Tabula Rasa (Unlike Loki: Book Two)

Chapter 51

(Anna)

"He's what?!" Loki and By yelled at the same time.

Heimdall had come running into the throne room. He found me first, his stormy eyes wide with surprise, and I told him not to speak a word until Loki and By were with us.

"Did he read the letter?" By asked.

"That's what you're worried about?!" Loki exclaimed.

"Yes. Because his answer to our plea is now compromised."

"Thank you, Heimdall." I said, signaling for him to leave us.

Once he was out of sight I turned back to Loki and By. "Now what?" I asked.

By's eyes were wide, and he looked as if he were about to have a panic attack. Loki looked pale, more translucent than usual. He kept clenching and unclenching his hands.

"It's not really that big of a deal, is it?" I asked. This didn't change anything. It shouldn't really matter. Right?

Both By and Loki shot me a look as if I had gone insane.

"Frost-Giants don't get married! they mate." By exclaimed. "There has to be a reason for the King to have wanted a Queen. And I would bet it's a trap and he's just too stupid to see it."

"But, why? Why take advantage of the King of Jotenheim?" Loki asked, beginning to pace back and forth. His cheeks looked sunken, now that I was taking the time to study him, and his eyes looked like they were in deep, dark pits. I didn't even want to know what I looked like.

"Because we asked for their help." By said, putting his hands in his face. "That are trying to sabotage us."

"But who's they? We don't even know who he's marrying." I said. I was beginning to feel my body warm up with anger.

"I don't know. But I don't trust them. It simply doesn't make any sense." By groaned.

"Then screw him!" I blurted, fuming. "All I want to do is find my son and kill the son of a bitch who took him! I don't care that Helblindi is getting hitched!" I yelled, feeling the tears come to my eyes.

Loki and By stared at me for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly, our attention was turned to the door and someone burst through. It was a child, his feet pounding on the hard floor towards us. By his thin, light-colored clothes, I realized he was a messenger. His face was red and his blonde hair was wind-blown.

It didn't take him long to meet us, and we looked at him patiently as he frantically looked between Loki and I with his eyes, not quite sure whom to give the message to.

"Here, darling." I said sweetly, reaching out to him. I tried to keep my voice light, not urgent.

He bowed and put the pieces of paper in my hand. When he was sure I had the pages, he stood and turned briskly, jogging away.

My hands shook slightly as I watched him leave, my eyes frozen on the door. I had a feeling I knew what the message was, who it was from.

I was just terrified what it would tell me.

I felt a breath on the back of my neck, I knew it well, and leaned back into Loki's chest.

"Open it, darling." He said in my ear, lightly touching the paper, tugging on it.

I slowly looked down at the rough parchment in my hand. And watched as my other hand shakily reached over and read the outside.

To the elegant Queen of Asgard,

with good wishes, King Helblindi of Jotenheim

I took a deep, rattling breath, my vision going blurry for a moment.

"It's from him isn't it?" I heard By say. I turned to look at him sadly. He had his arms crossed and his face was slack. He nodded his head, knowing he was right and came over to me.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing to the letter.

I nodded my head but didn't move. I felt Loki slowly take the paper out of my hands and give it to By.

I watched as he carefully unfolded the outside and took out two pieces of folded paper: a large one and a smaller one.

He unfolded the larger one first and began to read:

Dearest Queen Anna of Asgard,

I am very flattered that you personally wrote me, truly I am. I am very sad to hear about your misfortunate incident concerning your son, as it is very tragic. But it is with great regret that I must decline being of any aid to you or any of your associates. It is a dangerous and risky situation and I don't wish to be caught in the middle of it. I do wish you luck, and know how powerful you and those around you are. I have faith that you will succeed.

King Helblindi

"Well, I suppose there's that." Loki said, disappointed, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"What about the other one?" I asked my voice cracking. I touched my face and realized it was wet. I didn't even know that I had been crying. I felt more angry than sad.

I watched as By let the envelope and the large letter fall to the ground. He slowly unfolded the smaller paper, but he didn't say anything. His face simply went dead, and his eyes turned round.

"What?" Loki said cautiously. "What is it?"

His eyes met Loki's and he lent out the paper to him. Loki took it from By's trembling hands. His lips quivered, as if he were about to scream.

I shifted my body and carefully, nervously watched Loki as he read the ink before his eyes. He reacted in nearly the same way as By.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked in a scared whisper.

Loki looked up at me, angry tears in his eyes. He held out the paper for me to take and I slowly did so. I kept my eyes on him until I finally got the courage to look down.

You are cordially invited to our wedding, which will take place in less than a fortnight. We hope to see you there.

Love, your gracious daughter and the soon-to-be bride, Talia

My hands caught fire, immediately sending the wedding invitation up in flames.

"She goes too." Was all I said before I stormed out of the throne room, my heart filled with murderous rage.