six
"what happened to that beautiful smile?"

"You were with Loki?" Lycus asks as Lusine settles in the carved wooden chair beside him, taking a glass of the finest red wine in her hand.

She gives her brother a smile as she says, "Brother, nothing happened. I learnt something and so did he, it's as simple as that." Lusine takes a sip from the wine glass, letting the wine run along her tongue and down her throat. "I didn't think you had even noticed me leaving the hall. You were seemingly too busy staring lovingly into Pelia's eyes. I bet you barely noticed me not dining with you."

"I noticed. Everyone noticed you sitting beside Loki. Everyone especially noticed when he stood up so suddenly and tried to pull you along with him. Your protest brought about quite the whispers, Lusine," He tells her, sounding as if he were her superior by a number of years, not minutes. There was little to appreciate with his condescending tone as it stuck in her ears.

"The Asgardians can whisper all they like. The only thing that happened out there was illusions and magic," Lusine assures her worrying, over-protective brother as she glances across the hall to where Loki sits.

The chair beside him remains empty. She could stride over there and sit back in her seat if she so much as wanted to. Claim it for her own. Maybe she deserved it.

Loki, as if feeling her analytical stare, turns his gaze to her. His expression was hard, his hand curled around the neck of a wine glass and his expression unchanging, yet powerful.

Lusine is the first to look away.

"Those looks. Do they mean anything to you?" Lycus questions, his voice louder than it should have been in this brand of conversation. This was private. Not for the ears of those distrusted by either twin.

"No," Lusine utters sternly.

Pelia lets out a loud laugh, turning her gaze to Lusine with a huge grin at her full lips. "Those looks are ones that hint at love and interest," She wraps her hand over Lycus' arm and beams at him as she stares into his enchanting eyes with all the love in the realm. "But what would cold hearted Lusine know about love?"

Lusine's lips curl into a snarl, the pilot's mission complete. "Brother?"

"Yes?"

"Restrain me," She breathes, her eyes beginning to glow a brighter blue. "Restrain me before I rip her grinning face clean off."

Her hand curls tighter and tighter around the cup of the wine glass; so tightly that it shatters in her hand. The cuts on her hand were unnoticeable as the blood blended in with the red wine that ran down her hand, dripping onto the table.

Pelia sits there with an open mouth and wide eyes; the feast hall is silent.

Lycus is the first one to break the tense silence. "Lusine, I think you had better step outside for a moment."

With one last murderous look at Pelia she stands up, her chair flying back into the wall, before she storms out of the feast hall in a whirlwind of anger and dark intent. Gods, the crimes she'd commit if she just had one night alone with that woman. Let off her leash, eyes wide, fangs barred. Taste of blood ripe on her tongue.

Ready for the slaughter, always.

-

She marches to her room, striking down any guards that attempt to stop her for questioning, whether it be for her own good or theirs, with balls of white magic straight from her bloodied palms, a stone hard look dripping upon her face.

When she opens the door, Cloris is sat on her bed, giggling with one of the guards who was supposed to be guarding her door.

"Cloris, get out," She says, her tone dark and intimidating to the fragile girl with the flowers in her hair.

Cloris gives the guard a small smile before hurrying out of the room, mumbling apologies and tears brimming in her eyes.

Lusine points at the guard and beckons him forward.

"Take off your armour," She commands, throat bobbing. Her eyes shine blue, a darker blue than usual, but it was enchanting all the same.

The guard nods his head as he begins to unfasten the buckles and clasps holding him in the armour. Lusine steps forward and takes his helmet off his head, her lips forming an empty smile.

A smile of the woman who'd had enough.

She leans forward, taking the golden dagger from his belt. One of her hands curls around his wrist and brings his hand up to her lips. She places a kiss on the soft skin of the back of his hand; smiling as she pulls her lips away.

She looks him dead in the eye as she presses the golden dagger's handle into his palm, her silent farewells thumping in synchronisation with her heart as it thundered inside her chest.

"I want you to-" Lusine begins, but a commanding voice cuts off her enchantment.

"Guard, put the dagger away and get back on guard duty."

The guard snaps out of the enchantment, looking at Lusine in horror as he sees the dagger in his own hand.

"Do not panic. Just put your armour back on and get out there, idiot," Loki demands, hands balls at his sides.

"Loki," Lusine mutters, dropping the guard's hand and turning toward him. "You're ruining my cheer up session."

"What made you so upset that you were going to make a man kill himself?" Loki questions, stepping forward with his arms folded across his chest.

"Who said he was killing himself?" Lusine looks away from the god to the golden dagger in the guard's belt, head tilting to the side like a curious wolf. "Anyway," She says, shaking her head and turning her attention back to Loki. "Why should I tell you anything? You'll just use it against me."

The guard pushes past Lusine, giving Loki a nod as he exits the room.

"Whatever drove you to such an extreme must be something huge. I've never heard the hall so silent in all my time," He says, taking a step towards her as the door closes behind him.

"Love," She whispers, looking down at her feet.

"What?" Loki's confusion was clear.

"Love, Loki, don't you know what that is? It's the only thing that's ever broken me and I bet it could break you too." Lusine looks down at her blood covered hands with little care at this point.

"You were in love? What happened?"

"It got torn away from me in the most painful of fashions. I watched her die. Regina, her name was. She was beautiful too. More beauty than one could ever dream of all compacted into one woman," Lusine says, her voice quavering at the memory of her past lover.

She turns her back on Loki, walking over to the window seat. She sits and peers out over the scenery, but even the simplicity of families going about their business was a blur. Her mind racing, she couldn't focus on them, let alone through the brewing tears she quietly begged to go away.

Loki frowns at Lusine's sudden softness, but he follows her across the room and sits down beside her. He's careful when he asks his next question.

"How did she die?"

Lusine's bottom lip trembles slightly as she smiles that infamous smile many call psychotic in their last hours of life, until death crawls in at the beckon of the princess.

"Me," She says. "I killed her." She stares down at her hands accusingly, her heart pounding in her chest as she looks at the deep red blood.

Loki, not knowing what to do, lifts his hands up and folds them over Lusine's; pushing them down into her lap. He releases one hand, he brings his own up to her chin forcing her to look away from the blood.

"Why did you do it?" He asks quietly.

"She was dying. She got sick, very sick, and she begged me to take away her life." Lusine laughs a sad little laugh before cancelling her laughter to replace it with more of her saddening words. Words that told of the heartache she concealed with bitterness and sarcasm and violence. "I'd never seen anyone so desperate to die."

"That guard; you were going to use him to join her, weren't you?" Loki questions, this question more of a dawning statement of conclusion than an inquiry.

Lusine nods her head, her dark hair falling in her face and clinging to her tear stained cheeks. A poetic injustice. She was a beautiful crier, but blue wasn't her colour.

"With Regina I didn't have to worry about being royalty. I didn't have to worry about what dress I wore. I didn't worry about anything. It was just Regina and Lusine all the way without anything stopping us." She runs her tongue across her dry lips, vision flickering back and forth across his face for any slight sign of disgust for the crime she'd commit. "The day I killed her she'd told me she wanted me to be happy with someone new. The thought of loving someone else made me angry. I slit her throat before I could reply to her."

"She died with dignity and honour. That's all someone could ever dream of." Loki reassures, smoothing a thumb over Lusine's wet cheek, her agony clinging to his skin.

"When Pelia made her comment all I could think of was the way the blood poured from Regina's neck and stained the white medical sheets. It made me want to slit Pelia's throat because she will never know pain like mine. Lycus isn't going to die any time soon."

Pain shifted to fury was a dangerous evolution.

"And neither are you." Loki lifts his other hand to her cheek, giving her what she thought was a comforting smile, or, at very least, an attempt at one.

"What?" Beneath his touch, her face moulded into a lined frown.

"You're not dying anytime soon, Lusine," He says, leaning slightly closer to her so that his forehead was against hers, her uneven breathing rough against his mouth with every betraying sob. "Promise me, Volkov."

"I promise," She responds without hesitation as she sees the glimmer of something new within Loki's eyes. "I promise you with all my black heart."

-

1396 words
feb 2016

this was the chapter I was working on late last night because I couldn't sleep. It gives more detail about Lusine and why she is so messed up sometimes. I hope this chapter was ok!

love from, lau <3

edited: 9.8.18
new word count: 1733