#thor quietly confesses he wants loki to rule by his side and loki immediately is *hearteyes* *cups thor's face* ''i dibs being king''

[worstloki]

trying to explain to people that the ultimate dynamic is tiny twink loki smugly being king of asgard while big strong thor with blood splattered over his face is queen of asgard

[avengershumanresources]

blood 1 - Strange/Stark!Reader

Relationship: Dr. Strange/Princess!Stark!Reader

Rating: M

Warnings: Adult Themes, eventual smut (like, wayyy down the line), adult language, implied sexual violence, general violence

Synopsis: Reader is the daughter of the legendary King Anthony Stark, Uniter of Lands, The Iron Defender, and leader of the realm. When the king disappears during battle, hope is lost and he is presumed dead.

When the late king’s uncle, Obadiah, takes the throne until your brother Peter is of age, he quickly arranges a marriage for you with a wicked king in a neighboring kingdom.

With the realms politics in question, and rumors of an upcoming siege to overthrow Peter’s rule before it starts, you quickly learn who is loyal to the crown and who is not.

Masterlist 

Chapter Playlist

1 - an empty grave

Cast:

The Royal House Stark:

King Obadiah Stark (Obadiah Stane)

King Anthony Stark (presumed dead)

Queen Virginia Stark (Pepper)

The Late Queen Alexandra Stark (your mother)

Princess Stark!Reader- you

Prince Peter Stark (Peter Parker)

Princess Morgan Stark

Knights:

Sir Samuel Wilson

Sir Steven Rogers

Sir Clinton Barton

Spellcasters/Master Sorcerers/Sorceresses:

Stephen Strange

Wanda Maximoff

Master Wong

Loyal to House Stark:

Natalia Romanoff (Natasha)- Assassin

James Barnes- her partner

Prince Thor- of Asgard, United with Stark’s kingdom

Prince Loki- of Asgard

Lady Brunhilde- of Asgard

Lady Sif- of Asgard

King T’Challa- of Wakanda

Princess Shuri- of Wakanda

(---) 

In a final twist of irony, the day of the funeral was bright and warm. 

You’d stood quietly while the priest recited his words, while candles were lit, while the Queen trembled silently next to you. You held Morgan’s hand, you listened while the choir sang, the ominous sound reverberating through your chest. 

The mourners in black whispered while the royal family walked up to an empty coffin. You touched the polished wood, fist tightening at your side. Pepper bowed her head, reciting a quiet prayer. 

How stupid. All of this was stupid. Praying to an empty box, crying over nothing. 

You kept your eyes down, lest you betray your own thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for rebellion. Not when your queen step-mother was relying so heavily on tradition and ritual to get through the day. It’d be borderline cruel to start antagonizing her in this way. 

No, you’d wait. 

Peter, your half-brother in blood but full brother in heart, touched your elbow, pulling you from your thoughts, and guiding you away from the coffin. He kept his eyes forward, expression stoic while he lead the family back to their positions in the massive cathedral. 

“They’ll pay for this,” he murmured low into your ear, as if reading your mind. The words were laced with a malice you’d never heard from the normally cheerful prince. 

You didn’t reply, instead you grabbed your younger brother’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. A silent agreement. 

The attack had been a betrayal of one of the kingdom’s oldest allies, a neighboring kingdom ruled by someone your father had once trusted with his life. 

Apparently nothing was sacred anymore. 

The funeral ended somberly, mourners murmuring amongst each other, ladies fawning over Pepper, though the queen looked none too pleased with the attention. 

You searched the crowd for a pair of familiar of blue eyes, finding their owner tucked away from the crowd in a secluded corner. He was speaking quietly to the sorceress, Wanda, his eyes flicking up to meet your gaze. With a small nod, he signaled you over.

Weaving through the mass of people, you slipped into the conversation with Wanda regarding you, frowning in sympathy.

“I’m so sorry, your highness,” she whispered, bowing her head. “Your father was a good man, and an honest king. The realm is less for this loss.”

“Thank you,” your tone was colder than you’d intended, a reflection of the bitterness taking form within. Clearing your throat, you tried again, softer and more agreeable this time. “He truly was the best of us.”

Stephen sent Wanda a quick glance and the sorceress excused herself, parting the hall in a hurry.

“You’re angry,” he noted quietly. 

“Am I?” you hummed, quirking a brow up at your friend. “I thought I was supposed to be sad?”

“You’re allowed to be angry,” he replied, folding his hands behind his back. “It just means you understand the injustice of it all.”

“Peter wants revenge,” you stated, mimicking his motion and staring out at the sea of royals and court members. 

“Understandable,” he murmured. “I imagine a number of officials feel similarly.”

“He isn’t old enough to take the throne,” you supplied. “We can’t go to war without a seated leader.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time an heir succeeded in an unorthodox manner,” he noted before turning his head to look at you. “How are you, truly?”

You opened your mouth to reply, words catching in your throat. You felt hollow. You felt like you wanted to scream until you woke up from whatever nightmare you were caught in. Your heart felt like it had been ripped from your chest and stomped on. 

“I’m not certain,” you finally confessed, hands straining against each other behind your back. “Part of me wants to ride through the night and kill that traitor. The other wants to curl on the ground and fill the empty grave myself.”

He nodded in understanding.

“Grief is a powerful thing,” he replied softly, scanning the room before turning and giving you his full attention . “Would you like hide in the observatory a while?”

You looked up to him in surprise. The room was still full of mourners, citizens, and members of the court. Your duty would be to talk to everyone as they passed, pulling the burden off of Pepper.

“Can we?” you asked, voice cracking at the thought of having to converse any further.

Stephen gave you a mischievous smirk, nudging you toward a side door of the church. You followed his lead, slipping out of sight and tucking yourselves away from the crowds inside a small alcove. 

“They’ll want to focus on Peter and the queen anyway,” he noted casually, drawing up a portal with his fingers. “No point in dwelling. I’ll tell anyone who asks that you fainted from the stress and required immediate medical attention.”

“I’m sure they’ll all believe it,” you retorted with a matching grin, taking his hand and letting him help you through the portal with all of your heavy mourning apparel. 

The observatory had been a new addition to the palace after Stephen had arrived as its master sorcerer. Before, it’d been an abandoned archer’s tower, last used by the late king’s father, Howard, as a means of defense against the previously antagonistic kingdoms. 

After King Anthony had taken the throne and negotiated trade and peace treaties with the nearby kings, the reinforcements had largely been forgotten. 

Stephen had suggested it as an ideal place to study the cosmos above, and after some urging on your part, your father agreed to let the two of you repair the small space. When the foundation had been fixed to his specifications, Stephen added another enchantment to increase the size internally.

From there, the two of you worked to fill the space with objects of learning and interest. 

The walls had been lined with stacks of books, maps of the universe, and healing runes. Tables had been set with with all sorts of alchemical experiments, glowing amulets, and charmed quills. A small greenhouse had been established on one of the many turret balconies, where you helped tend to some medicinal herbs and enchanted florals. 

It was a place of peace and knowledge in a world of chaos and ignorance and in it, Stephen had taken the time to teach you the secrets of the universe. It was one of the few places you knew you truly could belong without judgement. 

“I’m not convinced this isn’t sabotage,” he stated once you were alone, the glowing orange portal snapping shut behind him. 

“What makes you say that?” you asked, lifting a book, flipping through a few pages in an attempt to distract yourself from his blunt words. You agreed there was some kind of malice involved in the attack, but sabotage suggested someone within the kingdom had betrayed your father. For such as honest and good your father was, your heart couldn’t handle such a reality.

“Whispers in the village,” he answered tersely. “Wanda was giving me her report when you approached. She is traveling to the next village over as we speak.”

“Rumlow betrayed his alliance,” you replied bitterly, refusing to look up from your book, though you couldn’t tell what the thing was about. Plants? Chaos magic? “What more is there to discover?”

“Why did he do it?” he asked. “What motivation does he have to sever one of the strongest military alliances in history?” 

“Greed? We’ve had a surprise in economic activity since the scholar agreement with Wakanda,” you guessed with a shrug. “This isn’t a smart man we’re dealing with. I’m met him once before. He’s ambitious and motivated, but not particularly clever.”

“Peter is almost of age, your father has prepared him for his new role thoroughly,” he continued, pacing the space. “It doesn’t make sense. Everyone is well aware he will be of age to take the throne in six months time, and now this just ensures his placement.”

“Not everything does,” you reminded him. “You taught me that. Or don’t you remember?”

You paused after a moment, peeking up from the book after letting his words settle.

“Maybe he plans to use Peter’s inexperience against him?” you suggested quietly. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but even with the training and learning, Peter was a different person than your father, perhaps not in morals but certainly in other areas like strategy and planning. 

“I intend to get to the bottom of this,” he stated, his hand tightening at his side. You’d never seen Stephen so inflamed before. “At the very least, I can try to retrieve his body. Negotiate a dignified exchange.”

The words pierced your heart far more painfully than you’d anticipated, your hand gave a jerk and you dropped the book you’d been fidgeting with while he spoke. 

The mental image of your fathers head on a pike outside of Rumlow’s keep was enough to make you nauseous. 

“I’m sorry,” Stephen’s tone shifted at your reaction. “I’m getting ahead of myself.”

“Don’t apologize,” you assured him, clearing your throat and composing yourself. “You’re just doing your job. It’s why he trusted you to the position. You’re asking the questions that need to be asked.”

He watched you pluck the book off the ground and toss it on a nearby table with a low sigh. This was a precarious position he found himself in. 

On the one hand, he’d been appointed as the Master Sorcerer of this castle and this realm. He had an obligation to serve that role and ensure the safety of the kingdom’s inhabitants. Not to mention, his obligation as a peacekeeper in his position as Sorcerer Supreme at Kamar-Taj.

On the other, you were his dearest friend and companion, and the obvious hurt you were suffering made his other duties nearly impossible to focus on. It was no wonder Kamar-Taj frowned on intimate attachments, they did provide a distraction from the ambivalent roles sorcerers and sorceresses were bound to play. 

He wanted to serve as an unbiased judge in this troubling time, but his heart wanted him to seek justice and bring peace to your troubled mind. 

His eyes drifted to the telescope at the edge of the room and an idea hit him.

Perhaps a distraction was best for the time being? A small respite to pull away from the doom and gloom of the immediate future.

“Do you remember that star cluster I showed you last week?” he asked, hooking and arm over your shoulder and guiding you toward the window. “There’s a fascinating change that’s been occurring.”

It was still relatively bright out, though with the sun was just starting to dip over the horizon, there was enough darkness to point out the phenomena he’d discovered the night before. 

“Let me adjust-,” he tinkered with the measurements before signaling for you to lean in. “Do you see it?” 

“They’re changing color,” you noted with a small gasp of excitement. “That’s a promising omen, isn’t it?” 

Your expression had brightened considerably when you looked up at him. 

“It is,” he nodded. “The specific colors suggest a period of tranquility and prosperity after a short struggle.”

“Then maybe it isn’t all terrible,” you tried voicing optimistically. It sounded strange, like you still weren’t entirely convinced, but the evidence was clear before you. 

Stephen knew the stars never lied and had taught you as much over the time you’d spent together. 

You sighed sadly, giving the stars another peek and shaking your head when you pulled away. 

“I miss him,” you murmured, looking up at Stephen miserably. 

The sorcerer frowned sympathetically, before he moved toward you and pulled you into a tight embrace.

You pressed your cheek against his chest and allowed his arms to wrap around you. 

“I know,” he replied softly, resting his chin on your head. “Just know he loved you very much, and wouldn’t want to see you so hurt on his behalf."

That seemed to break something in you, and you buried your forehead into his chest, shaking with suppressed sobs and held back tears until finally you choked out a wave of emotions all at once.

He spent an hour sitting with you while you cried into his tunic, yelling about how angry you were to how miserable all of this made you feel. He listened, offering a handkerchief and when you started to calm down, summoned a fresh pot of herbal tea.

“We will find answers,” he stated, blowing gently over the steaming cup in his hand. 

“You sound so sure,” you noted with a bitter chuckle, eyes swollen and red from your tears.

“I’ve tampered with seeing the future from time to time,” he replied cheekily. “Perhaps I’ve had a vision?”

“And what did that vision show you?” you pressed, playing along with a ghost of a smile behind your own cup. 

“We win,” Stephen replied firmly, his expression falling serious.

“Doesn’t feel like it,” you confessed quietly. 

“Victory seldom does,” he watched you take a sip of your tea. You closed your eyes and relaxed your shoulders with the calming scent.

You opened your mouth to ask him a question when a knock at the observatory door broke the small spell of peace that’d fallen over the space.

“I’ve got it,” he gestured for you to stay seated, moving toward the door and slowly peeling it open. 

It wasn’t that he was overtly concerned for your safety, but given recent events, Stephen didn’t want to be lax in covering all possibilities. The world had gone mad and he wouldn’t put an assassin with a dagger outside the realm of potential visitors.

“Is the princess here?” Loki, Prince of Asgard, asked with a tone laced with annoyance upon Stephen’s appearance. 

“Loki?” you must have heard his voice and stood, setting your cup aside. “Stephen, let him in. It’s okay.”

With a glare at the prince, Stephen stepped aside and allowed the emerald clad royal through. 

He didn’t like outsiders in the observatory. Especially when you were around. 

It made him especially uneasy inviting another magic user inside, where they could potentially measure its wards and security for later aggression. 

“Peter mentioned you might be here,” Loki glanced around the room, arms folded behind his back. “I apologize if I’m intruding.”

That last part was directed toward Stephen with the smallest smirk. 

“No, it’s okay, we were just having tea,” you replied quickly, gesturing to the steaming pot on the table. “Could I make you a cup-?”

“No-,” he cut her off and cleared his throat apologetically. “I’ve come to say farewell. My father is ordering the borders to Asgard closed until Rumlow’s nation offers an explanation to this… tragedy.”

“I see,” your expression fell at the news. 

Certainly Asgard closing its borders was a worrisome sign. They were the kingdom’s greatest allies and largest trading partners. The effects of such a move would be felt for quite some time, both in security and in the local economy. 

“I’ll write,” he promised with a curt bow. “Don’t fall behind in your studies. I’ll be testing you the next time we meet.”

You smiled before he took your hand for a brief kiss on the knuckles. Rolling your eyes, you pulled away and threw your arms around his shoulder in a hug. 

“What a sad parting,” you laughed at his bewildered reaction. “And you’re going to kiss my knuckles like we haven’t known one another for years? On the day of my father’s funeral? Unacceptable.”

He barked out a small laugh, reciprocating the embrace with an arm before pulling away. 

“Stay safe,” he urged her before looking up at Stephen with a steely gaze. “Do well to keep her protected, Sorcerer.” 

“Always,” Stephen answered tersely, a little offended at the prince’s casual disregard for his abilities. He’d always kept you safe, and had absolutely no intention of letting that guard slip now. 

“Travel safely,” you called after him and he gave a final wave before pausing in the doorway when Stephen moved to close the door.

“Keep her close,” Loki warned quietly, the smirk disappearing completely. “There are whispers in the village of treachery and assassination. Do not let anyone have the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.”

“My associates are building wards around the castle and her quarters as we speak,” Stephen replied in agreement, a quick glance in your direction to ensure you weren’t listening. 

“The tea was a nice touch,” Loki noted with a hum. Stephen nodded curtly. 

The tea had a protection enchantment included in the mixture of herbs. Something small, but effective if you found yourself in danger without him, Wong, or Wanda nearby.

“Be well,” Stephen closed the door once Loki was out of sight, turning and finding you digging through his trunk of cloaks at the back of the room. “What are you doing?”

“I want to see Natalia and James,” you answered, pulling out a large blue cloak and holding it to your shoulders. 

“Absolutely not,” he crossed his arms. “Your father was just killed, possibly murdered. You’re not going to the village unprotected.”

“That’s why you’re coming,” you threw a crimson cloak in his direction, fastening the blue one over your shoulders. 

“Did you miss the part where I said murdered?” he asked in disbelief. 

“Then it’s a good think I’m friends with assassins,” you chimed back, pulling the hood of the cloak over your head. “They might be able to tell us something.”

“I’m sure Wanda and Wong have already talked to them,” he shot back, folding the cloak over is arm. “You should stay at the castle, at least for tonight.”

“You already know I’m going to go regardless,” you replied. 

“Because you’re a headstrong idiot,” he sighed, reluctantly pulling the cloak over is shoulders. “Who clearly has a death wish. What if your family comes looking for you?”

“They won’t,” you answered with a confident grin. “Mother is going to be with Morgan and Peter is going to lock himself away in the armory or training fields until the knights give up and make him retire to his chambers.”

“You’re so confident in your knowledge of the castle,” Stephen snorted, tying the cloak around him. 

“It’s what happens when you’re the eldest daughter of a king,” you replied, patting him on the shoulder. “You see everyone, but no one sees you.” 

“Poetic.”

“Also, you owe me an ale for enchanting my tea,” you quirked a brow toward him when he stammered back a response. “Didn’t think I would notice?”

“I’m losing my touch,” he sighed, waving a hand and summoning a bag of coin.

“No, you’re just turning into a fussy mother hen,” you grinned, the smile looking far more relieving than the grief he know you wore on the inside. “It’s endearing.”

Wha danger was a short outing for the evening? It was arguably safer in a crowd than alone in her chambers, especially while Wong was still working on the wards.

Besides, the assassins you’d found friendship in would do well to keep threats away as well.

And while Stephen pondered this thought, you were already part-way out of the room and headed toward one of the hidden passages in the hall. 

(---)

2 - a night at the pub

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[imagine-loki]

Pride and Prejudice

TITLE: Pride and Prejudice CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 16 AUTHOR: wolfpawn

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki was raised on Jotunheim as Laufey’s son after the war, but an agreement was then made that he would wed Odin’s daughter so Odin could secure the alliance of Jotunheim through the marriage. Loki, in turn, was raised to be king of Jotunheim, but how he views Asgard is far different from how Odin’s daughter is raised leading to a clash of cultures as well as uncertainty between the pair of betrothed youths.     RATING: Mature   NOTES/WARNINGS: Forced Marriage, not all fun and games. My first real step back into the Loki scene in over a year.

Tags - @skulliebythesea @asimovethroughthisworld @blackcherry26-blog

Ella walked towards her father, his guards around her. It felt wrong. She felt herself being pulled back towards the ice palace. When she met her father’s eye, she could see that he noticed it too.

“This needs to be done.” He all but whispered.

“Nothing ever really needs to be done, you know that.” She stated quietly.

“I am not risking you dying, not for this.”

“Did you ever do something twice, having failed the first time?” Odin nodded. “Having been in serious risk of meeting your demise in the process?” Again, he nodded. “But you did it?”

“It was my duty.” She raised a brow at him. “Why do you think it is a failure to walk away from this?”

“Because I know I can do more.”

“He does not love you. He will never love you, he loathes us all.”

“I know, but this is more than just him.”

“Is it to spite him?” Ella snorted slightly. “Then why, help me understand, Ella?”

“I feel there is more to do. Like there is something more to keep me here.” She looked around. “I cannot explain it.”

“I cannot risk your life, Ella. Not again.” Odin looked at Loki, who was watching them both, his face showing guilt, and at Laufey, who clearly had the look of a being that had just torn strips from his son. He knew that look, he had it on more than one occasion dealing with Thor. “Not for him.”

“Papa…” Odin gave her a warning look, knowing if any were to hear, it would be deemed socially damaging. “Please.”

“I cannot permit it.”

“Then, strike the record, I am going to do something you do not permit,” she smiled.

“He does not want you. He sees this as being rid of you, finally.”

“Let us see.” She turned and walked back towards Loki, not stopping or looking elsewhere until she got to him, noting there were none close to him. “If my father had allowed me to stay after my illness, would everything have remained as it was, or would you have tried?”

“I cannot say.”

“Yes, you can. It is only you that can answer that question as only you could you have chosen to change your actions, so yes, you can answer.”

“I have not thought of it. The moment he came, the Allfather made it clear it would not be allowed.”

“You did not think to fight him on it? To argue that you could do better?”

“As you stated, it was never what I wanted, so I saw it as an end to this.” He noted the somewhat disappointed look in her features. “Why?”

“I wanted to see what sort of man you were.”

“And?”

“It appears my concern for your abilities in the bedroom was not the only area I should have been concerned about you being severely lacking.”

“You never wanted this either.”

“I did actually.” That caused him to silence. “I wanted to do my best, to not judge the man I was walking towards, to not be everything Jotunheim feared the Aesir to be. I thought I was the failure, I was not.” There was a small smile on her face, not of taunting or such, but of relieved enlightenment.

“Why did you come back here?”

“I thought I could try, try with your aid to convince my father to allow this forward, to try and better the situation. I felt as though I needed to, like I was meant to be here, but it is clear, I was foolish. I guess I hoped you would have seen I am not the monster you thought me to be and to give me a chance. How silly of me.” She curtsied.

“Father is no longer considering me to be his heir.” Ella frowned at him. “My lack of honour towards you in every manner is his reasoning, everything with…”

“Of all your faults, who you love is not your own doing, not entirely.” She responded sagely.

“We cannot help who we care for.”

“Yes, we can, because we allow them into our hearts. Take the examples of your love and I. You wanted to love her, so you let yourself open your heart to her, you could never wish to love me, so you never allowed it to be even remotely possible.”

“You never…”

“Do not assume for me, Prince Loki. I never assumed for you.” She returned before he could say any more, her words sharper than he had expected. “I am sorry that Laufey feels that way, but I can only convince my father of so much, I cannot work on yours too.” She turned to leave. “Especially now that I am no longer to be wed to you.”

“I would have.” She stopped. “If after you had recovered, the marriage was forced to be upheld, with everything I know now that I had not known or refused to acknowledge then, I would have been more open, spoken with you more. You...I forget this is different for you.”

“I think you need to go to another realm, stay there a short time and realise that everything you know, everything you think is not what those around you think, you will see then the path you must try and navigate between everything you feel defines you and what is deemed acceptable in your surrounds, you see then how little you know of the realms but also, how difficult it is to marry it all. I would think it to be an enlightening experience for you such you attempt it.”

“If I had said yes immediately, as soon as you asked, what would it have mattered?”

“Because I came back here specifically to get that answer. Our departure was delayed for it.”

“And should I have said yes?”

“Only the Norn of the realities can answer that.” She shrugged. “I tried.”

Loki thought quickly. “So if I had said yes, he would have allowed it?”

“On you saying yes, alone? No.”

“So why ask it?”

“Because added to my conviction, it may have been possible.” Loki’s eyes widened. “But you want this done, so…” She frowned as he placed her hand in his. “So desperate for a crown?”

“I am desperate to better my realm.”

“Desperate enough to endure me?”

“Desperate enough to admit my wrongdoings to better myself in any way I can for my realm.”

“So, what would you do?”

“Anything you wish, ladies, anything. Please.” She noticed the shameful look he gave his father, who continued to glare at his son, though curious to the conversation between them.

“You do not like disappointing him. That is a shared feeling between us.” Ella turned to him again. "And if he states he will not reinstate you as his heir?"

"Then I will be the best advisor to my brother that I can be."

“And her?” Loki bit the inside of his cheeks. “If you have her, am I not allowed such happiness also?” He frowned. “If you can have the one you love, should not I have the same?”

“But you…?” She raised a brow. “The agreement?”

“Only those of your blood am I permitted to carry but only I can carry those of your blood, I know the agreement.”

“But were you to take someone?”

“If you choose this, we are equal in that and almost every other manner, I will not negotiate further. Both of us or neither. And I would allow you to choose which.” She said nothing more and began to walk away.

Loki’s nostrils flared slightly. With long purposeful strides, he made his way to Ella, who was walking towards her father, a knowing smile on her face. “No other.”

“You must really want that throne.” She laughed before schooling her face to one of stoic professionalism once more. As she came to where her father stood, her seidr glowed and the Aesir garb she donned altered into the attire she wore whilst allied to Laufey’s house once more.

“When Thor defies me, it is of insolence and immature foolishness, you are following that now?”

Ella gave her father a knowing smile. “You know that is not true.”

“Well, I had nothing left but either compare you to him and make you feel insulted enough to want to not be associated with such or drag you back by the hair.” Her father growled. “Your mother will not be pleased either.”

“Tell her the Bifrost opens here very easily.”

Odin looked at Loki again. “My daughter is openly defying me to try and fix your mess, if you so much as put one more foot out of line, I swear on the Norns, it will no longer be attached to your body. She is risking her life for you,” He snarled, an anger in his features that struck fear into Loki. He looked at his daughter again. “I think you are making a terrible mistake, Ella.”

“I think I am stopping myself from making one.” She took her father’s hand. “Let us see which of us is right.”

“If I am right, you do not live. I have never wished to be wrong so greatly in my life.” He shook his head slightly. “You stress me greater than ruling a realm.”

“If not nothing else, I am good at keeping you humble.” She bowed slightly. “Allfather.”

Plagued by uncertainty, Odin stepped a few steps further back and called his guards to his side. Loki watched as one passed by, his gaze on Ella for a moment before he fixed a glare upon him. Slightly puzzled, Loki returned his glare in kind before the blinding light of the Bifrost carried all but one Aesir from Jotunheim.

Turning to head to the palace once more, Ella made her way through the deep snow, her heart feeling lighter. Laufey waited for her to stand in front of him again. “I hope you do not mind my staying, My King.”

“Jotunheim would be lucky for you to never leave.” Laufey chuckled before his face became serious once more. “But of my son’s confessions?”

“I will say to you as I said to the Allfather; we all have something that, on first attempt, is not right, but we try again, though we risk failure once more and even harm to ourselves. Yes, we may once more fail and be seen as fools, or we may learn from past errors and rise above a challenge we were convinced we were not strong enough for.” She faced Loki, who was speaking with Arden. “I think this such a time. Now that everything is known, perhaps it will be different.”

“And if it remains broken?”

“Then it is safe to say, we did everything possible.”

“And if my son kills you?”

Ella scoffed. “I will not let him get me, I am too stubborn for that.”

Laufey chuckled again in response.

Loki looked at Ella as he made his way back to the palace, thinking over everything that just happened. Arden ensured that he got into step with Loki as he did. “The guard with the silver gauntlets that was none-too-happy to look at you?” Loki looked at the Arden with immense curiosity. “That is Liuilf, grandson of Tyr, Odin’s greatest general. He has fought in her honour in every tournament he competed in and won every fight he did so.”

“Even against the Brute?”

“No, he never did so in fights he knew he will lose,” Arden informed him. “If you choose to move forward with this and continue your liaisons with Angrboða, know that guard will find his way to Jotunheim and into her Highness’s company.”

Loki’s nostrils flared at the mere thought.

[wolfpawn]

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 16

Story Summary - Based on an idea I had that I submitted to Imagine Loki. Imagine Loki was raised on Jotunheim as Laufey’s son after the war, but an agreement was then made that he would wed Odin’s daughter so Odin could secure the alliance of Jotunheim through the marriage. Loki, in turn, was raised to be king of Jotunheim, but how he views Asgard is far different from how Odin’s daughter is raised leading to a clash of cultures as well as uncertainty between the pair of betrothed youths.

Chapter Summary -  Ella makes a decision to try to talk to Loki one more time.

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Tags - @peppermint-j @damalseer @perpetual-fangirl @tinchentitri @inspired-snowflace @raphaelaisabella @alexakeyloveloki @caffiend-queen @devilbat @nonsensicalobsessions @skulliebythesea @majoringinlife @salempoe @lotus-eyedindiangoddess

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Ella walked towards her father, his guards around her. It felt wrong. She felt herself being pulled back towards the ice palace. When she met her father’s eye, she could see that he noticed it too.

“This needs to be done.” He all but whispered.

“Nothing ever really needs to be done, you know that.” She stated quietly.

“I am not risking you dying, not for this.”

“Did you ever do something twice, having failed the first time?” Odin nodded. “Having been in serious risk of meeting your demise in the process?” Again, he nodded. “But you did it?”

“It was my duty.” She raised a brow at him. “Why do you think it is a failure to walk away from this?”

“Because I know I can do more.”

“He does not love you. He will never love you, he loathes us all.”

“I know, but this is more than just him.”

“Is it to spite him?” Ella snorted slightly. “Then why, help me understand, Ella?”

“I feel there is more to do. Like there is something more to keep me here.” She looked around. “I cannot explain it.”

“I cannot risk your life, Ella. Not again.” Odin looked at Loki, who was watching them both, his face showing guilt, and at Laufey, who clearly had the look of a being that had just torn strips from his son. He knew that look, he had it on more than one occasion dealing with Thor. “Not for him.”

“Papa…” Odin gave her a warning look, knowing if any were to hear, it would be deemed socially damaging. “Please.”

“I cannot permit it.”

“Then, strike the record, I am going to do something you do not permit,” she smiled.

“He does not want you. He sees this as being rid of you, finally.”

“Let us see.” She turned and walked back towards Loki, not stopping or looking elsewhere until she got to him, noting there were none close to him. “If my father had allowed me to stay after my illness, would everything have remained as it was, or would you have tried?”

“I cannot say.”

“Yes, you can. It is only you that can answer that question as only you could you have chosen to change your actions, so yes, you can answer.”

“I have not thought of it. The moment he came, the Allfather made it clear it would not be allowed.”

“You did not think to fight him on it? To argue that you could do better?”

“As you stated, it was never what I wanted, so I saw it as an end to this.” He noted the somewhat disappointed look in her features. “Why?”

“I wanted to see what sort of man you were.”

“And?”

“It appears my concern for your abilities in the bedroom was not the only area I should have been concerned about you being severely lacking.”

“You never wanted this either.”

“I did actually.” That caused him to silence. “I wanted to do my best, to not judge the man I was walking towards, to not be everything Jotunheim feared the Aesir to be. I thought I was the failure, I was not.” There was a small smile on her face, not of taunting or such, but of relieved enlightenment.

“Why did you come back here?”

“I thought I could try, try with your aid to convince my father to allow this forward, to try and better the situation. I felt as though I needed to, like I was meant to be here, but it is clear, I was foolish. I guess I hoped you would have seen I am not the monster you thought me to be and to give me a chance. How silly of me.” She curtsied.

“Father is no longer considering me to be his heir.” Ella frowned at him. “My lack of honour towards you in every manner is his reasoning, everything with…”

“Of all your faults, who you love is not your own doing, not entirely.” She responded sagely.

“We cannot help who we care for.”

“Yes, we can, because we allow them into our hearts. Take the examples of your love and I. You wanted to love her, so you let yourself open your heart to her, you could never wish to love me, so you never allowed it to be even remotely possible.”

“You never…”

“Do not assume for me, Prince Loki. I never assumed for you.” She returned before he could say any more, her words sharper than he had expected. “I am sorry that Laufey feels that way, but I can only convince my father of so much, I cannot work on yours too.” She turned to leave. “Especially now that I am no longer to be wed to you.”

“I would have.” She stopped. “If after you had recovered, the marriage was forced to be upheld, with everything I know now that I had not known or refused to acknowledge then, I would have been more open, spoken with you more. You...I forget this is different for you.”

“I think you need to go to another realm, stay there a short time and realise that everything you know, everything you think is not what those around you think, you will see then the path you must try and navigate between everything you feel defines you and what is deemed acceptable in your surrounds, you see then how little you know of the realms but also, how difficult it is to marry it all. I would think it to be an enlightening experience for you such you attempt it.”

“If I had said yes immediately, as soon as you asked, what would it have mattered?”

“Because I came back here specifically to get that answer. Our departure was delayed for it.”

“And should I have said yes?”

“Only the Norn of the realities can answer that.” She shrugged. “I tried.”

Loki thought quickly. “So if I had said yes, he would have allowed it?”

“On you saying yes, alone? No.”

“So why ask it?”

“Because added to my conviction, it may have been possible.” Loki’s eyes widened. “But you want this done, so…” She frowned as he placed her hand in his. “So desperate for a crown?”

“I am desperate to better my realm.”

“Desperate enough to endure me?”

“Desperate enough to admit my wrongdoings to better myself in any way I can for my realm.”

“So, what would you do?”

“Anything you wish, ladies, anything. Please.” She noticed the shameful look he gave his father, who continued to glare at his son, though curious to the conversation between them.

“You do not like disappointing him. That is a shared feeling between us.” Ella turned to him again. "And if he states he will not reinstate you as his heir?"

"Then I will be the best advisor to my brother that I can be."

“And her?” Loki bit the inside of his cheeks. “If you have her, am I not allowed such happiness also?” He frowned. “If you can have the one you love, should not I have the same?”

“But you…?” She raised a brow. “The agreement?”

“Only those of your blood am I permitted to carry but only I can carry those of your blood, I know the agreement.”

“But were you to take someone?”

“If you choose this, we are equal in that and almost every other manner, I will not negotiate further. Both of us or neither. And I would allow you to choose which.” She said nothing more and began to walk away.

Loki’s nostrils flared slightly. With long purposeful strides, he made his way to Ella, who was walking towards her father, a knowing smile on her face. “No other.”

“You must really want that throne.” She laughed before schooling her face to one of stoic professionalism once more. As she came to where her father stood, her seidr glowed and the Aesir garb she donned altered into the attire she wore whilst allied to Laufey’s house once more.

“When Thor defies me, it is of insolence and immature foolishness, you are following that now?”

Ella gave her father a knowing smile. “You know that is not true.”

“Well, I had nothing left but either compare you to him and make you feel insulted enough to want to not be associated with such or drag you back by the hair.” Her father growled. “Your mother will not be pleased either.”

“Tell her the Bifrost opens here very easily.”

Odin looked at Loki again. “My daughter is openly defying me to try and fix your mess, if you so much as put one more foot out of line, I swear on the Norns, it will no longer be attached to your body. She is risking her life for you,” He snarled, an anger in his features that struck fear into Loki. He looked at his daughter again. “I think you are making a terrible mistake, Ella.”

“I think I am stopping myself from making one.” She took her father’s hand. “Let us see which of us is right.”

“If I am right, you do not live. I have never wished to be wrong so greatly in my life.” He shook his head slightly. “You stress me greater than ruling a realm.”

“If not nothing else, I am good at keeping you humble.” She bowed slightly. “Allfather.”

Plagued by uncertainty, Odin stepped a few steps further back and called his guards to his side. Loki watched as one passed by, his gaze on Ella for a moment before he fixed a glare upon him. Slightly puzzled, Loki returned his glare in kind before the blinding light of the Bifrost carried all but one Aesir from Jotunheim.

Turning to head to the palace once more, Ella made her way through the deep snow, her heart feeling lighter. Laufey waited for her to stand in front of him again. “I hope you do not mind my staying, My King.”

“Jotunheim would be lucky for you to never leave.” Laufey chuckled before his face became serious once more. “But of my son’s confessions?”

“I will say to you as I said to the Allfather; we all have something that, on first attempt, is not right, but we try again, though we risk failure once more and even harm to ourselves. Yes, we may once more fail and be seen as fools, or we may learn from past errors and rise above a challenge we were convinced we were not strong enough for.” She faced Loki, who was speaking with Arden. “I think this such a time. Now that everything is known, perhaps it will be different.”

“And if it remains broken?”

“Then it is safe to say, we did everything possible.”

“And if my son kills you?”

Ella scoffed. “I will not let him get me, I am too stubborn for that.”

Laufey chuckled again in response.

Loki looked at Ella as he made his way back to the palace, thinking over everything that just happened. Arden ensured that he got into step with Loki as he did. “The guard with the silver gauntlets that was none-too-happy to look at you?” Loki looked at the Arden with immense curiosity. “That is Liuilf, grandson of Tyr, Odin’s greatest general. He has fought in her honour in every tournament he competed in and won every fight he did so.”

“Even against the Brute?”

“No, he never did so in fights he knew he will lose,” Arden informed him. “If you choose to move forward with this and continue your liaisons with Angrboða, know that guard will find his way to Jotunheim and into her Highness’s company.”

Loki’s nostrils flared at the mere thought.

[emergenciesstory]

We Need You - Part 6

Summary: A confession, a meeting, a recognition, a Wedding

Words: 2019 (This one got away from me)

A/N: While normally the breaks are a new scene/time lapse, this time it’s a POV flip. Pic’s are inspiration I had. No Beta- all mistakes mine (and I’m sure theres a ton as I stopped proofreading to post these faster.)

Also!: Forever thankful for @haven-in-writing for reading and commenting and willing this series to go on. Doll, your enthusiasm (and hatred of the angst) have willed me to keep writing. Keep being amazing!

We Need You Masterlist

It had been a few weeks since the rescue mission, and things had seemed to go back to normal. You had been receiving messages from the tower about everyone’s recovery, and slowly, the messages tapered out as life began again. Curled up against your wife, all was right with the world. The ringing of your phone woke you. Groping around in the darkness, you pulled the phone to your ear, softly pulling away from Max.

    “Hello?” you whispered, standing and walking towards the balcony.

    “Hey, Y/n/n. ‘M sorry, you were sleepin’.” Steve’s voice was soft on the other end of the phone. You smiled to yourself, he sounded so much better.

    “Hey, no worries Stevie. To what do I owe the pleasure?” The air was crisp and cool, but the quietness of the mountain in the morning was worth it.

    “Well, I was hoping it wouldn’t be too inconvenient for you to come to the farm today. It’s time.” He half laughed and you could see the blush on his cheeks.

    “I’d love to, Steve. What time are you planning?”

    “Afternoon? The fall colors and the sunset would be nice for pictures.” You could hear Bucky grumble in the background for Steve to hush, grumbling something about beauty sleep.

    “We will be there after lunch. Tell Buck to shut it, he’s pretty enough.” Steve’s chuckle confirmed Bucky was flicking you off, and the sun crested the mountain at the sound of his voice. It really was a pretty fall day to get married.

    “See you later, y/n/n. Love you.” Steve murmured.

    “Love you too, Stevie.” The call ended as you felt arms around you.

    “G’Morning, babe.” You sighed to Max, taking in the morning.

    “What was that? You have to go back?” She asked, voice quiet.

    “No, no we have a wedding to attend,” you hummed, running your hand through Max’s hair.

    “Who’s going to be there?” She asked, suddenly more alert.

    “Just the team, maybe a few of the newbies. Remember? I told you they wanted to meet you, love.”

    Max Nodded her head, sighing into you. You had told her a few days after you returned, mentioning they all wanted to meet her.

    “Can I ask you something?” Max said, looking up to you.

    “Always, babe. What’s up?” You looked down at her, a smile on your face. You sat down on the small swing, pulling Max in your lap to enjoy the morning.

    “I know you and Bucky were a thing before us, but what about you and Steve?” She asked, quietly.

    Concern laced your features, “What made you think of that?” You asked, holding her close.

    “It was just a question. No harm no foul?” She said shrugging. You had both been talking about the team dynamics and things the public didn’t know about your team all month, laughing and relaxing in knowing nothing was hidden between you. The rule “no harm no foul” began long ago, telling her no question would make you leave, and vice versa. It was a rule you had made before marrying the girl and stood by.

    “Steve and I were a thing, yes, but never physically involved. It was between the time I was with Bucky and meeting you. The emotional Catch-all. Kissing and cuddling and crying. He’s like a big brother to me.” You said, looking out at the woods coming to life with color and creatures. Max hummed, her thanks for answering, and nestled closer into you, falling asleep again.

    Max woke a couple hours later, the feel of your chest rising and falling behind her comforting. Slowly getting up, she covered you with a blanket and ventured back inside, brewing coffee before jumping in the shower. Friday dinged that a message had come in.

    “Go ahead Friday.” She said, cutting of the water and stepping into the steam, wrapping a towel around herself.

    “The Grooms would like to remind you the theme is casual, but that Y/N should bring her suit for a team photo.”

    “Thank you, Friday.” You said, coming into the bathroom right as the message ended. Giving Max a kiss, you stripped and stepped into the shower, allowing the hot water to arm your bones.

    “What are you wearing?” Max asked, drying her hair sitting on the toilet.

    “Umm, most likely my sweater and that cute scarf you got me last week.” You said, thinking of what was in your closet. 

    “With your brown boots?”

    “Yeah. You should wear that flannel I love, with the vest? It’d be cute.” You turned off the water and took the towel Max held out to you. 

    “Okay. I’ll call Laura and see if we can bring anything to help her out.” Max called out after you

____________________________

You pulled the truck up to the house, parking beside a pile of wood Clint had been cutting. You squeezed Max’s hand before climbing out, grabbing the tray with pies from the back and walking inside. The rest of the team hadn’t shown up yet, but things were already in full gear. Your Niece and Nephew grabbed Max’s hand almost immediately and pulled her outside to help them set up the “alter”. Apparently, they were tasked with weaving flowers into a little vine arch, and Max began showing Lila how to make flower crowns, smiling as Cooper made a show of being “too manly” but quickly was enthralled.

Laura was bustling around the kitchen, making finger foods and buzzing around with a fussy Nathaniel secured to her front. You jumped in to help, hearing the familiar roar of a Quintjet an hour or so later. Brushing your hands on a towel, you both ran out to the incoming team. Walking down the hill, you saw a blindfolded Steve being lead by Clint, and a little farther back a blindfolded Bucky with Natasha’s hand pulling him along. Sam, Tony, Wanda, Thor, Loki, and Even Director Fury followed behind.

“Why are they blindfolded?” You hollored, laughing and giving the two grooms a kiss on the cheek as they passed by, lead into the house.

“The grooms can’t see or speak to each other the day of the wedding.” Wanda informed you, pulling you into a hug. Clint and Natasha came back out, informing everyone the grooms were locked into seperate rooms to give us the time to finish setting up. You saw Max come back around with the eldest kids, about a dozen small flower crowns in her hands, and two large ones on the bottom.

“Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to my wife.” You gestured to her, smiles as Lila passed out the small flower crowns to everyone. “Max, this is, well, everyone!”

__________

    It was a lot of people to take in at once, and it must’ve shown on her face. Max smiled and held the two flower crowns she had made. Everyone seemed to notice she was overwhelmed, because the group broke apart into little groups and busied themselves.

    “Lady Max, It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Lady Y/N has told us so much about you. I am Thor Odinson, and this is my brother Loki.” Thor smiled and stuck out his hand.

    “All good I hope, It’s a pleasure.” Max said carefully setting down the crowns and shaking the Gods hand.

    “The pleasure is ours,” Loki said, flashing his signature smile.

Next came Wanda and Vision, both sending a warm buzz through Max when they met. Sam and Natasha were next, both teasing and already treating Max like family.

    “Well, my dear, It is a pleasure to finally put a name with a face. I’m Tony.” Taking his hand Max smiled, the firm shake slowing with his hand lingering in hers for a moment too long.

    “Have we met before?” Tony asked, eyebrows scrunching in concentration.

    “No, I don’t believe so,” Max lied, praying he wouldn’t catch on. “Unless, maybe from one of your infamous galas perhaps?”

    “Maybe. No matter, it is nice to see who put a smile on Y/N’s face. Excuse me.” Tony placed his hand on Max’s shoulder as he stepped by, heading over to where the kids and a couple of teammates were moving logs to sit near the vine arch.

______-

    “Hey babe,” you said, catching a kiss as you walked back to your wife. “Sorry, I know that was a lot at once.”

    “It’s okay,” Max smiled, picking up the crowns from the table behind her. “Two more people to meet. To The grooms?”

    “Yeah, let’s go meet the grooms.” You Followed behind her into the house and up the stairs to the two bedrooms. Knocking on the kids room door first, you smiled at hearing Bucky’s voice.

    “Bucky Barnes, I’d like to introduce my wife.” You said as you stepped into the room, holding the door open. Max entered, holding the orange flower crown in her hands.

    “Hey, I’m Max.” There was a silence that felt like an eternity but couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Max and Bucky took in each other, looking up and down before Bucky broke into a smile.

    “Well, Max, you must be a badass to put up with Y/n. Respect.” He chuckled as Max blushed bright red. Holding out the flower crown, she crossed the small room.

    “Lila was hoping you’d wear this.” She wiggled her eyebrows, Holding it out to him.

    “Do I have to?” Bucky whined.

    “Yes.” You and Max said at the same time. You took the crown from her hands and placed it on Bucky’s head, weaving his long hair through it.

    “Perfect.” You said, taking Max’s hand as you stood. “We’d love to stay and chat, but there is one more Groom to meet today before the wedding.” You smirked, shooing Max out the door. Bucky grabbed your hand, catching you before you could follow.

    “Y/n, does it ever get easier?” He whispered.

    “What do you mean?” You asked, tilting your head to the side.

    “Loving more people, being married, do the butterflies go away for everyone else?” Bucky asked, his eyes desperate and pleading. You smoothed your hand on his cheek and tucked a hair behind his ear.

    “No Buck, the butterflies don’t go away. That’s what love is, it grows every day. You will always have butterflies for lost flames, but you will have new ones every day for your spouse, for the memories made.” His eyes looked like he needed more, scared and curious. “I will always love you and Stevie, but the Love I have for Max, it’s bigger than I am, it’s wanting her in every part of my life, every fiber of my being. That’s why I married her, because I can’t imaging breathing for one second without her.”

    Bucky Nodded his head, kissing your cheek and giving you a hug. You always knew exactly what he needed to hear.

___________

    Max had heard what you said, and was almost brought to tears. She owed you so much. Knocking on the other door, she went to see Steve while you spoke with Bucky.

    “Hey, Steve, right? I’m Max.” She said entering the room. Steve stood with a smile, giving Max a hug.

    “Finally, we get to meet. I hope this isn’t too weird for you, a stranger’s wedding and all.’ He laughed slightly, face turning pink.

    “No, thank you for letting me be here. Lila wanted to make sure, and I quote, ‘the princes wore their crowns’.” She held out the crown to Steve with a smile.

    “Please, help me put it on?” He sat back down on the bed, bowing his head for Max to situate the crown.

“Oh, good. He’s going to wear it.” You smiled coming into the room.

    “Why wouldn’t I when your lovely wife asked so nicely?” Steve mocked your surprise, pulling you into a hug once he could.

    “Well, Max, you’ve managed to smooze every person here.” You mused, weaving your hand around her waist and into her back pocket.

    “They were a piece of cake compared to you.” She teased leaning into you. “Now, I believe there’s a wedding to attend?”

[hyperesthesias]

Loki x Sigyn

Love Never Dies | Part XVI

Rating: G

Words: 3.664

Summary: Thor approaches Loki about his suspicions of his behaviour -- but can Loki keep Sigyn from him for long?

Notes: for some reason, tumblr isn’t showing my last chapter, so you can find it here. also i love the bro-angst in this one ok, enjoy!

Thor watched his brother retreat to his suite: straightening his clothes, smoothing his chest, running a hand through his hair, as he took in a deep breath, before he vanished near soundlessly behind the door. Loki had always been a well-groomed creature, good mannered when he wanted to be, choosing to ignore such pleasantries when it suited his boredom, but to see him so careful when there was no one present to impress struck Thor as only mildly odd -- for surely, Loki meant not to impress him; such would be nonsense. Thus, Thor lingered for only a few beats, thinking of his brother’s seeming increasing oddity from the conversation which had just ended between them, to the change in his mannerisms; and how he had been used to seeing Loki prepare himself to enter his own suite in such a way when Sigyn was with him, waiting patiently on the other side. It had been the topic of a brief conversation between them at one point: Thor asking why he always made certain his clothes were even, his cape well adjusted, his duster straight and fitted against him, while his hair without a strand out of place before he went in to greet her, to which Thor had never forgotten Loki’s response: ���If you love someone, you always want to present your best to them.’ He’d always regarded them as wise words from an arguably unwise man. Then again, Loki was the one who had married happily before him, so he wasn’t entirely sure what that bode about himself.

Nonetheless, Thor decided to follow his brother’s advice -- to his own shock and surprise -- and before he knocked on Jane’s door, ensured his tunic was not wrinkled, and that his hair wasn’t more of a mess than it usually was, but more of an ‘organised mess’ as Loki liked to say. And once he finished primping, he knocked a little lighter on the door than he was used to -- heeding Jane’s request not to ‘scare the daylights out of her’ with his heavy hand. But he knew how to be gentle when needed, and listened quietly for when she bid him inside.

And when she had, he opened the door to greet her with a smile, raising the book to show her as he closed the door behind him. “I found one!” he said victoriously, joining her by her side, where he sat on the edge of the bed, opening the book on his lap, suddenly realising he was mimicking his father when he’d asked him to read him something before sleep. A wide grin parted his lips as he flipped through the pages. “I asked my father to read me a story of our victory every night,” he chuckled upon remembering, letting the pages fall to a particular story that had been well-read.

“Did he?” Jane craned her neck over his arm to see the writing and illustrations, glancing up at him with a glimmering curiosity.

He shrugged. “Only when I begged hard enough,” he simpered. “Father was a busy man -- he had a Kingdom to rule. Not much time for bedtime stories,” a saddened dip in his voice, as he thumbed through the story. “But Mother was more indulging, we saw her more often.”

Jane felt a familiar pity she hadn’t realised was there when he finished -- she hadn’t been able to see her own father very often because of his work. Nothing like ruling a Kingdom, but there was a part of her that felt some relation. She didn’t get many bedtime stories, either, with no mother to substitute in her father’s place, but when she did, she always insisted it be one of the NASA children’s collection books he’d gotten her for her sixth birthday. One of them was a pop-up -- that one was her favourite. 

She hadn’t realised her own grin had widened greatly, until Thor had turned to her to inspect her curiously and happily. 

“What is it?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing, nothing it’s just -- everything’s so different here, but...so much the same,” she answered with a wistful breath. “Although, I can’t say I ever had a bedtime story book about battles.”

“Victories,” he corrected with a playful finger outstretched. 

“Victories, right,” she repeated with a chuckle.

“Loki did not care much for this book, though -- or many night time stories. He preferred the quiet,” he scoffed with amusement, more to himself, as he reminisced, eyes skimming over the words, remembering them in his father’s tones -- before he abruptly realised Jane had gone unusally quiet. She was, to be fair, a rather quiet person, though only so talkative when she was either nervous, or thinking far too fast than her tongue could carry her words. He bent his neck down to see her face, as she’d turned it away and barely looked at him. “Jane?” he beckoned. “Have I done something?” his immediate reaction.

“Hm? What? No! No, not at all. You haven’t done anything -- you never do anything -- I mean, what I mean is, you’re...” she trailed off, realising her habitual tongue had left her mind without her guidance and she shook her head as she tried to stuff it back in her mouth. “You’re fine.”

He narrowed his eyes only slightly as he closed the book and set it beside him on the bed. “Is this about Loki?” making the other most obvious connection -- she’d only begun to squirm when his name was mentioned.

She drew a sharp breath, raising her head to him, but refusing to settle her eyes directly on him. “Loki? No, I don’t...know anything about Loki.” 

“I thought Mother said he had been your escort these past weeks while I was gone,” he furrowed his brow, now fully suspicious of both Loki and Jane.

“Well, I mean...he was.”

“What did he do to you?” he started, his tone drying to darkness, already thinking of ways to make his brother pay for whatever it was.

“‘Do’? Why -- What -- Why does he always have to be ‘doing’ something?” she scoffed, throwing up her hands. 

“Did he hurt you -- was he coarse towards you?” he demanded again, this time more to find out what she was hiding -- unable to make sense of her sudden defence of him. 

“No -- no,” she shook her head. “He was...a lot nicer than I expected him to be. He really wasn’t too bad, all things considered.”

This did not console Thor -- not in the way he wanted. Glad as he may have been to hear Loki had not harmed the woman he loved, the void of suspicion only grew, leaving more and more room for possibility. “Then...what happened? While I was away?” he asked, his voice more uncertain now, not as steady as he would have liked, neither were his thoughts.

“I can’t...I can’t tell you...” she confessed quietly, in all but a whisper, her head bowed as she stared at her fingers resting on her lap. “But he didn’t do anything, okay?” she looked up at him, her voice -- while not very strong -- more firm this time, hoping to allay whatever fears were within him. 

But this was not enough. Thor said it was, if only by nodding in acceptance, and taking another piece of Loki’s advice that came into his mind as he saw tumultuous Jane sitting beside him: ‘If you do not know what to do when a woman is upset, keep your mouth shut, and embrace her.’

Thor’s arm wrapped around her, and he pulled her close to his side without saying any thing -- something had happened, something not meant for open light, and while he intended to find out, he wished not to press her further at the moment. Only embrace her, to allay her as well.

But he had every intent on getting it out of Loki. 

And if all ended relatively well, to ask him for any more advice.

Loki entered his suite, setting aside the ire his brother had riled in him, and the worry that wished to entice his mind, and instead felt a breath of sweet air when he neared his wife, still resting in their bed. Gently, he parted the curtain to see her, hoping he hadn’t woken her when he saw her turn towards him.

“Hello, my love,” her quiet voice called to him through the silence.

“Hello, my darling,” he whispered, and parted the curtain just enough to sit beside her. “Were you sleeping?” he asked, placing a hand near hers.

“No,” she rasped, struggling to sit up, “I find...as ironic as it may be, that I cannot sleep,” she strained a chuckle.

He helped lift her to sit up fully, and he covered her legs with the blankets. “I am sorry, my love,” he mourned. “Perhaps there is a tea I could make you before bed,” he mused, eyes mindlessly wandering away from her.

It did not go unnoticed by her, and she placed her fingers atop his, caressing his nail beds, tracing each shape with delicacy and knowing. “I’ve no need for tinctures,” she assured him. “Only your arm around me.” 

His attentions were brought back to her, while the worry did not leave his stony features, a smile was etched among them as he took a deep breath and ventured to lie beside her, along the small edge of the bed. “Then my arm you shall have,” he said at last, placing his head along the crook of her shoulder, and his hand round the shape of her waist. 

Sigyn looked down at her husband’s figure resting against her own and took a deep breath, with it, feeling everything was at last right: perhaps not that all was well, or that all was perfect, but whatever she had been missing, and whatever he had pined for in her absence, that gap was filled as they fit against each other -- as though they were made precisely for each other. In quietness, she continued to stroke his hair, combing her nails gently along his scalp -- knowing he was unlike her, that his hair could not feel, but she always accommodated for such differences between them, never shunning him for his foreign mannerisms, neither the colour of his true skin. In such contrasts, she found beauty -- she always had, whether in her husband, or in her people: asymmetry was a gift, an accentuation of the balance of life, and she revelled in the notions of things unlike her. Yet, she had no want to be any different than she was, her love was not lust of others’ selves, but unadulterated admiration. In this, she found she was very different from those around her, herself, and it was rare that others shared or admired her gift. But for all his chaos, Loki saw this part of her and relished it; and she believed it was only because of his chaos he was able to cherish her gifts, and sometimes share them -- whether he wanted to admit it, or not. She knew him even better than himself at times.

And while he rested there, along her shoulder, his eyes closed, his breathing nudging against her ribs, his locks of blackened hair falling through her fingers -- she thought on how lucky she was to love and have a mate who loved her just as dearly. 

But her gazing upon him was cut short by the sound of heavy knocking at the door, and Loki started fearfully awake from his brief dozing. 

She quieted his fears, placing a kiss on his brow as he groaned with dread and suspicion -- which only garnered a small smile from her. “You should get that,” she whispered into his skin.

He had half the mind to pout and ignore it completely, until he heard his brother’s voice on the other side:

“Loki, I must speak with you.”

“You know he will not relent,” she continued, ceasing her fingers’ motion as she looked at him.

He only let a louder groan, and turned on his back. “Very well,” he replied without moving a further muscle, and willfully created an illusion of himself to answer the suite’s door.

Sigyn could hear the conversation in the distance, beyond the bed curtains, though their view was obscured and their voices muffled:

She heard a pause from Thor as Loki’s illusion answered the door, and she presumed that familiar face of suspect on his features as he craned his neck to see inside Loki’s suite -- ever distrusting of his brother. “What are you doing in the dark?” Thor asked, both somewhat surprised, somewhat worried.

“I thought I made it clear I was not well,” Loki answered, “I much prefer to rest.”

“You can rest after we speak,” Thor demanded. 

She heard a sigh both from Loki’s illusion and Loki lying beside her, and she could not help a quiet grin. 

“Then speak! -- and make it fast,” Loki insisted, but did not let his brother past the threshold of his doorway.

She heard another pause from the older, as he presumably thought on how to continue. “What did you do to Jane?” he began without further hesitation, for there was no question in his mind Loki was responsible for some event in her life, for which he would answer.

A scoff from the illusion and he grumbled slightly. “I did nothing to the girl,” he replied, honestly. “And if she has said anything to accuse me, I resent it.”

“That is what worries me: she refuses to speak at all of what happened while she was left with you,” he growled, his voice becoming lower as a footsteps passed them by in the hall.

“And you immediately think I had some hand in harming her,” Loki’s indignation palpable, even from behind the curtain.

“I immediately think of your reputation of deceit and violence,” there was a brief pause between them before Thor continued with a mild scuffle: “I wish to enter.”

“I refuse it,” Loki persisted, and Sigyn could hear him bolster the door with the strength of his arm as the scuffle intensified:

“I do not wish to discuss this so publicly --”

“And I do not wish you to enter my presence.”

“What have you to hide?”

“Much that I will not share with you --”

“Brother, let me pass --” Thor presumably tried to push Loki aside to enter, but Sigyn could hear the distinct sound of Loki’s magic vanishing upon the touch of another, and Thor was left alone at the doorway.

Another quiet breath of dismay from Loki beside her, and he glanced to her in the dark, to which she returned the sight with a nod as she let him go.

“Brother, where are you?” a disheartened voice called from beyond the curtain, uncertain whether Loki was even there, nonetheless, he stayed, glancing around his suite, waiting for him to appear, if he would.

Loki swung his legs over the side of the bed, as he opened the curtain just enough for his lithe frame to slither through without revealing the bed’s precious cargo behind it. “I told you I was not well,” his voice rang as he approached his brother by the sofa. 

A brief silence between them as Thor read his brother carefully: “What happened with Jane?” he said once more.

“If something happened to your little beloved, I knew nothing of it,” he bit back.

“Then what is it you hide? I will not ask again,” the other threatened.

Sigyn felt her heart sink within her, for she hated to hear them this way; there had been a brief time during which they were cordial with one another, but such things do not last, not when wounds run so deep, she thought. Though she wished it were not so. She wished she could pull back the curtain, jump out of bed, and place herself between the two to cease their bickering and accusations -- for neither one of them would stop: Loki would never relent in protecting her, as Thor would never surrender his desire to protect Jane. They were much more alike in ways they would not admit.

But she could hear the growling beneath their voices turn to snarling as they defended their own actions, and the snarling turned to raised voices, which turned to grappling with each other -- and so the cycle repeated itself.

“I’ve no need to tell you anything!” Loki snapped back.

“You know why Jane refuses to speak -- I know you well enough to know when you hide something!” 

“You know nothing of me,” a growl.

“You can tell yourself that for however long you would like, but you know it is not the truth,” a hiss.

“I deny nothing of myself.”

“Then why do you hide here, in the dark, feigning illness?”

Loki had to quickly construct a lie to protect that which he could not protect before -- he would have to take the bullet this time, in place of the one that had pierced the heart of the one whom he loved. “You rather me here, and you know it,” he said at last. 

Thor fell quiet, and Sigyn could only hear the breaths of the brothers as they thought on words both brought aloud and those unspoken. “I rather the truth you will not give me.”

“And what truth is that? That I am naught but some villain for you to blame? Some fool on which to place every impetuous deed?” Loki’s voice hung in the vacuous air, his words a black hole for even the breath that was just there. “Is that what you want to hear? That I involved her in some scheme of mine? Then yes -- I am guilty! I beseeched her help on a benign project of mine, and swore her to secrecy. And do you know why?” he shifted a foot closer to his brother. “Because I was afraid of this very accusation -- that you would call me a criminal, and herd me before Odin’s feet once more as cattle, and I would be punished for some imagined sin.”

Sigyn was just as breathless as the pair of them, listening to her husband’s anguish as she could do nothing to help. Her fingers wrung in the blankets, saying some silent prayer that peace would waft between them somehow. 

She could hear Thor shift as he thought on his brother’s words.

“I never hurt her -- I would never hurt her. You know that more than well,” he finished, and all at once it seemed there was a collective intake of breath between the three of them, as though the vacuum was suddenly gone. “You...” Loki stopped and a thick swallow could be heard. “You were always kind to Sigyn. And for that, I owe you a debt of kindness towards the woman with whom you give your heart,” his words, though sincere, were nearly indistinguishable.

Though she could not see him, Sigyn felt the air around Thor soften as his brother spoke, and she heard his footsteps lighter as he closed the space between them:

“Thank you, Loki,” he murmured. 

Another lengthy pause as Thor cleared his throat: “I apologise for my assumption of your character -- but I will not apologise for your reputation,” he warned as he made for the door.

A small grumble before Loki conceded, showing his brother out, “That is fair.”

And as quickly as the entire skirmish had begun, all was silent and Thor had gone -- leaving Loki to tend to his wife who waited for him behind the curtain.

He collapsed on the bed, this time on his own side, with a great and treacherous sigh as he placed a hand over his face. “I cannot wait to be rid of other company besides our own.”

Sigyn could only chuckle with a breath. “And here I thought you were getting along.”

He only looked at her between his fingers. 

Thor made his way back to Jane -- a thickness wallowing in the pit of his stomach from Loki’s words. Despite what his brother may have thought, their heated exchanged never brought him joy neither resolution or comfort. The only comfort he drew this time was the knowing that Jane was not in any danger, neither had she been harmed, and that all she had wished was to maintain her integrity by keeping a promise.

He returned to her suite with a quiet sigh -- hoping not to sound too dejected in her presence -- but if he had, he hid it with a smile.

“Hey, how did it go?” she asked cautiously, having heard not the words, but the intensity of the scenario behind the conjoining door. 

He nodded as he sat beside her again, the bed groaning beneath his weight as he placed his hands on his knees. “Loki told me everything,” he started.

“He did?” her eyes widened, setting aside the book he’d left with her

“I know you wanted only to keep your vow of secrecy -- I, of course, do not blame you,” he assured her.

“I’m...I’m so glad he told you! That’s great!” she beamed, jumping to her knees on the bed, shaking her fists happily.

He hesitated, unsure why she was so happy, but he presumed she was glad she did not have to keep anything from him -- an admirable trait, to be sure. “Yes! Yes, I am glad, as well.”

“So, did you see her? How is she?” she pried, curiously, knowing it probably wasn’t her place, but she wanted to know how the Queen was, especially after her fall the other day.

But Thor only frowned at her, tilting his head as he tried to reason what she meant with what she said: “Who?”