Author's Note: This is a sequel to my Seeker of the Great Truth story, though I suspect that you would not have to read it to follow this one. I certainly hope this lives up to the hype that its prequel started. This starts after the Avengers movie and forward. Would love your thoughts, so please leave a review. Enjoy~

Prologue

She had waited over two years for this day. The faint scar along her neck and shoulder began to tingle as Estiel took the first step down the flight of stairs. She was entering the dungeons of Asgard, the place of eternal confinement for the fallen dark prince. While placing a hand on the wall to steady herself, she felt the quiver in her legs. Two years and several months of resentment, anger, and longing all had spawned a broken woman.

After being hauled off by the guards on the day of Thor's coronation, Estiel remained in a cell for nearly three moons. It was not until Loki's descent into the ether that Thor began to settle the chaos on Asgard. Once Estiel was cleared of any wrongdoing, she was released. However, upon hearing that the one she loved was dead, Estiel withdrew from society by confining herself to her parents' home. She simply lost all capacity to care—in her mind, she had failed Loki, and could not bear the gossip of how 'evil and twisted' he was. To add insult to injury, once it was rumored that Loki was not even an Asgardian, but a Frost Giant, many acquaintances turned their backs on her for consorting with a monster.

Lost, depressed, and hopeless, Estiel considered ending her own life, though she never took action. After a year of mourning, Thor had paid her a visit. Perhaps, he was suffering, too, and needed to speak with someone who understood his pain of loss. Of course, Frigga shared their feelings, but she could not openly discuss it when Odin was present. So, after Thor witnessed how Estiel's misery had reduced her to nothing more than a shell of a person, he offered her a place in the palace as a form of severance.

In hindsight, it was a way for her to grieve as she desperately needed—with the few individuals who understood the void Loki had left behind. Estiel had regained some purpose a year after taking residence in her royal quarters, though a far cry from forgiving the past.

When she caught word of his destructive rampage on Midgard, she could hardly believe how happy she was; which induced more guilt than she cared to admit. He was alive, she thought, and truly believed that her heart had begun beating for the first time in two whole years. With nervous anticipation, she hung on every shred of information that she could discover—hoping to find out if he would survive the raging war he was instigating on Earth.

Finally, as fate would have it, Loki had been defeated. The day came when he returned to Asgard with Thor—yesterday. She had only been able to catch a glimpse of him, but that single glimpse forced all of the air out of her tense body as she collapsed to her knees. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow, and tears of anger poured out of her burning eyes. To see him alive restored so much of the spirit he had stolen from her; and to observe him in shackles broke her heart all over again.

The first waves of a panic attack were settling in her—she took a deep breath, and continued down the dark stairway. With each step toward the bottom level, Estiel had to remind herself to breathe. Grunts and cries were becoming audible in the distance. She saw a dimly lit hall at the foot of the stairs and began to worry that she would have trouble finding his cell. There was so much to say—where would she even begin?

As she set foot into the dungeons, she paused to lower the hood of her cloak. Estiel stared down the eerie hall, squinting her eyes to discern how far it led. Then, as a figure moved in her peripheral vision, she felt a sensation of eyes on her. Swallowing hard, though her throat was completely dry, she turned to her left.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise, my darling. Come to pay your respects?" Loki asked with a grin on his face. He recalled how their last interaction had ended—his jaw clenched slightly. Even if he had not forgotten the affectionate feelings they shared at one point, Loki believed that they were a lost cause now. His menacing emerald gaze met her baffled stare, amusing him. Estiel's heart skipped a beat as she found it difficult to inhale.

"Loki…"