Recompense [Fólkvangr End, Book 1] [Loki Fanfiction]

Chapter Seventeen

Author's Note: Shout out to all of you that have been with me since the beginning, and a big warm welcome to new readers! I love all of you. Okay, so, I have to admit, there is an...unforseen plot twist in this chapter. It was one of those things that just started to write itself, but I am curious as to what you guys think will happen, and what you think of this new detail. Let me know! Don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT. It makes me feel loved. Also, a friendly reminder that the OC and plot belong to me, well the respective rights lay with the proper bodies associated with Marvel!

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“Wha…Forseti?” I shiver with the notion of his long fingers squeezing the life from me. I shake the visual away. “Wait, why are you trying to protect me?”

He just stares at me and doesn’t respond and so we wait out in silence. I shift my eyes from side to side and then up and down, purposefully avoiding his direct gaze. Unfortunately, he looks nowhere but at me. Finally, the footsteps pass by and Loki grips my shoulder tightly, fingers digging into my skin. He finally lets out a sigh.

“He is gone.”

“Honestly, why is he out to get me? One day it went from chatting in the hall to him throwing darts at a picture of me mounted on his wall while he swears revenge...what exactly were you doing roaming the halls? I thought I told you to stay.”

“Your words do not confine me. Don’t be foolish, Valkyrie,” he sighs yet again.

“You really hate everything that comes out of my mouth, don’t you?”

He is silent again, green eyes intently boring through me. “That is not true.”

“Right, okay, Loki. You don’t need to pretend to like me and I’ll do you the same courtesy. We just need to coexist and help each other out—”

“You really are the stubborn one, Valkyrie. That’s a least one thing you get from your namesake, then,” Loki remarks, surprisingly calm.

“Can you tell me a little something about my namesake…the valkyries, I mean,” I ask excitedly.

Loki opens his mouth and then closes it again, pursing his lips. He leans in close to me, his forehead pressed up against mine, our noses almost touching. “Perhaps this is a conversation best saved for a time we are not entombed in a storage closet.”

I nod in agreement and open my mouth to say something, but suddenly the door flies open behind me, sending me tumbling to the floor. “Really?” I gasp, the wind knocked right out of me. Loki stands over me, peering down at me. From this angle there is something wildly terrifying about the sharp contours of his face, his messy black hair and his piercing eyes. A moment passes where I consider the very real possibility that he’s just going to kill me—however, remembering he can’t is a bit of a comfort. Only a bit.

I thrust my hand up at him and he looks at it curiously. “Help me up, you little bitch.”

Loki snorts, which takes us both by surprise. He clears his throat. “And here I thought we were becoming familiars.”

He turns on his heel and leaves me laying on the ground in the middle of the hall, the cool marble at my back. I heave a sigh and lay my head back on the ground, not bothering to even try getting up now. I can’t find a reason to force me to my feet.

“Valkyrie?”

Well, I think, here comes a reason now.

I hop up to my feet and turn in the other direction, hurrying away from the sound of Fandral calling out after me. He’s one of the last people I want to see right about now. I do realize, of course, that at some point I should have a conversation with him about…I mean, that’s the adult, mature thing to do. I just…well, I wouldn’t label myself the most mature person around, that’s for sure.

I stalk off after where I am nearly certain Loki has disappeared to, and I note the footsteps behind me have ceased. Perhaps Fandral is beginning to realize I am a lost cause. He shouldn’t be wasting his time with me…I don’t mean to seem self-deprecating, but it’s just illogical. Here I am, and then there he is. He’s all nice…and chivalrous, and handsome…whatever. I’m a Frost Giant mutant. Like, I can’t even get my own fucking genetics right and he’s this perfect warrior with some sort of hero complex. I don’t need his attention or his sympathy or anything—I just need to get my job here done, right? Right.

I don’t bother to knock on the library door and instead barge right in. But when I look around, there is no Loki Laufeyson to be found. Well, I’ll be damned. I thought I had his escape route all figured out and here he goes surprising me all over again. Mischief. Lies. Of course.

 I cross towards the doors to balcony, just to make sure he’s not out there. I throw them open just as I hear the door behind me opening again. I jump out of sight and press my back to the outside wall, just beside the double doors.

“Damn!” A low voice curses. “I assumed I would find him here. I have it on good authority this is where they met last time.”

Oh, I know that repulsively smooth voice anywhere. Forseti.

“I am sorry, I assumed as much as well, Forseti. We will find a time to speak to him, I assure you. The sooner we can get him on our side…”

“The sooner we can have Asgard, yes. And I will see to it that you receive Jotunheim, fear not,” Forseti purrs, making my stomach churn. The other voice…there is something so eerily familiar about it. But they are speaking much quieter, lower. I struggle to hear them.

The other voice says something that I lose on the breeze and I hear Forseti laugh. “Oh, I have no intention of killing her. I do, have everything intention of using her to get to Loki. Only a fool would not see how she has already begun to change him. Your daughter will prove very useful indeed.”

My stomach drops and I feel as though I am going to throw up, the ground spinning beneath me. I lean over just enough to get a glimpse of my father standing in the library with Forseti.

“No, no…” I whisper to myself. Forseti’s head snaps suddenly and he sees me. I don’t have time to think as he comes rushing at me and I dart for the rail of the balcony, throwing my leg over, fully prepared to leap from this height to the solid ground far below. It’s nearly certain from this height I would break every last one of my bones, but it seems a better option than falling into Forseti’s clutches. I swallow hard and squeeze my eyes shut as I pull my other leg over and let go of the railing, feeling myself fall backwards.

Nope. Not quite. I open my eyes and Forseti, teeth bared, is shouting curses at me, gripping my shirt tightly. “You ignorant whore. What do you think you are doing?”

“Let go,” I whisper. Forseti looks surprised.

“I am afraid you are rather indispensable now, dear,” Forseti’s surprise gives away to a smirk.

My eyes dart to my father standing behind him, a look of disapproval clear on his face. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I’m going to tell everyone what you’re planning for Asgard and Jotunheim. You will not get away with this, I swear,” I spit through my teeth. Forseti pulls me close to railing and I refuse to hold on. Apparently finding out I have immortality has just made me fucking stupid. I look at my father again, his face impassive and unchanging, which retches my heart. I feel a stupid tear burning in the corner of my eye.

“Hard to tell everyone if you don’t remember a thing,” my father says quietly, the corner of his mouth tugging into a smirk. Before I can ask what he means, he lays his hand upon my forehead, and a white-hot pain blinds me. I feel my feet slipping away, the hand gripping me tightly lets go and I go tumbling backwards.