After Loki's lost bet with Thor, D.B. Cooper causes chaos on Midgard, and a war with Vanaheim rises in the East, so Odin proposes a wager of his own to his youngest son:
An arranged marriage, one for the public. If the terms of the deal are honored...
Warnings: arguments, first kisses, mentions of abuse and fear, angst
Summary: Adora and Loki get into an argument at the feast. Later, Loki helps put Milja back to sleep, and Adora makes a confession
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Loki was running late. He hated being late, as it was unbecoming of a man of his rank and title, and this week he'd been late more than once.
Striding through the halls he cut through the portal from the halls where he'd been preparing Adora's gift. He hoped she liked it, though she no doubt thought of him as an unredeemable jackass at this point.
He realized that night he hated hearing her cry. It wound something tightly in his chest, her red rimmed eyes and wounded face haunted him.
Why did it bother him so? All he wanted was to manipulate her the same way he'd done to countless others over the years, to get what he wanted and move on with his life. It shouldn't hurt this much to do it.
Perhaps... he was better off abandoning this little scheme to make Adora fall in love with him. But then again, his freedom of choice for the rest of his life was at stake.
Thor was right. Loki had no idea how to take care of her or her child. Pretending wasn't going to do it, it wasn't going to quell those tears that always seemed to show up and pierce him right in the heart. He wished it would stop.
He rather liked Adora, and after that morning he found he liked Milja very much. Her little giggles as she played with the ducks echoed through his mind, making him feel light and airy. They plastered a grin on his face he hadn't been able to shake all day... until he made Adora cry, that is.
He spotted her lingering next to Thor and Hela as he came through the Great Hall, clinging to a wine goblet and turning it in her hands. As she turned to see him, he stopped in his tracks, suddenly winded and awestruck.
Her long hair flowed over her shoulders in their wild ringlets, the only real outward display of her ferocity she allowed through. She wore a pale blue ballgown, its billowing skirt landing just above her little matching ballet flats and making her look even smaller and waifish than she usually did.
The long sleeves and corset were a dazzling silver blue, hand stitched and carefully hand embroidered with each shining jewel shimmering across her bosom.
Norns, she was beautiful. It made him so angry, and so confused, he couldn't stand it. He had a bet to win, and fawning over this woman and her fun little girl was not going to help.
Her under eyes were heavy from the tears he'd forced from her, but she beamed at him nonetheless. Ever the perfect princess, the perfect bride, she pretended to love him amidst the sea of eyes watching them closely.
Loki wasn't so sure he was pretending anymore... but he needed to.
Loki made his way over to her and scooped her up in a twirl. She stiffened when he kissed her cheek, but laughed for the sake of the public. It tore at his gut for their relationship to have regressed, and he decided then and there that he would fix it any way that he could.
