Chapter twenty two

As soon as we appeared in one of the antechambers in Loki's secret hideout, I saw Sol crouched in the corner, weeping uncontrollably and quivering like a frightened baby deer. I quickly ran over to her side and started to gently pet her head, my fingers passing through the long natural tresses of her golden hair without any resistance.

"It's okay Sol, don't be scared. You aren't in any danger here."

Loki stared at me as if I had grown another head and it had started singing and telling jokes,"What is this my champion? Tenderness and care? From you? Why are you wasting your time on this broken doll? Granted, broken dolls do have their own unique charms but you seem insistent on not playing with this one. Honestly, I'm not really into second hand goods but maybe you can give her to me and I can show you how to properly play with her."

"This is my friend and my guest, not your toy. If anything happens to her, if a single hair on her body is harmed, I will immediately become your enemy. Is that clear?" my voice had become cold, so cold that they were like frost spikes that could skewer a person's heart and make them tremble in fear. It was the voice I use when I was truly angry and on the verge of doing something violent.

Loki was impervious to my intimidating voice, she didn't even blink when she heard me. She just looked at me with her head slightly tilted and her eyes flashing back and forth between me and Sol. She had the tip of her tongue stuck between her teeth and she had a slight frown on her forehead as if she was trying to think of the answer to a particularly difficult question or solve a complicated puzzle,"Is this love Tony? Do you think you love her? Well I can tell you right now that you are incapable of feeling love. You have purged that emotion from system when the gods gave you your 'gift'. The chemical has destroyed everything inside of you that it had perceived as a weakness and that included your ability to feel love. You still feel loyalty and possession, that is why your wife's betrayal hurt you so much, but apart from that you are biologically incapable of feeling love."

"I did not say anything about love, I just said that she is under my protection and you should keep away from her."

Loki shrugged noncommittally like she had stopped caring about the whole thing, "Fine, if you don't want to share your toys then I won't insist. You can keep her in your area of the hideout but make sure she doesn't wander into any of the restricted areas or I will punish her without caring if she is your toy or not, understood?" She then turned around pointed at the strange little dark elf princess, "You, pixie girl, I have observed you for a while and I must say that I am impressed with you. You have the perfect amount of intelligence, insanity and insatiable ambition. How would you like to become my apprentice?..."

Loki pulled the flabbergasted princess away while speaking to her about unlimited opportunities and unimaginable powers which made the princess's eyes shine with yearning. Eventually they were out of earshot and I was left alone with Sol who had slowly stopped trembling. She slowly raised her head and her golden eyes looked straight into my dark ones.

Her beautiful soothing voice was very quiet when she said, "Tony? Is that your name?"

Surprisingly, the first thing she asked me wasn't about what had happened but about my name which now that I think about it, I had never told her, "My name is Anthony but my friends call me Tony."

She looked towards the corridor in which Loki had disappeared into, "And is she your friend?"

"I'm sorry about whatever she did to you. Loki has a peculiar personality but she isn't particularly bad."

She looked at me with incredulity, "You say that the queen of lies and the mother of monsters isn't particularly bad? I wonder what qualifies as bad in your book."

"Trust me, you don't want to know."