When Darkness Falls - LOKI - Book One (Editing)

31. Games

"I was starting to think you were dead." Loki cooed as Athelia appeared in front of his desk. Her scowl had softened and she she smiled a hello as his pulled his feet from his desk. "It's nice to see you still have time your hero."

Athelia's brow raised as she walked over to the small bed and plopped down as if it her own. Loki watched her from his desk and she turned her back, curling into his pillow.

"I don't get a thank you?"

She didn't respond as she tried to steady her breathing. She knew after everything that had happened today with Thor and Freya that this was the place she should be and it took Loki only a moment to realize she was not in the mood for witty banter.

"Do you think I'm a horrible person?" She asked him out of nowhere. She refused to turn her around as she felt his gaze on her bare back and even though she heard his chair slide, she waited to look up until he was sitting at her feet. "Well?"

"As opposed to what?" He asked. "The Goddess of Darkness that stabbed me in th gut or the woman obsessed with unveiling my deepest, darkest secrets?"

"You're so funny," she groaned, pulling herself into his pillow. She inhaled deeply, momentarily intoxicated by his spiced scent before she rolled over onto her back and pulled her arms behind her head. "Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if you weren't raised in a palace?"

Loki pursed his lips. "I never thought about it honestly. It doesn't seem like it would have been all the fun."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I wouldn't have become a God."

"Is being a God that important you?"

"Well it certainly makes things interesting." He said, pulling himself into the bed. He rested back against the wall and watched as she flipped the cup he had done on many occasions.

She bit at her bottom lip and breathed heavily through her nose. She wanted to talk to him, didn't want to rehash everything that had happened or talk to him about Thor, so she rolled back to her side and looked up at him curious of something else. "How did you know I was the Goddess of Darkness."

"Athelia I knew since the moment I met that you weren't who you said you were."

"How?"

"You're a terrible liar to start." He laughed, but it faded quickly as she looked down at her hands. "And that. That disgusted look on your face when you stare at your hands as if there were oceans of blood you can't wash away."

She rubbed her hands together and clenched the hem of her draped sleeves, letting the fabric cover them.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of here Athelia," he insisted, leaning towards. He reached out and pulled her hand into his, turning her palm up as he traced the lines. "Your hands may hold secrets, but only you can decide which ones define you."

"You make redemption sound so easy."

"You'll never redeem yourself if that's all you seek. You're a queen Athelia, wear your secrets proudly and if you can't, then forget them. Dwelling on your past will only hinder your future. I'm living proof of that."

Athelia smiled softly as she stared down at their hands. His fingers stopped moving and she found herself pushing her hand up and folding her fingers between his . His touch was cool, numbing in the way that her oceans seemingly dissappeared and she found herself holding her breath as he reached up and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"You are a Goddess Athelia," he said, his voice a sure whisper. "Just because you someone told you were the God of something, doesn't mean you can't be something else."

"Did I hit you in the head too hard or are you finally warming up to me?"

He laughed and it was unlike Athelia ever heard escape him. It was pure and it was genuine, it was the Loki that didn't deserve to rot in a cell for the rest of his days.

"It's not that hard to be nice to somebody like you."

"Somebody like me?" She questioned.

"Yes." He smiled as he began to traced circles into the back of the hand he held. He couldn't resist touching her and surely wasn't going to let go.

There was something about her that calmed him. Despite the chaos that ran through each of their minds, when he held her hand now, it wasn't the same euphoric feeling he had the first time when her binds pulled at his illusion. It was something much different and it somehow removed any barrier he had between his mouth and his mind.

"Believe me, it's the highest form of praise I can give without sounding like an infatuated child."

"You're infatuated with me?"

"More like intrigued." He admitted, narrowing his eyes at her. "You are truly exquisite. I can only hope that one day you will realize you're more than just your darkness."

"You know if you're trying to sweet-talk me in hopes I'll let you out of here, you clearly don't know me at all," she said to him as she tried to take in his words. They were sweet enough for a girl to hang, but she knew better. She knew they called him silvertongue for a reason and though she would love nothing more than to play along, there was a line she was quickly approaching and she wasn't sure if his freedom was worth stepping over it.

"But I know everything about Athelia."

"Yet, I know nothing of you."

He smiled, sliding his hands out of hers and standing. "What would like to know? My name is Loki. I'm a saggitareous. I enjoy long walks in the rain and making people kneel. Shall I continue?"

She laughed. "Surprisingly still more than I knew about you before."

"What else would you like to know?"

She thought about it for a moment and slowly stood up. "Why must you play games instead of letting me know you."

His smile faltered as she walk towards him, slowly backing him up against the wall. "I really am a saggitareous."

"And I really don't care about your Midgardian Zodiac. Why won't you let me know you you?" She asked him, so close that Loki could smell the sweet wine she had with Thor on her lips. "You say beautiful things to me, you touch me as if I am made of glass and you look at me as if I was a piece of art hanging on your palace walls. Yet you won't tell me one thing that is true about you."

"Because you truly only want to know one thing."

"You really think so?" She leaned back, a sarcastic laugh echoed around them. "After all this, you think I'm only because of the dam truth. I stopped caring about your lies a long time ago."

"Then why do you keep coming back?"

"You are really going to ask me that question?"

Loki searched searched her face and found nothing but curiosity. Her blue eyes widened and her brows furrowed as he leaned in, almost seductively and whispered in her ear. "And you say I'm the one playing games."

"I don't play games Loki." She whispered back, causing a chill to run down his spine.

He leaned back, not daring to drop her stare. "And why is that?

"Because there no fun when you always win."