"FOR ASGARD!" the almighty voice of Thor Odinson rang out amongst the celebrating soldiers inside Valaskialf, the home palace of Asgard's royal family.
Many were startled out of their conversations and festivities, as the prince had not bothered to give warning of his toast. Nevertheless, everyone followed suit and raised their glasses into the air, belting out, "FOR ASGARD!" as well. One of these many people- which included men, women, and children: all the victorious warriors and their families- was a particularly gifted, noble shield maiden by the name of Danyria Runadottir. She was the only child of a skilled archer, Runa, and had begun training to take her mother's place in Asgard's ranks after her death two centuries before. Truly, she had impressed the king and queen by growing to become as beautiful, kind, and intelligent as she was knowledgeable of battle. They and their two sons had stood by Danyria's side as Runa was sent, with other discovered casualties of war, out onto the waters beneath the Bifrost and honorably burned, to find her place in Valhalla. More than once, she had been told of how remarkably identical to her mother she now appeared, with fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. Her face, however, though just slightly dotted with freckles and containing a smile that made her expressions rather soft and innocent, did not match her body well. Danyria was, after all, a soldier, and therefore had the build of one. The amount of muscle she had gained over the years did not allow for her body to have the usual feminine curvature of many Asgardian maidens, and this was the reason she figured she had not yet been courted. So she often tried to show off as much of herself as she could when not in battle, such as evenings like this.
Though her hips were nearly straight from her waist, rather than spread out from it like the bottom of an hourglass, her thighs and buttocks were rounded and shaped by ruthless training. Her legs were long, much longer than her torso, and did seem to go on for an eternity when she stood up straight. Danyria's arms contained a slight, defining line that came from the weight of swinging blades and shooting arrows for so many decades. In her mind, her crowning glory was her chest, which was the most perfectly-proportional aspect of her body. Perked breasts held daringly low-cut gowns well, despite the fact that they were not an impressive size.
Still, a motherly maiden figure meant exaggerated hips and large breasts, and men were drawn to those who appeared as though they could keep having children for centuries. Even though most families only had one or two children, it was an attractive idea. Many men, as well as a fraction of women, still believed in the sexist notion that maidens should be kept far from the battlefields, and so the few that were involved in such activities (such as Danyria and Sif, and a feint amount of other shield maidens), were not even fit to be good lovers, much less good wives. Though there was no rule against it set by King Odin. He welcomed the females in the ranks, as they often brought a different mindset than the brute strength and stamina of the men. Danyria was even on her way to securing a place on his war council, so long as there was another war to come in the next millennium.
"I hear 'Congratulations' are in order," approached Lady Sif from seemingly out of nowhere, just as Danyria had finished drinking from her glass of white wine. "A place on the counsel, with The Warriors Three and me! You deserve it," she smiled, and they embraced. Sif's hair had been just recently washed and was therefore beautifully soft, and she wore an elegant fur piece over her shoulders and dangling earrings for the occasion.
"Thank you," Danyria replied politely, also grinning. "I couldn't be more ecstatic, though when Odin first summoned me, I was afraid I had done something wrong."
"Nonsense," Sif rolled her eyes at the idea. "Though I know he does have that effect." They laughed, and began to wander over to where Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg were gathered.
Volstagg's wife and children were also present, and they made room for Sif and Danyria to sit once they saw them coming. Volstagg's youngest daughter, Gudrun, who had taken a place on his knee, eagerly stood to stand behind Danyria. She loved to play with the maiden's long, red hair, which was far brighter and softer than her father's. "Gudrun has extended permission to braid it whenever she likes," Danyria quickly stopped Volstagg from scolding the girl for poor manners. "Besides, she and Flosi are better than anyone I've met yet at putting flowers in a braid." As if on cue, the second-eldest of Volstagg's approached them with flowers of different kinds peeking out of her pockets. Danyria helped conceal them from their father, as they had most likely been stolen from the gardens.
Danyria did her best to keep with the warriors' conversation at the table, as she had to keep her head facing forward to allow the girls to braid her hair properly. As she sat this way, she found that she had a perfect view across the dining hall to where the Odinsons stood with their mother and father. King Odin had his arm clasped around the shoulders of Thor, who was standing triumphant as ever. Next to them, Queen Frigga stroked Loki's cheek proudly, seemingly congratulating him on his war efforts. Even he looked proud of himself, which Danyria knew was something rare for the younger prince. His deep emerald eyes seemed to twinkle under the golden light, and slight crinkles formed underneath them as he smiled.
"She is beautiful," a voice suddenly came from Danyria's side. She turned to see Flosi peering across the room as well, having pushed herself closer to look exactly where Danyria was looking. She was referring, however, to an indeed rather gorgeous woman who was standing at Loki's right hand side, also talking to Frigga. Danyria had not noticed her at first, since she had been hidden by Loki's profile, but he had his arm comfortably draped around her waist.
"Yes," Danyria muttered, and a twinge of envy shot through her briefly, making her fold her arms over the table in insecurity. The woman definitely was a slender hour glass, and stood nearly as tall as Loki, with long golden hair and deep blue eyes. She had fair, silky skin and a sweet disposition.
"I wonder why they chose a bride for Loki and not for Thor," Gudrun announced from behind her rather loudly.
"Thor gets a throne. Loki gets a wife," Danyria chuckled lowly, and both Flosi and Gudrun sniggered as well while they snuck the first flower into her hair. They earned a weary look from Volstagg, as he had not overheard but knew his girls' giggling meant mischief.
Danyria tried very hard to prevent herself from taking it personally that the king and queen had overlooked her as a match for Loki. They had been friends for as long as she could remember, and had even been close to flirting many times. She had felt no shame in developing feelings for the young prince until now, since he had been promised to a random maiden from a foreign land. Perhaps she had read his signals wrong over the years, and now even the king and queen thought that she was an unsuitable bride, and mother. The thought threatened a tear from her eye that Danyria quickly turned to wipe away.
"Don't move, or it'll be crooked!" Gudrun scolded quickly, turning Danyria's face forward again and bringing her far away from her thoughts. She apologized, and this led Volstagg's suspicions astray. However, Danyria gave an exasperated sigh as she was forced to watch the royal family across the room.
It was then, after another moment, that Loki all of a sudden turned his head to face her direction. Their eyes met briefly, and Loki gave a smile that made a rush of heat flow into Danyria's cheeks as she returned it. She hoped he wouldn't notice, and was glad to have Flosi and Gudrun finish her hair just as he winked. Danyria quickly looked away, focusing her attention instead on the girls who were returning to the seats surrounding her.
"I couldn't find any of your favorites," Flosi remarked as Danyria brought the braid over her shoulder to admire it and the flowers.
"They're not in season yet," Danyria replied, swirling the end of it around her fingers. "But I love it all the same; thank you."
The three of them began to dig into food, and Danyria was able to rejoin the conversation of the others, who were now discussing the threat of Jotunheim breaking its treaty with Asgard. "Not likely," Volstagg was booming. "Laufey's one for revenge, but he's not a fool. They don't even have the Casket! And attempting to retrieve it is a suicide mission with the Destroyer guarding it."
"Then we best hope nobody feels any reason to give it to them," Danyria chimed in slyly as she took a long swig of wine, while the others gave a long, mysterious, 'Ooooh' at her suggestion, and started laughing as she sputtered her drink.
"I'd love to see what happens to them after trying it," Fandral mused. "For the axe or the Destroyer? We may never know."
"I should hope not!" Volstagg joked back, and they all rose their glasses together in a sudden toast. "To the execution of the fictitious traitor!" Their voices rang out in laughter, earning them several confused looks from surrounding parties.
The realm's festivities went heavily into the night, long after Flosi and Gudrun, as well as all of the other children who had attended, had retired to bed. The two of them had been forced to bid Danyria a good night after a few of her war stories had put them into a rather hectic mood. Not long after, all the wine and delicious food had gotten the rest of the warriors yawning, and many began to retire themselves. Soon it was merely Sif, The Warriors Three, the royal family, Danyria, and a few more stragglers who were left in the hall. Danyria began to look around for someone she could talk to, but merely saw Thor and Sif involved in what seemed to be approaching an intimate discussion. Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral were not as easy to converse with unless Sif was around, so Danyria would not bother them. She also would not dare approach the king and queen in casual conversation, merely because she would not know how. And Loki and his bride-to-be seemed to have slipped away, a bit to Danyria's disappointment.
She sighed at the few other men and women who were left, either flirting or finishing their drinks. Nobody was alone, it seemed, except for her.
Danyria fought back the embarrassed blush that was sneaking into her face again, and quickly picked up her last glass of wine from the table before moving away from it.
She decided not to retire to her guest chambers just yet, and went instead out of the hall and to one of the balconies outside. It faced the gardens below, and Danyria spotted right away the flowers that Flosi had indeed found to put in her hair. Placing her glass of wine on the balcony edge, she brought the braid over her shoulder again. She fiddled with it a bit before sliding the stem that had been used to tie it together off of the bottom. Danyria stared over the edge of the balcony and began to untwist the strands of hair. She could see the beach about a mile out and hear the waves of the evening tide crashing onto the shore.
"Was beginning to think I'd missed you," Danyria heard from behind her, and she turned to see Loki standing in the wide doorway, leaning against the wall of it, half-bathed in golden light.
"You almost did," she smiled. "Luckily I wanted some fresh air."
Loki breathed a laugh and approached the balcony next to her, resting his elbows on it and crossing his arms as he glanced over the edge. Danyria continued to unravel the braid, plucking out the flowers as she did so. "Did you enjoy yourself tonight?" he asked.
"I always do," she said contentedly. Though she believed the pleasant tone only came from just now being accompanied by Loki. Once the flowers were all out and she had reached the crown of her head, she shook the rest of her hair back into place. It now rested down her back in elegant waves. She turned to lean her back against the brick railing and remarked, "You looked happier tonight than I've seen you in a long time. I trust you had good company from… er…"
"Embrielle," he finished for Danyria, and she pressed her palm to her forehead, grimacing at the fact that she had forgotten her name.
"Embrielle," she repeated, sighing. "Of course. I'm sorry."
"It's of no insult to me," Loki chuckled at her. "And she's not here to witness your horrid memory."
Danyria laughed loudly and shoved the closest horn of his helmet, which knocked Loki off balance for a moment. She lowered her eyes and watched his cape move with him. The mood died quickly as silence fell between them, and she knew Loki could tell she was thinking hard. "She is of Alfheim, correct?" she asked.
"Yes," he nodded. "A light elf."
"She is very beautiful."
Loki began to nod slowly again, but must have caught something besides admiration in her voice. "Why did you take this out?" he changed the subject, picking up one of the flowers that rested with bent stems near her wine glass.
Danyria took the flower from between his fingers and shrugged. She ignored the beat her heart had skipped when their fingertips had briefly touched. "It is more comfortable to sleep with my hair down."
"I'm glad not to be burdened with such problems," he joked, and Danyria rolled her eyes as he reached up to remove his helmet and place it by the flowers and wine glass.
She couldn't suppress a laugh as she looked over at him again, his hair lying perfectly flat from being pressed down by his helmet. It was a little too proper for her liking. "No, your biggest problem is helmet hair," she giggled, and reached toward Loki as he blushed. She massaged her fingers through his hair until it came out of place and stuck out a bit at the sides, with a few strands of his bangs dangling toward the edges of his eyes. "Better," she announced. Though when her hand returned to her side, Danyria quickly tried to ignore how much she enjoyed running her fingers through Loki's raven hair.
"Now that I'm sure I look like I've just returned from battle all over again," he began, smirking at her. "What say we take the horses down by the beach?" It was a tempting offer, but something made Danyria refuse. She gave the excuse that it was late. "Very well, then, the library: something quieter."
"Do you not have a fiancé waiting for you somewhere?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows slightly.
"Our engagement was just recently announced, Dany," Loki scoffed, and him calling her by the nickname made her heart jump. "No, Embrielle has returned to Alfheim tonight, or she is supposed to after bidding farewell to Mother and Father."
"Did you leave her alone with them?" Danyria asked him, shocked that he wouldn't escort her out to the Bifrost himself. "Not too husband-like of you, Loki."
"I'm not her husband yet."
Danyria groaned and pressed her face into her hands, rubbing her eyes slightly. "You have an answer for everything."
"You don't," he retorted slyly. "The night is young; come somewhere with me."
"Loki, I can't," she argued, trying to avoid an edge of frustration in her voice, but he was making it difficult.
"Why not?" he pressed.
"Because you are betrothed!" Danyria suddenly shouted. "I cannot just go places with you any longer, Loki, not alone and especially not late at night!"
"It's not incriminating to spend time with friends I've had for centuries just because—"
Danyria had cut him off, partially because the two of their voices had escalated so much that they risked being heard, but mostly because Loki was not going to understand unless she made him. So she had quickly closed the gap between them and slammed her lips against his in a very strong kiss.
He pulled away first, but not before Danyria felt his jaw unclench and his lips part. They both breathed rather heavily, and Loki brought his hand up to his lips, stroking his chin in surprise. He understood now very well why they shouldn't have been sneaking off alone together at night while he was promised to another woman. "Why," he began, "didn't you say anything before?" Loki almost sounded angry.
Danyria shrugged, truly not knowing. "Are we not young? I thought I had all the time in the nine realms to find the courage to tell you. I thought there was already something there! I thought I wasn't the only one to see it either, but then Odin and Frigga announced your engagement…" The more she began to think about what she had just done, the more Danyria began to panic over the fact that not only had she lost Loki as a lover, but she may have just done the one thing that would cause her to lose him as a friend. She brought her hands to her lips and gasped at the thought, while tears began to swell behind her eyes and spill over. "I'm sorry," she choked out. "I'm so sorry…"
Loki had been completely still, staring at her, lips parted in shock, but now seemed to have been jolted back to life. He began to slowly shake his head, and Danyria thought he might be refusing her apology, and that he was going to leave her here alone and never speak to her again. But he seemed to instead be silently begging her not to cry, for Loki took a step toward her and forced Danyria's hands from her face so he could return her kiss.
It was much gentler than when she had kissed him, but quickly escalated once more to where she felt his lips part, and in turn parted her own. Loki cupped her face in his hands at first, to wipe away the tears that had begun to fall, but soon traveled down to around her waist. He pulled her close to him until his arms were pressed against her back, and hers were wrapped around his neck. Danyria could taste the wine he had indulged in that night, and breathed in his scent of mint leaves and cool earth. He was intoxicating.
She had never noticed before how much taller than her he was. Loki was kissing her so intensely now that Danyria's head was nearly tipped back completely while his tongue darted through her lips and their teeth periodically scraped together. She couldn't breathe, and had to push him away before he could trap her in a dizzy haze from his scent and the way he seemed to so eagerly want to devour her. "Loki," Danyria was panting slightly when he finally broke away. She licked her lips, which were flushed and plump from being seized and sucked and broken through. She could still taste the wine. Loki too seemed to be rather desperate for the relief, and breathed deeply, though his eyes never wavered from Danyria's, save for when he would glance down at her lips. He didn't want to stop. "We can't," she whispered, though every part of her from her mind to her heart was begging her not to refuse him.
"I can do what I want," he muttered as well, though there didn't appear to be anyone around who could possibly hear them. "And I want you."
The way Loki said it, with a greedy growl in his throat, made Danyria shudder and nearly cringe as a burst of arousal erupted from the center of her body. How many times had the dream of this moment interrupted a night's sleep, leaving her longing for what it might be like to be loved by him? How long had she been wishing she could taste what it was like to kiss him, and experience being touched by him? How often did she turn away from his gaze, face flushed from the thoughts that came about from looking into his emerald eyes? Yet the doubt remained, and Danyria asked him, "Why? Why me, when you could have her?"
Loki suddenly gave her a confused frown, and the mood began to slip away as he pondered her words. "What about Embrielle makes you form such a harsh comparison to yourself?"
Danyria's eyes widened in surprise. "Loki," she said bluntly. "She's beautiful. One of the most gorgeous creatures I have ever seen."
He scoffed a laugh at her, and a smirk spread from his thin lips. Danyria thought he might say something along the lines of, "So are you," but he didn't. Instead, Loki used his grip on her waist to twirl Danyria around so she was facing away from him, out from the balcony and at the sea shore below. He embraced her from behind, one arm across her stomach while the opposite hand caressed her near her hip bone. "What do you think makes Embrielle so flawless, Dany?" he asked, and she realized that she was pressed firmly against his chest, so that he could present his speech seductively in her ear. "Never seeing the likes of any battle, hardly ever leaving the sheltering walls of her home but to meet suitors. She has never known what it is to bleed, to block a blade from slicing the throat of a friend, to kill, and to be left with dirt and scars covering her entire body." As he spoke to her, Danyria was picturing specific moments during their pasts where she and Loki had done just what he was describing. "What lies under golden cloth is pale, unmarked flesh upon which I am afraid to even just graze my fingers. Her hair always smells like the same flower because it is constantly so clean. There is no ferocity in her kiss, and no strength in her arms when she greets me." Loki took in a breath, and she heard the slightest shudder in it. She knew he was taking in her scent now, but he also swept her fiery red hair aside and kissed the place where her jaw met her neck. "Danyria, I know you would bleed for me, as I would for you. I trust you with my life. The scent of your hair is never the same, but always reminds me of home. I crave your strength, your skin that I can grasp and kiss and from which I can feel radiating warmth. And now I've tasted your lips, I want so much more."
Danyria had been holding her breath, waiting for Loki to finish. Once he finally did, she bravely turned back around to face him. Danyria found that there was an insecurity in his eyes that had been absent from his voice. He feared she was going to refuse him, but his demeanor made the most sudden change when she uttered the words, "Touch me…"
As if a switch had been flipped for both of them, Loki immediately leaned in to kiss her again, and Danyria gave the fiercest response: wrapping her arms tightly around him and running her fingers through his hair. He pushed her backwards and leaned against her until she was trapped between his body and the balcony wall. A couple minutes of blissful, powerful kissing passed, and then several more, before she began to grow impatient. "Loki…" she whispered between their locked lips, though there was a frustrated edge to her voice. Her cheeks flushed as she feared he may be rethinking this decision, and quickly began to lose her own nerve.
However, it seemed that she had instead given Loki just the trigger that he needed, for his hands quickly began to wander from their place in the middle of her back. They now were moving gracefully along the black and silver gown she wore, to her hips, and then came to rest as they pulled her forward from the balcony wall. He grasped the start of her thighs, just underneath the rounding of her buttocks. With hardly any effort, Loki lifted Danyria from the ground in this position, before inserting himself between her spreading legs and resting her atop the balcony wall. He had pushed her gown up over her knees as well, until his hips could handle the rest of the way. So when his hands moved again, they rested on her bare skin, just behind her knees.
They pulled apart once more, but just by the lips. Danyria still gazed into his eyes with an increasing intensity that seemed to match her heartbeat. It was racing as she felt Loki grind his hips into hers, and he brushed her at an angle perfect enough to send a spike of arousal through her and elicit a soft moan from her lips.
Danyria gasped, and nearly clasped a hand over her lips. A torturous heat rose in her cheeks, but as she held Loki's gaze, it seemed that he had derived the utmost pleasure at the sound of her beginning submission unto him. "Here?" she asked him. Loki continued to smirk, and glanced hungrily at her lips again. "What if—"
"Someone should see?" he finished for her. Danyria saw his perfect teeth glimmer through his lips as the smirk widened into a devious laugh. His eyes then traveled down to the edge of her gown, which was dangerously high on her thighs now. A few more inches, and she would be hiding no more from him. "Then it shall be their shame, should it not? For interrupting."
Danyria bit her lip anxiously. The way he spoke, she could have sworn he wanted someone to see them. And from what she could feel as his hips rested between her thighs, it was as if the very idea of being caught turned him on even more. In turn, she too found herself suddenly worrying less and less about it. He had such pride in being with her that Loki cared not about who saw. Why should she?
So he continued, and with the swift movement of his hands, Danyria's dress was lifted up to her waist. There was hardly a moment in between this and when he returned to kissing her. Her fingers entangled in his hair before she hastily brought them down his chest, waist, and hips to undo his belt. Her hands were practically trembling, and she hoped that he didn't notice. The air around them was filled with the sounds of their ragged, impatient breaths, however, and the suckling of each heavy kiss until, finally, Loki pulled Danyria forward just off the balcony wall, to him.
He didn't hesitate in entering her, for which Danyria was thankful, but was also so overcome with the sensation of it that her cry seemed to echo between the golden pillars inside Valaskialf. Though they were several feet from the entrance, she felt sure that someone must have heard. But she was soon too distracted by Loki to worry about it. His thrusts were smooth and rhythmic, and he made sure that Danyria felt every inch of him that filled her. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing, meanwhile she was left moaning and writhing as she clung to the back of his neck. Loki held her up and fucked her, and she called his name out into the night, tilting her head back and digging her nails into the back of his neck in ecstasy.
It took another few minutes before Danyria realized his movements were becoming sloppy. His grip on her legs was so tight that they began to ache. She knew what it meant, and silently begged the heavens that it would not be over so soon… When Loki moved less rhythmically, he hit an incredibly sensitive spot inside her. Her moans mounted in pitch whenever he did so. "Don't stop yet…" she begged him. "Not now. Please!"
But Loki, regrettably, did stop, though only to lift her away from the balcony's edge and instead toward the opposite wall, which acted as a large door frame separating the palace from outside. And as he held her up against the wall with such ease, Danyria's eyes widened and her heart began to race as he knelt down before her, her legs hanging delicately, and now practically shaking, over his shoulders.
She only received a glimpse of his expression of lustful hunger before he turned his focus to her thighs: kissing them and gently biting his way along until, finally, Danyria felt his tongue touch her entrance and begin to brush up against her clit. Her entire body went momentarily rigid as she gasped. Clutching the wall supporting her, she lightly clawed at it, having nothing else to do with her hands. Danyria couldn't remember the last time she had felt anything like this. It was true she had imagined it, and had attempted to recreate what the experience might be like during nights she spent alone, but she could never have done it justice. Loki had to keep a firm grip on her thighs and hips to keep her from writhing too much, though he thoroughly enjoyed it. She knew he did because she could still catch glances of the smirk on his lips and the greed in his eyes. He would pause and look up at her, to admire his good work of making her into a mewling, squirming mess.
Only when she was unable to control the volume of her voice did he remove his lips and tongue from their place, having been delicately sucking on her clit and teasing the entrance to her. A wave of frustrating relief washed over her as a gathering orgasm began to fade away. Danyria barely had time to catch her breath, however, before he had returned to his first position: hips gracefully fitted between her thighs. He swayed them forward, and she was filled with him again.
She moaned, and he sighed contentedly in response, "As if I would allow you even a moment's rest." He began to move, and she noticed he had found his rhythm once more. Though it slacked occasionally, whenever he groaned with the pleasure of being surrounded by her. "I used to imagine what you would sound like if I were to make love to you."
Their eyes had been locked for several moments, and Danyria's widened slightly as he spoke. So he had thought about her, this way specifically. She resisted the urge to ask why. Why her? She remembered all the things he had already confessed to her, and instead let her head tilt back while she enjoyed the sensation of him inside of her. Loki had immediately taken this opportunity to kiss her neck, starting out gentle but quickly grazing his teeth on her skin. She whined his name when he sucked near her collar bone. And all the while, he fucked her, and the many different pleasures he was providing her were beginning to mingle into a breathtaking orgasm.
Loki was also beginning to lose his rhythm, she noticed. He groaned against her throat, but was hardly as audible as her. Finally, he pulled away from her neck and she faced him. Arousal was peaking in her center, and was quickly snaking its way up through her chest. Her heart raced; just a few more seconds, and her entire being would succumb to it.
It happened simultaneous to Loki's. He finally loudly moaned Danyria's name while his orgasm poured into her, and she lost all the remaining breath within her chest. He was holding her tight to him, and continued to breathe heavily as well for several seconds afterward. She made to return her gaze to him, having closed her eyes during the final moments. However, movement in her peripheral vision made Danyria instead glance over his shoulder as he lowered her. The edges of her gown fell back to the floor.
Deep blue eyes stared back at her; they were so intense that she could see their color from across the room. The long, golden hair framed her face so nicely that Danyria, even now, felt a pang of envy.
Satisfaction. That was what she experienced as she saw tear trails on the girl's cheeks. And it was because they were tears of frustration, of anger. The Alfheim maiden appeared less heartbroken, and more so as if she had lost a great game that she and Danyria had been playing. Then, swiftly, after she seemed to be satisfied with how long they had stared at each other, Embrielle turned on her heel and left the room.
"Has she gone?"
Danyria's attention snapped back to Loki, who had whispered so softly to her that she wondered if she had imagined it. However, he had done up his belt once more, and his eyes were on her. "Yes," she said in a plain voice, not bothering to hide her bitterness at the fact that her sexual bliss had been quickly robbed from her. She didn't even ask how he knew Embrielle had seen them, or how long she had been there.
Loki dared to laugh at her: a mischievous chuckle before he tipped her chin up to allow him to kiss her gently. "Perhaps more privacy would suit you next time." He backed away from her and went to retrieve his helmet from the balcony, along with her half-full wine glass.
Next time. Danyria's heart leapt at the thought. "And Embrielle?" she asked, sounding a bit too eager about the answer.
"I imagine she will return to Alfheim and inform her father of my adultery," he said. Loki did not seem intimidated by this one bit. Though he turned to Danyria with a gloating smirk. "You may very well get the chance to prove yourself to my father soon."
"Meaning?" she hardly let a second of silence go by before asking. Her nerves had spiked at the idea that Loki might ask permission to marry her instead.
"Our engagement was part of a peace treaty," he stated matter-of-factly. "Your place on our war council will be put to the test immediately, I assume."
Before she could react or respond to this, Loki had replaced his helmet, cupped Danyria's face in his hands again, and kissed her. The uncertainty began to flee from her mind. "I'll destroy anyone who dares attempt to keep you from me," he breathed between their lips. Danyria's breath momentarily caught at his tone, though she quickly recovered. In her mind, she pictured the consequences of their new relationship. And as Loki pulled away from her and offered his arm to escort her to bed, she found that she was, in fact, delighted at the idea.