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Myriad Misadventures - Chapter 59

The Myriad Misadventures of a Midgardian Queen-In-Training - Chapter 59

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Word Count: 1399

Pairing: Loki/Reader

Rating: T

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added!): @lokis-girl-in-mischief

Chapter 59

You recognize the voice, but the tone takes you by surprise. You jerk your shoulder away, and quiet down the sobs just long enough to spit at her, “Go to hell, Rosa.”

She tsks, and tries again with a hand under your elbow. “Come on, let’s get you up.”

“Leave me alone.”

“Not a chance.”

You let her help you to stand, and lead you up the staircase towards her room.

She lends you a pair of her pajamas. She plops you down on the bed. Somehow, you manage to explain it all— I love you , your family, his dismissal, everything but his confession of the mind-control—without her even laughing once. It feels surreal, how gentle she’s being, how kind. You’re reminded of the time she spiked your drink at dinner, but somehow this feels more sincere.

Rosa lets out a low whistle once you’ve finished. “That sucks.”

“Yeah.” You sniff once, giving her a look of reproach. “Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden? After all this time? I thought you wanted me gone, like, yesterday.”

She’s quiet for a long, long time. Just as you’re beginning to fear you might have broken her, she reaches into the neckline of her gown, and brings out the chain she’s always worn. It’s longer than you’d expected—after all, she’d always worn it with the pendant hidden.

But now you see that the pendant isn’t a pendant at all. It’s a ring.

“I didn’t want to come either, (Y/N).” She unhooks the clasp and takes off the ring, dropping it in your palm.

“You’re married? ”

Rosa shakes her head. “Engaged.”

“Wow.” You hand the ring back to her. “You came anyway? No judgement,” you add hastily. “But...that must have felt impossible.”

“We weren’t wealthy, my family. Neither was Nico—My fiancé. Nicolas.” She stares straight ahead, rolling the ring between her thumb and forefinger absently, as though out of habit. “He made me promise I’d try. For a better life. For a way up in the world.”

You wrinkle her nose. “You’re still here, aren’t you?”

“You think I tried?” Rosa snaps, the familiar fire back in full force. “You’ve seen the front I put up. Catty. Aloof. Wild. Not queenly at all.” She takes a deep breath. “Sorry. Habit.” “Point taken.”

“And all this time, I’ve just been waiting. Waiting for His Majesty to find out and send me home.” Her eyes well up, and she swallows thickly. “He married someone else, you know. Nico. I found out when we went home last month.” A bitter laugh escapes her throat. “This contest is all I have left.”

You don’t know what to say to that. Part of you wants to still comfort her. But no matter how vulnerable this new Rosa may seem, there’s still a steeliness in her eyes that makes you shy away from displays of affection. Seeing her as a viable candidate for friendship is going to take some getting used to.

Luckily, you don’t have to make a decision on whether or not to reach out, because after taking a moment to compose herself, Rosa speaks up again. “So. He dropped the L bomb, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“You gonna say it back?”

“I want to. But I’m scared. What if I say it and then as soon as I do, I want to take it back?”

“Close your eyes,” she says. You obey. “Over the past few months, maybe the last year, how would you describe your opinion of him?”

You purse your lips. “He’s arrogant.”

“And?”

“Crazy,” you say jokingly. “And he’s got a God complex bigger than your ego.”

“Hey!”

You smile at the sound of her protest. “I’m kidding. That’s what I used to think, before...you know, before. He’s different in person. He’s funny, and charming, and kind. And...softer, I guess, than I’d expected.”

“And?” she prompts.

“And?” What more is she looking for?

“Do you still love him?”

Your eyes flutter open. “I…” You look down at your hands. “Look, I know what I said before. And I still feel that way - I think - but you were a teenager once. You know how it is. I can feel one way one minute and do an emotional one-eighty a minute later. But I still feel something for him. Even when I’m tempted to shove him out a window, I still feel something for him. If that’s love, then yes. But I don’t have any experience in this - I have no idea what it’s supposed to be like.”

“Nobody has any idea what love’s supposed to feel like, (Y/N). It’s different every time. But…” She chuckles. “If you can want to throw things at him and still love him, then yeah, there’s a pretty good chance that your feelings are legit.”

“I need to tell him.” You stand up, ready to go, but then… You stop, and turn to look at them. “Is that okay?”

“Okay? Of course it’s okay .”

“Right.” You bite your lip. “What if it’s too late? What if I messed everything up, and he doesn’t say it back, and—

“So?” Rosa gives you her signature shrug, but her eyes, still glistening with tears, are the most sincere you’ve ever seen them. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s that you can’t hide your feelings from the world and still hope for a happy ending.”

It’s all the encouragement you need.

*************************************************

You take off down the hall in Rosa’s too-long pajama pants. You need to do this before you overthink it. If you tell him it’s time, tell him you’re ready, tell him yes —

Your family. Your friends. Your life, already unrecognizable from what it was three years ago, will begin again in an entirely new direction.

Wife.

Queen.

It’s a lot to think about, hence the running. You don’t want to give yourself enough time to change your mind.

You reach his office just as the door swings open, revealing Rhea on her way out. You curtsy to her as you did before, though with substantially more energy. She gives you an odd look, but who cares? You have more important things to worry about.

“Loki!”

You’re red-cheeked and out of breath, and your heart is so light and so warm with excitement that when you see him, turning around to look at you, you think you might just float away.

“I have to tell you something.”

“And I you.” His tone is somber, but that’s to be expected, right? After all, you just rejected him. He doesn’t know that you’re about to un-reject him.

“Is it okay if I go first?” If you don’t get this out soon, you’ll lose the nerve. “It’s important.”

“Please, (Y/N)—”

“I love you.”

The relief is instantaneous, and more powerful than you could have predicted, confirming what you’ve been refusing to admit to yourself all these months.

“You—”

“—love. You.” You barely pause to breathe, the words tumbling forth without inhibition. “And I’m not going anywhere. I’m here, I’m ready. If that means being queen, I can do that. If it means never telling anybody about the hypnotism stuff, fine, I can do it. I can try to convince my family, they’ll have to understand, I just—” The emotions welling up inside you threaten to spill over, yet after all that you can’t seem to muster any physical gesture more complicated than a shrug. “I just thought you should know.”

His eyes are wide with shock. You imagine he must be a mirror of your expression when he made the same confession earlier; the thought makes you smile even more.

He doesn’t answer, though. He doesn’t say anything.

After nearly a minute of this, you break the silence on your own. “What, um, what did you want to tell me?”

“I...must go.”

“What?”

“I must...I have some important matters to attend to.”

“Oh.” He still looks dazed; not unpleased, but unfocused. In shock, still, you suppose, but it’s a strange reaction, considering the magnitude of what you’ve just admitted. Maybe this is what you deserve, after your response earlier? “Should I go?”

He seems to snap out of it then. “Tonight is the weekly episode, yes? Of that television program, the one following the competition?”

“Yes, why?”

He just nods, and then walks out the door.

You blink.

Well...that was odd.