The Ides of July // Loki - Book 1 ✓

Chapter 19: A Snowy Wasteland

LOKI SMIRKS without meeting her gaze. Were she not bleeding and half-frozen to death due to his own actions, he most certainly would've taken great pleasure in dropping her into the snow. Now, if it'd been only one of those two things, then he might not have commanded so much self-restraint.

"Why are you smiling?" Anna coughs, turning her head away from his chest. She felt woozy, no doubt increased by the fact that she was moving.

Wait, they were moving. He was carrying her.

"Merely pondering the origins of your precipitous hostility, mortal," Loki quips without hesitating a beat. "Surely it isn't innate, but given the inferior blood coursing through your veins I can't say that I'm surprised by it."

Anna rolls her eyes, sighing as she rests her head against his chest.

"Pot calling the kettle black, yeah?" She mutters, her voice barely a whisper.

Loki pretends not to hear her but continues navigating through the snow. The sun would be setting in less than two hours, and he hoped to make it to shelter before nightfall. A sharp wind whipped across his face, indicating the likelihood of inclement weather which he hoped to avoid given the circumstance. His magic would need a night to recover from traveling such a distance, and he doubted he'd get the rest needed to escape this gods forsaken place out in the open during a turbulent storm.

A chill runs through his arms startling him, so he hazards a look down at the woman in his arms only to discover she is still shivering with cold. Her face is wrought with concentration as she fights to keep control over the mild tremors. If Loki had a normal body temperature, his proximity to her would probably help. As it was, his Frost Giant blood likely made her even colder.

"I am sorry," he admits quietly.

Her blue eyes snap up to meet his green ones in disbelief.

"You didn't mean to abandon me in a snowy wasteland?" Anna scoffs, a loopy smile tugging at one corner of her mouth.

"No," Loki says, lifting an eyebrow, "Yet I assure you, it can most certainly be arranged."

Anna slips her left arm around his shoulder and up his back, her fingers clutching tightly to the fabric of the green undershirt peeking out from the back of the armor strapped around his chest. Loki frowns, the feeling of her skin brushing against his own causing him to recoil unwittingly.

"You wouldn't," Anna whispers.

"I would," Loki retorts, "But I won't....for the moment."

"Why not?"

Loki rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed by their ongoing conversation, "Because as much as I dislike the current company and conversation, it's somewhat of an improvement over my previous domicile."

Anna snaps her mouth shut, not wanting to pester the god further. She was not an aggressive type - nor a passive one - but she knew that it would be unwise to piss off the man currently saving her life, as much as she hated to let his rudeness go unnoticed. She absolutely despised rudeness, meaning Loki had been tumbling down the slopes of her opinion since they met like a runaway train with no signs of stopping.

They fall into an uncomfortable silence, and Anna attempts to keep her trembling to a minimum. As the sun slips lower in the sky, her eyelids close again and she falls into a light sleep in Loki's arms. He frowns at her unconscious form, questioning whether or not he should keep her awake considering he isn't certain how much blood she has lost, but the glare of the setting sun against glass atop a rocky mountaintop attracts his attention.

The snow is no longer undisturbed, as Loki steps over chains onto a well-worn path that leads toward a tunnel in the base of the rock. Clouds fill the sky as the temperature continues to drop, so he hurries toward the opening. Once inside, he navigates through the tunnel toward an elevator and jams his thumb against the button. Doors slide open, and he carefully maneuvers inside to avoid disturbing the sleeping woman in his arms before pressing another button that will take them to the top of the mountain.

Nestled on a breathtakingly steep precipice at Jungfraujoch, known as the "Top of Europe," is the Sphinx Observatory. Overlooking the Aletsah Glacier and the Swiss Alps, it is home to multiple laboratories as well as spectacular views.

Needless to say, Loki did not bring Anna here on accident. As the elevator swings open, his startling green gaze lands on a young woman in a puffy red coat who drops what she's holding at the sight of them.

"Hello, Jane Foster," Loki says with a mischievous smile. 

Now playing: "Red Rose in the Cold Winter Ground" by The Dig

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Author's Note

This chapter is dedicated to RoseTyler827 + LeAnnaBosch. Thanks for being such awesome readers!

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