A few hours later one of the monks brought Cassandra a brown tunic and pants to change into. With some difficulty due to her injured shoulder, she shed the hospital gown, dropping it on the floor.

Someone cleared their throat behind her. She tensed and slowly turned around. A certain trickster was sprawled on the floor watching. Joy filled her. "Loki! You're back!"

"And in one piece." He said dryly then froze as he looked up at her with a strange look on his face.

Cassandra glanced down, realizing she was topless giving him a free show. A quip ready on her tongue, she paused to reconsider saying something snarky. With greasy hair and stinking of antiseptic from the hospital, she did not imagine Loki found her particularly sexy at the moment.

Hell, she didn't feel sexy either. She thought running a hand self-consciously over her oily scalp. She really should go pop into the shower.

Loki's eyeballs were still fixed on her naked chest. His thin mouth pressed in a tight line, a muscle flexing in his jaw.

Blushing, Cassandra hurriedly reached for the tunic and pulled it over her head, biting her lip against the fiery pain that knifed through her shoulder at the sudden action. She blinked back tears that stung her eyes. "Uh, sorry."

Loki regained his composure quickly lowering himself onto one of the narrow beds in the medieval cell. "How long have I been gone?"

She reached for the sling, studying the complicated straps. "A few hours. Wong said he placed you in something called the Mirror Dimension. What was that like?"

He braced his arm against his knees, breath a little unsteady. "As the name implies, the dimension is the mirror of this one. Except I was alone."

"Huh." Cassandra slid her arm into the base of the sling and worked at the straps or tried to. The straps kept twisting.

Rolling his eyes, Loki came over and helped her before she aggravated the gunshot wound again. He smoothed the straps over her shoulder, his fingers pressing lightly against her shoulder blade. "I can see the uses of the Mirror Dimension. One can experiment with unfamiliar spells and not damage the main reality."

Cassandra leaned back against his chest, loving the solid feel of him pressed against her spine. Her heart quickened at being in his arms. "Wong assigned me that giant heap of books over there."

Loki drew away, the warmth of him vanishing from her skin in an instant. He lifted the first tome in the stack, arching his brows. "Fundamentals of Control." He rifled through the books muttering to himself. Once he read the final title he nodded. "This mortal is wiser than I thought."

"You agree with his choices then?" Cassandra asked in patent disbelief. Loki had gone on ad nauseum about second-rate sorcerers and charlatans and the inferiority of human sorcerers. "What changed your mind?"

A devilish smile scrawled across his face. "As Strange so generously pointed out Kamar Taj is the center of all magical knowledge on earth. With the ability of sorcerers to travel between dimensions I can only imagine the wisdom gathered in these walls." Leaning against the desk, he laughed. "If the sheep wish to invite in the wolf who am I to quarrel?"

Cassandra heaved a frustrated sigh. Loki had a one-track mind sometimes. "And you are going to use the opportunity to learn the Mystic Arts and how to use it against them. Really, Loki? Is it the time to be worried about petty grievances when we have a dangerous sorceress threatening to bust into this world and conqueror it?"

The god shrugged indolently and inspected his fingernails for imaginary dirt. "I am a master of multi-tasking, darling." He slanted her a coy look. "Among other things."

Cassandra swallowed hard. Because she was a glutton for punishment she asked. "What other things?"

"Hmm." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, a twinkle in his eye. "I think I'll leave it to your imagination to fill in the blanks, little vixen."

Damn. Cassandra was starting to regret putting a top on. If only to put them both on equal footing in this continued game of seduction. Loki was as susceptible to a pair of breasts like any other man if his ogling was anything to go by.

Cassandra wanted to give him a good spanking. Then again, he'd probably enjoy that.

Loki could be so twisted sometimes and arrogant. But she loved his capriciousness and the kindness he only seemed to show to her. He was unlike any man she'd ever dated. Loki fascinated her and challenged her in ways no one ever had.

There was no reasoning with him when he got like this so she chose to ignore the innuendos. Cassandra picked up the Fundamentals of Control with her good arm and perched on the edge of her bed. "While you plot your little mutiny, I'm going to read. I get the feeling Wong will kick my ass if I don't finish these quickly."

Loki huffed in disbelief.

Cassandra wasn't a god who had the luxury of dismissing others. Loki should not either with the ease which Wong banished him to the Mirror Dimension. Wong had proven every bit as adept as Strange in the Mystic Arts. His skills might even be greater.

People underestimated her all the time because she was a woman. She'd learned over the years not to return the favor.

*************************************************************************************

"I finished them." Cassandra presented herself to Wong glowing with accomplishment. It took her three days of non-stop reading but she'd managed to carve her way through the daunting stack on the desk in her room.

Loki hovered behind her watching Wong closely.

The wizard regarded her without expression rising from his desk in the library. Another five heavy tomes flew off the shelf and zoomed toward Cassandra. Loki caught them. "Good. Read those next." He shuffled over to a shelf with grimoires chained closed.

Cassandra stared at his back. "Uh..."

Wong flipped his hand dismissively without looking at her. "Go. You are expected in the training yard."

"I...can't train with one arm in a sling." She stuttered in protest.

Wong's lips pursed in sour disapproval. "You will do as instructed, novice. In a battle, your enemy will not show mercy if you are injured. They will take advantage and destroy you."

"I..." Cassandra swallowed the rest of her protests when the wizard stalked over to her.

He stopped less than a foot away, his breath hot on her face. "The Jotun has coddled you because of his feelings for you. I am your master. It is my duty to train you without mercy so that you will not fail." His dark eyes were hard. "You cannot fail Merlin. Not with what waits on the horizon."

Under his steady regard Cassandra flinched. He was not being cruel. He simply stated a fact. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yes, Master Wong."

The wizard nodded curtly. "Now, go."

Loki trailed after her but Master Wong called him back. "Not you, Jotun. You have your own studies to attend to."

The god ignored the wizard and followed but vanished between one step and the next. Sent back to the Mirror Dimension. With his inability to obey instructions, Cassandra got the impression Loki would be spending a lot of time there.

Cassandra retreated toward the central courtyard where the other novices were lined up in rows for drills. The instructor tossed her a staff which she caught clumsily with her right hand.

"Begin!" The instructor barked.

Cassandra watched the other novices and copied their movements. It felt awkward wielding the staff with one hand. Her movements were slow and hesitant where the others spun their staffs as quickly as fan blades.

The instructor somersaulted through the air, landing in a crouch in front of Cassandra. "Problem, novice?"

"Well-"

The staff was ripped from her hand, spun in a vicious arc, the end jabbing into her abdomen. Her air left her lungs in a rush. Cassandra dropped to her knees gasping for air.

"Wrong." The instructor clipped her in the jaw sending her tumbling to her back.

Blood filled her mouth and trickled down her chin. She'd bit her tongue.

Cassandra wheezed, her vision blurring from the pain jarring through her body. Pressing a hand to her jaw she coughed.

"Get up." The drill instructor ordered coldly.

When she didn't move right away, he struck her across the cheek with the staff. "I said get up!"

Rising on shaky limbs, anger filled her. How dare this asshole treat her like this?

Another strike, this time to her abdomen. Cassandra collapsed flat on the ground. Bile rose in her throat. Godsdamn this man was ruthless! She wanted to kick his ass.

Cassandra lifted her head and wiped her mouth and chin clean with her sleeve, an icy calm washing over her. "Yes, master."

The drill instructor punched her in the face and a dark curtain descended.

A/N: As always comment, vote, and have a great day!