When Darkness Falls - LOKI - Book One (Editing)

27. Median

      Athelia's eyes snapped open as her stomach twisted in agony. Every part of her body was on fire and she rolled to the side, expelling every bit of dark venom that swelled in her.

      It was dark still, sending a panic throughout her, but as she tried to pull herself up from the cushioned surface she was on, a hand fell to her shoulder and gently pushed her back. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light that quickly surrounded her, but she didn't need her eyes to know who was speaking her name.

     Her hand covered his on her shoulder, holding him as close as she possibly could as the tears fell down her face. She wanted to wrap her arms around him so tightly and when she felt the shift of the bed she was on, she sat up against his wishes and engulfed him.

     "Uncle," she panted as he pulled her closer into him. She inhaled the familiar mixture of his wooded scent and for the first time in a very long time, she finally felt at ease.

     "I can't believe your alive," she exclaimed, squeezing his cold pale hands in hers. She stared up at him in disbelief and she reached up to touch his face, but the shining band on her wrist twisted her stomach. She ran her fingers over the binds and searched her mind for any recollection she could find. "How? What happened? Where's Freya?"

     "Calm down," he insisted as he tried to pull her back down, but she swung her legs over the side and her bare feet's hit the cold floor and her legs nearly buckled. "Your still weak Athelia."

      She flared up at him as if a switch had turned. "I'm not weak."

     She pushed herself away from the small bed and ran fingers through her hair. Her eyes scanned the room she was in and clean aesthetic of the room and the trays of tools around her bed made her queazy. She really was weak and couldn't accept that she had woken up in a med room.

     "How long have I been sleeping?"

     "Eight days."

     Athelia's eyes widened. "Eight?"

     Bronen nodded. "Much has happened Athelia, but I can assure you Freya and Loki are both doing well."

      "Loki?"

     "You don't remember, do you?" He asked her, hopeful that his charms had worked like they had on the prince's. He and Frigga had made sure that no one other then they and Odin, knew anything other than what they wanted them too. "Loki was the one that brought you back from the darkness, despite the brutal beating you gave him."

     "I hurt him?"

     Bronen chuckled. "You stabbed him actually." Her eyes widened and Bronen watched as her binds tightened to a glow around her wrists. "He's okay. He is all healed and back in his cell where he belongs."

     Athelia grimaced as the fresh skin on her wrists continued to burn for the first time. She didn't like the tone he used, but ignored his demeanor as she tried to dwell on the reunion. She walked in circles around the bed she had been confined too, trying to recall anything she possibly could.

      She remembered Freya standing in front of her, begging her to stop and then her binds fell and all she could see was darkness. She couldn't describe the feeling of losing all that time and that fact that she had hurt Loki soured even a reunion such as this. But it did not stop her from questioning Bronen about his whereabouts for the last few months.

      "Athelia, you need to rest." He smiled down on her, knowing the questions that raced through her mind. "Everyone is safe and Dorian is fine. Dolcia came for me after the mishap with Freya and stayed to protect our absence."