Darkness Revealed (A Loki Love Story) Book 2 in Darkness Series

Bait

(His point of view)

I feel strong hands shaking me back into consciousness.

"Loki! Loki, wake up!"

I am barely able to open my eyes. But as I do, my blurry vision permits me from seeing who it is that is hovering over me.

"Dammit man, look at me!"

I blink my eyes furiously a few times, attempting to clear the fog from my line of sight. The King's face eventually comes into view. He tugs at my shoulders, forcing me to sit up. I will myself to follow his gesture before I lean back against the marble wall, wincing in pain from my several cuts, burns, and bruises.

"Are you alright?" he asks, staring at me with deep concern. My eyes jerk in his direction. Anger rips through me once again, crippling the hold on my reserve. I fly forward, sitting up straight and away from the wall, quaking in outrage from my blinding internal torture.

"ALRIGHT!? ALRIGHT!?" I bellow out. He is startled from my outburst.

"NO I AM NOT FUCKING ALRIGHT! SHE IS GONE! CHRISTINE HAS BEEN TAKEN! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!" I let out a desperate roar of pain, once again allowing my guilt from failing to save her to overpower me. Finally, I slump back into the wall before kicking the nearest piece of broken furniture within my reach. It flies completely across the room before crashing against the far wall. I bury my head in my hands as I sob, leaning my elbows onto my knees.

"I failed her......I failed her..." I moan, rocking myself uselessly. I sit like this for an unknown amount of time. No one speaks or attempts to console me. Perhaps they realize that the point is moot.

Suddenly, I feel his hand grasp my shoulder, squeezing it in a fatherly gesture. It takes me by surprise and forces me to lift my face from its hiding place. His eyes twitch as they lock with mine. I know that the pain he wears is mirrored by my own. I blink back tears before noticing that his own lids are brimming.

"No, Loki," he barely chokes out. The Queen moves down to my side. I can see quite clearly that she has been crying. Her eyes are red and swollen.

"What happened, Loki? Please tell us...where has she been taken to?" I struggle as I lift myself up from the wall before slowly moving to stand. As I do, I see that Christine's room has been tidied up a bit and is barren of all the injured warriors. All except for Link who is sitting in one of the last standing sofa chairs by a newly rebuilt fire. Branye is knelt down in front of him, tending to a wound on his arm. He is looking at me over her shoulder. I can see that he too has shed a few tears of his own. Kendha is kneeling at his side, clinging to him with one arm whilst holding Christiana against her opposite hip. She wears a terrible worry on her petite face.

I square my shoulders, wincing yet again and take in a deep breath. I clear my throat, tasting blood. And as I attempt to speak, I know why....

I had screamed so viciously earlier, it literally ripped the skin from the lining of my esophagus. I groan from the discomforting burn as I wield myself to tell them of what happened. All the while that I am speaking, their eyes stare at me, widened in ghastly horror.

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"Why would he want to take her? I do not understand. He should know that Christine will never succumb to being his Queen," the King ponders aloud. I shake my head, squinting my eyes shut in pain as the image of her being forced to stand at his side comes to my mind.

"That is not the point," Link's voice chimes in from across the room. I open my eyes to find him walking over in our direction, holding his now heavily bandaged arm up against his chest.