A Game Of Love And Lies

Part 3

Althea

I saw the soldiers approaching with the prisoner. He was tall and slender with black long hair and held him self with grace, back straighten up and chin lifted.

As he was stepping closer I noticed more details such as he had rather stunning green eyes, silky skin and an unexpected small smile on his face.

I might have stared for too long since he studied me back paying more attention to me than the royals.

They tried to make him kneel before the king but he resisted. They were about to use force on him and kick his legs but he spoke before they did.

"This is not a polite way to treat guests."

The king replied while leaning a bit forward clearly amused by the stranger's words. "Who are you that we have to treat as a guest?"

The small unnoticeable smile turned to a distinct mischievous smirk. I then realized who decided to visit us.

He gave me a side glance and that smirk became a smile. He must have noticed my uneasiness and that I realized who he was. Even the king seemed to lose his calmness with that smile.

"Loki, Odin's son."

The king jumped up from his throne startled. Loki was clearly enjoying his reactions. The commander left my side without any orders and set Loki free from his chains.

"I apologize my prince but we were informed that you died by your brother when he last visited."

"That was just a misunderstanding. I was brought here by accident with my teleporting device which by the way got stolen from one of your guards."

"Stolen? That is horrific I am so sorry my prince. I will make sure the device is going to be found and the thief punished. How does this device look like?

The king would obviously not give him back the tesseract. He knew that if Loki described it as the cube everyone would realize that he teleported with an infinity stone and probably the person that stole it would sell it to the highest bidder. People should not find out the value of it and Loki was aware of this.

He narrowed his eyes at him most likely acknowledging who the new possessor of the stone was.
"It is a small object that glows."

He slowly sat back on the throne now more relaxed and sure about his moves. The guest lost this round but we knew it wouldn't be the end of it.
"I guess we will try to find it."

The king was satisfied with his answer. He knew that he would never say that it was an infinity stone.

"Althea can you please show our very important guest his room?"

I just simply nodded and could sense now two green eyes piercing me. I approached him and bowed at him while maintaining the eye contact. With this move I revealed that me bowing was just out of politeness and I still felt more superior than him. We simply started walking together towards the guest rooms floor.

There wasn't a lot of movement at this side of the castle since we never had a lot of visitors to fill the floor. In this silence he moved with a shadowy ease that was almost macabre. You could only hear my heels that made a rhythmic click every time I made a step on the marble floor. His footsteps on the other hand were soft and unheard as if he was used to sneaking around and did not want to make his presence known. We were both quiet but he spoke when he realized no one was around.

"You were the first one that realized who I am, may I ask how did you know?" His calm, gravelly voice surprised me. Both him and his brother had unique but very different voices.

I turned and glanced at him for a second while keep heading to his room not sure if I should answer that question. He glanced at me back.

"Your smile."

"My smile?" He said instantly amazed. He was probably expecting something that fit the description of a prince.

"My answer may sound silly but I read once a book about Norse mythology and they portrayed you with that smile."

"And you liked that smile so much that you still remember it?"

"No...it actually scared me that's why I remember it."

I expected him to get angry with that answer but he ended up favoring it more than if I had said that I liked it.
His response was gifting me with his almost one-sided grin.

I shifted my gaze in an attempt to avoid the mischievous curl of his lips. "Well I am not afraid of it now."

He moderately chuckled. We reached one of our best guest rooms and I opened the door for him.

"We will place two guards for your protection and a servant outside your door in case you may need anything."

Without replying he stepped into the room and while still facing away he waited for me to close the door behind him, so I did. What a strange man. I knew I had to discuss this encounter with the king.

I couldn't though just leave the room unattended. I was not ignorant enough to leave the God of mischief alone without guards at his door. I waited for one of the servants to pass by and to ask him to call two guards to protect the door and to find another servant as well for the prince.

I leaned on the opposite wall waiting and thinking. Him and Thor were complete different not only in the matter of appearance but character as well. If I did not know I would have never even thought that they were raised by the same parents. At the corner of my eye I noticed the princess walking this way while reading a book.

She kind of jumped when she saw me. I waited for her to get close enough so I could speak with her without raising my voice. Her cheeks were a light shade of pink and her expression screamed guilty.
I started giggling but I tried to hide it so she wouldn't get embarrassed.

"So Dalia how did you end up on this side of the castle?"

"I wanted to read my book and I thought our gardens would be a perfect place to do so."

"Really? You usually prefer your own gardens at the other side of the palace that are five times as big and don't have a clear view of the guest bedrooms balconies."

She lowered her eyes in defeat and the shade of pink turned to a vibrant red color. I could understand her. She would turn 18 in a few days and she never had a crush on anyone except Thor. No male guests or guards looked anything like that. I guess she has a hard time choosing between the brothers. I saw the guards approaching so I could finally leave.

I crossed our arms and started heading towards the garden. I always enjoyed teasing her. Dalia for me was like the sister I never had.

"I know you must be very stressed with the upcoming ceremony and your birthday." I wanted to shift the subject from the Prince and make her feel comfortable again.

"I am indeed, both my parents want me to choose either the first lieutenant or head commander and I do not know how to feel about it." She said bitterly. She was undoubtedly in a very difficult and awkward position.

"Well everyone is a little reluctant before their wedding." I tried to sound optimistic and act like arrange marriages were an easy subject to deal with but deep down I pitied her.

"Have you ever been in that position?" I had never desired to get married but of course I would not tell her that.

"No but maybe someday."

We got interrupted. "Miss Althea the king is asking for you."I turned and looked at Dalia one more time.

"Have fun, see you later." Maybe that would be her last time having an innocent crush on someone. Her last time being a teenager so I was not going to judge her for liking the Prince.

We smiled at each other and I followed the soldier. We had to come up with a plan on how to make Loki leave without the tesseract but how do you deceive the god of mischief?