Down below

Chapter 14.

   Loki couldn't wait for the three-day celebration to end. As the second born son of Odin, he had to put on a show and charm the guests. In the beginning he saw it as a good opportunity to impress his father, but as the years passed by and the shadow of Thor grew bigger and heavier, it became harder and harder to play his part. This year was especially painful, because his mother invited a Vanir princess and sat her next to Loki which she had never done before. The girl was painfully obtuse and he felt offended having to suffer through utterly boring conversations with her. No doubt this was his father's idea: marry him off to a doe-eyed princess and secure a profitable alliance for Asgard. Loki valued himself way more than that.

   Elianah kept her distance and became an expert in avoiding him. She was never alone and she clearly mastered how to block his locator spells. He cursed himself for teaching it to her. Every time they spoke, he felt like she was teasing him, rubbing her effective evasion tactic into his face. Loki was getting more and more frustrated. Normally he was the one driving other people crazy, he was the one being a step ahead. Not being in control was something he could never tolerate, but he couldn't do a single thing about it until the Annual Celebrations ended.

   His desire for Elianah was now laced with resentment. He wanted to kiss her in one moment then punish her at the next. He was exhausted from pretending and sick of feeling frustrated, but no matter how hard he tried to distract himself, his thoughts always wandered back to her and he hated feeling so helpless. When the celebrations finally ended, he headed straight back to his chambers. He was so deep in thought that he only spotted Elianah when they were a few feet away, leaving no other option but to speak to her. He gathered himself.

'Elianah! What a lovely surprise.' he smiled. 'To what do I owe the pleasure?'

'I will get to the point and before you say no, I'm asking you to hear me out. I need your help.'

'Is that so? And what in the nine realms makes you think that I am willing to hear you out?'

She sighed and her shoulders dropped in resignation.

'Can we discuss this in a more private environment?'

'I am tired, Elianah. Whatever it is you need my help with, I'm sure Sif or Thor can assist you. Now, if you excuse me...'

He opened his door, but she grabbed his arm.

'I know what you think, but I am not avoiding you out of spite. You need to understand that.'

'I don't need to understand anything. You made it abundantly clear that you don't need or expect anything from me.' he hissed, not managing to keep his anger from his voice.

'I would still like to be your friend, if you let me.' she said meekly which surprised and enraged him even more.

He let out a scornful laugh and stepped inside his chambers, let her follow.

'That ship has sailed a long time ago, Elianah.'

'Why?'

'What why?' Loki asked, looking at her. 'I don't need to explain myself to you. You are nothing but a guest of my parents, a guest that I don't know, a guest I don't trust, nor care for.'

'That's not true.' she said, stepping closer.

He put his hands up in disbelief and laughed.

'You are dancing on very thin ice here. Now, please, leave.'

'I severely wounded the King of the Underworld. I came to Asgard, because that was the only place I hoped he wouldn't be able to follow, a place I wasn't even sure exists, by the way. I used to be one of his headhunters.'