Stolen Relic ~ A Loki Fanfic

Chapter Twenty-One

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Loki managed to stay away from Kenna for three days. It was harder than he anticipated. Something had transpired with his parents and her. Something had to, he simply could not have healed Like that on his own. The foreign power, the one that had been sliding beneath his skin like tar since Alfheim was gone. His head felt clearer than it had in weeks, but now all he could do was obsess over what had happened. Everyone else was acting as though it never happened. It made Loki feel crazy, like he had somehow imagined all that had transpired.

Everyone that is, except for Sif. One look from her and he knew all he felt, all he remembered, all he had done had happened. The depth of the hatred in her eyes could only be fed by fear. One moment of lost control and he could have easily killed her. She had every right to hate him.

The memory of fear on Sif's face as her blood pooled in the dirt was enough to keep him away from Kenna. He couldn't bear the thought of hurting her. Even without the foreign power in his system he was still more than capable of being the monster General Torik had labeled him. Sif was an extremely capable Asgardian warrior. Kenna however was far more vulnerable. 

It was that truth alone that kept him from seeking out Kenna in the following days. He missed her soothing presence. He couldn't help feeling she could somehow help make sense of all that had happened, but he had been cruel to her. The hurt on her face when she fled his rooms was burned forever in his heart. He never wanted to see that look on her face again.

Part of him wanted to find her and beg her forgiveness. He knew, deep down however, staying away from him was best for her. What there was between them, what he felt, could never be. Odin would never allow it. She was a slave in Asgard and being his...it would do nothing but make her a target. He was selfish, but not that selfish.

Loki tossed the map away from him in disgust and scrubbed at his tired eyes. He had spent the three days since he awoke studying Asgardian maps searching for possible locations of the paths between the realms. He compared ancient maps with modern ones, seeing if there were any correlation between their differences and where he knew the path to Alfheim to be. If there were any similarities he wasn't smart enough to find them.

Three days of no sleep and he was no closer to discovering the locations between realms. The coronation was only days away and he was getting desperate. He didn't want to ask Kenna. He had closed that door and if he saw her again he wasn't certain he would be able to keep his distance as he should. Unfortunately, he was running out of options.

The bells struck five outside the balcony and he stood and stretched, another night passed without sleep. He slid his palm over the desk before him and his work shimmered for a moment before it disappeared from sight. It wouldn't do for an unsuspecting servant to stumble upon his plans, or hel forbid his nosy mother.

He hadn't seen Frigga since the first morning he woke. She had been distant and distracted, not fawning over him as he would have expected given he had nearly died. It convinced him that she had something to do with whatever it had taken to get the foreign magic out of him. He could think of no other magic user powerful enough, but he was too cowardly to ask. The other possibility was that Frigga had simply became engrossed with the coronation like everyone else around the palace.