"IS HE INSANE?" I screeched the moment we were out of the dining hall.
"Shhh!" Loki clapped his hand over my mouth before I could say more. With one arm around my shoulders, he firmly led me through the palace.
"She's overcome with gratitude," Loki casually lied to a guard that eyed us curiously. The man just nodded, not believing him but thinking better of getting involved in a spat between the god of Mischief and the queen of Frost Giants.
I struggled but Loki held firm, his hand clasped over my mouth as he manhandled me through the golden halls.
"Will you just calm down?" he asked irritably. "Will you promise to stop yelling and struggling if I let you go?"
"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" I shrieked the moment he took his hand off my mouth.
"Yes, I don't know what else I expected," Loki muttered to himself. "Threatening the AllFather in his own palace is not your brightest idea darling," he whispered as several of the guards raised their weapons threateningly.
"She's talking about me, it's just a jest, it's her love language," Loki reassured them hastily as he slapped a hand over my mouth again before I could say more.
"Come, I know just the place where you can curse him to your heart's content, I have done so many times myself over the ages," Loki practically dragged me through hallways and up the stairs.
"Tada!" he finally said as we stood still before a door.
"Where are we?" I asked once he removed his hand from my mouth. For a moment, I forgot my anger as my curiosity got the better of me.
"This is your name!" I traced the runes on the door, circled by engraved serpents.
"These are my rooms. You'll have to forgive the mess, I haven't been here in a very long time and it is probably dusty and… oh!" Loki interrupted himself.
He had opened the door as we spoke and snapped his fingers to turn on the light.
"It is just the way I left it…"
I stepped inside. The room was large and warmly lit, it was clean and cosy.
"Mother always demanded the servants keep the rooms clean and tidy even after I left, so I would always have a place to return to.
No matter how often I left and no matter under what circumstances, Mother always made sure I was made to feel welcome and at home when I returned.
She made certain I was never made to feel there was no place for me in Asgard anymore.
They must have honoured her wish even after her death."
There was a little quiver in his voice.
I felt sorry for Loki and I felt sorry for Frigga. All these years she had kept the door open for him, kept a light on, kept his room ready for him just in case Loki would make his way back home.
It must have broken her heart to see him return, sinking further into darkness, depression and bitterness each time and then leave again. It must have broken her heart to have the son she was so close to spurn the hand she reached out to him because, by her actions and lies, the trust between them had been broken.
Loki had been hurting, but Frigga must have been hurting too.
I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like if the bond between Jessie and me broke like that.
I took Loki's hand and gave it a little squeeze while I looked around me.
The centrepiece of the room was a huge bed. Placed on a low dais it was made out of wood stained so dark it was nearly black, the wooden posts inlaid with golden filigree. It was draped with heavy green curtains embroidered with gold thread.
Dark green silken sheets, thick blankets and black furs covered the bed, and at least a dozen thick comfortable pillows were scattered all over it.
Plush green carpets lined the floors, and beautiful tapestries hung around the room.
There was a huge fireplace with a comfortable dark green sofa and matching deep plushy chairs in front of it.
"I was reading that before… before I last left. I never got to finish it," Loki said softly as he picked up a book from the low table in front of the sofa.
A lute stood on a stand next to one of the chairs. Loki picked it up and strummed it. "A bit out of tune, but still playable!"
To the left of the bed was a door that stood open. Curiously, I peeked inside.
The sight of a smaller room greeted me. A cosy study, with a big desk and a comfortable leather chair in front of it, a journal still open with runes written in Loki's handwriting. There was a work desk too with a half-taken-apart magic trinket on top of it, and the walls were lined with shelves upon shelves filled with books. More tomes were stacked on the floor in individual piles.
"I have a system, I assure you!" Loki said as he caught my gaze.
"Even if your name had not been written on the door, I would have known instantly these rooms were yours," I smiled. "Everything in here just shouts Loki."
Opposite the bed were huge windows. The thick green curtains that lined them were pulled back.
I walked closer to admire the view and realised there were two large glass doors leading out onto a balcony. I pushed them open and stepped outside.
Below me, I could see the waterfalls at the edge of Asgard. In front of me, was the most beautiful view of the night sky I had ever seen.
Loki stepped out on the balcony and stood behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, his chin leaning on top of my head.
"This is amazing…" I said. I noticed the telescope standing in the corner of the balcony. "You have always been obsessed with the stars, haven't you?"
"One of the benefits of being an insomniac is that one becomes intimately familiar with the night. We are old friends, these stars and I.
Never did I think I would be able to gaze upon them once again." Loki's voice was deep and warm and filled with emotion.
"So often did I look up at them feeling lost and alone, trying to guess what the future would hold, what fate was written in them for me.
Never could I have guessed that one day, far away and under different stars, I would meet someone like you. And never dared I dream you would one day be here with me, looking at the same night sky."
I turned around and kissed him.
"Marry me," he whispered. "Marry me once again. Here, in my childhood home where I have so precious few good memories.
Let us change that, let us acknowledge the love we have, the way we feel for each other, in a grand celebration! In front of our family, in front of all our friends!
Let us have the beautiful ceremony our love deserves.
For better, for worse. Till death does us part and beyond."
"Three days Loki," I reminded him, "Your father gave us three days! What sort of perfect wedding could we possibly plan in that short amount of time?"
Loki grinned. "I am going to take that as a yes."
"Yes, of course, it's a yes! I already married you, you fool," I grinned back.
"It is not marrying you that is the problem, it's organising a huge wedding in three days."
"Well, about that…" Loki winked and pulled me back inside.
On the opposite side of the study were two more doors. One led to a large bathroom I saw as I glanced inside. The other was a huge walk-in wardrobe.
The walls were lined with shelves stacked with clothing (most of it either green or black) and a myriad of outfits hung neatly on rungs on either side.
What caught my eye was the armour stand in the middle.
"Oh wow!" I breathed softly. I had seen the armour on it before of course, in Loki's illusions, but never for real.
"It truly exists!"
"Did you doubt that?" Loki raised his eyebrows.
"I didn't think it still would after all these years."
"It's the finest Asgardian leather, as long as it is oiled regularly and well looked after, it will last practically forever."
I ran my fingers over the black leather, the green fabric, the golden metal.
"The details, the craftsmanship… it is amazing!"
"I never thought I'd see it again," Loki admitted.
"May I?" Without waiting for an answer I carefully picked up the golden helmet.
"It barely weighs anything!" I exclaimed.
"It's made of a very light material, else it would be incredibly uncomfortable to wear. It is almost purely ceremonial.
Mother always said it was a good thing I have a hard head."
I handed the helmet to Loki, who took off his Jotunn circlet and put it on.
"It still fits," he smiled.
"Worried your head had gotten too big?" I teased.
"Hah ha, very droll," Loki said dryly.
"It looks very handsome on you," I smiled at him. I leaned in for a kiss, but before our lips met I got distracted.
"Oooh! What is that?" I ducked past my husband, leaving him standing with his eyes closed and lips pursed as I reached up to grab a box from one of the shelves.
"What?" Loki asked somewhat bemused. "Oh, no! Oh no, leave that alone, Sorcha that is nothing will you just…"
"Oh my goodness! It is so cute!"
"And does she ever listen? No. No, she certainly does not…" Loki grumbled to himself.
"Who is this?" I held up a stuffed woollen wolf pup. From the way the fabric was worn and frayed, it had obviously been well-loved at one time.
Loki took his helmet off.
"I am certain I have no idea," he lied. "Must be one of Thor's that got accidentally mixed up with my things."
"Your runes are stitched on one of its hind paws," I pointed out, secretly enjoying his apparent embarrassment.
"Thor named it after me, he's always been terrible at naming things!" Loki blustered.
"I could walk back into the dining hall with it and ask Thor and your father…" I started moving towards the door.
Loki caught me by the arm. "No! Please don't!"
"Loki…"
"His name is… well loosely translated it is Mister Flufflekins. Thane Flufflekins actually, to be precise," Loki said morosely as he admitted defeat.
"Mister Flufflekins! He is so adorable!" I cooed at the stuffed animal.
"He's coming home with us. He can live on the shelf together with all my old teddies.
He doesn't have to stay here all alone in a box.
You'd like that, wouldn't you, Mister Flufflekins?"
"You are doing this on purpose to vex me," Loki accused me.
"Oh, and what are those?" I handed Loki the stuffed wolf, who had no choice but to take him, and fished a pair of little green leather booties out of the box.
"Oh my, were these yours? Just look at them! You had such little feetie-weeties!"
"Everyone has little feetie-wee… feet! Everyone has little feet as an infant!" Loki exploded. "Oh, will you just give that box here, who knows what else you'll find!"
He practically ripped the box out of my hands.
I pealed with laughter.
"You are so cute when you are annoyed," I giggled.
Loki ignored me.
"Ah, here it is! This is what I was looking for!"
He handed Mister Flufflekins back to me and took a large book out of the box.
"What is it?"
Loki stood next to me, holding the book so I could see it, and began to leaf through the pages.
Runes I couldn't read were written on the pages in Loki's meticulous writing, but that wasn't all of it.
Dried flowers were lacquered to the paper, having lost most of their colour over time. Scraps of fabric were wedged in between the sheets, fragile and discoloured, but I could see they once must have been beautiful and elegant.
There were also drawings, of flower arrangements and of Odin's throne room decorated with flowers and more.
"I have been planning my perfect wedding since I was very young," Loki said softly, a shy smile on his face. "I've changed my mind a few times, added new ideas and different fashions as time went on, but it is all here."
"This is beautiful," I whispered as I admired stylised drawings of brides in beautiful dresses. "Did you draw these?"
"I did, these are all my designs," Loki looked vulnerable all of the sudden. I understood he was sharing something very special and precious to him with me.
"I'm speechless, this is amazing, Loki!"
Loki smiled.
"Is this you?" I pointed to one of the pictures.
"I played around with the thought," Loki admitted.
"Is that something you want? Because I'd have no problem…"
Loki shook his head. "Not now, no. One time I would have, and in the future, I might again. But right now I'd like to be the groom."
"We can always renew our vows if you do ever wish to walk down the aisle in one of your designs."
"Or we'll just get married again, it seems to become a habit," Loki quipped.
"Let's get this wedding out of the way first," I winced.
Loki closed the book.
"Look, it will not be as daunting as it seems. One of the advantages of having a state wedding between royals is that a lot of it is determined by tradition.
There will be pomp and ceremony, everything has to be done a certain way; the proper way. Our wedding will not be much different than the one Mother and Father had, or Thor and Sif.
We will have the palace's servants at our disposal, and they have an exact playbook on how things are supposed to be done.
The only thing we'll have to worry about is the colour scheme, the music we wish to dance to, our personal guest list and your dress. We can do this, I can do this. I was born for this!
Trust in me, darling, and I promise you, we will have the wedding we have always dreamt of!"