I'll Fight for You

Ch 16

She sat back, head tossed over the brim of the bench and the rest limp at rest. Luckily she wasn't seen leaving from the back window then running off to call for a trip back here. Her only safe heaven left, in Asgard. The air was warm and with no breeze the sun just made it worse on her skin. It couldn't be real.....

"Miss! it’s nice to see you out and about." Gia walked up to her with a wicker basket in her hand. It had apples, pears, oranges, and peaches. Did all fruit just grow here year around? "Something the matter?" She sat beside Tabitha placing the fruit on the ground.

"Hm? oh no nothing just tired is all." Lie. She rolled her head on her shoulders so she faced the white bricked path, admiring the scene before her. The grass was lush a vivid green, the bush's where covered in flowers and honey bees.

"Not getting enough sleep perhaps?"

"Maybe." Gia pulled her hair to the side and began brushing it with her fingers. She hummed innocently while doing so. The atmosphere suddenly became awkward making the fighter cross her arms and legs. It came suddenly almost out of thin air.

"Are you going to start dinning with the royal family now?" Tabitha's eyes found Gia's looking at her from the corner of her eye. "Now that you are well, I could imagine the king would like to spend more time with his sons love." The tone of her voice..... It almost sounded venomous.

"Nothing goes on between Loki and I. He may have an attraction to me but nothing is happening." An almost audible click came from the back of Gia's throat as she rose up.

"I must be off now; I have things to attend too. Good day." She did a slight curtsy lifting the corners of her pale pink gown. Then she turned picking the basket from the ground and left. Tabitha watched as she walked away with an irritated stride. How strange it was for Gia to be in any negative mood.

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Loki sat leaned into the tub letting the scent of the oils and salts full his nostrils. It was a refreshing scent of cucumber and melon. How his missed these luxurious baths that he enjoyed daily. It would unwind every nerve that plagued him. It has been four hours now since she has left and yet she has yet to return. He slid underneath the waters enveloping his whole form, and then sprung up slicking back his hair to its normal position.

Tabitha..... By the gods..... How hard he has fallen for the girl. He has loved and loved again but not like this. She was too special to lose. He closed his eyes leaning back again to meet his bare back to the copper tub. Images of her danced behind his eyes, her toned thin body wrapped up in her clothing concealing her secrets. The scars that told her past, the pains she went through. Now all she has is the shackles on her wrists for eternity. Even then they were so light you could hardly see them. Her skin was flawless other than that. How her hair held the slightest wave in it and bounced when she walked. And those eyes, how they captivate him, how they sparkled and twinkled when she smiled and laughed. What he liked most of all...... was how playful and happy she was... despite her past. She saw the light at the end of her dark tunnel and she marveled in it. She hasn't been the same way since. It shined then and again yet it wasn't as she was before the dark threatened her light once more.

Reluctantly Loki lifted his form from the tub letting droplets cascade down his body. Using his foot to kick the plug from the drain, he looked down and watched it spin into the pipe. He reached over grabbing the towels and patting himself dry. He was going to return to his chamber for the day now that his mother had accommodated to his taste. Though it may be nothing like his chambers it was better than that brick block he was assigned to. With fresh clothes on the nord opened the doors that blocked between the room and bathroom. To his surprised an unamused Odin stood waiting for Loki to emerge.

"Do you think I did not know you were free of your cell?" Loki stood there with each hand on each door with a deer in the head lights look. "I am not mad my son."

"I am not your son." He spat quickly. His brows creased dropping his arms and furiously crossing them across his chest. The all father turned and sat into a cushioned seat paying no heed to his son’s childish manner.

"I raised you as my own I saw you as my own so therefore I call you my son." he looked up from his white main with a slight smile. “You have been free of your cuffs for some time now and you have not ran. It’s because of Tabitha isn't it?" The nords face calmed and he looked over to meet the king’s gaze. He kept silent not sure how to respond of if he should respond. Odin then chuckled into the silence and spoke between them. "It must be if you have no response for me. She must mean more to you than Sygin did."

"That woman had only sympathy for me, she never truly loved me." Why must he bring her up? She only agreed to be his because she saw him lonely. She felt bad for him every time he was put through punishment so she took it alone herself to care for him. He thought it love...... Until she was found in another chambers of another noble. He locked himself in his room for months. He felt angry, depressed, betrayed, and idiotic. “Tabitha is much more than any woman will ever be. If you weren't sentencing me to death I'd peruse her." Loki walked passed so he could open the balcony doors to let the air in. He then proceeded to the ledge to look over to the ground far below him. Watching the servants scurry back and forth on the white path. The highly dressed nobles and guards parading in and out of the bushes talking amongst themselves. On a bench a few feet away was a differently dressed female at rest. It was Tabitha of course, only she would stick out in such odd dress.

"Go." Loki looked over his shoulder. "I’ll let the guards know you are free to wander about for now. Go." Odin stood now before the door and opened it. Before leaving he turned a bit so he saw his sons back to him. "And I am withdrawing your beheading but punishment is still needed. When the time comes we will talk of what actions we shall take." The door clicked shut with Loki left to his thoughts. He smiled in the sunlight and then placed his head into his hands. He closed his eyes tears rolling down his cheeks and began to laugh.