A Game Of Love And Lies

Part 21

Althea

I was so shocked by what I just saw that I didn't realize that my lips had gotten dry and that I was slightly shaking. Cador injected into my arm the last serum before I could react. I did not flinch or got scared this time. As much as it pained me to see how I got kidnapped and tortured I still wanted to know.

"Please, don't end it so fast. I need to see more."

The shot was already done.

"Don't worry the serum is still in your system. It will keep bringing up memories as the days pass."

He clapped his hands loudly wanting to bring everything to an end. "Thank you for stopping by, even though I did not invite you, and I did not want visitors."

He seemed way more confident than before. He did not even look scared of Loki. He escorted us out and the moment he did, he slammed the door behind us.

Loki kept looking at the door as if something was wrong. Next to it, there was a window with the curtains closed but I could still see Cador's figure behind it. He probably wanted to make sure that we would leave.

"That was odd..." Loki mumbled under his breath.

We brushed it off. We were standing in a sketchy alley. Not a single soul in sight. Only tall weirdly architectured buildings with blue and purple undertones. The street was littered with broken glass and cigars.

"Where are we?"

"It is called Knowhere."

At the end of the road, we spotted people walking by so we started slowly and silently heading that way. We both acknowledged that we had to go separate ways from now on.

"No lady should ever be alone in Knowhere so I will give you the chance to choose a place to go and I'll transfer you there with the Tesseract."

He refused to lay his eyes on me. He said that like I was a stranger he just met and he offered just to be polite.

"I don't know where I want to go. I definitely do not want to end up back in Asterin... I thought Earth would feel like home but it didn't. It just brought me bad memories."

I thought he would get bored and annoyed with my indecisiveness but he came across as being very interested in my final decision.

"Where are you, going to go after?"

"My plans of getting revenge on Thanos have not changed."

"Do you need a plus one?" I was usually never that courageous but I knew that if he said no I would just leave and never see him again. The past few days had been the most exciting ones I had in years. Even as an immortal I could not stand one more day in a castle doing absolutely nothing. He stopped pacing and stared at me for a moment.

"Are you suggesting to come with me?"

"If you don't want to, it is fine, I understand."

"Why would you want to come with me and fight a Titan?"

Well, I did not have an answer to that. A very idiotic thing to do really. Voluntarily going to fight a Titan. He stood there waiting for a reply to a very valid question.

I gathered all the bravery left in me and approached him. Within a few seconds, I got on my toes, cupped his face, and kissed him. A very brief kiss was all that I needed to know if he possessed the same feelings.

He was certainly stunned and that was not something he expected. I got so ashamed, I started walking again, wanting to avoid his gaze. My legs felt weak and I just wanted the ground beneath me to swallow me whole.

He snatched my arm as fast as he could and pulled me closer. "Where do you think you're going?"

He pulled me back in, claiming my mouth again. He touched his cool lips on mine for the second time, very carefully, parting them slightly. He kissed me intensely until my knees gave in. Adrenaline rush. So much of it, I nearly forgot how to breathe.

I made him laugh when I clasped his shirt after the kiss was done.

"Do not worry I was not planning on running away this time... I will never leave you again if that's what you want."

"You must really like me to offer something like that." He could not contain himself from smiling. I enjoyed how I could always make him smile with just a sarcastic remark. He always looked so gentle when he did. I could see his misunderstood soul through that grin.

"The truth is that I have tried to get you off my mind countless times with no success. The thought of you kissing me kept me awake at night. Eventually, I just gave up. The feelings that I have acquired for you terrify me. I have been trying to destroy any sentiments of empathy that I possess. Feel no mercy, even for my own family, and then you came along and destroyed all my plans. I was not even thinking about falling for someone, especially for a Midgardian but then you made me smile and I just..."

Loki

She was smiling but I could sense something was wrong. Her skin was paler than ever. I was still holding her hands and every passing moment I was supporting her weight more and more. Her grip was growing weaker by the second. She noticed this around the same moment I did.

"Loki..."

Her eyes fully blackened and she collapsed immediately inside my arms. Terrified and confused I picked her up carefully and decided that my only solution was Cador but I did not have to go far.

He was standing a few meters away, perfectly collected and calm. "That took longer than I thought it would."

"What did you do to her?!"

"A bit of poisoning. Do not worry I do not think she will feel any pain."

He saw how ready I was to snap his neck so he spoke again before I could act. "If you kill me you will never save her. You know I am not an amateur, I would never poison her with something common that everyone knows the antidote."

"Why would you do something like that?"

"Thanos has given everyone clear orders to assassinate you. That was before you were seen with the Tesseract. So how about this...You give me the stone and I'll save her."

I touched her forehead and cast a spell that would slow the process down. I needed some time to think and I could not stand losing her.

Sorcery is mostly finding different ways to shift your energy. Energy can only be transferred and never destroyed, this is why it leaves signature prints behind. Sorcerers and witches can read and identify these prints. As I was casting my spell I felt something running through her system. An energy that was not recent but powerful enough to stay in her. A very familiar print. It couldn't be... My mother's?

Her lips had started to turn into an inky color as well. The clock was ticking and I could not waste any more time. Giving him the Tesseract was not an option but Althea was on the verge of dying... Desperate times called for desperate measures. I put a twisted grin on Cador's face when I made the cube appear in my hand. Without thinking it twice I transferred us to the only place I knew she stood a chance. A faint 'no' was the last thing we heard from Cador before disappearing into the Cosmos. I was aware of what was going to happen to me. Getting imprisoned or even executed but it was a risk I was willing to take. I had not missed home...