Author's note: Here's a little story that's been bugging me for quite a while now. I hope you enjoy, because I really just need to get rid of it.

"Maybe that's what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all."
~Emily Griffin

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah I don't own blah.

Chapter 1

Loki shifted uncomfortably, causing the Asgardian guard to jerk on his chains. Loki sneered back, moving around again just annoy the guard. The chain whipped around this time, catching the back of Loki's knees. Had this been before the Chitauri, Loki most certainly would have fallen. But now he knew true pain. The chain was nothing.

Truth be told, he didn't know why Father had brought him here. Not after the events that unfolded in Midgard. This was a family event. Laufey's son needn't be here. Not that what Loki said would affect Odin's decisions. That much was made clear by his forced presence at Odin's left, opposite to Thor, at the forefront of the throne room. Loki sneered again. Odin would put up with much grief to shame those he called his children, as much was obvious by Loki's regal dress adorn with conspicuous chains. But Loki was determined to wear his chains with dignity. Those of Asgard no longer intimidated him as they once did. He was beyond them, and they knew it.

That being said, today was not about him. No, today was about Asgardian spectacles and romantic drama. Sif was sending him periodic glares. He supposed she assumed he was enjoying this.

He should be enjoying this, he realized, as he watched the golden double doors open and allow in a graceful woman with flowing dark hair and serene green eyes. She wore a simple green robe tied with a silver sash. Sigyn never was one for adornments. She could light up the room without them.

Sigyn, the Goddess of Fidelity. Every man in Asgard wanted her. And who wouldn't? She was born to be the ideal wife. She would never leave, never give up, she would always be there. And in the mad orgy of Asgard, that was a rare beauty. She was a rare beauty.

Not to mention she had a shrewd mother who had managed to talk Odin and promising her one of his sons. No doubt it was that very same mother who was pushing this event, with all its glitz and scandal. Thor had been openly speaking of marrying Sif for a while now. She must have been seeing her chances at having a daughter on the throne slipping away.

It was all but certain she would choose Thor. Who would choose the Traiter, The God of Lies, the Trickster? He would have killed thousands. He would have destroyed Asgard. He wasn't even Odin's son. He was a frost giant. A monster. She would not choose him.

That left Thor.

So yes, Loki should be enjoying this. He gets the first class seat to watching his brother forced into marriage with the Goddess of Fidelity over his chosen.

But he wasn't.

"Sigyn, as part of the treaty signed by your mother and I, you have been brought here before me to take your pick of my two sons." Odin said heavily. Loki winced at the use of two sons. Was the old man still claiming him? After all this? If so, than he was a bigger fool than Thor, and that was an accomplishment.

"I am." Her voice was gentle, but it still carried the quiet strength from long ago, when she still addressed him.

At that moment, Loki's heart hardened once more. He was going to enjoy this moment if it killed him. So he prepared himself to hear her pick his brother, to hear her agree to forever devote herself to that idiotic brute. He prepared to smile and give condolences to Sif.

"Have you made your choice?" Odin asked. Loki could hear the snickers in the crowd. He had to agree. What choice was left to be made?

"I have."

"And who do you choose?"

Sigyn pauses, and looks between the two brothers. Thor gives her a half-hearted smile. Loki felt the sudden urge to hit him. Thor didn't deserve her. No one deserved her. Then her eyes fell on him. He went rigid as they flicked down to his chains and back up to his eyes. For all his determination to remain dignified, he feels the first flickering of his ever-present shame rising to his face. She returns her eyes to Odin, giving him a moment to battle them back down. "My choice is as it always has been," she said. His heart drops.

There is a sound through the hall like one giant intake of breath. This is the moment they have been waiting for, the reveal of the obvious, the word that will set the biggest romantic scandal of the century in stone. It would be a story for the ages, how Sigyn whisked the Golden King from his Warrior Bride.

"I choose Loki."