Tabula Rasa (Unlike Loki: Book Two)

Chapter 3

(Anna)

Torren squeezed me one more time, before pulling back, and kissing me on the forehead.

"I must return to the troops." He said faintly.

I nodded my head at him, smiling slightly, and he turned and left.

I try to rub my headache away. Torren is a good guy, he really is. But sometimes, he's just so dull.

I slowly walk towards the library, hoping to get my mind off of things.

Unfortunately, I run into a man I try to keep my distance from. "Anna!" He says the moment he sees me. He doesn't seem to understand that he should not call me by name.

I tried to hold back my sigh of distress. "Hello, Kafir."

He comes up to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, but I squirm out of his embrace. "What do you want?" I ask him.

"Oh, come on now. I just want some good old fashioned company!" He smiles widely. "Wondering if you maybe wanted to go down to the tavern with me." He winks.

I shiver. He's slightly shorter than I, and his muscles lack any meat. His hair is brown and greasy, sloppily thrown back in a low ponytail. His teeth are straight, but slightly yellowed, his breath burning my nose.

"So that you may steal me away and have your way with me?" I say sarcastically.

He wipes a stray hair from his shiny forehead, the corner of his mouth turning up. "Well, my lady. If that's what you want." He looks me up and down.

"No. That's quite alright." Kafir was Torren's personal assistant, the son of his uncle's own assistant. It was customary that the servants stay with the family like that. He was required to be with Torren anytime that he was away from the troops, unless Torren said otherwise. To my annoyance, he very rarely ever did.

He pursed his lips in mock sadness. "Isnt' a queen supposed to attend to the needs of her people?"

"Not those kind." I began to walk away as fast as I could.

I rolled my eyes when I heard his footsteps rush to catch up with mine.

"How many times do I have to tell you to leave the Queen alone?" I suddenly heard a voice from behind me say.

I knew it immediately to be my own assistant, By. He came out of the shadows, making Kafir jump back. He clearly fears By, as any sane person should. The man was extemely powerful and terribly dangerous. "Leave." I growled, sending Kafir, nearly running, out of the castle.

I turned to him. "You didn't have to do that, you know."

He bowed softly, looking towards his shoes for a moment, his hands behind his back. "I am your assistant. It is my job to protect and guide you, your majesty." He kept his face straight.

He was tall, but fierce. His hair was jet black, streaming down his shoulders, nearly as long as mine. His eyes were nearly as black, as were the constant bags under his eyes. His skin was so pale, I could almost see through it. He sometimes reminded me of Loki, in the way he walked, or his gestures. Sometimes even in the way he talked.

"I have put Prince Leolin to bed." He said.

"Thank you." I swallowed nervously.

And then he rushed at me, crashing into my lips, and taking my face in his hands. I greatfully breathed him in.