- I -

My mind was set: he would be mine by the twelfth night of Yule.

I attended every nocturnal festivity, allowing myself to rest, train or help Father with various duties during the day. Anyway, what really interested me were night parties at Odin's palace where I could observe Loki and prepare myself for the great night. I started taking action on the third night as my plan was to find his room by myself; it took me ten nights to finally locate it, but I only entered it on the twelfth night. I had talked to a few people that worked at the palace over the first few nights and had caught a few hints in conversation, but nothing solid enough to guide me. I needed to go inside.

In the meantime, I also had made sure to make myself noticeable to him. I had waited a bit before doing so, but, eventually, I felt his piercing gaze burning my skin as he observed me as I was making my way to the bar. It took me all the will in the world not to look back in his direction, but, at that moment, I knew he had acknowledged my presence and that was already a great step forward. Thus, for a few nights, I wandered around, making sure he could see me as I interacted with anyone I judged could be of any help, waiting to see what information on the palace I could get from people from the outside before digging into the inside.

And, for that, I knew exactly who to aim for.

"Ouf, sorry!" I said as I picked up my glass which had fallen on the ground after its content had spilled all over me and…

"It's okay, let me help you with that!"

My empty glass was taken from my hands. "Thank you."

"Thor," he held his hand out for me to shake it as he introduced himself.

I gladly shook his hand. "Frayne."

"That name tells me something… You're the Goddess of Seduction!"

"I am," I laughed.

"I pray that I don't fall into your seduction trap!"

He burst out laughing and so did I as I told myself that he absolutely was going to anyway. Not that I completely wanted to—although I would not say no either—, but I was ready for to go all the way if that is what it would take to get into Loki's bed.

"I don't know, we'll see what's stronger between that and thunder!" I simple replied with a wink.

He raised an eyebrow as he smirked. "I like you already! May I offer you another drink?"

"I wouldn't say no!"

I must admit that the rest of the night was everything but comfortable after spilling booze on myself, but I had just guaranteed myself access to the Trickster's room by doing so. Plus, there was no way that talking to his brother in his face would not get his attention. And, if even that did not work, I was going to make sure that Thor would want to tell his brother about me no matter what that meant.

I made a good impression on Thor quasi-instantly; I smiled a lot, laughed at his jokes, flirted a bit. By the end of the first night talking to him—and the fifth night of Yule—, I knew he would tell me all that I needed to know on how to find Loki's room. He trusted me and obviously wanted me—his eyes were screaming it and he was having a hard time keeping his hands to himself. Although parts of me felt bad for using Thor more than anything else, other parts ignited at the very thought of his brother. On top of that, his eyes landed on me more and more as the nights went on as hanging out with his brother was clearly getting his attention. And, yet, it was only on the last night of Yule that we finally spoke to each other.

I quickly noticed that, if I wanted Thor to have something to tell Loki and if I wanted him to get me inside of the palace, I was going to have to be bolder and catch his eye a bit more; I wanted to impress him with my looks, make him want me so badly that he would have to share it with someone—his brother—because it would be too much to handle. And that's what I did.

Thankfully, my family was known to be extremely wealthy and so ordering the most expensive and eye-catching dresses my tailors could create was not a problem at all. However, on the seventh night of Yule, I chose to go for an outfit which represented me more than a dress but still had that very seductive touch: a black and purple bodysuit—which allowed one to enjoy themselves a great view of my cleavage—, a black long coat and leather boots—and, of course, my favorite set of silver daggers I always wore strapped to my thigh. When I arrived, walking behind my brother and sister, I felt a great amount of eyes turning into my direction and it made me wonder if people had even noticed that Freya and Freyr had also arrived. Quickly, I made sure that Thor—who was chatting with his brother—would notice me and waited for him to come to me. As always, he did.

"Frayne!" I heard from behind me a few minutes after my arrival.

I turned around and smiled. "Thor! How are you?"

He took me into his strong arms, "Good," and then pulled away to look me up and down. "You look incredible tonight! This new look suits you greatly," he laughed.

"Thank you, that's what I aimed for," I winked.

He laughed even more. "And she's funny, I love it!"

Then, he said something else which I did not hear because, by mistake, my eyes had locked with someone else's and I could not hear anything for the few seconds it lasted. Loki had walked behind Thor and had seen him holding me by the waist. I knew he had recognized me; I had seen it in his gaze and felt his disappointment when he looked down and disappeared into the crowd. His piercing gaze had made its way deep inside me and finally looking into his gorgeous eyes after all those years had sent a cold shiver down my back. At the feel of it, my grip on Thor's shoulder had tightened.

"Frayne?" Hearing my name got me out of my daydreaming. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, my apologies… would you feel like going for a walk?"

Thor frowned. "But, the dance…"

"There'll be others…" I felt my nails slightly dig into his skin.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Sure, okay."

And we left the celebration.

We walked for quite some time while chatting and I got to learn a lot about the legendary God of Thunder. I wanted to ask about Loki, but I could not quite find the way to do it until he did it for me by after telling me the story of how Loki had once shape-shifted into a snake and had then stabbed him when they were eight.

"Did it hurt?" I asked as I struggled to fight a smile.

"It did, but I was taken good care of and a week later I was back on my feet!" Thor laughed.

"And, what about Loki? I mean, what happened to him after doing such a thing?"

"Father confined him in his room until I was back on my feet, and then we played together like nothing had happened."

"This might sound odd," I hesitated for a moment, looking for the right words. "Have you ever lived elsewhere than at the palace?"

"I haven't," he said proudly.

"How does it feel… to never have known any other place than the one you live in?" I tentatively asked.

"It's fine, honestly. I enjoy not getting lost in there anymore!" He laughed and so did I. "Loki and I used to play hide and seek for days because of that; the longest game we ever played lasted twelve days!"

"Like Yule."

"Indeed!"

"I love Yule," I began. "I'm looking forward to any celebration at your palace because I find it so impressive and beautiful… at least from the outside."

Thor smiled with pride. "The inside is stunning!"

"I wish I could see it…"

I tucked a strand of hair behind my hair as I looked away. Thor's brief moment of silence confirmed—before he even opened his mouth—that I had succeeded in getting myself a private tour of Odin's palace.

He looked down and cleared his throat. "Well, I guess it would be possible for me to let you in…"

I looked up at him with a wide smile and spoke before he could say another word, trapping him. "Could you really? I'd love to!"

"But, not tonight. We've been away together long enough."

"Whenever you want!" I smiled again.

"I shall what I can do. But…" he stopped walking. "Why did you ask me this question earlier? Did you not live your whole life in your palace?"

My eyes widened. The question was highly unexpected and I had to be careful and say the right things. "I wasn't born on Asgard."

He took a few seconds to think, frowning. "Oh… oh, I remember now! Father and I attended the celebration in honor of your arrival."

"That is quite possible."

Thor was thinking again and seemed to be looking for a detail he could not recall. "I recall that Loki didn't come with us, but I cannot seem to remember why—nor where he was…"

I remained quiet as memories of that time crept up upon me, but I could not let it show—or I would have to blame on the fact that losing my mother was what made me like this as I had always had.

I remembered everything; I remembered looking for a clone of Loki for the whole duration of the party and never finding one, and I remembered how much it had pained me. At night, I had asked him why he had not created one and he had explained to me it was my Father's order that even a clone of Loki could not attend the party to guarantee no suspicion. When I had started to cry, he had held me in his arms and had wiped away my tears with his thumb as he had rocked me in his arms in pure silence for several minutes.

"Where are you from again?" Thor asked in a soft voice. He must have understood that it was probably not the easiest topic to talk about for me.

"Jotunnheim."

His eyes lit up. "Like my brother!"

"Indeed."

We had made our way back to Odin's palace without exchanging too many words.

On the tenth night of Yule—three days after my walk with Thor—, we sneaked inside the palace for a private tour. He began by showing me his father's throne, then many hallways, two kitchens and rooms which served various purposes. As we got higher in the palace, I knew we were getting closer to bedrooms and my heartbeat was getting faster.

Thor's bedroom was on the ninth floor. Its inside was bright and colorful—very Thor-like—, and contained a lot of shiny objects. He made sure to show me everything there was to see in it—deep down, I knew he did not want to leave to continue the visit, but I had to know more before calling it a night. A while later, when we finally left his room and I felt a good inch of discomfort coming from him, we made our way to the upper floors where he showed me more rooms. When finally:

"Behind this door is my brother's bedroom which we shall not enter if we wish to stay alive," he explained and hearing his statement sent chills throughout my body.

"Why do you say that? Are there deadly traps in there?"

"Oh, no," he laughed. "He's simply always hated having me in there and insisted that I had my own room to wander in. But, let me tell you," he placed his hand on the doorknob, turned it and barely opened the door, "he should think about adding a lock to his door if he doesn't want me inside!"

"Right, okay," I laughed—partly out of nervousness, but now I knew that entering Loki's room would be very easy.

Then, an awkward silence thickened the air before my guide spoke again. "So, that's it I think. I don't know what you want to do now…"

I nodded and looked up at him. It was time to get down to some more serious business. He wanted it so badly and, honestly, deserved it after everything he had done for me—without even knowing. He, thus, deserved a little reward.

I placed a hand on his chest and our eyes met: his were now full of darkness and desire, which was a great contrast to his cocky personality. A strong arm wrapped itself around my waist as I stood on the tip of my toes to kiss him and I felt his grip around me tighten even more. He lifted me off my feet and carried me to his room.

Thor is known for wielding a hammer and for his ability to control thunder, and, I shall say, that he knew exactly how to pound inside a woman with such strength that it would get her to talk about it for years.