Providence Of Divinity || Loki X Reader

Chapter 8

You did not scream. 

Loki moved with unnatural silence as he wrapped his arm around you and pulled you into his side, pressing your forms together as tightly as possible. You submitted to the treatment almost gratefully, thankful that he seemed to know what he was doing and happy to let him temporarily take your own wheel away from you. Your heart thundered in your chest as you felt him begin moving to the staircase at the other end of the room

 Toward the frost giants. There were at least ten of them.

He moved you slowly, choosing each step with decisiveness. He seemed to be more concerned about staying utterly silent than he was about about sudden movement, so you did your best to emulate him. Your feet barely touched the ground with the way he was holding you against him so strongly, making it simple for your steps to be quiet. You wanted to close your eyes as you walked passed two of the guards, who were somehow entirely oblivious to your presence.

Over your own fear, you focused, and disconcertingly found Loki to be experiencing a swarm of anxiety. He kept moving, passing more guards. How did they not notice you? The stairs were so close. Loki's grip on you became so tight as to be painful. 

You sealed your lips, forgetting to breathe as Loki stepped on the first stair, so slow. Then another, and another, and another until you reached the landing where the stairs split; one staircase leading to the left, one to the right. Loki maneuvered you to the right, where the stairwell became enclosed and narrow. Very narrow. You could hardly move side by side. 

When you were up the stairs a ways, Loki's grip on you loosened and he let out a breath. You got the distinct impression he had not been expecting to deal with a room full of soldiers. Why? It was a palace. Wouldn't palace guards be a given?

Loki released you entirely as you continued to climb the stone steps, shrouded in darkness. "I apologize for that," he said quietly. "This place didn't used to be guarded like this."

"How did they not see us?" You were ashamed by the tremor in your voice.

"I'll explain another time." There was a semblance of relief in his tone. "I thought this part would be simple."

All was quiet for a moment as you ascended, but it did not last long as danger sounded from above in the winding staircase in the form of footsteps. Loud and heavy, coming down. Multiple sets, judging by the noise. 

Your heart froze. Loki stood beside you, breath catching in his throat. His mind raced, trying to find a way to avoid being discovered. The staircase was too narrow. Even if he hide as he had done below, whoever was coming down those stairs would likely bump right into you. 

There was only one conclusion to come to. "Run."

He grabbed your arm and dashed down the stairs, throwing caution to the wind. You scrambled next to him, flying down two steps at a time. Your feet seemed to have grown their own sentience and forsook your right to rule them, for they moved all on their own without your having to think about it. 

You stumbled to a stop on the landing with jarring speed, nearly crashing into Loki. There were two guards pouring single-file out of the opposite staircase, and all the guards you had sneaked past just moments before turned around at the commotion. 

This time, their disconcerting red eyes landed directly upon you. 

"Hell!" Loki cursed, shoving you behind him as the frost giants you had heard on the opposite stairs came into view (three of them, as it turned out). 

All the giants actually seemed momentarily surprised to find you there. That gave Loki a vital second to get the upper hand.

 He lashed his hand up and flung a knife seemingly out of thin air at the face of the large brute on the left. It planted itself in the thing's eye socket, and it tumbled down the stairs to lay dead on the platform, bleeding thick blue blood. The one that stood behind it bellowed, charging forward. That knocked the other's out of their stupor, and they thrust the spears they held in their right hands forward as they charged.