Author's Note: Hello again everyone, and another warm welcome to all the new followers. So glad you have decided to join us! Briony Tallis your review made my night! I was as giddy as a school girl when I read it. Thank you so much for your kind words of affirmation, you have no idea how blessed that made me feel! Anyway, This chapter is a bit shorter (sorry!). I own nothing save Sigyn, her family, and Roan. Read, review (or don't, whatever floats your boat), etc. As always suggestions and/or requests are welcome. Enjoy!
Sigyn had made the walk back home in record time. Prince Loki certainly seemed to bring out the worst in her, and she needed to release some pent-up frustration. She wasted no time in reaching her room to change into pants, a form-fitting shirt, and her riding boots. She placed the book Frigga had lent her on her bed with the intention to read it later that night. When she arrived at the stables she was a little surprised to see her mother there. Ever since Iounn's accident her mother had been distant. It had upset Sigyn at first, but now she realized that sometimes the only way to deal with the pain was to struggle with it on your own so that you didn't expose others to it as well.
"Good afternoon mother." Sigyn greeted so as not to startle her mother with her arrival.
Signy continued petting her horse but turned her head to look at her youngest.
"Good afternoon Sigyn. Frida told me that you had gone to the palace this morning to speak with the Queen, I hope you weren't in trouble."
Sigyn shook her head 'no.'
"I was not, the Queen only wished to lend me a book." Sigyn partially lied.
Signy gave Sigyn a soulless smile.
"That was very kind of Her Majesty." She noted.
Sigyn nodded in agreement.
"I had hoped to go riding, if you do not need me here." She mentioned.
"Go ahead darling." Signy replied.
Sigyn went to go saddle her horse, but paused a moment.
"You could come with me, I would appreciate the company…" she offered.
Signy smiled but shook her head. "Maybe another time sweetheart."
Sigyn nodded her head and went to saddle her horse. Her mother hardly ever rode anymore, which was depressing to Sigyn since she had been the one to teach her to ride. Signy was quite famous among the nobles of Asgard for being the finest horsewoman in the Realm, and she put the men to shame as well. Sigyn used to watch her mother, before she was old enough to ride, in awe. She seemed so graceful upon a steed, and Sigyn had begged her endlessly to teach her as well. As a result, Sigyn was quickly following her mother's footsteps.
Sigyn led Roan out of the paddock and into the field. Frida had given Sigyn lots of grief when she had named her stallion after the color of its mane, but Sigyn had ignored her big sister's teasing. She liked the name Roan so that was the name she chose regardless of its redundancy. Sigyn mounted the stallion, and slowly headed out into the open field. Once she felt Roan was sufficiently warmed up, she began to canter then gallop freely across the open space. The wind whipped her hair about wildly, and Sigyn loved it. She felt free and lighthearted, and not once did Loki cross her mind. She finally stopped by an outcropping of trees and dismounted. After tying the reigns to a low hanging branch, she climbed up into the tree and sat contentedly for a while. With nothing and no one to bother her, Sigyn let her mind wander. Unfortunately it wandered to Prince Loki.
Sigyn couldn't get over his infuriating behavior. It was hard to believe that the Queen, who was so nice and mannerly, could be the mother of that spoiled and vain excuse of a young man. If anything, he settled the nature versus nurture debate. With a mother like that there was certainly no nurture lacking, so nature was the clear victor. The breeze rustled the branches and caused Sigyn to sigh. Prince Loki was no longer any real concern of hers. The next banquet she attended would find her sitting far away from the Prince, and she would dance every dance with random boys to ensure that there could be no time for conversation with him if she had to.
Her mind contented on the matter, Sigyn closed her eyes and let the fading afternoon sun kiss her skin. Aside from the occasional whiney from Roan and the rustle of the leaves there was little noise to bother Sigyn's calm state, so that is why her eyes shot open at the sound of an approaching rider. Before Sigyn could turn her head in the direction of the newcomer, she spotted a strange figure in the cover of the trees. She thought it was a woman, but whoever it was was wearing a cloak with their hood pulled low over their facial features.
"How long have they been watching me?" Sigyn wondered a bit uneasily.
She leaned forward a bit to see if she could get a better view, but an unexpected whiney from Roan startled Sigyn and she closed her eyes tightly as she found herself crashing to the ground. Instead of colliding with the hard ground beneath her however, Sigyn found herself falling onto a somewhat softer being. She opened her eyes and inwardly groaned when she discovered that her softer landing-place was non-other than the younger Prince of Asgard himself.
"I thought Princes were supposed to catch Ladies falling from trees, not be crushed by them." She remarked while getting off of him.
"You're welcome," He replied in annoyance, "and to answer your remark, we generally do catch them. Next time I will just have to rescue a more graceful damsel." He finished while getting to his feet and brushing his clothing off.
"I am not a damsel." Sigyn replied while plucking a leaf out of her hair.
"You could have fooled me…what were you looking at so intently anyways?" Loki asked.
Sigyn suddenly remembered the figure, and looked over to see if it was still staring at her. To her surprise however, it was gone. She must have looked bewildered because Loki came to stand next to her and stared into the trees also.
"Ah yes, trees. Such a rarity that they should be closely observed whenever a sighting of them occurs." He stated in an overly sarcastic tone.
Sigyn slapped him on the arm and Loki looked over at her with one of his eyebrows raised.
"Are you trying to set some sort of record?" He asked teasingly. "We have known each other for less than twenty-four hours and you have already managed to slap me twice."
Sigyn smiled in spite of herself. She was still extremely angry with Loki, but she had to admit that his dry humor was amusing.
"In my defense, both were well deserved." Sigyn argued.
"Perhaps…" Loki replied before walking over to his horse.
Sigyn snuck a glance back at the trees where the figure had been, but they were most assuredly gone. She turned back to face the Prince as he pulled something out of his saddlebag.
"I came to bring you this." He stated while turning to hand her the gown she had worn to the banquet. "You left so abruptly that my mother didn't have the opportunity to return it to you."
Sigyn took the gown and went to place it in her own saddlebag.
"Did she make you come bearing an apology also?" Sigyn asked knowingly.
Loki didn't reply and Sigyn turned around to face him once more.
"Why so silent? I know you didn't come here simply to return my gown; a palace servant could have done that. That leaves only one reason for your being here, the Queen has forced you to come and apologize."
Loki just crossed his arms, and Sigyn knew she was spot on.
"Well don't bother. If your mother is forcing you to do it then you are not really sorry, and if you are not really sorry but you say you are then you are merely lying. I have no intention of accepting a lie from you My Prince, but if you wish to ride home and tell your mother that you have apologized that is your own personal business and I shall not contradict you."
"Why do you insist on calling me 'My Prince'?" Loki asked.
"Is that not what you are?" Sigyn replied while mounting Roan.
"Yes, but you don't have to remind me of it every time you speak." He responded while mounting his own horse.
"Why not? From your behavior this morning I would have assumed that you enjoyed my deference to your royalty."
"And from your behavior last night I would never have assumed that you were so desperate to get into my pants." Loki retorted.
Sigyn couldn't keep up an angry façade at that clever retort, and a half-smile found its way onto her face.
"I must know though, did you enjoy the view this morning?" He questioned with a smile.
Sigyn shrugged her shoulders. "Beat me to my house, and you might find out." She challenged before giving Roan a sharp kick with her heels.
Roan responded immediately by shooting off into a gallop, which Sigyn quickly brought up to a canter. She began to laugh at the thought of Loki actually being able to compete with her on horseback, but her laughter quickly died when she glanced back and realized how close he actually was to her. She hadn't expected him to be such a quick rider. She still had enough of an edge on the Prince to ensure her victory, but she decided that she wanted to leave no question as to who was the better between the two of them. When the stable finally came into view on the horizon she urged Roan to his quickest pace, and jumped the fence into the paddock for good measure. She turned Roan so that she could see Loki approaching, and she sat with a victorious smile as he pulled up close behind her.
"Impressive." Loki conceded good-naturedly. "Fortunately I didn't need to win to know the answer to my question."
"And why is that?" Sigyn inquired.
"Because if you hadn't liked what you saw you would have told me so with pride." He remarked nonchalantly while turning his horse and beginning to trot towards the main road.
"I'm still angry at you!" Sigyn shot back at him.
Loki turned his head to look at her one last time and smiled. "Keep telling yourself that darling, but we both know you are starting to like me."
With that, the dark-haired Prince galloped off towards the palace and Sigyn dismounted. She fed, watered, and brushed Roan before returning him to his stall, and as she walked into the house to prepare for dinner she couldn't help but shake her head in frustration. He was right; she was starting to like him.
