Nodding Maryn sipped at the floral brew before looking up at the older woman, tears starting to slide down her cheeks, "Oh mother, I fear we have ruined everything."
Shocked at her tears, Frigga took the mug from her shaking hands and set it down before pulling her into a tight hug, "Everything will be alright, sweet daughter," she murmured as Maryn sobbed against her shoulder, "Everything will be alright."
She must have fallen asleep, for the next thing Maryn knew, she was being shaken by a gentle hand. Blinking she looked up into the face of one of her handmaidens, only to see worry shadowing her usually bright and happy smile. Sitting up, she rubbed her face a little before looking at Gaia, "What has happened?"
The young woman wrung her hands together, "The Allfather has banished Prince Thor and stripped him of his power."
It took a moment for the girl's words to sink in before Maryn stood suddenly, "Where is my husband or the Allmother? Does Frigga know?"
Gaia shook her head, her eyes filling with tears, "The Allfather called her to his chambers a few moments ago and the Prince is-," she cut off when Maryn saw Loki stride into the room. Unable to stop herself, she crossed the chamber at a run and threw her arms around his neck. She realised he was hugging her back a few breaths later, but he was standing so stiffly she knew something was wrong. Pulling away, she looked up into his eyes, Gaia slipping passed them to leave the room and give the couple some privacy. "Loki?" she murmured seeing something sad and broken flicker behind his eyes.
He blinked and the look was gone, replaced by a different kind of sadness, "I never thought father would send him away. They were both so angry and Odin stripped him of his powers and banished him to the world of humans through the Bifrost." He shook his head, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.
"Perhaps you could speak to your father and ask him to bring Thor back?" she asked softly.
His look was sharp, "You wish me to call my father's decisions into question?"
"I wish you to think of the devastation Frigga will endure because Thor could not reign in his temper."
His jaw worked and he shook his head, "Thor has brought another war upon us, Maryn. Banishment is a mercy compared to what Odin could have done."
Noticing the way he toyed with his sleeve and his left hand, Maryn reached out to comfort him, only to have him jerk his hand away from her as though she was about to hurt him in some way. Confused by his reaction to her, she looked away, "I must go and see how Frigga is."
He didn't try to stop her from leaving, and she once more felt tears fill her eyes.
Willing them away she walked down the hall toward Odin's audience chambers, her magic fully restored allowing her to wave away her fighting garb and replace it with a gown of midnight blue velvet, with black batiste sleeves that came up over the sweetheart neckline in an elegant 'v' neck, the shoulders and bust embroidered with silver. The skirt of the gown was pleated and tucked in an elegant but unusual design, black and silver satin slippers on her feet. Her hair was pulled up in a spiral braid, pinned into a bun. She wore earrings of dark metal shaped like coiled snakes, their bodies set with tiny diamonds and a large teardrop shaped blue jewel hanging from each tail.
When she reached the door of the Allfather's audience chambers she heard raised voices coming from within. She slipped inside and stood to the right of the door, her eyes downcast as Frigga begged Odin to bring Thor back from Earth where he had been sent.
At Odin's refusal and his departure, Maryn moved quickly to Frigga's side where she stood on a balcony overlooking the palace, "Mother, please forgive me."
Frigga smiled sadly at her, her blue eyes filled with tears, "Why would you ask my forgiveness, daughter, you have done nothing wrong."
Shaking her head, Maryn held back the part of the truth that implicated Loki, and instead told Frigga, "I did not stop Thor from going to Jotunheim, neither did I stop him from causing this mess we are in now. Perhaps if I had tried harder to convince him not to go this would never have happened."
"Oh Maryn," Frigga smiled even through her tears, cupping Maryn's cheek, "There was nothing you could have done. This was Odin's decision and all we can do is hope Thor will find his way back to us."
Still feeling the full force of her guilt, Maryn could only nod, believing that if her good-brother truly learnt from the mistakes he had made, he would return.
Frigga smiled gently, the sadness still visible in her, "Go and be with your friends, dear one. You do not need to comfort me."
Maryn tried to protest but Frigga wouldn't hear any excuses, and she was ushered out of the chamber and sent on her way in the direction of the large, private sitting room she and her friends enjoyed occupying.
She walked in through the large golden doors to see Sif and Volstagg sitting on two of the three large sofas encircling the lit fire pit that sat in the centre of the room, Fandral leaning with his back to the third settee while Hogun crouched near him. Loki was standing off to the side, his gaze on the balcony that looked over the city below, his shoulders tense. Sif, Volstagg and Fandral were discussing what had happened with Thor, and Maryn kept to the shadows near the door, her gaze on Loki as he studied his left hand; the same hand he had kept out of her reach not an hour before as if she were about to hurt him. She wondered helplessly if he was wounded, and tried to sense any pain through their bond. Although she had not felt the echoes of it, she wouldn't be surprised if he had somehow found a spell that would block that part of their link, his concern for her making that explanation very plausible.
She came back to the discussion when she heard Fandral's next words, "At least he's only banished and not dead; which is what we would all be if that guard hadn't told Odin where we'd gone."
"How did the guard even know?" Volstagg asked his face pinched in pain when Hogun spread a salve over the slightly blackened skin of his forearm where it had been burnt by the touch of a Jotun warrior.
"I told him." Loki's voice cut through the silence around them and Maryn remembered him speaking briefly to a guard before mounting his horse.
"What?" Fandral asked in disbelief.
Loki spoke calmly but Maryn could feel his unease and confusion clearly through their bond, "I told him to go to Odin after we'd left. He should be flogged for taking so long; we should never have reached Jotunheim."
Seeing the looks her friends were sharing between themselves at Loki's words, Maryn stepped further into the room, Fandral's gaze flicking to her and then Sif and Hogun in warning when she raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief.
Volstagg was the first to speak out his incredulity. "You told the guard?" he snapped at the Dark Prince.
Loki turned to him, something in his eyes and emotions hitting Maryn in the chest like a punch. "I saved our lives…and Thor's. I had no idea father would banish him for what he did."
Sif stood and stepped closer to the Trickster. "Loki, you must go to the Allfather and convince him to change his mind."
Loki's gaze hardened, "And if I do, then what? I love Thor more dearly than any of you, but you know what he is. He's arrogant, he's reckless, he's dangerous. You saw how he was today. Is that what Asgard needs from its king?"
Maryn watched him move to leave the room before he lost his composure completely. She reached out to touch him, to comfort him in some way, but he brushed passed her, ignoring her completely. She turned to see him slip from the room almost silently and her heart twisted in her chest. About to go after him, the petite brunette was brought up short by Sif's next words.
"He may speak of the good of Asgard, but he has always been jealous of Thor."
Whirling on the others, Maryn glared at the dark haired lady-warrior, "And you believe his jealousy would drive him to encourage a battle we could not win in order to have his brother banished?" she raised her chin defiantly; "You think you know him but you do not Sif. This was not something he wanted and if he had not told the guard to notify Odin of Thor's ridiculous plan, we would all be dead, our corpses no doubt rotting at the bottom of an abyss with that horned creature's body."
"We should be grateful to him, he saved our lives," Volstagg, ever the peacemaker, tried to argue half-heartedly.
Hogun looked at the others, "Laufey said there were traitors in the house of Odin. A master of magic could bring three Jotuns into Asgard."
"Loki's always been one for mischief, but you're talking about something else entirely." Fandral snapped.
Maryn was beyond angry and she could feel her magic start to get out of hand. Clenching her fists in the velvet of her skirt, she took a deep breath through her nose before looking at her friends, "Believe what you will, but Loki is not at fault for the choices Odin and Thor have made." That said, she turned on her heel and walked from the room, intending to find Loki and speak to him alone about what was wrong.
Making her way through the palace hallways, she tried to sense where her husband might have disappeared to. Fenrir materialised seemingly out of nowhere as she turned a corner toward the library. She crouched down in front of him, although his head reached her ribs now, and looked him in the eyes, "Where is your master?" she whispered.
The large animal cocked his head to the side before gently taking Maryn's sleeve in his mouth and tugging her back the way she had come.
Recognising that he wanted her to follow him, the princess waved him ahead, following his large frame in the opposite direction to the library, toward the weapon's vault. The pair made it to the hallway that lead to the large gilt doors of the vault in time to hear Loki calling out for the guards.
There was something in the panicked tone of his voice, which had Maryn rushing forward and following the two guards into the vault. What she saw inside shocked her. Odin was unconscious on the stone stairs, Loki standing a few steps below, tears on his cheeks and alarm clearly visible on his face.
"He-he has fallen into the Odin-sleep," Loki stuttered trying to fight for composure. "Take him to his chambers and call the Allmother." He waved his hands and with a flare of green magic, a stretcher was conjured and the guards carefully lifted Odin onto it before carrying him from the room.
When Loki moved to follow them, Maryn stepped in his path, "Loki," she began but the broken look he gave her made her next words stick in her throat.
"Leave me, Maryn," he murmured and then walked passed her leaving the room.
Tears filled her eyes and she collapsed slowly to the steps, her hands over her face and Fenrir sitting beside her with his head on her knee. She couldn't understand what was happening. Even at his lowest, Loki had never pushed her away as vehemently as he had done within the last day. She didn't know what she had done to make him dodge her touch and try to ignore her in such a way. If he had been wounded she would have felt it through the link, but this went deeper than flesh and bone, there was something wrong and it hurt to know he was keeping it from her. After a few more moments of self-pity, she lifted her head and wiped at the tear-marks on her cheeks. Running her hand over Fenrir's head lovingly, she stood and led him out of the weapon's vault and through the palace corridors toward Odin and Frigga's chambers.
The scene that met her when she walked into their bedchamber was one of anxious chaos. Handmaidens and attendants were flitting about the room wringing their hands and sobbing openly as if it was the end of the world as they knew it. Frigga looked stunned and sat in a chair at Odin's bedside, the golden aura of a spell already twining through the air to encompass the bed and its single occupant. Loki stood on the opposite side of the bed to his mother, his eyes staring sightlessly at his father's face. Seeing that neither one was in any state to make sure the household was running smoothly, Maryn took charge.
"Enough," she called out stopping the dithering women and men and sending them from the room with a hard look, "Leave your queen and prince to their vigil." As the servants filed from the room, Maryn sent Fenrir to Loki's side knowing instinctually that he needed the comfort of his creature. She then made her way to Frigga's side, kneeling beside her and reaching out to touch the older woman's hand where it lay limply in her lap, "Mother?"
Frigga blinked and seemed to come back to the present. She looked around the room before dropping her gaze to Maryn's face. With a small grateful smile, she laid her hand on Maryn's cheek, "Thank you, dear one, I was unable to…" she trailed off and looked at Odin's sleeping form, "We were not ready for the Odin-sleep this time."
Through her link to Loki, Maryn felt his unease but kept her eyes on her good-mother, "When he awakes he will have words with the servants for their inability to comfort you, I am sure."
Frigga's smile widened a little and finally reached her eyes, "Of course, my daughter. Odin does so hate dithering."
Patting Frigga's hand where it lay against her cheek, Maryn sent her a comforting smile before standing, "I will sit with you a while if you wish, Frigga."
Her gaze on her husband's face once more, the Allmother nodded and then reached out and held Maryn's hand once she was seated next to her.
Neither woman noticed when Loki silently left the room, Fenrir at his heels.
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It was nearing dawn when Maryn finally entered the chambers she shared with Loki. She had been at Frigga's side for hours and had only left when the Allmother ordered her to her bed. When she walked inside she waved her hand, her jewellery and slippers disappearing into their proper place and her hair falling down her back in loose waves as the pins disappeared too.
The news of Odin's collapse had run through the palace and city quickly and Frigga had been forced to leave the Allfather's side to speak with his advisors. Loki had been noticeably absent from Odin's bedside and Maryn wondered if she would have to go and find him before too long.
Walking into the bedroom, Maryn gasped at the sight of Loki standing in the shadows of their room near the balcony doors, her heart jumping in fright, as she had not expected him to be there. There was a tense silence between them for a few moments, broken only when Maryn blushed and looked away, the emotions she sensed through their bond making her wary and on edge. "Where have you been, husband?" she asked softly, tension thickening between them.
He stepped closer to her, his movements slow and languid, "Where have you been, wife?" he asked softly, his voice gravelled with some emotion she didn't understand.
Lifting her chin defiantly, Maryn looked up into his sharp green eyes while he closed the distance between them, "I was with Frigga; we have been keeping vigil over the Allfather's Odin-sleep."
Loki's eyes slid down over her body, lust warring with confusion visible to her in his intense gaze. However, he was unusually silent and she made up her mind to be the first to act. Stepping into him, she wrapped her arms around his chest and pushed up on the tips of her toes to press a kiss to his throat. He swallowed hard and stood stiffly in her arms but didn't push her away. Taking heart in that, Maryn reached up to lace her fingers through his hair, gently pulling his head down until their lips were nearly touching.
Heart in her throat, she closed the distance between them and kissed him, slowly and gently. When he didn't pull away she melted into the kiss, moaning softly as he hesitantly deepened it and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Loki seemed to relax as their lips moved together, his arms tightening around her body pressing her curves tighter to him. The thin material of his shirt and sleep-pants made her ache to have her dress off and he seemed to know what she wanted without her having to say a word. His long fingers quickly unlaced the bodice of her gown, his hand splayed on the naked skin of her upper back when her dress fell down off her shoulders.
Whimpering with need after being held at arm's length for so long, Maryn gripped his shirt in one hand, her other leaving his hair to slip under the hem and slide over his muscled stomach and to the line of dark hair that disappeared under his waistband.
It was as if her touch was all he needed to unleash the pent up need inside him. With a harsh growl, Loki lifted her off her feet and carried her to their bed, his mouth leaving hers to lavish attention to her collarbones and throat. He laid her back on top of the gold and green silk coverlet, and Maryn arched into his kisses, her knees parting so that he could settle his hips into the cradle of her thighs. She whined as his cool fingertips traced the laces of her corset before he rolled, holding her to his chest. Maryn looked down at his face while his long fingers unlaced her undergarment, the constricting attire loosening with every tug of his fingertips. They were both panting, their gazes locking in the next moment.
"I love you, Loki," she whispered, reaching out to brush her fingertips over his cheek before she reached back and caught his left hand bringing it to her lips and pressing a sweet kiss to the centre of his palm.
There was a split second of silence between them and then she saw sheer terror fill his gaze. In the next instant, he had surged up, pushed her from him, and fled the room without a word or a backward glance.
Dazed by his sudden departure, Maryn sat silently on the bed, her hair and gown in disarray. It took a moment for the reality of what had just happened to crash down on her, but when it did, she covered her mouth with her hand and burst into tears. Sinking slowly down she lay curled in a small ball, she sobbed brokenly into the coverlet until she fell into a fitful sleep, bewildered and wounded by Loki's actions.