I see you || Loki

30. Hearts in Havoc

Loki woke with the space on the bed next to him empty. He ran his hand over the sheet at his side, where your form should have lain. Cold. Long cold. He frowned. Where had you run off to?

Loki stood, squinting against the dark and followed a glimmer of light into the other room. You stood in front of the bookshelf, a volume in your hands, your form outlined in the lamplight as if your skin emitted the soft glow. Something warm inside him woke at the sight. You were a lovely vision of quiet repose, as much a part of the room as he was. Still, you were supposed to be sleeping at his side. He'd have to remind you of your manners.

You looked up sharply at Loki's approach, like a rabbit sensing danger, and your eyes locked with his. A quiver of unease ran through him. Your expression didn't warm at the sight of him the way it usually did. Why did you suddenly feel so very distant when you stood only a few strides from him? Perhaps... a trick of the lighting, just his imagination.

The reprimand that had formed in Loki's mind stilled over his tongue and he found sweet words emerging in its place.

"Come back to bed, love." He held out his hand for you.

You stepped backward and pressed the book against your stomach as if it were armor. Loki's heart plummeted when he noticed for the first time which book you held in your hands.

"Pet—"

"What have you done?" There was a hushed sort of horror in your voice, a tremble behind the question that betrayed the tumult of emotion you hid.

Loki had mere moments to tip you back to his side before you jumped to a dangerous conclusion. Less, maybe. "Whatever it is you think—"

"My father never had an affair," you interrupted. Loki's spirits plummeted. He had no time at all. "He never had another child. You put this here. You"—you held out the book as if it were a sword to pierce him—"you defaced his memories."

Your anger burned around Loki as though the room were on fire. There was no safe haven, no move he could make that would soothe you. He didn't answer. 

"Tell me I'm mistaken," you said, voice rising, clearly spurred on by his silence. "Tell me my father betrayed me before I was even born. Go on. Lie to me."

You always lie.

Damn, damn, damn. He had told himself he wasn't going to do that anymore. Not to you. Not about anything important.

Loki held up his hands, a gesture meant to pacify you, though the fury on your face didn't lessen. "It was the way forward," he said. "The agreement only specifies the oldest descendent. It does not have to be you."

"There is no one else."

"The truth can be many things depending on what you want people to believe."

Your eyes widened. "And who—" You stopped, swallowed, then started again, "Who is it that you'll replace me with so easily?"

"It doesn't matter." Loki could feel you slipping through his fingers, his argument failing to stick against your indignation.

"Who is it?"

You were so persistent. It was maddening. Loki could never get you to follow the direction he wanted. You stuck to a point as if fixed, refusing to let him maneuver you around it.

"It's her, isn't it?" you asked. "The woman that I've seen you with. What was her name?" You looked away and squeezed your eyes shut in apparent concentration. Then you shook your head. Your gaze locked with his once again. "That's why you've been near her lately. It wasn't to make me angry. You've been pulling her into view."