Right to the Night

Chapter Forty-Six

That night, Loki decided it was best to sleep on the chair beside the bed to give Elisabete her space. In the middle of the night, she woke up and groaned as she sat up in the bed. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was having troubles sleeping without him by her side. She looked over at his chair and sighed seeing him curled into a ball. She pushed back the covers and walked over to him, lightly shaking him awake. He woke with a start and Elisabete chuckled as he looked up at her. He furrowed his brow and quickly cast aside the small blanket around him,

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Come to bed." She replied.

"What?" His eyes widened.

"Please, I can't sleep." She told him.

Loki stood from the chair and the two walked back over to the bed. He lied down on the mattress on his side facing her and smiled weakly as she did the same. The two just gazed at one another, not saying a word. She found herself smiling at him. It had been some time since she had really looked at his face. He looked much older than before and the scars of his burns were slowly fading away. He looked tired and she felt sorry for him. Despite wanting to sleep to be rested for the next day, he put on a smile and kept his eyes open. He reached his hand out to her slowly, waiting to see her reaction. When she did not pull away or even acknowledge that his hand was moving towards her, he took the liberty of placing his hand on her cheek and caressing it softly.

"I want to keep loving you, Loki." She confessed.

"And I'm going to ensure it stays that way." He told her.

"How are you so certain of that?" She inquired.

"I just know it in my heart," Loki replied. "I swear to you that you will still love me when you can learn to trust me once more. And I swear to you that I will go out into town and look for a job. You have worked long and hard your entire life that you deserve to rest."

"Loki, no one is going to hire you." Elisabete sighed.

"I'll knock on every door if I have to until someone offers me one." He spoke.

"And what if no one opens the door here?" She inquired.

"Then I'll move on to the next town and so forth until I have gotten a job. You have worked almost your entire life and I want to give back to you for all the long hours I made you work as my maid." Loki explained.

Elisabete smiled and nodded her head as she unconsciously moved her body closer to Loki. He pulled his hand away and sighed as he moved to get comfortable on the bed, taking the opportunity to move closer to her. He then slowly moved his hand towards her belly and when she did not scold him, he laid his hand on it and caressed it through the sheer fabric of her nightgown. There was no real bump but he beamed feeling his child's presence in her womb as it was being protected by Búri.

"And I'm still so sorry that I cost you your job. And I never meant to hurt him but he hit you and I just-"

"No, you did the right thing." She interjected.

"What?" He scoffed.

"I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. Yes, it cost me my job, but I had no right to yell at you and blame it all on you. I should have left the minute they started taunting me. But, you did the right thing tonight." She explained.

Loki smiled brightly and ran his finger over the dried up blood on her lip. He then placed a kiss to the tip of his index finger and then placed it on her lip, making her giggle.

"I hope you don't feel bad about me bringing you into the bed just because I couldn't sleep." She stated.

"I don't. Don't you remember all the times I told you I couldn't sleep without you by my side. Please, it's no problem. Besides, I enjoy sleeping next to you." Loki told her staring at her lip as his finger softly caressed her bottom lip.