The Prince's Prisoner

Ice

Chapter 18 – Ice. Enjoy!

Eyes vacant and lost within the wind as it danced among the trees, Aria sat hunched on the window seat by the middle pane. She had spent the remainder of the last two months sitting at this window. The first week she hadn't left the bed, but that seemed to almost invite Loki, so she moved somewhere that didn't disgust her so much. The sofa had enough room for him to sit next to her. The window seat was comfy and angled as if to perfectly fit her, the view never ceasing to entrance her. Distract her.

The last two months had been hell, and not put lightly. That first night was only the beginning of what Loki could do to her, he continued to explore ways to humiliate and victimise her. He didn't give her any chances anymore, if she did not follow a command, she was punished, either in the moment or later at night.

Aria held a numb outlook on life, waiting and waiting for a day she could go outside. He never let her. She ghosted through the few rooms she could, the library only making her more upset. Aria craved fresh air, desperate to feel rain or wind or sun. Instead she felt the muted rays though the glass, or heard the whistle as the wind flew passed, but nothing to clasp onto. She was losing her mind over it, and had even asked Loki to leave the room a couple weeks ago. She had been punished for it.

She glanced at the hall through the open bedroom door as Loki entered and strolled purposefully into his office, giving her a greeting smile as he checked she was still present. The returned anklet would tell him enough, the anklet he had reattached the second time he slept with her, boasting of his improvements to it, how it could be used as a punishment now, as well as keeping barriers around her.

Taking a deep breath, Aria shuffled nervously into his office, a question on the tip of her tongue, but locked behind layers of fear in her mind.

"Loki" she called softly, letting him indicate for her to sit before fumbling childishly with her hands. Aria had become a fearful pet quicker than a SHIELD agent should have. It ate at her dignity and self-respect daily.

"Be careful what you ask, Aria" Loki muttered while doing some paper-work on his desk. He did seem to work a lot, and not a lot at the same time.

"I want to go outside" Aria rushed, before stuttered over an explanation, nothing making sense before she took a breath. "I know you won't let me outside these rooms, but just the balcony, please?"

Loki placed his pen down slowly, leaning back in thought, over-dramatically as expected.

"You can have 15 minutes after dinner" he decided, watching her eyes light up with an innocence that he hadn't managed to fade away yet. He wasn't sure he really wanted it too, that innocence seemed like something that would stay with her no matter what he did.

"Thank you" she breathed, leaving the room before he changed his mind.

Aria felt sick to the stomach for having to degrade herself to that, but there was no other way to get what she wanted, needed. He owned that part of her, but she would never give him any more than the physical. Loki tempted her emotions, tried to make them his own, but she was defiant against that. The appreciation and small sense of gratitude she felt at him giving her something left her temper rising. How he could manipulate her to feel that way. But Aria wouldn't be like that forever. If through sheer force of will and strength, or her eventual escape, her emotions would stay her own.

But right now, she was forced into dinner pleasantries, the food already prepared. She hadn't seen a single other person in the last two months, and it was starting to grind on her that Loki was her only source of emotion or communication, as he, of course, intended.