#x-posted

She knew he was right. A sound like sighing thunder echoed down from whatever was circling in the sky and she didn't fight when he tugged her along to the arched door and threw it open without touching it. He spun her around and slammed the door shut behind them.

"Apologies again, but you were calling attention to yourself from things you wouldn't ever want to know of." He clapped his hands together and smiled reassuringly.  "But you are safe here, this dwelling is not visible from the outside and is protected from most sorts of trespassers."

She turned and gasped. She wasn't in some cozy cabin, the room they were in could fit twenty of the structures she thought she entered into it. There was a great shallow pit in the center that emanated a soft blue glow, illuminating the smooth stone walls and stairway that led down to an ornate double door.  

Even the buildings lie here, she thought.

"This hall is more of a study" He explained. "I created this place as a sort of a sanctuary. It's more humble than I'm used to, but I do not have need of it often. Come."  

She followed him numbly down the stairs and waited for him to shove the great heavy doors open, no longer even speculating what might be on the other side of them. Safer that way, she shrugged.

What greeted her was a large living area with high ceilings and a cool, stone floor. There were sconces on the wall lit with something that had the look of fire, but that gave off no heat. In one corner, next to a large fireplace which lit itself with a roaring flame as she watched, there was a sitting area with a couple of plush, high backed chairs, a table, and shelves with neatly stacked books. A four-poster bed was against the wall on the other side of the room with more tall bookshelves on either side of it and next to each of them was a small door.

"This isn't where you live?"

He walked over to one of the chairs and leisurely threw himself in it, inviting her with a nod to do the same. "There is a city on the on the other side of the mountains that is greater than any in all the realms.," he boasted." That is where my home is."

"And that's where Ivar was taking me? Is that where the castle and this prince lives as well?" She sat down cautiously, as though the chair might swallow her if she made any sudden movements. The fire next to them seemed real enough, giving off heat and gently crackling.

"Indeed. Though there is no need to take you all the way to the castle ." A smile crept mischievously onto his face. " I know you didn't steal anything from me, Elaina."

She was momentarily stunned at hearing her name spoken in his smooth, velvety voice. "From you? I thought it was stolen from-" Her words dried in her mouth.

"Well, to fair, that is what I wanted Ivar to believe so  I had to take you along for that particular deception, but no need to continue it now."

"You. Are....The Prince," she breathed.

"I am Loki. Son of Odin. Prince of Asgard."  He leaned forward, watching her face as his words sunk in, and they did so very slowly.  "And I have been watching you."  

She shook her head "Loki. Odin. Those are from Norse myths."  A sort of laugh fell from her mouth. " Those are gods."  

He shook his head, his smile spreading wider in the fire's orange glow.  " All of those hours you spent in those books, reading about far off lands, about magic, about myths, about ME. I thought you would've worked it out sooner."

She didn't doubt him. With all that she'd seen, how could she? She was sitting across from an actual Norse deity.  He had to be a thousand years old. She was terrified still, but also captivated by all that he was and the myth and magic he represented.  So many thoughts and questions swarmed around her head, she hardly knew what she could say to him to convey all of it . "You're....you're so...tall." Perfect.

Loki tilted his head slightly, seemingly amused by her awkwardness.

"Wait." Her sudden curiosity snapped her back to her senses. " If you know I didn't steal from you, then why am I here? Why not just take back what was yours and leave me?"

"Ah." He leaned his head back and gazed upward for a moment. " Well, you recall Iver was insistent. He had certain, shall we say 'proclivities'? And it just didn't fit with who he thought me to be if I objected too strongly. The real Eirik is a bit of a dullard. Besides," He raised his eyebrows at her playfully. " I rather thought you might appreciate the journey."

Elaina was taken aback. "Why?" Then something occurred to her; 'all those hours spent in books...' "How do you know anything about me? "

Raising his hand in front of him and making with a half circle of his wrist, the runestone appeared in his palm and he sighed. "This is a small piece of what was once a portal between this world and yours. There were a few that I used in my much younger days to slip away from here and explore the other realms."  

He half smirked at the memory and based off what she'd read of him in the mythologies, she could only imagine the mischief he must be recalling. "However," he continued. "Things changed and my father decided that it was time to leave Midgard to the Midgardians and he ordered that I destroy all my portals.  Which I did. Mostly."

He wagged the stone at her. "This was from my earliest portal- the first I'd ever made. It was well hidden and I used it sparingly.... and then not at all. Except for as a sort of window now and then. I'd lost interest in the cyclic nature of your "civilization."" He grimaced." But when I happened to open that window again after a few centuries I saw that your people had devised all manner of new and efficient ways of killing each other and you were doing so with abandon." He laughed. " Half of your world was blowing itself up so I decided that I would use this to my advantage. I simply guided one of the many explosive devices being dropped on the land where I'd left my portal to it's exact location and..."

He mouthed the words, "BOOM" and his hands pushed each other away in a manner meant to simulate explosion, the runestone disappearing as he did so. "Only the small bit that you had in your possession survived. It was no longer a portal of course-"

"But it still worked as a window." She surmised. Her cheeks reddened as she remembered every embarrassing and very personal thing she may have done in view of the small chunk of portal and with an actual god as her audience.

"Indeed. ...but I only glanced in on occasion since you obtained it. " He said with a knowing look that assured her that he was lying. " Although I could tell you tales about that grandmother of yours that might shock you. Did you know she and your grandfather used to-"

"NONONONO!" Her hands flew to her ears. "That's okay- I'm good!"

Loki laughed. "You are rather strange one aren't you? A little...what's the word? Repressed. "

Elaina self- consciously leaned back in the chair in an effort to seem relaxed. " I am not repressed." She said carefully. "I just think that a person's private life should stay private. And there's a lot of things that I do that are just....wild." She lied.

He badly suppressed a grin. "Oh, I'm sure. But do you not think you live a bit too much inside of yourself? You yearn for knowledge and devour fictions, but seldom step outside to open yourself up to real experience. You avoid it so much that you don't know how to cope with it when it actually happens to you."

The fact that he was correct made he squirm in her seat. "Okay, but that doesn't give you the okay to abduct me. I mean, yes, knowing this is all real is...." She wasn't even sure what it was.

"Exciting? Astonishing? Awe- Inspiring?" He counted off these suggestions on his long fingers before dropping his hand down and looking at her in a way that made her blush again." Dangerous?"  

"Alright!" She stood up, abandoning all pretense of ease. "Look, I've been in a state of perpetual disbelief and amazement since this whole thing started.  Yeah honestly-  part of me wants to wander around this world yours and hang out with all of the other gods because I'm here and I am, I am in awe, but I just don't think I'll be able to enjoy myself because all of this pesky terror keeps getting in the way!"

"Well," He rose and placed his hands gently on her shoulders as if to steady her and the feel of his touch on her bare skin had a strangely grounding effect. He looked down at her and sighed, " You have nothing to fear from me, Elaina. Look," he waved his hand above the mantle of the fireplace and a multidimensional map lit into existence. With a few more motions of his hand the cabin in the forest came into view.  

" This is where we are. Annnd...there," he spun the map wider and pointed to a nondescript spot on a mountain that looked to be easily 20 miles away." Is where we must go in order to get you home- and we will go there directly at first light as I have no wish to prolong your discomfort over being so far from Midgard and all the excitement of your days there."

Relief and disappointment sat in her chest knowing that there was at least a plan to get home. She found herself wishing again, this time it was that she could be someone else right then. Someone who could be fearless and take advantage of this insane situation she found herself in. Something told her that he might show her some of the wonders of this place before returning her home, if she were but to ask.  She knew that she would forever regret not asking for more of her time here. With him.

Unfortunately, she found herself again at a loss for words as she stared at his, what she swore was somehow an increasingly handsome, face. He was standing close and the damp scent of the forest still clung to him, mingled with the smell of leather. The green of his eyes shown in the firelight and something flickered through them as he looked at her just then.

He wet his lips. 'As it were, we will have to spend the night here together." He eyed the bed. "Surely you must be tired after all the hysterics of the day."

" You know, I was unconscious for the trip here so I think I'm all rested up, thanks." She said, quickly turning her eyes from the bed and attempting to fix them absolutely anywhere else.  

Her mind was trying to rapidly dissect his intentions. He surely didn't mean that they share a bed in a sexual sense. In myth, Loki was a promiscuous god, as most of them were, but this man standing before her wasn't like Pan frolicking in the fields and sexing up anything female that caught his eye or Zues having his way with ladies in the form of various creatures. This Loki was a prince apparently, he certainly had a regal air about him. He was articulate, charming and, despite the whole kidnapping thing, he had acted almost like a gentleman. Also he had really nice hair and she wondered if it felt as soft as it looked and –oh she was staring again..

"Hmmm." He seemed to be contemplating something as he stepped around her and made his way to the bed, turning to face her just as he reached it." Elaina..." He paused before starting again. "Elaina. It is only you and I here and we have a long ways until dawn. You are with a being more powerful and wise than any you have ever known." He cocked his head to the side. "Surely you don't wish to while away the evening reading a book."

She would've swallowed but in that instant her mouth dried completely. "I..." She squeaked before clearing her throat and looking at her hands. " I don't know what you expect of me. " She took a deep breath and sighed. Why can't I do this?  

"You are afraid." He said softly. " You do not even know of what but you are frightened. And it's always this way is it not? With those sad little men you convince yourself may be worthy of you. They are not," His voice was soft and resolute. "Yet you try to convince yourself that they may be.  You dare not reach any higher because part of you knows that if you did discover someone who is all of those things that you dream of, you would allow yourself to open. To bloom. To live."

Holy fucking silvertongue, Batman. She had not forgotten that he was known for mischief and lies. She knew this. Yet his words flowed straight into her walls and shattered them. He wanted her, she could see that now.  And she was running out of reasons to say no.  

She nodded to the ground before looking up at him and feeling her fear renew itself. She shoved it down. He was right. Maybe she kept attempting romance with the guys she attracted instead of figuring out what sort of person she might be attracted to was because part of her knew it would never come to much. There was no real threat of intimacy.

"You're right." She admitted. "But I have different reasons to fear you don't I? Magic aside, you're physically..."  She gulped." You're a whole other species. And much stronger than me."

"Oh I see. You fear I would harm you." His eyes lit up with understanding and he clasped his hands together, eyeing her like a cat regards a mouse whose fate has already been decided.

She mentally braced herself, for she knew whatever his next words were, they would surely be her undoing.  

And that excited her more than she wanted to admit.