Anonymous Review::Okay first of all I don't understand what going on here, are you rewriting the story all over again or what, because I don't got it I got confuse with this story and I really, really, really don't get this cause for me it feels like am reading entirely different story here. so please can you please explain a bit more please, but I like your works, they are great forgive me for my bad English.

This was left as a "Guest" so I can't private message you, so I'm responding here. Yes, I rewrote the fanfic. I am keeping the original content and adding more.

The first fic, Darkness There, and Nothing… and Once in the Winter's Tide are written as multiple people either telling or remembering events from the past (mostly in order, but not always) while a second story was happening in the present. For Darkness, while Loki is telling the story of what happened to him and Thea, with some added memories from Thor and Sif and the others—this is the "past" story—at the same time, Thor is working on getting closer to Loki, convincing Odin to let him out of prison, trying to find out if Loki is telling the truth, and then finding Thea. In Winter's Tide, Bucky is flashing back to meeting Sally (the female lead), how she helped him get his life in order a bit, and how they fell in love—this is the "past" story—while in the present, he's trying to rescue her kidnapped son and keep her and family safe from HYDRA.

The Edge of Darkest Devotion was originally not written this way. It was written as a straight, standard story…and I got bored. I needed to cover the events of about three years in the same way that I did in Darkness There, and Nothing…and I couldn't in a way that made sense that didn't take forever and get really boring. I just couldn't do it. I started hating having to write this fanfic. It felt like a chore, and even my beta was telling me I was losing my story momentum and things were getting blah. Then I got the idea to rewrite it in the same style as the other two in the series and start in the middle of the action, just like I did in Darkness and Winter's Tide, with flashbacks and people telling their stories to explain how and why things have turned out the way they have.

So while the events of the story's timeline are the same, while all the original content from the first upload will be used, the story is now being told in a different way. We're going to have the past stuff (what happened between the end of Darkness and the beginning of the prologue) as flashbacks and stories being told to people, just like we did in Darkness and Winter's Tide, with the present story being that Thea, Loki, and the kids were kidnapped and held prisoner by Thaddeus Ross (one of the villains from both The Incredible Hulk and Captain America: Civil War) because that's where we were going to go with it anyway, and he's totally the type to freak out if Loki became an Avenger and then SHIELD suddenly disappeared. He's a racist douche-waffle.

Anyway, I hope that explained everything? And I put this author's note both here so you could see it, and in a previous chapter so that new people could understand.

Author's Note Concerning the Title: the chapter title comes from the song "Liar Liar" by the Genitorturers. Let me know what you guys think, okay?

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The Edge of Darkest Devotion

Chapter Three

The Tongue of the Liar

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The icy buckles on the leather restraining straps stung Thea's skin where they touched as she struggled to get loose. But the more she twisted, the more she tugged and yanked against the leather and metal, the tighter the bonds became, until they bit deep into her skin through the thin, dark prison clothing she wore. The inhibitor collar burned like ice against her neck, throwing off her concentration. And the vents above blasted frigid air down on her, gusting so hard it blew the wisps of her raggedy chopped hair in her eyes. If she ever got out of here, Colonel Ross was getting a swift kick in the balls for what he'd done to her hair. Among other things.

The roaring vents and the brutal cold and the burning metal all threw off her concentration enough that she couldn't get much of a firm mental hold on the men who stood guard on either side of her or the absolute dick-weasel who'd snapped his fingers in her face. She bared her teeth in the feral snarl she'd learned from Loki.

"Where," she repeated, "are my children?"

"The other subjects' whereabouts of none of your concern-" One of the guards snapped.

Thea lunged against her restraints, remembering another time when she'd heard Sophie, heard her baby screaming in fear, heard Loki's gasp of anguish and terror as the Chitauri soldier came into view, their daughter tucked under its arm while she kicked and screamed and sobbed. The memory flooded her mind, her daughter's shrieks mingling with the agonized shrieks of the Chitauri while it died, writhing, clawing out its own guts, under the full brunt of Thea's power because they'd taken her daughter, her Sophie, they'd taken her baby!

Ross's little goon must have seen the memory burning in her eyes like blue fire because he stepped back, paling. She snapped her teeth a few inches from his face. He flinched. Sucking in a breath, she shouted the words so they raked her throat, "Where are my babies?!"

"Your children are safe!"

Thea almost choked when Betty Ross stepped out from behind the guards. She clung to the transport's ceiling straps to keep her balance as they jounced along the road. Clenching her fingers inside the shackling canvast sleeves, Thea sucked in a breath that whistled through her teeth and seared her throat with cold. Let it out oh so slowly. Sucked in another. Let it out slowly.

Dr. Lensherr's words echoed in her mind, gentle but firm: don't let your rage control you. You control it. It's a tool; use it. And the professor's voice, soft with sympathy: don't let your gifts control you. Ground yourself in the real world. Focus on what's around you. Center yourself. Remain in control. You control what happens now.

She'd had a plan to use this woman. To get this woman on her side. She had to calm down. Throttle back on the mom-fear and calm down. Find her Zen and all that stuff.

But they were taking her away from her children. From her babies. They were only babies, only children, so helpless, she had to protect them. That was why she knew to be calm, so she could help them. So she could protect them. But she had no idea where they were, what was happening to them, how could she be calm when they were taking her away from—

Stop. Loki's voice. It wasn't him, not really, but she knew he'd be calming her now if he could. She dragged the memory of his calm, his icy surety to the forefront of her mind and used it to lock down her panic. Focus. Strategize. Then attack.

Thea forced her body to relax, muscle by muscle. She'd learned this during Loki's treatments from the boy she'd called in to help her salvage her husband's mind. Breathing deep, she acknowledged the fear stinging her mouth like cold metal and churning in her stomach, then pushed it aside. She looked at Betty. Allowed herself a sigh out loud.

"Dr. Ross." Thea cleared her throat in an attempt to make her voice sound less rough and rocky. "I'd like your word on that."

"I give you my word, your children are safe." Betty held up her hands in a gesture she probably meant to be soothing. Thea absently wished she had a stamp she could thunk against the woman's forehead that said, Fail. "They won't be hurt. I give you my word."

Althea Sigyn Valerian—wife of Loki, spy-trained mutant activist, alien convert, angry Mormon mom, stepdaughter of the current SHIELD director, princess of Asgard, and current queen of Jötunheim—stared at Colonel Ross's daughter. Bruce Banner's first love. Supposedly a good woman and someone who could be persuaded to see the light of reason. She wondered what Betty's word was worth.

"In Asgard, there is a vow that you can give even to your enemies, and they will believe it. If you swear by the Norns, everyone knows that you will not lie. I want you to swear by them. You can understand why I wouldn't just believe you right off the bat. I mean, you are holding me prisoner and stuff. So if you're telling me the truth, will you swear? This is Asgard's most sacred vow. Don't take it lightly but I want you to swear because I want to be able to trust you."

Betty hesitated for just a moment before clearing her throat. "Okay. I'll swear. Are there some kind of words I'm supposed to say? Or do I just say, 'I swear by the Norns that I'm telling the truth?'"

"The second one works fine. Swear by the Norns that my children are safe and that they're not being hurt."

"All right," she said. "I swear by the Norns that to the best of my knowledge, and according to my father's promises, and according to our agency policies, your children are safe and that they're not being hurt. Does that work?"

"For now. So…have you given any more thought to our deal?" Thea asked softly.

Betty swallowed. Nodded. "I'm willing to listen."

Better than nothing. Thea jerked her chin at the guards, then rolled her eyes up at the vents. "Can we shrink the brute squad? And can you stop freezing me out? I'm Asgardian, not a Frost Giant. I'm only turning blue 'cause it's freaking freezing."

The other woman quirked a brow. "The brute squad?"

Apparently Thea's wit was lost on this woman. Fan-freaking-tastic. Not a fangirl. Just her luck. But maybe…maybe she could try…She glanced at the guard closest to her. "Hey, you!" She bit back a sharp smile when he flinched at the snap of her voice. The goal was not to scare people by smiling creepily at them. "Get lost or I'll call the brute squad."

To her surprise, the guard's mouth twitched. "I'm on the brute squad."

Her eyebrows shot up. "You are the brute squad." Okay, he liked The Princess Bride. He couldn't suck that bad. "I'll make you a deal, Doc. Ditch the goon squad except Officer…whatever his name is, and cut down on these vents, please. I can't feel my fingers. Then I'll tell you what you want to know."

Shocker of the day: Dr. Ross actually shut the fracking vents off. Warmth crept across Thea's skin. She ramped it up by tweaking her brain into thinking she stood beneath the midday sun on the beaches of Asgard, sunlight sweeping across her skin, kissing it with golden warmth. Gave her fingers a wiggle to get the blood flowing again. And the doctor gestured the guards to step a few paces back from her, except the Nerd Boy who could quote Princess Bride. He drew his weapon and aimed it right at her midsection.

When she cocked her head at him and offered him her best WTF? look, he shrugged. "Just making sure you don't get out of hand."

I can work with that, she thought, and focused on Betty.

"So," Thea said, as casual as a celebrity granting a random news peon a coveted interview, "what do you want to know?"

Betty locked eyes with her, storm-gray against misty silver-blue.

"I know your history; you're Phil Coulson's adopted stepdaughter. You're a member of the Avengers. You were a teacher. Just a normal teacher—except for having powers, which you apparently never used enough to snag the government's radar. You have got to be the squeaky-cleanest mutant to ever be registered."

Thea waited a beat. "That wasn't a question…?" Not that she didn't understand what the woman was trying to say, but she would make her say it. No freebies. No easy way out. No cutting corners. They had to do this the right way or it wouldn't work.

If only she had full access to her powers…

Nerd Boy's lips twitched again, but Dr. Ross wasn't laughing. She shook her head. "How could you possibly be in love with someone like him?"

No need to ask who "him" was. But she did need to know…

"Why do you find it so hard to understand?" So many people found it impossible to understand how she could have ever loved someone like Loki. Loved him even after the Invasion of New York. Even Sif and the Three had begun to question her again after what Loki had done the year before in Asgard. Even Thor wondered sometimes. But how to explain? How to put into words that she and Loki had become so telepathically entwined during those months held captive by the Chitauri that at times it seemed like they were one person?

"What do you see in him? What do you see, that nobody else can see, that would lead you to do the heinous things you've done?"

Somehow Thea managed to jerk her shoulders up in a shrug. "You gotta be more specific, because I legit have no clue what heinous things you're talking about."

"Attacking SHIELD officials, killing innocent people, countless acts of terrorism-"

"You keep using that word," Thea said. She flicked her eyes to the guard, then back to Betty. "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"Just answer the question," Betty said coldly, ignoring the snort that the guard had to quickly turn into a cough. "What do you see in him?"

There were ten thousand answers to this question. She had no idea which of them would make sense to this woman. But as she turned the question over in her mind, a single memory crashed into Thea's awareness. That last moment where things had seemed so simple, so unshadowed…

Before Odin had done all that he had done. Before Loki's hand had been forced—and hers. Before the bloodshed that nearly tore three Realms apart and left ripples in intergalactic politics all the way back to Midgard. One memory that resonated in her skull, catching in her throat until she could scarcely breathe around it.

That single, precious moment before it had all fallen apart.

"What do I see in him?" She couldn't keep the tears from her voice. "My daughter's laughter." And so much more. A hundred thousand memories of safety and acceptance and love. She drew another deep breath and told Elizabeth Ross about that first day…

.

The rail stung Thea's palms with cold, but it was a pleasant cold, stone chilled by sharp spring air. It was colder in Asgard than in Portland—which was saying something, considering what mean, vicious old ladies Maine winters could be. But it was April, and it had been mostly sunny when the Bifröst had snatched Thea up from in front of her mother's house and dragged her to this place so far away from home. Here in Asgard, sunlight was a shy stranger thus far. The clouds hung soft and gray in the sky like dusty cotton batting, wintry in their colorless hovering. Thea closed her eyes to block out the sight. She despised the color gray. It reminded her sickeningly of those first weeks and months after she'd escaped the Chitauri, when Loki had slipped through her fingers.

Colors, she thought, opening her eyes and gazing across one of the inner courtyards of Odin's palace. They all left me then, for a while. There was nothing but gray fog. The clinical name was depression, but it had hit harder, sliced deeper than that. The world had seemed almost utterly empty of everything except…

The color green, Thea thought as a high-pitched giggle echoed off the castle's stone pillars. Sophie raced into the courtyard, bare feet squish-squashing on the damp grass, arms waving wildly on either side of her. Bear, a dark splotch, flopped at her side. Vivid emerald eyes sparkled with delight as Sophie jolted to a stop, spun around so fast she almost toppled over, and bounced up and down in the middle of the courtyard before rocking back on her heels and yanking Bear up to her face. She giggled again, the sound sweet with little-girl mischief.

"Fie fum fam fo-fee!" A mock-deep voice rumbled from the shadows of a palace doorway. Sophie squealed and wiggled excitedly. "I smell a little princess named Sophie!"

Sophie squealed again and dashed toward a bench just as a tall, lean figure in black and green strode into the courtyard. His ebony jacket flared out as he moved, giving him an air of subtle menace. Eyes like jade knives sliced through the air, searching for prey. Sophie gasped and hunched down under the bench. She clutched Bear with one hand, sucking furiously on her thumb.

Loki's gaze shifted from emerald ice to summer sunlight through green glass when it landed on Thea watching him. She grinned when he smiled. Then he shifted back into Ogre Mode and stalked toward the bench.

"No princess can escape me," he growled softly. "I will find you…and what will I do then, hmmm? Maybe," as he laid a hand on the stone bench seat, "I might just," kneeling on the grass, he leaned down ever so slowly, then suddenly dropped his head next to Sophie. "Eat you!"

Sophie shrieked and laughed, crawling across the grass to make her escape. Loki swooped in and scooped her up, giving her a terrific toss in the air that made her scream with sheer happiness.

"Got you!" He caught her easily, and her laughter echoed through the courtyard. "And what will you do now, Little Princess?"

Sophie held up her stuffed animal. "Bear fight you!"

Loki's eyes widened. "Fight me? This mewling cub of a beast? Nay! I do not fear one such as he. I am a son of Odin, a prince of Asgard! I will fight your beast, Princess."

"He bite you," Sophie warned. "Like dis." She launched Bear at Loki's neck and made a sound similar to "rarmph." Loki gasped, clapping one hand to his throat, and sank gracefully to one knee. Sophie tumbled out of his arms, but Thea saw that Loki moved to keep her landing soft and easy. Loki's other hand flew to his throat to join the first as he made a choked sound and started to tilt sideways.

"Blast," he groaned, pretending to struggle to remain upright. "A killing wound! I underestimated the beast! Brother!"

Thor emerged from the shadows, one eyebrow quirked. "Brother?"

Loki thrust a hand dramatically at Sophie. "This fiendish princess has defeated me with her beast! I must be avenged." He lost the mock-battle with gravity and collapsed to knees and elbows on the grass with a pathetic groan. "For Asgard, Brother!"

"Not done yet!" Sophie cried as Thor took a step. "Gonna getchoo wif powers!" She crouched next to her father's kneeling form and thumped Bear against his shoulder. "Pow!"

"Ugh…" Loki gave a feeble moan. "I cannot stand against such magic! It is too powerful!" Green eyes darted past the toddler to land on Thea, watching with a grin. Loki held out a hand to her, pleading, "Thea, my love…help me…"

Thea grabbed the rail, heaved, and vaulted over the stone to land lightly on the grass. Sophie's eyes widened. She glanced at Thor, at her father, and then at her mother before holding out her hand, palm facing Thea.

"No! No closer! Stay dare!"

Her mother folded her arms across her chest. "You're not the boss of me."

Sophie just grinned. Then she smacked Loki gently on the back with her toy. "Poof!" He slumped to the grass as she commanded, "Fall down."

"I am down," Loki replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Downer," Sophie insisted.

"I don't think Daddy knows how to do that," Thea said with a laugh.

Sophie frowned. "How come?"

A firm voice, rippling with suppressed laughter, called out, "Tell him to yield, Your Highness!"

Thea turned to see Sif, dressed in simple practice clothes and holding a pike in a loose grip, leaning against the archway behind Thor, grinning. Sophie scrambled away from her parents toward the shieldmaiden with a joyous, "Sif!" Sif set the pike against the wall, knelt, and scooped the princess up in one smooth motion, settling her on her hip. "Lookit, Sif, lookit!" Sophie cried, pointing at a downed Loki. "I won!"

"A glorious victory," Sif replied with a carefully straight face. "Worthy of a princess of Asgard and Jötunheim."

Thea felt the sudden tension burning through Loki like the scrape of iron shards under her skin. She forced back her own unease. It was common knowledge—now—that Loki was a Frost Giant, a foundling left by the king of the Jötunns to die for the crime of being too small. Common knowledge now, this secret that had weighed on Loki like the weight of a death sentence since before Thea had met him. He still hadn't let go of the pain of that knowledge, still hadn't stopped wondering what those around him thought of him now that they knew of the ice magic in his veins. Why had Sif mentioned that?

But Sif didn't even look at Loki. She simply looked adoringly at Sophie as the little girl babbled excitedly about her "glorious victory" against the big bad ogre. Thea glanced at Thor, but the crown prince seemed just as bemused as his younger brother. Carefully, Thea poked a delicate empathic finger at Sif, running a psychic fingertip over the threads of emotion currently twining around her.

She wasn't thinking cruel things of Loki, only sad things. Her thoughts were equally sad when they shifted to Thor. Sophie tinged the warrior maiden's thoughts of others with sadness; why? Finding out would require a firmer touch, a skimming of her memories. Normally Thea wouldn't have hesitated—especially with Sif, whom she liked somewhat but couldn't quite bring herself to trust completely—but there was something fragile about that sorrow that gave her pause. Sif cared about Sophie. No one was in danger. Thea didn't need to intrude on the other woman's privacy. So she simply offered Sif a smile and nudged Sophie very gently with her powers, a small command to wiggle out of Sif's arms and come back to her mother.

Thea hoisted Sophie up, acutely aware of the way Sif had watched the toddler bounce across the courtyard grass. Sophie ignored the adults who'd gone quiet and looked at her mother's stomach.

"When baby coming?"

Thea rolled her eyes. She'd heard some variation of this question every day since telling her daughter of her pregnancy. "Not for awhile," she murmured.

Sophie screwed up her face as she processed this information. Then she poked Thea's stomach. "Hurry up, baby!" Then she looked around at the adults with an expectant smile on her face. Everyone chuckled, but Thea had to wonder if Sophie had done that just to break the tension. How much did the toddler understand about the dynamics between everyone in her newly enlarged, strange family? How exactly did her mind process the empathic sensations she picked up from everyone?

Vivid green eyes locked with Thea's gray-blue ones. Sophie blinked solemnly, then laid her head on her mother's shoulder. She sighed and whispered, "I miss Ashy."

And that little reminder made Sophie's comprehension a topic for another day. Thea realized she'd forgotten to ask Odin about her sister and niece visiting Asgard. What, she wondered with a wry twist of her mouth, would the king of Asgard say about his precious palace being desecrated by the presence of mortals yet again? Part of her was dreading the answer, but the part of her that had been feeling restless ever since Loki's terrible nightmare a week ago was sort of looking forward to having an excuse to lock horns with her husband's adoptive father, just a little.

I'm a bad person, she thought with a smile, already drafting her argument for the Asgardian king.

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"How were you betrayed?"

It was probably petty, but it gratified Daisy that her sudden breaking of the silence startled Loki enough that he jerked and stared at her, confused, for a long moment. He blinked and his eyes were suddenly green as sunlight through emerald glass. Where did that crazy blue and scarlet come from when his eyes changed colors? Was it because he was an alien?

He cleared his throat. The sound was sharp as a snapping bone. "What did you say?"

"You said you were betrayed, that that was why you and Thea weren't together anymore. How were you betrayed? Who betrayed you?" If they were traitors among them, among those they were supposed to count as allies, she needed to know. They all needed to know. She'd seen what betrayal could do to a team, could do to a mission. It could derail everything if they didn't curb it now. "Do you even know who it was?"

"A better question would be, who wasn't it?" The laugh that rattled in his throat sounded like rattling bones. Gooseflesh interrupted along her skin. She brushed her hair out of her face and pushed aside the odd feeling scrambling up and down her spine. "A former mortal and a Frost Giant living among Asgardians? Who didn't wish us harm? Surrounded on all sides by enemies, we should have seen it coming and we didn't. I was stupid to listen to Thor and his promises, to Thea and her hopes for the future."

Loki didn't even seem to be talking to her anymore. He stared off into the distance, one knuckle pressed against his bottom lip until the flesh stood white around it. Oddly shiny flash shone under the harsh fluorescents along the knuckles of his left fist. Hadn't Coulson said something about Loki being a self-harmer during his captivity in Asgard?

He bit his knuckle until the thinnest trickle of blood spilled from between his teeth. Now threads of blue crept through the green of his gaze. "They were everywhere. Our enemies. I was a fool not see them. Because of me, the throne of Asgard now floats in a sea of blood. Because of me, my wife and children were taken. Because of me, because I was not quick enough, because I was not clever enough, because I was not brave enough to do what needed to be done before I was forced into it. Because of all of these things I have lost nearly everything. Because I did not see the betrayals coming."

"But who betrayed you? Do you have names? If you tell us who they are, we can keep them from stopping us when we try to save Mirage and the kids."

Loki shook his head. "Names? You want names? I will give you names. Thor. Sif. Volstagg. Hogunn. Fandral. Balder. Tyr. Phillip, son of Coul. Anthony Stark. Heimdall. Odin, son of Bor. Even F—" The name seemed to catch in his throat, and he choked, like choking on a bit of broken bone. He squeezed his eyes shut, baring his teeth. Both hands curled into fists so tight they shook. "Even Frigga."

Daisy stared at him. Every single person he'd named off was supposed to be a friend, someone they could absolutely trust. Thor? They supposedly couldn't even trust Thor? And Odin? Wasn't Odin supposed to be the king of Asgard? At least according to Sif. But apparently they couldn't trust her either.

According to Loki, anyway. Why should they trust him? Coulson had already said that he was mentally unstable and what had all that time in Ross's care done to him?

"Where are we going?"

Her eyes refocused on Loki. "I'm not at liberty to discuss that."

A gaze like jade knives slashed across her face. "You realize I could bring this entire ship down in an instant and everyone here would die except me…don't you? You realize that I have no reason to trust any of you, don't you? And you realize that my only priority is finding my wife and my children, don't you? So why don't you tell me where we're going before I decide I don't want to go wherever it is?"

He had the entire team's attention now. Fitz and Simmons stared at him, eyes wide. Before this, the only Asgardian they'd seen had been that stodgy old history professor who paid too much attention to his female students and seemed to have a mild crush on Simmons. That man was nothing like this one. Kara slowly eased her fingers toward the gun now holstered at her hip.

Loki's thin lips curled into a half sneer. "Your pitiful weapons are no match for one that Midgardians have worshiped for centuries as a god. I may not be an actual god, but I am quite powerful. I asked a simple question. You claim you are not my enemies, so why won't you tell me where we're going? Unless of course you are in fact enemies..."

It's a fair question, Jean whispered into her mind. Daisy fought not to flinch. She still wasn't quite used to that. Keep in mind, he's been held prisoner against his will for almost a year. We can't afford to alienate him. We can't afford to make him view us as a threat. Just tell him where we're going. I'm sure Coulson will understand.

Never taking her eyes of Loki, whose gaze glittered like pale glacial sapphires, Daisy said, "Okay. We're going to the Playground. It's our current base of operations. Coulson is waiting there, along with Professor Charles Xavier and a few members of the Avengers, and I know you said—"

"And where is this…Playground?" The glitter in those eyes took on an edge of malice. "SHIELD has an interesting habit of naming their bases of operation. The Raft. The Fridge. The Sandbox. The Helicarrier."

Daisy almost said those four places had nothing to do with each other, and then realized they actually did: each of them contained prison cells built to hold something—someone, Daisy chastised herself—like Loki.

"It's not a prison," Daisy replied. "I promise. But it is where we all work from. Our team is waiting for us. I know you said Coulson betrayed you, but—"

"But he is still my ally," Loki muttered. "Still the father of my wife's heart, and the grandfather of my children. More a grandfather than either my father-by-blood or my father-by-fostering. And I very much desire to speak with him about a great deal. You have given me your word. I will accept it." He pinned her with his gaze. A soft crackling sound filled the air as a thin rime of frost spread out from his hands to coat the arms of his seat. "But I warn you, if you're lying, I will freeze the very blood in your veins. We are allies—for now. If you betray me, if you lie, it will make us the deadliest of enemies. Do you understand?"

Daisy canted her head. She'd faced addictive alien parasites, her own insane and homicidal parents, and some of the highest-ranking HYDRA members still living after the first SHIELD schism. That didn't mean Loki didn't scare the hell out of her, but it meant she could make a passable job of pretending he didn't.

"I told you what you wanted to know, so you tell me what I want see, I know a thing about crappy dad. So what exactly did Odin do that qualifies as a betrayal? Is this something I need to worry about?"

After a long silence filled only with the rumble and whine of the jet engine, Loki scoffed softly.

"I suppose it makes little difference. And it may become relevant later. You see, my so-called father attempted to hold me and my wife prisoner. Not in any overt way, my mother would have stopped him. But when my wife wanted to see her family, Odin refused. He said he could allow her a short visit to Midgard but none of her family, none of my wife's kin, would be allowed to set foot in the lofty, hallowed halls of Asgard…"

.

"Father, it is only for a visit—"

"Absolutely not." Odin cut off Loki's request with a ruthless gesture and icy tone. "Mortals have no place visiting Asgard as if it were some…some…tourist attraction!"

Thea lifted a brow and settled back against the wall of the throne room, eyeing her father-in-law. Loki eyed her in turn. She had told him more than once of friends who'd refused to marry potential suitors because they couldn't stand their potential in-laws. The former mortal didn't exactly detest Odin. Except when it came to his interactions with Loki himself and Sophie, she was entirely indifferent. He wasn't her father; he wasn't her friend. He was simply there, sometimes irritating but typically overlooked in the nearly-two weeks she'd been in Asgard.

But right now, her indifference had melted away. Loki wasn't certain how he knew, only that he could feel a coiled tension winding tight within her. She didn't speak—yet—because Thor and Loki had both already taken her part and Frigga looked ready to step in as well. But the fostered prince knew his wife had an ace up her sleeve, she just didn't want to put in play quite yet. For one thing, they didn't know if it would work. If it didn't work, they had no idea what to do then. But Thea deserved to see her family.

"Father," Thor interjected. "These are no mere mortals. They are Thea's kinfolk. Her sister and niece—and therefore our sister and niece, our kin, and thus your kin as well. Mortal they may be, but—"

Odin silenced his heir with a withering look. "Your foster brother's choice of a mortal wife was injudicious," a sharp blade of sudden shifting, savage fury sliced down Loki's spine like claws, and blood stung his mouth when he bit his tongue, "but I allowed it for obvious reasons."

He felt it then. A fingertip pressed to his lips, a whisper of a touch. A phantom kiss, sweet and soothing, that eased some of the rage throbbing inside Loki like a festering wound. He was still so unstable. Still within a hand's breadth of the madness that had nearly claimed him before Thor had delivered Thea and Sophie to Asgard. Sometimes fear hunkered inside him, a twisted wraith that whispered vicious things he'd struggled for months and months to ignore: it was all a dream, a madman's illusion, and he would wake to find it gone. That thought, that it might one day all be gone again, woke him in the night with screams locked in his throat clawing to get out. But Thea always beat back the darkness, always drove away the fear and its hellish spawn, rage. She did it now, when his father's words would have stirred it up inside him like a poisonous whirlwind. He looked in Thea's eyes and found firm ground under his feet again where for just a moment he had stumbled.

Odin was still speaking.

"Kin she may have, but that does not mean we must now acknowledge every blood-tie she might possess back on Midgard. This is Asgard, and we are Asgardians, not—"

"You allowed it?"

The question was soft as flower petals caught on a breeze. Loki, who'd still been looking at Thea, hadn't seen her lips move…but it had been her voice. Her slightly unfocused eyes drifted in Odin's direction, but she didn't seem to see him. A small smile tugged at her mouth. She brushed a loose lock of hair back from her face, and Loki wondered if she'd deliberately drawn the room's eye to the black, spiderlike scar creeping across her cheek where Thanos' eldritch lieutenant, known only as the Other, had split her skin with a savage backhand while he'd tortured her in front of a chained and desperate Loki.

Without a word from her, Loki turned to fix his gaze on Odin. Thea pushed off the wall and drew abreast of him. Her warmth eased the chill Loki always felt coming into the room, the scene of so many betrayals. A sidelong glance told him he'd been right when he'd first noticed her in the courtyard—beneath her long, velvet Asgardian woman's tunic, she wore a pair of blue jeans tucked into her black leather boots. Curvy, tall for a mortal but short for an Asgardian, with her scars and her jeans, no one would have mistaken her for anything other than human…or formerly human. It was fitting in a way. She was not Asgardian, not really, despite the magic of Iðunn's Golden Apples, and neither was he. Fitting then, that they should be together.

"All-Father," Thea continued, her voice still soft as flower petals even as it touched everyone's ears—Odin's, Thor's, Frigga, and Loki's. It came, gentle and pleasant as a whisper of summer perfume. "Why did you allow me to come here if you didn't want me here?"

Odin regarded her with his implacable cyclopean gaze. "You are my son's wife and the mother of his firstborn."

Thea nodded. "Okay. Sophie's enough incentive for anyone to put up with me, I think. But did you ever stop to ask yourself why I came here?"

The king frowned. "To be with Loki, of course. Your love for him is plain enough."

A small smile tugged at her mouth, and Loki wondered if anyone else knew how much trouble that little smile portended. She asked, "Did you ever wonder what would've happened if I hadn't come to Asgard?"

She had everyone's attention now—the king and queen, the crown prince. Thor opened his mouth and Loki caught his eye. Tilted his chin ever so slowly to one side, then the other. A headshake so subtle only Loki's twin would have caught it. At last it was Odin who answered Thea's question.

"Loki would have gone mad."

"No, Father," Loki murmured. "I would have gone searching for her. If there was even the slightest chance that Thea and Sophie were alive, I would have torn the universe apart thread by thread to find them."

The old king's frown grew fierce. "What is your point, Princess Althea?"

Thea's smile bloomed fully, still gentle as the brush of wildflower petals…yet cold as the ice of Jötunheim, firm as the üru metal of Loki's blades.

"My point, All-Father, is that there is nothing keeping me in Asgard." She offered a short sort of bow, a graceful sweep of her hands and a cant of her head, as if to say, What you see is what you get. There's no deception here. I'm telling the truth. Straightening, she added, "You may not acknowledge my sister or the rest of my family. I know part of it is that we share no blood. Then again, you and Loki aren't even the same species…but you're his dad. I love my family." She turned to lock eyes with Loki. "All of them." Returning her gaze to the king, she added, "And I want to be with them."

"You can visit them on Midgard," Odin replied coolly. "A day or so is as nothing to us. Heimdall could have you to Midgard and back in an afternoon for a reasonably short…visit. Nothing is stopping you from going there."

That icy, razor-petal smile never faltered. "You're right. Nothing is stopping me from going to Midgard. I have to pay a visit to Nick Fury anyway, go trick-or-treating for my nifty Avengers card. That's a terrific idea. Thank you, All-Father."

Loki tilted his head in acknowledgement before offering Thea his arm. Well, the lines had been drawn, and Odin had failed to see them, the prince thought as he and his wife left the throne room. Thea had married Loki, and accepted his family, but she did not consider herself part of Asgard—probably because the rest of the Asgardians didn't consider her to be one of them. Her loyalty was to Loki and her own family. If Odin wouldn't let them come to her, she would go to them. Loki would of course go with her. With their enemies still searching for them, he wouldn't have dared leave her undefended.

The thing Odin didn't realize was, neither Thea, nor Loki—nor even Sophie—would be returning to Asgard until the All-Father gave her family permission to visit freely. She had been held prisoner once, with Loki as a hostage against her heart. She wouldn't let it happen again.

That was the problem with Odin—always underestimating mortals. Loki knew that this would be one reason why, when the looming darkness finally arrived, his father would betray them all.

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Author's Note: oh, yeah, in case that wasn't clear, Odin is still a douche-waffle. :) Just for the record. Hugs for everyone! Bye-bye!