Sorcha's Secret World, Part one.

Chapter 49. You are no son of mine.

The start of January was uneventful.

Anna managed to locate two more places of power for us. One of them turned out to be a parking lot. If there was ever any magic there, it had long since faded. The other was a cave with a river running through it, fed by an underground spring. It was pretty, and there were plenty of old murals and objects that Anna spent days cataloguing. But besides the fact that the anima was thicker there than elsewhere, there was very little to be learned since we had no idea what the anima had been like in the past.

Loki had checked on his own Places of Power, by himself, not even taking me along. He reassured us that those places were the same as elsewhere; anima was thinner but hadn't completely faded. He wouldn't say more.

To Thor's consternation, there had been a message from Asgard, warning him that Loki had been able to hide from Heimdall's sight again, he had adapted his cloak enough that even Heimdall's all-seeing eyes could not pierce it. When asked, Loki just shrugged. His Places of Power were his own, and he had no inclination to share them.

Besides the odd job here and there, the Secret World was quiet as if it was holding its breath waiting for the storm to come.

The waiting around made both Thor and Loki irritable, and they often argued, bringing up old grievances or finding new things to squabble about.

I found myself taking the role of mediator between the brothers more and more which was not something I particularly enjoyed since both of them would inevitably accuse me of taking the other person's side.

It was during one of those squabbles that the subject of Asgard's rule was brought up again.

"I never wanted to be king, Loki! You know I never asked for that!" Thor thundered. "If it were up to me, I would have been happy enough to let you take my place! But you know it was never up to me! And even if you were father's own flesh and blood, you burned that bridge a long time ago!"

"Father would have never let me have the throne, Thor, no matter how little you wanted it! Because no matter what he claimed, Asgard could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne! You know that as well as I do!"

"But you could have ruled by my side! We could have fought, side by side, together! Ruled, side by side, together!"

"What, and forever live in your shadow? Spend forever hiding behind your throne, every one of my plans and deeds claimed as yours as you played at being king?"

"And would that have been so terrible, to sit at my right-hand side? To be my most trusted advisor, my brother, my friend?

Loki, I thought the world of you, I thought you were going to be at my side forever!"

Loki shook his head. "You have no idea what it was like, you who were always father's favourite! I was a better ruler, a better politician, a better son!"

"And the throne was never yours to have! But instead of being content with your fate, you had to have the throne all for yourself and you gladly stabbed me in the back in your attempt to get it!

I nearly died that day, Loki!

Was I truly such a horrible brother to you that I deserve that? Was I?"

"My fate? It was never my fate to spend an eternity in your shadow! My fate was taken away from me the moment Father murdered my parents, and massacred my people!" Loki's face was an ugly red, tears of anger shimmering in his eyes.

For a moment they flashed green, but before he did anything he thought the better of it and left the room instead, followed by the sound of the front door slamming shut.