Author's Note: So I think we're nearing the end. I'm going to be really good and update consistently for the rest of this fic. I will actually follow through on my promise this time! Thank you so much to all you readers for sticking with me and leaving such wonderful comments. I've had such a blast writing this fic, and I will be sad to be finished but, if you follow my Game of series, I will FINALLY be working on the final installment of that. I'm honestly not sure after that... I think it's time I start focusing on my books and seeing where those take me. I've been posting fanfictions on here since high school, so for ten years? It's such a wonderful outlet for writers, and I've loved every minute of posting here. Marvel has been one of those things I love so much that I would burst if I didn't have an outlet for that passion - hence hundreds of thousands of words worth of fanfictions!

Thirty-Four – Honesty

Loki should have expected his plan wouldn't work. He reached out a hand for Kyra thinking they could shatter Lorelei's hold on the guards but then, in unison, the guards raised their swords to their own throats.

"Try anything and they all die," Amora hissed through her teeth, eyes alight with glee. Any animosity she'd felt for her older sister seemed to have faded.

Loki hesitated for only a second. Damn. In the past, he might have considered fighting anyway, but now he wouldn't sacrifice the men. He slowly raised his hands, palms faced outward. They'd find another way.

"Still clinging to that useless illusion?" Lorelei asked, coming forward and roughly grabbing his arm.

"Asgard has enough enchanters about these days," he said. Amora grabbed Kyra and Sif—

Loki looked around him for Sif, but she wasn't there. Kyra seemed to realize the same thing, eyes widening. Had she not come through the passage? He started forward as Lorelei dragged him. "Try anything, and I'll slit her throat too," Lorelei threatened. Kyra was tripping over her own feet, and Loki feared for a moment that she was relapsing again. Then he realized she was feigning weakness. It gave them some small power over the sisters, and they needed all the help they could get.

They were led into the palace where Loki saw all his guards saluted the sisters, under Lorelei's spell no doubt. There had been very few Asgardians in the streets, and he hoped that wasn't a bad sign.

"The dungeons are getting a little crowded," Lorelei said as she shoved him down the stairs. "My enchantments don't tend to work on women, and we've had a lot of dissenters among them. However, we made sure to reserve a room for you."

Loki and Kyra were shoved into a very familiar cell. It was the one Loki had spent a good portion of time in and the one he had once sent Kyra to. "Now we can finally relax," Amora said as the energy walls went up, effectively trapping Kyra and Loki. "I kept looking over my shoulder, waiting for you to stab me in the back," she shot at Loki.

"I'd rather look into your eyes when I do that," he said. Amora tossed her head, storming out of the dungeons while Lorelei lingered.

"I do hope she doesn't die in there," she said, gazing at Kyra who had sunk to the cot. Her lips twisted in a smile before she left.

They were left in silence, and Loki turned to Kyra. She sat still with her head in her hands, and Loki felt a stab of worry. He went over and knelt before her, taking her hands in his. "Are you all right?" he asked, half-fearing the answer. Perhaps what had happened on Svartalfheim had just been a fluke. Perhaps her health would start deteriorating once more.

She raised her head, dark eyes bright. He could see the bits of amber in them this close. It brought him back to the night of the celebration when they'd danced. Everything had been so much simpler back then. "This seems to be happening a lot," she said, "us getting locked up. And getting thwarted by those two."

"Do you think Sif might help us?" he asked.

Kyra nodded. "I know you don't trust her, and she doesn't trust you, but she doesn't want Amora and Lorelei ruling Asgard anymore than we do. She must have thought there was a chance we'd be caught and hung back." Though she didn't say it out loud, he could hear the I hope implied in her words.

"Even if she has no interest in saving me, she would save you," Loki told her.

"Can we break out of this cell?" Kyra asked, looking up at the energy wall. "With our combined powers?"

"It's definitely not an illusion, so I don't think it would work," Loki said. "These cells were meant to withstand very powerful beings." Himself included. If he could have broken out before, he would have. He felt frustration welling up again. He pulled his hands from Kyra's and began to pace the small cell, a rush of anxiety surging through him. He rubbed his hands together, trying to calm himself. He was flashing back to the day his mother had died, remembering the moment the guard told him the news. Thor hadn't even taken it upon himself to tell Loki in person. Nor had Odin. Maybe that was when Loki had decided he really wasn't a part of their family anymore. His mother had been the one keeping them all together, but without her they had nothing in common. His mother had always made him feel like he had a place in the family and, as a child, he'd never doubted that he belonged.

"We're going to find a way out of this."

Loki paused in his pacing. He wanted to believe her, but nothing had been easy since he'd tricked Odin and taken his throne. Maybe it was a sign that he wasn't meant to rule after all. He'd never doubted that before, but suddenly he felt the crushing weight of doubt.

Kyra stood, walking over to him. "You believe that, right?" she asked, her voice faltering. He realized that she was scared and that she was relying on him to assure her it would be all right. Her dark hair was falling across her face, and she pushed it back impatiently.

"I don't know what I believe anymore," he said softly. "Sometimes, despite being a god, I feel quite small and powerless." He clenched his fists. "I was in this cell when my mother was murdered by Dark Elves. I could do nothing to save her."

Kyra was silent, staring up at him with her dark eyes. He could see sympathy and understanding there. Of course she knew how he felt. She'd watched her mother die at the hands of a madman.

"You were close to her."

"She understood me in a way Thor and Odin never did." He was feeling calmer talking to Kyra. He flexed his fingers, letting them gently unfold. "She taught me magic and that I had a place in our family. Of course I didn't have reason to question whether or not I really was a part of the family despite the difference between Thor and me. Odin forbade me from seeing her ever again when I was sentenced to a lifetime in this cell. She came and visited me anyway using illusions." His vision blurred as he let his eyes go unfocused. "The last thing I said to her was that she was not my family…not my mother." And there was the truth of it all. Yes, he was angry with Thor and Odin but…he was also angry with himself for his careless words.

"She knew you didn't mean it," Kyra told him.

"You can't know that."

She shook her head, a small smile playing across her lips. "I may not have known her, but I know she could see straight through your tricks and illusions. It takes one to know one. What happened wasn't your fault, and she wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"I wanted to make her proud." She would be heart-broken to see where their family was now, how scattered and broken it was. "But now I've just made a mess of everything."

Kyra shrugged. "So fix it," she told him. "You decided to be king, so take back your throne." He looked down at her, at the open honesty in her eyes. "Besides, I haven't fulfilled my part of the bargain."

He lifted a brow. "Oh?"

"You requested I help you prevent another surprise attack from Amora. She's accomplished several of those. Until she is banished from Asgard or rotting in one of these cells, I have not completed my part of the bargain."

"I'm not sure I've fulfilled my end," Loki told her, furrowing his brow. "I believe I was supposed to convince you that I'd make a good king. So far I've lost the throne several times—to Amora no less. My people have been enslaved, tricked, thrown into cells. Even I'm not convinced." He tried to lighten the mood, but Kyra didn't smile.

"You convinced me."

His eyes darted to hers, searching for any hints of sarcasm. They hadn't snapped at each other in so long that he'd almost forgotten they'd built their relationship on arguments and insults. It had evolved so much that he hardly remembered the way they used to be. There was no sarcasm in her eyes, no hint that she didn't mean what she said. No illusions, only honesty.

"You mean that. After everything."

"I really do. For you, it's never been a question of whether or not you deserve to be king. You've had this devout belief that you were meant to sit on that throne. Perhaps you haven't always gone about it in the best of ways, but you never stopped trying, never stopped fighting for your chance. I spent a lifetime living in the shadows, not fighting because I didn't really believe in anything—didn't believe that I had a chance at a happier life or that I even deserved one. I wish I'd fought harder, but I don't think I knew how until I came here. Until I met you. You taught me to keep fighting even when the whole world is telling you you can't do something. I thought I was going to die, but here I am because I kept fighting. And because of you. We're going to get your throne back together. We're going to keep fighting until you finally get the chance to prove to others that you deserve to rule Asgard, that you were meant to be a king."

Loki only heard half her words before he realized what a fool he'd been not to fight for something else all along. He closed the space between them before she'd finished her last word, catching her lips in a kiss that was neither gentle nor patient as the word 'king' died on her breath. He heard her gasp of surprise before she reached forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him closer as if she needed him to breathe. Magic thrummed along his skin, and he could feel the static response of her own. Maybe she did need him to breathe. He knew if she wasn't by his side, the throne wasn't worth it. He didn't crave the solitude anymore. She'd made him want to be better, and he'd come to realize he cared more about Asgard, about its people than the throne itself.

Heat rose between them, Kyra's skin warm to the touch as he ran his hands down her arms. He grasped her waist, fingers tracing the subtle line of her curves. She twined her fingers in his hair at the nape of his neck.

"Why did I wait so long to do this again?" Kyra asked against his lips. He kissed her jaw in response, trailing down her neck to her collarbone.

"Because you're stubborn," he said, speaking against her shoulder. "And I was so afraid of losing you that I almost did."

"You saved me instead. I still don't quite understand how, but I know that I have never felt more alive than when I'm with you."

He brought up a hand to cup the back of her head, silky hair heavy against his hand. He pressed a kiss against her lips again, this time softer, a whisper that she answered with a gentle bite to his lower lip. She was nothing like the timid, scared girl he'd first met. She'd learned to stay in the shadows her whole life, that there was something wrong with her and that she needed to be fixed. Now she knew who she was, and she glowed with the confidence she'd found. If someone had told him that she would drive him crazy one day, he never would have believed it. Now he couldn't get close enough to her. Her back hit the wall where he'd once cornered her the very first night she'd spent in the cell. There were no knives in her hand this time. He braced his hands on either side of her head, leaning close until their bodies were flush. She had to tilt her head up to reach his lips, but she seemed just as desperate to be close.

He let his hands fall to her waist again as she leaned up, fingers brushing bare skin and sending shivers down her body. He ran a hand up her back, taking pleasure in the affect he had on her. When he'd been with Amora, it had always been a test of power, of will. With Kyra, she matched his passion but there was no contest. She understood him in a way very few if any ever had before, and he thought he understood her too though she always found ways of surprising him.

…

Kyra stared up at the ceiling, wishing she could see blue skies instead. She tilted her head sideways to glance at Loki. He was watching her, a faint frown on his face. They were on the cot, him sitting with his back against the wall, her lying down, her head rested in his lap. She was still flushed from their fervent kissing, her heart still pounding a little erratically.

"Amora and Lorelei still think I'm weak," Kyra said. They'd been mulling over ideas for escape for the past few minutes. "We can use that to our advantage. They think I won't use my powers, but I've already proven I can break Lorelei's enchantments."

"They won't give you the chance again if they can help it."

"We'll have to take them by surprise. I was thinking…if Lorelei can bend people to her will, what if I could do that too?" It was a stretch, and she had no idea how she'd even go about trying. "I don't know the first thing about my powers save that I can see through illusions and break them. I know there's more that I haven't had the chance to test. Now I can though—with your help of course."

"You won't get a second chance if that doesn't work," he said, unsure. He absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair.

"Tell me about you and Amora," Kyra said. He winced.

"You don't want to hear that story." She could tell he would break down if she asked again.

"Please? I promise not to judge. Sometimes people aren't who we think they are or they change." She just wanted the truth. She wanted to understand the tension between Loki and Amora and her hatred toward him.

"We were together a long time ago as you figured out," he conceded. "We grew up together and were good friends when we were children. She could always match me in wits and magic. As we grew older, feelings overtook friendship. We…were together for quite some time. I think she always brought out the worst in me. She and Thor never got on, and I was always resentful toward him because of that.

"Eventually I came to see just how manipulative she was, how controlling. I wanted to end things between us, but she refused to let go, refused to see that I didn't feel anything for her anymore. She'd gone too far so many times, and her actions bordered on cruelty sometimes. She was close to being banished, but she had a way of slipping out of trouble. She held on so tightly that I didn't know what to do to break free of her. Finally, I did the only thing I knew she couldn't forgive: I let her catch me with her sister. Lorelei was just as deluded as her sister and believed I had real feelings for her. They don't seem to understand that their charms don't work on everyone.

"Then I did something that really turned them against me. I tricked them and it resulted in Amora's banishment and Lorelei's imprisonment. I made sure they were split up, humiliated. It was for the best, but I'm not entirely proud of playing with their emotions. They deserved it, don't get me wrong, but I wonder if I'd been more honest if everything would have turned out differently."

"Amora and Lorelei don't seem very reasonable to me," Kyra told him. "If she'd really loved you, Amora would have realized she was suffocating you and let you go."

"I've never been good with…feelings or expressing them. It's easier to keep my distance, but it can be lonely," Loki conceded. "Maybe it was easy with Amora at first because there was nothing genuine about it."

Not like this, Kyra wanted to say, but she bit it back. She didn't know where they were, what to call this. She was too afraid to break it, so she said nothing.

"Well, she's absolutely bonkers so you made a good call," Kyra said, trying to lighten the mood.

Loki lifted a brow, and she smirked at his expression. "Humans," he said, rolling his eyes, but she thought she detected the smallest hint of affection in the word.