The Queen of Jotunheim

Chapter 21: Untold Tragedies🩸🗡️

Chapter 21:
The Eyewitness to Old
Untold Tragedies

Loki looked shocked, looking at the crib and then back to her. "Wait... Are you saying..." He felt nauseated at the mere thought, his mind firmly rejecting the idea. "My father may be many things, but I do not believe him to be able to make himself kill an infant!" He paused, looking at the crib again. "But... Perhaps one of the guards, The Allfather knows some of them are bru-"

"It was Odin!" Nix said, her voice coming out hard and fast, almost feeling like a slap to the face, making Loki stagger back and stare at her with wide eyes. Nix's eyes which normally had a warm enchanted glow were instead filled with a deep darkness. They were still red, but instead of a brilliant ruby, they had transformed into two deep pools of blood.

"I... Are you sure?" Loki wanted to yell, to protest the idea and call Nix all the same things his brother had, but he could not, he could barely manage a whisper. "Yes Loki, I am sure," Nix said, turning to fully face him and speaking in a tone that made Loki not only feel small and weak, but like a clueless child questioning an ancient being. "I saw it Loki... With my own eyes..." She turned back to the crip. "In fact... I was the only Jotunn witness..."

"You saw my father... Kill an infant?" Loki said, feeling like he had to swallow, but couldn't, his mouth was too dry. He could not even imagine an act like that, the image refusing to enter his mind. Even if the infant was the sole heir to the throne of Jotunheim, killing him was an unspeakably cruel action... Which was exactly what Nix had said had been made against Laufey.

"No," Nix answered, her voice nothing but a whisper this time, "I never said that."

The ice that seemed to have settled in Loki's blood and mind thawed up some and he felt him let out a shaking sigh, but the relief was only followed by confusion. "Nix, I don't understand," he looked to the crib and then back to her, "... What did you see?" He wanted to trust her, even if what she said was crazy he wanted to hear her out.

But Nix just scuffed, turning away from him in a dismissive way with a wave of her hand. "Loki, my own people don't even believe what I saw, why would you?" She sounded so defeated, like a person who tried this a thousand times and found it meaningless at this point.

"I don't think you would lie to me Nix!" Loki said seriously, putting his hand on her elbow. "Please Nix, I wanna trust you, but you gotta trust me too!" He begged, his fingers stroking her arm. She slowly turned to him, her eyes unsure, making his eyes more determined. "Trust me, please." He whispered.

"... I believe the Allfather instead took Leifr, Laufey's son, and has him trapped somewhere in Asgard," she whispered, looking at Loki with guarded eyes. He tried to keep his face neutral as he thought of that, it would certainly make more sense then him killing the infant, but would he not know if there was a Jotunn prince trapped somewhere in his home?

"What did you see, Nix?" He asked, knowing he needed details. He guiding her to a nearby couch to sit down. She sat down, her legs seeming to shake as she leaned back in her seat. A sad sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes, letting her head fall back. "I saw Odin pick up Leifr, but I didn't see what happened next. By the time I made it to his crib, he was gone. No blood or body."

Loki frowned, thinking about that. "But why would he do that? Why would he take a baby amid battle?" To use as leverage? A hostage situation? But if that was the case there had to have been other witnesses! "And no one else knows what happened to the baby?"

"No," Nix whispered, slowly opening her eyes, "I tried to speak to Laufey about it, but every time he would call for silence. He said to let the past stay in the past and forget that Leifr ever existed..." Her teeth snapped together with a sharp sound, as she snarled her next sentence. "How could he ask me to do that?! Forget his own son! My..." She sighed and looked away.