I could practically hear Loki's teeth gnash as we drove back to London with Thor in the backseat of the car. Thor had his nose pressed against the window and was pointing out everything he saw, I don't think he'd ever been in a car before. Normally I would have found it endearing, but I was too worried about Loki to pay too much attention to his brother.

I tried putting a hand on Loki's leg to comfort him, but he angrily brushed it away. I could see how angry and upset he was, with Thor, with me.

Not for the first time, I wished I had Loki's way with words, but I couldn't think of anything to say. So I started talking to Thor instead.

Odin had noticed what was happening on the island and had followed my progress from the moment I had set foot on it according to Thor. I had gained Odin's favour after I had solved his riddles, but it had been Thor's idea to send Mjolnir down to me.

"You looked like you needed some help," Thor admitted, "and I did not want Father to expend more of his life force than he had to. I knew you'd be worthy, you had proven both your pureness of heart and your mettle through your actions."

I blushed. I didn't think I had done anything special, to be honest, I had just bumbled my way along trying to stop Loki.

Thor was aware of certain of my actions afterwards, like the destruction of the statue to Lilith, but had been in the dark about others thanks to Loki's shroud which seemingly had extended to me as well.

Loki didn't say a word, his face grim as he drove us back to Ealdwic.

Loki hid us with his magic as we travelled through Agartha, glamouring us to look very different so no one would recognise us. It felt weird to look down on my body and not see my own.

Normally Loki and I would have laughed about it, perhaps he would have glamoured us into celebrities for fun, but Loki was surly and sullen.

"This is where you live, brother?" Thor asked in surprise as we came to our cottage. Loki glared at him.

"If it doesn't suit you feel free to find lodgings elsewhere," he growled.

I glared at Thor too. I understood it probably wasn't what he had in mind when we mentioned taking him to our home, but I love that cottage of mine dearly.

"No, no, I meant no offence!" Thor reassured us hastily. "It's… quaint. Very homely!"

Loki unlocked the door and stomped inside without waiting.

"Just not where I imaged a Prince of Asgard and Midgard's most powerful witch to live, is all." Thor rumbled under his breath, loud enough for us both to hear.

"Hey, wait! You are forgetting to unhitch your invisible horses!"

"Our what now?" I stopped in my tracks.

"The invisible horses pulling Loki's magical chariot," Thor's blue eyes looked at me innocently.

"I told you he was an idiot," Loki said acerbically.

I felt a headache coming on. It was going to be a long night.

I really wanted to change out of my wet dress, but I wasn't sure about leaving Loki and Thor alone, so I led them into the kitchen and made us all a mug of hot chocolate instead.

I slowly began to fill in Thor about what happened after I defeated Loki. About how we had met again, about how we had begun to work together. I was tired and was skipping past some parts and muddling up others. I could see Thor was getting confused. Loki, unable to help himself, took over and told the story far better than I could.

He skipped past certain parts on purpose, like how upset he had been when I found out how the Templars had treated him, or how he had cried that day I found him drunk in his apartment. But he was surprisingly honest about most of it, including his feelings for me.

To my surprise, Loki admitted he had fallen in love with me on the first day we had begun working together, that day we dealt with the harpy nest and he had stabbed me five times and pushed me off the roof.

Thor just laughed."Loki has always had an odd way of showing his affection! The more he stabs you, the more he likes you!"

Loki just glared at him but continued describing our adventures and the start of our relationship in a slightly sardonic but accurate way.

I must have nodded off because I awoke in Loki's arms as he carried me up the stairs. Drowsily I let him help me out of my damp dress and put me to bed.

"Go to sleep darling, I assure you Thor and I can go for a few hours without killing each other," Loki whispered as he tucked me in. I fell asleep before he finished changing out of his own damp clothes and left the room.

I didn't get to sleep for very long. It was only a few hours later when I woke up, Thor's voice booming so loudly the windows were rattling, Loki screaming back at the top of his lungs.

"...and who let the Fire Giants in? Who showed them that secret passage to Asgard? Who opened the side gate?" Thor roared.

"And who's fault was it that she was still there? Who snuck out for a three-day-long spree of wenching, brawling and carousing, leaving Mother to postpone her journey until your return?" Loki screamed back.

"Why would that matter? If you not had done what you did, there would never have been a fire!"

"If you for once had lived up to your responsibilities as heir to the throne…"

I stumbled out of bed, opening our bedroom door at the same time as Jessie opened hers. Her face was pale and scared in the dark.

"Mom? I thought you and Loki weren't coming home tonight?"

"Long story," I sighed.

"Who is Loki yelling at?"

There was a loud crash. Jessie and I looked at each other and ran down the stairs.

"Jess, you're about to meet your uncle Thor."

"If you and your fiery friends hadn't set fire to half of the palace…"

"Mother wasn't supposed to have been there!" Loki sounded anguished.

I ran into the kitchen.

From the look of things, Loki had been in the middle of making breakfast when they had started fighting, he was wearing his "kiss the chef" apron and was wielding a wooden spoon in his hand. It would have been a funny sight if he didn't have that look of sheer pain and guilt in his eyes.

Thor was standing with his back towards me, the kitchen chair had fallen down behind him, Mjolnir in his hand.

"You killed her! She loved you, and you killed her! You lying, deceiving, evil, conniving, spiteful…" Thor thundered.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, grabbing hold of Thor's arm before he could throw Mjolnir and wreck my kitchen. Loki had dropped his spoon, his eyes glowing green as daggers appeared in his hands.

The touch of my hand on his arm was enough to stop Thor, if just for a moment.

"SIT DOWN!" I barked at him.

Not giving Thor the chance to argue, I turned to Loki.

"YOU! TAKE A WALK! NOW!"

Loki's jaw set stubbornly.

"You two are not killing each other in my kitchen!" I continued, trying to take control of my temper. "Not in front of my daughter! You are going to sit down," I glared at Thor, "and you are taking a walk and clearing your head." I nodded at Loki, "Before either of you does something they'll regret!"

Loki looked at Jessie, who was shaking like a reed, her eyes large in her pale, anxious face. He took a deep breath and nodded reluctantly, storming past Thor.

Thor saw Jessie for the first time and deflated. He sheepishly picked up the chair and sat down on it.

"Take that pot off the stove before the house burns down," I told Jessie, while I went after Loki.

"Loki, wait!"

Loki stopped just as he was about to open the door.

"Are you okay?" It was a stupid question. Of course, he wasn't okay.

"Am I okay? What do you think?" Loki spat, his eyes shining far too bright.

"I am so sorry," I said softly. I wanted to reach out, hold him tight, but he had shrugged off every affectionate gesture so far. I was afraid he'd spurn me again.

"Go for a walk, clear your head. I'll talk to Thor. He has no right to speak to you in that way."

Loki shook his head.

"Do you truly believe going for a walk will fix this? It is ruined, it is all ruined," he said bitterly.

"I had hoped to leave my past behind me, to be able to change and move on with my life. Here, with you. But it seems now my past has caught up with me. I have done a lot of things that I am not proud of, things that would horrify you if only you knew."

Loki's eyes pleaded with mine.

Did he truly believe I still didn't know him? That I wasn't aware of how much he had changed?

"Loki, your past is your past. There is nothing you could have done that could change how much I love you, nothing that could come between us now."

"Do you think you know me?" Loki asked angrily, raising his voice.

" You don't! Not truly. Do you think the island was the worst I was capable of? The island was but the tip of the iceberg!"

I hated it when he yelled at me like this, when he let his temper get the better of him. There was nothing I could say or do to get Loki to listen to me, and he'd refuse any comfort.

"You have no idea what I'm truly capable of, what I truly am! You've only seen what I wanted you to see, what I needed you to see! Because you could never love me if you knew who I truly am, what I truly am! If you learned all the things I've done!"

There was pain in his eyes, and fear. And something deeper, darker, something that scared me more than I was willing to admit.

"Loki…"

"I'm certain you'll learn at least part of the truth soon enough, Thor's version of the truth that is! You won't look at me in the same way again! Send him away, now! Before it is too late! Before there is no more us! Before it ends in heartbreak and tears!"

Loki shook his head, angrily wiping his tears away.

"There are things about me that you don't want to know. Trust me."

"And where would he go? He has no one here, he knows nothing about life on Midgard."

"There is a nice comfortable cell in the basement of Temple Hall. If it was good enough for me, it certainly is good enough for Thor," Loki sneered.

"Loki, you can't mean that. He's your brother!"

"He's NOT my brother!"

I reached out to him but he pushed me away roughly and left the house, slamming the door behind him.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and walked back into the kitchen. Jessie's face was pale and drawn as she was scraping the burned eggs out on a plate, her hands were shaking. She hated it when Loki and I fought, she was always scared he'd leave us again.

I took the pot from her hand. "Go and make yourself some tea and a bowl of cereal and take it into the front room. I need to have a word with your uncle."

I turned around to Thor, who was giving me what I presumed was his most winning smile. I placed my hands on the table in front of him and leaned over.

"Now you listen to me, mister! If you ever talk to Loki like that in our house again, I will take Mjolnir and I will shove it up your…"

I realised my daughter was still in the kitchen with us. I took a deep breath. "I will shove it where the sun doesn't shine!" I continued lamely.

Thor's big face contorted into a frown. I swear, I could hear him think.

"A well?" he offered finally.

"Oh, I know," his face brightened, "A cave!"

I shook my head. Loki was prone to exaggeration, but I started to suspect he wasn't that far off the mark when he was talking about his brother.

"Not a cave? I'm not very good at riddles…" Thor admitted.

"Your arse!" Jessie yelled at him in annoyance.

"Jess!" I was shocked, she never used language like that.

"What?" she asked angrily, "I'm not a child! And if he ever yells at Loki like that again I'll help you shove Mjolnir right up his arse, I'll kick it up there so hard he'll be fishing toenails out of his tonsils for days!"

That wasn't the way I had raised her, not at all. But I couldn't help feeling proud about how she was standing up for Loki.

Jessie glared at Thor and flounced out of the kitchen.

I turned my attention back to Thor. I liked him, there was a connection between us almost from the moment we met, but he was severely testing my patience. Chosen by him or not, it was time to make it crystal clear whose side I was on.

"Take him, and I will come for him."

My voice was low and deep, almost a growl. It wasn't a promise, it was a prediction.

"Hurt him, and I will gather as much power as I can lay my hands on, align myself with whatever forces will aid me and will bring Ragnarok about and lay waste to Asgard myself, no matter what I will have to do or how long it will take.

Do I make myself clear?"

Thor's steely blue eyes met mine. There was no goofy smile on his face now. The eyes looking back at me belonged to a god, ancient and powerful.

I held his gaze, unwilling to back down.

Slowly, Thor nodded.

"I chose my avatar well, you are truly formidable.

You will need to be if you are to marry Loki.

As I promised before, I will stay my hand for now. I can not return to Asgard without Loki, our father will not allow it. But I will stay around and make certain Loki keeps his word to you. I wish I had the same fate in him as you do, I truly do.

You are my chosen one, you stand under my protection. I will let no harm befall you. You have my word."

I nodded back.

I hoped he hadn't noticed my own hands were shaking, I had no idea what had come over me to make a threat like that.

I began to scramble some more eggs and heated up a frying pan for the bacon.

"He has really changed, you know," I began again. I am nothing if not stubborn.

"Do you know how often I've uttered the selfsame words to Father? How often Mother swore the same?" Thor looked tired. Tired and sad.

"After Loki found out the truth about his lineage he and Father argued, and Loki left. He returned a few years later, begging to be let back home. That was merely the start of a song and dance that lasted for centuries.

Father would let Loki back home, and Loki would lie, scheme and ultimately betray him. Loki would flee, or be cast out, only to return again later."

I turned around in surprise. I had been under the impression Loki had been banished and hadn't been back to Asgard in centuries. Of course, a thousand years is a long time, and I still wasn't sure when Loki had found out he was Jotunn in the first place.

"Loki would always come back, apologising sincerely, tears in his eyes. 'I'll change,' he'd promise, 'I will be different this time, I will be a better brother, a better son!'

And like fools, mother and I would believe him. But he'd always break his promises. Align himself with enemies of Asgard, and try to stab us in the back. In my case, often literally.

And as for mother, in the end, her belief that there was still good in Loki cost her her life."

Thor sighed.

I put a plate with a heap of eggs, bacon and toast in front of him, and handed him a mug of tea. Thor took a sniff and wrinkled his nose.

"Have you no ale, or mead?"

"I don't have alcohol in the house," I said curtly.

"That is hard to believe," Thor sounded sceptical. "Are you telling me that Loki, famous for his ability to outdrink anyone, has nought stronger than tea in his home?"

I sat down at the table with a slice of toast and a cup of tea for myself.

"My father was a mean drunk who hit his children, my mother died of liver failure. Jessie's father was killed by a drunk driver." I spoke softly, without much sadness. I was merely explaining. Thor's eyes widened, then became soft in empathy.

"We don't have alcohol in the house. We might have a drink or two when we are going out, but Loki hasn't touched anything strong since we started dating."

Thor put his hand on top of mine, his huge hand completely engulfing mine, and gave it a squeeze.

"Tea will do just fine," he smiled, only to promptly grimace as he took a sip.

I knew I had to inform the Templars of Thor's arrival here on Midgard, it was too big of a deal to keep hidden. And Thor would need clothes, and something better to sleep on than the small fold-up bed in the guestroom.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly, I wished Loki was back so we could make some decisions together.

Instead, I began to fill in Thor on how the organisations that operated within the Secret World worked, and about how we were supposed to keep the existence of magic, and gods, a secret.

The front door opened and then closed again, followed by footsteps running up two stairs at a time.

"I have to go and talk to Loki," I told Thor.

"Good luck," Thor gave me a sympathetic smile.

Loki was lying on the bed, wearing his clothes and shoes, covering his eyes with one arm.

I pulled the curtains close, and began to take off his shoes.

"Headache?" I asked softly.

Loki just nodded.

I lay down next to him, on my side. I looked at his perfect features, wanting to do nothing more than to hold him, to kiss him until he'd smile.

"Jessie lashed out at Thor. She told him that if he ever talked to you like that again she'd kick Mjolnir so far up his arse he'd be picking toenails out of his tonsils for days."

Loki dropped his arm in surprise, his eyebrows practically raised to his hairline. It had been the right thing to say I realised, as a grin crept over his face.

"That's quite the mouth she has on her, I wonder who she gets it from!"

Loki's eyes twinkled in mine as he rolled on his side to look at me.

"I have no idea," I said innocently, grinning back.

Loki reached out and stroked my cheek.

"We should have been getting married today," he said softly, pulling me closer.

"We still can," I put an arm around him, holding him tight.

"We can't," Loki said regretfully. "Not in Jotunnheim. Asgard can not know about the last sacred place dedicated to Laufey, they'd surely destroy it like they've destroyed everything else."

"Then hide us, and we'll slip away. We'll go in secret."

"Heimdall now knows what to look for, he can see through the shroud. How else did you think Thor found us?"

"Than we'll get married somewhere here on Midgard. We don't have to wait."

Loki shook his head.

"What? Elope in Las Vegas and be married by a fat man in an Elvis suit? Surely that isn't the wedding either of us dreamt of. It's better we wait.

Besides, you are likely as not to change your mind soon enough about marrying me now Thor is here."

I caressed his cheek, then gently pulled his face closer and brushed my lips against his. Loki winced and closed his eyes.

"I'm going to lose you," he whispered.

"You won't. You'll never lose me," I promised.

"If only you knew…"

"Then tell me Loki. Tell me, because it will be better if I heard it all from you. Tell me your side of things, so I can understand."

Loki shook his head.

"I can't," he whispered, his eyes brimming over with pain and tears. "I can't. It will not be by my words that you will stop believing in me, that you will stop loving me. I am not that strong. I can't."

I help him close as he buried his face against my chest, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and running my fingers through his hair.

"I'll never stop loving you, Loki," I said, wishing I could make him believe me somehow.

"She wasn't supposed to have been at the palace," Loki looked up at me with so much pain in his eyes that tears sprung into my own.

"Father and Thor were supposed to go to our hunting lodge, to hold a moot and to hunt. Mother was supposed to visit her sisters, for Summer Solstice.

I had aligned myself with Surtr, and had agreed to lead some of his Fire Giants into Asgard."

Loki shook his head, despair in his voice.

"They weren't supposed to be there, none of them. I had planned it so carefully, timed it just right.

I thought I found a way to bring about Ragnarok, to fulfil that 'glorious purpose' I had been burdened with, without bringing harm to any of them." Loki scoffed, "I thought I could cheat fate itself.

But Thor snuck out of the palace the day before instead of joining Father at the moot. And Mother waited for Thor to return so she could say her goodbyes since it would be almost two moons before they'd meet again.

If only Thor had done as he was supposed to, none of it would have happened."

Loki frowned in anger.

"I had it all planned just right. Mother wasn't supposed to be there."

His voice cracked.

"But she was, she was. I never meant for any harm to come to her, I swear!"

"I know," I whispered, tenderly wiping away his tears.

"I loved her, despite everything that had happened. Thor was always Father's, but I was hers. Even if it was not by blood, I was hers."

Loki's shoulders shook.

"Thor summoned torrential rains that extinguished the fire and he and his men disposed of the Fire Giants, as I fled." Loki continued after he had calmed down a bit. "But it was too late. Only afterwards did I learn Mother had still been at the palace and had perished in the flames."

"It wasn't your fault, my love."

Loki sat up.

"Wasn't it? Because I didn't tie her to a stake and burn her as a witch? I might as well have," he said bitterly.

"Thor is right. You shouldn't trust me. I hurt those I love the most. My love is poison."

"It wasn't your fault, you could not have known." I placed myself on his lap and began kissing him. "And I will never stop loving you, and I will never ever leave you. I am yours, and you are mine."

Loki kissed me back then, hard and bruising, holding me so tight it hurt. I gasped for air and clung to him tight. I moaned, half in pain, half in ecstasy as he roughly pushed me down on the bed, not bothering to take off my clothes but tearing them apart instead. His fingers left bruises on my thighs as he kissed my stomach lower and lower. I moaned again, and I closed my eyes as I wrapped my legs around him, all thoughts about Asgard for the moment banished from our minds.