He swallowed tightly, gaze falling to the sliver of space between them, "If you do not wish this I understand and I shall leave you be My Lady. I will find things other than your smile to help make my days seem lighter."
He felt her index finger sl...
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Loki stalked through the corridors of the palace towards the rooms where he knew his brother, the Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three would be planning their next honourable adventure. He'd taken the more circuitous route, past his mother's chambers, telling himself it was to enable him to glare at a higher proportion of the palace residents. He would never admit that he was looking out for her.
Nesrin. Her name echoed like a ballad in his mind. The rest of the palace shied away from the ice-cold Prince, some even actively avoiding him, but Nesrin... she offered him the most precious smiles and whilst he never returned them, they remained with him even during the darkest hours of his mind.
He stopped by the colonnade where she would normally be sitting with some of the other ladies who usually regarded him with barely-disguised disdain, but today her glorious fall of mahogany hair was nowhere to be seen. Fighting the rising tide of disappointment, he almost missed the sniffling coming from the other side of the pillar he waited by. Recognising the abject misery the sounds portrayed, Loki stepped arrogantly around the column and stopped dead in his tracks. His fists clenched and he began to vibrate with fury at the sight before him.
Sitting on the ground, curled into a ball, Nesrin was staring down at the marble floor with tears streaming down her face. Her body shook and Loki could practically see the fear wafting off of her. How dare anyone scare her. Did someone hurt her? If he were to find a single mark anywhere on her, he'd hunt the entire palace to find who had done it.
Kneeling down, Loki made himself less of a threat towards the young woman. "Nesrin," he murmured, causing her to dart her eyes in his direction. Her hair partly covered her face, but he could see her split lip.
When her eyes locked onto his he saw fear in them. He noticed how she let out a shaky breath. He slowly lifted up his hand and went to move her hair out of her face. She stilled and scurried back a bit until her back hit the pillar.
"I'm not going to hurt you Nesrin, I just want to see if you have any other injuries" Loki spoke softly raising his hands to show he didn't mean any harm. "Would you let me help?"
Her eyes softened for a brief moment as she nodded. Carefully, he reached for her, trailing his fingers along her hairline and tucked the loose strands behind her ear. Her cheek was pink on the verge of turning a dark shade of purple that only fueled the rage brewing in his chest. Who dared to hurt her?
Loki's jaw ticked with the idea that someone put their hands to her perfect skin. He ran his thumb gently over the marking before cupping her cheek. "Who did this to you?" He asked, his voice a low rumble.
"I..." she stammered, her voice hoarse and timid. "It is nothing you should concern yourself with, my Lord."
She ducked her head again and her body curled inward as she tried to make herself as insignificant as she obviously felt.
