Loki's hand lay on the small of her back whilst the other took a hold of hers. Sigyn's hand fell upon his shoulder as they began the dance she had not expected. She stared at him, supposing that this was something considered normal amongst a courting couple. A dance. But there was something strange about Loki's demeanour that made Sigyn wary; an almost terseness that she had felt as soon as he'd come across her speaking his brother.

"Were you having an interesting conversation with my brother?" he asked, something of an edge to his voice.

"I was; he seems pleasant," Sigyn replied with a polite smile.

"He is," Loki replied tersely. "Many people think so. Many people love him."

To that, she said nothing. She didn't understand where this was supposed to be going.

"And you smile for him."

Sigyn frowned and countered, "Not for him."

"But you smiled anyway," he said, that same strange edge in his tone.

"Loki, what are you trying to say? I smiled in a conversation. It's a normal thing to do."

"I'm trying to say nothing at all. Merely making an observation."

Her frown deepened. Did he think that she liked Thor? In the midst of the dance, Sigyn noticed women fawning over the Thunder God as he stood at the side of the dance floor. Maybe Loki's jealous, she thought. Even though he has nothing to be jealous of. No... that can't be right; can it? So she decided to test her theory.

"I'm afraid I couldn't spend too much time with him though; he's far too loud. I'm not quite sure how you manage to live with him- I think I'd have a migraine within half an hour."

She watched as the corner of his lips twitched upward, and he replied, "Earplugs."

She genuinely laughed at that. Whether a lie or not, it was still funny, and whether by her laughter or his joke, the heavy mood between them seemed to lighten somewhat. And Sigyn couldn't help but think that she might have been right about Loki being wary of his brother's popularity. Perhaps he was jealous.

The two continued the dance for some time, the music eventually changing to a quicker pace, before Loki said, "This was just the dress I'd hoped you'd wear."

Blinking, Sigyn suspiciously asked, "Do I want to know how you know what dresses I have?"

"Probably not," he smirked.

She shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. She did want to know, but there were other, more pressing issues bothering her. She could let that go for the sake of information she wanted more. Loki spun her into a twirl, pulling her back to him with a smile.

Sigyn couldn't resist asking him, "Are you going to tell me why you're courting me yet?"

"Is that being patient?" he asked.

"I'm not very good with patient," she pouted.

He leant in to her as if he was about to say something intimate.

"I can tell," is all that he whispered into her ear.

Sigyn leant her head back from him and burst out laughing, still mid-dance. It was only then, as she looked around, that she realised that they were attracting quite a bit of attention.

"People are staring at us," she said with a slight frown creasing her brows.

"And so they should."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you didn't look at yourself before you came here tonight."

She stared at him, a confused expression forming her facial features.

"You are the most stunning creature in the room, bar none."

Sigyn didn't take her eyes away from Loki. Was that... a compliment? From the God of Lying? She knew that lies dripped too easily from his silver tongue, and she couldn't quite convince herself to believe him in this instance. Loki noticed her doubt however- he could read it in her expression.

"Come, come now little Sigyn, don't tell me that my reputation has proceeded me that much."

She looked down, embarrassed at the fact that he could read that so easily in her expression. She hadn't meant to make it so obvious.

"I just don't take compliments that well," she said, trying to cover for her mistake.

Loki sucked in an amused breath of air and replied, "Lying to the God of Lies, is that really your best move?"

She pursed her lips but said nothing. He had called her bluff and she couldn't counter it. Perhaps she should have been more careful to control what emotions showed on her face in front of him.

After a while, Sigyn said, "People are still staring."

He tilted his head to the side and smiled slightly, "Well then, let us give them something more to stare at."

"I'm sorry?" she asked confused.

"Your third kiss, if you please."

She stared at him blankly, pausing them in their dance. They stood still now, in the middle of the dance floor, as people continued around them.

"Here?"

"Here," he nodded.

"But... but I can't... My family- your family, they're-"

"Are you embarrassed, little Sigyn?" he asked soothingly.

She frowned. She could feel her cheeks going red at the thought of so publicly kissing the God of Mischief. There were just so many people looking at them...

"I- I don't know, I just..." she trailed off.

But in the back of her mind, Sigyn knew that Loki wasn't about to let this go. She'd agreed to the bargain; and, since he'd upheld his part of it, she had to do the same. Even if the thought of doing so had her momentarily frozen under the alert gazes of those she knew were paying attention to them. Him. Her. Her because she was with him.

But Sigyn stopped looking at them and stared at him instead, watching the amused glint in Loki's eyes. That was enough. Sigyn leant closer to the God, closing the already intimate gap between them and sealing her lips against his. The hand on her back pressed her to him and she couldn't even think about the hundreds of eyes set on them. Especially when Loki moved the hand holding hers up to cup her face and she forgot what room she was in altogether. She didn't understand how he had the power to do that.

It turned out though, that the power he had to make her forget she was in a room full of people did not apply to other people forgetting that the she and Loki had been in the room- as Sigyn found out when she returned home with her family

"I think it's pretty clear that he staked his claim very well," her father said, running a hand through his hair in almost disbelief.

"What do you mean?"

"Now every nobleman in Asgard knows his intentions towards you."

"It- it''s not like that- it's just-"

But her father interrupted her before she could finish with, "I don't want to know, Sigyn."

"But-"

"No. That is just not information that a father needs to hear."

And then, of course, came her sisters. With what she'd just heard from her father, Sigyn was not looking forward to what they would have to say.

"I am not in the mood right now."

"But you were in the mood at the feast."

The singsong taunt came from Lifa, who received a harsh glance in reply from her older sister.

"So are you going to tell us the details or do we have to nag you until you do anyway?" Dagný asked.

"Yes, don't make us have to nag you."

Sigyn rubbed her temples with two fingers, trying to decide whether it would be best to just do as they said and reply or just smack them around their heads and leave the room. In the end, she settled on answering them with a small truth; something that they wouldn't latch hold of and wave in front of her face for days, perhaps months even.

"What details can I give you two when I don't even know why he's courting me?" she replied eventually.

"Made it pretty obvious back there, I think."

"You'd have to be blind not to see that."

Apparently, something that she'd thought would be harmless had set the twins off. She sighed. At least they would be satisfied gossiping over that for a while. It did bother Sigyn though, what they'd said. Was the reason Loki was courting her as obvious as they seemed to think? If it was then that meant that what was between her and Loki was purely aesthetically based; and it wasn't... was it? Was that the reason that Loki was courting her?

Sigyn shook her head and tried not to think about that. It was just a silly idea that the twins had put into her mind, nothing more. Except it wasn't just a silly idea. And it bothered her to no end; particularly when she lay down to sleep that night. She was thinking herself into an agitated frustration.

She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if this went further than courting. She'd end up marrying him. Loki. What it would be like to marry him, she didn't know, but thinking about the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her... Would it be such a bad thing? she wondered.

Conversely, she knew the downsides of such a thing. The man is so frustrating! Sigyn thought, staring at her ceiling in the dark. And what if the twins were right? What if he was only courting her because she looked a certain way, or he wanted a certain... something? She knew that she couldn't agree to marry someone like that; she'd never be happy.

Sigyn didn't like that fact that she just didn't know enough about Loki for how serious this seemed to be getting. She needed to know exactly why he was doing this before she let her thoughts run away with her. Before she let herself think about anything in the future... And she knew exactly where she'd find that explanation.

Author's Note: This chapter and the last one were originally the same one, so I thought, since I separated them, I'd update twice in one day. :)

Hope you're all enjoying the fic and will let me know what you think! I really appreciate all the feedback I've been getting. :)

Kit xx