Fix You (Loki Romance)

Chapter 26

Ebony's POV

For twenty minutes, I laid dead in the city square. Or rather, someone who looked remarkably like me and evidently believed herself to be me, lay dead in the city square. It was a convincing lie, told while I was waiting up for Loki to come home. The body was buried in an unmarked grave. I was told that Loki was gone.

But we knew this day would come. It was far less bloody than we had imagined but it had come. I had been calm, patient, expectant. We would find him. But when we approached Heimdall, the truth became evident. Loki wasn't just taken. He was truly missing. Heimdall could see no traces of him. We didn't know where to start.

For fourteen days, I was the tragic wife of Loki. I was pitied and held and told that he would be found. By then we all knew the odds of finding him. We were searching for a body now. I was declared a widow. For eight days after, I was held tighter, cried with, allowed to wallow in the end of a marriage that had only just begun and the loss of a man I had only just won back from the darkness that had taken him first.

For the last month, I was my husband's enemy and nightmare. All we knew was that Thanos had another woman who looked, acted like, and believed herself to be me, right up until Thanos' servant killed her. And Loki, in all his horror and pain and desperation, believed it. Whatever happened after made him think that I hadn't died but betrayed him. I didn't understand it but I doubted he did either.

I avoided him, if only to give him some time to recover. Eir told me frequently of the steps he was taking. He had faced his fears and his leg was healing well. He might have a limp for the rest of his life, because the damage was so set in before she got to it. But he would recover.

If he could ever face me again was another story. One I was anxiously waiting to hear.

Thor took me to meet Eir in a small sitting room, one of many in the palace. She met us in the hallway.

"Haven't you been treating him in the gardens?" I asked. She nodded. "Wouldn't it be better for him if we met there?"

Shaking her head, Eir motioned for Thor to go in first. "The gardens are his safe place now. If this doesn't go well, that will be tainted. This is a neutral zone. He'll keep his back to the door once you are inside. I'll keep it open. If he wishes to leave, he is free to. This will take time."

"Time I might not have." I gestured to my belly. I'd been having phantom pains already. Eir told me it was my body 'practicing' for labor. We went in together. Loki was standing with his back to a wall, his gaze focused on me as if I was all he could see.

It wasn't the same look as our wedding day. That day, I knew I filled his vision and I knew he wanted it that way. I was all that mattered to him then. Now, he watched me as if I would strike out at any moment. I went to the chair on the other side of the room and sat slowly. Looking up, I met his gaze. He moved closer to the door.

I swallowed hard. Wiping my shaking hands on my dress, I took a deep, steadying breath and waited for him to start. I would follow his lead.

He just stared at me. Thor stood beside him. He put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Eir sat between us, leaning forward.

"Loki, why don't you tell her what happened? She's just as confused as you were."

His glare faltered, as if the fact that I wasn't the one who did this to him had been forgotten. He shifted.

I looked down, remembering his leg. Managing a shaky smile, I gestured to it. "How is your leg doing?" My voice was barely louder than a whisper.

He leaned back, looking away. "Better."