire burning behind them? I could stare at those eyes forever just trying to understand the emotions residing there. I could barely understand the look of satisfaction and adoration and... desire held in that gaze. Desire... I still barely understood it myself, but I could not deny that the more time I spent with him, the more that feeling grew in my own heart. Even the thought of such emotions embarrassed me and maybe even frightened me a bit, and yet... I wanted to explore it. Explore it with him...
Wait.
I jerked in Loki's grip again as I came to myself, pulled from my inner thoughts by the realization that Loki was staring directly into my eyes instead of trailing his gaze up around my figure, our faces seeming to have grown so much closer to each other that I could just barely feel the puffs of Loki's breaths! How long had he noticed my staring? How long had he been staring back with that amused smirk? Gasping, I dropped my gaze, twisting my neck to look away from him, trying to hide the new, darker bloom of my embarrassed blush.
Loki's deep chuckle tickled my left ear, "I love to tease you, darling. I love your reactions, how you respond to me..."
His voice trailed off into the lightest of whispers, the brush of his breath causing goosebumps to rise on my arms and a shiver to run through my overheating body. Just then, to my great surprise, I felt just the barest touch of chilled lips upon the exposed crook of my neck.
"L-Loki!" I whirled around to face him, my eyes impossibly wide as my heart tried to jump into my throat. He... he'd kissed me! On the neck! He'd never tried to do that before! I was utterly astonished and dumbstruck by his bold, yet gentle intimate action!
"Am I being too forward, my love?" Loki raised a brow, his question serious even as he kept his tone soft and flirtatious.
"No..." I murmured, trying to calm my pulse as I pulled my gown's one shoulder strap up higher on my shoulder. It didn't do much as he'd kissed me on the other side of my neck where my shoulder was bare, but still, "It's just... new... I wasn't expecting it..."
Even with my denial, I must've looked terribly frazzled because Loki leaned back a bit, giving me space, his expression apologetic, "I am sorry. I didn't mean for that to shock you so. I just wanted to show you how I..." his voice faded for a moment, his eyes growing thoughtful for a second before he tried to speak again, "I am always rather zealous for you, but seeing you walk away from me last night on the arm of a different man, especially one that had shown signs of particular interest in you, seems to have struck a deeper chord in me than I had thought. I was happy to see the lord and lady's fondness for you and I knew I mustn't be selfish, but I can hardly help being greedy when it comes to you. I want your smiles all to myself, all your blushes to have been caused by me, and for each new experience to be ones that we share."
Absorbing his words, I allowed a finger to trace the seams of Loki's leather tunic and jacket, feeling the cool metal and the layers in the leather's designs as I relaxed in his grip again. "There's no need for you to be jealous, Loki."
"Jealous..." Loki repeated softly, thoughtfully, the hand that had been around my waist rising up my back so that he could twist the ends of my loose hair between his fingers as he considered the word, "Yes, I suppose I am."
"My heart is yours alone." I said reassuringly, allowing myself to look up into his face again, smiling, "Even when you're a merciless tease."
His smirk reappeared at my words, a mischievous grin of white teeth overtaking the thoughtfulness of his expression, "You've indeed charmed this silver-tongued snake, and now all I want is to show you what you have done to me and how much I adore you. Without you by my side, Penelope, I am like a dead man wandering the dark halls of Hel." As he spoke, Loki drew the strands of my hair towards his lips, effectively drawing my attention to his lips as well. They were usually thin and pale, but I now noticed the pinkish hue in his lips, how soft they looked, "Would you remind me of the warmth of the sun with your smile and give me a taste of Valhalla?"
My smile spread over my face of it's own accord as I timidly hooked my tracing finger into the niche of Loki's high collar right at the front of his throat, pulling him closer to me as I met his lips with my own. His kiss was gentle as his fingers that had been playing with my hair came up to caress the base of my skull. Shivers ran down my spine again at the coolness of his touch on the hot skin of my neck. I wondered if he could feel my racing pulse from that touch or if he could feel how my whole body melted into jelly as I leaned into him, giving way to him as I felt his tongue slide against my lower lip.
As Loki guided my tongue into an eager dance, the passion of the kiss ramping up, his hand that was running along my thigh moved up to my hip as he tried to turn me more into his chest. Was I too heavy? Was it that my legs being thrown over his knee were starting to hurt or weigh him down? Did he just want to pull me closer to himself as we lost ourselves more and more into each other? I allowed him to adjust me a bit until I realized that he was trying to maneuver me into straddling his lap instead of sitting sideways in between his legs on the throne. The thought made my heart skip a beat. I wasn't quite comfortable with that yet! I didn't want him to be uncomfortable with me sitting like this on him, but...
I moved my hand from his collar to rest over his hand on my hip, guiding it up to rest on my waist as I tried to sit up a bit more, twisting my torso. Loki seemed to understand what I was doing, trying to adjust into a better position for him, while also letting him know I didn't want to straddle him. In response, letting me know that he was more than fine with that, he gripped my waist tighter, supporting and making me arch my back as he tilted my head to the side so he could gain better access to my mouth.
His clever tongue sent my head spinning. It was like I was becoming drunk on him, on his touch, on his taste. I gripped onto his shoulders, clinging to him like I was afraid I was going to fall. But, oh, I'd already fallen. I'd fallen for my dark prince long ago.
When Loki's lips left mine, I was left panting for breath, my chest rising and falling as I stared at him in a kind of daze. Loki's own cheeks had taken on a hint of color as his dark green eyes glimmered, traveling from my lips to my eyes and back down to my lips. He pressed a feather-light peck to my lips again, then one on the side of my chin, then one on my jaw.
My muscles tensed up again and I gripped tighter onto his shoulders, but I didn't hike up my shoulders or pull away as he started leaving a trail of his gentle, chill kisses along my jaw to my ear before easing them down my neck into the crook where my neck met my shoulder. His caressing hand at the back of my head tilted my head more to the side, moving my loose hair to the side and leaving my throat and collarbone exposed to him.
I gasped as he left an open-mouthed kiss there. The sensation was so new, so exotic to me that I barely knew how to respond except to let the breathy sound of surprise burst from me. It was wetter than I had expected, but it was not unpleasant. No, definitely not unpleasant. I could feel the vibrations of Loki's chuckle through his lips on my skin as he placed another kiss there, this one more lingering, ending in a soft sucking motion. I bit my lip to hold back another gasp as Loki repeated the kiss, this time sucking a little harder as he grew more confident that I wasn't going to freak out and pull away from him again.
And then there was a knock on the throne room's door.
Loki's lips left my burning skin even as my blood turned to ice, both of us freezing in our positions. My eyes dropped immediately to Loki's face only to see that he was already glaring over my shoulder, his dark brows furrowed frustratedly as he growled lowly, "I am sure I told the guards that I was to have no more interruptions."
Another knock echoed through the golden hall. At the sound I immediately leapt up and out of Loki's lap, hurriedly trying to straighten my skirts and hair, trying to rid myself of any evidence of Loki and me kissing. I nearly tripped over the hem of my gown as I swept around Loki's throne, grabbing up some of the papers that were still resting on the throne's armchair, like I had been going over these documents with the king instead of making out with him.
Loki adjusted himself as well, running his fingers through his long, black hair trying to recompose his expression from one of intense frustration to one of kingly propriety before he started casting his illusion of Odin again. Right before the illusion took effect, though, I noticed to my embarrassed horror that Loki's trousers were looking rather tighter than usual. Holy crap! What was I looking there for anyways? I raised my papers higher over my face, trying to hide my new blush as Loki called out in Odin's voice, "Enter."
A pageboy immediately stepped through the doors as the guarding einherjar opened them, announcing, "Lord Mimir!"
Lord Mimir, an elderly, white bearded man with a hooked nose, strode in immediately upon the boy's declaration of his name, not even looking up from a scroll that was held tightly in his wrinkled hands. Upon seeing him, I recalled Loki having mentioned this Lord before, describing him as being incredibly wise and important while also being highly distracted. Something about him reminded me of Dr. Erik Selvig just a bit. The lord ducked into a quick bow at the foot of the throne's steps before immediately jumping into his business with the king.
"Allfather, I have some..." The old man finally looked up, seeming suddenly surprised when he saw me standing beside the king. He hesitated a moment, even pausing in his first step up to the throne a second before evasively continuing, "...confidential matters to speak with you about."
"Yes, I see." The Allfather nodded in a vaguely resigned tone before he turned to address me, "Apologies, Penelope. Unfortunately, this looks like a matter that I must deal with immediately. It looks like our time must be cut short this evening. We shall get back to your lessons tomorrow. Would you be so kind as to take breakfast with me?"
"Of course, Allfather." I said quickly, replacing the documents where I'd plucked them from before bending my knees into a low curtsy and descending the throne's stairs. Reaching the bottom, I offered the Lord a polite curtsy as well as I hurriedly passed him, escaping the throne room before I started blushing again, "A good evening to you as well, Lord Mimir."