"You seem happy," I said, as we sat snuggled up on the sofa.

"I am," Loki smiled. "For the first time since, well perhaps since forever, I am perfectly happy. I got everything I could possibly desire right here."

I smiled up at him.

"Well, almost everything, anyway." he amended.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.

"There is one thing," he admitted, "one thing I would love to call mine, but I can't place my hands upon. Quite literally, actually."

I sat up a bit. "What is that then, my love?" I asked curiously.

"Do you remember what my grandmother was holding when we visited her?"

"It was a staff, with leaves and a snake I think. The snake was holding a gem."

"That is correct. It wasn't truly there, it was there only in my grandmother's memory. The real staff lies where my mother fell, unable to be touched by anyone but the hand of the queen of Jotunnheim. It is cursed you see, unable to be picked up by anyone else. I tried touching it, a long time ago, and nearly lost my life."

"You've been back to Jotunnheim?" I asked.

"Yes. There is a place here on Midgard where the veil between the two realms is thin. It once was a holy place where people worshipped my mother, a place of great power. There is a portal there."

"What is Jotunnheim like?"

"Cold, as you may have guessed, covered in snow and ice. What was once a beautiful realm, a magical winter wonderland, is now a desolate, inhospitable ruin, haunted by the souls of my people.

As far as I can piece together, the realm itself was attacked while the Jotunn's bravest warriors fought elsewhere. After the attack none were left alive in the realm itself. The few Jotunn remaining elsewhere were hunted down and killed eventually. As far as I am aware, I am the last of my kind." Loki said it as if it was a simple matter of fact.

"Loki, that is awful," I began.

"You can't truly miss that which you have never known," he shrugged. "And that is beside the point. I'm not telling this as a heartbreaking tragedy meant to invoke your pity or garner your compassion.

I want that staff, as much as I wanted the Friezegem. It is mine, my birthright as the last living descendant of the royal line.

It belongs to me.

I have attempted several times and in multiple ways to gain possession of the staff, but I have failed thus far. Shapechanging to appear female did not grant me any success, the staff remained poisonous to the touch. I am the prince of Jotunnheim, not its queen."

Loki sighed. "I told my grandmother I wasn't married, and while not untrue, I have been married in the past."

My eyes opened wide in surprise, but before I could say anything Loki continued.

"It was always out of convenience, never out of love. Merely as a way to gain possession of that which is rightfully mine.

Being married is not sufficient though, the person I'm married to has to be acknowledged as the rightful queen by Laufey, my mother, who to this day still haunts the throne room of the Jotunn palace. So far she has not deemed any of my mates worthy, some she even struck down on the spot.

Presenting them as Jotunn by the way of a glamour didn't make much of a difference either. Mother's spirit saw right through that."

Loki winced. "It was…. Unpleasant. Both for me and my bride."

He shrugged. "Ah well, at least I came out of it alive."

"Loki!" I was shocked at his callous attitude.

"What?" Loki scoffed and shrugged again. "They knew what they let themselves in for, I never made a big secret out of my true intentions. The agreement was always that they would gift me the staff once they'd acquired it, and they'd gain a fortune while the marriage would get annulled. I had no wish to be caught in some shrew's net for the rest of my life."

"And who says romance is dead?" I muttered as I rolled my eyes.

"I never claimed to be a romantic," Loki grinned. "I'm a realist, my dear."

A van rolled into the street and stopped in front of the house. Strange, since I couldn't remember ordering anything. Jessie would never order anything without asking either.

"Oh, they are here!" Loki was bouncing up and down with glee.

"Who's here?" I asked curiously.

"You mean 'what's here?' and you'll see, it's a surprise!"

Cedric stepped out of the van, wearing cream-coloured trousers and a white shirt, sunglasses perched on his nose.

Loki bounded to the door, throwing it wide open.

"You made good time!"

"We drove all night," Cedric grinned as he walked toward us.

"You made Cedric drive all night to deliver something to you, while you came home?" I asked Loki incredulously.

"Don't worry, love, it was worth it for the company alone," Cedric grinned. Loki and I curiously watched as the driver stepped out as well and walked to the back of the van.

"Ooooh… he's cute!" we both said at the same time.

Cedric grinned. "I got his number already. As far as I'm concerned, Loki, we're even!"

Loki winked at him, then grabbed me firmly by the shoulders and marched me back into the sitting room.

"No peeking!" he warned as he closed the curtains, waving a finger under my nose. "You stay here now, this is a surprise."

He closed the sitting-room door behind him.

The moment he left I peeked through the curtains, only for Loki to appear right in front of the window shaking a finger at me.

"No peeking!" he mouthed angrily.

I grinned, turned on a light and set down with a book. I couldn't really concentrate though. What were they doing?

They went up and down the stairs multiple times, and from the sound of things they were carrying something heavy. I heard a drill too. What was happening?

I peeked out through the curtains again. Was that the bed from the guest room they were moving into the van?

"Loki!" I bellowed, alarmed.

Loki poked his head around the door of the sitting room.

"You hollered, my dear?"

"What are you doing?" I asked anxiously. "Where is that guy taking my furniture?"

Loki grinned like a Cheshire cat. "It's a surprise, you'll see!"

I took a deep breath and tried very hard not to strangle him.

"I don't like surprises!"

"You'll like this one," he promised. "Oh, and no peeking!"

Eventually, Loki came back in. He tried to blindfold me but I was thoroughly fed up at that point (I really don't like surprises) and threatened to summon Mjolnir if he would, so he led me up the stairs holding my hand instead.

I peeked into what had once been my guest room. Whatever I thought Loki had been doing, this wasn't what I had expected at all.

A small foldup bed was pushed flat into the furthest corner. Besides Loki's guitar, there was an electric guitar and a bass guitar, all neatly hung up on the wall. A keyboard stood to one side.

And in the middle of the room stood the most beautiful drumset I had ever seen. I gasped in surprise.

"It's a Ludwig," Loki smiled down on me, "and it is yours."

"Loki, I…" I didn't know what to say.

"Go on, it is yours. Didn't you say you liked to play the drums?"

"In Rockband, Loki!" I burst out, "it's a video game! I don't know how to play the drums!"

Cedric carefully hid a grin.

"Well, how hard could it be?" Loki asked, annoyed.

"And what about the neighbours?" I panicked, the walls were paper thin.

"We'll soundproof the walls! A few simple inverted auditory runes will do, no sound will leave the room! You could be a bit more grateful when someone is trying to do something nice for you! You know, once in a while!" Loki yelled, this wasn't going the way he had hoped.

It had been so sweet of him, and I had always dreamt of playing the drums.

I walked into the room and gently stroked my fingers over the glossy black wood of the bass drum.

"Thank you," I said, suddenly swallowing back a lump in my throat, "it is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me." I flew into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"I wanted to buy a grand piano as well, but Cedric persuaded me it wouldn't fit," Loki said with a smile as he gently stroked my hair. I sobbed.

"It's okay," Loki reassured me hastily, "I'm sure I can make a keyboard sound almost as good if I try."

That wasn't why I was crying though. It had been a long time since someone had done something like that for me, actually listened and gifted me something I had always secretly wanted. I had been alone for so long, and any bit of money I had spare always went on something for Jessie.

I know you probably think I'm weird but I really wouldn't really have cared for diamonds and pearls. That drumset, however, meant the world to me. It still does.

"I can take lessons I suppose," I smiled through my tears.

"You could. Or, you could cheat a little," Loki suggested.

"Cheat?" I asked.

"Oh yes," Loki grinned mischievously and winked. "With magic!"

Loki taught me a spell, and from all the magic he has taught me over the years, it is the one I hold most dear. It is an auditory illusion, and as long as you know a song and have it firmly in your mind, you can play it on any instrument you can think of. No matter how terribly you play, it will sound to the world as if you play it perfectly.

"Is that how you do it yourself?" Cedric asked Loki curiously. Loki just grinned and winked at him. But I knew his eyes never flashed green when he played the guitar for me.

Cedric was able to replicate the spell as well. It was crowded in the little room with the drumset, the keyboard and three people, we only just about fitted in.

"What shall we play? Lady's choice?" Loki looked at me.

My imagination immediately ran away with me. I grinned impishly, trying to think of the sappiest most groan-inducing lovesong I could think of, just to see if I could get Loki to sing it. Perhaps some Barry Manilow?

Loki took one look at my face, and before I could say anything told me grumpily that I had forfeited my choice with whatever unholy thought had just crossed my mind.

He whispered something to Cedric, who nodded.

Loki picked up his acoustic guitar, strumming for a minute as he tried to get the chords just right. He smiled at me and started playing a song I knew ever so well, as Cedric accompanied him on the electric guitar.

My hands moved almost by themselves as I picked up the drumsticks and held the beat perfectly. Together we played

Lifehouse's Hanging By A Moment, sounding like a real band.

"Hello?" Jessie poked her head around the corner of what had once been the guest room, her school bag still on her back. I thought she might be upset, Jessie doesn't really deal well with changes and there had been a lot of changes recently. But Jessie grinned at Loki as she saw the scene in front of her and wasn't looking surprised at all.

"So your instruments finally arrived then? Told you mom would love a drumset!"

I looked from Jessie to Loki and back. Co-conspirators, those two! I was outnumbered and outmatched it seemed.

"Just keep it down while I try and do my assignments please?" she asked.

"Oh, and there is a guy with a van hanging around in front of the house, is he waiting for something?"

"Oh, that might be me!" Cedric practically ran out of the room.

Jess went to do her homework, and Loki and I were left alone together in the room full of instruments.

"I really love it," I said softly.

"I thought you might. I'll soundproof the room later, I promise." Loki smiled.

He picked up his guitar again and pulled the seat from the keyboard next to me. He looked at me, his eyes sparkled mischievously.

"I am going to play a song for you now. Because it wasn't clear to you the last time I attempted this, I feel the need to point out that I am, as a matter of fact, serenading you."

Loki spoke with exaggerated slowness and grinned at me. I threw a drumstick at him and promptly missed.

He chuckled as the first notes of "Here comes the sun" began to play, and he began to sing.

Just like he had sung for me, in what seemed to have been a lifetime ago now, at his little apartment in Ealdwic. When I had still fully believed that there was no way in this world, or any other, that Loki could ever feel the same about me as I did about him.