Hi everyone!

To Huginn89 : I agree, I would like to get into how Loki is doing as king, how everyone feels about him, etcetera. I'm just not sure if I can work it in well. I hope I can, but if you see some crap writing when it comes to characters other than Loki and Sigyn, please forgive me. If it is horrible I might just do a skim or it. Thanks for reviewing so many times, by the way, it is awesome! I can't tell you what she is going to do, you have to wait... :)

###############You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back#####################

Sigyn sat at Odin's bedside, not touching him but feeding gentle tendrils of healing magic into his aura. "All-Father... I was once told that you can hear those who speak to you when you are in your sleep." Her gaze traveled over the hard bangle on her wrist.

"I would like to tell you I know what I am doing, or that I am doing the right thing." Sigyn looked out the window, not sure if she should look at Odin while she spoke. "I want to tell you that when you wake, things will be different. Your son will be better, healed of this sickness inside him."

"But I cannot promise that." Sigyn sighed. "I cannot even promise that I will be here when you wake, as your son may send me away for what I plan."

"I cannot seek your blessing, but I hope that you remember this. That you will think kindly of me if I am not here. That you will understand that I must do this." Sigyn for the first time, hesitantly settled her hand on the All-Father's elbow.

The sound of metal sliding across metal sent a chill down Sigyn's spine. Hesitantly, she looked behind her.

"What must you do, Sigyn, kill the rightful King of Asgard?" Sif stood, battle ready, sword tip mere inches from Sigyn's throat.

"Lady Sif." Sigyn lifted her hands, calmly making it clear that she had no weapon. She thought for a moment, uncertain about shouting for the guards but there was someone she could call. "Does Heimdall know you are here?"

Across the realm, Heimdall lifted his gaze from the bifrost, attuned to his name. He focused in, watching Lady Sif and Lady Sigyn.

Sif motioned with the tip of her sword, and Sigyn stood. "It doesn't matter as I am here defending the King."

Sigyn lowered her hands to her waist, clasping them in front of her belt. "Defending the king? What does Odin need defense from?"

"From you." Sif's eyes were dark, head lowered as her arm rose with the sword to keep it pointed at Sigyn's neck.

"What am I going to do, exactly? I have no weapon."

"You have magic as a weapon." Sif snorted. "You could be placing a spell that will kill Odin All-Father." Sif moved forward, placing the blade against the side of Sigyn's neck, just below her ear. She lifted her chin instinctively, and Heimdall began running for the palace calling for guards.

"Why would I harm Odin?" Sigyn's calm voice was low, trying to keep Sif from acting rashly.

"To keep your place as queen!" Sif thrust her arm, the blade slicing across an inch of her neck.

Sigyn winced, leaning away from the sword. Blood trickled down her neck, rolling over her collar bone and under the neck of her dress. The cut was small, Sif was a well trained warrior, and this wound was not intended to kill.

Sigyn forced her face to relax. "Would you like to take my place, Sif? You are betrothed to Thor and would have become queen."

"I will not have a false king on the throne, nor his traitor wife."

Sigyn smirked. "Is that a yes?"

Sif's face practically snarled. "I am not the one trying to kill the king!"

"But you do have a sword to the queen's throat." Heimdall stood in the doorway, flanked by guards. "You will back away from Her Majesty." Sif glanced at the large man, then back at Sigyn. With a growl, she sheathed her sword and took a few steps away.

The guards moved forward, but Sigyn waved them off. "Sif, I can see that you are angry." The pretty black-haired woman lifted a lip in contempt, and Sigyn only continued. "But I don't think you are angry with me."

"You have betrayed Asgard!"

Sigyn ignored Sif's outburst and waited until she finished. "Lady Sif, I have done nothing to harm Asgard. I do not want to be queen." Sigyn stepped away, picking up one of the cloths at Odin's bedside and pressing against the cut on her neck. "You should have been queen. I do not dispute that." Then she paused. "But that was before. What is her name? Jane something?"

"Jane Foster." Loki's voice echoed in the hall and for a moment, everyone went still. "Thor chose to remain on Midgard with her. He will likely live there until her death. That leaves Asgard without a king for at least six decades."

Sif turned on him now, her anger redirecting off of Sigyn. "That does not make you king!"

"Nor does your betrothal make you queen." Loki's voice was cold, his eyes taking in the scene with cold precision. "Why have you not arrested her? Her attack on the queen constitutes execution." He looked at the guards who glanced at Sigyn.

"My Lady Queen stopped them." Heimdall nodded to her.

"My Lord." Sigyn curtsied, then met his eyes. "I would like to deal with this. I'm sure you have more important matters to attend."

Loki smiled, looking much like a predator suddenly. "Nothing is more important than handling the person spilling my wife's blood."

Sigyn walked carefully across the floor, her body language subtly influencing Loki to walk next to her. Before he really knew what was going on, they were at the doorway. "As it is my blood, My Lord, I will handle Lady Sif."

She smiled winningly, and Loki found himself in the position of having to choose; leave and maintain his dignity or stay and make a scene that would question his authority. Allowing her to take control would make it seem as though he was only delegating, and Sigyn had been very friendly lately; usurping her control in this situation might make her angry with him. So he left. But he spoke with the guard outside, commanding that he notify him as soon as Sif was placed in a cell.

Sigyn watched Loki walk down the hall, knowing he would probably start watching them magically once he reached his quarters. Turning, she motioned to Sif, and the guards. She thanked Heimdall with a few words and a hand on his elbow. He nodded, following them until he took a different hall to return to his post while they continued below to the dungeon.

When Sif was placed in a cell not unlike the one Loki had been placed in, Sigyn dismissed the guards. Sif watched her with malice in her eyes as she cast a spell protecting them from prying eyes. Sigyn made a chair appear with a twist of her wrist and sat down outside Sif's cell, crossing her ankles.

"Sif, I would like you to speak your mind and I would like to speak my own."

Sif was silent, stalking the cell with long strides. "I have made my opinion clear."

Sigyn nodded. "Then let me make myself clear."

"You and I are very similar. You love Thor as I had loved Loki, we have known the princes and each other since childhood, and we were raised in the palace and court. Despite what you and others believe, I have always been loyal to Asgard."

"Then let me out and renounce the throne!" Sif's shout echoed down the hall.

Sigyn chuckled. "You think my renouncing the title of queen would be useful? Or even successful? Loki won't allow it." Sif started to speak but Sigyn silenced her. "He would still be king. As I understand it, he is to what you object, not me."

Sif nodded. "He is not the rightful King!"

"Who is?" Sigyn stared at Sif, a hardness in her eyes that had not been there when Sif last saw her, before Loki's betrayal and her self imposed exile.

"Odin!"

Sigyn shook her head. "He is deep in Odin-sleep, hardly capable of making decisions. My Lady Frigga died and cannot assume his reign." Sigyn paused, sadness filling her, before she tried to shake it off. "Who else?"

"Then," Sif spluttered. "Then Thor should be king."

Sigyn's eyes were sad when she met the gaze of the other woman. "I am sorry, Sif. I am sorry that you love him and Thor loves the mortal. A broken heart hurts. Waiting for your love, while he loves another... We are similar again. Loki loves another more than he loves me. He loves the throne."

Sigyn smiled sadly. "What was it that Thor said? A poisonous dream..." She shifted, standing next to the golden barrier. "Loki is filled with madness. A sickness. We have all seen what happens when he is thwarted. He comes back again with a more venomous plan and more people suffer."

"What am I to do?" Sif's eyes were dark. "Allow him to keep his ill gotten gains?"

"No. Allow me to try and... Let me try."

Sif arched an eyebrow. "You have a plan? You would betray your husband?"

"I will not betray my husband, but I do have a plan." Sigyn glanced at her chair and it vanished like smoke. "I would ask your silence on this. If you like, I will send your friends to you. Volstagg, Hogun, and Fandral?"

"You said 'had' loved him. Do you no longer love Loki?" Sif watched Sigyn's face carefully, looking for deception, for emotion that might tell her what was going on.

Sigyn's mouth twitched. "Loki is not the man I once loved. His ambition has poisoned every part of him, including our love." Sigyn moved down the steps slowly. "Some things can't survive that."

"Release me, I could help you." Sif placed her hands on the barrier.

"Loki would kill you. This is the safest place right now."

################################################

Loki flung open the heavy wooden door leading into the royal sitting room. "You are protecting Sif." His anger made the room nearly throb as his feet thudded heavily on the wooden floor.

He found her sitting calmly in a plush chair on the second floor in front of a painting of his mother, her hands flipping through a well worn book.

"Yes." She didn't look up at him from the pages. "I will not allow you to kill her."

"YOU are my wife and will obey me. Lift your protection!" Loki's voice thundered, echoing in the chill air.

There was a silence, seeming to stretch the distance between them and last forever. Then she looked up. "I cried so hard the night that you left. In this very room, I begged you to stay."

#################Song 1#########################

"Why have you not brought Thor home?" Sigyn stood on the other side of the room, watching him as he reclined in his chair.

"All-Father's last command was to banish him. You would have me go against Odin?" Loki's voice was smooth, using the excuse he had used on Sif and the warriors three. He turned, opening his arms to her, expecting her to join him by sitting on his lap as usual.

She did not. "I would have you reunite your family. His presence would comfort your mother. Having the heir on the throne would comfort the court."

Settling into the broad leather and wood, he looked at her from under his brows. "I am the heir now. I will be all the king that Frigga and the court require."

"Your mother does not need a king right now..." Moving across the floor, her skirts brushing the floor silently, Sigyn placed her palm on his shoulder. "She needs her sons."

"Son."

Sigyn's brows furrowed. "What?"

Loki's expression was dark. "I am not Odin's son, remember? Thus Frigga is not my mother." He lifted his hand to rub at his chin. "Once again, Thor is the only one worth anything to anyone. Even to you." He jerked his shoulder, dislodging her hand.

She sighed. Then, running her hand down his arm, she knelt at his side, both her hands cupping his one. "Thor is Odin's son, not Frigga's. Family is more than blood. Thor is "

"Thor is as fit to be a king as I am to be a golden retriever!" Loki's shout made her wince.

"I don't care who is king, Loki! I want my husband back." Sigyn stood, whirling away in a froth of skirts and anger. "I want to go home!"

"Sigyn, this is our home now. I suggest you get comfortable in the royal quarters." Loki stood, brushing past her.

She caught his sleeve. "Please... Whatever you are doing, stop. Did I do something wrong? Have I not been a good wife to you?"

Loki looked at her again, clinging to his arm like a kitten caught in his sleeve. She was begging him, tears hovering behind her eyes. "My love, you didn't do anything wrong." He gently loosened her fingers before brushing her grip away from his sleeve. "This is something that I have to do."

He walked away, leaving her in the sitting room, choosing to ignore the tears that started slipping silently down her cheeks.

###########################################

"Then, when I was lying under your mother's hands, as she healed me, I begged for release. When you were imprisoned, both your mother and I begged Odin for your reprieve." Sigyn stood gracefully, carefully placing the book on the small table nearby. "That is a lot of begging for you."

When she turned, something flashed under her sleeve and for a moment it caught Loki's attention before he dismissed it as jewelry. "All you do is command and order, expecting all to bow to your whims, thinking nothing of others."

She met his eyes, her's glinting hard and metallic. "I think it is time that you begged."

Loki's eyes narrowed, his face tight. "I do not beg."

"Then there is nothing left to discuss on the matter of Sif." She smiled casually, somehow brushing aside what they had been talking about and moving on. "Where shall we have dinner tonight, with the court or in our quarters?"

Loki blinked, his mind furious and whirling, angry with hr and trying to keep up at the same time.

#########################################

They ended up eating in their quarters, a simple meal. It was spent in silence as Sigyn refused to discuss Sif's execution and Loki refused to discuss anything else. Loki drank wine to complement the simple fare. By the time they had both finished, he was tired, either from boredom or from holding himself in check. He retired for the evening with a bow and a sneer in her direction.

His bed felt particularly soft, his lids especially heavy, once he settled under his blankets. When he fell asleep it was a deep dreamless sleep, the kind brought on by drugs and magic. He slept when Sigyn entered his room, still and unawakened when she picked up his wrist.

Pulling another bangle from the pocket of her nightgown, she broke it in half, slipping it over his wrist. It matched hers, only larger to accommodate him. As it sealed, she whispered the final spell, a chill washing over her at what she had done.

She slipped silently back to her rooms, locking the doors.

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Song 1: I was listening to the song "Say Please" by Saving Jane when I wrote the flashback. I love it, it is such a great song.

Let me know what you think!