Chapter 2
With a flick of his wrist, Loki willed the candles to light. The room flooded with gold, revealing the same expression on your face as was on his own. Surprise.
“You’ve returned,” Loki said, subtly replacing his dagger and sitting upright.
“And you’re… not Thor.”
“Thank you.”
A few minutes passed as Loki dressed himself in a gown. He tied it loosely in front of his bare abdomen.
“I could have you arrested for that, you know,” he said, rubbing his temple.
“Like you wouldn’t enjoy a woman sneaking into your bedroom at night.”
“Touché.”
“And besides,” you sighed. “I think I have served enough prison time at the hands of your people.”
“Is that why you’ve returned?” Loki settled onto his bedside and crossed one leg over the other. He watched you in the candlelight. A fur cape sat around your shoulders, protecting you from the bite of the midnight air. Underneath, a black dress with a hood that had, until a moment ago, been over your head. Stealth was your intention, apparently. As stealthy as you could be as a Vanaheim princess.
“I’m… I have no intention of discussing that with you.”
“But with my brother?” Loki chuckled.
“Yes, actually.” You raised your chin a little higher and adjusted the fastening of your furs. “So, if you could point me in the direction of his room.”
“But of course. Would you prefer a door or a window?”
“Hilarious.”
Thor’s face was the picture of surprise. He opened his bedroom door in the twilight hours, to the image of his yawning brother and the recently released royal. Why was she back? Why was she with his brother? And he was dressed so… Well, he wasn’t really dressed.
“Has… something happened?” Thor asked.
His answer came in the form of a shifty look in Loki’s direction. Rolling his eyes, Loki stood a little taller and cleared his throat.
“I will leave the two of you to talk then,” he muttered, bowing his head in your direction and taking his leave down the corridor. Thor stepped aside and welcomed you into the room. Thankfully, he was better clothed than his brother.
You removed your furs and draped them over your arm as you stepped into the room. The longer you spent inside the palace, the warmer it got. However, the impending topic of conversation certainly wasn’t helping your temperature either.
“I apologise for disturbing you in this manner,” you said, waiting until you were invited to sit before doing so. Thor placed himself in the smoking chair beside your own. “If it weren’t important, I wouldn’t be here. The middle of the night was the only time I could get away from home without being seen.”
Thor was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Away from home without being seen? This did not bode well in the slightest.
“Please. Continue,” he said.
“I will not beat around the bush,” you smiled wearily, running a hand through your hair. Thor noted the way you acted very little as an Asgardian princess would. Your manners may have been impeccable but aside from that, you were very civil. Very relaxed. Calm. Ordinary. It was refreshing. That alone comforted him. He no longer felt the suffocating pressure that one might do when meeting with a foreign dignitary.
“It’s about my father. He intends to wage war upon Asgard.”
“What?” Thor boomed. You flinched and Thor immediately caught his tongue, placing his fist over his lips.
“I– I– I tried to subdue him, your highness, I really did but he’s a man prone to temper. Once he heard that I’d been wrongly imprisoned, there was no talking to him! He left the room in search of his generals. I’ve been trying to contact him all afternoon but he won’t listen, fobs me off with nurses and maids. I know he means well, and worries for me, but he’s taken this too far and now people might suffer because of it.”
Thor leaned forwards, his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face deeply with his hands.
“I see why you required the secrecy.”
“Yes, quite.” You ran a hand through your hair again and Thor smiled weakly. He knew it must be difficult for you to discuss. The way you sustained your stoic expression however was both admirable and appealing. “I just… didn’t know who to turn to, your highness. I don’t know what to do.”
“Perhaps an alliance,” someone suggested, from the shadows. Thor sighed very heavily, and his eyes slid shut. On the black of his eyelids, he could see himself leaving the bedroom door open an inch too wide when he let you inside. Enough time for a certain someone with magical capabilities to sneak indoors without detection.
Loki stepped forward and dropped his invisible guise. He bowed his head in your direction again but made a note of the stony glare he received in return.
“An alliance would negate any conflict by supplying a plethora of positives for the people of our respective realms.” Thor scoffed loudly.
“An alliance, Loki? Truly?” He said. “I thought you were the diplomat of the two of us. I doubt either of our fathers will agree to an alliance right now, given their… temperaments.”
“And what if the alliance is one they need take no part in? Save for giving their blessing that is…” Your breath hitched. Loki pretended that he hadn’t heard it. “We ought to make them act like fathers before acting like rulers.”
“What are you talking about?” Thor said, rubbing his eyes hard with the tips of his fingers. It was either far too late or far too early for this. He couldn’t figure out which. “Speak plainly please, Loki, I don’t understand.”
“He’s talking about matrimony,” you said. Your gaze never wavered from Loki. “A marriage, to join our two kingdoms.”
A few moments passed in terrible silence. Thor looked between the pair of you. Was he serious? A… A marriage? Very well, if that’s how it must be…
“My dearest lady,” he said softly, sliding from his seat onto one knee on the floor. You blinked repeatedly, and Loki turned away, hiding a smile behind his hand. “Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
With a genteel laugh, you shook your head and touche Thor’s shoulder.
“With all due respect, your highness, absolutely not.”
“What?” Loki stepped forward and cleared his throat.
“If I may: it would look too suspicious for the two of you to be engaged so soon after your wrongful arrest. It would be quite an obvious power play. Not to mention the complications of inheritance; after all, you’re both in line for your own thrones.” You patted Thor’s shoulder and stood up. You approached Loki’s side, your arms folded and an eyebrow raised.
“The younger sibling, however…” Loki smirked, and looked you up and down. “No throne entitlement. No ties to the household here. No obvious scheming behind the scenes – or at least no more than usual.”
“She’s right,” Loki said. “Though I hope you don’t expect me to get down on one knee.”
“From what I know of you, my lord, you’ve stooped low enough in your time. No need to sustain the hobby.”
Thor got to his feet and straightened out his dressing gown. It was definitely too early for this. The stare between the two of you was palpable; thick with subtext and the unspoken. He stepped between it, eager to remove this drama from his sleeping quarters.
“So, we’re in agreement then? We’ll announce the news in the morning? A prince of Asgard is to marry the princess of Vanaheim.”
You stared at Loki a moment longer but eventually nodded.
“Yes. Alright. Let’s get married.”
Once Loki had been ushered from his room, Thor offered to set you up in a spare bedroom. It was partly chivalry – that he knew his brother would not extend – and partly because it would allow him to handle the situation to some degree. He would pick the nicest spare room he could find.
“So, I have to ask,” he mused aloud. Your furs were draped over his forearm and he stroked them distractedly as they walked. “You already knew that you would not be tying yourself to me, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Then why insist on being escorted to see me once you’d entered his room?”
You smiled bashfully and let your head fall.
“Well, firstly, you ought to be kept in the loop regardless. We can’t have you being kept ignorant, only to blow the lie wide open, can we?”
“Do I detect motives ulterior to those?”
“You might.” You bit your lip and looked away. The interior decorating in Asgard’s palace truly put your home’s to shame. “I… also needed to make sure that Loki would agree. What better way than to make him think it was all his idea? I ‘accidentally’ crawl into his room, as opposed to yours, piquing his interest enough to stay behind and eavesdrop. Then, he suggests a solution and, on account of his wanting to take all credit, is obligated to see it all the way through.”
“You planned all of that having met him only once?” Thor said as he came to a halt outside of a tall, wooden bedroom door. He held it open to you as your explanation/confession continued.
“To any spectators of my arrest, I was guilty as charged. He, however, discovered the true culprit and brought him in. I don’t see him as somebody likely to hunt truth and justice for the sake of it, because it makes him feel good, so one can assume that he sought me out with the intention of claiming the credit for my emancipation. So, to answer your question: yes, I got all that from meeting him once. He’s not as complex as he’d believe himself to be.”
Thor chuckled and leaned against the doorframe. Admittedly, if you were to be believed, then it was incredibly impressive.
“How long did this little scheme of yours take, might I ask?”
“It was a long ride here,” you said with a wink. “Besides, I needed some way to get revenge for the way he thought to manipulate me whilst I was behind bars.”
“You know, my lady,” he said, “I dare say you’re a better match for my brother than you both realise.”
“I’ll try not to take that as an insult.”
Thor watched you seat yourself on the bedspread and cross one leg over the other. It was a similarity to a certain someone that was not lost on him…