The Verdant Prince

Chapter 25: A Warrior's Tears

The cool air should have been refreshing on my fuming conscious, but it most definitely was not. If anything, the soft breeze and the faint smell of smoke hanging in the still air was sickening.

We had killed a whole entire village and burned the woman and children. No, they did. They broke the simplest of treaties simply because they felt like it. They believed they were gods among the poor. They did not realize that they were nothing but invaders here on Jotunheim. There were no gods or goddesses among them, only barbarians looking for trouble. And oh trouble did they find, trouble did they cause. I hoped they would have endless nightmares of the villagers that once fed us, housed us, and hid us, screaming in agony for the rest of their wretched lives.

The slightest tap on the rock surface behind me caused me to stiffen. Someone was here and asking for certain death. I would be happy to give it to them.

"I said if anyone followed, I would kill them," I hissed. A low, hollow chuckle followed my threat.

"Then do it, I am waiting Lady Y/N," the familiar silky voice of Prince Loki said. I did not hesitate as I spun around rapidly, hurling a single dagger into the man behind me.

I should have felt bad, I should have dropped to my knees weeping and begging for forgiveness as the dagger buried itself deep into Loki's stomach. But, I knew better than to. Loki frowned, unclasping his hands from behind him and examining the dagger lodged in his stomach.

"Fine throw," Loki mumbled. His figure shimmered as if it were mist before dispersing, letting my flawless dagger clammer to the ground loudly. Loki stepped out from his place behind a boulder, his hands clasped like before behind his back and his stomach whole. "Could've killed a man if you didn't know it was a hologram," Loki added.

"I told you I would, I swore on it and I don't break them," I said sharply. To my surprise, Loki winced and stopped nearly a foot away from me. His usual cocky, mischievous manner had been shed and replaced by remorse and pity. There were dark bags beneath his clever eyes, deep lines of stress and anger were nothing but past etches on his forehead.

"Y/N-" he began calmly, just like the others before him had spoken like.

"Did you know?" I jutted in. "Did you know the plan before we started riding?" Loki unclasped his hands and let them rest at his sides. His once beautiful verdant green eyes flicked up to mine for a second before closing.

"Yes," Loki whispered. I smiled grimly, my stomach doing cartwheels in disgust. "We all knew, but you. It was our orders that we did not tell you. We all knew that you would try to retaliate and we couldn't afford to jeopardize the mission more."

"Jeopardize the mission more?" I scoffed, throwing my arms up. "What is our mission!?" I shouted. Loki did not flinch, instead, he sucked in a quick breath and shook his head slowly.

"Our mission is to eliminate the threat of another attack on Asgard. To teach them a lesson," Loki said stiffly.

"Then why did they burn a whole bloody village?" I shouted, my voice hoarse. I was sure that all of Jotunheim could hear my angry screams and curses but I did not care. "They were not a threat! They weren't even relevant!" I took a bold step toward Loki, my fists balled tightly against my side. Loki remained silent, only straightening his back and looking down at me with pity. I never wanted his pity, his glorious, rare pity that so very few girls swooned over.

"And what of Thor?" I continued, shoving Loki backward. Loki staggered back before quickly regaining his footing. To my utter surprise, he stayed put, not raising an angry fist to me or glaring at me. Instead, he stood stiff and straightened like before. "Oh Mighty Thor, peacekeeper, eldest of Odin and heir to the throne. The man of every damsel's dreams!" I hissed. "I would have never expected him to stoop so low. He's a coward!" I raised my voice at the end, balling my fists and swinging them into Loki's torso. Loki gently dodged side to side, occasionally letting me graze him with my raw fists.