Son of Mischief (Loki/Asgard Fanfiction - Selig's Story)

Chapter Twenty-One

The stars overhead twinkled as Selig lay there staring up at the ceiling. Celia lay curled against him, her head nestled against his chest, her arm draped over his hip. Everything he ever wanted was right there, in his arms.

She'd kill him come morning, but he had no intention of waking her. What was the worst that could happen? They could be found out? Hardly a huge deal, since they were already engaged. His mother would probably lecture him, his father would probably have a few choice words as well, but he didn't care. It would be well worth it. Besides, he knew the truth. He was almost three months old when they were married.

But as Celia slept peacefully against him, sleep mocked him and as he watched a shooting star streak across the velvety black sky, he knew why.

He had to tell her the truth about why he'd been banished.

He had to tell her everything.

He bit back a groan as she sighed in her sleep and snuggled even closer. His Celia. He'd loved her since they were children, when she knocked Ryan Cole's front tooth out for making fun of him.

"Spooky Selig's afraid of noise!" Ryan snickered, clapping his hands right in Selig's face. "Are you scared of that, Spooky? Huh? You want your mommy to protect you from a sound."

Selig crouched down, his hands over his ears. He couldn't explain why noises bothered him so much, but they did. He hated them. They made his ears hurt and his skin crawl and his first instinct was to run to Mommy. She understood. She didn't tease him or call him a baby.

"Knock it off, Ryan." Celia had been off playing with some of her friends but now she stepped between him and Ryan, her nose practically touching his. "You're afraid of spiders, who're you to pick on anyone?"

"Spiders are different. He's scared of noises." Ryan shoved her aside and crouched down to get right into Selig's face. "Boo, Spooky!"

"That's it."

To Selig's astonishment, Celia wound up and threw a punch that connected with Ryan's mouth. Blood spattered the lower half of his face as he clapped his hands over his mouth. "My toof! You knocked out my toof!"

"I'll knock out the rest if you bother him again." She calmly turned away and crouched down to Selig's level as Miss Pritchard came rushing over. "Are you okay?"

He could only stare at her. She'd never spoken to him before, but he noticed her on his first day in preschool. She was so different from all the other girls. They wore skirts and dresses and had their mothers do their hair in buns or ponytails. But not Celia. She came to school in faded jeans with holes in the knees and tee shirts and her socks didn't always match. He wasn't sure if she'd ever brushed her hair, never mind let anyone do anything with it. It was a wavy mess of dark gold that fell haphazardly about her shoulders, as if she'd just rolled out of bed minutes before school started.

But she didn't tease him.

"Celia Baker! We are going to have a little chat with Mr. Lieninger about this. We do not hit in this class."

"He was teasing Selig. He was being mean."

"That is no excuse. We're going to have to call your mother. Let's go." Celia didn't fight as Miss Pritchard grabbed her arm and marched her toward the door, but she did look back over her shoulder at Selig.

Her eyes were wide with fear.

Selig sighed as the memory faded. He didn't realize it at the time, but when she came to school the next morning, Celia moved slowly. At recess, instead of running around playing tag with the boys, she sat on one of the benches. Whatever happened in her house that night, she was in pain the next day.