Our Secret Garden (Loki X Reader)

Day Twenty Six

"Your mother and father wish to speak with you,"

The sentence echoed in my head, my stomach dropping, and everything that could have gone wrong ran through my mind like racehorses. The biggest secret stood at the forefront.

Loki.

The maid who had said it had scurried from my room, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire of whatever was about to transpire between my parents and me. I would bet my life that every single person who normally walked these halls would be hiding, too afraid of the wrath that would be brought down upon them if they were seen.

I too dreaded the walk down the grand stairs, the look on my parent's faces, the words that would come from their mouths. I knew they were angry, angry enough for the maids to have picked up on it. I walked towards my bedroom door and debated on jumping onto the window sill and climbing down the lattice on the side, my usual escape route when I would sneak out at night. I wanted to climb down and run to the clearing, to sit in a chair next to Loki and read alongside him. To bathe in the warmth of the fire. To kiss him again. I didn't want to face the consequences of my actions, the ones that lay right beyond the door and down a flight of stairs. I didn't want this life anymore.

But this life was all that I have ever known, so I opened the door.

Before I could comprehend what was happening, the loud screams of my mother were all that could be heard. I watched as her face turned beet red and veins bulged in her neck. She had been screaming for so long without taking a breath, I wondered how she was still alive. My father stared at me, his arms crossed and a cold look in his eyes. I had never seen that look before. Ulf stood beside them, a sneer etched into his face as he stole a glance at me every few moments. But there was another look in his eyes that I couldn't place.

I couldn't even tell what my mother was saying anymore, only catching snippets here and there. Sneaking out, a man, ruined, how will you recover, nasty words that no mother should ever call their daughter. I stood there, taking the words and throwing them out as soon as they entered my head.

I didn't care. I didn't want this man and I didn't want this life. I didn't care if my father threw me out onto the street and this man no longer wanted me. I would take that. There was someone out there waiting for me. At least, that was what I hoped.

I hoped that Loki still wanted me.

That he hadn't used me.

I knew him better than that, didn't I?

I just wanted this over with. I wanted Ulf to walk out those doors and make some other woman miserable. I wanted my mother to push me through the doors to the only him I've ever known and never speak to them again. They wanted me to waste my life with a horrible man. They didn't care about what was going to happen to me. To them, I wasn't a daughter. I was just some mouth that they wanted to finally get rid of.

"You ungrateful, hateful little heathen. Do you know how lucky you are that this man here still wants you after you've been taken by someone else? While you were engaged, no less." My mother's voice finally lowered, her breaths short as she tried to regain her composure.

"The wedding will happen in three days. You better have gotten of this rebellion out of your system because there will be no more of it. I don't care if I have to keep watch in your room myself." My father walked up to me, that same look in his eyes. I knew they wanted to be rid of me. That I had brought shame upon them. But I never thought that they would continue with the wedding even after this.

"Father I don't want this! Just send me out, send me away and never speak to me again. Anything but this!" I pleaded, kneeling in front of him. I tried to grab at his arm, to show him how much this would hurt me. That this was never something I wanted. Not like this.

"Sending you away would be too merciful for you." He said calmly as he pulled his arm from my reach. "I can't believe I raised such a daughter..."

I watched on my knees as my parents walked away, a guard standing by the door to keep me from running and another a few feet behind me, presumably the one to watch over me at all times. I felt a hand reach under my chin and pull my face up. My heart began to pound, picturing Loki standing before me, ready to take me away. But it was only Ulf.

"You'll learn soon enough to be obedient," His sinister grin suited his face, showing me that he was a man incapable of anything good. His hand left my chin and moved to my cheek and I flinched away as he gently pat a few times before lifting himself from his squat in front of me. "Three days, darling,"

The pet name sounded wrong coming from anyone who wasn't Loki. It was cold and sounded more of a threat than a term of endearment. I wanted nothing more than to see the faint shimmer of green while I sat in the foyer, my tears falling from my face in waves.

But nothing came.