The Devil Is A Gentleman | Loki

20

"Kiss me." Aria said plainly

"What?" Loki furrowed his brow, but did not step back

"You know you want to" she smirked.

It only took him a second to register, then Loki leaned in.
As their lips connected, burning embers blew in a spiral around them, lifting their hair like it was some sort of magic. Sparks flew and the hairs on the back of Aria's neck stood up. The entire world was vibrant and full of colour and the moment lasted forever.

That is until both Loki and Aria awoke in a fluster.

"What the hell.."
"What the hel..."

They both looked at their sun dials. No one would be awake yet. In unison they decided on a solitary early morning turn about the palace to clear their minds.

No one else appeared to be awake, maybe a few guards here and there but other than that, Aria and Loki believed they were entirely alone.

Aria walked almost directly to the palace gardens. It seemed to be the only place she could catch her breath and think about things nowadays.
Loki took a different route to the place where he previously taught Aria combat.
As his feet scraped across the gravel, he thought back to when she bested him and he landed flat on his back on the very same ground. He smiled and ran his hand along the balustrade, then focused his vision upon the City of Asgard.

He'd liked the city at this time of day. When the sun was barely awake yet the first shade of light appeared on the horizon, and almost every soul was still fast asleep. It was quiet.

Letting his memory return to that one sunny day, when the hustle and bustle was high on the streets and he strolled them with Arianna, he remembered something about that day.

Maybe his dream could be ignored with a friendly gesture such as this one he had just thought of.

______________

Meanwhile, Aria too was looking at the city, and internally remarked on its unusual peace at this hour.

"Good morning" a voice sounded behind her. A voice she could not mistake anywhere else. But as she turned around smiling, her beam disappeared in an instant. As it was not Loki who stood behind her.

A woman instead took his place. Her eyes were sunken in and colour of the biting cold, but her skin was incredibly smooth. Her hair fell down to her waist in a beautiful river of chocolate curls but seemed to float eerily in the air.
Her figure was sickly thin but no protruding bone could be seen anywhere. Her lips were the colour of black coal but looked plump and full.
Overall she looked perfectly healthy and deathly ill all at the same time, and Aria felt honoured to gaze upon her despite her nausea at the site.
She felt as if maybe this woman could disappear if she blinked too fast or made a sudden movement, so they both just stood there. Looking intently into each others eyes.

Then the woman opened her mouth.
A spider crawled out frighteningly quick, as if it had been locked in there like a prison. Aria took a quick step back.
She was expecting a hoarse coughing voice to emerge from that grimy throat. But instead it released the most beautifully toned sound Aria had ever heard.

"Embrace them." The woman spoke with a voice smooth as liquid gold.

Aria said nothing for she couldn't think of anything to say.
Instead she pondered what those words meant for a short while before the woman raised a thin pale arm up to point past Aria towards the mountains.

She followed the woman's direction and turned to look. But before she could turn back around to state she could see nothing of importance, she heard another voice,