Ruled

I refused to come out of my room for anything in two days. I haven't eaten or drank anything given to me either. Loki would step in every once in a while to ask why I have refused his hospitality and as always, I would refuse to speak, and he would leave angry.

I stayed under my blanket in the dark until one of his servants came in.

"Loki wishes you to dine with him."

"Tell him 'no thank you!'"

"He insists. He even picked out a nice dress for you," he said holding the dress by a hanger. He turned on the light so I can see. The light burned my eyes. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw that the servant was holding up a emerald green knee length dress. It had no sleeves, but had a black lace collar and the fabric looked velvet.

"Pretty, but I'd rather just be alone. Send my apologies." The servant put the dress down, ripped the covers off, and dragged me out of bed.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" He roughly picked me off the ground.

"I'll scream!"

"That won't be necessary, my dear," Loki said as he stepped closer and closer.

"You may leave now." The servant obeyed him and left at once.

"Now, I may sound like a broken record here, but why do you refuse to eat? More importantly, why do you refuse to join me for dinner?"

"You know why."

"Honestly, Helen. Is this about the whole Mommy-being-dead thing again? I thought you might have gotten past it by now seeing as you have no other choice. If it wasn't for me, where else would you have gone? You have no other family. Why not aid me for world conquest?"

I stayed silent. The worst of it was that he was right. Where would I have gone? No else cares about me. I had no friends or family members that I know of that aren't already dead. I don't even know who my birth father is, yet my mother said that I'm just like him.

"Does the silence mean you'll come to dinner?" All I could do was nod my head.

"Splendid. I look forward to it," he said stroking my face with the back of his hand like he always does. This time I didn't stop him or bat his hand away.

"You'd better get washed up then, you've been in your room for days, my beauty. I was getting worried about you." I nod again and fake smiled. What else could I do? I'm trapped here. Hes my guardian now.

After I showered, I returned to my room to fix my hair and makeup. I let my hair dry so that it becomes wavy, but not frizzy. Now that my hair was clean, it looked darker, almost black. I put on some nude colored stockings, and a pair of flats that match the dress. High heels was also an option, but I could never walk in them. Then again, they make me seem taller since Loki was really tall. I voted against it. Loki isn't worth sprained ankles. I sprayed myself with very little perfume. I put on a fresh coat of eyeliner on my top lid only, applied mascara, a fresh coat of dark red lipstick. I believe I'm ready.

I walk out and to my surprise, Loki was waiting.

"My word, you look astounding! I knew the dress would be perfect. It suits you," he said moving a piece of hair away from my eyes. I tried not to cringe.

"Thank you," I'll try to be on my best behavior. He offered me his arm and I hesitantly accepted. We walked into the dining area. It was a small but beautifully decorated table. It was like something you would see in a romantic scene of a Disney movie. Two lit candles with a rose in a vase separating them. There were no plates, but the silverware was perfectly in place. I was astonished.

"You should see how much your face lit up when you saw it."

"It looks wonderful," I said without thinking. We walked over to the table and he pulled out my and pushed in my chair once I sat down. Despite that he's an absolute psychopath, he was quite the gentleman. A servant came out with wine glasses. They were both filled with this red wine. We raise our glasses, but I wait until he takes a sip first.

"I'm not trying to poison you, my dear." He takes his sip and looks at me to prove that he hasn't been going into convulsions due t poisoning. So I take a sip. The taste was sweet and had an oaky finish.

"I knew you'd like the wine. You like things that are sweet, a bit of a 'sweet tooth.'"

"How did you know?"

"I know a lot of things about you. Your favorite color is red, you favorite movie is Night of the Living Dead, you wanted to be an artist when you were little and you still do, your middle name is Annabelle, your favorite author is Edgar Allen Poe, and you sometimes feel like no one really understands you. Do you feel alone, Helen?" Its amazing how he knew all of this. I want to ask how he knows, but I'll wait until later.

"Sometimes I do. My mom was all I had. I never had a father, siblings, grandparents, or any friends."

"Well, I'm your friend. At least I hope so," he said taking a sip of his wine, which looked blood red. I nod and smiled at him. His smile toward me was bright and seemed genuine, but him being the God of lying and what not, I seriously doubt it was.

"Do you really think of me as a friend, Helen?" I was stunned.

"I can read minds, you know?" Well that explains a lot. That explains why he knows so much about me without me telling him.

"I didn't read your mind to find out those things about you. I read your baby book that your mother kept away. It was quite adorable. You were a charming child," he said taking another sip of his wine.

"Are you going to read my mind all the time now?"

"I've been reading your mind ever since we brought you onto the Helicarrier. Usually Midgardians are so easy to read. You were particularly difficult, very composed. So I peeped into your mind."

"Can you control people with you mind?"

"I can, but I will not take away your free will."

"It feels like you have...." Loki set his wine glass down and stared at me really confused.

"And why is that?"

"Well, I should be hating you for what you did to me, but instead I feel nothing. Like nothing else exists. Instead of the pure hatred I felt before, I feel a sense of gratitude."

"Gratitude? Are you insinuating that you hated your mother?"

"Of course not! I loved her more than anything else in this universe!"

"Then why do you no longer hate me?"

"Because you were right when you said I had nowhere else to go. You could've left me there, but you didn't. You took me with you. I know its for whatever diabolical plan that you might be hatching, but I thought that I should at least be a little grateful."

"Well I'm glad you see things much more clearly now. And believe me when I say, if I controlled you, you would know," he said as he sipped some more wine and winked at me.

I now felt a sudden urge to go over there and kiss him, but I remained seated. He kept staring me down. I tried to keep my composure. He gave me a crooked smile and my composure had faltered. I stood up, slowly walked over, and leaned in. Our lips met. It was brief, but I liked it. Then, I felt a swift pang of wrongness hit me in the gut. I quickly sat back down and slunked in my seat.

"See? I told you. If I wanted to control you, I could. But I choose not to. This was the exception to give a demonstration. I must admit, you're harder to control than I expected."

"Then, don't expect something. You'll only end up disappointed." He looked confused again, yet intrigued.

"You're not going to storm off to your room?"

"I figured, whats the point? You'll just come after me."

"Would I now?"

"Well, wouldn't you? For some reason you have an interest in me or my powers, I should say."

"You're very intuitive, Miss Sherman. I suppose your right, except for one thing. I am only interested in your powers for my plans, my interest in you generally is quite different."

"How so," I asked and took a sip of wine.

"Well I find you strong, passionate, and might I say very stunning. Not to mention you've certainly proved your intelligence. You're very bright."

"Flattery gets you nowhere, Loki."

"Wrong again, my dear. Flattery gets you almost everywhere."

"Hm... interesting," I smiled. This time it wasn't fake, it was a real genuine smile.

"You certainly are very interesting. I suppose we should eat now."

"We should, I'm starving." Loki chuckled.

"I suppose you would be, considering you haven't eaten anything in days."

A servant came out with one large plate and served us our food. It tasted like chicken or some sort of bird, but it was delicious. Loki certainly has great taste.

After dinner, we talked about our childhoods. He talked about how Thor beat him in every game dealing with physical endurance and strength, but when it came to cunning and using your brain, Loki beat Thor to the quick. This night was actually really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I've never had a good conversation until tonight. I'm glad we didn't bother with conversation about art and politics like people usually would at dinners like this.

"Did you enjoy this evening with me?"

"I did as a matter of fact. Did you?"

"I really have. I hope we can do this again soon."

"Not that I have a choice. We live together now," I laughed.

"Touche. So, what shall we do next?"

"I don't know. Got any board games? Dominoes"

"Board games? Dominoes? You're not a child anymore, Helen. What do you really want to do?" I paused for a second to think. There was one thing I really wanted to do. As soon as I looked up at Loki, I saw his crooked smile again. I probably knew. I took my chair and placed it right next to him. I saw his hand and I reached for it. His hand was soft, but really cold. I placed my head on his shoulder. With his free hand, he lifted my head and kissed me lightly. Again, it was brief, but I liked it.