Despite the heavy chains and the guards roughly pulling her into the Great Hall, Lady Fulla was the picture of grace and arrogance. Her chin was held high and her hair was slicked back into a long, grey braid. She didn't look the least bit sorry about what she'd done and, in fact, there was a small smile on her face. Loki did his best to remain stoic and not lash out at her and cut her throat then and there.
"Fulla Vilidottir," he spoke loudly when she was shoved to her knees in front of him, "You know why you are here."
"I do."
"An attempt on the life of a member of the royal family and you do not carry a hint of guilt," he tightened his grip on Odin's spear.
"No, my king, I do not."
"Do you wish to explain yourself or shall I have you killed now?"
She laughed slightly and stared up at him.
"You would kill your wife's dearest friend? Tyr was right. You've lost your mind in your old age, Allfather. Was Frigga the only thing keeping you from going completely batty?"
"Have care how you speak of your king," he growled, silently agreeing that Odin might have gone just a tad crazy after the death of the queen.
"You allow your sons to swoon over mortal women, you allow a mortal to live in the palace, though she has no place here. You even let her kill that boy, Drin, without consequence!"
"So you do not wish to make any sort of explanation for your actions?"
"I should not have to defend myself for doing what is best for the realm," she jutted out her chin.
"Very well," he drummed his fingers on the spear, "Then you shall be executed in the morning."
"I suppose I shall," she nodded, "But if you have any sense left at all you will kill that wretched girl along with me."
"And why is it that you hate Maisy Sichore with such passion?"
"Why don't you?!" Fulla exclaimed all of a sudden, "She is the reason your second son is dead! If it had not been for her, he never would have gone to Midgard and he never would have been killed! That wicked girl lured him there!"
"I doubt anyone could lure Loki into doing anything he did not already wish to do. Besides, you planned her murder with Tyr before my son even died."
"Anyone could see that creature was only going to lead him to a miserable fate. Though Tyr and I did not always see eye to eye we could agree that killing her would be best for Asgard," Fulla laughed again, "Besides, what is the life of another mortal? You yourself refused to save her life the first time you met her. I think you were right. The Norns fated her to die that day and now they've taken Frigga's beloved son to make up for it!"
"And you claim that I am the one who has lost my mind," Loki scoffed, trying to think of something that Odin would say in response, but unable to come up with anything beyond whispering: "We both know that he was not truly Frigga's son."
Odin would probably say that. At least, Loki was pretty sure he would at this point.
"I am glad you have plans to execute me," Fulla sniffed sharply, "I've nothing left in Asgard to live for and now the king has completely lost his mind. You raised that boy. You loved that boy. If Frigga had been buried she'd be rolling in her grave to hear you say such things!"
"Take her to the dungeons," Loki waved at the guards, "And summon the executioner."
As Fulla was dragged back through the Great Hall another guard came running into the room and quickly clapped a fist to his chest, eyes wild.
"What is it?" Loki asked, wondering if they'd been invaded. Who would have the audacity to do such a thing? Perhaps Melantha had changed her mind about being on friendly terms. Or maybe Surtur had found a way to start Ragnarok early.
"Allfather!" The guard gasped for air, "The princess!"
"What about her?!" Loki stood and took the steps to the throne two at a time until he was on level ground.
"She is unwell! She has been taken to the healers and they told me to fetch you at once!"
Loki felt his stomach knot as he heard cackling from the far end of the room. He saw Fulla laughing as she was led away and he stopped the guards pulling her at once.
"What do you know of this?!"
"It would seem there was more than rat poison in those cookies," she smiled at him, "Prince Loki and that boy, Drin, shall be avenged."
Loki wanted to shout at her that he didn't need avenging and even if he did that Maisy would not be the one to blame, but instead he settled for roughly grabbing her shackled wrist and giving her a good shake.
"You will tell me what you've done and how to fix it this instant."
"No."
"Do not think that I will not have it tortured out of you, Fulla."
Her smile vanished and her laughter faded into a steely gaze. She still looked regal as ever and seemed to be staring down her nose at him even though he was a head taller. He tried his best not to flinch at the gaze. She'd looked at him like that when he'd been a child if he misbehaved. It usually meant that she was about to dish out a sound spanking. Loki briefly wondered if his mother had actually allowed her lady's maid to hit him and Thor with a stick or if Fulla had just been doing it behind her back. He shooed the irrelevant thought from his mind and focused on glaring back at her.
"Why is it that you care for the girl so much, Allfather? It seemed that before Loki died all you wanted to do was annul her marriage to your son and now that he's dead you won't get rid of the beastly thing."
"Tell me what ails her or I swear you will meet a fate far worse than death."
"It must be because she is with child - or children as I heard recently. Your old soft heart won't let you banish a pregnant woman, hmm?"
"If you are so keen to avenge Loki then why do you wish to kill his children before they are even born?"
"I do not care for his children," she hissed quietly, "What are two more Frost Giants to add to the masses that our great realm has vanquished already? The only reason I seek vengeance for Loki is because he was special to Frigga. And, despite his unfortunate choice in spouse, he had done more to rid the universe of disgusting murderous Midgardians than anyone else."
Loki had forgotten how much Lady Fulla hated the people of earth. They'd killed her husband long ago and she'd never forgiven them. Thinking of that fact now, he wondered why she hadn't tried to kill Maisy earlier.
"If you will not tell me what is wrong with her then you will tell the dungeon master," he gestured to the guards, "Give her to the snake."
Fulla's features cracked just a bit at that and Loki didn't blame her.
When he'd first started out as a warrior he'd been captured by a rogue group of magic wielders from across the realms. They'd used all of their power combined to conjure a magnificent serpent. The magicians restrained Loki under the serpent and forced his eyes open, allowing poison to drip from the fangs into his eyes. He'd stayed like that, howling in pain and telling the group of sorcerers anything they wanted to know about Asgard's defences until Thor had found him. His big brother killed all of the magicians with blows of lightning and carried Loki home. The serpent was captured not long after and Odin had kept it in the dungeons.
Loki, after a few weeks recovery, had been fine. Odin bestowed the symbol of the two entwined snakes to his second son as a reminder for what he'd gone through and his bravery. Loki never told his father that he'd spilled his every secret to the magicians. Thor had killed them all so there was no one to say he hadn't kept tight lipped through the ordeal. No one to tell the tale of how he wished he could have died instead of facing the serpent.
Though it was horrible and reserved for only the worst criminals to grace the dungeons of Asgard, Loki felt that Fulla deserved it at this moment. He didn't give her punishment a second thought as they pulled her away. Instead, he briskly left the hall, making for the healer's station.
A note from the author: A bit more Norse mythology for you guys, twisted for my own purposes. Poor Loki really did have a snake drip poison in his eyes in the myths, but it was the other Asgardians who did it to him. Basically, he annoyed all of them so much that they hated him and then the straw that broke the camel's back was that he had a hand in the death of Baldr (aka, everyone's favorite guy). So Loki went into hiding and after a whole chase thing they caught him and then brought him to a cave. And... then they turned one of his sons into a wolf and that son killed the other son and ripped out his guts. And THEN they used the dead son's intestines and stuff to tie Loki up (like what the heck Asgardians? Y'all horrible.) underneath a snake that dripped poison in his eyes. Lucky for him, his wife, Sigyn, held a bowl up to catch the poison except when she had to empty the bowl. And he was stuck there until Ragnarok started. There's more details to the story, but that's the basics. The gross, painful basics. Anywho... moving on.
*Blaze barges in*
"Helloooo to my adoring fans! Yes. You are my adoring fans!"
I facepalm. "Blaze, they aren't your adoring fans. You're a bad guy, remember?"
"Oh come on now," Blaze grins evilly at me, "You're the one who makes all the bad things happen. I just act out what you want me to do. The readers love me for my charming personality and endearing homicidaltendencies."
"No, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. What are you even doing here?"
"I-"
"No, you don't have a good reason, Blaze, you can't just burst in here whenever you want just because I left you in charge last chapter. I have an author's note to write!"
"Ugh! Fine. But you'd better release that oneshot you wrote about me! Because the world deserves to see more of this beautiful face."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," I push her out the door, "I'll release it as soon as I'm done posting all of the chapters for this story. We're almost there, be patient."
"I'll be back, adoring fans! Just you wait!"
"Get out of here!" Straightening my clothes I smile back at my wonderful readers. "Sorry about her. Without further ado, thank you to all of you for reading and following and favoriting!"
Special thanks, as always, to my reviewers:
Ninja Squirrel: I actually have a deleted scene with Fulla in it where someone calls her "Fulla-crap". XD She's too easy to make fun of. When it comes to names, if I ever have actual, non-character, children I'm going to have to rack my brain for a really good name since I'll probably have used up all of my favorite names on characters by then lol. As for Maisy and Loki's kids, I actually already have one of the names picked out and I have a solid idea of what I'd like the other name to be, but I'll probably put up a poll at some point so that everyone gets a say.
abbynormal315: Awwww! Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoy the story so much! I hope you continue to enjoy it. We've still got a few chapters left of this one and then I'm going to post another "book" full of one-shots and deleted scenes and maybe even Q&As with the characters because one of my favorite authors, LoquaciousQuibbler, has done that with her characters before and I think it would be fun. Anyway, thank you again for reading and for your very sweet reviwe! :D
You guys are the best! I'll see you in the next chapter!