Chapter 10
Amora sighs in relief near-inaudibly when they finally find the hidden portal to Jotunheim and seal it, stopping the endless freezing-cold from pouring out - while it certainly isn't bothering Loki in the slightest, Amora's not so immune to cold weather. She won't complain, won't say a word to anyone, but Warming Charms - even Charms as powerful as hers - can only do so much when they're up against temperatures at least 100 degrees below freezing point.
Taking the cape from his armor and Transfiguring it into a coat for her, Loki puts it over her shoulders and says "I'll inform mother of our success, Amora. Why don't you head to your quarters?"
Amora sighs in relief just a bit louder, briefly leaning into Loki as he wraps the coat around her from behind, and says "Thank the Stars, my feet are killing me. I will never understand how you find shoes like these comfortable, Loki."
Loki grins, and says "I may have enchanted mine with a Rune on the bottom of the heel last night." At Amora's look of shock slowly turning to outrage, he holds his hands up with a small laugh and says "I was testing it out tonight. Wanted to make sure it actually worked for hours on end before applying it to yours."
Amora crosses her arms, asking "And?"
Loki leans down to her ear, and hisses "And what would you say to soaking your feet while I put the runes on all your shoes?" It should only take him about thirty minutes or so, considering the detail that she's only got about five sets of shoes. He's very certain she used the fact that any more pairs, especially any particularly ornate ones, would clue all of Asgard in to the detail that something is going on with her, just to get out of being expected to have twenty pairs of ornate, fancy heels.
Amora groans at just the thought of soaking her throbbing feet in hot water, and hisses back "You know I adore you, right?"
Loki leaves a quick kiss to her jawline as a reply, the both of them beyond frustrated at the knowledge that there are at least a dozen guards in the nearby area thanks to the Jotuns having made their way here from Jotunheim. Odin would never approve, he already dislikes Amora enough, and a potential scandal between the two of them would be the perfect excuse for him to banish Amora from Asgard forever.
Amora heads out first, slipping her shoes of after she leaves the Vault, Loki still inside - she can feel the guards' gazes on her, the badly-hidden judgement and fearful scorn as she lets her hair down from the updo it's in by taking the comb out. They may fear her, they may loathe her, and they most certainly don't want her around…but she doesn't care, one way or another.
She has Loki, her Soulmate, her best friend, her everything now, and that's more than enough for her. She'd thought of Hermione and Ron as friends, but with Loki's friendship as a comparison she's long-since come to the conclusion that their friendship meant much more to her than it did to them...to Ron, anyway. Ron couldn't see past her fame and scar, too caught up in the hype surrounding her. Hermione, at least tried as much as she could, one of the things they worked out between them at Harvard.
She's also got Teddy, his family, Hermione, Luna, Neville, and the Enchanting and Warding Business she and Loki started up that's booming.
Shaking off her thoughts, Amora decides the journey to her quarters is far too long to walk all the way there and just Apparates instead. The first thing she does is fill the small pool in the floor - like a tiny little hot spring, Asgardian Royalty's version of a bathtub on a smaller scale - with water and heat it up with magic before letting Seleana into the water to swim for a bit and taking off the jewelry she's wearing. She's just started working at the dress clasp at the back of her neck when Loki apparates into the room as well. Jormungundr quickly joins Seleana in the pool, as Loki comes up behind her and his nimble fingers start working at the clasps and ties on the back of her dress.
Amora lets out a slow breath, absolutely feeling the smirk on Loki's lips even though she can't see it when the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up as his fingers move lower down her back - they both know the effect each has on the other, even after a few centuries, and Loki just loves to tease her when he can. A whine almost forces its way out of her throat when those same cold fingers leave, allowing her to shrug the dress off on her own as he takes a step back. Amora grins at him as she turns around, letting the dress fall to her feet and leaving only the Camisole she was wearing underneath on her frame - a bit of revenge for teasing her, which gets some instant gratification if the look on his face is anything to go by.
Loki licks his lips unconsciously, and Amora grins even wider as she steps forward and asks "Want some help with yours?" Her fingers find the first of the buckles and straps on Loki's armor before he can answer, and she uses magic to make quick work of most of it all.
Once he's mostly stripped of his armor, Amora looks up at him and asks "You want to soak for a bit?" The pool is just big enough for the two of them to get comfortable in, something they made sure of when she Transfigured it herself.
Loki grins, only to curse in Prseltongue when he feels the wards on his door go off - the ones that are there specifically to tell him when someone's looking for him when he's not where he's supposed to be - ergo, when he and Amora are sneaking around behind Odin's back…along with the guards, servants, Thor, Sif and the Idiots Three, and literally everyone else in Asgard that's not Frigga. Loki quickly gathers up all his things, quickly generating an illusion of himself still in full regalia, and Apparates to his quarters.
About thirty minutes later, a servant pokes her head in the doorway and barely manages to squeak out to Amora - in a bathrobe, slippers, and halfway through brushing her hair out, as nonthreatening as she could possibly get! - that the King of Asgard has requested her presence immediately.
Amora raises an eyebrow as the girl practically sprints away, wondering just what Odin could possibly want with her…especially at this hour of the night. He probably wants me to end the uprising on Jotunheim that's undoubtedly happening right now. That…or he wants me to rescue Thor and company. Fuck, he wants me to rescue his precious golden boy and band of blind lackeys.
Deciding Odin can deal with the consequences of summoning her at what must be at least midnight, if not more, Amora Transfigures her slippers into practical walking boots and heads out still in her bathrobe - Odin wants to see her right now, he'll get her right now. Not five minutes from now so she can put on something suitable for an audience with him, now. And, if he doesn't like the perceived disrespect of her arriving in a bathrobe and slippers, too damn bad.
The pair of guards that's outside her room to escort her are motionless for a moment, faces utterly blank with shock, and Amora gestures forward saying "The King of Asgard awaits, gentlemen. Let's not keep him waiting, shall we?" Amora figures she's probably the least uncomfortable member of the tense silence - she'd be embarrassed at seeing anyone in a bathrobe, were it not for the detail that it's completely closed, she's stitched Defensive Spells onto it and disguised them as decoration, and as long as she has the snake-armbands she literally never takes off she's got every weapon she needs on her. And, even then, she has a full set of leather armor hidden in a pocket dimension that she can put on in a moment's notice, two knives, Gryffindor's Sword - a gift from Hela, Enchanted by Loki and able to change at her will, which came with personal training from Hela for the both of them - and Ravenclaw's Diadem - a gift from Hades, Enchanted by Frigga to protect someone from any form of control or spells that would harm the wearer. They haven't tried it on physical weapons, as of yet, but Amora can confirm that Stinging Hexes won't connect to the wearer. Neither will Stunning Spells, Disarming Charms, or Jelly-Legs-Jinxes, not to mention the condensed bolts of red magic she flung at a mannequin wearing the Diadem. Her hypnotic powers are absolutely useless against anyone wearing it, even if they do make her voice still sound prettier than normal. She's been working on enchanting a dagger in her spare time to see if it's even possible to get through the spells at all - if not, she's going to Stick it to Loki's forehead permanently.
Suffice it to say, if they were ambushed right now, she'd be the most prepared.
When they get to the right chamber, Amora raises an eyebrow, these are Odin's personal bedchambers - he'd better be dead, actively dying, or about to apologize for the centuries of shit he's pulled and give his blessing for her and Loki to marry.
As it turns out, it's none of the above - the first thing she sees is Loki's expression, a mix of shocked and despairing. The second is Frigga sitting across from him on the other side of some kind of golden bowl. The third would be the spear leaning against the wall.
Frigga nods to the guards, and says "Leave us."
Once the guards are gone and the door shut, Amora walks over to Loki at once. "Hey," she murmurs into his ear, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "what happened?"
In lieu of answering, Loki leans his head back to let Amora see into the golden bowl - which is revealed to actually be a bed. And there's Odin, eye closed and not so much as twitching at her presence. The only thing stopping her from transfiguring his sheet into a coffin is the detail that his chest is slowly rising - she thought he'd have to be dead before failing to acknowledge her presence with his thinly-veiled disdain and disgust.
It's Loki's hand so casually submerged in the yellow dome of light that tells her what's going on - he's fallen into his damned Odinsleep once more. She's never actually seen him like this, only members of the royal family are allowed in here when he's so vulnerable - which gave Loki the perfect excuse to offer to watch over him the past few times this has happened, allowing him free access to absorb some of the Odinforce the old man had him thinking he already had in him.
Amora frowns, then asks "What happened?!" Odin's not dead, obviously, so why is Loki looking like somebody just chopped Jormangundr's head off?
Loki pinches the bridge of his nose, fingers working their way upwards towards his temples before moving to scratch Jor's chin, and says "Thor got himself banished."
Amora freezes in surprise, of all the things she imagined…that wasn't one of them. "Uh…come again?"
Loki nods, and Frigga purses her lips with an ice-cold stare directed at the sleeping man, and says "He started a war with Jotunheim, so Odin banished him." She'd known Thor's hotheadedness would come back to bite him, and yes she'd wanted him to learn some wisdom and patience…but not like this. Amora's punishment of the ears and voice of a donkey - termed an ass on Midgard - would've been somewhat similar to what she'd have preferred, something to make him think before he acted.
Instead, her headstrong son has been cast out just like Hela was, his power either stripped or bound inside of him with Mjolnir the only key to restoring it to him once more. Odin made the smart choice and practically dove to the floor when he saw the look on her face, as if she'll have cooled down by the time he wakes up.
Amora takes a long look at Odin's sleeping face, then deadpans "Which means Loki's king now." Of all the things he could've done...this really takes the cake. Loki has no interest in the throne, no desire to rule over a group of people that have only ever mocked and derided him because he didn't measure up to their expectations - and Odin just happily dumped that on him after tossing Thor out off the Bifrost! If she didn't know Loki did have some care for Asgard - or, at least, Frigga who she knows he loves - she'd say to let Asgard deal with this on its own.
Frigga nods, saying "Indeed. I'm to care for him until he awakens, and I intend to make sure my face is the first he sees when he does." She's going to string him up by his balls when he first awakens if Thor is not back by the time he dares to crack an eye open.
Of all the decisions he's made that she's disagreed with, this is the one that takes the ten-tier cake! She's sure the only reason he hasn't tried anything with Amora or Loki is because Hela and her closest companions in the Underworld have been watching him like birds of prey watch their latest meal for anything - Hela's gotten into actual fights with Odin, though nobody knows just how they start or how they end since Odin always ever orders everyone to evacuate the general area at once, and Frigga can take a decent guess as to why they start and how they end. Odin is an old man, for all his power, and Hela has stopped aging thanks to the magic of the Underworld - he most likely doesn't wish for anyone to see him get soundly defeated by his outcast daughter. As for why they start…Frigga doesn't know who he might be plotting about, but she doesn't care either. Odin has his favorites, Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three, but she has her own and they're Loki and Amora. If anything happens to either of them, he's going to remember just why he went the warrior-bride route with her when he tried to conquer Vanaheim. She was the strongest, most talented of the Magic-Users of Vanaheim when she was younger, overpowering even the oldest of the elders at only a fraction of their age. And it's high time Odin remembers why he stopped his warmongering ways and made a peace treaty with Vanaheim via their marriage.
"So," Amora quietly asks, "what now?" There's a war brewing on Jotunheim, and rightfully so, Thor's been banished and Odin has chosen now of all times to fall into his Odinsleep.
"Well," Loki muses, "I can think of one thing. Marry me, Amora?"