Hello, everybody!

I was inspired and I wrote another chapter ^.^

Hope you like it! thanks for the support.

Chapter Three

Sif woke up with a soft knock on the door. She looked around; she was alone in her room. For a fleeting moment, she hoped she had dreamed it all. The wedding and the night she had spent with Loki. But the room wasn't hers, it was the King chambers. And she lifted her left hand to see the golden wedding ring sparkling on her finger. There was another knock on the door.

She put on her silk robe and opened the door. A young servant was standing there. She bowed her head.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty, the King sent me to serve your breakfast."

"Oh. Thank you, but I'm having breakfast with the Warriors Three." She entered the room and went through her clothes in the wardrobe. "Could you send for them, please?

The servant looked confused.

"The... Warriors Three, Your Majesty?"

"Yes." Sif frowned. "Why?"

"They... they were banished last night."

"WHAT? When?"

"After the wedding ceremony, my lady. The King banished them for treason."

Sif gave a long infuriated sigh.

"I see."

Loki was at the room aside from the throne hall. He sat in front of a table, examining maps of Yggdrasil, Asgard and Jotunheim. The old General Njord Gunnar, the warrior that stood by Odin's side in many wars he fought, stand beside him, babbling about the best strategies to adopt if the frost giants ever dare invading Asgard.

"Of course that's not going to happen any time soon." He gloated. "Frost giants are stupid, but not that stupid."

Loki raised his head from the maps and glared at the man.

"What do you mean, general?" His icy tone was dangerously calm.

"Well, Your Majesty, they would be in complete disadvantage, for starters. Asgard is heavily armed. Allfather may be sleeping, but the realm is not defenseless."

"I see. What if they got in here hidden?"

"Hidden?"

"They tried it once. And they proved we weren't guarded as well as we thought."

"Thor's crowning." The general pursed his lips. "Yes. I must admit we weren't expecting it. We didn't think they would break the truce."

"And isn't that what you're doing right now?" The King was yelling now. "Taking them for granted again? They could be planning an invasion now as we speak, and you still believe they wouldn't dare! I don't think the frost giants are the stupid ones in here!"

The general stared at Loki wide-eyed.

"I... I'll review our defenses and strategies, Your Majesty."

"You better! Because if something happens to Allfather in his sleep... you're going to be the one to blame, general. And don't think for a second..."

Sif barged into the room and strode to the table, just in front of Loki.

"May I have a word with my lord husband, general?"

He paid a reverence to her; his fist pressed on his chest.

"Your Majesty, we are..."

"... done." Loki completed for him. "You have urgent matters to attend, general. Please be on your way."

The general swallowed slowly, then bowed his head.

"As you wish, my King."

He left with the two soldiers he had brought along.

"You can leave too." Loki ordered the guards on the door. "My lady wife represents no danger to me." He smiled, looking at her as the guards left.

"I wouldn't count on it."

"Funny. It's the second time I hear you say that. And I ended up right last time."

"Why did you banish the Warriors Three?"

"For treason. They said they would bring Thor back, no matter what. That day, when I proposed you."

Sif scoffed.

"Right. Because that's what it was; a proposal, not a threat."

"I did give you the chance to say no, didn't I?"

"In exchange of having my friends beheaded! That's not what I would call a choice. And it didn't even make a difference, because you banish them anyway! You're a lying little shit!"

He lifted his green eyes to her and they were burning with anger. In a second he magically appeared in front of her.

"Don't you dare question my honor, Lady Sif. I especifically said I wouldn't execute them if you married me, I never said I would pardon them. And be grateful I'm benevolent enough to just banish them, because I could send them to torture for this. And believe me, I wanted to!"

Her eyes locked with his.

"You're a monster."

He took her hand in his and ran his fingers on her nails.

"A monster you seem to enjoy excessively, my lady." He grinned. "My back still stings from last night."

She pulled her hand out of his instantly and raised it to hit him, but he grabbed her forearm in the same moment, turning them so he could press her body on the table, on top of the maps. He kissed her fiercely, nestling between her legs, pressing her other hand to the table when she tried to push him away. He stopped the kiss abruptly.

"You should stop trying to hit me. I've been patient with you so far, but don't push it, darling. You haven't seen my bad side. You haven't truly seen the monster yet."

She was going to retort, but a gentle voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Loki?"

"In a minute, Mother." He let go of Sif's wrists. "We'll finish this later."

She angrily pushed him away, getting down from the table and was straightening herself out when Frigga opened the door and peeked inside.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." She pretended she didn't notice Sif adjusting her dress, or Loki walking uncomfortably to his chair, conveniently hiding behind the table.

He shot her his sweetest smile.

"Never, Mother."

Frigga entered the room.

"I was hoping you two would join me for breakfast."

"I would love to, but I've had breakfast already." Loki apologized.

Her smile fell.

"Oh." She turned to Sif. "What about you, my dear?"

Sif nodded.

The two women sat on the balcony of Frigga's chambers on a table with fruits, milk and bread. Sif looked out at the breathtaking view of Asgard. The wind blew feebly on their hair.

"You seem a little distressed, Sif. Is everything all right?"

She smiled half-heartedly.

"Well, you know Loki. He's a little..." She chose her words carefully. "... inconstant."

"Yes." Frigga set down her cup. "He always had a temper when he was younger. And with all that's happening, Odin's sleep, Thor's banishment, brink of war with Jotun, learning the truth about his heritage... all at once, he can be a little stressed out. But he's a good man, Sif."

Sif furrowed her brow. "Wait, his heritage?"

"He didn't tell you?" Sif shook her head. "I suppose it's still hard for him to accept it, never mind sharing it with others. Even his wife." She sighed. "On the last war Asgard fought the Jotun, Odin found Loki among the wreckeage of a castle, alone, hungry and crying. My husband brought him home, saying he took pity on the baby and he should be raised as our protégé. But I knew better. He intended to keep him as some kind of hostage, an insurance that there would be no retaliation against Asgard. I was mortified. An innocent little baby treated as bargaining chip! I think it was the first time in thousands of years we had a quarrel. He said: 'leave the baby with a sevant to feed him, no harm will be done to him'." She smiled. "But I couldn't just leave him there. The wet nurse breastfed him and left him on his crib most of the time. He cried a lot. I started picking him up when he cried and taking him to my chambers. Thor was 4 years old back then, and he liked to play with the baby. Loki eventually... stopped crying. In fact, he finally learned to laugh." Frigga expression filled with tenderness as she remnisced. "One day, Odin found us playing with him. He knew we did it, but he never actually saw it. Thor was sitting on the floor, holding the small basket we put Loki in with his chubby arms and he was telling him about all the adventures they would have when they grew older. He called him 'brother'. And Odin's heart melted a little, I guess. Loki was our son ever since." Her eyes brimmed with tears. "He was always my son, I just didn't know it before." She sniffed.

Sif was still trying to grasp the idea that Loki was a frost giant. "And he only learned that now?"

The older woman nodded.

"Odin had to tell him the truth after you came back from Jotunheim. And he didn't take it very well. I know my son." She closed her eyes. "He's in pain. I loved him and cared for him as much as I did for Thor, I never made a distinction. But no matter what we say, he feels rejected, unloved." Frigga reached out and gripped her fingers. "Please be patient with him. I know you, of all people, can make him a better person.

"Me? I don't think so, Lady Frigga. How could I influence a change on Loki? He's too head-strong, you know that. Why would he listen to me?"

"Because he loves you."

Sif stared at her in disbelief. For a moment, she wasn't even sure she heard it right.

"Uhm, my lady, I don't know what kind of ideas you have about this marriage, but... it wasn't romantic at all." She shook her head vehemently. "He... forced me to marry him."

Frigga smiled.

"I know. And I don't aprove the way he did this, just so you know. But do you know why he did it? Why you, of all the ladies in the court?"

"Because, for some reason I still don't know, he hates me and wants to torture me?"

Frigga looked at her intently.

"Did he hurt you?"

Sif thought for a minute.

"No, not actually." She was surprised to realize it.

Frigga's expression softened.

"And I don't think he will."

Sif was still astonished.

"I'm sorry, Lady Frigga, but why do you think he loves me?" The idea sounded even more absurd when she said it out loud.

Frigga leaned back on her chair, picking up her cup and hiding a knowing smile behind a sip.

"A mother knows these things."

The warrior lady smiled, shaking her head and bit on an apple.

"I think you're mistaken, my lady."

Frigga stared at her in silence.

"You know, I remember the day Loki met you. It was the first time he went out with Thor to play with his friends, because he didn't have much friends of his own." She looked sad for a moment. "In fact, his brother was his only friend. Anyway, they spend a whole afternoon outside and when they came back, all Loki could talk about was the pretty girl that climbed trees and rode horses better than his own big brother." She smiled. "He was amazed that a girl could do such things."

Sif smiled, remembered the day Thor brought Loki along for the first time. He was small, shy, always hiding behind his brother... but a few hours later, he was mingling and trying to keep up with the older kids, just like she always did. She liked him right away.

All that ended when he grew up to be... well, him.

"A child infatuation that happened thousands of years ago doesn't necessarily mean love."

"I know." That knowing smile again. What was it with the Odinson family and their enigmatic smiles?