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The human avoided lookingat him until a few seconds after he heard the door click shut. Both of them listened to Mika’s retreating footsteps.

When she did finally turn, Loki could only stare. Her dark eyes looked liquid to him now. The pain in his gut and chest grew unbearable.

He wanted her to come nearer.

Gods, he wanted it so badly.

He could feel a faint throbbing in his shoulder, distant still, but moving closer to the requisite nerve endings. He felt other things, too. A sharper pain lived in his leg, a duller, throbbing, more debilitating pain pulsed from the back of his head. He tried to focus on these things, to distract himself, but he could tell they’d pumped drugs into his system, like Mika said. They’d given him enough that his inhibitions were lowered past where they should be.

Or maybe that was just another excuse.

“Come here,” he said in English. “Please, cousin.”

She jerked as if she’d been stung.

He didn’t know if her reaction came from him breaking the silence, or from what he’d said. He felt her surprise at the sound of his voice, too.

She liked his accent. She thought it was sexy.

His pain worsened.

He closed his eyes, shifting his head so that his gaze aimed at the ceiling instead of at her. He thought maybe it would help if he stopped looking at her. He could still feel her light, but maybe it would help if he didn’t keep looking at her body, watching the way she moved her hands and arms, the micro-expressions on her face. Maybe he would fall back asleep.

Maybe he would go back to dreaming of her by that golden ocean.

But didn’t Mika just tell both of them he couldn’t sleep?

The next time, it was the woman who spoke.

“What is your name?” she asked.

He flinched, opening his eyes. He regretted it when his head started to throb harder in the background. Despite what he’d just been telling himself, he turned his head.

She’d moved closer to him, and now stood almost directly over where he lay.

He looked up now to see her, instead of to the side.

He could feel her thinking that he couldn’t fall asleep, either.

She felt nervous, conscious that she had to keep him awake.

He felt the bare edge of panic in her light at the thought, a worry that touched him when he realized it was for him. She was afraid she would fuck up and he would die on her watch. She was terrified of that happening, actually.

He wanted to reach a hand out to reassure her, but he didn’t.

“It’s Loki, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice slightly louder.

He felt her thinking that maybe she needed to call one of the seers back in here after all, to help keep him awake. He felt her thinking that his eyes looked unfocused, that his color looked better, but he still looked pretty out of it. He looked stunned.

Maybe even half-awake.

He heard her thinking that she really wanted to touch him.

What the hell is wrong with me?she thought.Why am I acting like this?

“I’m sorry,” he said.

His voice came out thick, borderline gruff.