Author's Note: Just a friendly reminder I don't own anything except for Sigyn and her family. Also, this is a warning that the next two chapters are going to be pretty short and more fluffy than anything else. For those that want to skip the fluff just read the first half of each chapter since I placed all the important plot points there. Also, I should mention that the reason I have two mainly fluff chapters is to give both Sigyn and Loki's point of view on the rekindling of their romantic relationship. Caitreylove Sigyn was being a bit of a tease wasn't she? Well I think we all know that in the end things will have to come crashing down (it would hardly be an interesting story if they didn't), but I wouldn't be so cruel as to tear it all apart now :) Beck I am excited to hear that you have stuck with this story despite its length (it is a lot longer than I ever thought it would be, I should have known it would take me longer to develop things than I originally thought it would)! Hahaha I love it when I squeal like a giddy school girl and people give me strange looks, it happens more often than it should XD Yes, Sigyn was adapted into a Marvel character. I am not sure if they will be able to add her into the movieverse at this point, it would certainly be a difficult feat! I guess we will just have to see :) Never apologize for spouting your excitement! It makes me happy to see other people get excited about the same things that I get excited about.
Sigyn attempted to brush the hair out of her face, but it stuck stubbornly to the sweat of her forehead. It had been a particularly warm day, and the library was extremely stifling. The doors were flung wide open, but that did little to cool the room off. Loki had, with her permission, tossed aside all his outer garments of clothing and was now sitting in only his trousers and undertunic. Sigyn envied the prince his ability to shed his clothes and still stay within the bounds of propriety. Granted, she didn't have to wear the insane amounts of leather that he did, but her layers of petticoats were no joy to wear. Sigyn looked up from her reading for a moment to fan herself, and she caught Loki looking at her.
"Warm, My Lady?"
"A little." Sigyn admitted.
Loki gave her a sympathetic look, but he knew as well as she did that there was nothing he could do to assist her.
"You should work on some sort of spell that can cool us down." She commented.
Loki gave her a smile before looking down at his book once more.
"I will work on that." He remarked. "Have you found anything on our mysterious woman?"
"No, you?"
"Nothing. I told you Midgard was a waste of time."
"You cannot possibly know that yet, Loki. We have looked at how many texts so far? Eight? Surely you didn't expect us to find anything after only eight."
Loki didn't reply, and Sigyn closed her book. This current tome wasn't going to have anything of use in it so she took it back to its home on the shelf, and glanced at all the other books. She ran her hand over the spines in front of her. Which treasure should she search next? A sudden chill ran down Sigyn's spine, and she stopped in her tracks.
"How odd…" she thought.
It was too warm for a cold chill.
"The Prose." A familiar female voice stated.
Sigyn looked behind her, but her stalker wasn't there. She quickly made her way down the row of books back to where she could see Loki.
"Did you say something?" She asked nonchalantly.
Loki looked up.
"No, why?"
"No reason, I thought I heard you speaking." She lied.
Would he believe the lie?
"Ah… I didn't say anything." He reiterated.
Sigyn smiled and walked back along the bookshelves. She knew that it hadn't been Loki speaking, but it did confirm that whatever Sigyn had heard Loki hadn't.
"The Prose?" Sigyn asked silently.
What had the strange woman meant by "The Prose?" Sigyn made her way to the P's and looked amongst the titles. There were multiple volumes entitled with prose and poetry, which one could the voice be referring to? She stood extremely still in hopes that the voice would return and give her further instruction, and she was not disappointed. A second chill travelled up her spine, and the female voice whispered to her once more.
"Edda."
The cold feeling passed, and Sigyn scanned the tomes in front of her.
"The Prose Edda…" she murmured.
She found the volume in question and pulled it out. Book in hand, she went to sit down next to Loki once more. She skipped the short prologue and went straight to the first of what appeared to be three sections of the work. Not two sentences in, Sigyn knew she was on to something. She continued reading further however, till her giggling caused Loki to look at her.
"Loki… come look at this." She beckoned.
Loki stood from his seat, and came to look over Sigyn's shoulder. His eyes scanned the sentences Sigyn was pointing at with her finger, and he gave a little "hmmm."
"And you said Midgard wouldn't know anything worth looking into." Sigyn teased.
Loki rolled his eyes.
"And I still say that they don't, this is all ridiculous…"
"They mention you by name." She noted.
"They mention someone with my name, Sigyn. Allow me." He stated while taking the book from Sigyn's hands. "E-hem. 'Also numbered among the Æsir is he whom some call the mischief-monger of the Æsir, and the first father of falsehoods, and blemish of all gods and men: he is named Loki or Loptr, son of Fárbauti the giant; his mother was Laufey or Nál; his brothers are Býleistr and Helblindi. Loki is beautiful and comely to look upon, evil in spirit, very fickle in habit. He surpassed other men in that wisdom which is called 'sleight,' and had artifices for all occasions; he would ever bring the Æsir into great hardships, and then get them out with crafty counsel. His wife was called…'"
Loki's mocking reading trailed off and Sigyn gave him an expectant look.
"His wife?" She prodded.
Loki abruptly shut the book and rolled his eyes.
"Doesn't matter." He replied. "They clearly know nothing of use. I'm not a giant, my only brother is Thor, and Laufey is a male."
"I wouldn't say they knew nothing of use. They did call you beautiful."
"I suppose no one has the capability of being wrong all of the time." He jested.
Sigyn smiled.
"So who is the wife?" She asked once more.
Loki placed the book down on the table again and walked back to his chair.
"Find out for yourself." He charged.
Sigyn took the book, opened it back to the page she had been on previously, and began to read to herself silently.
"He surpassed other men in that wisdom blah blah blah… and had artifices for all occasions etcetera etcetera etcetera... His wife was called Sigyn…"
Sigyn looked suddenly back to Loki, who was watching her with interest.
"Loki… this doesn't make any sense." She stammered out.
"I know. An interesting coincidence don't you think?"
Sigyn didn't reply, but instead pursued the rest of the page. Her heart stopped when she reached the bottom.
"Loki, I found her. I found my stalker."
Loki raised his eyebrow.
"Who is she then?"
"Hel, the ruler of Niflheim. 'She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and very lowering and fierce.' She is also apparently your daughter."
"My what!?" Loki asked, while quickly leaving his seat to look over Sigyn's shoulder again.
"Your daughter."
"That is impossible." He remarked. "She is far too old to be my daughter."
"I am aware of that, but that is not the important thing. The important thing is that she fits our description."
"Yes, some of it at least…"
"Please don't tell me you feel skeptical about this!" Sigyn lamented.
"Please don't tell me that you don't! There are so many inconsistencies between this writing and the facts that we both know are true that we have to be skeptical about it."
"Yes, the inconsistencies bother me, but this is literally the only lead we have after a year of searching. We can't just dismiss it!"
"And I am not saying we should. I merely think we shouldn't get too excited over it yet."
"Very well, we shan't. If we are going to take it seriously we are going to need evidence that supports it. What texts do we have from Niflheim?"
"None. Niflheim is the Realm of the dead, they don't really keep much in the way of records." Loki noted.
"Then what Realm does speak on Niflheim?"
"That I know of? None, except Midgard as we just discovered."
Sigyn closed the book rather violently and folded her arms across her chest.
"This can't be a dead end Loki, it just can't be!"
Loki began to snicker, causing Sigyn to look up at him with a frustrated glance.
"What is so amusing?" She muttered.
"You." He replied while kneeling beside her. "Dead end? Did you really think you could say that without me finding it at least a bit amusing?"
Sigyn puckered her lips into a pout, causing Loki to smile even brighter.
"You know you look like a child when you do that."
Sigyn contemplated sticking her tongue out at him, but decided against it since it would only prove his point.
"Perhaps we should take a little break from our research." He suggested.
"Yes, perhaps that would be a good idea." Sigyn agreed.
Loki floated his hand next to Sigyn's cheek, but didn't make contact.
"May I?" He queried.
Sigyn nodded, and Loki rested his hand against her skin. His skin was still cool despite the heat of the summer day, and Sigyn attributed it to his Frost Giant birth. It still seemed cruel to her that he didn't know.
"You are quite warm." He commented. "Do you feel well?"
"Quite well, you merely have cold hands." She assured.
Loki ran the pad of his thumb over her skin tenderly.
"There is something I must know, Sigyn. Last night, at the festival, I was under the impression that perhaps you would not be opposed to pursuing a relationship of a more…romantic nature. If I was mistaken in my observations, please, tell me now. I would not wish to pursue such a level of intimacy without your assurance that it is what you desire. If you do not desire such attentions from me, then tell me now and I will abandon all thought of it. If however, you would not be opposed to it…"
Sigyn leaned in and kissed Loki before he could finish.
"Enough words." She whispered into his ear before pulling back and kissing him again.
She could feel Loki smirk against her lips as he encircled her waist with his arms. She rested her arms on his shoulders and ran her fingers eagerly through his hair. Loki pulled her up from her seat and placed her on the edge of the table so that he didn't have to kneel any longer. His hands stayed at her waist as they continued to kiss heatedly. Sigyn tugged Loki's hair just so she could hear him moan and growl into her mouth. The erotic sounds caused Sigyn's heart to beat faster, yet Loki still refused to allow his hands to wander from her waist. Sigyn didn't encourage him to move them even though she wanted him to. Instead, Loki began to massage her waist drawing sighs and moans that Sigyn couldn't seem to keep in. Once the both of them finally drew back for air, Sigyn pulled up her dress a bit more so she could spread her legs a little wider. This allowed Loki to really press his body into hers. He was coming in for another kiss when Sigyn noticed that the library doors were still flung wide open.
"Loki, the doors."
She pointed out before his lips could capture hers.
"What about them?" He queried without even so much as glancing in their direction.
"They're still open." She pointed out.
"I am aware of that."
"So…"
"So what?" He asked before bringing his mouth to her bared throat.
"So aren't you going to close them?"
"Oh no, Sigyn. They are going to stay wide open."
"What if someone walks by and sees?"
"Why does it matter if they see?" Loki asked.
"Well…because…because it would be exceedingly awkward that is why!"
"We have kissed in public before." Loki reminded her.
"Well yes, but this is slightly different." Sigyn argued.
Loki gave Sigyn a devilish grin.
"My, my, My Lady. How far do you exactly plan on going this afternoon?"
"…well I don't know, but surely even this is too much for anyone else to be privy too!"
"Consider it my revenge then."
"Your revenge?"
"Did you really believe you could get away with last evenings little stunt without any repercussion?"
Sigyn couldn't hide a small smile. Apparently her "punishment" had achieved the desired effect.
Loki kissed Sigyn on her jaw line.
"I will kiss you in sight of anyone and everyone that happens to pass this way till you can take no more. I refuse to keep you a secret for even a second this time."
Sigyn lost the ability to protest as Loki trailed slow kisses along her jaw and down her neck. She unconsciously tilted her head back to make Loki's work easier. The feeling of joy that accompanied his ministrations drove all fear of being discovered from her mind. His lips travelled further down till her reached the nape of her neck. She felt a slight twinge of uneasiness when he began to work his way across her collarbone, but she didn't stop him till he began to slide her shoulder strap aside.
"All right, all right. You have had your revenge." She assured him. "I cannot say I am comfortable with you undressing me in plain sight of any who pass by."
"I am surprised you allowed me to get this far." Loki commented.
"I shouldn't have allowed you to, but every woman has her weaknesses. Unfortunately for me, you seem to have recalled mine."
"No, I never forgot them."
Sigyn laid her head against Loki's chest and closed her eyes. The sound of his steady heartbeat soon brought her erratic one into sync, and his all too familiar smell caused her muscles to relax in his arms. Her fingers mindlessly picked at the rough fabric of his undertunic, and for the first time in a long while, Sigyn felt as though she was home.
"So are you going to shut the doors or not?" She asked in a quiet voice.
"No, not today. We aren't ready for that."
Sigyn nodded her head against his chest in understanding. They were going to take this slow, one baby step at a time.
