"Yggdrasil wakes and so should you!" Loki sang loudly, causing Maisy to grumble from underneath her blanket.

"Is that the alien version of 'wakey wakey eggs and bakey'?"

"Come along now, Maisy, we'll be late for work."

"I'm coming, I'm coming," She threw off her blanket, which had been delivered the night before by a different laundry maid, and got to her feet, "Do we get breakfast?"

"I generally eat with the servants for breakfast and luncheon. You are welcome to join us."

Maisy waved him off and went into the bathroom to ready herself for the day. While she was in the lavatory Loki folded her blanket and put it on the bed. If anyone was to peek in the room and see the nest then it wouldn't be hard to guess that Maisy had been sleeping on the floor. And though it did not directly violate Odin's rules, Loki didn't want to chance that changing because Maisy would be impossibly furious if they had to share a bed. He supposed he didn't blame her overmuch, but it was honestly just putting off the inevitable.

With the blanket folded semi-neatly, he had nothing to occupy his mind except the fact that he still hadn't gotten the chain removed and he was still essentially powerless. He swore that next time he saw Odin he'd get it removed. Especially now that there was some evidence of the one laundress he'd befriended being tampered with magically. While he could sense the magic in her, he couldn't hope to analyse it effectively without having some power of his own.

He suspected that Odin or one of Odin's cronies had cast some spell on the girl. Perhaps an espionage spell, given that she seemed to want to get a closer look at Maisy. Loki supposed that Odin or whoever had done it was using Linn to keep an eye on the girl to see how she was fairing when she didn't know she was under scrutiny.

Apart from feeling slightly bad for Linn, Loki also wanted to uncover what was wrong with her because it would anger Odin. If she was truly spying on them, then Loki wanted to know about it so that they could feed her false information. It was just another move in this odd game they were playing. A game, as Maisy pointed out, where the stakes were her life.

"Okay, you ready?"

"I am not the one who took fifteen minutes in the lavatory," Loki pointed out with a smirk.

"I would have taken longer, but there is only so much I can do to make this outfit look presentable," She gestured to her oversized clothes. Loki had lost any hope of ever having them returned to his wardrobe.

"Shall we?" He offered his arm, but she quietly refused it by walking toward the door.

"Yup, let's get going. Lead the way!"

Seeing that she passed up the offer of his arm, he casually wrapped his arm around her shoulders and steered her in the direction of the laundry room. As expected, she tried to squirm away, but he held firm, both because he thought it was funny and because he caught the looks of the people they passed in the halls. They were curious. They wanted to know why he was so chummy with this mortal girl when he'd never been friendly toward anyone in the palace before. Ever.

It gave him great pleasure to see the nobles and the staff gape at them as they walked toward the lift that would take them down to the lower levels of the massive palace. He even saw one of the ladies of the court who he used to have a crush on scowling at them. He couldn't help a wicked grin in her direction. Maisy was oblivious to all of the silent interactions that were going on around her and she seemed content to walk in silence. However, when they were very nearly there Loki felt her go stiff and freeze up.

"Is there a different way we can take?" She whispered, eyes staring straight ahead. Loki followed her gaze to see that Drin was standing near the lift, flirting with one of the maids, who was all smiles and giggles back at him.

"I'm afraid not," Loki was thinking through his options. He wasn't really in the mood to deal with the brat before him, but he had to get to work. Normally he would have glamoured himself and Maisy to look like other people and they could have snuck by, but with the chain around his neck that was impossible.

"Crap," Maisy said, "I shouldn't have come."

"He won't bother you while you're with me. He'd be an idiot to do so," Loki said hopefully, "Besides, I'm sure by now that his father has filled him in on all of the details of our relationship, given that he was in the council meeting when you first arrived."

"Remind me exactly what our wedding day was like - I was kind of unconscious."

"Ah yes," Loki laughed, "Well, Thor brought you in and begged for you to be saved - I wasn't there at that part - but Odin refused him unless you were a very close friend or part of the family, and Thor couldn't exactly claim that you were a dear friend he'd known for a long time because he has a tendency to go on an on about all of his Midgardian friends so all of Asgard is quite familiar with them. So he needed a loophole, but he was too emotional to think of one so he came to me asking for help."

"So it was your idea that we get married?"

"Yes," He lied, "It made Odin furious, of course, but he couldn't very well deny you the right to live if you were his daughter-in-law, now could he?"

He gracefully excluded mentioning that he'd had doubts that Odin would save her because he was actually not Loki's father. He didn't feel that she needed to know that her actual in-laws were terrifying blue giants who thought killing Midgardians was hilarious.

"So Drin's dad saw all of that happen?"

"Yes."

"So Drin should know by now that we're married and everything?"

"I should hope so. He probably won't even acknowledge us as we pass by."

So they continued, his arm still wrapped around her. She was so worried about Drin that she didn't even take notice of their closeness now. They got to the elevator and thought that they might actually make it by without Drin saying anything, but…

"You must forgive me," He said, and it sounded earnest. The girl he'd been talking to left to get back to work.

"Excuse me?" Maisy asked, truly surprised.

"I am truly sorry for my actions the other day," Drin straightened up and looked at her with nothing but kindness in his eyes, "I was an idiot."

"What game are you playing?" Loki asked.

"No game. I was unaware that when she claimed she was married that she was actually telling the truth. I am sorry, Loki."

"Don't apologize to me. She's the one you accosted."

"Daisy-"

"Maisy."

"Maisy, I am sorry. Had I known you were his bride I would have never approached you in such a way. Please forgive me," He took her hand gently but she wouldn't allow for it and ripped away from him and Loki both.

"Are you saying that if I hadn't been married then you wouldn't be sorry?"

"Uh… yes?"

"You can't just go around forcing girls to kiss you!"

"I, uh, but I'm saying that I'm sorry."

"Are you going to apologize to all of the other maids that you've harassed?"

"No, because they aren't married to the king's son," Drin laughed, "Even if the king's son is a traitor and a criminal."

"Watch it," Loki warned.

"That's my point! You would have been perfectly fine with what you did if I was just another maid. You aren't really sorry," She crossed her arms, "You're just scared that Loki will kick your butt."

"Do you want me to kick his butt?" Loki asked with a raised brow.

"I want him to stop bothering the maids!" Maisy exclaimed, "And, no, I don't forgive you, Drin. Go sincerely apologize to every other woman that you've harassed and I'll consider it."

Drin looked at Loki disbelievingly.

"I have made my peace with you," He said, still to Loki, "I apologized to her, but she will not accept it."

"You've done nothing worthy of her forgiveness," Loki pointed out.

"But I have made an effort," Drin insisted, "You and I have no quarrel between us."

"Not currently, but if you have a quarrel with Maisy then consider it between you and I as well."

"Unbelievable," Drin threw up his hands in disgust and stormed off shouting, "You are no friend of mine, trickster!"

"I never wanted to be."

"What a creep!" Maisy exclaimed as they got in the elevator and descended to the laundry room.

"You really are trying so hard to be popular with the nobles, aren't you?"

"What, you wanted me to forgive him?" Maisy scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I'm just saying that you ought to be more careful about who you make an enemy," Loki glanced at her, "As I've said, Drin's father is one of Odin's closest advisors. We don't want to make him upset."

"Is this what it's going to be like forever?" Maisy asked, her face falling hopelessly, "Walking on eggshells to avoid pissing off horrible people?"

"Welcome to the illustrious life of being a royal."

"It sucks," She pouted, "I never asked for this."

"Well if you'd rather be dead I'm sure it won't be hard to arrange."

They rode in silence to the basement and when they got out of the lift and walked to the laundry room they found Linn sitting alone in the corner, folding shirts. She looked miserable and there were dark marks under her eyes.

"Hey Linn!" Maisy greeted cheerfully. Loki was impressed at how quickly she could shake off her irritation to cheer up the other girl.

"I must go check in," He called to them, "But I'll be right over."

"It's not like the laundry is going no where," Linn gave him a small smile.

Maisy turned to her new friend as soon as Loki left and grabbed a shirt to fold.

"How ya feeling?" She asked her.

"I'm doing good, miss, very good."

"Then how come you look so sad?"

"Oh don't you worry about it. I'll be fine."

"If you're upset about last night don't even worry about it, okay? Embarrassing stuff happens to everybody."

"I'd rather be punched in the schnoz than go through that again," Linn moaned, gently taking the shirt from Maisy and refolding it slowly so that she could see how it was done.

"I know, it sucks," Maisy tried another shirt, "It makes you feel sick to your stomach and your face heats up and your hands get shaky and gaaah, it makes me queasy just thinking about it!"

"I've never done anyfing that bad before," Linn slouched, "I don't fink I'll get over it anytime in the nearby soon future."

"You know, one time I was working as a waitress and I did the exact same thing."

"You ran out into the room wif no reason and dropped food all over the place?"

"Sort of. I was kind of flustered because the person I was serving was this big time fashion designer and I wanted to tell her how much I admired her and how much I wanted to be like her, but when I was in the middle of telling her that she was my role model I didn't notice that the food I was carrying slipped off my tray and landed right on her lap!"

"Oh! That's not a good impression I'd say!"

"The worst part was that I didn't even offer to help her clean up! I just shoved a handful of napkins at her and ran for it. I was just glad that I never got around to telling her my name or my career in the fashion industry might have ended before it could start."

"How'd you get over it?"

"Ugh," Maisy laughed, "I'm still not! But laughing about it helps a lot."

"Thanks, Maisy."

"Anytime, and if you want to hang out and laugh, let me know. Day or night."

"Oh but you've got lots on your plate!"

"Not really," she shrugged, "I've been sitting around doing nothing for the past week."

"Well, ifen you is bored you can always come down here and help me fold and scrub!"

"Oh my gosh," Maisy faked excitement, "That sounds like soooo much fun!"

They broke into giggles right as Loki came back and pulled up a stool.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" Both girls chimed, which caused them to laugh more as they resumed folding. Loki only rolled his eyes and wondered why he'd let Maisy join him.

A note from the author: Okay, that last chapter really was a bit of a tease, so I thought I'd give you a nice long one as well. :)