The Hunger Within

Chapter Two: The Chasm

     With her back turned to him, she pondered what her skeptical words had stirred deep within the prince.  Was he teeming with anger?  Mockery?  Or perhaps he was rue for even bothering with her.   The foreboding seed only grew within her mid, until it almost consumed her entirety.  Her heartstrings tugged at her faltering momentary self-confidence, beckoning for her petite frame to turn and steal a peek.

     The hem of Nmyr's dress faintly ruffled with an eerie zephyr.  The frigid wind danced about her ankles and fumbled with the ends of the costly gown, summoning goose bumps to the surface of her vulnerable skin.  She felt as if she was weightlessly floating, yet she knew her feet were still firmly grounded.

     Unable to stand the suspense any longer, she turned abruptly, only to meet cold leering eyes.  The very emerald jewels she had come to care for over the past months had become complete strangers within a matter of mere minutes.  As sharp as daggers and fiercer than any shade of green she had past witnessed- any sense of playfulness had been since striped of them.

     These were the eyes of a man who didn't take kindly to being disobeyed.

     The all-consuming aura was so bewitching her legs almost gave way; every muscle in her body quaked for her to kneel, and... she almost did.   Hands clutching the railing tightly, Nmyr desperately shifted her weight against it supporting whatever little strength she had left.

     "Why do you think I summoned you, if not for those very reasons?  I chose to spend my time studying the charts alongside you not because you are a noble woman, or a common open ledger.  But because your humility and intellect is refreshing."  The prince's hair steadily levitated in a lethargic manor.  Spreading his arms wide, he threw his head back vociferating to the heavens.  "I can have the world yet what good would that do me!? Every day I have women throwing themselves at me, servants attending to me; but no one really is there."  An overbearing silence riveted the balcony, rendering Nmyr speechless.  The prince gradually turned his head to face her; body still turned towards the slumbering Asgard, he let his shoulders drop, returning his hands to their expectant sides.

     The woman stood motionless, mulling over what the prince had exclaimed.  Here was someone who had been promised overflowing riches since birth.   Had he been searching for something more than a nugatory materialistic existence?  Had the god, quite possibly, never experienced "love?"

     At the very thought, her chest mirrored an icy feeling in which she suspected the man was well acquainted with, never truly breaking free from its hold.   Desolation was an abyss she knew all too well...  She surmised Loki was searching for the warmth within her soul, not mere lust or shallow wishes.

     The prince turned his body to fully face Nmyr, yet looked off into the distance near her slender figure.  Seemingly more to himself than her, he lowered his voice rendering barely audible, and whispered, "No one but you."   It was in that instant Nmyr felt her resolve crumbling.  That wasn't anger reflected off of his soul, that was a pure chasm of anguish.

     An invisible longing tugged at her heart strings and pulled her towards the grieving prince.  It panged like a fist clenching at the cavity as she took a step, then another.  Her feet moved of their own accord, synced to the rhythmic drumming in her chest.  Until she stood within a grasps reach of the very cause of her sleepless nights.  Loki stared at Nmyr complexly, waiting for her to make a move.  Slightly trembling, she outstretched her hand and gingerly grasped a handful of his robe.  Then, resolve hardening, she slid her arms around the man and embraced him tenderly.  The affectionate action ignited a warmth throughout her entire body, kindling like a nurtured flame.  She desperately wished the warmth would reach him.

     "I'll do anything to appease your pain; whatever you request of me... For to see you suffer is worse than a thousand deaths."