Chosen // loki laufeyson

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Loki

My breath caught in my throat as I could feel the perfect moment coming. As a child, I was strict on timing, and, as warriors say, old habits never die. Lienna smiled at me. I swallowed. That girl drove me mad, lowered my defenses, made me actually feel things. I loved it.

Odin gave me a slight smile. Of course he knew. The old man always did.

I took that as my sign. No time was better than this. We were surrounded by family and friends and bathed in beautiful golden light. Lienna seemed to be simply and purely blissful. I stood up, clearing my throat.

All eyes were on me. This is it. "Lienna, dear."

She glanced up at me, confused. "Yes?"

"I love you. From the moment I first saw you, really saw you, sleeping peacefully in the infirmary bed, I knew I couldn't let you go."

Her eyes widened along with her beautiful smile.

"I tried to get every moment I could with you. Every second I spend with you is absolute bliss."

My mother begins to cry.

"So tonight, I would like to know if you will spend every second with me." I knelt in traditional fashion, reaching into my pocket for the ring box. "Lienna, beautiful, breath-taking daughter of Moren, will you-"

Suddenly, a platter flew across the room and smashed against the wall. A few ladies screamed. This could not be happening now. Oh, please Odin, not now!

The Allfather stood to calm the frightened group. "I'm sure that everything will be fine. The servants will have this sorted out. Now," he smiled at me, "I believe Loki has a few important words."

I nodded, continuing. "Lienna, as I was saying-"

More plates slid off the table and into the walls. Knives began to follow suit, making their way into the thick leather armor the guards were wearing. Suddenly, the frenzy of cutlery and plates turned into a chaotic storm of food and drink, weaving its way through the charms Frigga cast, attacking innocent people. However, I noticed the tornado completely missed Wisteria, whi seemed deep in thought and was muttering things. Perhaps her incantations were stronger than my mother's, but I highly doubted it.

A thought filled me with dread. Lienna! Where was she?

I finally caught sight of her at the edge of the room, held tightly in the grasp of a stranger. Dodging knives and broken glass, I fought my way to her, but to no avail because suddenly, everything went still.

Wisteria was the first to move, quickly flitting over the mess over to the stranger. Thor gasped.

The stranger laughed at Wisteria. "So stupid," he scoffed. "All of you."

Lienna struggled against his grasp, trying to free her mouth.

"First, you steal my soon to be wife," he spat. "Then you lie to her, and hurt my precious flower!"

Lienna was frantic, and so was I. Somehow, I couldn't fight my way to the man. His magic was strong, raw and untamed.

Suddenly, my thoughts caught up to me. This was Ander, her ex fiancé. Drowning in bitter feelings, obviously, and unable to move on.

Wisteria cowered by his side. An accomplice, no doubt.

Lienna had struggled her mouth free. "Loki!" she called shrilly. "Loki! I should've known!"

I couldn't pry my jaw open, to my chagrin.

Ander twisted Lienna's head so she could see him. She groaned in pain. "See, Lienna, love. He can't speak. He doesn't care!"

No! my mind called desperately.

"You don't love me!" Lienna growled in a dark voice. "I do not love you! Leave, Ander. Take that worthless excuse for a lady with you!"

Her voice chilled me to the bone.

Ander planted his face on hers. I exploded with a deep, twisted rage.

"You let go of her, you worthless excuse for a baron's son!" I roared, my palms glowing brightly, ready to rip in to his throat. "You would never deserve her any day of your life!"

"She loves me, Frost Giant! She's mine!"

In the blink of an eye, I had cast Wisteria aside and forced through his enchantment.

"If you loved her, you would let her be happy!" I raged on. "You would let Lienna choose who she wanted to love!"

He gave me a wretched, twisted smile. "Oh, but you aren't letting her choose, are you? With your twisted fates and sick, so called magic?"

He dropped Lienna, and she crumpled to the ground. "Odin is an awful excuse for a king, spinning lies of arranged marriages and fates. And you believe him!" Ander looked around at the crowd of cowering royals. "You all believe him!"

He looked at me with vile distaste. "Even you, Frost Giant. He stole you, took your right to be king away, and then lied to you and told you that you would be banished if you didn't find a wife. He did it to have the daughter of Moren in his kingdom to display. Who could resist such a treasure? You and I definitely couldn't."

I could feel my anger falling. His words held truth to them. It was Odin's game.

"And your brother fell for her too. Now," Ander continued, looking at Odin with disgust, "Allfather couldn't have that. It was too much for him. I saw my chance. I reached out to Wisteria, though she isn't very bright, and enlisted her in my plan to get Lienna back."

Wisteria was unconcious on the hard floor.

"And now I have her," Ander finished. "Odin loses, you get banished, and I have my love. Isn't that something, Frost Giant? It's got you all blue," he sneered.

I glanced at my clenched fists. They were indeed the deep Jotun blue. I could hear gasps from the visiting nobles.

The anger swelled through my veins again. I slipped my dagger from inside my jacket. It quickly coated with ice.

In only a matter of a few meaningless seconds, it was plunged deep into Ander's stomach. The ice crawled over his skin.

Suddenly, everything was over but just beginning to frenzy once again. The blue left my skin and I fell to the ground next to Lienna.

××××××