AN: This chapter caused a bit of a stir when I first posted it. It shows Alex at her weakest. Very much lending toward the land of dub-con.

Chapter Twenty-One

No Prince Charming

I think you do. You simply do not know it yet.

Frigga's words proved an unwelcome companion as Alex navigated the labyrinthine halls of Odin's palace. She wished she could simply dismiss them as the idle ramblings of a hopeful mother. The queen made no secret of the fact that she wished her sons would wed, would find love, even if this love came in the form of a mortal. Yet her respect for the queen counteracted this dismissal. Frigga was no fool, and according to the gossip of the citadel, she was well versed in the Sight.

But love?

Romantic love was a foreign concept to Alex. While she saw others trapped within its grasp, she had never fallen into that trap herself. Every relationship she engaged in was purely sexual. She was not even sure if she could call what she had with her family love. Would she even be able to recognise the feeling should it take her? If she did love Loki, what did that say about her? Seven billion people on Earth, and she would be the one to fall in love with the alien who tried to enslave them?

Don't be an idiot, Beckett.

It was a simple enough mantra, and one that had suited Alex well throughout the years. She could not love Loki. It was wrong. It was against everything she believed in. The thought was not even worth entertaining.

Uttering a short, audible sigh, Alex turned a sharp left, narrowly avoiding a passionate couple pressed against the cool wall. The lovers did not notice her, but she was still relieved (and thankful) that Frigga had loaned her a thin, beautiful wrap from her own wardrobe. The last thing she needed was to be traversing the corridors in naught but Loki's whorish dress.

Her chosen path was by far the longest back to her chambers. It took her through dusty unused passages, halls filled with glimmering fire buckets, the balcony overlooking the training yards (now brimming with drinking couples). The detour worked as a balm, preparation for what would undeniably happen upon her return. She could see his face clearly in her mind. His thin, well-formed lips would be pressed in anger; emerald eyes glinting with unrestrained threat. What she hated the most was the fact that this thought did not only terrify her, she also found it arousing.

Eventually the paths of the detour all ended in one location: before the monolithic polished doors of her chambers. They were slightly ajar, golden light stabbing through into the outer passageway. Pushing the door only slightly, Alex slipped through this gap, snapping the door shut in her wake.

A cool breeze caressed the flaming lamps, swept in through the chasm of an open window. It was against the sill of this window that Loki was leaning. He had removed the upper layers of his clothing, leaving him in naught but the perfectly-tailored black pants he had worn to dinner. Fingers of raven hair danced around his pale face, their silent music provided by the breeze.

"Alexandra."

His voice cut across the silence, causing her to stop in her tracks.

"Yes. Were you expecting someone else?"

Emerald eyes diverted from the view, now drilling into hers. "I am not in the mood. Undress."

"I will do no such thing."

A sneer curled his lips. "How could you be so insolent?"

"Insolent?" Alex's eyebrows shot up. "Loki, to be insolent implies that I consider you better than me. I do not."

The distance between them was broken in three of his strides. "I am above you. I am a god, you foolish little mortal."

"You speak like this, yet wonder why I think you deserve punishment on Midgard? I really don't have time for..."

She turned toward the bathroom, but long thin fingers clutched her shoulder, holding her in place. "You will make time, Alexandra." With a single push, she was pressed face first into the wardrobe doors. Frigga's shift was discarded, the skirts of her forest green gown lifted.

"If you even think of spanking me, Loki, I swear to the gods I will make it impossible for you to ever have children again."

"Oh, Alexandra, I have no intention of giving you that much pleasure," Loki growled, pushing apart her legs with his knee. Fingers gripped her hair, pulling it from the ornate bun she had spent so long creating mere hours before. With a sharp thrust he sheathed himself, thrusting hard, uncaring. Alex whimpered as handles of the wardrobe dug into her stomach. It did not take long for Loki to come undone. His body rested against hers only momentarily before he pulled away, throwing her unceremoniously to the floor. "If you think me such a monster, I shall start behaving like one."

Alex found herself lifting her legs to her chest, curling into as tight a ball as was humanely possible. She could hear his footsteps, the creak of the opening door and the subsequent slam as he closed it.

oOoOoOo

The moment the dark cedar clicked shut, Loki found himself overwhelmed with a thoroughly unwelcome flood of regret. He had always been a rough lover, callous, crass, but never had he been cruel. In his more innocent days, his dalliances with the fairer sex had always been painted with streams of laughter. When had he become a monster?

He knew eventually he would have to return. Everything that meant anything to him: physically, psychologically, material and immaterial was enclosed within Alexandra's chambers. Frowning, he tried to scour the image of her curled on the floor from his mind. Helpless, helpless, so helpless. His Alexandra should never be helpless!

His Alexandra?

The toe of his boot collided with a fire bucket, sending the tube of oil, coal and flame skidding across the golden floor. Several servants rushed forward to prepare the damage, none looking at the instigator, as though acknowledging the prince burned more painfully than the raging flames.

Eventually, he found himself standing once more before his mother's chambers. He wondered whether she would be alone. He was, after all, less inclined toward Thor's company at the moment. He knocked reluctantly, barely hearing the light "enter" from deep within the room.

Frigga was now clad in her nightgown; the golden haze of her hair trailing down her back in untamed curls. Everything from the hue of her hair, to the periwinkle glint of her eyes reminded him of Thor. Yet, the love that filled her gaze as she found him in her doorway, assured Loki that she, despite blood, was his mother also.

"My son, what brings you here? Alexandra-?"

"Will, I fear, no longer desire to see me." Loki could not stop the waver in his voice. This weakness infuriated him. He had never been weak. Frigga's long, comforting arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"What has been done?"

Well, at least she had not said what have you done?

Loki sunk into the embrace, and before he knew it, tears stained his cheeks.

"I am a fool, mother."

Frigga pulled out of the hug, shooting him a kindly bemused look. "This is something of which I am already aware, my darling son. Now will you tell me what has happened?"

"Alexandra returned to her chambers, and I took her, forcefully. I did not even give her a chance to speak. You should have seen her-" Loki fell onto the bed, trembling.

Frigga frowned. "Has this happened before?"

Loki allowed himself a moment to think, still horrified by his reaction. "Have I taken her forcefully? Yes. I have also taken her without spoken consent. But this was different..."

"Why?"

It only occurred to Loki at this moment how immensely awkward it was speaking to his mother about his intimate life. Had he informed Thor, however, he suspected he may have endured Mjolnir to the face. The queen, it seemed, did not require an answer to her question.

"Is it different now because you feel something for Alexandra?"

Loki recoiled. "Are you insinuating that I love her?"

At this, Frigga smiled softly. "It may interest you to know that Alexandra had a similar adverse reaction when I insinuated that she love you."

"If she loves me, she is an idiot. I am a monster."

"If you are such a monster, my son, why did you come here burdened with remorse?"

oOoOoOo

Her chambers reeked of acrid fumes, originating from the swathe of emerald silk crackling in the smoking hearth. The embroidered shawl she had used to cover the obscene garment was folded neatly at the foot of her immaculately made bed. His Alexandra was evidently in the bathroom, fronds of scented steam sneaking from beneath the shimmering doorway. Loki wrapped long fingers around the slippery doorhandle, letting himself in.

He could barely see the mortal through the haze of steam and the white fluffy layer of perfumed foam that floated atop the water's surface. She had once described it as her Harry Potter tub, a reference, apparently to a similar tub within a fictional Midgardian realm.

Her skin was dark pink: whether from scrubbing or the temperature of the water, he did not know.

"I am sorry."

His words sounded pathetic, a sentiment she clearly shared. "No you are not."

Loki had to bite his tongue to refrain from calling her insolent. "And how exactly do you know that, Alexandra?"

"Because you are incapable of being sorry."

As quick as possible, Loki stripped of his pants and boots, stepping into the piping hot water. It smelt disgustingly feminine, but he failed to care. "What do you mean by that?"

She shrugged. "You regret doing things, but you are never sorry for it."

"Is that not the same thing?"

"I don't think so."

Launching herself from the side of the tub, she came to him in a couple of short strokes. In the dull lighting, her wet tallow hair appeared almost light brown. Grey eyes bore into his. Tentatively, he leant in to kiss her jaw. Much to his surprise, she did not pull away.

"Are you angry with me?"

"Uncontrollably."

"Why are you doing this, then?"

He watched the emotions dancing across her face: trepidation, sadness, elation, arousal. Finally she rested at impassive. "Because I am weak."