Frigga did not talk to her husband that night and decided for a walk in her gardens instead. She begrudged his decision, not only because he was sending the girl to a life of misery but also, and in a more egoistic manner, because he was depriving her from the only daughter she ever had.

She still remembered with a great intensity how they welcomed the girl at a young age, her parents tragically dying in the battle that opposed the pantheons of gods. Solweig was sent as an exchange of divinities from the Vanir's side and Odin had welcomed her in their family like he had welcomed Loki. The barely fertile queen that only gave birth to one son was suddenly surrounded by three children that she loved and cherished like her own.

When she reached the fountain, Frigga sat on a bench under the moonlight, touching her face to discover that tears were wetting her cheeks. She inhaled the heady perfume of gardenia, taking a minute to grieve what she knew already belonged to the past.

The queen was deep in her thoughts and didn't see him sitting next to her, grabbing her hand.

"Mother" his cool voice whispered gently "You're cold".

The dark-haired son wrapped his arm around the queen's shoulder and brought her close to him. She delicately laid her head against Loki's chest as he was gently caressing her arm.

"You've been crying" he said.

"She will not accept to be sent to the temple"

"Of course not" Loki sneered spitefully.

He was looking at the moon now. Contrarily to his mother, he did not wish for her to choose to go to Midgard as he knew what this implied. He remembered that she had confessed it once, that mortals terrified her, that she woke up everyday feeling incredibly blessed to having been granted immortality. She said she would rather not live than living a mortal life, because a lifetime of fearing death was not worth living. Their tutor at this time had grounded her, telling her she was being self-absorbed, because humans had to be looking forward to rejoining Valhalla or her mother's hall Sessrúmnir.

"He is making an example out of her"

"That is not true" Frigga responded, looking up at her son's face.

Loki shook his head in disbelief.

He knew his father saw her as a threat. He knew that Odin wanted to test her obedience to the Aesir pantheon by her resolving to die for Asgard. Would she refuse, she would be considered an accomplice of her brother's evil plan. Her death would prove her goodwill, but everyone knew the plan was doomed, for they all knew that the girl would reject it. Odin had already condemned her. She would accept an eternity of humiliation as she, who was the goddess of fertility, would never be able to conceive a child. The Svartálfar removed the uterus of all their slaves, forbidding them to carry the offspring of their master. She, who was the daughter of the goddess Freya, the protector of the seidr, would be smeared, the fallen princess betrayed by the only family she thought she belonged to.

"He is being unnecessarily cruel"

"You shouldn't be speaking that way about your father" Frigga's tone was full of reproaches. "He gave her options"

"What options are there?!" scoffed Loki, standing up, visibly upset by his mother advocating for his father's cause. "Please instruct me, Mother, what are the options for her? Living a miserable life and die alone? Oh no, much better... being soiled and shamed to no end by that drunk of Harald?!"

Loki's chest was moving up and down in a loud breathing as he tried to forget all the times that Harald proved to be nothing else than a sadistic and perverted asshole. Even he, who was known for not playing kind, never went that far with any of his sweethearts.

"Do you know what he did to one of these poor girls last time Thor and I paid him a visit?! That girl was a child, Mother, a child. She was not even fertile yet, still he raped her and he left her cry herself to sleep in the middle of the banquet hall…"

"Enough" shouted Frigga, horrified. She was standing now, facing her son, looking up to meet his eyes. "Your father did try to save her"

"How?!" Loki asked, insolent.

"He offered her to marry your brother"

A silence followed, the words slowly sinking in.

"What?" whispered the God of mischief, his face distrustful.

Frigga looked away. "Odin asked her to marry Thor. She refused."

"But why?" puzzled Loki, trying to meet his mother's gaze but she was looking away.

"Once your father learned that Thorsten was planning an attack on Asgard, he went himself to Fólkvangr to seek an agreement. Thorsten explained that he felt humiliated by the unequal exchange that took place between the Aesir and the Vanir twenty years ago. Now that his age allows him to rightfully access the throne, he shared with your father his desire to avenge his dead parents"

Frigga paused for a second, choosing her words carefully.

"Thorsten ventured that… his thirst of vengeance could be tamed by the lawful union of his beloved sister with the heir of Asgard"

"I can't believe it" objected Loki. Silently, he reviewed all the possibilities that might justify her almost triggering a war between their two kingdoms, all by simply refusing a proposal that anyone else would have been grateful to accept.

"I can't fathom why she would reject my brother. Why would she refuse such an opportunity?"

Frigga gave him a sad smile, raising her hand.

"Because out of my two sons, there is one she fell in love with…" She slowly removed a strand of hair from his face and gently kissed his forehead "…but this one ain't your brother"