When Darkness Falls - LOKI - Book One (Editing)

38. Stunning

Athelia woke in a panic. Her body ached in every way that not even the bloodiest of battles could cause. Her eyes scanned the room for any truth her body couldn't give, but Thor was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Athelia?" She groaned as she ripped the sheets off her body and tried to move her legs off the bed, only to be struck still with pain.

The tears we're nearly instant as the anger raged through her. She wasn't even completely sure if it was anger, but she knew she felt something towards him for not being there or maybe even that it happened at all.

Her hands ran over her thighs and images of Thor wrecking her body flooded her sight and she all but jumped from her bed, falling into the bedside cupboard clumsily. The vase of dead flowers that had been there since the day she arrived shattered to the ground and she jumped around in the nude, cursing loudly.

"You know for a future Queen, you have quite the colorful vocabulary."

Athelia was quick to the rip the sheet from the bed, twisting quickly to make sure she was covered as the queen walked in from the balcony. Her anger was reduced to a blush that she could feel burning throughout her whole body as she tried to figure out just how Frigga had gotten into her room without her waking up.

"Long night I presume?" Frigga mocked, a couple smile playing on her face. Athelia's eyes widened as she fumbled for an answer to the Queen's intimate curiosities.

"My apologies Frigga, I was just -"

"There is no need for apologies Athelia." She said with a light bit of laughter. "I'm certain anybody would be flustered after the night you have a had."

Athelia's eyes nearly bulged out of her head as Frigga spoke about her son in such a way and even though Athelia tried her best to deny what she clearly knew, she ended up only muttering stuttered words.

Frigga laughed gently again as she approached Athelia, who had fallen back onto her bed in a mortified pile of nakedness and sheets.

"I sent Thor away moments before you stirred," she explained. "So please do not hold his absence against him. It is bad luck to see the bride on her wedding day."

Athelia pulled her sheet up over head as Frigga continued to tidy up and make space for the dressmakers and her maidens who were waiting just outside to begin preparations for the ceremony.

It was the day.

Her dress hung by the balcony and the jewels Frigga had chosen for her were sitting in velvet boxes on her desk, but Athelia couldn't move. The events of last few days were repeating over and over in her mind and she couldn't help but feel sick.

She knew that last night alone would give her many years of happiness, but she still couldn't shake the anger she had with herself. One moment she had been swearing she would do whatever she could to get Loki out of his cell and the next she was swearing her life and any love she could possess to his brother. She knew in order to keep her promise to Thor she would never again be able to visit Loki and that if she continued, even at Frigga's request, that she would not be able to control their encounter, because there was something about him and the way he was with her, that drove her absolutely mad.

"Are you ready?" Frigga asked as she made way to the door. Athelia propped herself up on her shoulders and gave her the strongest smile could muster, allowing her to begin the day.

By late morning Athelia had had enough. She had been scrubbed, combed and plucked by intrusive hands for hours, despite her insistence that she could do well on her own. She had had people she had never met coming and going from her room, asking her questions about wedding arrangements she never had a say in in the first place.