The Queen of Jotunheim

Chapter 10: Free to Smile

Chapter 10:
The Truth shall set you
Free to Smile

Loki lifted his head slowly, looking up at Nix with wide eyes. "... I'm sorry, what?" He asked in disbelief. Had he heard her right? Did she just say-

"I already knew that you were the one who led some of my citizens to the treasure room," Nix said, giving a soft shrug, "I didn't know why you did it, so I'm glad you told me that," she continued with a teasing smile.

Loki could feel himself turning pale, he was having a little trouble breathing as if his lungs were completely frozen. "But... How? Why? If you knew all this time then why-"

"Because I wanted to know why you did it," Nix said as she leaned back, hitting the edge of the nest, "and I also had to be completely sure that it was you and not some other master magician that was framing you." She looked at Loki with a raised eyebrow, seeming to examine his face and posture.

Loki lowered his gaze away from her face and down at his hands which were trembling on his knees. He grabbed the fabric of his pants tighter to try to make them stop shaking. "... Are you going to report me to the Allfather, now that I confessed?" He would not blame her if she did, after all, he was guilty.

"Why in the nine realms would I do that?" Nix asked in a dismissive tone. "I have no desire to throw you into the fighting pit, even more so after hearing your reasoning." She waved her hand in front of her face, as if the thought itself was irritating flies she was trying to swat away.

"Why?!" Loki asked, looking at her as he felt his blood start to move around again, heating his veins and body with his sudden rage and suspicion. "Why would you not report the person who was responsible for some of your people's deaths!" He could feel his voice getting louder, and he feared he might start shouting if he did not get answers.

But Nix did not hesitate in answering, a gesture that proved she didn't have to pause to come up with a lie, or that she wished to hide something from him. "Because your action prevented a worse outcome, and while some of it might have been slightly selfish, it sounds like you had the nine realms' best interest in mind."

Loki felt his blood cool once again, his eyes desperately scanning Nix's face for any signs of deception, but found none. How could she trust him so much? "But even before that," Loki interjected, leaning forward and looking at her desperately, "before you knew my reasoning, why did you not report me? And it sounds like you were not trying to decide on whether or not to report me, but rather that my reasoning didn't change your decision, so why?!" His hands moved to the floor of the nest, grabbing onto the fur there as he looked at her deep in the eyes. "Why would you not report me?!"

Nix tilted her head, pausing only for a moment as her eyes scanned his face, seeming like she too was searching for something in his eyes. "Because your crime is not as big as you seem to think it is, Loki." Nix's voice was calm, and Loki realized she was trying to calm him down, which only confused him more.

"Even if your intention was to kill the Jotuns you tricked," Nix continued, talking with a calm voice and watching him closely, "they were still the ones who agreed to go to the treasury, knowing that in the worst case, it could start a war, or in a milder one would simply be the end their lives." She straightened herself up. "So unless you did some kind of mind control, or you manipulated them in a way that they lost their common sense, they knew what they were doing."

Loki was unsure if the room was spinning or if it was just his thoughts. Nothing about this made sense to him! "But why-" He started asking, but Nix interrupted him. "Why are you fighting so hard to be proclaimed guilty, Loki? Do you wish to be punished?" Her voice was filled with disbelief, but her head tilted and her eyes narrowed in a clear sign of worry, looking Loki up and down.