four
"it's too late, it's too late"

"Cloris, hurry up!" Lusine commands as the younger woman scurries around her, as jumpy as the fool who read horror in the dark of night.

Lusine watches her and takes in her delightful features. She was a petite girl with a small button nose, curly dark brown hair and tan skin. Short, but not as skinny as Lusine had thought she'd be for a servant girl. It made her a little happier to see a girl who wasn't so resistant to food. A woman who liked her food was a woman to love. As Cloris worked Lusine found that she couldn't help but watch her.

"Cloris, I do love your curly hair," She complimented, the intention genuine, though the light blush that freshly coated the maid's cheeks might have indicated she thought otherwise. Perhaps a ploy to humiliate her for a little bit of light entertainment. However, this was not the case.

"Thank you, Lusine," Cloris smiles, her plump pink lips turning at the corners in a fashion that made Lusine almost glad she'd uttered the compliment. "The curls are often more of a curse than a blessing."

"How so? They look stunning," Lusine winds her index finger through one of the dark curls, twisting it between finger and thumb as Cloris sorted out the skirt of her deep purple dress.

"Curls and a hair brush do not mix. If I try and brush my hair it turns into a complete mess."

"That's a pity, it's so beautiful and yet so resilient," Lusine says quietly. Cloris stands up but Lusine does not let the curl drop from between her fingers. Cloris feels her cheeks heating up to a vibrant red as she brushes the hair from Lusine's face and into its picture-perfect place.

Cloris looks into Lusine's eyes for a moment with a ghost of a smile on her lips. "You'd be a good mother, Lusine."

"No, no, I'd be a dreadful mother. As my mother said earlier, I can barely look after my wolves, let alone a child." Lusine drops the curl and turns her back on Cloris. "Brush out my hair, it's got a few knots in it."

"Of course," Cloris nods her head as she takes the wooden brush into her hand. Delicately she begins to pull the brush through Lusine's glossy locks. "I still think that you're going to be a brilliant mother when you're older. You can be quite the caring woman when you want to be."

"You think I'm not caring?" Lusine's eyebrows raise at the sudden boldness of the shy maid she had first encountered.

"No, you are," The maid says, "You just have an odd way of showing your interest or care for someone."

"I do not understand, Cloris. Please, explain what you mean." Lusine folds her hands across her stomach and taps her fingertips on the purple fabric of the gown, unable to image herself ever carrying a child.

"The way you show your feelings and care for someone is not the conventional way of doing so," Cloris says, pulling the brush through the final section of hair and setting the brush back down. Lusine, knowing that she was done, turns back around to face Cloris. "You're sarcastic and witty to everyone, but to those you care about you're slightly wittier. It's difficult to explain, Lusine, but you just seem to put that little bit of extra thought into the way you insult them."

"I still don't understand."

"Take your brother Lycus as an example. It is obvious that you care for him and you love him undeniably, but you drive the poor man insane sometimes. Your comments are designed to irritate him and, more often than not, you succeed in cooking up his anger so much so that he strikes out at you," Cloris explains, her eyes darting away from Lusine to the clock on the wall. "We do not have much time until you need to be at the feast."

"I don't care about the feast. I want to understand what you're saying to me," Lusine says as she sharply grabs a hold of Cloris' chin to force her to look directly at her. "So, tell me what you mean, and do it quick."

"I shall be as quick as time allows," Cloris says quietly, her confidence dying out like an old flame with the new intimidation from Lusine. "What I'm trying to say it that you care about people more than you think you do."

"You're mistaken, Cloris." She drops her hand back into her lap.

"Pardon?" Cloris chokes out, her breath hitching in her throat as she sees the new-found darkness in Lusine's eyes.

"I have a meal to attend. Have my bed clean and ready by the time I return. If I find you've been slacking I will not hesitate to strangle you with those dirty bed sheets."

"Yes, Princess Lusine." Cloris turns away from Lusine, tears beginning to bubble up in her eyes.

Lusine rolls her eyes at the petty woman wishing that she had left her behind. Perhaps she would end up killing her if she carried on in such an aggravating way.

-

-

"Sister, how lovely of you to finally emerge from your chambers!" Lycus says loudly as he hooks his arm through Lusine's. He had been waiting for her so that they could walk to the feast together and secretly Lusine was grateful of this. There was something sad about entering the feasting hall alone.

"It's not my fault that I chose such a talkative hand-maiden. All she does it talk about you and feelings," Lusine grumbles distastefully. "And you know how I don't mix with intimate conversations."

"It's no secret that you hate to talk about your feelings. I know that first hand; I have the bruises to show it," He jokes, nudging Lusine with his elbow. Lusine looks away from him, her lips pulling thin. "At least try and enjoy your time in Asgard, sister."

"I'll try to, brother. Know that I will honestly try to have a good time here," Lusine promises, her fingers closing around Lycus' arm tightly as they approach the doors of the feast hall.

"I'm glad," Lycus says looking down at his glum sister. "Now, smile for the Asgardians."

"Oh brother, you know they'll be enchanted by us even if we do not smile."

As a woman who'd been known for her beauty for years, she knew this to be true. There was little she could do to prevent gawking eyes and wandering hands. She'd tried slicing hands off, cutting out tongues, but nothing worked to warn off others. So, in the end, she embraced it and made herself superior to those low-lives who dared reach out to touch her. Made herself beyond them.

"At least try to be modest for once, Lusine." Lycus laughs as the guards push open the grand doors. "You might just find a miracle happens."

"Miracles are just a fabric of our imagination. Everything good happens because someone made it happen, not fate," Lusine says

"You're a terrible downer, Lusine. Now, if you excuse me, I have the ever lovely Pelia to attend to," He says, grinning like a fool dosed up on fine wine as he unlinks his arm from Lusine and strides across the room to where his pilot lover sits beside his mother.

"Great," Lusine sighs, rolling her eyes at her love-sick brother, "I love these tedious feasts where I know only my family," she mutters to herself, lacing her hands together before herself and glancing around the room.

"You know me," The familiar, charming voice came from behind her.

"Loki, I wouldn't call being caught murdering someone knowing me," Lusine says shortly, turning around to face him.

To her surprise he was stood closer than she thought he would be. She found herself staring into his striking green eyes, flecked with colours she didn't like to keep staring at. 

"Perhaps it doesn't, but I believe that it does give me an idea of who you are and what you're capable of," He replies, the smirk growing on his lips as he catches her analysing his every move. Lusine's lips turn up into what could be seen as a smile. "Come and sit with me, Lusine, or would you rather go and sit with your brother and his sickening lover and your mother with her judgemental ways and your father who seems to be drinking way too much way too soon?"

"I'd be careful with how you insult my family," Lusine looks away from him, to where her family sits. "But I will sit with you. I'd be a fool to turn down the God of Mischief and Lies."

"And I'd be a fool not to ask the Goddess of Chaos to dine with me," Loki says, looking at her with glimmering eyes. "Especially when she looks so ravishing."

"You're pushing it," Lusine dismisses his attempts to flirt immediately. "Can we go and get some food? I'm starving."

-

1306 words

I would totally sit with loki any time. I don't blame lusine for agreeing to sit with him.

happy holidays! (MERRY CHRISTMAS) I'll be updating twice today for the Christmas Day. I'll be updating Queen later on!

love, lau. f

new word count: 1501
edited: 8.8.18