Page 22 of Loki

"Fine," she huffed, packing the bones into boxes, before leaving the mess tent entirely.

The sky outside was leaden grey, threatening snow that didn't seem to want to fall. It was only a little after lunchtime, but it was dark enough to make her think it was dusk. Well, that and she hadn't had much sleep last night, what with Loki and his magic cock. Maybe she should just take a nap while she could. Someone would wake her if she was needed.

Ah, but first she should probably put Sibyl's bed back on her side of the tent, before anyone saw the beds pushed together and got the wrong idea.

But as she hoisted the bed across the divide, something heavy flumped to the floor at her feet. Loki had left his cloak. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled. It smelled of smoke and ash and him.

It looked similar to the one Thor had given Sibyl, which made sense, if the garments were around the same age. They might have even been spun and woven by the same person, if it came to that. But while this was rough wool on the outside, the inside was lined with soft fur. Fur that must have come from a great many creatures, for the lining was a patchwork of pieces. She was certain there was a story behind it – she'd have to ask Loki if he came back for it.

Unless he never came back, and he'd left it as a gift...one she'd gladly accept, seeing as the tent was rather cold without his magic at work. So she wrapped herself in the furry cloak, threw her sleeping bag over the top so anyone who came in wouldn't see it and ask questions, and drifted off into a doze.

TWENTY-THREE

She was already asleep when he entered the tent, though the sun had not even set yet. Between the dark clouds blotting out the sun and the snow drifting down from them, Loki knew he was as safe for sunlight as though night had already fallen.

Only to find her asleep, in a camp full of people who were all awake.

Well, none of the others had been engaged in bed play into the early hours of the morning, so perhaps they did not need sleep as much as she did.

Loki settled on the empty bed, now pushed back against the tent wall, to wait for Jorunn to wake.

She'd wrapped herself in his cloak, he noticed with a mix of surprise and satisfaction. Perhaps she was not as angry at his betrayal as he'd thought.

Or maybe she'd just claimed his cloak out of spite, after the way he'd treated her, which would be fair.

But he couldn't help thinking about how much he'd loved seeing her naked body spread out across his cloak last night, writhing in ecstasy on the soft fur from the prey of a thousand hunts. How much he'd love to give her a thousand orgasms on the cloak of a thousand hunts...or even more.

Almost without thinking, he recast the bubble spell from last night, turning her tent into a warm haven that the noise and chill from outside could not penetrate, while the sounds of their conversation could not be heard outside of the tent's confines. He had no desire to alert the brooch thief that they were hunting for him. Or her, though with only one other woman in the camp besides Jorunn, it seemed more likely their thief was a man.

Her breathing changed, becoming less even and decidedly rapid.

A little like last night, only...

With a muttered oath, she suddenly sat up, peering around the tent as though expecting to find someone hiding there.

Loki had no intention of hiding. He raised a hand in greeting. "Good evening, Jorunn. I hope you slept well."

She stared at him, her eyes wild. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

He definitely had some work to do if he intended to elicit her assistance. "I have been watching you sleep and reminiscing about the delightful night we spent together. I see you have taken a fancy to my cloak. Consider it a gift, in grateful thanks for the pleasure you gave me last night."

He half expected her to toss the cloak aside in disgust, but she only wrapped it more tightly around herself. "Watching a girl sleep is stalkerish and creepy. Then again, maybe it's a god thing. Is that what you and the other Norse gods do all day? Just sit around and watch people, when you're not interfering with the world? I can imagine Thor watching wrestling or rugby day and night, while Frigg would surely spend all her time watching cat videos. I would've thought you'd be more into candid camera sort of stuff, with people playing pranks on one another."

Loki smiled and inclined his head. Even after only a night, she knew him well. "I do indeed enjoy a good prank, but I prefer to be the one playing them, when I do not have more serious matters to attend to." Like now. When Erik was dead, then he could plan some elaborate prank, something that would make even Jorunn laugh.

She blew out a breath. "I knew you hadn't come here to tell me that you'd fallen for me so completely last night that now you want to carry me off to your castle in the sky."

She had such a way with words. He only wished he could, but... "I do not have a castle, let alone one in the sky. I suppose there is Valhalla, but for that, we would both need to be dead, and I would not wish that for you. I, myself, have a considerable number of things I intend to do before I die, and..." He found she was staring at him, that same wry smile on her lips. "I have said something wrong?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "So if you did have a castle in the sky, you would want to take me there?"

"A castle, a cottage, a longhouse...if I had a home to take you to, where you might have the blazing fire and bigger bed you asked for last night, I would, Jorunn. By all the gods, I would take you to bed for a week, or a whole month's honeymoon, if you'd let me. If I had not sworn oaths that I dare not break...if my life were my own..."

"So why are you here, then?"

Loki took a deep breath. "I have come to beg for your help."

"Go on."

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