The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 31

 Loki's purrs soothed you to sleep and distracted you from thinking about the bad feeling you had in your own chambers. The bad feeling hadn't extended to Sera so you'd left her sleep in peace on your sitting room's couch. It was safe with Loki, and comfortably curled in his cool arms.

You woke in the middle of the night to the roars of an angry dragon. You and Loki both jolted awake and jumped to your feet. "Stay here," Loki barked the order as if you'd actually listen. He ran first from the room, you were right on his heels, drawing your wand as you ran.

Light. Light. You needed light. The real light spell wouldn't come to your mind. So you did something you told your students to never to and cheated. "Lumos," you whispered and your wand's tip lit up. With magic, a lot of time intent worked just as well as the proper words, and... Harry Potter spells could be used in a lot of circumstances. But it was cheating and you told your students over and over again not to rely on those spells.

You ran through Loki's sitting room through your own, to the bedroom where the dragon was currently standing on top of a man, roaring at him. Your bedroom was in disarray. No, that wasn't right. It was just the bed, which looked like it had been stabbed multiple times. You saw why a moment later. There was an illusion of you sleeping in the bed. You saw the shimmer of green magic around it and knew Loki had left it as a trap in case your bad feeling was for a reason.

"Sera, I'm fine, I'm here," you told the dragon urgently. She looked over at you and relaxed, though she kept her captive pinned under her. The man was struggling and cursing, but there was nothing he could do against the dragon standing on him.

Loki pulled you to him and held you tightly against his side. "The guards should have come to investigate by now," he told you softly. He looks at the dragon. "Sera, can you keep him here, alive?" he asks the dragon. She bobs her head and flashes her teeth at the man under her.

"I will keep the man. And not eat him. Yet," she replied more maliciously than you'd liked, but she did just catch an assassin. It was a normal reaction.

"Why would he want to stab me?" you asked Loki, not understanding why someone would want to kill you. You were just a little witch from Midgard.

"We'll find out," he growled. Keeping your hand in his, he summoned a dagger in his other hand and led you out into the hall. You saw guards slumped on the floor in the places you recognized as their posts. Loki cursed and led you further into the hall. He walked across the hall and down a few doors and burst inside. "Thor, get up!" he boomed. There was scrambling in Thor's bedroom. He came into his sitting room a moment later.

"What's going on?" Thor demanded when he saw the pair of you.

"I don't know," Loki admitted. "Someone broke into Y/N's suite, stabbed the illusion I left in her bed multiple times it looks like, and knocked out the guards on this floor. The dragon has him,"

Thor looked concerned. "Why would anyone wish to harm your lady?" he asked.

"We're all going to go find out," Loki snarled. He looked at you and kissed you. "Thank the norns for your bad feeling. He may have killed you had you slept in your own room," he pulled you tighter to him and kissed the top of your head.

Thor rushes to one of the guards to rouse him and soon an alarm is blaring through the palace. "I would tell you to go somewhere safe, but that would be a waste of breath, plus I know you're safe with me," Loki told you softly.

"Plus I am a capable warrior and a witch and can protect myself?" you reminded him.

"That too," he admitted. "Though do be careful," he bid you and kissed the top of your head. "Shall we go see what the creature your lovely dragon is holding down wanted?" he asked too pleasantly. His questioning was going to be brutal.

"Loki..." you warned. He couldn't just torture people.

"He tried to hurt what is mine," Loki snarled and kissed the top of your head again, reassuring himself that you were here and safe. "But he will live so the Allfather may question him as well," he reassured you in a manner that wasn't quite reassuring. "And the Allfather will not be pleased that a citizen of Asgard, especially a noble living under his roof, under his protection was attacked in the palace," he continued at your confused expression on why he would care. "There are many nobles whose daughters reside at the palace, for education, court polish, some serve as ladies in waiting, they're here under the protection of the throne. If the insult of one of the court ladies being attacked is allowed to go unanswered, it would look poorly on the Allfather and his ability to keep the others safe. He won't allow that," Loki explained as he walked with you back to his suite. He still led. Even though he knew you were perfectly capable of defending yourself, he was still taking point.

Sera was still standing on her captive while they squirmed under her, trying to get out from under her weight. Unfortunately, he was currently trapped under a dragon and squirming wasn't enough to help him. "Sera, let him up a little. We need to talk to him," you bid the dragon, knowing she wouldn't listen to anyone else, even Loki.

"He will run," Sera snarled.

"He won't run. If he runs, you can eat him," you told her. The male paled. "He's not dumb enough to get eaten," you explained quite logically.

Sera nodded. "Very well," she looked down at her charge. "If you run. I will eat you," she informed him firmly before she let him up. He looked like he wanted to bolt, and you didn't really blame him, but one look at Sera's sharp teeth and he held up his hands in surrender. Sera would catch him and eat him.

"Why did you sneak in to my lady's chambers?" Loki demanded, dagger drawn. The man dropped to one knee, hand over his heart in a warrior's bow.

"My Prince, this Midgardian," the word he used was not a very polite one. "Is not worthy of your attentions. There are many proper Asgardian ladies who would be a much better match for a member of the royal family!" the man bid Loki urgently.

"So you try to kill my lady out a misguided attempt to what, put your daughter in my path?" Loki demands, guessing the man's true motives.

"My darling Delia would indeed be a better match than this..." he paused when Sera snarled at him.

"My lady is a citizen of Asgard, and a hertuginne. Neither of those things matter. She is my love and the woman I have chosen of all of the ladies in all nine realms. Your threat against her was foolish," Loki informed him icily. "Let the Einherjar take you for further questioning, or I shall the let the dragon eat you," he snarled at the man. He would have killed the man himself had he not wanted him questioned further by Odin, had he not wanted the throne protected, and this man very publicly punished to show all of the others that no one would allow such a thing. The man raised his hands in surrender and let the guards take him away, glaring at you as he went. Loki wrapped his arm around your shoulders while Sera licked her lips and snarled at the man. "Don't fret, Sera. The guard and king will take care of that man," Loki bid the dragon. "And it will last much longer than you eating him,"

She nods and shifts back to her usual cat dragon form to snuggle in your arms and prove to herself that you were ok. You had to stay up a lot later answering questions from Odin and Frigga and proving to everyone that you were ok. You hadn't even been in the bed when the attacker came. It was nearly dawn before you could fall back into bed for a couple more hours of sleep before you had to leave for home.