Bibbidi Bobbidi Asgard: A Cinderella AU (Loki x F!Reader)

Chapter 9: Snakes In The Grass

Warnings: mild injury, bruises, blood, mild threat

  "Y/N, tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened," you said, grabbing the scarf from Loki's hand and wrapping it back around your neck to cover up the wounds. Whilst you knew you should have done, you'd avoided going to see the healers after your disagreement with Cinderella last night. So, fearing that you'd have to explain the origin of the wounds, you'd tried to clean them yourself and were now left with a full set of dark bruises - quite obviously in the shape of handprint - across your skin. And you were still no nearer to coming up with an excuse to explain their origins.

"Let me," Loki sighed, bashing your shaking hands aside and carefully undoing then retying the scarf into a beautifully complex knot for you himself. "How does that feel? It's not too tight?"

"It's fine. Thank you, Loki."

"Come here," the prince whispered, sensing that you were on the verge of tears. For once, you could no longer hold your emotions back - you didn't want to, either - and Loki was suddenly wrapping his arms around your shoulders, capturing you in a tight embrace. Rubbing you gently on the back, he simply held you close, protecting you from whatever was hurting you in the only way he knew how. "Oh, my love. It's going to be alright."

When you were no longer trembling, Loki stepped back and placed a kiss on the back of both of your hands. Not letting go even when your arms dropped to your sides, he gently stroked circles on the inside of your wrists with his thumbs, the slow, gentle movement helping to keep you calm.

"I'm fine," you whispered, although whether you were trying to convince yourself or Loki you weren't entirely sure. "It's all fine."

"You don't need to lie to me, Y/N. If you aren't okay, you'd don't need to pretend that you are. Please, darling, tell me who did this to you."

You shook your head, biting down on your bottom lip so hard that you drew blood. The sharp metallic taste filled your mouth, making you feel more than a little sick. All you could think of was Cinderella's threats about hurting someone you loved. "I can't tell you that. I'm sorry. I just can't. I... Loki, I must go and tend to Cinderella."

When you didn't move, not even trying to pull your wrists free or make the smallest motion to show an intent of leaving, Loki asked, "Did she do this to you?"

"It's fine. I'll see you later, Loki."

"Y/N..."

As if nothing were wrong at all, you held you head high and walked off around the corridor, pretending that everything really was fine. Needing a little more time to convince yourself of that, you took a detour on your way to Cinderella's room towards a dead end corridor you knew was always empty. You sat down with your back against the wall, legs crossed, and closed your eyes.

It wasn't long until your peace was interrupted but thankfully it was by a welcome face rather than someone sent by Cinderella to find where you'd run off to.

"What has you so down, my friend?" Thor asked, leaning down and thumping you on the shoulder like always. You winced as he accidentally hit the spot that Cinderella had bruised, amazed that someone as slight as her had such an intensely strong grip. Interpreting your silence as an answer in itself, Thor dropped to the ground like a tonne of bricks and made himself comfortable at your side on the floor. "Lady Cinderella, I presume?"

"I couldn't say."

"I see. Well," Thor said, rubbing his chin in a way that you supposed was meant to make him appear thoughtful and distracted. Keeping his tone as light as possible in case anyone should unexpectedly wander past, he said, "I heard that there is a party of dignitaries from the merchant sector visiting this week. If you could possibly bear to tear yourself away from the good lady Cinderella for a few days, I am sure that an extra pair of hands would not go amiss in that wing of the palace. I'm sure I could even arrange for additional pay to cover the inconvenience of such short notice."