*The address to the kingdom*

*Loki's POV*

Melanie and I were waiting behind a curtain in the throne room. Everyone had gathered there for my announcement. Melanie was dressed in an ornate emerald green dress, her hair was curled and pinned up. She was beautiful. But she was shaking with nerves. Fear was clearly visible on her face.

"Melanie? What's wrong? You have no need to be nervous. You are not the one that has to speak. For once in my life, I'm terrified to face my people. I never thought I would have to make this kind of announcement."

"What if they don't approve of you being with a commoner? They could hate me. Wait, what do you mean you never thought you would have to make an announcement like this? Did you never think you would find love?"

"No, I didn't. Why would anyone want to love the god of mischief, the god who went psycho for all those years? The person who tried to enslave the entire human race." I truly thought that I would never find love because of my past.

"Well you know what? I love you, flaws and all. Besides, you weren't you when you tried to take over Midgard. You are my kind and I love you, no matter what."

"Thank you Melanie.' A guard came up to me, telling me it was time for the address. I thanked him and sent him away. "It's time Melanie. Let's go." I took her hand and we went out into the throne room. It was full of random civilians, advisors, court advisors and dozens of guards. Melanie tensed next to me; I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Everyone kneeled when I entered. I stood in front of the throne; someone had put a fancy chair next to my throne for Melanie.

'People of Asgard, I have an important announcement to make." I took Melanie's hand and pulled her closer to me. "This is Melanie Sorenson, a warrior in my army. And my girlfriend of five months." Everyone clapped, a few hollered with happiness. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the head of the council appeared in front of me and kneeled.

'My king. I want to start by saying congratulations. I am happy to see that you have found someone. Secondly, as the leader of the council I am inclined to ask, is she from nobility?" he asked me.

"Thank you. No, she is not of nobility. But that should not matter. I am king; I will be with who I want to be with."

"I understand that sir; we just want to keep the bloodline pure is all."

"And yet you care not that Thor is with a common, mortal Midgardian. Why is it different for me? He is royalty as well." No one seemed to care that Thor was with plain Jane.

"He is not king." The councilor said.

"We will discuss this later, be gone. I am here to announce that I am happy for once, not to argue about the rules of nobility and being king. I simply ask for you, my kingdom, to be happy for your king. I will stay with Melanie if you approve or not." The council leader left and the kingdom cheered.

*Melanie's POV*

To hear the council say that they wanted to keep the bloodline pure, hurt. In other words, they didn't approve of me, despite Loki's words. I knew they wouldn't approve. Why would it be okay for a commoner to be in love with the king? Thor and Jane got away with it because he wasn't king, he was just a prince. He gave up the chance to be king for Jane. He wanted to be able to spend time with her on Midgard. Being king would not allow him to spend as much time there as he would like. The month and a half we spend on Midgard was rare in and of itself. That was the only vacation Loki would get for a while, I'm sure.

I was upset but happy at the same time. Upset because the council had reacted the way it had. But I was happy because Loki was sticking to his guns. He wasn't going to leave me because of my lack of nobility. He truly didn't care. He just wanted to be happy. And he wanted his kingdom to be happy for him. I had begun crying, I didn't know how else to react.

That's when Loki looked at me. I could see sadness in his eyes. This obviously did not go the way he had planned either. He looked and our hands then smiled at me.

"Now if you will excuse us, Melanie and I have to go train." I curtsied and followed Loki out of the room. Once we were both out of the room, Loki embraced me and started crying.

"Loki? Why are you crying?" it was very unlike him to be crying, especially in front of people. He wasn't one to show emotion. "If anyone should be crying, it should be me, I mean I am but you shouldn't be. Loki please talk to me." He let go of me but would not look at me. He turned around so that I couldn't see him. I grabbed his arm trying to comfort him.

"Don't touch me!" he said to me angrily.

"I'm sorry?"

"I SAID, DON'T TOUCH ME!" he turned to face me, he was still crying but his face and hands had turned blue, and his eyes were blood red. The tears he had cried had frozen and stuck to his cheeks. I gasped and took a step back in fear. Loki looked truly frightening. I had never seen him look like this before.

"Loki? Are you okay?"

"I never wanted you to have to see me like this. I'm sorry Melanie."

"Loki, why are you blue? What's going on? Are you okay?"

Suddenly his skin turned back to his normal pale flesh color. "I'm fine Melanie. I was just upset by what the council said. I truly am sorry that you saw that." Loki stepped towards me, arms open for a hug. I instinctively took a step back because I was still unsure of what had just happened. "Loki, why were you blue?"

"You really want to to know don't you." He said dropping his arms.

"Well yes, I did ask twice. And it's usually not a good sign when someone turns blue. There's something you're not telling me, what is it?"

"It's something only my family knows. I've never told anyone…"

"It's okay Loki. You trust me don't you?"

"Yes, with my life. But I am afraid you will leave me if I tell you. I don't want to lose you."

"You're scaring me Loki. What's so bad that you can't tell me?" I asked him.

He took a big breath, "I'm a frost giant, Melanie. I was abandoned as a child, left to die in Jotenheim. Odin found me and brought me here. He and Frigga raised me as their own. I am king Laufey's son.