Chapter 8
"Ohhhhh shhhiiiiiiit." I heard Falcon whisper and immediately Tony, Nat and I all whisper shouted, "LANGUAGE!" This caused the tension in the hallway to lighten considerably as we all cracked up. Even Odin, Frigga, Sif, Loki and Thor couldn't help but laugh. Finally, after we'd stopped laughing Odin walked up behind Clint and said, "I know of what he did to you. I know why you are worried about her but think on it like this. If he didn't truly love her to the bottom of his soul, would he have risked his own life to save hers? Would he have moved her to his bedchambers when she was sick after drinking too much Asgardian mead and took care of her for three days and nights whilst she vomited up all sorts of vileness? I have known Loki to do some extremely cruel and heartless things but..." Odin paused and smiled softly and then continued on.
"I can tell that my son is truly in love with your daughter. And it's not just the fact that he can't stop talking about her or that his eyes unknowingly follow her whenever she walks across the banquet hall." At this point, Loki and I were both blushing from head to toe, apparently trying to see who could blush a deeper shade of scarlet. Loki planted his face in my neck as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and groaned as his mother jumped in as well. "It's true, you know. I've heard him singing the sweetest songs that I've ever heard about her. And he doesn't care who hears them because I'm quite certain that Odin, Thor, Sif and quite a few others have heard him. Although, I must admit he does have quite a lovely singing voice when it comes to singing about her."
I reached up with my right hand and began toying with a strand of his hair that had fallen out of place and tried not to moan as he began planting soft kisses up and down my neck. It was at this precise moment that my dear wretched sister and best friend decided that they were going to include me in the verbal festivities.
"That is so sweet!" Nat and Wanda cooed together. "You should have seen the way that she fawned over him the first time she laid eyes on him. You would've thought that he'd plucked every star from the sky just for her and laid them at her feet." I shut my eyes and cringed as I felt rather than heard Loki start laughing behind me. "Oh that is just adorable! Odin, my love, what is it that Loki calls her in our native tongue again?" Frigga said. At this point, Loki had leaned up and placed a kiss under my ear that damned near dropped me to my knees but he tightened his arms around me to keep me upright and whispered, "I'm going to sneak us away, dove. Just do what I do."
Very slowly he started swaying us on the spot and confusion set it almost immediately but I didn't question him I only nodded very slightly and swallowed hard which caused him to chuckle darkly in my ear. "Helfyri gypsy." Odin said as he winked at me and I, proving everyone including myself, wrong about being unable to blush any harder by blushing not only one but two shades darker. Clint went to open his mouth but took one look at me and cracked up laughing hysterically which caused everyone else to as well.
Nat, Wanda, Vision, Pietro, Clint, Thor and Frigga were all gigglesnorting they were laughing so hard, Steve, Bucky, Odin, Sam, Bruce, Peter and Sif were all either leaning against each other or against the walls as they laughed and Loki lifted his head and took one look at me and we cracked up as well. After several long minutes of all of us laughing until our sides hurt finally someone managed to calm down enough to ask what everyone had been wanting to ask before the hysterics had occurred. "So what does that mean?" Peter asked from the back of the group wiping tears from his face as the rest of us regained the ability to breath again.
"I'm sorry, my dear, what does what mean?" Frigga asked as everyone began taking deep breaths and Loki decided to whisper the answer in my ear causing my already weak legs to become even more so as his breath whispered across my neck and I heard his deep voice whisper, "It means hellfire gypsy, my goddess." I bit down hard on my lip as Frigga said the same thing to the rest of our crew. Wanda and Nat gasped with looks of absolute jealousy and adoration in their eyes and the guys looked at each other then back to Freya confused. Before anyone could ask another question that would have us in hysterics, Odin gasped and said, "I completely forgot to inform you all! The next two weeks will be a masquerade ball here in Asgard. I believe you Midgardians call it All Hallow's Eve?" He looked around at all of us for conformation and we all nodded looking a bit worried.
We knew that time here was vastly different from time on Midgard but we didn't know if it went faster or slower and the fact that he'd just mentioned Halloween when it had been a few days before Thanksgiving before we'd left Midgard had us all concerned until Thor chuckled and said, "Do not worry, my mortal friends. Time here progresses slower than on Midgard. So here it would be the year of October."
Bucky who had been having a hard time grasping everything since he'd arrived here finally cracked and squeaked, "The year?!" This sent us all into a new wave of laughter and finally I held up my hands in a mock gesture of surrender and said, "No more! My ribs hurt too much!" Everyone else nodded and we listened as Thor calmed himself enough to explain that months here on Asgard were more akin to years on Midgard so they'd started referring to months as years just as a joke. He also explained that we would not age on Asgard and that it would be exactly the same year that we had left Midgard when we returned. As everyone took this information in, it finally dawned on me what Loki was doing.
As we swayed every so often he'd take a step back and pull me with him. Apparently, Nat and Wanda had caught on too because about that time, Wanda decided to have a "sneezing fit" and I heard her whisper in my mind, "I know you need some time with your lover boy. Use this distraction to go back to his room just please don't get too loud." I rolled my eyes and ducked my head down so that no one would see the devious grin on my face as I whispered to Loki, "Follow me, love." Looking confused as Wanda began sneezing I waited until all eyes were on here to grab Loki by the front of the pants and we silently snuck off down the hallway until we were far enough away that I knew that Odin, Thor, Frigga, Sif or our two super soldiers wouldn't be able to hear us take off running.
As soon as I knew that we had reached a safe distance I let go of Loki and took off running for his room with him right behind me. I'd just reached his door when he twirled me around to face him and he growled with lust as he buried his face in my neck again and began kissing it hungrily. "Oh my pet, you taste sweeter than the finest of Ambrosia." He moaned, his breath hot against my skin. I moaned and grabbed a handful of his hair and brought his lips to mine in a white hot searing kiss that left us both gasping for breath.
"My lusty little dove." He growled in my ear as he pushed open the door behind me with one hand and wrapped his other arm around my waist to keep me from falling backwards as we made our way into our room. He drew me into another kiss as soon as he closed the door and I smirked against his lips and broke the kiss only to kiss, suck, lick and bite at his neck turning his soft moans into predatory like growls. "Careful, little one. Don't want to play with the beast before you've had the prince now do you?" He whispered darkly in my ear. A loud knock at the door had us both groaning. Loki untangled himself from me and opened the door to find Sif standing there smirking at us both.
"Can I help you, dear lady?" He asked in a tone that said he was not pleased at all to be interrupted. "Actually, I needed to steal your dove away so that she can pick out her costumes for the masquerade ball." Sif said her smirk widening into a grin. It was then that a sudden realization hit me and I smile wickedly just as Loki turned around to face me and a smile just as evil quickly spread across his face. "Oooo, pet, don't smile like that or you'll be late for your fitting." He growled and pulled me into another kiss. I playfully smacked his arm to get him to release me and said seductively, "I'm your helfyri gypsy, eh? Well, I'm going to indulge you, my greedy prince and look the part as well as play it." Loki's eyes went wide for a fraction of a second and then I was being pulled out of the room laughing by Sif.
A feral snarl issued from Loki as he stormed towards us and we took off running and I shouted over my shoulder, "Don't worry, love. I won't be gone long!" A few chuckles and snorts in front of me told me that the rest of the group had come looking for us. "Don't worry, I've got her." Sif said as she smiled and looked at Frigga. "Come, my dear. We must get you fitted for your costumes. You need four costumes. You'll get to pick the last one but Natasha gets to pick first, Wanda second and our dear Sif third." She said a coy smile playing on her lips.
For the next hour I let the girl's I called sisters and best friends pick and choose my costumes. Nat's choice was actually rather stunning, a dark chocolate brown corset with a white undershirt with a matching dark brown skirt with an underskirt that fell to my knees in a very pirate themed way. Next was Wanda who chose an absolutely breathtaking scarlet corset and eyelet dress with black stockings and heels that was very old west burlesque in nature. Then came Sif's choice that had me both shaking my head and drooling at the same time. It was a skin tight black leather dress that fell to the floor between my legs but had slits cut up both sides and a hole cut in the front of the dress so that it left little to the imagination and reminded me very much of a Mortal Kombat character although I couldn't quite place which one.
Then it was my turn and Frigga asked, "So what type of costume would you like for yourself my dear?" I smiled the same wicked smile I did in front of Loki and said, "I would like a gypsy costume. But not just any gypsy costume oh no. It must be red, black, and gold." The girls gasped as I finished my sentence and Nat whispered, "That costume won't survive the night, sistra!" I chuckled evilly and whispered back, "I know, that's the plan." Soon my costume that I'd chosen was ready and it looked absolutely evil it was so gorgeous. A crimson red velvet halter top trimmed in black leather with gold studs paired with a black flowing skirt trimmed in gold tassels at the top and crimson fringe at an angle from my left hip down to the bottom of the skirt laid before us as we stared in complete silent awe at it.
"It's..." I started. "Absolutely..." Frigga and Sif breathed. "Stunning!" Nat and Wanda finished. We all looked at each other and burst out giggling evilly. The rest of the evening went by in a blur as we repeated the process for Nat, Wanda, Sif and Freya. We'd just gotten done with Freya's last costume when Odin's voice rang out throughout the halls.
"I, Odin, do hereby proclaim that no man shall see his maiden before the start of the masquerade tomorrow night." I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was doing this just to torture the boys and I was right as I heard groans issue forth from other parts of the palace and feminine laughter from others still. "Oh this should be...fun." I said as I skipped with Nat back to her room since Frigga didn't want me staying in my old room alone in case Sigyn had left anything behind.
~time skip~
I was already through two costumes and Loki was foaming at the mouth. When I found him in the first costume which just so happened to be the black leather dress he hissed in a breath and grabbed me and pulled me to him possessively and whispered in my ear, "Do you know what you're doing to me in that dress, dove?" I chuckled seductively and his hands pulled me tighter against him and I felt a bulge in his pants that told me everything I needed to know.
Frigga had told us girls not to worry about knowing when to go get into our new costumes because everyone would know when and sure enough about four hours into the night a gong sounded and I took one look at Nat who was standing across the room and she and I both took off running towards her room giggling the entire way with Sif and Wanda close behind us. The second costume of the evening was the pirate dress which Loki looked for all the world as though he wanted to rip off of me whilst having me bent over the table to where he could devour me alive. I looked around the room and saw that Steve was looking absolutely dapper in some Viking armor and then about choked on my drink when I saw Bucky wearing a black leather rendition of what warriors used to wear in Sparta.
Nat noticed Bucky at once and I laughed as she stumbled several times getting over to him. The night came to an end and we all groaned but went our separate ways Loki giving me another kiss that left us both panting and moaning each other's names softly. The next night I was absolutely skipping with delight when the gong sounded and us girls made our way into the banquet hall me in my western dress. "Fuck." I heard Loki's voice growl from behind me as he grabbed me by the waist and we began to dance slowly. I placed my head on his chest as we did so and heard him sigh softly.
"My sweet little mortal, what are you doing to me?" He moaned quietly as he tilted my chin up so that I was staring into his ocean blue eyes. "I'm not doing anything, Loki." I said quietly feigning innocence. He growled and pulled us to the edge of the room where he backed me up against the wall using his body and placing his hands just above my head on either side. "Are you sure you want to play this game, my love?" He panted in my ear sounding as though he was barely in control of himself. Thankfully, the boots I was wearing made me just about as tall as Sif so I had no problem with leaning up and moaning in his ear, "Yes, Loki, I want to play."
His eyes darkened and just as he was about to reach for me, the last gong sounded and the entire room went quite for the space of a heartbeat and then everyone was going this way and that. I ran for mine and Nat's room and along the way heard snatches of conversations. "This is going to be her costume." "I'll bet you a week's pay that he won't be able to control himself." I couldn't help but laugh as I burst through the door to Nat's room and we shucked off our costumes and made haste getting into our last costumes. Nat helped me get everything placed just right and did my makeup but opted to leave my curly hair down like it was in the movie he'd come to get my nickname from I was about to pull out a black lace thong when Nat grabbed my wrist and shook her head and winked.
A little confused I simply shrugged and chucked them back in the bag. As soon as we left the room Sif and Wanda were waiting outside and gasped as they saw the costume on me. "That bad huh?" I joked earning smacks on the arm from all three of them. Giggling we all linked arms as we made our way back to the banquet hall which was almost quiet. Turning to my sister I asked suspiciously, "Nat, did you tell anyone about what my last costume was going to be?" She tried like hell to not look at me as she answered but being right beside me she couldn't help but look at me and she immediately broke down and said, "I told Bucky and he told Steve and it was a chain reaction."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head and said, "Well, apparently it was me that everyone's been talking about all night." It was at that point that we turned the corner into the banquet hall and the entire room looked up at us and gasped as they saw me causing me to blush. I looked over to the male Avengers to see Steve, Bucky and Vision giving me approving looks, Bruce, Tony, Sam, Pietro and Peter were all about to slip in the small lake of drool that was forming beneath them and Clint looked as though they wanted to murder me. Looking around I spotted Odin and Thor who were absolutely beaming from ear to ear and that's when I heard Loki's deep voice growl in my ear,
"Dance with me, my helfyri gypsy." I smiled and twirled around to face him and the room sighed and I laughed as a song I knew by heart began to play and everyone made room for Loki and I to dance first. "Beata Maria, you know I am a righteous man. Of my virtue I am justly proud. Beata Maria, you know I'm so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak licentious crowd." Loki sang in my ear and I laughed and twirled away from him.
Out of the corners of my eyes I could see that, no one else was dancing that were too busy watching us, Loki in a white loose shirt and black leather pants and boots which actually complemented my outfit perfectly. He pulled me back against him and growled in my ear, "Then tell me Maria. Why I see her dancing there. Why her smoldering eyes still scorch my soul?" It occurred to me now why Nat had told me not to wear underwear earlier and I was honestly glad that I listened for the first time in my life.
I giggled and went to twirl away from him but instead twirled behind him and laughed as he grabbed me by my waist again and sang, "I feel her, I see her. The sun caught in her raven hair, is blazing in me out of all control. Like fire, hellfire. This fire in my skin. This burning, desire, is turning me to SIN!" He growled the last word and bit my neck. I could hear Steve and Bucky chuckling so I spun away from Loki and as I did so flipped them both the bird and then twirled back to Loki causing the both to almost choke on their drinks they were laughing so hard.
I looked over at Nat as Loki dipped me and sang against the skin under my ear, "It's not my fault. I'm not to blame. It is the gypsy girl, the witch who sent the flame." And saw her smiling just as widely as Odin and Freya was. Wanda looked as though she was mesmerized by what was going on and had her head on Nat's shoulder. Loki leaned me back up and we continued to twirl as he sang It's not my fault. If in God's plan. He made the devil so much stronger than a man. Protect me, Maria. Don't let the siren cast her spell. Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone."
I smiled seductively and twirled first one way and just as he was about to turn to grab me twirled the opposite way and decided to make a game of it just as he sang as he stalked towards me and I danced backwards away from him with an evil grin on my face, "DESTROY ESMERELDA! And let her taste the fires of Hell! Or else let her be mine and mine alone." I realized then that it was the metal version that we were dancing to because at this point in the original song the song would've stopped but the one we were dancing to currently didn't but when into a beautifully dark guitar solo as I twirled around him once more and I could see by the look in his eyes that he was losing the battle for control of himself with the primal animal that wanted all of me. "Deliver me from her, give me sanctuary PLEASE!" He growled and something absolutely truly wonderful happened.
I had talked to Frigga about this when I was picking out my costume for her but I didn't actually think that she'd do it seeing as how it could've caused a panic but I knew as soon as every source of light in that hall went out that she not only had listened but had been more than willing to help me with my endeavor. As soon as Loki growled, "PLEASE!" The lights when out and I was able to just barely make out where the door was by the faintest of glimmers and ran silently as fast as I could towards. As soon as the lights came back up I was in the hallway with my hand over my mouth to stifle the laughter as the song picked back up and Loki said in a demonic growl, "I will find her. I will find her if I have to burn all of Paris!"
I heard his boots coming my way and I squealed and started running and laughing which immediately gave me away as Loki because to run after me down the hallway and the rest of the crowd followed. I feigned like I didn't know which way to go when I got to the end of the hallway and someone cried, "To the left, my lady!" Loki was closing in as he sang, "Hellfire, dark fire, now gypsy it's your turn. Choose me or your pyre be mine or you will burn!" I purposefully backed myself into a corner and the Avengers knew that I had because I'd never let myself be pinned like that unless it was by someone I trusted.
Loki grabbed me around the waist and I along with the entire crowd gasped as Loki leaned down and sang softly in my ear, "God have mercy on her. God have mercy on me. But she will be mine or she will burn!" I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him softly on the lips...and the took off running for our bedroom to a chorus of cheers and whistles from the crowd and a growl from Loki. What no one knew as they cheered for us, was that Sigyn was currently planning her revenge on me in Helheim and would soon enact her plan and throw the entire realm into chaos.