Maryn awoke to an empty bed, not even Fenrir or her handmaidens were in sight. Worriedly she got up and dressed in a simple blue gown, the neckline cut away on the right side to show more of her shoulder. Her hair she kept lose and she only wore Loki's pendant tucked below the high neckline of the gown, her wedding ring, and a gold ring set with small blue and purple stones.
Once dressed, she transported herself to the throne room to find Loki sitting in the throne, his gaze distant once more. It was then that she sensed his power fluctuating; ebbing and flowing like the waves of the ocean that surrounded Asgard. Using her own magic, she linked her mind to his to see what he was seeing. Thor's face came into her vision, and she gasped when she saw the Destroyer fighting the Warriors Three and Sif.
Falling to her knees at Loki's feet, she pleaded with him, "Loki, my love, please stop this."
He blinked, looking down at her coldly, "It is too late to stop, sweet girl. They will all pay for turning their backs on me. Every one of them will die for their betrayal."
Frantically she clasped his hand that lay on the arm of the throne, "Please, end this, Loki. There doesn't need to be any more bloodshed, any more anger and hate."
"There will always be hate toward me, Maryn. There is nothing left for me but anger," his look was hollow and she felt tears fill her eyes.
Thor's voice came through the link she had with Loki's mind and she saw the Destroyer looking down at the blonde god.
"Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine and end this."
Loki stood, his focus completely on his brother and the Destroyer. Maryn could only watch as he relaxed, hoping that despite everything he would end the bloodshed. She thought that Thor's words had reached him, that his anger had cooled. Then he did the one thing that she never thought he would do. He turned and flicked his hand out, and the Destroyer turned in the blink of an eye, its heavy metal arm connecting with Thor's face and chest and sending him flying back with the crunch of shattering bone.
Maryn cried out in anguish, collapsing to the cold stone floor near Loki's feet, ripping her mind-link away from his so that she didn't have to see the grief he had caused. She sobbed her chest heavy and her mind whirling at what he had just done, "Why?" she wailed turning her eyes to him.
He buckled and sat back in the throne, his gaze empty of any feeling, "Nothing else matters but this," he said, his hand tightening around the Allfather's spear, the physical representation of his power and rank.
"Am I not enough for you?" she whimpered, moving to take his hand, tightening her hold on it desperately, sick to her stomach that he would shrug her off. She knew there had to be something about him that was still good.
"No," he sneered.
Her heart stopped for a moment at his words. However, instead of giving up, she fought harder for him than she thought she ever would, "And what of your child?"
He pulled away then, frowning scornfully as he turned his magic back to the Destroyer still on Earth. "I have no child."
"Yes, Loki, you do," she murmured so softly that she feared he would not hear it, but his gaze snapped to her so quickly she flinched. "I am with child."
"You lie," he snarled forcefully.
She reached out and gripped his hand once more, pulling it toward her and smoothing his long fingers and large palm flat against her stomach. "Use your magic, sense what cannot be seen."
Revenge forgotten, his eyes widened and he stared at his hand flat to her belly, "A daughter."
Laughing and sobbing all at once, Maryn nodded, "Your daughter, Loki, our daughter."
He was silent for one breath, and then two, before he lifted his haunted gaze to hers, "They will hate her as they have done me. They will abuse her because of who I am."
Shaking her head, Maryn cupped his cheeks, leaning toward him and praying he would stop, "No, she will be loved by us and safe with us. Please, my love, this has to stop."
Tears filled his eyes and he glanced down at where his hand still cradled her abdomen, "It is too late, sweet one," he murmured. "They say I am mad so I will show them what a crazed Jotun can do."
Panicked by his words and the feeling of him slipping further and further away from her even as he sat before her, Maryn pushed forward and kissed him, desperately holding him as close to her as she could. She then spoke against his lips when he broke the kiss, "You are not mad, Loki. You are not a monster. You are my husband whom I love. We can end this, leave…be free."
Holding her face between his hands he spoke softly, "I will never be free, Maryn." He used a spell to transport them to their rooms and stood with her before their bed.
"Please…please, Loki, do not do this," Maryn begged looking up into the deep green of his gaze. "…I love you," she whispered, closing her eyes.
He tilted her chin up and pressed a final kiss to her lips before disappearing with a flash of green magic.
Panicking, she tried to transport out of the chamber only to find she could not. Trying the door, she found it was locked and magically barred, keeping her inside. Weeping bitterly, she sank to the floor and pressed her forehead to the cool, dark wood. Focusing on the spell she felt for the strands of magic that twisted together to form it. Using her own magic, she picked at those strands, unravelling the spell piece by piece. When it finally fell away, she was out of breath and aching. Struggling to her feet, she left the chambers and pushed her power out to sense where Loki was. With a gasp she realised the magic she could sense was too cold and rancorous to be Loki's. "Laufey," she gasped recognising it. Realising she needed to act quickly, she transported herself to the bedchamber where Odin still lay, to see Frigga move quickly to pull a hidden sword from a decorative part of the bed as the golden doors started to freeze over.
"Mother," she spoke to the older woman. "Laufey is coming."
Frigga nodded and stepped up beside Maryn as the doors burst open and Laufey and two other Jotuns stalked into the room. Frigga cut down the first soldier but was backhanded across the room by Laufey. She lay still and dazed as Maryn threw a crippling spell at the chest of the second soldier only to have Laufey wrap his hand around her throat and lift her off her feet. She gasped out, struggling to breathe and fight the frigid power he wrapped around her in a binding spell.
"You are stronger than before, small one." He grinned suddenly, "The Traitor has ensured his line through you. Perhaps he has more power than I thought."
Maryn closed her hand around his wrist, pushing a jarring shock through his body with her magic. He let her drop to her feet and she coughed and gasped sweet air into her starved lungs, "You underestimate your enemy, Laufey," she rasped out and pressed a hand to the stones below her feet. They shook with her power, moving suddenly and becoming spongy beneath the other soldier's feet.
He muttered a shocked oath and then was swallowed by the very flagstones he stood on. The only part of him still visible were the tips of the fingers of one hand that he had reached up to try to grip onto something to save himself.
Maryn didn't even have a moment to be satisfied by what she had done. Laufey threw a spell at her and she flew back against the wall behind her, ice cuffing her wrists to the wall at her back, a collar of the same tight around her neck and a muzzle of ice covering her mouth and chin. His magic invaded her mind, incapacitating her and draining her strength. She screamed as she felt the cold touch of his power sliding down into the small life growing inside her.
The Frost Giant's voice echoed in her mind as she fought to protect the baby growing in her womb, "The child will not live. Your mate will know his legacy ended at the hands of Laufey."
It felt like her body was being crushed under a slab of frozen rock, but in the next breath the pressure lifted and the restraints were gone. Maryn sagged against the wall. Her head was so heavy it was a miracle when she lifted it and still managed to stay on her feet. Blinking weakly she saw Laufey kneeling over Odin's prone form, an ice dagger in his hand raised over his head for a killing blow.
Golden lightening suddenly arched out and slammed into Laufey's back throwing him off Odin and to the floor near Maryn's feet.
Loki lowered Gungnir and spoke coolly where he stood just inside the chamber's doorway, "And your death came by the son of Odin."
Laufey lifted his head, his breath rattling in his chest. Clenching his jaw in anger, Loki lifted the spear once more and finished him, the Frost Giant's body disintegrating with the force of the weapon's power.
As Frigga got up and hugged her son, Maryn turned her face away. Concentrating inward, she tried to find the tiny flutter of life that was her and Loki's child. Panicked when it felt weaker than before, Maryn lifted her eyes to mother and son as they embraced and the Trickster promised to make the Jotuns pay for what Laufey had tried to do. "Loki," she whimpered, her voice breaking.
He turned his head to look at her. There must have been something in the way she looked or the expression on her face that scared him, for he moved toward her quickly only to freeze at the sound of Thor's voice.
"Loki!" the God of Thunder snarled, hugging Frigga when she embraced him happily.
Maryn watched in a daze as Thor moved into the room, he and his brother circling each other as Thor grit out the words that would hurt Frigga the most; "Why don't you tell her how you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends, to kill me."
"What?" Frigga was shocked.
Loki put Odin's bed between himself and Thor, Gungnir clenched tightly in his hands. "Well, I must have been enforcing father's last command."
"You're a talented liar, brother; always have been," Thor spoke lowly.
With a hand to his chest, Loki spoke sweetly, "It's good to have you back. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to destroy Jotunheim." He used the spear's power to blast Thor through the chamber wall before he turned and crossed the room to stand before Maryn.
"Sweet one, what happened?" he murmured gently, tucking a lock of her lose hair behind her ear.
She looked up into his concerned gaze only to have Frigga interrupt them.
"Loki, what have you done?" the Allmother asked.
He wrapped an arm around Maryn's waist and drew her tight to his side. She curled into him and pressed her face to his chest, tears filling her eyes as she searched for the ever-weakening life force of their child. "I have done what I needed to. And when I have finished father will realise that I am the better son and Thor is as unworthy of the throne as ever."
"Oh, Loki," Frigga shook her head sadly.
He raised his chin and turned his gaze to Maryn, "Before this night ends I swear to you, my love, we will be free; the three of us." He kissed her deeply and then swept out of the room, Maryn swaying where she stood and staring after him.
There was silence between her and the Allmother for a few short minutes, before Frigga reached out a hand to grip Maryn's tightly, "Tell me what has happened."
Opening her mouth to answer, Maryn was suddenly hit with a wave of pain so strong she doubled over, holding her abdomen and gasping.
"Maryn!" Frigga helped her stand, her magic rushing out to take away some of her pain and seek out her wound. What she sensed made her grow pale and tears fill her eyes, "Oh my darling," she murmured, pulling Maryn into a tight hug when she cried out in pain again.
Feeling the Allmother attempt to take away more of her pain, Maryn pulled back a little and shook her head, "Don't take it away, mother, I must feel her before she is taken from me," she begged tearfully, holding onto Frigga's forearms.
Nodding Frigga held her up as she moaned in agony.
Maryn collapsed slowly to her knees, exhaustion causing black spots to cross her vision and darkness encroaching into her mind. She saw a bright light fill the room and then there was a ringing silence. Instinctively she knew she had to go to the Rainbow Bridge, the intense pain in her abdomen growing with the thought. Frigga tried to stop her and take her to the healers but in her agony-addled state, she refused. Using the last shreds of her strength, she transported herself to the Rainbow Bridge to find the Bifrost destroyed, the Bridge broken, and two figures kneeling hunched over at the shattered edge of the Bridge.
Stumbling toward them, she nearly fell but was steadied by a warm, furry head slipping under her arm. She looked at Fenrir before tightening her hands in his inky fur and allowing him to help her limp closer to the edge. Still hoping Loki would be one of the two figures, she froze with a broken gasp when she saw Odin stand, Thor at his side. They turned at her whimper and Thor stepped forward.
"Maryn, sister," he began but she shook her head.
"No…" when he tried to reach out to her, she clung tighter to Fenrir, "No!"
Odin strode forward then and gathered her into his arms, his tight hold breaking her. Collapsing she screamed and wept, clinging to the Allfather, Thor standing tearfully nearby.
Frantically, Maryn pushed Odin away and fell to her knees. Fumbling she pulled the pendant from the neckline of her gown and conjured a goblet of water with shaking hands. Dipping the pendant into the water, she tried to see Loki's face. Nothing but darkness showed in the surface of the water. Closing her eyes, she frantically tried to sense his magic through their link, and again dark emptiness was all she could find.
"Maryn," Thor spoke, crouching down beside her, "You are bleeding."
She shook her head and lifted her tear-filled grey eyes to Thor's face, the goblet crumbling into nothing. "He is not gone. He swore we would be free, together. He is not gone."
Thor blinked back more tears and reached out to put a heavy hand to her shoulder, "I'm sorry, I could not save him."
Her mind was blank as she tried to make sense of what had happened. There was no way Loki was just gone. He couldn't be dead, he had promised never to leave her. Stumbling to her feet she stepped back from Thor and a grief-stricken Odin, "He-he is not dead."
"Yes, Maryn, he is," Thor tried to help her understand what had happened, the ever-growing stain of blood on her gown indicating she needed a healer. "He is gone and you need to be cared for in the healing rooms."
A sharp spike of pain low down brought Maryn's gaze to her hand, which still clutched the pendant as it pressed to her stomach, dark blood staining the gold chain and her skin. Sagging against Fenrir's side, she felt everything start to fall away. Looking up at her good-brother and good-father, she felt a single tear roll down her pale cheek and whispered brokenly, "He is not dead."