Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 41

Loki spent months on Jotunheim, rebuilding and restructuring the court and society. It took a lot of work to rebuild Jotunheim to what it should have been for centuries and Loki threw himself into his work, trying to forget everything else. He tried to forget Morgan, tried to forget the Avengers, his home, his beloved mama.

He failed miserably.

Breya touched Loki's arm to get his attention one afternoon while he was on the throne. Her eyes had that glazed look of someone in the middle of telepathic communication. Loki gave her his attention, knowing she didn't demand his attention lightly, especially while he was working. "The guards have apparently found an Asgardian in our realm," she told him, her voice slightly dazed, as she was holding two conversations at once. Loki was used to the signs from his own knowledge of telepathy.

Loki raised an eyebrow at her words, confused. "Why would an Asgardian be here?" He asked as he adjusted one of the gold coins on the belt at his hips. He'd learned to wear the Jotun fashion while he was king here. It was still strange to show so much skin when it was all but blasphemous to do so on Asgard, but he wasn't on Asgard anymore. Asgard wasn't home anymore.

He had to keep lying to himself about that particular point.

Breya shrugged, drawing Loki's attention back to her. "I don't know, but that's what they say they've captured," she replied. She didn't have to question why there was an Asgardian, only report on it. "They want to kill it," it was statement, but stated as a question, asking if she should let them kill the Asgardian.

"No. Bring them to the palace," Loki replied on the off chance it was someone he still cared about, despite what he pretended to the court.

Breya nodded and her eyes glazed again as she gave the order to the guards. It didn't take long before the prisoner was brought before Loki, bound in chains. Her form was slight, especially compared to the frost giants around her. She looked even smaller in the chains, a frail former-Midgardian. A blind one at that. Her gaze was nowhere near his throne, staring straight ahead as she was shoved into the petitions spot before the throne.

Loki stared in shock and horror at seeing her, his heart fell. She shouldn't be there. How the Hel was she there?

Fuck.

Of all the things Midgardians had created, the word 'fuck' was definitely among the best and most useful.

He had left her to protect her.

Fuck fuck fuck.

How the fuck was she on Jotunheim?

She was fucking blind!

And too damn resourceful.

Loki had to fight hard to school his expression as he addressed Morgan. He couldn't show weakness, couldn't show her that he cared. He had to keep this a clean break, for her life, for her safety. "Asgardian, how did you get here?" He demanded coldly, with ice in his tone.

Her head whipped up at the sound of his voice. She tried to pinpoint him through her blindness. She wanted to run to him, but couldn't with the frost giants guarding her. He'd been gone for months and he nearly didn't sound like himself, but she would recognize the sound of his voice anywhere, even with the unfamiliar ice in his tone. Loki watched her carefully. He saw the wariness in her eyes at how formal and cold he was being to her. She finally spoke and he saw the effort it was taking for her not to shiver, not to appear any weaker than a blind girl already did on Jotunheim.

"A portal between the worlds and a locket," she replied carefully. The wariness was in her voice, in her very being. She'd reverse-engineered the tracking spell in the locket he'd given her with his hair in it in order to find him.