Chapter 5

Two weeks. Two weeks she had been married. Two weeks she had been trying to talk to her husband to find out what was needed of her as queen.
Two weeks of being avoided for some reason. She had yet to find out anything new from him and the fact that he seemed to not want anything to do
with her after all the work he had put into getting her was confusing. In the two weeks she had been queen she had learned very little about her
new role other than the one book that had been sent to her by her husband the morning after they had wed. Yet, the book really didn't tell her
anything she didn't already know.

Shaking her head, she headed out of her chamber and asked the guard at her door where the library was. The guard directed her to it and she
thanked him before heading off in the direction he had given. The sight that greeted her when she arrived shocked her. Her husband, whom she had
never seen looking so vunerable as he did at that moment, was sitting by the fireplace with his head in his hands. He looked upset about something
though she had no idea as to what it might be since he had not seen fit to confide in her, which irked her to no end.

"Loki? Are you alright?" she asked approaching him quickly and kneeling down in front of him, hoping that he would look at her and tell her what
was wrong.

Loki heard the concern in her voice but he could not make himself look at his wife whom he longed to pull into his arms and just take comfort from
her embrace. Yet, he knew that that was not going to happen anytime soon. He had been avoiding her since their wedding. Not because he wanted
to but because he had to. Anytime he got close to her, a part of him wanted to just make her his. To claim her as was his right. It was a struggle he
had endured for the past two weeks and would continue to endure until she allowed the contact he craved between them. He feared that she would never return his feeling. The bond between them was strong, he knew for he could feel it, though he doubted that she could or ever would.

"I'm fine, my dear. There is no need to worry about me," he said still not looking at her.

"Loki. You are lying. There is something wrong. I don't know how I know only that I do and I want you to confide in me. I am your wife and as such
you should be able to tell me anything. I know that this marriage is not what I wanted but it is something you wanted. Now tell me. What is
bothering you?" she said urging him to tell her. She was confused as to why she could feel his distress and the fact she knew he was lying about how he was feeling but she would think about that at a later date. At the moment she needed to get him to talk to her.

"You," was the only thing he said. She barely caught what was spoken as it was said so softly it was only slightly below a whisper.

She was taken aback by his answer. Her? What had she done to cause him so much obvious pain?

"I'm sorry…..I don't know what I have done to cause you to feel the way you do but I am deeply sorry that it has affected you like it has," she said trying to figure out exactly what it was that was causing his to feel this way about her.

"My dear, you haven't done anything wrong. It's just that when I am near you I want to claim you as mine. The urge only gets stronger the longer I
am in your presence."

She blushed scarlet at his words then countered, "Well, why don't you do something that will take your mind off me and onto something
else?"

He smiled faintly and she noticed that when he did his face seemed to take on a softer look and decided then and there that he needed to smile
more often.

"And what, my queen, would you have me think about to take my mind off of you?"

"Well why don't you tell me about yourself? After all, you said so yourself you didn't expect me to sleep with a stranger and as of right now
you are exactly that even if we are married." Besides, she told herself, maybe this way I will finally get some answers to what my role really is.

"So what did you want to know?" he asked trying to distract himself from her alluring scent. A scent that had been haunting him since he had married her. The same scent that had kept him apart from her these past two weeks becasue all he wanted to do was claim her every time he breathed it in.

"Well, since you have already told me that you are a Frost Giant by birth and adopted by Odin tell me about your childhood," she said smiling
encouragingly at him.

He nodded and then asked her to sit by him as she was still kneeling before him. She did as asked though hesitantly as she was still wary of him. After she was settled by his side he began.

"As I told you before, I was adopted by Odin as an infant. He brought me from Jotunheim to Asgard and reared me as his own son. I am younger than
Thor by a few years and we grew up playing together in the halls of Odin's Golden Palace. We were the best of friends for the longest time and I
often played tricks on him and his friends as a child. Frigga, who is my adoptive mother, was always the one parent I felt closest to and I figured
it was because I had more in common with her than with Odin. She taught me how to handle my magic once it began to show."

"Make no mistake, I did love my family and would have protected them with my very life and if I am honest with myself I would still protect them
with my life. Though now, I am sure that I would be chained and sent to the deepest dungeon Asgard has if I was ever to return. Odin is not very
forgiving and he is very stubborn."

He paused and she asked, "Loki, is that why you came to Earth instead of going back to Asgard in the first place? I mean you had the power to
do so. Was taking over my realm really that important to you?"

"You have to understand, Odin told Thor and I all our lives that we were both meant to be kings though only one of us would ever sit on Asgard's
throne. So yes, I suppose that is why I did not chose to return back to Asgard after I was revived by the Chitari and given the scepter. Thor was
promised the throne of Asgard and I was left with nothing. So yes, I did choose to rule Midgard instead as it was the only realm of the nine that had
no singular ruler ruling over the inhabitants. I also chose it becasue of you and the fact that it was dear to Thor."

"I see. But why did you choose me? And don't tell me I have to figure it out on my own like you did last time I asked."

He was taken aback by her words not sure if he should tell her the truth or not. "Darcy, you are asking something of me that you are not prepared to
hear the answer to."

"And what would that be Loki? I know you care about me. I can see it every time you look at me but I want to know if it runs deeper than that. The
reason I am asking is because at our wedding when you pleaded with me to take the apple you said my love. Now do you or don't you love me? It's
okay to tell me. I will not be offended by the admission. I have seen you interacting with people around the palace and I am now less inclined to think ill of you. You can be cruel at times but then at other times you are caring. I have seen this in the two weeks that you have avoided me. I have observed your behavior in that time and I can safely say that you are a man I can come to care for," she said softly, voluntarily taking his hand in hers.

"Darcy," he whispered her name before turning to look at her. "I have loved you from the moment I saw you."

"And when was that?"

"When I sent the Destroyer to kill Thor when he had been banished by Odin. As acting king at the time I was able to see through its eyes and I saw
you. I never understood why I was so drawn to you but I was and still am obviously, but I did fall for you right then and there. From that time on I found myself searching you out. I knew where SHIELD had moved both you and Miss Foster when I came through the Tesseract into their base camp and took the archer and your friend Dr. Selvig hostage. You see I can project and image of myself through time and space and onto any plane I wish and no one would be able to detect me spying on them. This is how I garnered the information I needed about your location. I knew you were here in New York and it was my goal to get here as soon as I could so that I could claim you. I know that it might sound a bit harsh but it's the truth."

Darcy was trying to digest what she had just learned. She had a feeling that he loved her but to hear him say it out loud made her heart for some
odd reason jump for joy. She didn't know why she liked knowing that he loved her but she did and she wondered if she was beginning to like him if
only a little.