~ Dynasty ~ A Loki love story.

Chapter 9

Lilly's pov:

I sighed as the guard slid two trays of food under the cell door, bread and a few pieces of dried meat - the same thing we'd been given for thirteen miserable days in a row. We were fed twice a day, I felt sick just looking at the stale food. Luckily we were allowed to have drinking water in our cell, the guards would refill it when it was drained, which was good but the water tasted like it had been fetched from a stagnant pond.

I got up and walked over to the hanging bucket of water, enjoying the freedom of no chains, the guards had discided we didn't need them. I took a drink from the water dipper and glanced over at Loki, he wasn't eating either; he looked like he was thinking, so I plopped down next to him and asked, "what are you thinking about?"

"Tonight," he said softly, and I sighed, tonight was an interrogation night, he had them every three days.

I placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know," was all I could think to say, I felt so hopeless. We'd been here for thirteen days and fourteen nights, and it didn't look like we were getting any closer to freedom. Each day that passed sent me deeper and deeper into hopelessness and despair, we were never getting out of here.

We were given no bedding or anything to keep us warm, luckily I still had Loki's shirt from a while back, but now even that was struggling to keep out the cold; so we would huddle together to keep warm. Our backs ached from sleeping on the rockhard, frigid, cement floor, and we were filthy, they had only let us wash once, and that was a week ago.

During the day we had nothing to do except scratch a mark on the wall and hope we were another day closer to freedom. Poor Loki had to endure all of this on top of getting beat up every three days at the hands of the cruel prison guards. He was so brave, so strong, and despite the tortures, he never once gave up any of Asgard's flaws. A tear trickled down my cheek, but I turned away so he wouldn't see it; it pained me to see him upset, and I knew it hurt him to see me like that.

Suddenly a guard unlocked our cell door, and my stomach dropped, 'here we go again,' I thought to myself.

Loki immediately stood, and with sullen eyes, he walked towards the guard, ready to go again. Surprisingly the guard walked right past him and over to me, I took a shaky breath, trying to imagine what on earth he wanted with me.

He grabbed my arm roughly and jerked me up, making me cry in pain; that would leave a bruise.

 Loki ran over, managed to free me from the guard's cruel grip and placed himself between us, "leave her alone, it is I you want," he stated firmly.

"No, it is she I want," he replied, staring at me, "she's beautiful, and I claim her as mine."

Loki's eyes widened with shock and horror as the guard grabbed me again and tried to kiss me; he didn't get very far though before a hit to the back of the head sent him to the ground.

'You disgusting dog!" Loki yelled, stepping in front of me as the man jumped to his feet, "how dare you treat a lady that way! Leave her alone!"

In a flash the guard pulled a dagger from his pocket and stabbed Loki in the shoulder, causing him to yell and fall to the floor.

"Loki!!!" I screamed and turned to go to him, but the guard started dragging me out of the prison with a determined look in his evil eyes. I felt sick to my stomach, and clung to the bars of the cell, "no! Loki!" I screamed, petrified of what he would do to me.

Loki pulled himself up, blood running from his shoulder and with a look of anger that I had never seen in him before, ran for the guard. The guard let go of me and turned to face his attacker. Now Loki, still a skilled fighter, managed to twist the dagger out of the man's hands and stab him in the heart. I watched in shock as he crumpled to the ground, my shaking hands still clinging to the bars.

Loki ran to me, "are you alright?"

"Am I  alright??!" I almost yelled, "you're bleeding, I have to stop it," I answered, sniffing back tears. I ripped the dead guard's shirt and tried the strips of cloth around Loki's shoulder tightly.

"Hey!" A rough voice called out, and my heart fell as another guard ran over and surveyed the scene; after dragging the dead guard away, he locked the cell and talked with the others while Loki and I waited in dread to hear our fate.

"They will pay for this!" I heard one yell; instinctively I gripped Loki's hand with my shaky one.

"Don't worry," he replied kindly, "I sware I won't let them hurt you, I'll take all the blame for this."

"No," I stated firmly, "this isn't an interrogation, they'll hurt you, I mean really hurt you. You killed a guard, they might even kill you. I can't have that happen, I - I can't lose you Loki," I took a deep breath, "I love you." I was glad to have finally said it out loud.

"I love you too," Loki responded, putting his uninjured arm around me, "gods I love you so much, more than my own life, which is why I'm not afraid to lose it if it means keeping you safe."

I dropped my gaze, and a few tears fell, "but I can't lose you Loki," I cried softly, shaking my head, "I just can't."

~~~

Suddenly 3 guards burst in, grabbed Loki up from the ground and started to drag him out of the cell.

"No!" I screamed, tightening my grasp on Loki's hand, "no! Don't take him! Please no!"

A large guard then seized around my waist and tried to pull me off, but I clung tiger, "no!" I screamed, my scream turning into a desperate sob, "please don't hurt him!"

Then the guard pulled harder, and our fingers slipped, "no-oo!!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face as they pushed Loki out of the cell, "no!" I sobbed straining with all my might against the grip the guard had around my waist.

Once Loki was out of sight, and the guard threw me to the floor; I slumped down, all the fight now drained from me; he then slammed the door loudly and locked it. I curled myself into a ball and sobbed uncontrollably until I fell asleep from exhaustion.

~~~

Three hours later I awoke to the sound of a key in the cell door, and a dread formed in the pit of my stomach to know if Loki was dead or alive. I cried out with relief as I saw a guard push him into the cell, and lock the door behind him. I jumped up and ran to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and my other on the side of his face; I studied him as was horrified by what I saw. Loki's face was bruised so badly, there was blood running from several of them and dried blood on his bottom lip. The stab wound from earlier had started bleeding again, and there was blood seeping from a wound on his leg, right arm and a gash on the side of his head.

My whole body shook, "oh gods what have they done to you?!" I cried.

Instead of replying, Loki moaned and collapsed, "Loki!" I yelled in shock and supported him as we both leaned against the wall and slid down it. I felt furious anger rise up in me that I had never known before, a rage to hurt someone, kill someone, "by Odin I sware when we get out of here I will kill every last one of these monsters!" I growled through clenched teeth

"Don't talk like that," Loki managed, "or even think it. You are so pure, don't do that to yourself, once you take a life, you are never the same, don't be like that, I'll be alright."

I nodded softly and started to gently wipe off the dried blood from his face with a strip of fabric I ripped from my dress soaked in water. After I was satisfied all the bruises were clean enough, I sacrificed my small source of warmth and tore it into pieces to bandage his wounds. It was difficult to part with, but it hardly compared to what he had sacrificed for me.

We both fell asleep, cold, exhausted and hopeless that night.

Sorry for being so mean to Loki in this chapter, but I have to convey how selfless he is and how far he is willing to go to protect Lilly. Please tell me what you guys think!