❀ Beauty and the Beast ↠

❀18❀

For a moment in the night, I thought that a pig had wandered into the clearing but no, it was simply Thor who could not sleep with his mouth closed. After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours, I growled and stood, trying to get as far away from him as I could. Freya sat by the crackling fire that only just about drowned out Thor's deafening snoring. She was poking it with a small stick, shrouded in a blanket that Sif had brought. She looked awful. Her time as a war prisoner had not done her well. Her face was bruised and sleek red lines of scabs from dried blood lined her face and arms. I walked over and took the stick from her hand. Freya looked up at me but let her grip drop without protest. I tended to the fire before dropping to the ground with a grunt beside her. She watched me work but once I had done I turned back to her, noticing a sleek line of blood coming from one of her scabs. "You're bleeding," I told her, pulling out a cloth with a sigh and dabbing at her face as she winced. She laughed claiming that she wasn't used to being taken care of but I shrugged. "We all need someone to take care of us sometimes," I told her removing the cloth slowly. I looked into her eyes and studied her face. The glow from the fire lit her up perfectly. She looked so broken which was a large contrast to the way that I usually saw her as either a war hero or a powerful woman. The old-fashioned nature in me wanted to scoop her up and take her to a bed to let her rest but that wasn't exactly feasible in the middle of a forest. Eventually, Freya laughed and shook her head. She stood looked back to the fire and pulled a face at the flames.

"I haven't ever been like this before," She laughed. Almost as if this moment of perceived weakness was something against her. "The Goddess of war, reduced to nothing," She laughed as she tossed another stick onto the pile. I was mortified, I took her cheek in my hand and turned her to face me.

"You are not nothing, Freya," I told her. She looked into my eyes though she did not believe me. "You're the Goddess of war," I told her firmly. She hadn't seemed to notice that I hadn't let go of her face yet though she didn't seem to mind the contact. Strangely, neither did I. Physical contact with another normally would stress me and the thought of another person so close made me claustrophobic but not her. She was still looking at me but she wasn't smiling though she wasn't frowning either. It was more of a hopeful expression waiting for what I would say or do next. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do until she made the choice for me. She moved her currently frail and dried blood covered hand over my own. A breath caught in my throat for a moment as I pursed my lips a little, inhaling from the nervous feeling that travelled across my body. Once I looked back into her hopeful eyes, I brought her face closer to my own and leaned in slightly. When I kissed her, the world fell away. It was slow and soft, I was afraid that anything more would have broken her. My hand rested below her ear and my thumb caressed her cheek as our breath's mingled. Her hand moved slowly from my other free hand to loosely hold my forearm. After a moment of perfect silence beside the fire, we let each other go. A wide smile spread across my face as I smiled at her until I realised that I should probably let go of her face before she gets uncomfortable. We turned back to look at the fire but I was more focused on a particularly well-made buckle on my trousers which I had never studied before.

"Why are you so nervous?" She asked with a slight laugh, wrapping herself even tighter into the blanket. I shrugged but didn't move my gaze from my attire.

"No one's ever been so nice to me," I told her flatly. She chuckled a little and asked if I had been nice to anyone else. "Now that is besides the point," I told her, looking up to see her amused face. Upon seeing her smile I laughed a little as well before sighing and looking into the fire. "No one's ever seen me as anything other than a beast," I scolded into the flames, throwing another twig in. I saw Freya shift and place a hand on my leg causing me to look back at her.

"You want to know what I see?" She smiled. " I see a beautiful, intelligent man who can't seem to see his own worth," And with that, she stood panting a light kiss on top of my head and heading back towards the tents. However, upon reaching the clearing she turned with an annoyed grimace. I turned to look at her. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate your brother?" She asked. I smiled and looked down as she turned and continued into the small camp, ducking into her own tent. Her words resonated within me. Did she really have that much respect for me? A monster?