Present Day... 318 Earth Years Later

The sunlight streamed through the open windows, the curtains fluttering in the slight breeze that blew across the eastern mountains. Asgard lay out under the palace, glowing in the sun like a jewel. The bed underneath me was warm and soft, and I never wanted to leave it.

"Cade." I heard Loki whisper sleepily. "Cade are you asleep?"

"Yes," I mumbled into my pillow.

He chuckled. The bed shifted with his every movement. I felt one of his arms encircle my waist, pulling my back square against his chest. He buried his face into my brown hair, which was wild and untamed, fanning out over the pillows like an angry cloud. Proof of our midnight rendezvous. He didn't seem to mind.

"Cade..." He hummed into my hair.

"Still, asleep." I said giggling.

"Oh really?"

He moved his face out of my hair, to my shoulder, and began to kiss it, his stubble tickling me.

I laughed into my pillow. Suddenly he began ticking me ferociously.

"No, no stop it! Stop it!" I screamed, laughing and writhing on the bed. Turning over so that I was on my back, with Loki hovering over me.

"Oh so now you're awake?" He asked me giving me the smirk that I loved so much.

He had my wrists pinned over my head. I rolled my eyes. He moved closer to me pressing his chest against mine.

"Yes I suppose so." I whispered.

"It's about time." He said smiling, his eyes ablaze with mirth.

"Well, I did have a late night, and you know how I need my beauty sleep." I drawled. My lips rising into a smirk.

A low moan rose from his chest and escaped from his lips. I kissed the tip of his nose softly.

"Good morning." I breathed.

"Good morning." He replied, his warm breath washing over my face.

He leaned down and captured my lips in a passionate kiss, releasing my wrists.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his body closer to me. His hands moved down my body caressing my hips when-

**knock, knock, knock**

I froze my hands, wildly grasping Loki's hair. He turned his head and looked lazily at the door.

"Who is it?" He asked raising his voice.

We heard somebody clear their voice on the other side of the door.

"It's Alaric your highness. I'm just here to remind you that the coronation will begin in 45 minutes." The voice said.

Loki rolled his eyes and sighed.

"I'll be ready in a little bit." Loki said turning back to me. He began to kiss my exposed neck.

I heard Alaric cough awkwardly.

"Perhaps you are ready, but I doubt that Lady Cade is." I heard Alaric say.

Loki started laughing, shaking the bed. I felt myself blush deep red, from the tips of my feet, to the roots of my hair.

"Thanks Alaric!" Loki shouted, a wide smirk on his face.

I slapped him hard on the shoulder, which made him only laugh harder.

I rolled my eyes, and began untangling myself from his grasp. I stood up from the bed and stretched, all of my bones cracking in the right places, enjoying the sensation.

I stood up from the bed, my nightgown swishing around my knees, and turned back to look at Loki. He was sitting up in bed, his arms propping him up. His bare chest was glinting in the sun. He was watching me intently, a lazy smile on his lips.

I felt myself blush again.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him.

"Like what?"

"Like the cat that are the canary."

"I'm just really happy. Can't I be happy?" He asked me smirking.

"No," I said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes.

"Okay I have to go get ready for the coronation."

A dark look flashed across his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. I walked over to him and sat on the bed beside him.

"It's nothing, I just..." He paused and looked away from me.

I placed one of my hands on the side of his face, and slowly pulled his face towards mine again.

"I'm fine." He mumbled, placing his right hand over mine on the side of his face.

"I know that you are upset because of Thor becoming king but..." I sighed.

"Cade, I'm fine." He said softly.

"No. I don't think that you are. You can't trick me like the others, you know that. You can't hide things from me." I said smiling, moving closer to him so our shoulders were touching.

"I can always try to." He said smirking.

I laughed and laid my head on his shoulder. "You can try, but it won't work."

He sighed. "That's debatable." He argued, a sly smile on his face.

He chuckled and began stroking my back. His mouth was on my shoulder, his other hand slowly encircling my waist, trying to pull me back into the bed.

"Hey, watch it silver tongue. We both still need to get ready for the coronation. If I'm not ready in time, your mother will kill me, and you for that manner." I said trying to get up from the bed."

"Just five more minutes." He whined smiling.

I laughed. "No, come on. It's time to get up."

"Ugh, fine!" He moaned throwing off the covers. I kissed him one last time, and winked at him, before teleporting back to my room.

I barely slept in my room anymore, when I did nightmares of my last day on Midgard would plague me. I could still remember the bodies of my sisters burning, still remember their screams for help, as they dragged me away to the river. When I slept with Loki in his room, I didn't have nightmares. He could always sense when I had bad dreams, sometimes he would have to shake me awake, but he was always there to wipe away my tears.

When I appeared back in my room, Echo woke up from the corner. He yawned opening his mouth wide, flashing his fangs and shaking out his silvery fur. Getting slowly to his feet he padded over to me almost silently, and pressed his large furry body up against my waist.

I had rescued Echo from Jotunheim, on a quick trip that was supposed to be peaceful, but turned into a fight. Odin had brought me along with him to help him discuss the ever crumbling peace treaty he had with Laufey. Odin allowed me to come with him on trips outside of Asgard, because he knew what a good fighter I was, and if I was going to train the next generation of Valkyrie, I needed as much experience as I could get. As we were leaving I heard a wolf howling in the distance, crying for help. I found Echo, just a pup, alone with his foot caught in a trap. It took an hour of coaxing the rabid wolf into letting me help it, but ever since then Echo hasn't left my side.

I reached down and scratched him behind his ears. He made a low sound in his chest almost a purr, and pressed himself into me harder, almost knocking me over.

"Whoa Echo. You're not a puppy anymore." I said to him, scratching him harder. His bright blue eyes met mine, a mischevious look passing through them.

"Don't even think about it." I warned him, but it was too late.

He jumped up placing his giant paws against my chest and knocked me backwards into my bed.

"Echo!" I shouted pretending to be angry. His tongue came down and licked the full length of my face, leaving a trail of saliva.

"Ew!" I squealed trying to push him off of me. He gave me a wolfy grin and laid his head down on my stomach.

"Echo I really have to get ready for the coronation, so can you please let me get up?"

He let out a sigh and got up silently, sitting at the foot of my bed.

I sat up and spotted dark green dress on the back of my door, it was hanging there taunting me. My lip curled up in disgust.

Did I say that I hate dresses?

Frigga made sure that I knew to wear a dress, she even spent a whole day with me and the royal dressmaker. Which made me feel like a giant pin cushion, but it was nice I guess. I never really got to have times like that with my mom, she was never the same after my dad's accident, she didn't really smile anymore after that.

I shook my head to get rid of the memory and tried to focus on positive things. This was a big day, one of my best friends was becoming king.

Honestly, dresses are so pointless when you are fighting. The corsets are so tight that I can't breathe let alone strike an opponent down, and dresses are so long that they become a hazard when fighting because an opponent could grab you by it. Then again I did beat Thor in a dress the first day we met, however long ago that was. Sif has been rubbing it in the past few days that she doesn't have to wear a dress. Ever since I got here she has been a total bitch to me, always making snarky comments under her breath.

I feel bad for her. She keeps trying to get Thor's attention, but he will never see her as more than a friend.

Oh well, maybe she deserves it...

I got up and flounced into the bathroom to take a quick shower. The warm water ran down my body, relaxing any tension I still had about today. As I dried off , uneasiness crept over me, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

I slipped the corset on over my head and used my telekinesis to tighten it. I raised my arms straight up over my head and grabbed the dark green dress telekinetically pulling it on.

Obsidian was writhing around my wrist like a snake, I placed my hand on the cool metal to calm it against my skin.

As I looked in the mirror to examine myself, I heard a knock at my door.

"Coming," I shouted as I crossed the room.

I opened the door slowly. Frigga stood there in a gorgeous golden gown that made her look like she was gliding across the floor.

"Your majesty." I said bowing slightly.

"Oh please, Cadence you don't need to bow." She said as she gliding into the room.

Echo stood up at full attention, and began to wag his tail as he saw Frigga. She walked over and scratched him right under his chin. He opened his mouth and let his tongue roll out, smiling at the sensation.

Frigga laughed, and continued to pet him.

She turned to look at me again. "That dress is so beautiful on you, but your hair is wild right now." She complimented me.

Her hands came up into my damp hair and began to weave it into an intricate large braid that fell down my back. Obsidian slithered up my arm and into my hair to form a small circlet around my head. A hum went through the metal, no doubt trying to calm my nerves.

I'm great in battle, but in a room full of people that are all looking at me not so much.

Frigga's hand came under my chin so that I was looking up into her face. "You are so beautiful. Your grandmother would be so proud of you."

"Thank you." I whispered, smiling shyly at her.

She looped her arm in mine. "Let's get going. We don't want the coronation to start without the queen."

And with that she led me out the door.

When we arrived, Frigga was immediately whisked away to walk down the aisle. I was to walk down the aisle solo, no doubt as a last minute form of punishment from Thor himself. He loved making me uncomfortable, and yet he was my best friend.

"Cadence." I heard someone bellow my name. I turned slowly and spotted Thor jogging up, his red cape swirling behind him.

"Thor." I said smiling.

"Well don't you look nice." He complimented.

I rolled my eyes at his candidness. "Wow, flirting with your brother's betrothed, tsk, tsk." I teased him.

Thor blushed for a second, his face becoming the same color as his cape. He took another step towards me. "Trust me Cadence, if I liked you, you wouldn't know." His eyes met mine, and a look crossed through them that I had never seen before.

I opened my mouth to speak, but at that moment a squire came and pulled me away towards the giant doorway leading to the ceremony.

My breath caught in my throat as I was thrown in front of the hoard of people in the throne room. Everyone was smiling and clapping at me, but my knees went weak.

Come on Cadence, you can do this! It's just like being in a fight except people don't want to kill you. Relax.

I took a deep breath and began the trek down the aisle towards the ornate golden throne, where Odin sat stoic staring at me. Loki looked up at me from where he was standing at the right of Odin's throne, and I caught his eye. His mouth dropped open as he looked at me, his eyes taking in what I was wearing.

"Cade, you look, you look so-" He stuttered through my head.

I blushed, feeling the pink creep into my cheeks.

"Is it possible that I made the great Loki speechless? Miracles do happen." I told him, a smirk spreading on my face.

As I reached the throne I curtsied in front of Odin, and found my place on his right, next to Loki.

"You don't look so bad yourself." I said taking Loki's hand in mine.

"That's true."

I bumped my hips into his and laughed under my breath.

He squeezed my hand. "But green is definitely your color."

A thunderous roar exploded from the room as Thor strutted down the aisle, his cape billowing behind him.

He was quite the showman, no wonder he was going to be the king.

Thor made eye contact with me and winked. I laughed and looked over to where Sif was standing on the left of Odin's throne. She was glaring daggers at me, as usual, jealousy pouring off her in waves.

As Thor knelt before the throne in front of Odin, the crowd quieted down and Odin's scepter came down to the floor with a boom that echoed through the entire room.

"Thor Odinson, my heir, my first-born,entrusted with the mighty hammer, Mjolnir. Forged in the heart of a dying star. It's power has no equal, a weapon to destroy, or as a tool to build. It is a fit companion for a King. I have defended Asgard, and the lives of the innocent across the Nine Realms, in the time of the Great Beginning. And now the day has come for a new King" Odin said, his voice echoing through the large room easily.

No one spoke, no one moved, all were watching with full attention, except one person. Loki.

I looked up into his face, and he wasn't looking at Thor or Odin, he was looking out the window to our left, looking out over Asgard.

I squeezed his hand reassuringly, trying to make him feel better, trying to let him know it was okay that Thor was going to be king.

"Thor, do you swear to to guard the Nine Realms?" Odin continued.

"I swear!" Thor shouted enthusiastically.

"Do you swear to preserve the peace?" Odin said louder.

"I swear!" Thor yelled raising Mjolnir.

"And do you swear to cast aside all selfish ambition, and to pledge yourself only to the good of the realms?" Odin said holding out his scepter towards Thor.

"I swear!" Thor said loudly standing up and raising Mjolnir.

As soon as Thor uttered those words, a chill of dread ran through me.

Something's wrong.

Obsidian moved off of my head and worked it's way down into my hand, still just a chain, but growing warm against my hand.

I let go of Loki's hand slowly. He looked away from the window, and made eye contact with me, worry flashing in his eyes.

"Something's wrong." I told him.

"Then I on this day proclaim you..." Odin stopped mid-sentence, and I knew he felt it too.

I shifted my armor onto me, my dress melting away. Obsidian lengthened in my hand becoming a wickedly sharp axe.

I hoped it wasn't bilgesnipe.