Chapter 6
The Asgard Universe - The Twins of Fate Saga - Summary/Content Note
Loki leads her through the great hall, weaving them around drunken Asgardians as he heads towards the back hallway.
"Now come. I know exactly where I'm taking you."
They walk through a door at the end, heading down a hallway lined with several doors. Loki stops at the fourth door, holding out a hand to encourage her through it first.
"Ladies first."
Gwen hesitates for a moment before stepping inside. She is curious to see what else the palace holds. It's huge, and she's only seen a small part.
Loki is immediately behind her, stepping in after her and closing the door quietly, shutting out the sound of the party for a moment.
"Welcome..." His eyes stay on her as he walks past, heading into the room. "To one of the royal libraries."
"We are at a party full of stories, impromptu wrestling matches, and barrels of mead, and you bring me to a library?” Gwen chuckles a little. “Not that I don't appreciate it. It's just surprising."
He turns to face her with a slow, deliberate smile, one that’s equal parts playful and knowing.
"Oh, but it's not just any library." His fingers trail along one bookshelf as he circles back toward her, clearly enjoying himself now. His voice drops to something conspiratorial. "It happens to be where I keep my collection of forbidden texts."
"And what exactly is in these forbidden texts?" She lowers her voice to match, her tone playful.
He moves closer, his voice dropping to practically a whisper now. He stops when there’s barely a half step of space between them. He reaches out, brushing a finger over her wrist lightly, as if he can’t help himself.
"Secrets. Dark magic. Curses. Forbidden spells,” Loki still speaking softly, eyes fixed intently on hers. “Things I'm definitely not supposed to know." He smiles faintly at the last part. His gaze hasn’t wavered an inch from hers. He looks almost cocky.
"But if anyone is going to find and read forbidden texts, it's you." She smiles, eyes twinkling with mischief.
Loki leans in slightly. Enough that she can feel the warmth of him, enough that if she breathed too sharply, they'd touch.
"And now it's us." A smirk tugs at his lips as he pulls back again, clearly enjoying himself too much. "So tell me… what do you want to read first?"
"I don't actually know. I don't think I want anything those books could offer. There's no one I need to curse or magic I need to know. That's boring, I know."
He laughs softly, shaking his head at her.
"I wouldn’t call it boring. I might call it...wise." He taps a finger against his chin, considering her for a long moment, eyes drifting to the nearby bookshelves. Loki adds with a smirk, a slyness to his tone. "But you do strike me as the type to have at least one guilty pleasure."
"My guilty pleasures are all simple." She thinks for a moment and grows a bit more serious.
"The only thing I could possibly think of wanting would be the ability to change a few things in my past. Some things wouldn't have a huge effect though, and the ones that would, well, I still don't think I'd change those."
His smirk softens slightly at those words, a hint of understanding passing through his eyes. He turns away for a moment, running his long, slender fingers along the spines of the books. When he looks back again, his gaze is more serious, though his smirk is still faintly there.
"Regrets, then? Mistakes you still think about?"
"Some regrets and mistakes I think about every day. Others are things I wish I could just take away."
His gaze softens further at that. Something about her tone resonates with him; he knows that feeling all too well. But he doesn't say that. Instead, he gives her a crooked smile and gestures to the surrounding shelves.
"Maybe there's something in one of these tomes that can make your memories disappear for a little while," Loki says lightly, teasingly trying to take the edge off the seriousness of their conversation now. He turns away, beginning to scan the titles on the shelves again.
"Thank you, but I don't think I want to mess with memories or my mind. I don't want to take any risks. I'll keep the things that hurt. I've carried them this long." She smiles through the painful thoughts.
Loki pauses, glancing back at her. There's something about her smile and the bittersweetness in it. She carries pain and hides it well behind a smile, behind her playfulness and confidence. He knows about hiding pain, about burying things deep. He knows what it looks like, what it feels like. She's more like him than he initially realized. And the thought both startles and fascinates him.
"You know, that's very wise of you," Loki’s voice is quiet, studying her.
"How about you show me another room? I'd love to see more, hear some of your stories."
He looks back at her for a moment, something unreadable flickering through his eyes. He can see the pain now, the things she hides behind that smile. Like a reflection. But then it's gone as if a mask has slipped back into place.
He smiles faintly, shifting gears back to charm and playfulness. "All right. Let's leave these musty old tomes behind. I want to show you something better."