The Brightest Star

Chapter 5 - The First Lesson

(Loki's POV):
I allowed the guards to escort me to the room that Frigga repurposed for each person she sent into the palace in an attempt to find me someone to talk to. After the first few, I had stopped being annoyed with her efforts, but instead made it more into a game for me to play. I was excited to see how quickly I could scare away whomever she had found for me today.

I knew that the woman I would be meeting today was named Kára and she was meant to be my teacher in magic, an idea that I scoffed at. How dare mother try to imply that I needed a tutor when I was considered a master of magic throughout the realms? I knew that it was merely a coverup to try to find me someone that I could grow close to, but it was still quite insulting.

The guards opened the door for me and I entered after them, my eyes finding the woman that my mother had so much faith in. She was standing by the side of a table, dressed in a gown of gold and green, making me internally roll my eyes. Of course she would be dressed in colors that I would often adorn myself in. Her blonde hair was pinned back, with a few strands framing her face. She looked a bit malnourished, yet still looked strong enough to serve in the Einherjar. Her eyes were a dazzling green and her skin slightly tanned from spending days out in the sun. I could not lie to myself and pretend that she was not attractive in the slightest, but used to physically attractive women without the accompany of skill, I would need for her to prove her worth to me.

(Kára's POV):
Overcoming my initial surprise at seeing Loki in person, I nodded to the guards to dismiss them, knowing that they would be stationed outside of the door in case I should have need of them. Loki stepped further into the room, his movements unbelievably smooth and elegant and his eyes watching me as though I were his prey.

"It is wonderful to finally meet you Loki, I am-" I began to introduce myself for him, realizing that he was not about to start the conversation.

"Prince Loki to you, you mewling quim," Loki spat at me, his voice, although full of disgust, incredibly silky.

"My apologies, but I did receive permission from you mother to dispel with any formalities, so I am afraid that I shall simply be referring to you by your name and not by your title," I replied just as fiery, knowing that I would have to hold my ground if I were to gain his respect.

He glared at me, "ah yes, my mother. And where did she dig you up, you obviously are not a member of the aristocracy or the army, for that matter. You must be here for the money then, you are here because you are desperate."

"Well of course I am here for the money, why else would I be willing to spend time with someone as overtly rude as you. Now, I have a job to complete, so I would suggest that you comply."

"You are meant to teach me magic, I have not the time to waste on your pathetic skills. I am a master of magic, I can be assured that there is nothing that you know that I do not. Now to spare you that humility, I will lead before you attempt to instruct me on the mystic arts," Loki spoke, a layer of frost coating his words. He turned in the direction of the door, clearly not impressed with me. In response, melted the brass door handle down so that he could not leave the room.

He raised his eyebrow as he turned back to me, "I will admit that that was not too shabby, however you are forgetting that I am also quite skilled myself and can easily reverse what you have just done."

I smirked as he tried to do what he promised, knowing that he would not be able to get past my protection spell surrounding the handle. He raised his hand to turn the ambiguous blob of brass back into a working handle, but all that happened was wisps of green appeared around the spell I had in place. He tried once again before turning back to me.

"Very well, you have caught my attention, but if I truly wanted to I could break that protection spell without a problem," Loki spoke as he began to walk back towards me. He clasped his hands together and asked, "what is it that you wished to teach me today."

"I recognize that I do not know the extent of your knowledge thus far so I wanted to assess you on what you are capable of-"

"Oh please, not a test," he whined, seeming quite bored with me already. I was beginning to understand why Frigga had to keep trying to find people to be his companion, this man was the definition of impossible. "It is not that I do not enjoy having to demonstrate simple tasks for those who are below me, it is just that, well, I don't enjoy it. I can do everything that you can imagine and more."

"Except break a protection spell and apparently be anything other than a dick," I muttered under my breath as I tried my hardest to restrain the urge I had to throw something at him.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked for clarification, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"Nothing, I was merely commenting on the fact that you gave me permission to go ahead with my lesson but then immediately requested that I stop. Now I do not know what tactics people have used in the past to get you to cooperate, but rest assured I will get you to participate in this lesson," I growled at him, taking a step towards him to give the illusion that I did not fear him.

His lips upturned into a smile, one that made me quite uncomfortable, and he closed the ever shortening distance between us, "you really think that you can force me to do whatever you ask of me? You are nothing more than a child with a few magic tricks, I have had to use my magic to survive. I would not be surprised if you can only successfully perform three spells."

I refused to step back from him as I replied, "you really think Frigga would let me in if I could only perform three spells? Besides, you know nothing of survival. You are royalty, you have had everything handed to you on a silver platter. Perhaps you should try being one of the common folk who has to rely on magic everyday simply to survive."

His eyes narrowed, "you really think I would be standing here right now if it weren't for magic? I have fought in numerous wars with it as my only weapon."

"Then perhaps you should have used your magic to create a weapon, you do know how to do that, correct? Every single day is a war for me and I do not have the luxury of soldiers who would die to protect me, yet here I am, still standing."

Loki finally backed down, "you want to test me on my abilities and I do not believe in your talents, perhaps we should simply start off with challenging each other on different spells so that we may both prove our skill."

I was taken aback by his suggestion, wondering if I had managed to get him to cooperate, if perhaps it was not complete resignation. Even so, based on how he had acted so far, I was not expecting him to be willing to meet me halfway.

"Very well, shall we begin?"