“I love your evil side,” I confess, my eyes brimming with tears.
“Tell me,” Loki says.
“The way you use your darkness is beautiful. It’s not all sass and humor, but rich and visceral. It’s not just that you are cunning. It’s that you reinvented the meaning of cunning. Your lies lead to truth, sure, but this involves opening my wounds, cleansing and cauterizing them. It’s not fun, but it’s brilliant.”
“Thank you for appreciating me,” he says, a slight snarl curling his lip.
“You’re the most beautiful monster.”
“You shouldn’t do that,” he says sardonically.
“What?”
“Relate.”
“I can’t help it. It’s not that I enjoy everything, but I am willing to see the beauty of it, the genius.”
His fingers unwrap from around my arms, and I melt into him, aware that my life is in his hands as much as my own.