AUTHOR'S NOTE: I couldn't wait another week to post this chapter. The muses took hold and refused to let me go until I penned it. Hope you enjoy!
Born to be a King
Chapter 13
The secret...
The secret had never been told, for the truth was as forbidden as it was vital. Without its shroud of mystery, the balance of the universe would be shattered. An infant had been born to the life of a prince, but an unloving and deathly temple floor had been his cradle... A bastard son... Birthed in the midst of a mythical war, a conflict between gods, as large in scale as the number of bodies that covered the frozen ground. An unlikely heir to one of the greatest realms in the universe. A runt. Small and fragile, gentle and beautiful, so unlike the rest of his race. His cries echoed in the temple, accompanied by others, drowned out by the bellows of war that raged outside its massive icy doors. He cried out for help, for mercy, for a warm embrace and a loving gaze. Survival was at the core of his existence, and survival would be the force that would drive him for the rest of his days.
Help did come. Mercy opened the door to the temple where he lay discarded in a simple blanket of skin. Two strong arms held him, one pitying blue eye looked at him, and one king finally took notice of the greatness he was destined to achieve. In his arms he held not the discarded son of his defeated rival, but a future king. The Allfather watched as icy blue was replaced by warm, pink ivory and red pupils became blue-green. The infant giggled and Odin smiled in return, but then another muffled cry reached the Allfather's ears and he looked up further into the temple.
Destiny had found a way and the secret had been created.
For centuries the secret was murmured, spoken of in hushed tones by the handful few who knew of it. The secret grew and blossomed, the magnificence of it astounding those who observed its progress. The Norns marveled as it, kings gazed upon it with hope. But the Allfather's heart was heavy. He grieved for his youngest even now, centuries before he set upon a path of hatred and malice that would take him to the very doors of Hel.
But the Norns had already foretold his outcome. The Allfather could not tamper with destiny. He could not tell him the secret, not yet. There was so much the boy had to learn. The secret needed to be protected at all costs, even at the expense of his younger son growing in the shadows.
The secret had almost been destroyed.
Odin looked helplessly into the teary eyes of his youngest son. He watched as his face contorted in a grimace of pain and utter anguish.
"Why it all makes sense now! Why you favored Thor all these years, because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a frost giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!"
Odin wished to tell him. His son needed to know that the truth he had kept hidden from him wasn't as dark and ugly as he made it seem. There was so much more he needed to know. He felt his body crumble...
The secret had been lost.
The Allfather was burdened by guilt. He had done it all wrong. He had set his son upon the very path he had desperately tried to keep him away from. In his own quest for the rightful heir to his own kingdom, he had neglected the great duty the Fates had bestowed upon him. He had been entrusted with the responsibility of raising one who would one day become a great ruler: A king of nations, a restorer of worlds, a scourge to the wicked races who sought to plunge the universe into darkness. He had lost the savior of the Nine Realms.
The secret had been buried.
Strength and honor were replaced by hatred and malice. Mischief gave way to madness. Hope succumbed to darkness. The ice of his true nature covered his fragile heart and locked it away, hardening the very gentle muscle that had plunged him into the deepest depth of despair. Survival became ambition, courage became ruthlessness. Benevolence gave way to tyranny. He who had been destined to defend the peace of the universe now threatened to plunge it into chaos.
He was now carried by the current of time that carved his way through stone and shattered the ambitions of the young fallen king. Life had broken him, all in the hopes of seeing him rise to the heights reserved for him, the thrones that awaited his command. Cruel fate was now his teacher. It was molding him, not by the loving yet rigid hand of a father, but by the harsh reality of life. He was bruised and battered; yet in the beaten, distorted workings of his being still burned the ambers of a flame that would once again burn bright.
The secret had been found again.
The Allfather allowed himself to hope, even as he dictated a strict and merciless sentence. Seclusion and imprisonment was the only way he could protect him, to keep him safe from himself. He would bear the weight of his son's hatred, he would take his venom. He could. He deserved them.
The Allfather had never lied.
The secret had simply been too great and too imperative to be spoken.
"Only one of you can ascend to the throne, but both of you were born to be kings..."
(Excerpt: Prologue, Born to be a King)
He's here. He's really here at last!
The woman standing behind King Beyard struggled to breathe. With every intake of air she felt the wild thumping of her heart become stronger. For centuries she had imagined him, had drawn a visage in her mind of the prince who would one day come and fulfill their destiny. Her stomach fluttered wildly as she took in his physique. The man who now stood at the steps to the throne by far surpassed her wildest imaginations. She remembered the Allfather laughing at her endless questions about the prince that would one day set foot on Verdandi. He had told her much about him, had described him to great detail, yet even as he proudly talked of his son's playful personality and reserved nature, his descriptions had done him no justice. He was so much more than what she had heard or imagined.
Perfect. Exquisite.
She sucked in a breath when she noticed her father turn towards her, ready to introduce her.
The moment, that moment she had so longed for, had finally come...
"...The Promised One"
Loki took a step back. "Surely you must mistake me for someone else"
"Are you not Loki, Prince of Asgard and son of Odin?"
He swallowed hard. "I am Loki of Asgard, but not a son of Odin"
King Beyard sighed. "Of course you're not. Please forgive my mistake. You are Loki Laufeyson, son of the King of Jotunheim. You were raised by Odin as his own son in order to protect you from those who wanted you dead"
Barbara gasped.
"How do you know...?" Loki whispered.
"There is so much you need to know" the king said, looking at Loki lovingly. He quickly gathered his bearings and turned towards the woman behind him.
"May I present my daughter Ireena, Princess of Verdandi and Chief Mistress of the Dark Arts"
The woman bowed reverently to Loki and smiled sweetly.
"This is a most joyous day, Prince Loki. We have prayed for your arrival for a very long time. Now you are here at last and peace can once again come to our lands. Our enemy will finally be defeated. You will help us, will you not? Thousands of our people have perished and no power or magic is enough to detain the hordes that descend on our realms. Our armies need a leader who can..."
"Ireena" the king chastised gently "all in due time, my sweet"
Loki's brow furrowed at her words.
"You're at war. That's why you reached out to Asgard" he said to King Beyard.
"I would lie if I said I did not, but it is not the sole reason why"
"Then why did you?"
The king sighed. What he was about to say was something the prince before him had probably never even dreamed of. He squared his shoulders and looked Loki dead in the eye. "The time came for you to be delivered to us, but it wasn't so. The Allfather came to me instead with the sad tidings of your death and all our hopes were shattered. For a year the Five Kingdoms mourned your loss, but then, a miracle! Odin sent word that you had been found alive, but soon after the only news we received were of his death. So we reached out in a desperate attempt and to offer our help to Asgard but your realm was not the only one who took notice. An unknown enemy descended upon us as soon as we lifted the veil. He and his herd of miscreants have pillaged and plundered our realms, desecrated our most sacred treasures and taken one of our most powerful relics. We are at war Loki, but only because we dared to bring ourselves out of secrecy in hopes of finding you"
Loki looked into the eyes of the king, looking for any sign of falsehood. His eyes shone with blatant truth, and for some reason, it terrified him.
"What am I?" he dared to ask, and for a brief moment, felt himself transported back to that fateful day when he stood in the weapons vault, the Casket of Ancient Winters in his hands.
"You're my son. I wanted only to protect you from the truth" he heard Odin's voice resonating in his mind.
"All the answers you seek will come at the right time" King Beyard said, seeing the battle that raged within him. He couldn't tell him. Not yet. The boy wasn't ready. He chose instead to deter from the subject and focused his eyes on Barbara.
"Do forgive me. Prince Loki's arrival has overwhelmed me so greatly that I err against decorum. Pray tell Prince Loki, who is your beautiful traveling companion?" he asked with great cordiality.
"May I present Sigyn Lokifrija, Princess of Asgard and its fiercest warrior" Loki presented her proudly and she bowed before the king.
The loud gasp that escaped Ireena's lips was caught by all. King Beyard and Stingadr exchanged quick looks of disbelief before the king turned once again to Barbara who was eyeing Ireena suspiciously.
"May I?" he said, staring at Barbara with wonder and holding his hand out for hers. Barbara looked at Loki, who gave her a small nod. She obeyed, and placed her hand in the king's.
King Beyard's eyes went wide as his vision saw images of the past of the woman whose hand he held.
"Incredible, you joined yourself with a human" he said to Loki as the visions flashed in his mind's eye "it is a great honor to stand before you Barbara, daughter of Contreras" he said to her when it was all over.
"The honor is all mine, King Beyard" she said graciously.
"She is human no longer" Loki interjected.
"Why of course, how else would she come to possess such power? You have a great gift Barbara, kingdoms have fallen before your might. The Norns have called you by name... The Phoenix, reborn from the ashes. You are as amazing as you are beautiful" he said with great reverence.
Loki watched the exchange intently, but he had also taken notice of Ireena. He saw the way her gaze drifted over to him too frequently, and how she averted his gaze when their eyes met. The words she had said, her demeanor, her nervousness. There was something more, something the king had stopped her from saying.
The king was now calling for guards to escort his guests.
"You have not yet told me why I'm here" Loki confronted him.
"Neither have you" King Beyard replied, placing his hand on Loki's shoulder "come, you must be tired after your journey. We can discuss your plans to conquer my kingdom and steal my throne once you have rested"
He chuckled heartily at the way Loki couldn't mask the shock on his face. Loki shot a look at Stingadr, who simply gave him another knowing smile.
Of course, he thought as he scowled at the Inkeri leader. Without having any other choice but to oblige, he and Barbara followed the king as he made for the doors, still rambling on about Loki's intent of taking over the kingdom. Ireena stayed behind, and as Loki moved to go with King Beyard he noticed how her eyes filled with tears before she turned and fled the throne room via another set of doors.
Loki wrapped the towel around his middle as he looked out through the large windows of the cavernous washroom. His eyes scanned over the majestic city but his mind was somewhere far away, in the cold waste of Jotunheim. Absentmindedly, he looked down at his left hand, reliving that moment when his life changed forever.
"A coin for your thoughts" Barbara called from the tub. Loki turned to see her fold her arms over the edge and rest her chin on her forearms.
"Do you believe him?" he asked.
"If I say I do, does that make me a fool?"
"The Promised One" he mused, looking about him "what does that mean? Am I heir to the throne? Is it my destiny to come and save this kingdom? His daughter did say that they are in need of one to lead their armies. Do they expect me to command their legions?"
"I remember hearing her say that" Barbara said, also remembering the way Ireena looked at Loki. It unsettled her, but she immediately pushed those thoughts away.
"I guess I really am no more than a stolen relic. Kept locked up until I was to be of use" Loki sighed, sitting on a chair by the edge of the tub, next to Barbara "was the lie that I was fed my entire life really a lie, that I was born to be a king? Or was it something more?"
"But if you were destined to be the king of Verdandi, wouldn't you have to be Beyard's son?"
Loki looked at her. No, it couldn't be.
"There must be something I'm missing. Something Odin would have said that I dismissed as another of his empty promises... there must be something... something..."
"I can tell you this. I bet you that the enemy that's been raiding is none other than..."
"Victor von Doom" Loki finished.
"He already has a stone from what I gathered"
Loki smiled at her, she had caught that piece of information as well. His Barbara was a shrewd and canny as she was beautiful. He offered his hand and she took it, stepping out of the tub. He held her by the waist and pulled her against him, slippery and soaking wet. He nuzzled her nose and ran his lips over hers. She smiled at the way his eyes twinkled with mischief as they bore into hers.
"Get close to the daughter and find out anything you can. I have an inkling that this king will take me as his protégé and I will play his game. I will be his Promised One. I will take command of his armies and lead them against your metal friend. I will decimate his forces and you will kill that pathetic wretch. And when it's all over, I will have saved the people of these realms and, well, no need for oracles or selective bloodlines anymore, is there?"
"The Promised One... Bringer of Peace and Savior of the Kingdom. I quite like the sound of that" Barbara purred.
King Beyard paced the throne room as he waited for his daughter. He looked at Stingadr, ever the calm and collected sentinel who simply stood watching his king pace back and forth.
"I care not that her hopes have been shattered, Stingadr. She is a princess, she must learn that she cannot let sentiment cloud her senses" he explained to the Inkeri leader "the continuation of the entire universe hangs in the balance"
"She is a woman, sire. They are creatures of sentiment. To ask her to act against her nature would be to ask her to betray herself" Stingadr retorted. The Inkeri leader recalled the way the princess' eyes had sparkled and her cheeks had blushed a rosy pink at the sight of the Asgardian traveler, only to see her face fall with unimaginable sadness the moment she was left alone. He had almost gone after her when she fled the throne room, but alas, he knew he could not. He had felt her pain, wished for nothing more than to take her in his arms...
"Do you think him ready?" the king's voice pulled him from his thoughts. He looked up to find his king doubled over, only supported by his staff. Stingadr immediately moved to help him, but the king put his hand up, stopping him.
"No sire, he is ambitious and misguided. He is devious and arrogant. Nothing like what he was supposed to have been"
The king sighed heavily. "Odin did it all wrong. He was supposed to tell him when he became of age. What happened? He did not even know of his Jotun origin until well into adulthood"
"I do not know, sire"
The doors opened and in walked Ireena, somber and quiet. King Beyard rushed to her and took her face in his hands.
"Be not troubled, my sweet" he comforted her and placed a kiss on her forehead "the oracles foretold and so it shall be. I swear it..."
"I waited for more than a thousand years..." she sobbed, fighting against the crushing pain in her chest.
"Do not worry about it any longer. You must focus on ensuring that everything is ready. We cannot let Prince Loki see us weak and vulnerable, our kingdom depends on it. Be strong, fight for your people and in the end, things will be as they should. The straight path that has been winded will be rectified, I promise you. He will become all he was destined to be"
"Can the Fates really find a way, father?" she asked hopeful.
"They always do, my sweet. They always do"
End of Chapter 13
Responses to reviews:
CLTex: I had planned to give the big reveal on this chapter but I couldn't. I promise it will be on the next one, even though I think that at this point it is pretty much obvious lol. Thank you so much once again Christi. You are simply THE BEST! :)
DoctorLokiLove: Mmmm... hopeful thinking is good thinking lol ;) I'm very happy to hear that you are doing well in your personal life. I am so sorry about your toe though. Again?! I hope your recovery is doing well. Please keep me updated and I hope you like the early chapter!
Guest: Thank you so, so much! I hope you liked it!
LisaF: Thank you Lisa! You will soon know everything, I promise! ;)