The Ides of July // Loki - Book 1 ✓

Chapter 38: Information

EREN WALKS into the observation room the next morning without Magnus or the guards. His eyebrows lift in surprise as he sees Anna asleep, curled into Loki's shoulder, the two of them sitting upright on the small cot pushed against the wall of the cell. The Asgardian god stares at him, unblinking, his green eyes boring straight through the glass. Even with the separation between them, Eren fights the urge to squirm beneath his intense look of hatred.

"Why are you doing this?" Loki asks softly, careful not to wake Anna.

"Is this the part where you get me to sympathize with you?" Eren quips, his dark eyes glittering with distorted amusement. He might have a healthy dose of fear toward the man who led an alien invasion against New York, but he knows he has the upper hand. "It's not going to work. I won't help you."

Loki scoffs, "I don't want or need your assistance, impudent bastard."

"Then what?" Eren asks impatiently, crossing his arms.

A brief look of softness crosses Loki's pale features as he glances down at Anna before hardening back into reticent disgust as he meets Eren's questioning look. Eren laughs, a booming sound that echoes through the speakers of their cell, as he unwinds his arms and tucks his hands into his pockets. Anna shifts uncomfortably against Loki's chest, her brown hair falling over her face as she presses her cheek into his shoulder with a muffled groan.

"You want me to help her," concludes Eren.

Loki nods, the movement barely perceptible. He knows that Anna will not survive many more torture sessions, but he is unwilling to stand up to their threats and risk her exposure to the gas. The oath he swore to her is a complicated one, something he never should've done, but he couldn't stop himself. Now his soul is irrevocably bound to the promise he made to the sleeping brunette, and even he isn't willing to suffer the consequences of breaking such a vow. No, he never should've made that oath - especially without a plan - but now he will stop at nothing to see it finished.

"She has information we need," he tells Loki with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's as simple as that."

"What information?" Loki hisses. "You have Stark and Thor, along with two innocent women. She knows nothing about Banner's whereabouts after he escaped."

Anna begins to wake at the sound of Loki's voice growing louder with his rising temper, and she slowly peels herself away from his chest. Her cheeks tint pink for a moment, realizing how she had slept, before draining of color when she sees Eren standing there.

"What do you want?" She asks, her voice rough from sleep.

He laughs, "I come with a proposition."

Loki's eyes darken at his words, his hands clenching tightly into fists. The shackles that hold him cut into his skin, the already raw and bruised rings around his wrists threatening to leak blood at any moment. Anna intertwines her fingers, nervously brushing against the small silver ring on her right hand and twisting in gently. She exhales a shaky breath before speaking.

"Go on then," she says.

"Your freedom in exchange for that of your sister," Eren states. "Simp--"

"My what?" Anna interrupts. "I don't have a sister."

Her mind is racing at Eren's words, and her fingers freeze from where they were twirling the ring around. The repetition was soothing in the midst of the chaos as she memorized the intricate knotting pattern beneath her fingerprints. Eren smiles, giving her a look that sends shivers down her spine. Whatever he wants, whatever they want...she can't give it to them. Even if she wanted to make a bargain, she doesn't have a sister. Nothing can change that.

Next to her, Loki says nothing as he processes the exchange slowly. Ever-so-slightly, a look of recognition flits across his fingers as it all clicks into place. Anna was the target in Istanbul, not Rifat. They simply used him as a tool to drive her toward Restitution, toward Stark. Phase one was to connect her with those Avengers they could manage to manipulate and capture, but even an organization such as this must have a backup plan. There are more Avengers still fighting. Originally he thought they would have no connection - wouldn't know or care about their capture - but now it makes sense. Anna's repeated torment. They're giving her motivation to betray, yes, but they're also making her bait.

He unclenches his fist to reach down and lace his fingers with Anna's. The sensation pulls her out of her thoughts as she looks up at him, confused.

"That's where you're wrong, my dear. You have a biological sister," Eren says with a rough, barking laugh. "Anya Romanova." 

Now playing: "Prelude" NGHTMRE

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Author's Note

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