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Burning like fire - Loki x Sigyn - CHAPTER FOUR

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It was already long past midday when Loki finally woke. He instantly regretted waking, as his head was throbbing and he felt exhausted, as if he was suffering the worst hangover of his life. He was in a large bedroom all by himself, and felt annoyed that there weren’t any servants there to greet him, or at the very least some food. If his wife were truly a princess then he should be getting the royal treatment, right? As it turned out, the people of Vardelheim had a slightly different way to treat their royals than the Asgardian way…

“Are you not dressed yet?”, Sigyn said in a puzzled way, making Loki jump as he could have sworn she appeared out of thin air. How long has she been here?

“Obviously not”, Loki replied dryly, “how could I be properly dressed without any servants?”

Much to his annoyance, Sigyn laughed. “It was my understanding that you were released from prison before you came here. Prisons in Asgard must be very grand if they have servants dress their inmates”

Loki felt ready to jump out of bed and give her a trashing for her comment, but as he was getting ready to leap at her he realized that not only was he not properly dressed, he was actually completely naked. He ended up just giving her a scowl and pulling the bed covers tightly over himself.

“I’ll help you, if you wish”

“I don’t want you near me, let alone touching me”, he said harshly, hoping that she would take the hint and leave him to suffer his hangover alone.

Sigyn didn’t seem bothered at all, in fact she almost looked amused. She just shrugged, then looked him up and down and said “that’s certainly not what you said last night”, and then turned to walk away. Calling as she left, she said “if you don’t hurry and get dressed then you will have to wait until evening for any food!”, and then shut the door behind her.

As much as Loki was dying to stay in bed, especially after her comment about last night, he was feeling desperate for a good meal, and decided to shrug off any thought or memory of his first night in Vardelheim and get himself fed.

He felt strangely out of his element, walking the vast halls. He couldn’t help but feel that he was the odd one out, and just like he had when Odin told him of his true origin, he again felt like some sort of relic, only there for ornamental reasons and not because they actually considered him royalty. They should be proud and rejoicing that he had accepted their broken princess, so why were they all barely acknowledging him?

Confused, he sat down for his first meal of the day, with the only free seat at the table being next to Sigyn. He quickly noticed that she was very much respected by her kin, and whenever she spoke, the others listened attentively. Not wanting to be outshone by his unattractive spouse, he decided to put his silver tongue to work and charm his audience. To his amazement, they all listened, but made it clear that they listened out of duty and not because they were impressed or interested. As soon as he finished whatever he was saying, the others simply returned to their own conversations, as if though nothing had happened. It seemed that the only one who did care was the one he had been trying to outdo.

“What was it like being a prince in Asgard?”, Sigyn asked in response to him boasting of the splendours of the Asgardian castle.

At first he considered ignoring her, but when he saw how interested the others had suddenly become, he decided to reply, hoping to catch the interest of a pair of stunning women sat across the table from him.

“It was, much like here, except more golden and not as many jewels as you have here”, he said and Sigyn and the rest of his captive audience laughed gently. He continued, “there is beautiful scenery and rooms filled with treasures of old wars, trades and deals made with our enemies and surrounding realms”. Feeling oddly nostalgic and with a strange longing for home, he stopped.

“That reminds me, you have not seen the lands of Vardelheim yet”, Sigyn said and lightly patted his arm with her unscarred hand. “I will take you for a walk once we are finished with our meal”, she continued, making a statement rather than an offer. Loki could do little but nod agreement and smile if he wanted to not fall out of everyones good graces on his first day there. He most certainly wanted to be in the graces of the two beauties opposite him, who he could have sworn were winking at him…

He had no time to ponder on hit however, in fact, Loki had barely time to put his fork down before Sigyn got up to leave, and beckoned for him to follow. With the troll king sat on his golden mound watching intently with a menacing look in his eye, Loki did as was expected of him and walked out of the main hall with Sigyn next to him.

His head still throbbing, he felt slightly annoyed with Sigyn for looking so refreshed and in good spirits, but his mood lifted significantly as she led him out of the narrow corridors and into the spectacular view that was just outside the door. For a moment he was lost for words, seeing the vast, lush woodlands spreading out for miles in front of him, enclosed by enormous cragged mountains on all sides. It was the green, floral beauty of Asgard and the cold might of Jotunheim combined and he was not sure what to make of it all.

“Yes, it is very beautiful is it not?”, Sigyn said, looking at him with a sweet, but disjointed smile.

Brought back to his senses, Loki shook off his dumbfounded expression and simply replied “yes, it is very nice”.

They walked on, mostly in silence barring the odd question from Sigyn and a brief reply from Loki. Her attentiveness and attempts to get to know him were starting to grow irritating to him, and he simply did not understand why she was doing it. He stopped, and asked her flat out “why are you being so friendly?”

“Excuse me?”, she replied, confused. “Why would I not be?”

“Because we are only wed for practical reasons. At least, my reasons for taking you as my wife were purely practical, I have no clue what your reasons were and I have no interest in hearing about them either. You must know that I have no… romantic or… physical interest in you”, he said, failing at masking his obvious disgust.

Sigyn laughed. “I see, so in your mind, the only reason to be friendly or kind towards someone is because you want them. Romantically or physically?”

“What? No that’s not what I said…”

“Yes it was”, Sigyn interrupted. “Or at the very least you implied it”

“Well I didn’t mean to imply that I am sure there are plenty of other reasons to be friendly or kind to someone…”, although, he personally could not think of that many at the top of his head.

“If you prefer I could be cruel, if that suits your practical reasoning”

“I don’t really care what you do…”

Again, Sigyn interrupted. “Well, you should, if you wish to have a decent life here. And certainly if you wish to gain the attentions of the other of my kin”

Stunned at her perceptiveness, he had to think for a second what to reply. How did she notice? He thought to himself. He didn’t think his flirting with the other women had been that careless. “Clearly you are imagining things if you think I have any interest in anyone else around here”, he said and was annoyed when Sigyn laughed in response. “You must be intensely jealous in nature to make up such allegations against me after just one day”.

“Why would I not be jealous? Can you think of any woman in any realm who would be accepting of her husband openly trying to get the attention of other women? Did you think I would enjoy being openly put to shame?”

He had to admit he was amazed by her openness. He was in no way used to anyone, let alone a woman, expressing her thoughts and feelings so openly. It certainly was a stark contrast to his own nature. “Well then I’m afraid that is a feeling you will have to get used to. I only wed you because it was a matter of life and death, and if you try and force me into fidelity then I will start thinking that perhaps death was the better alternative”.

“Well if it is death you wish for then it can be easily arranged”, Sigyn retorted, and Loki was caught off guard by the unfeeling way she said it. There was no hate, no bitterness, no slight in her reply, it was simply a statement, and it was unsettling. “In fact”, she continued, “we could have that sorted out right now, it will only take a moment”.

Loki laughed. “If that is a threat then I’m afraid I have to disappoint you, my darling”, he said, mockingly, “I am not in the least bit afraid of you”

“It’s not me you should be afraid of”.

Now he was really starting to get confused, and the throbbing headache was starting to return. “Is this some sort of joke?”, he said incredulously. What is she talking about?

“Tell me, how much do you remember from yesterday?”

Loki had to stop and think for a moment. “I remember everything. I was brought here from Asgard, then we had our ceremony… What exactly is your point?”

“What do you remember from after the ceremony?”

“We had dinner”, he shrugged, his headache increasing at the same rapid pace as his annoyance with the conversation he was having.

“And then?”

“And then…”, he thought long and hard this time, and realized that he couldn’t really remember anything from after the ceremony. Everything that came to him was like a blurred flash that went past him. He could only just make out what the scene playing in his mind was, but no details.

“You have no idea what happened after your first bite, do you?”

“So what if I don’t?”, he spat.

“So, you’re not the same person today that you were before you dined at our table. You are one of us now”

What? How could I be one of them? Is she mad?

Sigyn continued. “I was born from this mountain, as was all my kin. We provide the mountain and its lands with care for its animals, nurture for its plants and riches for its protector, the mountain king. In return the mountain grants us an unnaturally long life, and certain abilities. But you, you were not born one of us. Yet you took something away from the mountain when you ate of its fruits. So, now the mountain is taking something in return, namely you. You will be here, giving whatever service you can to the mountain, until you die. The mountain will never let you leave. Why do you think your guards never even touched the delicious treats that were prepared for the wedding, even though they were made to stay until after the ceremony was over? It was to make sure that you ate and would be bound to stay, while they wanted to make sure that they could leave once the deed was done. That was the same reason Thor would not come, he didn't want anything to go wrong, and he feared you might notice if he was there and ate nothing”.

The headache was now so bad that Loki felt he might pass out. They had tricked him, all of them had. The king, the guards, everyone in the mountain, Thor, Sigyn, the lot. And now they thought they had him bound here for eternity? I’ll show them, he thought to himself, and made for the gate.

“Loki, where are you going?”, Sigyn called after him.

“I’ll show you, I’ll show all of you that nobody</b> can keep Loki of Asgard imprisoned! I have escaped before and I will escape again!”

“Loki no! You can’t! You can't leave!”

But he wasn’t listening. He barged through the halls and corridors, pushing everyone out of his way, with Sigyn calling out for him and trying to hold him back. He pushed her off each time, and when he reached the gates he ordered the guards to open them. At first they refused, but when he screamed at them that he was their prince and he commanded them to open, they obeyed, and the gates opened with a loud bang.

Just as he was taking his first step into freedom, he felt someone grabbing his wrist hard, and spinning him back around away from the gate with surprising force. Then Loki was caught in a desperate embrace and held tightly until the gates slammed shut behind him. Regaining his composure and balance, he noticed that it was Sigyn who had held him back all along. How could she possibly be that strong?, he thought angrily.

“That was close”, she said and looked at him with genuine distress in her eyes. “Look at your cape”
He looked over his shoulder and saw nothing wrong, but then Sigyn took the hem of it gently in her hand and showed Loki the corner edge of it. A large chunk of it was gone, and the edges looked almost like ashes.

Loki shuddered. “Is that what would have happened to me if I had gone outside?”

Sigyn nodded, tears in her eyes now.

“Why didn’t you let me do it?”, he said in disbelief. And why is she upset?

“You may have given up on me, or think nothing of me. But I am positive that there was a meaning to us meeting each other, and I intend to find out what it is. And I do not intend on giving up on you”, she said determinedly, and wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve on her dress, and walked off, leaving Loki to make sense of what had just happened, all to himself…
In this chapter, Loki wakes with an intense hangover, and really wishes he could just pull the covers over his head and stay in bed, shutting his new world out. But, he is in for an intense first day, and once again he realizes that everyone around him know more about him and his fate than he himself knows...

Previous chapters:
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three

Disclaimer
I do not own any trademarked... stuff, used in this fanfic. It's for entertainment only and I make no personal profit from it (other than the joy of having people read my stuff, and some practice in the art that is the english language :P (Lick) )
© 2014 - 2024 RosarkaHamill
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JELSACURA's avatar
Wow, that was just breathtaking