Lower Your Eyes (A Loki Romance Fanfic)

Chapter Seventeen: To Start the Day

Two vows had been made in the palace, and here I stood—breaking one of them.

Loki had promised to find a way to keep me safe, after learning what we'd learned, and I had promised my magic to escort Davos out of Asgard. Yet here I stood the following morning, wrought from a sleepless night, leaning against a column on the upper levels of the palace.

I couldn't face Davos this morning, I didn't have the heart to tell him that I couldn't leave. Not after what Loki had brought to me last night—I needed to know the truth, and I needed to know where it would lead. For my own sake, for my mother's memory, and for whatever good or ill it could lead to from here. I needed to know.

So incredibly selfish—I was the most abhorrent person in the world. And if I stood here long enough, Davos would realize that soon enough. I was his ticket out of the palace after all, he wasn't going anywhere without me.

Hands folded behind my back, the stone column had cooled with the passing of the night, and my fingers were cold as they pressed against it. A dewy sheen of tears coated my eyes as I stared out the tall window, barely blinking as seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours. Perhaps I could take Davos away and then return to Asgard by myself—if that were possible.

Loki would be expecting me soon.

As the sun rose higher into the sky, the hour of our departure passed with emphasis. Dragging my limbs apart from the stance they'd been in for so long, all my body was sore as I trudged back down to the lower levels of the palace. My eyes were dry by the time I reached Loki's floor, empty handed as far as breakfast went, but today I moved where my legs carried me.

Turning the corner, I paused, eyes widening at the figure standing in front of his door. Tall, beautiful, and a bit gaunter than I remembered her. One fist hovered at the wood of the door, but she was not knocking.

Astrid.

My brows rose slowly in surprise—I hadn't seen or heard from her in the longest time. And at the sound of my footsteps, her hand faltered from the door and she startled back, eyes fastening to me.

Stress lines creased her forehead. "I—I was just—" Her eyes fluttered to the ground at my feet. "I need an audience with your master."

"He's not my master," I said. "I can let him know you're here."

"He...he knows I'm here," Astrid's voice came out with a skittish whisper. "I can hear him on the other side, and...I'm sure he knows."

Glancing at the door, I knew she probably wasn't wrong. Still, my brows pinched with confusion as I stepped toward her. "Why are—"

"S-Stay away!" As I stepped forward, she jumped back, her hand covering her belly. "Don't come any closer!"

My eyes fell to her hand, demonstrably flat against her stomach.

Almost as if she were—protecting something.

"You..." I was the one stammering this time. "You're..." I pointed to her stomach. "You're not—"

She followed my line of sight down to her stomach, then jerked her hand away. "That's none of your concern."

I furrowed a brow, calculating the months that had passed and pairing that number with her arrival at the Prince's door—the last time Loki had been with her, to my knowledge, was before the two of us had officially met. Unless there were some dalliances that I was unaware of. Still, she tarried back as I strode straight toward the door, knocking twice with urgency.

Loki certainly took his sweet time answering. The door opened as he appeared behind it, eyes growing soft and then hard as looked from me to her—then down to her hand, which had found its way back to her stomach, and back to me. For a moment, we merely stared at one other on either side of the threshold, the same range of questions passing through both our thoughts.