Chapter Text
Lady Neotta decided now was when she could be alone. Lunch had been finished for hours now and her parents were busy with pleasantries with other members of the royal Asgardian court.
Her and her noble parents of the southern Asgardian plains were invited to stay for a visit with other noble families including her love, Lahem. He was a young man focused on joining the king's armies and hoping to win the blessing of her father, or so she told him or her father would have had them married on the spot. Waiting for marriage wasn't going to be the worst thing in the world.
She had slipped from her room to the gardens of the palace to be alone if only for a few hours. She stayed in view of the guards but careful enough to avoid conversation with anyone including a member of the royal family. Not that she didn't like company but the book was rather more interesting until she heard hushed voices.
"My Gods, that is so vulgar!"
"Was he not courting Neotta?"
"I guess not."
"Guess what?"
The other lady guests turned to young Lady Neotta as she looked up from the book in her hand. It was a gift from Lahem from the night of her previous birthday. A small group had gathered at the start of a corridor, a few ladies and handmaidens and servant girls all blushed and looked away as a gasp echoed from the walls.
"Well..." started a Lady.
"Well, what?"
A man's chuckle was heard from the shadows. The women turned in fear as Prince Loki stepped in view.
"What spectacle has brought this lovely groups of voyeurs together? Good evening, Lady Neotta."
"Your grace, please forgive me but we are partaking in nothing of such a nature."
"You think so?"
His fingers glowed as he waved his hand, the branches of a tree in the garden beside them had separated.
Neotta's book almost dropped from her hands as she covered her mouth from a silent scream. Lahem was half undressed as a younger woman was pressed up against the trunk. Lahem's hand was up her dress and pumping into the woman's quim as she moaned.
"I love you," he panted as clear as day as the group looked to Neotta. She felt herself in shock.
"I love you, Lahem."
"I loved you first, minuscule pig!"
Lahem and the woman stopped and blushed from the many eyes that were burned into them. Lahem tried to find the words to give an excuse but the defiance in the girl's smile said it all.
"Well," said Loki, "For this display of disgrace, I suggest you both are gone from the castle by next morning light or I will have you thrown into the dungeons. Shall we continue our day elsewhere in the gardens, my ladies?"
The group carried on in one direction as Neotta took off the opposite way. She could no longer contain her emotions as she ran towards her room in tears. An arm caught her as Neotta stumbled over her feet.
"Lady Neotta, you must be more careful. Did you not hear me call for you?"
She didn't but refused to answer anyone until she made it to the safety of her private room. She sank to the floor as Loki caught her. The prince dismissed a few guards from their posts so they could be alone. Loki wiped her tears away as he tried to comfort her the best he could. Neotta finally calmed herself, gently pushing away from Loki as he helped her to her feet.
"I am sorry, your highness."
"I believe under the circumstances, you showed greater restraint than I ever would but I regret not getting him out of the palace sooner. It's too close to night and they'll both only lodge here until they are escorted out in the morning. I wouldn't want to take a smaller matter to the All-father that I couldn't handle myself."
"I appreciate the gesture. Thank you. Now have a good night."
She scooped the book from the floor, ready to tear it to shreds.
"You will not be joining your parents in the banquet hall for a meal."
"No, sir. I would like to be alone with my thoughts."
"Why fret over some pathetic man that showed deceit when there are others that would grovel at your feet?"
She started to walk off until Loki grabbed her by the wrist. She yanked away without thinking, ready to use her anger to pummel him into the ground.
"Such as whom? By tomorrow the whole court of Asgard with know of what happened and I will never be married off. I'll be the laughing stock of the kingdom."
The Prince answered with a smile as he licked his lips.
Surely, he had to be joking.
"You? The Prince?"
She slipped away and gave him a shovel to the ground in sight of the guards.
"I don't know if you noticed, your highness, but the man my father wanted to be my fiancé just had his fingers in the quim of another woman and now I must inform my parents of such news, so I beg your forgiveness if I'm not as anxious to hop onto your lap with joy. I'm not that kind of wanton slut that will kneel to your every whim. I need to prepare myself of how my father will react when he deduces it all to be my doing. Good night."
Neotta turned on her heel, leaving the smirking prince in the hallway. She slammed her door shut, locked it and wedged a chair under the door to make sure she wasn't disturbed. She hurled the book against the wall with all her might. The evening went by quickly when she refused to see anyone.
She wanted no service from the staff, no comfort from her parents, thinking her ill and threatened to toss the guards from the balcony if they tried coming in her room. She made sure it all wasn't so serious to the point of Frigga's intervention.
She rested on her bed to close her eyes for a bit. Neotta arose a while later, tending to her own fireplace and drawing her own water for a bath.
"What will I do now?"
Neotta finished bathing herself, slipping into a fresh, soft white gown for bed. She was thankful to be put in a room by herself as her parents were a bit farther away, in a different hall. They would worry as they always did. Her father would pace and mumble while her mother would sit with her hands in her lap.
She looked down to her hand as she picked up the stagnant book while it and its pages laughed at her. She was halfway through the book of woe and love and now it was all nothing but horseshit.
"So much for happy endings."
She flung the book into the fireplace without a second look. She wasn't sure what she was going to do now. As he leaned against the post of her bed, Neotta was tired but she wanted to put together how Lahem fell into the grasp of another woman, knowing the thought could consume her.
The light in the chambers increased as she turned to the fireplace, seeing the book burst wildly into green flames. Loki's body stumbled from the fireplace as Neotta covered her scream. She heard of how Loki was a young master of sorcery and his growing love for mischief.
"What are you doing here? Get out of my room!"
"This palace belongs to the royal family, hence forth the room belongs to me and I shall walk into any room that I desire."
She crossed her arms in front of her visible chest to hide her modesty while he brushed the flaking wood and ash from his skin.
"Well, what do you want? You're obviously here for a purpose in the middle of the night."
"I came out of the goodness of my heart to make sure you were well enough..."
"Yes, I am still breathing. Thank you for asking, now please leave."
"Well, the fireplace was only a one-way spell so I'll have to use the door if you'll so gladly remove the obstacles."
Neotta turned, only to be stopped by Loki.
"Wha..."
Loki pulled Neotta into a tight embrace, claiming her lips before she had the time to understand what was happening. She exhaled as he drew the breath from her lungs. Her eyes sunk shut as she held on to his shoulders. Lahem always stole a kiss but it felt nothing like this. He broke the kiss, unable to breathe as he looked into her eyes.
"Forgive me, Lady Neotta. You... seem to have a spell on me."
"I don't understand, your highness."
"I would give anything have a chance for your intentions."
Neotta cleared her head, pulling away from him, not ready for his games.
"Please spare me your trickery, Loki and get the Hel out of my room."
"You know as well as I that he was weak and that a simple whore as herself wouldn't be resisted by him."
Neotta turned to Loki.
"And how would you know what she was like? Did you put her there?"
"Yes."
Her once beating heart had stilled at his words. Loki had played her for a fool as everyone was witness to it.
"How could you do that?"
"If you both were to wed, he very well would have carried on like that behind your back."
"You snake! Just go. Find someone else."
"I don't want someone else, my dear Lady Neotta."
Her name rolled off his tongue as she shivered. She needed to be alone before she did something foolish.
She didn't realize her hand had shot out and clawed at the side of the prince's face. A hooded look in his eyes forced its way into Neotta's soul as his own hand shot up clutching Neotta by the jaw, raising her up from her feet.
"I think as I have you now, I'll show you how much of a snake I can be."
He let her go as she caught her breath. Her eyes observed the door as a green haze started from the wood and surrounded the room with the chair screeching across the polished floors.
"I wouldn't want anyone to interrupt us while they come out to play."
Loki stepped back with a smile as the sound of hissing quickly filled the room. Neotta looked up to the snakes hanging from the top of the canopy. Neotta let out a scream out of instinct. Two long snakes shot down wrapping themselves around each of her wrists as she struggled to get away. She tried to put up a heel to the foot board to give herself leverage until they were both yanked away by another few snakes.
Neotta tried turning out of reach but the snakes only grew tighter as she was trapped. A trapped little animal, a feast in front a grinning wolf wanting to devour everything.
"Tell me to go," lips at the base of her neck, his hands roamed over her gown as she tried moving away, "...and I will. I will, by my word, leave you to your solitude."
She whined as smaller smoother snakes coiled down her arms and under the gown. This had to be a dream, this would never happen to her. She saw the prince's eyes on her curves as his fingers clenched the bit of the gown at the small of her back.
"Please," she begged breathlessly.
He waited, for anything from her, to scream louder, to tell him to stop.
"You don't want me to stop, do you?"
She gasped feeling two snake tongues caressing the bottom of her breast, slowly going up. Loki gripped her hair in satisfaction.
"Answer me!"
"I will give you no answer, you do not rule me!"
But she wanted it, she wanted him.
"Then allow me to shead light on our situation."
He tightened his grip on Neotta's gown, tearing the fabric from her body, sending a shock through Neotta's body as she hung from the snakes.
"If you will not answer, then I will make you beg..."