The Sacrifice: Fallen | Loki | Book 2

Chapter 8: Memory

(Caroline's P.O.V.)

Well, I lived with Loki.

One has to be fair, he was really kind. And by kind, I mean he wouldn't let me do anything as he feared I might hurt myself. I had to fight with him so he would let me at least cook. Cooking! God, I couldn't walk properly, but cooking... It has come to that!

Speaking about walking, I hadn't really imagined anything when Loki scoffed at my physiotherapy. I mean, he's a demigod and stuff, and he kept scoffing about basically everything mortal. It turned out, he meant it. No more physiotherapy for me.

Instead, my 'urgent matter' was 'brought to him'. Loki would take me into the woods, where he would perform some of his healer magic on my legs. I would just sit there on a fallen trunk, fascinated, listening to his voice. His hands on my legs were uncomfortable at first, but it was as platonic as a physical touch could be. I loved it when his eyes flared up green, he looked so out of this world then. 

Later on, after the magic part, he would allow me to speak. We had conversations so long and deep, I felt at home. All the while he would extend my leg, then pull them back to me, for hours at a time. At the end of the day, when he would refuse to carry me back, my then tingling legs would stand stronger every day. 

It took only a couple of days till I could stand myself. I could've cried in that very moment, when I let go of his arm, and didn't find myself face-planting it. Loki flashed me a sweet smile, his emerald eyes innocently joyful. I stepped forward to embrace him, well, nope. I fell, and he caught me not a moment too soon. 

"Careful." Loki said as he pulled me up, supporting me with an arm around my waist. "You were so responsive to this method, not that it amazes me. You have always been strong." 

I didn't know what to say. No, I wasn't strong. "Thank you, Loki."  It came from my heart.

It felt amazing, this small triumph, only overshadowed by one thing. Memory. We found out that I remembered almost everything, except for anything related to Tom. I searched and searched and pried open every brain cell I had access to. But he was nowhere to be found. I had forgotten some basics things, too. The mansion, where had I slept all this time? 

Thank God I still recalled all the medical stuff.

Loki tried to distract me, be around me all the time, but he couldn't prevent Tom from popping into my damaged, stupid mind. I felt so sorry for him, he was my husband! I felt a strong responsibility towards him. 

Him being so shattered, had I ever seen him eat during my stay at the hospital? He had been there for me the entire time, just like Loki now. It dawned on me then that I had simply replaced him, just like that. It felt so wrong, I felt so bad about it. 

When I asked Loki about him, he'd turn all salty and bitter. While he wouldn't answer to me at first, one evening, he shouted and told me to forget him. What scared me was that he said 'He was now there'. This was a completely wrong concept, I never wanted to replace someone with someone else. Their bickering on the day Tom brought me here and now his reaction meant only one thing. The two of them, despite being almost identical, couldn't stand one another. 

I didn't know why. 

Also that night, Loki self-consciously came into my room. Once again, I thought 'bitch?'  

"Um, don't you have, like, your own royal chamber of mischief?" 

The explanation followed, that he did this every night when Tom wasn't there as I used to get nightmares without him. This didn't sound right to me, this room belonged to both me and Tom. Had I also replaced him in my bed?