Loki X Reader || Girl With The Gold Earring

6 | Pigment

Frode and Arne let Y/N stay perched on the little stool around the back of their stall for as long as she needed, which turned out to be seventeen minutes.

Arne had been gentle and competent, piercing one ear and then the other, keeping to his word of making each thrust forwards with the needle a surprise. It hadn't hurt a huge amount, he'd told the truth about that, it was the thought of what he was doing that made Y/N feel as though her blood had been replaced with melted snow.

Seeing her reflection in the spotted hand-held mirror he'd left on the table for her was a good distraction. When she'd felt strong enough to support her own weight, she'd tottered over like a baby giraffe to the desk and took a look at herself.

The earrings looked larger than they'd felt in her hands, now that they were dangling from her lobes, the sunlight lightning them up from the inside as if there were tiny tea lights wedged within the glass. Y/N's stomach had turned over in a rather undignified summersault at this---she hadn't wanted to look like she was flaunting anything---but it soon settled as he grew used to the change. With her somewhat shabby work clothes she looked far from a Lady; but not too far. The calluses and cracks in her hands, the stains in her uniform, the drab colours of its fabric were less noticeable; the earrings seemed to catch your attention and drag it up to Y/N's face.

When Y/N felt solid enough to resume her day, she made her way to the front of the stall where a little pile of packages was waiting for her. Frode had finished shuffling about his multitudinous stock for the prince's pigments and returned to serving whoever was next in line.

Most of the pigments seemed to come in wooden boxes but a few also came in glass vials as slender as Y/N's pinkie finger, all containing so much colour they appeared to have no colour at all, just a thick, inky blackness. Frode being busy, Arne helped Y/N transfer the boxes and jars to a cotton bag she always kept stuffed in her pocket for just such an occasion.

Arnie's almond-shaped eyes shamelessly swept over Y/N's face as he presented her with the handles of her now-full tote. It made her cheeks heat. He hadn't gazed at her improperly, and there was no sign of malice or ill-intent; he's large and lanky, with long limbs and strong hands, but essentially harmless. He was just a man, shyly looking at a woman and finding the curve of her jawline or the sweep of her hair aesthetically pleasing.

It came as no surprise to Y/N when he complimented her one last time on her newly pierced ears, although this time he used the word 'beautiful'. She hoped he would not ask her to accompany him on an evening walk, or to join him for a meal, because although he was rather attractive, undoubtedly clever, and would be a good suitor for Y/N, she did not find herself interested. Maybe she would have been, once upon a time, but now her heart felt as though it was elsewhere, despite her attempts to wrangle it back in again.

-- ❈ --

Y/N's ears were still throbbing as she turned the key in the thick door separating Loki's chambers from the main part of the palace a little later that day. The pain had dulled from a sharp twinge to a low, warm ache, much more manageable and, if anything, a little annoying rather than sore. She assumed she would soon forget it as she goes about her usual tasks.

Before she began working, though, she tentatively approached the study, the bag of boxes and vials from the apothecary clutched in one hand. The prince had given her specific instructions to leave them in this room, and yet many months of avoiding it made feeling discomfort as she crossed the threshold a hard habit to break.