Sorcha's Secret World, Part one.

Chapter 48, A New Year.

The disastrous trip to Thor's Place of Power changed things, for all of us.

Anna wasn't deterred by what had happened at all, as a matter of fact, it just made her more enthusiastic and determined. Her life's work had been focused on scraps of myths and legends buried deep in the past, with no way of knowing what was truth and what was fiction. But now, she had a front-row seat to the making of new myths and legends, and what once was ancient history was happening right before her very eyes.

Both the relationship between the brothers and my relationship with Loki was a source of endless questions, some quite inappropriate.

I tried to answer as honest as I could, but some questions I was really not going to answer. Like the time she asked about 'Loki's deviancy in the bedroom'. I mean, honestly! Who asks that?

I understand the fascination, but what happens or doesn't happen between the two of us in the bedroom will always remain between the two of us.

In Loki's own rather annoyed words, when Anna cornered him and pressed him after getting no answers from me:

"There isn't much I won't try at least once, barring certain exceptions. I will never engage in bestiality, incest, paedophilia or necrophilia, all of which should have gone without saying really.

I pride myself on the fact that my partners have always come with me willingly, and left fully satisfied.

Besides that, what I do or don't do is no one's business but my own.

I might be a rake and a scoundrel, but despite my flaws, my mother raised me to be a gentleman. And a true gentleman never tells."

There were a lot of other questions about Loki's past and about his true nature as well, questions that were uncomfortable for me to answer. Partly because a lot of what Loki had told me had been in confidence and I would never break his trust, and partly because I didn't have all the answers myself.

I believe it was around that time that the thought of eventually writing down our story occurred to me first. There were so many untruths about Loki and his family that were considered fact by even the most knowledgeable academics, and I realised I didn't really want to find out what people would think was the truth a few hundred years from now if I would leave it to others to tell our tale.

I didn't have the time to write it all down back then, and perhaps that was a good thing. I understand so much more now than I did then, about the world around me, about the god who had become the greatest love of my life.

I know so much more now, and I have the time.

Thor and Loki had grown so much closer since Thor arrived, closing so much of the gap between them. Theirs was a bond stronger than blood, a brotherhood forged out of love for one another despite their differences.

But now their relationship was deteriorating rapidly.

Thor blamed Loki for the loss of a place which had meant so much to him (even if he had forgotten its location) and had been reminded of Loki's deceptive nature, of which Thor had been a victim more than anyone over the course of their long lives.

While Thor had become slowly convinced his brother might have changed for real this time, he now wasn't so certain anymore. Theirs was a story that had repeated itself over and over, one Thor was familiar enough with to know what his part was destined to be, and what part Loki was bound to play.

Thor had lost some of his faith in Loki and wasn't certain whether to trust him anymore.

Not to mention the fact that the dark magic Loki had used had scared Thor, and there isn't much in this world that can frighten the god of Thunder.