The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 11

Me celebrating my birthday with my BFFs

Nothing. No clues or evidence as to why these things kept happening to me. I'd spent all the free time I'd had in the past two and a half days in her room looking but still came back with nothing. There had been no change regarding the dragon eggs, they were as still as stones. I had also remembered to assign the task of riding Arista's horses to the best stable hands we had even though she hadn't asked me to. What alarmed me most the was terror I had felt yesterday. I had known it wasn't mine.

Arista's POV

This was it. My last day in this infernal prison. The last time I was going to have to deal with that guard. He had come into my cell yesterday, near the end of his shift and tried to make a move on me but a new prisoner had been brought down and saved me. I feared what he would do today. I dared not hope for such good fortune again. I knew I had minimal energy left, I wouldn't last two minutes again him if he tried to...well and that was under normal circumstances. I haven't even factored in the bronze cuffs around my wrists. More and more of the symptoms were coming through, I could feel Loki's confusion about the whole situation and I having short dizzy spells where, briefly, I could see through his eyes. Normally, he was in my room and it made me wonder just what he was doing there. He wasn't unconsciously sending me thoughts yet but that could just be because of the cuffs and the distance between us. I had no furniture in my cell and that meant nowhere to hide. I was allowed out once a day at sunset after dinner to use the facilities but that was it. No shower or anything. My hair had long fallen out of my braid was a disaster and I felt disgusting. I knew it wouldn't be long before the guard came down for his shift and I had only come up with one alternative. Turn invisible whenever he looks into this cell. I knew it would invoke a lot of panic but it would be worth it. It was my only hope. I wouldn't be able to hold the spell for long but it would be long enough for him to run off.

Everything played out just as I had predicted. As soon as I heard the footsteps, I began working the spell. By the time he got to his post, I was completely invisible. His eyes went wide when he saw my 'empty' cell and sprinted down the hall. Seconds later, an alarm sounded. That was the last thing I heard before the pain and stress became too much.

Loki's POV

I was with mother when the prison alarm went off. Arista was the first thing that came to mind. The odds of her being the cause of the trouble was very low, all she had to do was wait until the sun set and she would be released. I was up and out the door nonetheless as soon as I realized what it was.

I met up with father, Thor, and the Warriors Three (plus Sif) at the entrance to the prison. There was a single guard there waiting for us.

"My king. The Shifter has escaped." I went down for my shift at noon and found her cell empty. Father ordered us to follow and investigate. When we reached her cell, Arista was....there? Wait, hadn't he said she'd escaped? I almost had to do a double take to recognize her, she looked so tired. Arista sprawled on the floor in the middle of her cell, her eyes closed and her hair in disarray. The cuffs were still on her wrist and I could make out charred skin beneath them.

"Well, obviously, she has not escaped and through your stupidity, you have caused needless panic. You are no longer a member of the guard." Wait, he had a noon shift? Where was his post? He had said that he saw her cell empty. I glanced down the hall. All of the other posts were taken, the only vacant one was here. On front of Arista's cell. Without thinking, I lowered the barrier of her cell and raced to her side. The cloths that had been very form-fitting when she was taken away now hung around her skeleton. She hadn't been eating.