The Brightest Star

Chapter 13 - Protect Her

(Loki's POV):
"Yes, mother I know that I teleported," I sighed as I felt my mother materialize in my room. "I apologize, I snuck to the library and lost track of time, I promise it shall not happen again."

"Loki, I am not upset that you teleported, but you must stop sneaking past your guards or else I will have to report it to your father and you will probably end up in a cell," she cautioned, causing me to turn towards her with a cold smile.

"You think that that would be worse than what I have now? I am essentially still a prisoner, with a few added privileges."

"You know what you did Loki and you should be thankful for what you do have. In a cell you would not have access to the library, fresh air, the opportunity to take a stroll whenever you would like, and you certainly would not have magic lessons."

I scoffed, "if you can call what we do magic lessons. She is insolent and arrogant and certainly has not taught me a thing in the past few weeks."

"Really? That was not the impression I received from her, do you think that you may be exaggerating slightly? Lady Kára is certainly very skilled and I highly doubt you know everything that she does."

"Oh, I know everything and more, mother. You should not be surprised by that fact knowing the resources that I have had growing up and how much time I would dedicate to mastering my abilities."

She sighed, "stubborn as ever, Loki. I am truly disappointed by your close-mindedness, I believe she is the last chance your father is willing to extend to you and you do not even have the decency to try to appreciate her work. He will be expecting some sort of result by the end of next week, please do not mess this up."

"Odin is not my father," I spat, my hatred for him and his lies bubbling up inside of me.

"Yes, you have made that painfully obvious. But need I remind you that we raised you, we cared for you-"

"You lied to me!" I interrupted, tears stinging in my eyes.

"Your father did not want you to feel that you were different, do you blame him for withholding the truth? He was trying to protect you-"

"Well he certainly did a terrible job at that," I growled. "Now, if you would please excuse me, I must attend my idiotic lesson."

"Loki," she stopped me, genuine concern on her face. "Please, keep an open mind, she is truly an incredible woman."

I rolled my eyes as I left her behind, allowing the guards to flank me as I exited my room. Kára was an incredible woman, and that was my problem. I could not allow myself to fall for someone like her, I could not allow myself to fall for anyone. I was a dead man, sooner or later Thanos would catch up to me and when that day came I did not want anyone I cared about to get in the way.

"Good morning, Loki," Kára smiled at me as I entered the room, surprising me with the amount of energy that she had after the late night we spent. "I was thinking that we should spend a bit more time on your mental shields just to make sure that yesterday was not simply luck or my own exhaustion."

"I am sick of having to prove myself to you," I spat, watching as she flinched at the harshness of my voice. "I am the master of magic, not you. If anything you should be the one proving yourself to me."

"Loki, I do not understand-"

"Listen, I know that my mother thinks of you as a talented sorceress with skills that can surpass mine, but she is incorrect. You are nothing more than a commoner with a few tricks up your sleeve. Now, I can either test you, thus proving you as unworthy, or I am leaving."

Her brows furrowed in confusion, "have I not shown you enough? Loki, I thought we were past this insanity! I am not going to let you test me until you find something that I am unfamiliar with and then use that as an excuse to send me packing! We were making progress Loki, not just with your skills but with my own, does that mean nothing to you?"

"Of course," I replied, acting unaffected by her words. "I know everything that I need to, these lessons are merely a waste of time."

"Sit down, Loki," she ordered, shocking me with her ferocity. "This is what we have been working on and I do not know where your change of heart came from, but we should continue with what we have been doing."

"I do not think so," I turned from her and began to leave the room.

Deja vu washed over me as she caused the doorknob to melt into a useless mass, "are we really going to do this again?"

I turned to her, a smile spreading across my face. I did not give her the satisfaction of a response, merely breaking through the protection spell, which I could do easily with all of my practice with the very same spell. After breaking through, I reformed the door knob and left the room. The guards stationed outside looked at me in confusion, but followed as I retired to my chambers for the day.

Part of me felt wrong treating Kára with such incivility, but I knew that I had to shut her out if I wanted to prevent myself from falling for her more than I already was. I only had to put up with her for the next week and then she would return to whatever life she lived before arriving at the palace and I would never see her again. If I could control whatever these feelings were until that day, she would be safe from the chaos that seemed to follow me everywhere.

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(A/N): We love casually dropping Dark World lines here and there. I'm having a bit of a writer's block and I'm not a fan but hopefully it will pass soon and I can prepare some more chapters for y'all!