King Loki

Chapter 17
"Tell me more about your magic? Did someone teach you?" Loki asked Cephera. He watched her pick at the remainder of her supper. He had taken notice that she was a picky eater, though she didn't complain about the things he had ordered brought to the table. She always found something among it to eat.
He watched her face after he'd ask his question. It wasn't so much a get to know you conversation, it was more to understand her power. By the look on her face she was contemplating what to say.
"I'm was not taught." She finally said raising her face to look across the table at him. "I was born with my gift." She pursed her lips her eyebrows knitting together.
"But?" Loki urged her to say whatever was on her mind.
"I didn't know about it till much later in my life. We thought I was human for many years until I ceased to grow old. Before long I began to embrace this odd feeling I had inside me. A feeling of strength I couldn't quite understand." She frowned.
Did the discovery of her power not please her?
"Why do you frown at the memory?" He bent forward leaning on the table.
"It took me many years to understand what it was my powers did and I acquired a taste for wanting more. I yearned to know more, but...," she turned her face away. "The option became closed to me over time." She abruptly stood from her chair.
Loki watched her turn from him. Cutting off her willingness to continue her tale. "Where do you think you are going?" He asked her. Any movement she was just about to make was stalled, her shoulders heavy with a sigh.
"When will Captain Roger return?" She asked. She'd been a tad aloft since her meeting with Tony and Loki was curious about what they'd spoken about. He'd kept his word, their conversation stayed private, though he'd been hoping to get something out of her. Alas, she was content to stay tight lipped about her dealings with an old friend.
"Are you sick of spending quality time with me?" He asked her, teasing her really. He enjoyed the way her cheeks flushed.
Something was weighing on her mind. He could see it in the way she would contemplate her answer to his every question. It had been like this for two days now.
"I would not call servitude 'quality time'. The only reason you dine with me at all or have me at your side is because you do not trust me to be left alone." She sat back in her chair and once again looked at him directly.
"Are you sure that is the only reason?" He asked her, licking his lips. "I can certainly name a few more, far interesting, reasons." Loki couldn't help but chuckle at the look she threw his way.
Her eyes were half narrowed, her lips pushed together, all the while shaking her head at him. "Your attempt to butter me up is not at all working." She warned him.
"Very well. I can see you are of a mood today. Such a mood I've witnessed in you the first day I revealed myself as Lana, and now from your visit to Stark. I shall think hard about allowing a next visit if this is what will emerge from that room." Loki dropped his smile. He strengthened his features to mask a more serious expression, though he was still just teasing her.
She signed once more but again her lips stayed sealed on any thoughts she might be having. She really was in quite a different sort of mood. Loki wasn't sure he liked it, despite the teasing.
XxX
The Captain returned from his scouting mission and Cephera's training continued, but so did Loki's attempt to reel her in. He needed to capture her trust, her loyalty. The best way for that was through her heart.
Loki would be lying to himself if he said he didn't yearn for a woman at his side. He was lonely and Cephera was the only one of current note to fill the void. No human would do and he was beyond knowing when he might meet another female whose life resembled his own. For now Cephera was his only available target.
Over the course of a mere few days her mood shifted back to a more relaxed mode. He made small talk when they ate and she participated. This time was a little less prying with his questions. A little less personal. Loki had always been good at reading people, at knowing which buttons were best pushed and when to push them.
Loki touched on the wrong subject on her moodiest of days and he wouldn't repeat that mistake. The origins of her power would remain a firm mystery until he had her trust.
Loki could have given her more time to adjust, but in all honesty he wasn't sure how much time he had to work with. How long could he hold on to Earth before something went horribly wrong?
He hated to think about it, but he was not stupid enough to not think of the possibility. He had plans for most outcomes, but there were still some gapes he didn't know how to close.
So with each passing day Loki worked his charm the best he knew how. Wooing a woman was never on his list of priorities, and having been a prince of Asgard, he hadn't really needed to do so to get what he wanted. This was different, Cephera was not a woman who sought him out of her own choosing. He needed to work for this, and work he would.

Notes