He watched her storm out of his room, a slightly bewildered frown on his face as his doors slammed shut, punctuating her rather justified anger. This was not how he'd meant for the night to end, not by a longshot.
He'd gone from being caught up in wild, feral, absolutely perfect passion to nearly falling asleep in resulting exhaustion, then was jarred awake by guards bursting into his apparently burning room and seeing far more of Aemilia than he ever would have chosen to allow their eyes - especially that of her ex-fiancé - to see.
His eyes flickered to the part of his floor that had been burning only moments ago, and he grit his teeth and closed his eyes in frustration. Yes, he'd skipped his usual soundproofing spell on purpose. Yes, he'd wanted Dagr to hear, wanted to dangle in front of the man what he could never have, what belonged to Loki and Loki alone, and no, he had not for one minute anticipated Aemilia discovering this, and subsequently did not consider her feelings at any point.
It was only meant to be a bit of fun, to be had by him alone, at a guardsman's expense. But now he was angry - angry that the dolt had seen Aemilia in her compromised position, and angry at the mess it had created.
The hurt that had flashed in her eyes had made him instantly uneasy, left him so uncharacteristically tongue-tied, but he would not just let her storm off like that.
Surely, a few well-spoken words would soothe her, smooth things over, and then the incident would be all but forgotten.
With confidence, he disappeared from his chambers, then reappeared in the middle of hers to find it dark and empty. He lit the candles and lanterns in the room with a wave of his hand, then held it behind his back as he waited for her to arrive.
It only took a moment before he heard angry footsteps, and then her two large golden doors flung open. She stomped inside and then stopped short at the sight of him, her already-angry expression turning even darker as she closed the doors behind her but did not move any further.
"Get out."
He didn't flinch. "I will not."
"I've no wish to fight with you -"
"Nor do I with you."
" - and that is all that I will do if you do not leave."
They stood for a moment, at an impasse, until Loki set his jaw and began, "Aemilia-"
"No," she shook her head, sidestepping him and prying at her arm band as she walked towards her bed.
He turned and watched her stop to struggle with the thing, her fingers clawing and trying to find the catch. He saw slight bruises forming on her wrists, and a fleeting sense of guilt passed through him before he shook it off and spoke. "I never would have purposefully allowed him, or anyone, to see you like that. You must know this."
She whipped around to face him, giving up on the arm band for the time being to glare at him in angry incredulity. "Do you not understand why I am angry? The fact that he saw a glimpse of me naked is not why I'm furious! I am furious because you are cruel and unthinking and uncaring, and I refuse to be a part of your... infantile, ridiculous games meant to torture good people!"
He narrowed his eyes and then raised his eyebrows as he replied mockingly, "Good people? I was not aware you thought so highly of the man who would have married you against your will."
"He doesn't deserve to be taunted and tortured, Loki," she replied. "And I certainly don't deserve to have you use me as a means to your cruel ends. The fact that he, and the other guard, heard what is meant only for your ears is far worse to me than either of them seeing what they saw. But you didn't stop for even a moment to think of my feelings, did you?"
He opened his mouth, falling short for a moment before answering, "You know me, you understand my nature - do you not?"
"That..." she closed her eyes and clenched her jaw in frustration for a moment before apparently gathering herself and continuing. "That is not an excuse, Loki. Just because it is 'in your nature' to behave that way doesn't make it all right. Not when you're dragging me - intimately - into your schemes, without lending me so much as a second thought."
"I meant you no harm."
She laughed a little, in exasperation. "And yet, you caused me harm. Don't you see? If am no longer a mere object to you, a toy to pass your time with, then you must treat me with more respect, more care. You cannot ask me to stand by your side and then disregard me in the next breath, for the sake of some mean-spirited prank."
He stared at her blankly for a moment, her words confusing him more than they should have. She stared at him, waiting, until she closed her eyes and threw her hands up, then sat down at the foot of her bed with a sigh. "But how would you know that, when all you have to draw on is a thousand years of using women as you please without ever having to stop to think twice."
He raised an eyebrow, unsure of whether he should be offended or if he should go with it and use the truth of her words as an excuse for what he was finally starting to realize was incredibly thoughtless behavior.
She raised her eyes to him as he slowly stepped closer to her, looking and sounding weary as she said, "I know that you didn't intend to hurt me. But you must understand... being used like that, just so you can torture someone... it made me feel as if I am nothing more than an object. Like I am nothing more than Ilyana, or any other common whore whom you've used in the past. Just a tool meant only for your own pleasure and amusement, unworthy of your concern."
Loki's eyes narrowed and his lips curled into a frown at those words. He stopped walking when he reached her, looking down and away from her eyes as he knelt down in front of her. "You know that's not the truth."
He looked up at her, his hands coming to rest on her knees, over the skirt of her dress, and she met his gaze a bit warily. "Do I?"
His gaze was earnest. "Surely this one... idiotic mistake of mine doesn't strike this must doubt into you. Not after the events of today. Not after these last few weeks."
She shrugged lightly. "I still fear that you'll tire of me. You cannot blame me for that. You also cannot blame me for my reaction to tonight. Especially after..." She paused and took a breath, while he studied her with an almost unnerving intensity. "You have no idea how much trust it requires of me to... submit to you as I do. To allow you to handle me as you did tonight."
"I know exactly how much trust it requires," he quickly corrected her. "Never doubt that." He paused, his thumb gently and distractedly swiping over her knee, before he looked up at her again and quietly said, "I'm sorry that I took your trust for granted. It was stupid of me."
"Yes it was," she replied softly. "You have to realize what it means for us to truly be... together. What you do no longer affects only you. I'm tied to you now. We both have to always think of the other, in nearly everything we do."
This, he knew, was one of the reasons why he had steered clear of commitment his entire life. Mostly it was due to a lack of worthy prospects, but this was something he'd never desired. To have to think of someone else's needs and desires first was one thing when it came to physical acts, but when it came to emotional welfare - that was something else entirely. Not only did he not have the slightest clue of how to not be intrinsically selfish, it seemed like an exhausting concept to constantly think of someone else's needs before his own.
But, she'd once pledged to always take care of him, if he but only did the same for her. And he wanted that. He'd wanted it from the moment those words had left her lips. And he'd already failed her.
He took one of her hands in his own, closed his eyes and sweetly kissed it before covering it with his other hand and looking up at her once more. "I'll do better from this day on. Forgive me."
He felt relief as her eyes softened, inwardly pleased with himself that she seemed to be mostly pacified now. But he could only take so much pleasure in this when he felt genuinely disappointed with himself for upsetting her as he had. It spoke volumes to him about the depths of his own feelings, that her pain pained him as much as it did.
When she said nothing, he kissed her hand again, this time several times in a row, soft little kisses just above her knuckles. Then he looked up again. "Do you forgive me?"
He saw her inner conflict, her desire to further punish him conflicting with her desire to forgive him and forget entirely about the unpleasant parts of tonight. He knew which side would win out.
She nodded gently. "Yes. I forgive you."
He responded by gripping her hand tighter and then turning it over, so that her wrist was open to him. He took her other hand and did the same, frowning again as he eyed the bruises left by her struggles against his restraints earlier. He was sure that her wrists weren't all that had been left marked.
Slowly he bent his head down, and feather-softly, he brushed his lips across the darkened parts of her left wrist. His eyes were closed, brows furrowed slightly as he spoke a spell inside of his head, and as he kissed across her skin, it lightened and the bruises faded. He repeated this on her right wrist, then glanced up when it was done to find her watching with half-lidded eyes and slightly parted lips.
He released her hands then, and slowly pushed up the skirt of her dress over her knees, until the other bruises he'd left were exposed to his eyes. He could have ran his fingertips over them and had them vanish just as quickly, but instead he healed them the same way he'd healed her wrists, trailing his lips along her inner thighs and then working his way outwards, leaving warm, tingling traces of magic everywhere his lips touched. Halfway through, her hand came to rest in his hair, on the top of his head, and he could feel the tension leave her body as he did his work.
Once the bruises on her thighs were gone, he rose up slightly, and slid his hands up her dress and around to the small of her back, where he suspected other bruises lurked. His fingertips took care of those as he looked up and met her gaze, almost grinning when he saw that she was panting slightly.
Then his eyes fell to her neck, and to the bright mark on it left by his teeth. He thought about leaving it, but he decided that he'd marked her as his own quite satisfactorily for one day. He withdrew his hands from under her dress, wrapped one arm around her waist and let his other hand tangle in her hair as he softly pressed his lips to the bite. Her head fell back slightly, and when he parted his lips to let his tongue slide out and lick the length of the bite, it disappeared at the touch.
Her hand, which had never left his hair, tightened somewhat, and he raised his head, eyes level with hers, and met her gaze in silence.
She'd taken away the satisfaction he'd felt at having tortured her ex-fiancé, and arisen guilt within him that wasn't easy to spark. He would have been content to kiss every inch of her, whether bruised or not, just to hear the soft little exhales that left her lips and feel her tremble whenever he touched somewhere sensitive. He would have stayed there on his knees as long as it took to coax her forgiveness from her lips, and he would not have dared leave until he'd heard those words.
He had no idea how she was doing any of this, and a part of him wanted to ridicule himself. But that part of him was becoming smaller and smaller with each moment spent in her arms.
Her hand that wasn't in his hair rose to his face, touching the left side of it softly as she looked from his lips to his eyes. "Sometimes I think I really am a fool to trust you."
He smiled a little, and so did she. "And I am a fool to have allowed you to bewitch me as you have."
She shook her head slightly, as he ran his fingers from her hair to her cheek. "I honestly don't feel as if I've done anything of the sort."
"Oh, but you have," he breathed, pressing his lips to her jaw, then her cheek, then the corner of her mouth. He paused at her lips, murmuring softly, "You truly have." Then he captured her lips with his, and sighed against her mouth as he gave himself over to the confusingly intoxicating feelings that only she had ever brought him.
He could speculate all day as to what made her so special to him, because he'd done it many times before. He could consider her talent, her strength, her boldness, her beauty, her rebellious streak that had initially drawn him in. He could try to narrow it down to one or two of those qualities, try to rationalize it all, but the truth was much simpler than all of that.
She just... fit him. He couldn't think of a better way to describe the peculiar truth of what he felt.
For a woman to challenge him, speak freely and frankly to him as an equal like she always did, and yet also be submissive and giving in every way that he craved, was unprecedented. He'd never thought that such a lady existed, and yet here she was.
She fit.
He leaned her back on the bed as he kissed her, thoroughly and tenderly, crawling over her as he did. She let him, and he had a feeling that her quickness to forgive him was something that he'd inadvertently - or sometimes purposefully - put to the test often as time went on.
For now, he moved her higher up the bed, until her head hit one of the silk-cased pillows, and drew away to rest his forehead against hers as they both drew deep breaths.
"May I stay?"
She looked up at him, and he saw surprise flicker across her face at his question. Maybe she was surprised that he would want to sleep in her room rather than his, or maybe she was surprised that he was asking her permission at all.
She nodded, then drew him back down for another kiss. Her following laugh muffled by his lips made him break away to look at her curiously. "What's so amusing?"
She smiled and shook her head, her hands on his shoulders as his propped himself up on either side of her head. "I should say no. Make you sleep alone, like I intended to before I let your silvertongue get the better of me."
His own mirroring smile faltered a bit at her words. "You think me insincere."
"I hope you were sincere," she replied. "It's always difficult to tell what is true and what is not, when it comes to you."
And that was what he'd always intended. He liked being the unpredictable one, the smooth-talking Prince who spoke his lies so believably and with such conviction that even when others doubted, they still always believed him, only to be played in the end.
But this was an unpleasant side effect.
He gently rolled to his side, and she did the same, facing him. They were close, but no longer touching, not until Aemilia reached out and covered one of his hands with hers on his pillow.
"It's not in my interest to be dishonest," he said quietly, eyeing their hands as her fingers gently laced over and through his. "Not with you."
"But it might be in the future," she noted. "And if it is, will you lie to me then?"
There was only one way to answer that, if he were to continue to remain honest tonight. "I may."
"You shouldn't," she replied. "You certainly don't have to."
But that was just it. Sometimes, he did have to. He was quite sure that she wouldn't be so generous if he told her that a trio of Frost Giants would be wrecking Thor's coronation, all thanks to him. Even she, with all of her quick forgiveness, would surely be horrified.
Some truths were better left unknown. He would know.
She seemed to tire of the conversation before he did, sighing lightly before closing her eyes and shifting close to him. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer, resting his chin in the dark hair atop her head as he closed his own eyes.
"I'm still angry at you."
He opened his eyes, lips quirking at the corners. "As you should be."
"I am still considering an appropriate punishment."
His lips stretched into a full grin. "I look forward to it."
The next morning, Loki awoke much earlier than Aemilia did. He slipped silently from her room and went about his usual morning routine, or at least the one that had been his usual routine before he'd begun waking up with Aemilia and thus greatly altering his habits.
He returned to his own room, bathed, dressed, sent off some letters that were overdue, then spent an hour or so taking advantage of his solitude and playing around with his magic. After, he decided to track down his mother and have breakfast with her, but before he could so much as glance at his door with the intent to walk through it, it burst open and Frigga walked - or very nearly stomped - inside, her timing impeccable.
He stood in the center of his room, watching her with slightly wide eyes. "Mother - is something wrong?"
The doors shut behind her, and for a moment, with her visibly angry eyes and thinly set mouth, she looked terrifying. He suddenly felt like he was a boy again, caught by his mother doing something that warranted grave punishment.
"Have I taught you nothing, Loki?" she asked, shimmery pink-silver dress trailing behind her as she strode purposefully up to him. "Of my sons, I thought that you surely would be the one to treat a lady with proper respect and care, once you had found one that you cared for. Would you like to explain to me why I was wrong?"
He stared blankly at her for a moment, definitely feeling like a boy now. Odin's admonishments he was quite used to, and he'd endured many of them, but for Frigga to be angry like this was frighteningly uncommon.
She raised an eyebrow. "Have you also lost your respect for your mother, to ignore me as you are?"
"No," he quickly replied. "No, I have not."
"Good. Now, explain to me why you would possibly want to humiliate Lady Aemilia as you did."
"How do you know -"
"Do not ask me how I came to discover your actions," she interrupted. "Did you really think I would not hear of your chambers nearly burning and the circumstances surrounding it?"
Loki thinned his lips and muttered, "She's already forgiven me, Mother."
"But I have not," Frigga pointed out. "Now explain."
"I..." he sighed and glanced at the floor. "The man whom she was engaged to was assigned to the post closest to my rooms down the hall. I thought it would be fun to... force him to listen to... certain things."
He was suddenly fully aware of exactly how stupid his idea sounded, speaking it to the absolute last person he'd ever want to.
"And this plan backfired," Frigga pointed out, her tone icy, "and not only did he hear, but he also saw far too much, did he not?"
"Yes, but -"
"How could you be so foolish? Are you trying to drive the girl away so soon after finally making a legitimate claim on her?"
"No, but -"
"Are you not aware of the damage already done to her reputation? Cast out by her parents, banished for defying them, taken in by us for what people first assumed was for your brother's enjoyment -" Loki's frown became a grimace at that point - "only to find out yesterday that you are now courting her. Courting, Loki. Not setting fire to your chambers in the throes of passion. You know what she will be called."
"She already is," he pointed out. "I'm sure her mother has let it be well known the nature of what got her banished in the first place."
"She hasn't, Loki," Frigga said quietly. "I've kept a close eye on the gossip. Her mother has said nothing about the two of you."
Grasping at what he could, Loki argued weakly, "Still, given my own reputation and the fact that she's living here in the palace, surely nobody would think we aren't -"
"It doesn't matter," Frigga sighed. "You fail to see my point. She is an innocent young girl - a child compared to you - and quickly gaining recognition as one of the finest singers of her age. Her involvement with you could destroy her name as much as make it, do you not see that?"
"Yes, yes," Loki sighed, closing his eyes, "I see that now, Mother."
"Then I urge you to think before you act from now on," Frigga said. "Think of how your actions will reflect upon her. Otherwise you only set yourself up to lose her all over again."
Loki nodded, eyes downcast, fingers of his left hand fiddling in the palm of his right, despising the way he continued to feel smaller and smaller with every new word she spoke. He'd felt badly enough suffering Aemilia's wrath last night, but his mother's disappointment may have been even worse. "Should I expect a similar talk from Father later?"
"You know that your father leaves such things to me," Frigga replied. "Though I fear in what other ways I've fallen short as a mother, now that you've shocked me with doing something I wouldn't have thought you capable of before."
He almost wanted to laugh. Clearly, some of his darker pranks and tricks had never reached her ears, otherwise she wouldn't have been surprised in the least. Still, he shook his head slightly and said, "My mistakes are my own, Mother. They don't reflect upon you."
"Of course they do," Frigga said. "And I'll always take my share of the burden when you make one. It's my curse as a mother. So... please do try to not make those burdens heavier."
He nodded. "I'm sorry."
Her demeanor finally relaxing into one that Loki was far more used to, she reached out both of her hands to him, palms facing upwards. He glanced down before putting his hands into hers, and she said softly, "I only want your happiness, Loki. And I tire of watching you continually sabotage every last chance you have at it."
Loki couldn't think of a thing to say back, so he merely nodded while Frigga squeezed his hands in hers.
"And needless to say, the Guardsman has been reassigned. To the opposite side of the palace."
Loki tried extremely hard not to grin. "How inconvenient for him."
Frigga dropped his hands and gave him a look, though it was a decidedly softer one than before. "You are giving me gray hairs, Loki."
Loki smiled a little, then walked with her as she made for his door. "That is never my intention, I assure you."
Frigga let out a long sigh, but said nothing else until they reached the door. When they did, Loki pulled it open, only to find Thor on the other side, very close as if he'd been leaning on it, smiling brightly and trying very hard to appear as if he'd just been passing by.
"Mother! Loki! There you are!" the older Prince grinned, while Loki narrowed his eyes at his unexpected appearance.
"Pressing your ear to the door like you did when we were children, whenever I was being punished, brother?" Loki asked, unimpressed.
"Not at all!" Thor insisted. "What gives you such a laughable idea?"
Even Frigga rolled her eyes, but she did it with a resigned smile. "You two never change, are you both aware of this?"
"Change is overrated, Mother," Thor grinned.
"Subtlety is not," Loki remarked.
Thor raised a blonde eyebrow and replied, "Subtlety? I hear some of your more recent actions were far from subtle."
"And this is when I take my leave," Frigga smiled sweetly, stepping between her sons and making for the hall. "Both of you shall join me for lunch or I will have you dragged by your ears."
"Yes, Mother," both men answered in unison before turning back to each other. Thor was still grinning, while Loki remained as impassive looking as he could manage.
"So, brother," Thor began, following Loki when he retreated back into his rooms, "tell me all about this wild night of yours that ended with your chambers on fire and that poor Guardsman nearly in tears from what I heard."
"If there's one thing I've learned since last night," Loki said as Thor plopped himself down on Loki's couch and made himself comfortable, "it's that I should most likely keep such details entirely to myself from this day on."
"Oh, come now, I'm your brother!" Thor argued as Loki checked his reflection in his nearby mirror. "You can trust me, and besides, I already know of the wretched details."
Loki raised an eyebrow and glanced back at Thor. "What have you heard?"
"That you and your Lady woke up nearly the entire floor with your... vocal enthusiasm," Thor grinned. "And then that somehow your room caught fire, and the Lady's ex-fiancé burst in to help, only to see far too much of her, while you were yet strangely fully clothed. Cape and all."
Loki thought for a moment before shrugging. "Fairly accurate account."
"Fully clothed?" Thor squinted.
"Not a common occurrence," Loki replied, turning away from the mirror fully. "As always, your interest is greatly appreciated."
"I take it Mother let you have it."
Sighing and coming to terms with the fact that Thor didn't appear interested in leaving any time soon, Loki sat in a nearby armchair and waved a hand dismissively. "And am I to endure your statement of disapproval next?"
"It's far from your gravest lapse in judgement," Thor noted. "Has the Lady granted her forgiveness yet?"
"She has," Loki replied.
"Well, then, I suppose all that's left for me to ask is just how horrified the poor Guardsman looked."
At this, Loki allowed a grin to cross his face. "He appeared as though he were torn between vomiting and crying."
Thor shook his head, but with a smile. "You are terrible, brother, utterly terrible."
"And yet you're smiling and fighting a laugh of your own," Loki pointed out. "Am I any more terrible than you?"
"Don't be ridiculous Loki," Thor scoffed. "But I'm happy to hear that all is well now. I expect the two of you to be joining me in the celebrations tonight."
"I am not so sure that she will be up to the task after last night," Loki replied, "but I will relay the message."
"Good," Thor said, standing. "I won't have my brother hiding in his room and missing out on a single day of my month of merriment."
Loki raised an eyebrow. The idea of joining in on the realm-wide parties every night for an entire month sounded almost torturous, but then again, opportunities for mischief were always plenty in such settings. "I wouldn't dream of missing it."
"Excellent," Thor grinned. "I'm off to the arena. You're welcome to join."
"I always am," Loki replied noncommittally.
"The fresh air would do you good!"
Loki rolled his eyes, but allowed a touch of a grin to linger on his face. At least Thor had managed to appreciate his little touch of mischief, if only a little bit.
It had been a slightly rough morning so far for Aemilia. She'd awoken - alone - to Gunnvarr's jarring method of rousing her, which was to throw all of her curtains back and shout until she opened her eyes and begrudgingly sat up. She was also freezing, which led her to grumble about the fact that her room felt like a giant icicle, and Gunnvarr's assurances that she'd tend to the temperatures did little to ease the chill. She'd then endured the handmaiden ranting about what she'd heard of what transpired the night before, as she dressed, and did not cease ranting until she almost absently informed her that she was to have breakfast with the Queen.
Aemilia's poor mood grew as she made the trek to Frigga's chambers. Servants and others that she passed in the halls wouldn't dare to whisper or gawk overtly, but she could tell how quickly word had spread by their pointed efforts to not look at her. Truly, she couldn't understand it - sure, last night was certainly rife with rumor fodder, but was something like this really so odd in a palace occupied by two young, ridiculously attractive Princes?
It also didn't help that for the first time in a long time, she was nervous to speak to Frigga. She also felt mildly ill by the time she reached the Queen's rooms.
But, to her relief, Frigga was as kind as ever, and only a few minutes into their meal, Aemilia felt a bit more relaxed and was able to converse without feeling the twist of anxiety that she'd been feeling in her gut all morning.
"Really," Frigga sighed across the table that sat on her expansive balcony, tea cup in hand, "you mustn't allow yourself to get caught up in his little schemes. Though I suppose it's inevitable with him, to an extent - you should try your best to stay separate from that side of his affairs."
"I certainly would like to," Aemilia replied, picking at her plate of food with a fork made entirely of gold. "I've had little choice so far."
"I know," Frigga replied softly. She seemed to contemplate something for a moment, and then she unexpectedly asked, "Do you love my son?"
Her mouth dropped open and she was suddenly clutching her fork with a renewed vigor. That was certainly the last question she'd expected to hear, but her answer came swiftly and without hesitation. "Yes. Yes, I do."
Frigga nodded, setting her tea cup down. "I knew as much. But it's always good to hear the words."
Aemilia glanced down at the fork in her hand, agreeing with Frigga's sentiment, but suspecting that she was yet quite far from hearing Loki say anything of the sort.
"Loki's pranks have not involved me since he was only a boy," Frigga added, interrupting Aemilia's thoughts. "Would you like to know why?"
Aemilia nodded, intrigued by the seemingly oft-changing conversation.
"When he was quite young, he thought it would be humorous to hide in the shadows as I greeted two Elvish princesses who had come to the palace for an official visit, and turn their long blonde hair into two very literal rat's nests."
Aemilia couldn't help but smile a little bit. At least Loki had yet to subject her to that kind of torture.
"So," Frigga sighed, "I saw to his punishment later that night. He acted as handmaid to the girls, who had concocted some creative punishments of their own - nothing unsavory," Frigga quickly said when Aemilia raised an eyebrow, "but appropriately humiliating. Then I took away his magic for a day."
Aemilia's eyes widened and her fork lay in her food, forgotten. "You took away his magic? You can do that?"
"I can," Frigga nodded. "Never permanently, of course, and I would never do such a thing, anyway. However, after he spent a full day unable to use his magic, he's kept to his best behavior where I am involved."
"That's brilliant," Aemilia smiled.
Frigga returned her smile. "I suspect that perhaps the same sort of thing might be effective in your case. I have a book that explains how to bind another's magic for a short period of time, among other things."
"That's..." Aemilia faltered for a moment, her brain suddenly racing. "I'm not sure Loki would take to that particularly well, especially from me."
"You are correct, I am sure," Frigga agreed. "However, that would be the point."
"Oh."
"Come," Frigga said, standing and beckoning her to do the same. "I will find the book for you. I'm not suggesting that you use this spell any time soon, or at all, if you are not comfortable with it. But, it may prove useful in the future, should you decide to see if it gives you the same results that it gave me."
Aemilia nodded, rising and following the Queen to her library, hoping that her immediate first thought as to how she would use this spell wasn't written all over her face, because that would have been a whole other level of humiliation.
When Aemilia returned to her room, nearly an hour later - Frigga was an excellent teacher and explained more than just the one spell in the borrowed book, once they'd cracked it open - she set the book down on the nearest table and closed the door behind her, then gasped when two arms enclosed around her from behind and warm lips descended on her neck.
"Finally, you return."
She laughed, sighing after having been startled, reaching her hand back and into his hair as she asked, "Must you always... lurk?"
He shrugged and turned her in his arms so that she faced him. "I do enjoy the element of surprise."
"I've noticed," she said before he pulled her into a kiss. He was dressed in mostly black, with a few gold accents at his collar and the edges of his sleeves, just a bit of deep green peeking out from under his outer coat near his chest. She liked the look.
Her arms had wound around his neck and his were wrapped snugly around her when he ended the kiss. He grinned at her and then glanced at the book she'd brought in as it lay on the table, then remarked, "I came here thinking I'd offer to spend the day teaching you some of the spells you've been asking after, only to find that my mother beat me to it."
"She did not," Aemilia shook her head. "She only lent me a book. I'd be happy to see what you wish to show me."
"Hm," he muttered, fingers of his left hand tracing the golden horned arm band that she'd never taken off from last night. "I think you'll prefer my methods over hers, anyway."
She smiled up at him, finding it hard to maintain her irritation with him when he was green eyes were sparkling at her and he was grinning at her in a way that should have been obnoxious but wasn't.
"Oh," he suddenly said, his hands falling away as he dug one inside of his jacket. "I nearly forgot. I assured your handmaid that I would personally deliver this to you in exchange for her absence this afternoon."
He produced a small white envelope in his hand, and she took it, eyeing it curiously. "Oh, what is this..."
Her eyes immediately hardened as she read from whom the letter was from.
Loki watched her carefully. "Is this the first that your mother's contacted you since you were banished?"
She nodded, turning and walking somewhat blindly as she carefully opened the envelope. She ended up sitting on the foot of her bed, and Loki took a seat beside her, eyes politely on his hands as she pulled the letter free.
Silently, she read over her mother's familiar scrawl, the knot returning to her stomach as she did.
Dearest daughter,
I hope that you are well. I've received word that you are more than well, no thanks to my own actions. I've come to see that my hastiness and foolishness were what moved me to banish you, not wisdom or love, and for that, I deeply apologize. I am glad to hear that the royal family took you in and have provided you with comfort when I have not. I watched you sing at the open of the coronation festivities yesterday, from a distance, separate from the other nobles. You were magnificent. I'm happy that you and the Prince have reconciled and are now properly courting. I only want your happiness. It is all I ever wanted.
You are welcome to come home if you desire. If you do not, I understand. But know that I deeply regret deceiving you, more deeply than I've ever regretted anything in all my years. I am sorry, my daughter - I have failed you in so many ways. I only hope that I can someday have the chance to make it up to you.
All my love,
Your Mother
Aemilia read through the letter twice before stuffing it back inside the envelope and shaking her head.
"Should I even ask?"
Aemilia glanced up at Loki and shrugged. "It's just my mother apologizing for lying to me about my father, and for banishing me. She says I can come home if I want."
Loki's gaze darkened slightly, but Aemilia was still glaring at the letter and didn't notice. "Do you want to go home?"
She shook her head. "Not at all. And I suspect that she's only sent this because I am now being publicly courted by a Prince. I can only imagine how torturous it is for her to hear of us and yet not be involved in any way. It's all about social standing. That's all it's ever about with her."
She then tossed the letter aside and glanced at Loki. He seemed to be watching her carefully. "You are sure?"
"Of what? Not wanting to go home? Of course I am," Aemilia replied. "So long as you and your family will still have me."
Loki grinned at that. "I think my mother would be quite put out if you were to leave."
"Only your mother?" she asked playfully. "And here I thought you might miss me just a bit yourself."
"Just a bit," Loki replied, brushing her hair back over her shoulder.
She smiled faintly and cleared her throat. "So then. Magic?"
He smiled back. "As you wish."
Over the next few hours, Aemilia learned how to conjure clothing on to herself, how to vanish items out of sight with a swipe of her hand, and - at her insistence and Loki's amusement - how to cast his soundproofing spells herself. He left when he realized that he was late to lunch with his mother and brother, and she went to work reading the book that Frigga had lent her.
She managed to pry off her arm band as she studied the magic-binding spell, turning it over in her fingers as she lounged in bed, wondering if she really had the nerve to perform such a spell on Loki. It felt like an invasion of... something, a violation of trust, but he had violated hers, hadn't he? And as sincere as she hoped his apology was, she couldn't help but think that Frigga was right, that she needed to act to ensure that last night never happened again.
She mulled her options, staring at the book and continuing to fiddle with the arm band, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
She slept straight through lunch, and on into the next few hours, at some point half-consciously shoving the book and band aside and burrowing underneath her sheets. She didn't awaken until cool fingertips tracing over her cheekbone stirred her from her peaceful, if uncharacteristic, slumber.
"Aemilia," a familiar, delightfully silken voice purred into her ear, as the fingertips slid through her hair. "Wake up, darling."
She opened her eyes and blinked in confusion for a moment, in mild shock that she had actually taken a nap. She hadn't done such a thing since she was a child, if she wasn't mistaken.
"Ah, there you are."
She turned and leaned into the warm touch, smiling up at Loki as he leaned over her. "What time is it?"
"Nearly time for us to spend several obligatory hours at the celebrations," Loki replied, twisting a lock of her hair around his finger. "Have you been sleeping this entire time?"
"I... I think so," Aemilia chuckled, stretching her limbs and rubbing her eyes with the back of a hand. "So strange... I'm not one for naps, usually."
"Hmm..." Loki intoned, leaving her hair in favor of slipping his wandering hand under the sheet that she was entangled in, letting it glide over her until it reached her waist. "Perhaps life in the palace is simply too boring to keep you awake."
She laughed, bringing a hand up to his cheek. "Oh yes, my days here have been so positively boring, who could blame me."
He grinned and then leaned down for a kiss, one that she returned happily as he pulled her closer. Her hands reached into his hair as the kiss deepened, and as he pressed his hand into the small of her back to keep her pushing against him as he broke away for a breath, she asked, "Do we have a bit of time before we have to go?"
He grinned and pressed his lips to her neck. "You read my mind, darling."
She hummed as he nipped gently at her neck, then surprised him when she suddenly locked her legs around his waist and rolled them, placing her atop his lap as he broke away and looked up at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. He seemed even more delighted to find the same glint in her own eyes.
"I decided on your punishment," Aemilia said, casually reaching down between them to undo the laces of his pants.
He raised a single eyebrow. "Oh?"
She nodded. "The only problem is, I'm afraid you're going to like it too much."
He laughed, barely noticing how slowly she was loosening the laces. "Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out."
She smiled. "Indeed."
When he glanced down to see what was taking her so long, she used his momentary distraction to grab her arm band from its place discarded in her sheets and quickly recite a spell in her head as her other hand darted up to grab both of his wrists and pin them to her bedpost. She all but slapped the warping arm band around his wrists, pleased when it snaked around them and bound them just as it had done to her the night before.
As she predicted, though he looked rather shocked for a moment, a grin unfolded on his lips and he shot her an extremely pleased look after straining to look upwards to survey her work. "Ah... remind me to require this 'punishment' more often."
A sharp slap to his cheek made his face jerk to the side. She tried her best not to smile as she said, "Did I say that you could speak?"
He slowly turned back to her, not bothering to hide his widening grin, nor his very obvious reaction taking place under her hips. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that..."
She slapped him again, this time on his other cheek, and she nearly rolled her eyes at his muffled noise of delight. "You heard me. Now be a good Prince and do as I say."
Another smile and flushed cheeks were all the answer she needed to get started.
As it was, punishing someone who desperately loved their punishment turned out to be predictably and laughably counterproductive, but far too much fun to abandon. Any doubts she had flew out the window when he growled into her ear that she was the first woman he'd ever allowed to physically bind him in any way.
After a luxuriously long and unknown amount of time spent teasing and torturing him, repaying all of the many times that he had done the same to her, Aemilia only gave in when her resolve broke at last and she no longer wanted anything but see him satisfied. She knew that she probably should have held out longer, or perhaps not let him finish at all, but it simply wasn't what she wanted, and after all, wasn't that what it was about?
She lay draped over him after, both of them bare and glistening with what felt like a barrel's worth of sweat between them, panting like they'd never worked so hard before in their lives. Aemilia would have jested that Loki had no reason to be so spent, since he had done nothing but lay there while she had utterly exhausted herself, but she didn't even have the strength for that.
Besides, now was the moment she had to decide if she was going all the way with her plan or playing it safe and leaving it here.
"Can... can you unbind me now?" Loki asked eventually, voice sounding a bit ragged after all of the moaning and pleading she'd reduced him to.
With a groan, she nodded, deciding that she simply didn't have the care or desire to implement Phase Two. She raised herself up and straddled his waist, leaning up to reach his wrists, inadvertently allowing her breasts to dangle in his face. She giggled when she felt him playfully bite at one, then leaned down to bat his face away.
"Stop or I may just leave you here like this indefinitely," she smiled, turning back to his bound wrists before she heard him scoff.
"As if you would do such a thing," he remarked, making her quickly stop her task of spelling the gold to release him.
"You think I wouldn't?" she asked, settling back to look at him, her expression gone from sated and amused to very much not.
He gave a shrug. "It's not as if I couldn't just vanish out of these restraints. I could have done it the moment you placed them on me."
And just like that, Aemilia decided that Phase Two was very much in order.
She smiled sweetly and leaned forward, touching her lips to his in a gentle kiss as she placed her hand on the very center of his chest. As she kissed him, she recited words from an ancient, dead language in her mind, words taught to her by the Queen herself, and as her hand glowed a faint green, Loki gasped and shuddered unpleasantly beneath her.
She broke away to find him wide-eyed and gaping at her, gasping for breath as if she'd just ripped his very lungs out. "What - what have you done to me?"
"Nothing permanent," she grinned. "Calm down, my Prince. You'll be perfectly fine. Eventually."
His wide eyes narrowed and he growled warningly, "Aemilia."
She chuckled and then hopped off of him, trying out her newly learned spell of conjuring clothes on herself and succeeding on the first try. A shimmery silver and gold dress appeared on her frame, all while he began ranting in a panic.
"My mother taught you this, didn't she?" he seethed as she nonchalantly walked to her mirror and began gathering up her hair in her hands. "Do you have any idea what this feels like? I can't breathe!"
She glanced back and noted his rapidly rising and falling chest. "You appear to be breathing quite fine."
"Undo this!" he barked. "Undo this now, Aemilia!"
"Oh yes, do keep yelling at me, because it makes me want to rush to your aid all the more," she rolled her eyes, turning away from the mirror and slipping on a pair of shoes beneath her dress. "Perhaps if you asked me nicely..."
"Stop this!" he hissed. "If you do not undo this spell at once, so help me, I will -"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Have it your way. Enjoy your solitude - I'll be back to collect you at some point."
She then smiled brightly as he stared at her in outrage, then bolted for the door just as he began throwing very loud curses at her. She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing as her door closed behind her, muffling the sounds of his searing anger, and then she set off down the hallway, rather pleased with herself.
She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she happened upon the Great Hall and suddenly felt as if she hadn't eaten in days after inhaling all of the delectable smells wafting through the noisy air. Of course, she'd barely eaten during her breakfast with the Queen, and then she'd slept through lunch, but her appetite had only finally surfaced for the day. It suited her just fine - she sought out the elder Prince and those four friends who seemed to always be a breath away from him, and with their company, nearly inhaled the largest meal she'd had in months.
When they inquired where Loki was - and they each did, multiple times - she would answer vaguely that he was otherwise occupied, or "tied up" in her room at the present time, and nobody seemed to think much of it. At least, not until she'd finally eaten and drank her fill, which was about the same time that Thor stood up from the table and declared, "Keep feasting, my friends - I am going to go drag my brother out of whatever self-imposed exile he's seen fit to hide within."
Aemilia smiled and then waited a few moments before quietly excusing herself, following Thor at a far enough distance that he didn't notice her trailing him.
He headed for her room, as she'd mentioned before that that was where she'd left Loki, and when he reached her doors, she took to a wall and tried not to giggle as she listened intently to what unfolded next.
She heard Thor open her doors. "Brother? Are you in here?" Then she heard his heavy footsteps, and his voice boomed out again. "Brother? Are you..."
There was dead silence, and then Thor exclaimed, "Loki! By Odin's beard!"
Then Thor positively roared with laughter, and Aemilia couldn't help but join in, covering her mouth and listening as Loki snarled back at his older brother.
"I'm glad you find this so amusing, brother."
"No wonder the lady was in such a fine mood at dinner! Could it be that the trickster was tricked?"
"She cheated! Mother must have taught her that infernal magic-binding spell that she used on me as a boy! I feel like I'm dying! There is nothing humorous in this!"
"Well, but there is - Loki, you're tied to the lady's bed, naked."
"Am I?! Thank you, Thor, for once again proving your superior intellect and pointing out the blindingly obvious!"
"Now, now, Loki, calm down, I'm sure that -"
"Don't tell me to calm down! Find that girl and make her undo this!"
"I'm right here, Loki."
Both brothers looked to the doorway when Aemilia spoke, her eyes shining with laughter-induced tears as she stepped inside. Loki merely glared daggers at her while Thor outstretched his arms and exclaimed, "My lady! I must say, I am impressed - no other lady has ever managed to trick my brother in such a way!"
Aemilia took a lighthearted bow, then glanced at Loki before saying, "Thank you, your highness. If you don't mind taking leave while I subdue your brother's rage -"
"Yes, of course," Thor smiled, striding towards the door. "I don't think I want to see whatever happens next. Don't take too long! A night of merriment awaits!"
The door closed behind the elder Prince, and Aemilia's eyes flickered back to Loki as he lay helpless on the bed. His glare seemed to only become more and more murderous.
She walked silently to his side, surprised that he wasn't railing at her, or even speaking a single word. Instead, he only stared at her with that deep glare of his as she first ran her hand over the gold on his wrists. It immediately uncoiled and then slid up her hand, over her wrist and then up her arm, where it returned to being a normal arm band. His arms fell to his sides and she placed her hand at the center of his chest, once more, unlocking his magic.
The moment it happened, Loki stiffened and then relaxed, taking in a deep breath like he'd just broken the surface of a great lake after having nearly drowned.
She felt a twinge of guilt, seeing how deeply a physical thing it was for him to have been without magic for an hour. She hadn't lent much thought to how it would make his body feel to be without what was essentially a life force to him.
Just as she was about to pull her hand away, Loki's eyes opened with an angry flash and he snatched her wrist. Before she could grasp what was happening, she was on the bed, on her back, and his body pinned hers as he took her wrists and slammed them down on either side of her head. She gasped at the shock of how quickly it happened, but she couldn't say that she was exactly surprised.
"Did you really think that this little... stunt of yours was a good idea?" he seethed, voice low and dangerous as he stared into her eyes.
She looked up at him, seeing many things in his sharpened gaze - anger, frustration, possibly wounded pride, but she also saw a burning arousal within his green depths that took her by surprise. "I... ah..."
"Oh," he grinned darkly, tightening his hold on her wrists, "speechless now, are we? What can we do about that?"
Deftly, he slid both wrists into one of his hands and then all but ripped off her dress with his other hand, making her gasp again as he pressed nearly all of his weight down on her.
"You think you're my equal now?" he purred in that strangely delicious sinister tone, his lips grazing her ear as his ground against her. "You think that because you learned a trick and tied me to your bed that you've outplayed me, don't you? Well..." He licked a hot line up her neck, stopping at her jaw and then brushing his lips against hers as she stared up at him with hooded, dilated eyes. "Why don't I remind you how very wrong you are?"
His lips then crashed brutally upon hers, and vaguely, Aemilia realized that she was on the cusp of having angry sex for the first time. Just as she realized it, and decided that she was extremely happy about it, she felt a very odd twisting sensation in the pit of her gut. It was not pleasant, but with the way that her mouth and body was being ravaged, she didn't pay it much mind.
This changed, however, in a few moments. Loki's tongue was twisted furiously with hers and his hands were bordering on painful in their exploration of her when a lump formed in her throat. Her gut twisted again, and she put her hands on his chest to push him away.
"Wait, Loki, stop," she said breathlessly against his lips. He growled in response and moved his lips and teeth to her neck, but she continued to try to push him off. "I'm serious, Loki, stop."
He drew back suddenly with another, deeper growl. "What?!"
She couldn't answer, sitting up and holding a hand to her mouth as she realIzed what was about to happen. She scrambled off of the bed and ran for the bathroom.
"Aemilia?" Loki asked dumbly as she sprinted off, watching the door slam shut behind her.
It wasn't ideal, but she only managed to make it to a basin near her tub before she heaved up everything she had eaten and drank at dinner. It all came up rather smoothly, painlessly, as if it were simply meant to happen, and once she was done retching, she felt almost completely better instantly.
Loki was at her side the very moment it was over and she was catching her breath, leaning over the basin and wondering what had just happened. He brushed her hair back behind her shoulders and asked softly, "What happened? What ails you?"
"I don't know," she shook her head. "I... I must have eaten too much at dinner."
Loki furrowed his brows and waved a hand at the basin, leaving it clean, then turned Aemilia around by her shoulders and lifted her chin. She blinked as he began what felt like a clinical inspection of her face, but by now she really did feel perfectly normal again.
"I'm fine, Loki," she shrugged as he looked especially intensely into her eyes. "Really. I ate an entire side of beef myself - I never do that. And clearly I shouldn't."
"Why?"
"I... was hungry," she shrugged. "I didn't really eat until dinner."
His confusion grew. "Why?"
"I wasn't hungry!" she replied somewhat defensively. "I was nervous because of last night, so I had little appetite. Why are you interrogating me?"
"I'm not," he said.
A chill hit her skin, and she realized that while Loki had thrown on a pair of pants, she was still quite bare, and the bathroom felt rather freezing. She waved her hand and closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was wearing a long-sleeved green dress. She looked up at Loki somewhat apologetically. "I'm sorry. For the timing."
The tension left his gaze and he rolled his eyes. "Don't apologize, silly girl." He glanced towards the bathroom door and ran a hand through his extremely mussed hair. "I suppose I should leave you here to rest while I go and pacify my brother's need to have me present as he drinks himself unconscious."
"Actually, I feel all right," Aemilia replied. "I feel much better now. Completely normal."
He eyed her warily for a few moments, then shook his head. "All right. But no more emulating Volstagg with your eating habits after having starved yourself all day."
"Yes, your highness," she answered playfully. He rolled his eyes and conjured on the rest of his clothes, and she asked, "Are you truly angry with me? About the spell?"
He gave her a sidelong look before walking back into her room, which was all the answer she needed. She hugged her arms around herself, still feeling chilled, and followed him out.
Loki spent the rest of the night trying not to entertain his gut feeling that something wasn't right. He tried to focus on the happy frivolity happening all around him, the seeming good health and obvious happiness of his companion (despite the fact that he'd listened to her throwing up only an hour or two before), and the fact that all of his lesser-known plans were going swimmingly well. But, no matter what he did, the unmistakable feeling that he was missing something haunted him.
It continued to haunt him when he took himself and Aemilia away from the celebrations and brought them to his rooms. He was only in his bathroom for a few moments after they arrived, but when he returned to his bedchambers, he found Aemilia fast asleep, face-down in his bed.
After he tucked her into his bed and changed her from her dress to a nightgown with a swipe of his hand - he didn't spend much time bemoaning the undeniable fact of how utterly soft he'd gone for her - he found himself bored, with nothing to do but try to piece together the puzzle of what felt so clearly off.
First he paced his room a few times, contemplating. Then he sat down at his desk and tried to read, but he couldn't focus on the words of a single page. He grabbed the books from his desk, then wandered to his bookshelves, and began compulsively reorganizing every last title he owned - switching from alphabetical to chronological order.
All the while, his mind worked.
She was abnormally exhausted as of late. She claimed to have had little appetite, which she attributed to anxiety. He suspected that her emotions had been slightly heightened lately as well, but he wouldn't dare breathe a word of it to her.
But the vomiting was the single strangest bit. In general, since there was a lack of sickness and disease among the Aesir, there was also a lack of vomiting, even in cases of drunkennes. In fact, the last time Loki had seen or heard of anyone vomiting, it had been Gudrun, wife of Volstagg, when...
Suddenly, it all clicked into place.
He stood frozen in front of his bookshelves, one hand holding on to the spine of one book as it sat innocently on one of the higher rows. His stare fell from the book to the empty space between himself and the bookcase, his lips tightening and brows setting as he realized how painfully obvious it all was.
That one night, her first night spent in the palace after being banished from her home, they had slept together for the first time in two weeks. Two weeks that he presumed she did not take a contraceptive potion, because she had no reason to. He had made sure she started taking it again the next day, leaving a very small window of opportunity that was apparently more than enough to do the trick.
He wouldn't bother trying to poke holes in his theory. It fit too well. And his gut was never, ever wrong.
She was pregnant.
He let his lips purse just a slight bit as he let out a single word, the only word that he was currently capable of coherently speaking. "Damn."
A/N: Bwahahaha! All right so, everyone be honest... who saw it coming? :) I've been dropping hints here and there, attempting subtlety, which is a departure from my usual rather obvious introductions of pregnancies in fics (to the point where it's never ever a surprise), so if I caught at least some of you by surprise, then I'm happy :) I apologize for the lateness of this chapter - it can be blamed on me having a weirdly busy week last week and then coming down with a stupid cold/flu thing, and when I get sick, several things happen - I don't write anything, I metaphorically fall off the face of the earth, and I binge-read fics. All of those things happened (I read SO MUCH Lokane fiction and I don't even technically like Jane Foster, so I clearly need help lol) but, thanks to the extremely helpful e-buttkicking of midnightwings96, I pulled it together and finally got this chapter done. GAH. Hopefully next chapter will be on the regular schedule. Anyway, all my thanks to all you guys who have reviewed/faved/alerted/read/lurked, I love all of you bunches, and of course midnightwings96 as well, who is as invaluable and awesome as ever. Until next time! :D