BLACK LIES
book one in the 'chaos series'
in which a goddess falls apart because of love and a power she had no place in controlling overcoming her, threatening the lives of those around her, including the god she finds herself tied to by love.
LOKI...
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17| IN WHICH LUSINE FINDS COMFORT IN A STRANGE PLACE
Lusine held Cloris' cold body to her chest, tighter than before, when the guards clatter in through the door to witness the scene around Lusine. The blood that covered Lusine's pale neck made them sick to their stomach and then seeing the brutalised body of Pelia made their cheeks flush ghostly white.
She looks up at them, her cheeks drenched in mournful tears and her eyes flickering in between their void state and her enchanting blue. The guard steps back slightly. "Leave," She commands before looking back down at her precious maid, lifeless in her powerless arms. "Leave and let no one in."
They nod their heads, bobbing them up and down in a kind of unwanted sympathy. As they leave Thor pushes past them into the room, followed by his brother. He'd heard the commotion and come as soon as he'd seen the guards running in this direction.
Loki stands beside him, staring at the way Lusine holds Cloris in her arms. The care and the love is obvious to him, but he is oblivious to the mangled body resting on the floor beside his love and the potential danger she was in.
Thor strides over to Lusine immediately causing Loki to roll his eyes at his brother acting the hero once again. He holds his large hand out toward her, beckoning her to stand. Lusine looks up at him and then back to Cloris. "I'm sorry," She whispers before releasing the body and taking Thor's hand, much to Loki's dismay.
As she stands her legs wobble and tremble and her tears begin to flow again. Thor looks at her with such pity and sympathy that she cannot help but curl into him and his warmth. Cloris' death hit deep. Love was hard. Love was dangerous. But Lusine Volkov couldn't help falling in love.
Lusine cries into Thor's solid chest which she was surprised to find strangely comforting. Meanwhile, Loki stands in the doorway shifting on his feet as she looks upon his brother taking his place.
The blood covering her contrasts her pale white skin, inevitable really since on The Wolf Moon winter spanned for a majority of the year, which Lusine adored. Thor notices the blood brushing off onto his clothing and is curious. "What happened, Princess Lusine?" His courtesy and his manners impressed Lusine, Loki would not have been so sweet with her in her undying moment of fragility.
To Lusine's surprise and secret gladness, Loki cuts in, "Brother, do not push her." His warning is unheard.
Thor runs a hand along Lusine's back in comfort. "Be more considerate, Loki, she has been through a lot. Be more caring of the one you love," Thor tells him as Lusine curls her arms tighter around him, nuzzling her face into his chest.
Loki does not respond.
"Pelia was in here when I returned from dinner. She was threatening Cloris and naturally I stood up to her. Pelia refused to leave, things got violent and then, in her losing moments and my point of victory, she struck the blade into poor Cloris' heart..." Luisne trails off, pushing herself slightly off Thor to look down at Cloris' body, eyes wide open. "There was no saving her. She- She asked me to... She asked me to end it for her. No one is going to believe me because they all know how much I despised Pelia. Looking at what was once her body, it's going to be hard to justify what I did in the eyes of my loved ones -not that I have many of those left." She glances over to Loki briefly before it gets too much. She closes her eyes, the image of Cloris's heart with the dagger through it burning into her brain as she presses her head against Thor's solid chest. He was like a rock, her new found rock, but she knew who she needed and he didn't seem to want her. He was cold, unsympathetic and desperate for power, not love. But all Lusine Volkov desired in life was love with a sprinkling of death on the side.
Thor looks down at the woman in his embrace. He admires her strength, admires her passion and frowns at how broken she is. He thought that Loki would help her and she would help him, but it seems he's only pushing her away and her heart is paying the price. Someone so broken and with a heart already so charred should not be put through what she's being put through, but it seems love just leads to death with Lusine and that seemed to be unavoidable. For a split second, Thor worries about Loki's safety. He realises his stupidity in worrying, Loki was smart and Loki was sly. He would not fall for such a destiny as to die at the hands of Lusine Volkov.
"You won, Lusine," Thor says in a failing attempt to get the princess to feel slightly better about the entire situation of chaos and blood.
"No." Lusine takes in a deep breath, taking in darkness. "I did not win. Look at her, look at Cloris and tell me exactly how I won the battle for her life? And now my brother is going to hate me, just like my mother already does, because he thinks I would kill Pelia out of spite. I would not do that to him, I realise that now. I had no intent to kill her, I only wanted to injure her to the point of her begging for my mercy, but then she hurt Cloris and my rage fuelled my... fuelled my dangerous side, if you will. I did not merely kill Pelia, I obliterated her."
Thor rubs Lusine's back again. His comforting ways did little to help Lusine but they did enough to anger Loki. "I believe you," Thor tells her. She even cracks the smallest of smiles, brimmed with content.
With that small exchange of words, Loki spins on his heels and storms away with arrogant jealousy spinning around his head and poking into his mind whilst he muttered curses under his breath. He did not want to watch anymore. That should have been him.
Lusine noticed his disappearance as soon as he left. His presence was gone and all she could feel was a wave of sadness flood over her as she knew he was irritated with her for who she had sought comfort in on this eve. "There's too much chaos fuelling me, Thor Odinson."
"What do you mean?"
"It's nothing, nothing of any relevance," She mutters, pulling herself away from Thor and lifting her finger to her lips to chew on the corner of her nail. Her teeth gnaw and bite as she lets the chaotic thoughts run through her mind. They flow through her like a river of blood, like a flood of ruin and a tidal wave of darkness. There was no escaping such a rush. She was addicted to the darkness and there was no going back now. It's claws had sunk in deep to her flesh, dug through her and into the very marrow of her bones, and refused to release. The darkness would never relent.
"Guards!" She calls out suddenly, snapping out of her thought path. Instead of the usual two guards, six enter her room at her shout. "I would like for the bodies to be removed now. Put the mangled body far away from my Cloris' body. Do any different and I will know about it. Tell them to begin preparing Cloris' body for her funeral, it is to be tomorrow eve." The guards nod their head as they move deeper into the room to begin removing the bodies. Two of them pick Cloris up first and Lusine has to bark at them to be more careful. When the other four pick up the remains of Pelia she does not tell them to be careful, she finds herself staring at the dismantled body in awe of what she was capable of. Thor watches her carefully for any sign of tears.
Lusine planned for Cloris' funeral to be the very next day, but she also planned to force her brother to hold Pelia's funeral no where near Cloris', no matter what he wants. Lycus was going to despise her for it, but what did she have to lose? She'd already killed Pelia.
"Thor, can you take me somewhere away from all this chaos?" She asks him, dropping her hand from her lips. She forces a smile, trying to push away the murder. "I don't want to be found, I don't want anyone to come after me."
"You mean you don't want Loki to find you."
"He is angry with me," She says, looking away from Thor for a moment.
"It would be best if you went to the library to your father. He often locks himself away there, I'm sure he would understand the need for comfort and for someone you trust."
"I'm not sure who to trust anymore."
"You can trust me," Thor tells her. "Now, let me walk you to the library. You look like you're about to pass out any moment."
