The Brightest Star

Chapter 12 - Fighting Feelings

(Loki's POV):
My eyes fluttered open and I became aware of a weight on top of me. Confused, I looked down and noticed Kára sleeping on top of my chest. Fragments of memory came back from the night before and I could recall us talking late into the night and into the morning about Shakespeare. We must have both fallen asleep and ended up in this rather intimate position.

I could not risk her waking up and finding us like this, but I could not move without waking her. I sighed, resigning myself to having her discover us in this position, and decided that it would be kindest to let her continue sleeping. Besides, she was not a terrible sight to look at while I waited for her to wake up.

After about ten minutes, she began to stir, confused as to where she was. She pressed down on my chest with her palm to prop herself up, causing me to gasp, "careful there, darling, you are going to crush my chest."

"Loki!" She cried out in shock, quickly jumping up to a sitting position. "I-I-I apologize, I did not realize-"

"Kára, do not fear, I was just as surprised as you were. We must have fallen asleep here last night, but now if you will excuse me, I must return to my room before the guards notice I was missing."

(Kára's POV):
I snuggled into my mattress, but realized the fabric was not what I had grown used to. Instead of silk, it felt almost leathery. Confused, I opened my eyes and realized that I was not in my room. I propped myself up on the surface I said been sleeping on so I could get a better view of my surroundings, which appeared to be the library.

"Careful there, darling, you are going to crush my chest," a voice below me spoke, the surface I was resting on rumbling beneath me.

"Loki!" I gasped, realizing that I was on top of Loki and jumped off of him. "I-I-I apologize, I did not realize-"

"Kára, do not fear, I was just as surprised as you were. We must have fallen asleep here last night, but now if you will excuse me, I must return to my room before the guards notice I was missing," he replied, seeming quite unaffected by the position we were in.

Without another word, he teleported away, causing me to lose my balance and fall across the seat that Loki and I had slept on the night before. I started recalling what had happened the night before, up until the moment that I had fallen asleep on Loki's shoulder. How I ended up completely on top of him was beyond me, but I had to admit waking up in that position was surprising but not in the least bit upsetting. The oddest thing was that I found myself thinking that his smell was intoxicating and the thought passed that I would not mind waking up to that every morning.

"What the hell are you thinking, Kára?" I reprimanded myself, standing up from the seat and smoothing out my dress. "He is a Prince, you cannot possibly find any aspect of him attractive, he is leagues above your social status and it could never happen. Not to mention he is insufferably arrogant and cold-hearted, I doubt he could ever return your feelings."

Checking the time, I knew that Eydis was going to be in my room soon if she was not there already to get me prepared for the day. With a sigh, I used magic to return Hamlet to the shelf before teleporting back to my room.

"Odin's beard!" I heard a voice cry out in shock as I materialized in my chambers.

I laughed at Eydis's reaction, "my apologies, Eydis, I was just in the library and did not think you would be here quite yet."

"The library? What were you doing there this early in the morning? And why is your hair such a mess? You did not sleep there, did you?" Eydis began questioning me, causing a pang in my heart when I remembered how similar she was to Erna.

"Yes, I am afraid I did. I could not sleep last night so I went to the library to read a little and I suppose that sleep must have caught up to me because I awoke there this morning," I explained, figuring it was wise to leave Loki out of my recollection.

She frowned, "that certainly could not have been good for your body. But come one, let us get you out of that old dress and I shall draw a bath for you. While you are bathing I would be happy to go fetch your breakfast if you would like."

"That sounds perfect, thank you Eydis," I smiled as she began undoing the complicated fastenings of my dress.

"Very well, I shall get right on that. Oh, and here is your correspondence from the Queen."

I accepted the letter as she went into the bathroom to draw me a bath. She then exited the room with my dirtied dress, leaving me in nothing except my undergarments. Before cleaning up, I quickly read the response from Frigga, who was overjoyed that we were working on mind magic as it supposedly demonstrated that Loki trusted me. There was not much new to work on, just her normal advice to try to show care towards him that way he would feel comfortable opening up and perhaps even scan his mind for anything that might help me get closer to him, if the opportunity presented itself.

After reading her responses thoroughly, I took out my chest where I collected all of our letter and set to bypassing the protection spell. However, I noticed something odd surrounding it. I had noticed it before, but it had only been traces so I thought I had been imagining it, but Loki's magic had definitely been here. Frowning, I wondered why he had been using his magic on the chest when I realized that he must have been reading my reports. He had said that he had noticed me reading Coriolanus, which I had done directly after finishing up one of my reviews of him, perhaps he had found it and discovered what I was doing.

I threw the letter into the chest with the rest of them and paused slightly after closing it, weighing my options. I could confront him about it during our lesson, but he would probably deny it and, to be fair, mere traces of his magic was not strong enough to prove he had done anything. But perhaps I could catch him in the act. I secured it with a harder protection spell to break, one that would inform me whenever someone was trying to get through it. Perhaps the next time he came poking around I would be able to catch him red handed and confront him then.

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(A/N): Do you think Kára will be successful in her confrontation? How will Loki take getting caught? I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!