Lower Your Eyes (A Loki Romance Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Eve of Death

Despite their promises, we did not—or, rather, could not—find a way to disarrange the trial between myself and the king. We had considered every option to prevent this fight from taking place, right down to murdering the king in his sleep. To my great surprise, even Frigga hadn't expressed deep objections to it in principle—only in the fact that it would ruin relations between the realms.

We had also considered having Loki take my place at the tournament, to have him cast a spell between us and fight on my behalf. But the king was older and more experienced than the Loki himself—and if the prince were to die, gods forbid it, the repercussions and reflection it would cast on Asgard would be unspeakably great. Not just where Niflheim was concerned, but the other eight realms as well—how would they all feel if they knew that Odin had allowed something like this to take place? And how would it reflect on their affairs in the future?

Days in training continued thusly, but the hopelessness had become palpable. Simple techniques done mistakenly became far more serious subjects for conversation than they ought to have been—right up to the day itself, which was now upon us. Tomorrow.

Loki and I hadn't bothered to train today, as my body needed some time to rest. Thor and Frigga joined us in the library as the day came to a solemn close, all of them perched around me like statues throughout the room. The queen sat beside me on the couch while Thor stood in front of the fireplace. Loki, ever lost in his imaginings, stood in the shadows of the bookshelves. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him move closer to one of the windows. Moonlight poured over him from outside, casting shadows over his regal features.

"So..." Frigga muttered gravely after some time, breaking the silence. "What are our options, now?"

Thor looked back from the fireplace, but Loki did not move from the window. "There are no options," I was the one who answered. "I have to face what's coming, that's all there is to it." The very words had my stomach twisting in knots.

"No—we should have had you leave Asgard when we had the chance," she said, her eyes flicking in Loki's direction. He was the reason I'd stayed in the realm and we all knew it. "But there may be time, still, for us to arrange for that."

"No. I'm not leaving."

"Aila, we must look at the facts," Thor said. "Time has changed the circumstances. We cannot lie to ourselves for the sake of baseless hope or spared feelings: you are not ready. That is the truth of it. We had not the time to prepare you for this."

"Maybe I can use magic to—"

"You cannot use magic," Frigga interrupted. "If there's even the hint of it...who knows what the king will demand in recompense?"

"Can it be worse than what he wants from me now? I can use magic to—"

"If we arrange for passage out of Asgard," Loki interjected without facing us, "what consequences might that have on relations between the realms?"

"None, so far as I can tell," Frigga answered him, then arched a brow in my direction. "But I suspect we have an unwilling passenger."

There was the slightest turn of Loki's head, and I saw the grave expression etched across his profile. After a moment of contemplation, he looked back out the window. "Perhaps we might convince her of its necessity."

"It's rude to talk about me like I'm not here," I muttered indignantly. "I'm not leaving the realm."

"Then you will die," the way that Loki said the words, one might think he was conveying some new information—and feigning putrid delight while doing so. There was a certainty to his voice that cut straight through me, the lack of belief and faith at the hour I needed it most.