She'd hidden in the caves by the shoreline for the remainder of the night, shivering in the cold autumn air, knees hugged tightly to her chest as she cried. Face buried into her arms to quiet the noise, petrified that Hendricks was still alive, that he would find her again. But no one came.

As dawn approached she had gathered what courage she had left to try and wash the blood from her body. Now as the sun rose higher in the pale sky she'd finally returned to the gardens. With cautious steps she kept a slow pace. Hendricks sat motionless where she had left him hands prone and still at his sides. Staring more closely she could see there was nothing left to fear from him. He was dead. He could not hurt her anymore. With a slow turn she moved away from him, weariness and sleep pulling at her bones.

Elsewhere…

The wooden ship, if you could even call it that was only large enough for the two men to fit inside, the sail tugging sharply in the wind. Barton was glad he didn't get sea sick. As angry as he had been at Thor earlier he strangely felt very little of that anger now. The blonde god had said they should reach the island in next few hours, it had grown dark already. Even with his keen eye sight he wouldn't have been able to see his hand in front of his face had it not been for the lantern hanging from a hook on the mast.

Patting his vest pockets, checking his weapons he looked to the Thunder God, something had been bothering him this entire time.

"When you asked me to do this for you, Loki knew did he, he knew that you were planning on bringing me to his…girlfriend...wife whatever the hell she is to him, didn't he? That royally pissed him off, no pun intended"

The light from the lantern cast a dim glow across the other Avengers face.

Thor gave a shrug.

"He had to know it would come to this had he failed. After the humiliation he feels, I suspect myself or anyone from the team are the last people he would want near Khaleesi."

"You sure, he seemed awfully angry that it was me."

Thor frowned now.

"There was a time when I thought I knew my brother, now I am not so sure."

"Why does it burn him so bad though? He can't possibly care about her; he's never even seen her."

The God gave a soft laugh now.

"Oh my friend, as strange as it seems in his own depraved way, he may very much care. Here in Asgard an arranged marriage is taken quite seriously. Khaleesi has spent her entire life learning how to be a proper wife to my brother, aside from myself only on one occasion and her guard Hendricks, she has seen no other man."

Clint raised an eyebrow at this turning to stare off into the darkness letting his mind wander.

"So she's just been on this island for twenty something years waiting for him, has no idea if he fucking snores in his sleeps or is even good looking. Just trusts he'll do what her handlers have promised?"

Thor smiled again amused by his friend's deduction.

"Yes."

Clint gave a short sad bark of laughter.

"Well let's hope she's not to disappoint when she sees me."