Proposition

The Storm

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when I was jostled awake, harsh yells of my name pulling from the some of the best sleep I had had since the baby had grown so big.

"What?" I grumbled, opening my eyes to see the blurry figure of Loki looming over me, "what is it?"

"You have to get up and come with me."

"Why?" I frowned, awkwardly pushing myself into sitting then rubbing my eyes.

"Don't ask questions, just do it."

Outside, someone ran past the door, yelling orders to another in a frantic manner as a thunder of footsteps echoed behind.

Loki's eyes flickered towards the door and his expression was a momentary twist of anxiousness before going hard-set and full of determination, turning away from the bed he strode across the room and grabbed a green robe that I had discarded on the floor and threw it towards me on the bed.

"Loki, what is going on?" I asked in a sudden panic, moving as quickly as I could to get out of the bed and pull on the almost too sheer robe that was obviously more a piece for the bedroom than outside.

"I'll explain, just come on."

He took hold of my wrist, not gently but not too firmly and led me outside.

I struggled to keep up but did my best to without complaining, my worry over what was happening too great to want to interrupt his concentration.

As we entered the hallway that led to the main areas of the palace workers rushed past us in a flurry of panic, guards were trailing up and down the hall to bang on doors and order people to leave their occupied rooms or tasks to follow the crowd of concerned faces.

The whispers and mumbles of everyone heading in our direction collected into one low hum of sound, everyone trying to decipher what was happening.

An uncomfortable knot, that wasn't pregnancy related for once, tightened in my stomach and I looked up at Loki who was focused dead ahead and weaving us through the crowd, he looked pensive and tense which put me further on edge but I didn't dare distract him.

We continued on through the crowd in a tense silence that I wanted to break but was too fearful to.

After what felt like hours of walking, Loki led me through the main hall, which seemed considerably eerier when no one else was about to liven the place up, to a hidden doorway that was shielded from sight by blending into the wall so well you'd have to squint to see the difference, this door opened into a deep tunnel that I initially assumed to be a passage the servers used, instead down that tunnel was room.

Inside there was a small single person bed, another closed door and a set of books hung on the wall.

Gently, he eased me into sitting down on the bed and I felt the instant relief of taking the weight off my feet.

"You need to stay here," he said softly, his eyebrows knitted together.

"What's going on?"

"Asgard is under attack, this is one of many hidden rooms we use for only the more dire of situations and we can't escape," he glanced over his shoulder quickly before looking back at me, "usually under these circumstances we'd be getting everyone out, but I don't think you'll get far in your condition so we're bringing you and your friend here."

"But Loki-"

"You'll both be safe, I promise."

As if on cue, the door opened and Ezabella stepped inside looking ashen and terrified.

The guard who had led her looked to Loki and nodded, who gave a dip of his head in return before turning back to me.

"I have to go, you two stay here and I'll come back for you."