She felt his presence before she saw it.

And some innate electricity ran through her and kissed every cell.

Jane sipped the wine she had poured for herself and looked up.

He was standing a few yards away, not moving.

She nodded to him. "Would you like some wine?"

He shook his head.

Jane stood. "I haven't sought you out," she observed. "And yet you are here."

"Yet here I am," he repeated. He did not move.

She wondered why he might be there, but wondered more why he was not moving…"I apologize, your Majesty, but I'm not certain…"

"Thor comes home tomorrow," and he took a step toward her.

Jane's gaze dropped. She had not given him much thought, honestly. And though that made her a bit uncomfortable, for it was her feelings for Thor which propelled these events, the fact that she had fallen in love with his brother in his absence after all of the attention he lavished on her…well. That gave her pause. "Yes, I know."

"You love him still?" he whispered, taking another step.

Jane swallowed. She could say that no. She no longer loved him…She could lie and say that she did, and wait to see his reaction. "Love is a rather strong word for what I feel for Prince Thor."

He took two steps nearer, then a few more, until he could have reached his hand out and touched her. "What would be a better word choice?"

Jane looked him in the eye. "Admiration."

Loki nodded, and a small smile curled his mouth. "Admiration is a worthy emotion for one's Prince and future King."

"What will happen to you, Loki?"

His hands went behind his back. "I've been thinking of Alfheim as a possible place to stay for a while. I've heard from a reliable source that it is lovely. And though I have visited in an official capacity, I was never able to fully enjoy its many assets," and he walked so that he was standing beside Jane.

Jane, whose breath had quickened…"I can report it to be a magical place."

"Then perhaps I'd fit right in," he paused. "Odin wishes that Thor marry Saga, Princess of Alfheim."

She nodded, not looking at him.

"Jane."

And she turned.

"Walk with me," he held his hand out to her.

She took it, feeling his fingers wrap around her hand, feeling simultaneously safe and thrilled…"Where are we going?"

"No place special," and he led her to the edge of the yard, in the direction of the thicket.

…and descended the small slope toward the stream.

The pool's mouth opened wide to reflect Yggdrasil in it…a mirror to the cosmos.

"Do you remember, Jane?"

She looked at him.

"This was where I led you the night before you left for Alfheim. When I told you…" he paused. "When I told you I'd remember you."

It was…as she looked around…the very place. It seemed so much bigger then…"I remember."

"I kept my promise."

"You did," and she smiled at him. "Why are we here?"

He took a step closer, and placed his fingers to her chin. "Can you not see?" he raised her chin closer.

Her eyes welled, and she stepped away. "I can't, Loki. I cannot keep doing this to myself," she rubbed the palms of her hands on her skirt.

"Doing what?"

And now the tears flowed freely. "You! You and Thor!" her voice was raised. "What have I done, but fallen for you in his absence. I'm a silly girl. I should go," she turned away…

Loki took her arm. "Are you saying that you've fallen in love with me, Jane Foster?"

"Let go of my arm," she tugged at his grip.

"Tell me," he persisted, pulling her closer. "Tell me and I'll let you go," he choked.

Jane exhaled slowly, and looked at him steadily. "What good will it do?"

"Tell me."

She swallowed. "I have never known love as I have with you."

Loki's brow furrowed…his eyes searched her face, and he dropped her arm from his grasp.

Her eyes fell…she had told him, and he was horrified. "Excuse me," she began to walk away.

"Jane."

"Yes?" she stopped.

"You're leaving?"

"I have no reason to stay."

And something happened inside of him…he was letting his chance slip away…"All the same. Please stay."

"Why? So that I may torture myself? So that I might continue to muddle and confuse things? You have no desire for my love. You will leave, likely with that maid I saw you with earlier, and I will stay here with my father," she paused. "Everything will be as it should, and me and my heart will be forgotten."

"I told you I wouldn't forget you," he protested.

"But for everyone's sake, you should."

He glared at her and stepped forward so that he was right in front of her. "I am tired of doing everything for the sake of some greater purpose I cannot see. I am sick of being a pawn in some game that I hardly know the rules to, and do not trust my opponent," he backed her into a tree with his constant movement forward. "I do not care, Jane," he took her arms.

Now was yet another moment, and he paused, thinking that it might be better to maintain a healthy distance…

…but something in the air compelled him to action.

And he seized her lips in a fervent kiss.

His tongue slipped into her mouth, and Jane moaned softly…

How she had wanted this again! She clung to his tunic, feeling him devour her in his passion…He pressed himself against her, and her back fell flat against the garden tree. She felt his hands roam her, but not with the exploration she once knew, no…this was a claiming, a possession…a victory.

He wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing himself closer still.

And she needed to breathe, but nothing came…

And he thought that he should stop, but he was compelled onward…

He pushed her skirts up to her own waist, feeling her thighs, rounding his hand to her bottom.

She finally escaped his mouth in a pant. "Loki…"

He kissed her neck, his hand slowly ascending her body. He nipped, kissed, licked his way from one side of her head to the other. "You love me, Jane Foster?"

She dropped her legs, and looked at him. "Yes."

"How?"

"You showed yourself to me, and I loved what I saw," she said simply.

He cupped her face, and suddenly he was the confused one…her sepia eyes pleading…her lips quivering…her body warm and welcoming to his own…

And part of him thought that she was delusional, no one would love him.

And part thought that he was victorious, he had won her heart…

But part was also in pain, knowing as he did that he would be breaking her tomorrow, and an honorable man would leave her be, at the very least.

(and somewhere, small and hushed in tones, was a voice telling him that this young woman meant so much more to him than he would admit.)

Loki swallowed, attempting to coalesce every thought running like mad through his head.

It barely worked.

"What are you thinking?" she asked, and he stepped back a bit.

"I hardly know."

"Do you love me too, Loki?"

"Do I…?" he paused. "Jane…that is…" he raked his hand through his hair.

And a tear began to well…"You don't."

"It's more complicated than whether I love you or not."

"No, it isn't," she spat. "Well, it isn't for me, anyway. You will continue to just…be a Prince, and I'll go to Alfheim, and try to forget any of this happened. Except that I can't," she choked. "Because I'm an idiot and continue to fall in love with Princes who have no business being with me, a stable man's daughter," she wiped her face. "You used me."

He regained himself. "Stop, Jane. Please…" he took her hands. "It's true. It is complicated for me…but that doesn't change how I feel."

"How do you feel?"

…and the words caught in his throat…he couldn't say anything.

Jane nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow," and she began to walk away.

His mind began to scream…stop her! But he couldn't…his heart wouldn't allow it.

Loki was in his rooms, staring out into the night. Why couldn't he close the deal? Why was he suddenly mute after all of these years of lying with astonishing ease? Why, when faced with one off the most important things he'd ever attempted, he could not speak…it would have taken but a minute.

And he thought about it…he considered why this may have occurred…was he unwilling to leave Asgard, despite his fierce belief that he was? Did he suddenly care about a mere stable man's daughter….

Did he care for her?

His brow furrowed, and he closed his eyes…

…and he thought about them talking together, about how she seemed to understand him so utterly, how she questioned him and how he allowed it…how he even enjoyed it…

…and he had kissed her, and it made him feel as though he was, for just a moment, desirable…

…and now she loved him. She loved him, and he was lying to her.

She loved him, and he was using her…

Why that mattered now, he couldn't account for…

He opened his eyes.

Had he fallen in love with her?

Jane was in her room, sitting on her bed, writing in her book. She kept a book, since she really had no confidant save her father.

And Loki.

And the tears welled once more.

Tomorrow she would see him, and she would issue her goodbyes. She would thank Thor for being such an attentive Prince (though she did wince a touch at that for multiple reasons). She would thank the Queen for having her at her son's dinner. She would kiss Loki's cheek and bid him farewell.

It would be all right.

She would stay in Asgard with her father for a fortnight and then go ahead of him to Alfheim. She was happier there. She liked it there.

She almost had herself convinced.

Jane put the book down and lowered the oil lamp's light a bit.

She could not imagine someone more perfectly suited to herself. He had pain, but in some ways, he wore it well.

He was as intelligent as anyone she had ever met. And that pleased her. Jane loved to be challenged.

And he could kiss her…it was an embrace Thor had never offered…it was soft yet passionate…not erratic and severe.

She flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling. It hurt so much, this knowledge that the person whom she loved did not return her feeling.

She thought that she would bleed from it.

Jane sat up and thought that if there was any time in her life wherein she wanted to run away, now was that time…

…and then she remembered that she had attempted it, right before she left for Alfheim, just over ten years ago.

She smiled at the memory that Loki had mentioned that very evening. And she got up, took her wrap from the hook on her door, and walked downstairs. She was careful not to wake her father…

And she stepped out into the night, cloaked as it was in stars and warmth. She thought that it was a sign, as though she had gone full circle.

…and there he was once more, sitting on the bank of the stream below, his head thrown back, taking in the night sky.

"I was hoping you'd be unable to sleep, perhaps thinking you might sneak out, planning your escape," he turned from where he was and smiled at her.

"I am quite accomplished at planning stealth exits," and Jane walked down and stood next to the sitting Prince, not planning on staying long. "I'm sorry I'm interrupting."

"Sit with me."

"You're always commanding me, Loki," she looked down at him.

"I am a Prince, you know."

She smiled. Even though she was disappointed in his inability to return her heart, she couldn't blame him for it. And so she sat down. "Lovely evening."

"Were you planning on leaving, Jane?"

"Not tonight, no. I'm no child hiding in trees," and she picked up a rock and tossed it in the stream. "I'll attend the dinner tomorrow, and then I shall leave your family."

He looked at her. "My family?"

"I've been a nuisance, Loki. Falling in love haphazardly with Princes. People were right to think me a whore."

"Don't you ever say that again," he breathed. He had no idea how to behave…the lines being so very blurred between truth and falsehood.

Jane laughed. "I liked Thor for his brawn. You for your brain. I'm still such a child," and she plucked a bloom from the floor. "I thought that I was bright. But I'm just as silly as any young girl blinded by the grandeur of the royals."

"You love me because I am a Prince?" he was looking at her steadily, but she still hadn't glanced his way.

She shook her head and swallowed. "I love you, Loki, because you are perfectly suited to me. I tell myself those other things because it hurts, and saying them makes the sting lessen."

"Jane…" he touched her hand.

And now she looked at him.

"I adore you."