Ignorance
Slowly walking down the hallway with him, your body tense as you feel his gaze penetrating your temple, you round the corner to his room just before feeling his cold, hard grasp on your arm.
Colliding with the wall, your back up against the cold marble, your eyes widen as he puts his hand over your mouth, stifling your scream.
“You thought you could get away from me,” he hisses, his eyes angry and his face close, “But I found you.”
Feeling your hands tremble, you bring them up to his arms, tugging with all your might...which wasn’t much, given your constantly weakening state with your damn facade spell...as he tightens his grip.
More marks to cover up.
“I took me months to try and break you, and here you are, practically salivating as his feet. Well, you’ll figure out soon what happens when you try to get rid of me,” he snarls.
“Now, where’s my room?” he asks, his lips terse.
As your body shakes and your eyes fill with tears, you slowly begin to walk down the hallway as you feel his hand land on your lower back, causing you to choke down your own stomach bile as you round one more corner to a set of gigantic double doors.
“Your room, sir,” you say, curtsying as he smirks at you.
“God, I need to know his secrets,” he shakes his head at you as you watch your tears fall to the ground, listening to the sound of his footsteps retreating into the room before the doors are slammed in your face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You don’t remember how you had gotten back to your room, but when you came to you were standing in the shower, your facade spell lowered as you took in your hesitant reflection in the frosted shower glass.
Prominent cheekbones, sunken in collarbone dips, strong, protruding jaw bone...the list goes on of things you could now see under your skin that weren’t visible before. Your body was thinning out drastically, and the marks around your arms were a stark contrast to the paling tone of color that was once your Y/C/S skin-tone.
You were at a loss. You knew that Loki meant well. After all, you felt quite out of place here in another realm, and all he wanted to do was celebrate your impending birthday with something that would remind you of home.
He just didn’t realize that he was reminding you of all of the reasons why you were so eager to flee in the first place.
Hearing a light knock on your door, you squeeze your eyes shut as your body begins to fill out again, this time having to catch yourself against the glass as the spell becomes physically taxing to fulfill.
“Miss Y/N?”
It was one of the handmaiden’s.
“Yes?” you call out.
“Mr. Michael is wanting a tour of the grounds,” she says sheepishly.
Letting the tears flow free, you turn the shower off and reach out for a towel.
“Tell him to meet me in the garden in 1 hour,” you say.
And with that, she was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walking tentatively to the garden, your casual dress flowing around you as it catches the sunlight, your hair down in its curls, you see his tall stature, standing ominously in the garden, looking out at the water falling over the edge and into the nothingness.
“I hear you,” he says, not turning around.
It was disconcerting to you, how similar they were.
“Hello, Mr. Michael,” you greet him, curtsying as he turns around.
“I don’t really need a tour,” he says as your gaze travels back up to his, “I just wanted you around.”
“Your wish is my command,” you say, trying hard to hold his gaze and stand your ground.
“Uh huh,” he says, walking up to you and tracing your shoulder all the way down your arm, “And what if I wanted...say...an evening with you?”
“I-I-I...I do not know,” you say as Loki rounds the corner.
“What do you not know?” he asks, wrapping his arms behind him and standing tall as he smiles on you both.
“Mr. Michael, I hope you are enjoying your time here with Miss Y/N,” he smiles.
“Yes, I really am. Thank you so much for having me. She has been very missed,” he says, smiling down at you as he wraps his arm around your shoulders and pulls you close.
“Well, I wanted to personally let you know that whatever plans the two of you make, I shall work around them. I know it means a lot for Y/N to have you here, and I do not want to be the reason she does not get enough time with you.”
Of all the times he could be nice, he chooses this time.
Gritting your teeth as you attempt a smile, you feel his hand droop slowly down to your waist, a painful squeeze soon following as you bite back a yelp.
“So, Y/N,” he emphasizes, “Are you free this evening?” Michael asks.
“Oh, yes,” Loki butts in.
Shut up, you imbecile!
“I relinquish her until her birthday,” he says as his eyes gleam, “She is all yours.”
As they both look at you, Loki with blissful ignorance and Michael with a predator’s eye, you feel the familiar pinch again as Michael says, “Aren’t you going to thank him, Y/N?”
And as Loki slowly shifts his gaze to him, giving Michael a curious look, you glance from man to man as you bow lightly to Loki and say, “Thank you, My Prince.”