Sorcha's Secret World, Part one.

Chapter 22, Tale as old as time.

Loki was gone. We had spent the most amazing night together, but the next morning, I had found myself all alone.

I picked up the collar and held it in my hands.

Had I read the situation so wrong last night? Had I been manipulated, charmed into believing what I wanted to believe so badly?

I shook my head. I didn't believe that, not for a second. Then again, a conman's mark is always the last to know...

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. What we had was real, I told myself stubbornly. And I could not blame him for leaving. The situation he was in with the Templars, with the collar, would be unbearable for anyone. If Loki had left, it was not because he didn't care for me. It was because everything else was just too hard.

I only knew him so little back then. I still underestimated how strong he truly was, and how much he had come to care for me too.

I braced myself. I'd have to go to Temple Hall and let them know I had let Loki escape, but I didn't have to do that right away. I should give him as much of a head start as I could, I could give him at least a few hours before all hell broke loose.

I put on my pyjama trousers and a T-shirt and made my way downstairs.

The curtains were still drawn, but the light in the sitting room was on. My heart skipped a beat.

"Good morning, darling. Did you sleep well?"

Loki was curled up in his favourite armchair, a mug of tea in one hand, a book in the other.

"I hope you don't mind. I helped myself, you were still fast asleep and I did not wish to disturb your slumber." His smile was the sweetest smile I had ever seen, and my heart soared.

"Did you think I had left?" he put his book down and pulled me onto his lap.

"You thought I had, did you not?"

I buried my face in his shoulder for a second.

"Maybe..." I admitted. I looked up, straight into those gorgeous blue eyes of his. "But I would not have blamed you if you had."

"And where would I have gone? Where could I possibly go that would be better than being here with you?"

I could hardly believe my ears. I secretly pinched myself, was I still dreaming? Loki's eyes smiled straight into mine.

"For the first time in a long time, I feel a glimmer of hope, I can see a light in the dark, a hint of something better to come.

Perhaps if you'd come with me, I'd run. Far, far away, where they'd never find us. But you have a life here, and I would never ask you to abandon that.

So for now, I think I might just rather stay."

His eyes studied mine, searching for what lay in my heart. "That is if you'll still have me of course..."

I nodded, lost for words, and then smothered him with kisses.

And thus began what was possibly the happiest time of our lives, at least for a while. We couldn't tell anyone about us of course. Or about the fact that we could remove the collar at will now. At best we'd be assigned different partners, at worst Loki would be locked away in the deepest darkest cell available.

But that time was magical, it truly was.

Loki spent most of his nights with me, easily explained away by the fact that his apartment was horrible and the bed in my guest room far more comfortable. Not that that's where he was staying of course!