(LOKI)

Sigyn worked her tender magic, never ceasing to amaze and honor me. After repeating our vows together, she asked me to hold her deep into the night. She sank against my chest, bundling herself in the blankets of the bed, never once claiming my temperature gave her discomfort. While we didn't make love in our usual way, it was a new kind of intimacy to be naked against her as, well, a Frost Giant instead of a man.

I awoke with her still firmly in my arms, safe because my touch had no malice to drive pain into her. She slumbered peacefully even after I stirred, too exhausted from the excitement of the night before to notice I had gone. While sleeping, she looked younger, less creased and relaxed, and it made me think of the first night I took her to her chamber in the basement—so lush in my arms then, and no less so now. Oh, yes...to be enchanted by the girl on fire meant I'd spend my life impossible to fully chill. I preferred that.

Looking at myself in the mirror to stretch, it occurred to me how never before had I spent so much time in my Jotun skin. I flexed every muscle, impressed with my own physique and how the scars of my past appeared as they might've without the power of the Don to wash them away. I was proud of the wounds that made me who I was. And why not? They were proof that I'd earned the right to keep breathing.

As I slipped into my armor for war council, I didn't bother changing form. No—if I was to confront Thor and expect real change from Modi, I couldn't hide anymore. I had to prove that I wasn't any more fearful than normal. The books from Odin's library were due to be rewritten, so what better way to make such a request than to make sure my side of the story was told?

The boys were still in their room when I left, but that wouldn't last long, even if they were still sleeping. I needed to find Thor and Modi before Vali had a chance to be confronted and challenged. He was a strong spirit, but peer pressure had a way of defying one's nature with ease. If I understood anything about Modi, it was that he had more influence than I was comfortable with.

The palace hallways were a chorus of surprised gasps and dropped items that clashed on the marble floors as I passed. I wasn't sure it was possible to be more self-conscious than I was normally; I smiled at everyone anyway. My cape flowed behind me in a grand display of all I represented. If they didn't believe I was truly called the King of Vanaheim, perhaps they'd presume I meant Jotunheim instead. Who could argue with it?

Council was already busily in session by the time I reached Odin's foyer. My presence was ignored while Odin gave a brief report on the night's developments; that is, until he caught my sight and glared. He immediately went quiet.

Thor scolded from the other side of the table, "Loki, what is this?"

The others turned to face me, and those closest to me withdrew as far as they could. Their collective eyes sent daggers through me, even sharper than the blade Vali threw last night.

I couldn't relent in my quest, however. With a smirk, I scanned them all. "Why, my fellow Commanders, I am here for the same purpose as all of you. Is there something wrong?"

Odin openly groaned in annoyance. "Must you make a spectacle of yourself?"

"Oh, this?" I gestured up and down over my chest. "Forgive me; my sons were under the impression by others in this room that anyone of Jotun blood must be blindly destroyed. I once thought the same, though it's obvious why I feel differently now. Surely all of you can see the error in such blind assumptions?"

They went from silent judgment to whispers I wished could be private like Vanir thoughts. There were hundreds of reasons not to trust me, thousands of stories—some true and some false—that could justify my exclusion. But none of the things they argued for applied to Narvi and Vali. They were innocent. And if I could prove their innocence existed alongside this supposed curse, a secure future for them was far more likely.

I locked eyes with Thor. "My brother, I have something to speak with you about, if you'll excuse yourself with me."

He folded his arms tightly but shrank at the same time. He tried to inflate his size on his way to me, hoping to balance his trepidation. Thor wasn't sure of himself enough to claim I had no right to challenge him; even if he had no real clue of my goal, seeing me prove my bloodline so obviously sent a strong message to him that I had little to lose. Maintaining appearances had always been a priority; now, preserving my sons' safety took precedence.

"Forgive me for the interruption. Please continue," I said, slightly bowing to the council as we exited.

Thor didn't change his stiff posture after the doors closed. "Alright, Loki. What is this about?"

I went to the small platform beside the throne and used it as a table for the books. "My children came across these with your son yesterday. And I want an explanation from you why, after all these years, I found myself in defense of a history I do not recall. Perhaps you will be better at gleaning the truth from such stories." I opened the black book first to the scene of the Jotunheim army and let it speak for itself.

He fidgeted and made uncomfortable grunts while looking over it. "Modi found this?"

"Yes. Took pride in showing it to Vali. Of course, my son didn't know until last night how very personal this might have been to our family." I gestured over the still-moving scene and offered cool rebuttal to the images. "I was puzzled because I remember this day, dear brother. And I don't believe you stood alone, did you? In fact, I yelled for you to stop dawdling in a fight you could not win. That wasn't long before one of them gripped my arm, and, well...I discovered this lovely trick you see before you." I cocked a brow and didn't explain further, all too aware how uncomfortable it made him.

Thor rolled his head back and forth as if trying to find an excuse rattling inside his brain. "I didn't...Modi and I...we've discussed Jotunheim briefly, but—"

"But you didn't tell him how you fought, how you lost, how we ended up back here in the aftermath of your downright stupidity." I slammed the book shut. The moment of quiet between us swelled. I traded the black book for the gold and revealed the last page, displaying a gruesome scene of my likeness beneath a serpent spitting ooze across my face. "He gave this one to Narvi, who innocently showed it to my wife. Imagine her horror. It conveniently paints me poorly while leaving out that it was you, my supposed family, who left me there to die with the innocence that accompanied me there. A cautionary tale against thievery and lies, wrapped up in many more to prove a point."

Thor cowered and avoided my gaze.

"What hurts the most is knowing that your Modi, my nephew, was intent on knowing these myths and no truth of his uncle. To him, all Frost Giants should die like sullied dogs, a plague to be wiped out in a grand gesture of power. How could he know better, with no one to correct him? Even now—and hear me well, Thor—your child readies himself on the training field downstairs, wielding weapons for a threat that he is far too young to face."

"You make it sound like I neglected this duty on purpose."

"Then answer me this. Does he even know I existed, Thor? Or does he believe you grew up alone, the way he is now?"

He didn't answer me with words. His cowardly avoidance said enough.

I cleared my throat and straightened my back. "I want to meet him. And I want to hear you explain yourself to him the way I had to explain myself to my children. That what he knows is a lie, and that his father is less of a God than he is made out to be."

Thor furrowed his brow. "A bit of a threat, don't you think?"

"Suit yourself." I collected the books and prepared to retreat to Odin's library. "My sons will be more than happy to explain your connection to me now that they know the truth."

"Wait," he blurted, still choking on his words too much to be eloquent. After a few loud huffs, he nodded. "Alright. It's...it's time he knew about us. Our whole family."

I tucked the books under my arm and extended my right hand to him for a shake, but he hesitated. My body was a weapon. Only I knew it was driven by my will.

"I know you couldn't control what Modi picked up in these books, brother. I'm terrified what other lies he found in Odin's volumes. But please, for the sake of our future, we have to correct it. Start over with our children, with a new Yggdrasil. No more universal good or bad. Intent must matter." I reached for him again. "I won't hurt you, Thor. As long as you swear that you will no longer hurt me with your silence."

He pressed his lips together bravely before taking my hand. "Let's find my son."

Thor led the way down the stairs to the training field. It occurred to me that since I arrived in Asgard, I hadn't seen him with Modi much at all. It was as if Thor was proud of being called Father, but he didn't welcome the responsibility behind the title. Perhaps I learned from my fractured relationship with Odin that fatherhood required truth and trust, so I valued every moment with my children and vowed to do better than the example I was given. Thor learned little from his experience being banished to Midgard.

There was another possibility—that Modi's illegitimacy made his existence awkward and inconvenient. Thor briefly mentioned that the child's mother abandoned him without cause after I was caught masquerading as Odin, so he felt obligated to step in where he was needed. It made sense to me why he might be apprehensive to embrace the child at first, though after so many years...

A young voice echoed off the hard surfaces the closer we came to the training field. He yelled with authority inappropriate for his age, though his words weren't clear enough to perfectly decipher.

Thor paused and tipped his ear forward. "Is that...Modi?" His face drained of all color as embarrassment and shame set in.

"You can fetch him yourself without me. I'll meet you both in the small room at the end of the hall. Fear not—I won't reveal myself like this until you give me a signal." I left him to deal with the tantrum and excused myself, thanking Mother for the fortune that neither of my children ever made such a loud spectacle, even on their worst days.

A screaming fit ensued behind me, confirming that the child struggled with changes in routine. If he didn't get his way, he was explosive. It was even more important that I not be seen as a target for his anger until Thor did the work to calm his spirit. Igniting an illusion to hide behind, I waited in the closet-like space and left the two books in the open.

"Modi, enough of this nonsense."

"It's not fair. I shouldn't have to answer to someone like her. Why must that wench follow me day in and day out?"

"You are not to speak like that," Thor said gruffly, asserting his dominance with volume. "I don't ever want to hear you speak to her, or anyone, like that again. Do I make myself clear?"

The boy said nothing, though he had no spirit of contrition. His silence was itself a disguise against the many evil things running through his head. I couldn't hear them, but I could feel them. Smell them. He wanted to make lewd gestures and prove he was old enough for a real challenge.

I shook my head, though no one could see me. It was as if a youthful Thor walked through the palace halls and not his son.

"Modi..."

"Alright. Fine. I won't."

"Good." Thor cleared his throat and closed the door to the small room behind them. "Now, I need to discuss something with you. Please sit."

"What is this about?"

"Sit," Thor commanded, scraping the floor as he pulled a chair out.

The boy shuffled as he sat, slowly, like he was in a dance against his father. He wasn't followed by the acrid aroma of fear. It was thick, but borne of pride—a strong, brackish defiance.

Perhaps I should encourage Vali and Narvi to make...other friends.

Modi scoffed. "What are these doing in here?"

"I should ask you what you were doing in Odin's collections," Thor said. "You had no business being in there. We've had this conversation before."

"Yes, but—"

"But nothing. You not only disobeyed your grandfather, your minders, and me, you brought Vali and Narvi into it as well."

He paused for a moment. Before he even spoke, I felt the lie bubble up in his psyche. "They found it on their own. I caught them. If not for me, they could've destroyed all of them. Didn't that old hag tell you she found Vali bleaching the room in sunlight?"

I clenched my fists. Thor, see through this.

Fortunately for me, he wasn't as ignorant as I supposed. "Didn't I just say you need to mind your tongue? I know you aren't being truthful with me. The lies have to end right here and now. For both our sakes."

Modi sighed. "Stupid. They sold me out. Traitors."

"Those boys didn't put you in this mess. You did. And...and I did." Thor made the same deflated sound as his son. His thick fingers tapped in a familiar rhythm on the cover of the black book in front of them. "My son, there are things about these stories that are incomplete. They aren't preserved memories. Reality doesn't often make as clear of a picture, so they've been...abridged."

"Abridged?" Modi asked through his nose.

"Yes. They...I..." Thor gave up trying to be gentle with his words and opted to open the wound swiftly instead. "Modi, I lied to you about Jotunheim. About killing the Frost Giants. This story isn't true."

The boy narrowed his eyes and frowned. "You didn't?"

"No, because it wasn't right to attack their people. Your grandfather quarreled with Jotuns in the past, but they had a truce." Thor dropped his face. "I'm the one who broke it."

"But you're the God of Thunder. You kept us safe. You scarred their planet."

"No, I didn't." Thor traded the black book for the gold one and opened it to an image of my back being slashed. "This man did."

Modi chuckled. "I don't understand. He's nobody."

"That's just it, Modi. He is. He was raised alongside me in these very halls. Trained with me. Fought with me. Went to Jotunheim with me. He wished to impress our father and unleashed the Bifrost's stream onto their realm in an attempt to wipe them out."

"Wait, wait...your father, together?"

"Yes. He's my brother. I have a brother. And when we went to Jotunheim, he found out he was one of them." Thor exhaled like he'd finally said something bottled inside him for far too long.

Yet the damage to Modi had already been done, as evidenced by the horror on his face. "One of them?"

"A Frost Giant, and my kin. Loki."

Modi blinked a few times. A bright child, indeed, for he needed no more explanation to piece together the rest of Thor's fractured confession. "Lokison. Vali and Narvi."

"Your cousins," Thor said, smiling with closed lips and reaching for his son's face. "All this time, I was worried Loki was lost to us—it was his children who befriended you out of nowhere!"

Modi was markedly less enthusiastic about the news, contorting his face as he considered the implications. "That means...they are, too," he muttered.

Thor either didn't hear his son's confirmation, or he ignored it. His optimism—or obliviousness—camouflaged the ugliness that stained his son's opinion. He clapped once and searched the walls for me. "Loki, please show yourself."

Modi whipped his head from side to side, echoing Thor's movements, but his jaw was tightly clenched. Enough to be obvious.

I didn't want to frighten the child after all I'd just witnessed, but appearing in my Jotun skin was vital. A deliberate reveal was best. I took more time to dissolve the illusion than I would normally, letting the green light of my magic announce my location first.

Thor stood to be next to me and patted my shoulder. "Here he is."

"Thank you, Thor," I said with a nod, shifting my focus to the boy at the table.

Modi trembled, though he tried to hide it. His eyes were pinned open, staring at me with an awe that said he sought landmarks in my face that coincided with the image in his head of the Frost Giants.

"I know I'm a fright to look at," I said, stepping toward him. "But I hope you can understand how our worlds are more complex than a simple declaration of good or evil. All men have the capacity for kindness as they do for pain. I, too, have struggled with this truth."

He said nothing, but his breath quickened. His clenched jaw morphed into a scowl the longer I spoke.

"I want you to know my sons appreciate all you've done for them here in Asgard. Truly. They are part of your family, Modi. You're not alone." I raised my brows expectantly.

"No, never alone," Thor echoed.

The child gulped and broke his own trance. "You...are brothers?"

Thor glanced at me and laughed. "We don't share blood. But yes, son. Brothers."

I briefly shut my eyes and returned to my Asgardian skin. It was enough of a spectacle, as Odin said. "You have every right to be confused. Goodness knows I was when I found out the truth. But as your uncle, I need to ask something of you, Modi."

His tone relaxed somewhat. "Yes?"

"You are older and wiser than my sons." I lowered my face to him so we'd meet eye-to-eye. "Please do not challenge them with weapons. The risk is too great that they could hurt themselves, each other, or you. Is that understood?"

He opened his mouth briefly in rebuttal; ultimately, his face fell. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you." I raised his chin to me and smirked. "You certainly do look like your father, Modi. I'm proud to be your family."

Thor chuckled and shook my shoulders, forcing me to step back. "Now, that wasn't so difficult, was it?"

"May I go now?" Modi asked quietly, avoiding our eyes.

"Yes, you're excused. But no more field lessons today after the outburst this morning. And take these back where they came from." Thor patted the books.

The boy slid them off the table with a grunt and left the small room. The salty smell of his discontent followed him out. Beneath the words of affirmation we'd just shared was a fracture—between him and Thor, between Thor and me—and it wouldn't be easily mended with a single conversation.

Not that Thor sensed any of it. "Let's go back upstairs, hm?"

If he'd been anyone else, I might've criticized his willingness to let Modi be reared by hired help and not himself. Assistance was a necessity, but Thor hardly knew the boy. It was evident in the way they avoided embracing one another with any kind of affection. It was evident in the way they so easily lied to one another. And it was evident in the ease with which Thor resumed his warrior duties even though his son's whole world had just been changed.

But he wasn't anyone else. He was Thor, God of Thunder, Prince of Asgard, all infallible. Why would my words mean anything now after a lifetime of being ignored?

"Yes. Back to council." I extended my arm to invite him out first. After all, there was still plenty of time to smooth Modi's rough edges and change his mind.