CHAPTER SIX

[anger, hurt, betrayal]

"Anger's like a battery that leaks acid right out of me

And it starts from the heart 'til it reaches my outer me"

- Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

Asgard, A Week Later

Plenty had happened over the next week and the wedding was only a few days away. Kelda wished she were happier. She tried so desperately to be happier about it, but with the day drawing closer, she could feel her stomach churn as she filled with anxiety.

The blonde goddess tried to rationalize it. That it was just a bad case of cold feet. Yet, she knew that it was the rush of it all that was causing her uneasiness to grow. For all of her and Balder's relationship, they had been left to their own devices, left to move at their own pace with the freedom to go about things as they chose. Now, Kelda felt pressured like she never had before. She felt like a secret was being kept from her and that she was expected to go along with it regardless.

Kelda knew she was loyal and trusting. They were characteristics of hers that were both virtues and curses. Some would deem her naïve, but she disagreed. Being hopeful was not the same as being naïve. She did not blindly give trust. People earned her trust and she believed that they would not betray her in return. However, in her gut, she knew that there were secrets that affected her; secrets that her friends, her family, were keeping from her. It was beyond frustrating and even heartbreaking.

It was as if this wedding was being pushed along so quickly that she would be married before she could ask any questions, and that did not sit right with her.

She failed at hiding her feelings from Balder. Originally, he had been placated by her words, but he knew her true feelings. They were each other's best friend, how could he not realize.

He came to her the night after her walk with Frigga and the run-in with the white fox. He insisted that he was to speak with Odin and postpone the wedding indefinitely until she was ready for the next step in the relationship. They had thousands of years; there was no rush.

However, the next evening, Kelda sought him out, eager to ask him how the conversation went so that she could finally breathe again. Her hopes were squashed.

Balder was quiet, reluctant even. It was almost as if he found it difficult to look her in the eyes and deliver the news that the wedding had to continue. The winter goddess was confused. "I do not understand..." she had said. "I thought we agreed. I thought that it was decided already. What's going on?"

He kept his answers vague. Odin did not want to appear weak. If it got out that the Odinsleep was coming, it could make the realm appear vulnerable to attack. Especially since the Jotuns were always looking for an opportunity to strike against Asgard, even after all these years.

Quickly, Kelda's disbelief and hopelessness turned to anger. What did Balder mean that the wedding was still going on? Was all that talk about her having a say and wanting her to be comfortable about the decision just to disarm her and get her to go along with it anyway?

The blonde woman stormed away from her betrothed, unable to look at him. She was sick and tired of all of it. She was tired of the secrets and the lies. Tired of being told that she had a say in her life when in reality, she did not. She was a goddess, yet she felt powerless.

Recalling her mother's words, she huffed. The typically docile goddess was not about to let her life be decided for her. Despite her love for Balder, she would stand her ground. She was not the Goddess of Gentle Snowfalls. She was the Goddess of Winter Storms, and they were about to see how cold she could truly be.

Loki had noticed Kelda's change in mood over the last few days. Gone was the solemn, melancholic woman who went along with everything. She had turned cold, passively rebelling against anything that had to do with the impending wedding.

She would miss dress-fitting appointments. She skipped the taste testing for the feast. She even refused to accompany Queen Frigga for lunch to go over other necessary arrangements.

The air in her presence had grown colder too, cold chills running through everyone who came near her, although there were not many who were able. Kelda kept them away. No one, not even Balder, was allowed to be in close proximity. Well, no one except Karnilla, the goddess's closest confidante.

Loki knew that Kelda was intelligent. She knew that something was being kept from her; she just did not know what. She had a sense for that kind of thing. Much like his mother, she just knew things. Unlike Kelda though, Loki was in on what the big secret was, even if he was not supposed to know.

And he was going to break the news to her.

"Odin is growing weaker. The Odinsleep is near. He wants Balder married and ready to ascend the throne when it happens. That is why he is so insistent on the wedding happening now, as soon as possible," the Trickster God told Karnilla as the two met in a nook of the palace library.

"Truly?" Karnilla asked, her eyes wide in disbelief. "How far off is it?"

"He said it was still early, but the warning signs were there," Loki explained. "He fears he will not wake from this one."

"They have been lying to her," Karnilla started, speaking her thoughts aloud. "She told me that the preparations would cease if she gave the word. She gave the word Loki. Our plan had worked. We placed enough doubt and confusion into the relationship that she was going to call off the wedding, but Odin does not care. He wants this wedding and he will get it. Balder is not even fighting him." Even though their whole plan was to split the couple apart, Karnilla found herself angry for Kelda. Kelda trusted Balder when he said that he would not let the wedding happen if she did not want it to happen, and then he went back on his word.

Karnilla sighed to herself. She was a hypocrite. Condemning Balder's decision when she was also betraying Kelda, trying to sabotage her relationship.

With the revelation, Karnilla's breath caught. She had always been aware of what she was doing. That on some level she was betraying Kelda's trust. However, she had so successfully convinced herself that they would all be happy in the end—Kelda with Loki and her with Balder—that she neglected to acknowledge the pain that would occur between now and then.

With this long-overdue revelation of how horrible she was being, she decided that despite her feelings for Balder, it was not worth the risk of losing Kelda as a friend. Karnilla had already damaged the friendship enough with her actions thus far. The guilt would be too much if she continued with Loki's plan.

"I can't do this anymore," Karnilla whispered under her breath, her head staring down at her hands that she wrung together nervously.

"What? What do you mean you 'can't do this anymore'?" Loki seethed to her.

Karnilla met his eyes; hers narrowed as she looked at the silver-tongued prince with disdain. "I will not help you anymore."

Loki gave an unamused laugh. "You're not quitting now. All I have to do is tell her the truth about what everyone has been keeping from her and victory is ours. I will not let you keep me from succeeding."

"Do you not see what we have done?" Karnilla sneered back at him. "We are destroying her. That is not our Kelda. She is cold and closed-off. Her trust in everyone is dwindling away, piece by piece, every day. We did that. They were happy, her and Balder. If we just let them be happy, she wouldn't be in such pain right now. You claim to love her but you don't! If you truly loved her then you would let her be happy, no matter who it was with. I love her. I love her and I love Balder. I am prepared to sacrifice any chance I have with him if it means they're happy. I realize now how selfish I've been, the damage I've caused. You have not. But I am going to fix it."

She went to walk away, but Loki stopped her, blocking her exit with a magical barrier. Karnilla raised her hand ready to vanquish it. "I will not let you destroy all my efforts," Loki said, making her pause. "You are either with me or against me, and you do not want to be against me."

The ebony-haired beauty shook her head, her violet eyes still sparkling with unbridled disdain for the raven-haired prince. "Even if you did succeed in stopping the wedding, she still would not choose you. She does not see you as you see her. It will always be Balder."

Karnilla disintegrated the barrier and walked away from Loki.

The green-eyed god seethed in anger for a moment more before realizing he had to work quickly. Karnilla would undoubtedly try to track down Balder and Kelda to inform them of everything. The sorceress's change of heart putting everything at risk for him. He planned for this, of course. He was always two steps ahead of everyone else.

Karnilla was going to regret turning against him.

Loki stood in front of his father in the throne room, a subtle smirk on his lips as he gave his story to Odin.

"Father, I fear that someone we long-trusted has betrayed us. Karnilla, Kelda's tutor since we were children and a beloved friend, is plotting to murder our future queen and take her place."

Odin's back straightened as he sat forward on the throne, alarmed at the news. "How do you know of this?" the Allfather asked.

"I long suspected she had feelings for Balder, but I never knew to what extent she was willing to go to be his queen until I found this." Loki held out a small, leather-bound book. "It is Karnilla's. I discovered it in the library, unattended, and initially believed it to be just another one of her spell books, but it turned out to be much more. She wrote her thoughts down next to some of the spells. She spoke about influencing Balder and manipulating him with the help of a concoction containing mistletoe. At first, she speaks about merely trying to split the couple apart and keep the marriage from happening, but as the date grew closer, her words became more desperate. And on the last written page, there is a recipe for a potion that will bring about an endless sleep, a sleep-like death of which Kelda will never awaken."

Odin appeared very troubled by this news as Loki continued, "Of course upon my discovery of this, I brought it straight to you, father. Although, I believe Karnilla knows that I have it and may try to take action against me as well as I stand in the way of her and her goal."

The Allfather called his guards forward. "I order the arrest of Karnilla for conspiracy to murder my ward and the future queen of Asgard. Seize her immediately and bring her before me to face her judgment." As the guards in their golden armor hurried from the room to arrest the sorceress, no one noticed the smug look that took over Loki's features.

Karnilla was having no luck tracking down Kelda. Since the shift in her mood, the winter goddess had holed herself up in her chambers only letting Karnilla inside, aside from the palace staff who would bring her food and help her with other everyday tasks.

The dark beauty was becoming more frantic by the second. She was powerful, yes, but Loki's threat was not to be underestimated. Finding Kelda was her only chance at getting ahead of the chaotic prince. The blonde goddess was perhaps the one person who would possibly believe her, an outsider, over the God of Mischief.

When there was no sign of Kelda in her room, Karnilla moved on to the gardens. It was the second most likely area to find the goddess, but there was still no sign of her. Karnilla closed her eyes, sending out ripples of magical energy and hoping that she would sense where Kelda was at, not wanting to waste any more time wandering the gardens.

Her concentration was interrupted with a shout. "She's over there!" one of Odin's guards yelled. Before Karnilla had much time to acknowledge what was happening, the guards were upon her, manacles at the ready. "Karnilla of Nornheim, you are under arrest for the conspiracy to murder Kelda Freyjadottir."

"What?" Karnilla gasped in shock as her mind processed the lengths that Loki went to in an attempt to silence her.

The guards gripped her arms holding them steady and detaining her as they attempted to attach the golden manacles that would keep her from using magic. Her instincts kicked in then. There was no way she was going to allow herself to be punished, or perhaps killed, because of Loki.

Karnilla's eyes glowed purple as she released a powerful blast of magic, throwing all the guards away from her. She wasted no time, taking off for the wall that surrounded the Asgardian Palace. The guards recovered more quickly than she thought they would and began to chase her. She did not try to proclaim her innocence or bargain with them, she just ran and fought. It was the only way at this point.

The dark beauty changed her attire from her long gown to the sturdy clothes she usually wore when training without much thought or effort, not faltering in her steps for a minute. The guards were gaining on her, her physicality not as impressive as the trained soldiers' were.

She waved a hand back and the tan stones that made up the paved pathway buckled, tripping the soldiers and increasing the distance between her and them. As she approached the wall, she saw a relatively large crack in the stone. She was slight in size, and with the extra distance she created between herself and the soldiers, she was able to make it through to the other side with little issue.

She could hear the exclamations of her pursuers behind her with the wall now acting as a barrier between them. A relieved sigh escaped her as she believed that she would actually make it to the mountains and return to Nornheim where she would be safe from persecution.

Her relief faded as the wall shattered, a familiar hammer flying towards her.

Thor let out a war cry as he led the soldiers after her once again. Karnilla sensed Mjolnir gaining on her and dropped to the ground just in time for the hammer to soar past her. Her eyes were wide with fear, adrenaline fueling her.

Thor called Mjolnir back to him and Karnilla was up and running yet again. Focusing on what was in front of her, she crossed the tree line, careful not to trip on the roots. She needed to stop Thor and fast.

Holding her hands out, the tree roots glowed with a violet haze. As she passed by them, the roots untangled from the ground and wrapped around Thor and the soldiers. Thor desperately beat at the tree roots, attempting to get them off, but they only wrapped around him tighter.

"Karnilla!" he roared.

The ebony-haired sorceress glanced behind her for a moment and saw that she succeeded in stopping them. Relief flood her yet again as she made her escape.

"Nornheim is a place of deep magic. It will take time and many preparations before we are able to retrieve Karnilla from the mountains and put her on trial for her crimes," Odin stated to his three sons as they gathered in his solar.

Thor was raging like a wildfire. Loki and Balder had found the guards and Thor not long after Karnilla was able to get away. The God of Thunder had been fuming after Loki unraveled them all from the entanglement of the tree roots. He had been ready to go after Karnilla immediately, but Loki was able to talk him down. Usually, it was Balder who calmed down his hotheaded brother, but the Asgardian heir was in no position to do so at the moment.

When Odin informed him of what Karnilla had done, Balder was in denial. However, when it started to sink in, all the oldest Odinson felt was betrayal. They had been through so much together since they were children, and she plotted to kill her best friend. It could not be so, yet it was. Odin had shown him the journal. Balder recognized Karnilla's handwriting from the many times they worked together and from when she advised him on how to improve relations with the other realms.

As angry as he was though, he agreed with his father. If they went raiding Nornheim, breaking down doors and smashing everything in sight until they found their fugitive, they would simply anger the Norns. Being on Fate's bad side was not a place anyone wanted to be.

For now, they had to wait.

Balder left the solar and made his way to Kelda's room. Shortly after the guards began to chase Karnilla, a few other guards were able to locate Kelda and escorted her back to her chambers. The blonde goddess was unaware of what exactly happened. All she had been told was that she needed to return for safety reasons, and although she tried to argue with them, the guards insisted she go.

Kelda had to know though.

She was being kept in the dark about so many other things, but the issue of Karnilla was not something they could hide from her. She would notice that her best friend was gone. She would notice that the dark beauty disappeared without a word. She would notice the increased security around the palace.

Balder knocked on her door and she opened it a moment later.

Kelda gave him a small glare, still angry with him about the wedding, which he understood. She blocked him from stepping inside and crossed her arms over her chest.

Balder sighed, not anticipating this conversation, but it needed to be done. It would be better coming from him. "Something happened," he started vaguely, although she noticed the solemn tone of his voice. Her angry expression changed to one of confusion.

"What is going on?" she asked.

"It's about Karnilla," he said. Her eyes filled with worry and she stepped aside, allowing him into the room. His heart ached with betrayal when he recognized that concerned look. How could Karnilla do this?

Next chapter done! Sorry if these kinda suck... I had such a vision for this storyline originally but now I just want to get through it to get to Bucky. I am actually cutting it down a little more than what I originally outlined. I hope to get another chapter out today since I will probably be MIA tomorrow.

Follow, favorite, and review to let me know what you think!