The Other Brother

Chapter 1

- Loki's Pov -

"Loki, are you listening to me?" Vali tossed the papers in his hand down on the desk in my room.
"Not even in the slightest," I sighed. My gaze was fixed outside to the courtyard "And do you mind knocking next time?"
"Well, how very charming of you. And I am your little brother. So no, I don't mind," Vali rolled his eyes before frowning "What are you looking at?" Vali turned on the spot to follow my gaze. "Nothing that concerns you," I grumbled.
"Oh, that's what you're looking at," He turned back to me shaking his head "You know if I had known hiring Sigyn as our sister's handmaiden was going to be such a distraction for you, I insisted on someone different," I bounced my leg as I watched Sigyn through the window.
"Out of curiosity... Why did you insist on her becoming our sister's maid and I'm not distracted."
"And you call yourself the God of Lies?" Vali laughed "Yes you are. And she gets on well with Hela. She does a remarkable job," I begrudgingly agreed. She had been extremely helpful. However, It would have been easier if she had been bad at her job.
"She is not a distraction for me. merely the bane of my existence. She walked into this job having already made up her mind about me, and why? Because of some rubbish gossip rag that she picked up for a bit of light reading?" I sighed.
"Sigyn certainly did seem to hold a grudge against you. And I can see why. You do seem to have a small reputation in this realm. And every other realm," I rolled his eyes in response, picking up the papers Vali had discarded. I flipped through them.
"Where are the reports for the night guards?" I frowned.
"I must have left them in the library," He got up and opened up my door "Sigyn?" I groaned in the background.
"My lord?" Sigyn smiled at my brother.
"Would you mind grabbing the expense reports from the library for me?" The young woman stood with a smile. "Of course, My lord," Vali closed the door and flopped on my bed. He noticed the glare that I sent him.
"What? I didn't do anything," Vali frowned. I feel as if Father should have named him God of Mischief. I held up three fingers.
"One, The library is 30 seconds down the hall. I could have teleported quicker. Two, you could have gone and got them and three, get your muddy boots off my bed," Vali jumped off my bed and said sorry before he went to nosy at my bookcase "Why are you here?"
"Is it a crime to spend time with my brother?"
"Yes and since you are here, my guess is that everyone else has got better things to do, don't they?" I finally glanced up at Vali as he nodded "This family makes me want to murder people,"

A minute or so passed before Sigyn knocked on my door. Vali opened the door and I noticed that she had the requested documents in her hand.
"Here you go, My lord," She handed him the reports with a smile. As she looked at me, that smile dropped "Hello, Lord Loki," I attempted to be the bigger person and gave her a polite smile.
"Miss Westergaard. I do hope you are settling in alright." Sigyn met my gaze with a cool stare.
"Oh, yes everyone has been most welcoming. Your sister is a wonderful person. You could learn a thing or two from her," Vali choked back a laugh, his eyes pinging between the two. my smile twisted into a grimace and I leaned back in my chair as I stared back at her "I should return to my duties," With that she turned on her heel.

I turned back to Vali and pointed at the door.
"Do you see what I mean? Bane of my existence," Vali laughed as he passed over the reports.
"That is not what I see," Vali smiled.
"I see a lot of sexual tension there,"
"Vali. I have no desire to do anything to Miss Westergaard," I coughed. Visibly shocked at my brother's words.
"I know you, Loki. Sigyn is a challenge, that's not something you are used to. Admit it, you are dying to figure her out."
"Figure her out? You've been lounging on Midgard for far too long," Vali sighed, beginning to continue to talk about last night's raid on Muspulhiem. I glanced up from the papers in my hand to once more look in the direction of Sigyn. Though I was loathe to admit it, Vali was right. Sigyn Westergaard was a mystery to me. One that I desperately wanted to solve.

- Hela's Pov -

I sat in the dinner hall with Thor and my best friend, Serena, listening to Thor prattle on about the date he went on last night. Serena had introduced him to a friend of hers last week and truth be told. I wish that she hadn't. Serena had been in love with Thor for almost 200 years. She had waited for Thor, convinced he would eventually wake up and realize that she was right in front of him. Over this past decade though, I had been trying my damndest to make her fall out of love with him. To stop wasting her affections and find someone else to give them to. I stabbed at my food as Thor continued his never-ending adoration of the new girl. I rolled my eyes, fed up with my brother's obliviousness. Honestly, Serena had always worn her heart on her sleeve and her feelings for Thor were the worst kept secret there could ever be. Everyone knew. Everyone but Thor somehow managed to keep his blinders on, remaining blissfully ignorant of how Serena simply adored him.
"Ariella is just absolutely amazing. Serena, I can't believe it took so long for you to introduce us," Thor's voice boomed. I shared a glance with Hela before plastering on her fake smile.
"I know Thor, I just suppose it was always slipping my mind whenever she visited," Ariella had recently moved to Asgard. She had been staying with Serena while she looked for a place. It was no shocker. Ariella was Serena's sister but not everyone knew that. Thor had come over and happened upon her. I had watched helplessly from the kitchen as the two simply clicked. It wasn't fair. My airhead brother didn't deserve my best friend. I abruptly stood from my chair, grabbing my almost empty glass.
"Excuse me, brother, I need a refill of wine" I snatched up Siri's still half-full glass in my other hand "Siri, you need one as well. Why don't you come along?" Serena gave me a confused look but stood up anyway.
"Sure Hela," She flashed a smile at Thor "We'll be right back." I took hold of Serena's wrist, leading her over to the drinks table.

"Hela, what's wrong?" Serena asked as I poured her a very large glass of wine. I huffed as I turned to look at her.
"Siri, I can't sit there and witness this garbage any longer. You need to tell him." Serena's eyes widened, and she shook her head.
"Hela, no. You know that I'm scratching and clawing my way out from under his spell, I will not throw myself back in. I'm his friend, that's all he wants from me. I can be okay with that, but I have to stop loving him." I refilled my own glass, sighing lightly.
"I just think you should take a chance. If you went back to that table and just laid one on him without warning he wouldn't be able to remember Ariella's name." Serena glanced over to where Thor sat, trying to balance a fork on his nose.
"Sorry, Hela but I'm not willing to take that risk. I don't want to ruin our friendship just for the sake of shooting my shot."
"Don't you want to say you at least tried before you gave up on him?" Serena shook her head at me.
"I'm not going to put him in that position." Serena sighed before looking at Thor again.
"It's okay to think about yourself every once in a while you know?" Serena ran a hand through her hair, working to keep her frustration at bay. "That's the thing. I am thinking of myself, Hela. Thor's friendship is dear to me, I don't want to push him out of my life. Just my heart." She spun on her heels and returned to the table.

As we sat back in our seats, Thor looked up at us with a huge grin.
"What's got you so happy brother?" I asked as I looked at my brother.
"I forgot to mention earlier. I am going to be teaching her some archery. Siri, would you like to come on a double date with me and Ariella tomorrow?" I almost spit out the drink I just took, while Serena quirked an eyebrow at the man."Thor, I don't think we need to do that."
"Why not? It will be fun! You still talk to that Torvic guy right?" Torvic was the cook in the royal kitchens who asked Serena to dinner a few weeks ago. It had not been a good date, the man was far too egotistical and self-involved. Needless to say, when he asked to see her again she promptly said no.
"No, I don't." Thor's smile dropped a little.
"Oh, well how about Karnilla? She seems nice," Serena laughed a little as she shook her head.
"Karnilla is off limits. I set her up with Hela."
"I should have guessed. She has been a frequent nighttime visitor at the apartment." I choked on my drink. Serena bit back her laugh at the disgusted look on Thor's face "I do not want to know," I just laughed, delighting in my brother's uncomfortableness "Okay, well how about Vidarr comes along then? He can be your date." Serena's face pulled into a confused expression. Oh dear.
"What? Vidarr and I do not want to go on a date. Not only are we an odd match, but we also had a ten-minute laughing session at the idea of us dating." Serena shook her head.
"But--"
"But nothing. It's not happening,"
"But if you just--"
"Thor, I don't want to double date with you so drop it!" He leaned away from her, surprised at her outburst. I wasn't surprised "Sorry, just please let it go."

A silence fell upon the three of us until I turned to my bestie with a raised eyebrow.
"Why did you and Vidarr talk about the two of you dating?" Serena smiled at the memory.
"Oh, we were talking about how Loki and Surtur's daughter, Sindr. I understood that the Allfather thought it would be a good match and as we found out... They weren't well matched and that somehow got us on the topic of all the weird relationships around. He brought up if I thought he and I would be an odd match. We both were highly amused at the thought." I knew that Serena and Vidarr had an easy friendship. We all did. He was the one person you could count on to cheer you up when you felt sad. Vali and Loki were the ones you could count on to do something stupid.
"What about you and Loki?" I ask. Serena choked on her sip of her drink, swallowing it painfully. Thor too was wide-eyed at my question.
"Why would you ask her that?" Hela shrugged.
"I'm just curious. If they talked about her and Vidarr, I'm wondering if they also broached the subject of her and Loki. I already know you and she would make a fine pair, so I'm curious about my other brother." Serena shot me a glare when I said she and Thor were a good pair.
"No, we didn't discuss Loki."
"Why not?" Serena huffed, tucking some hair behind her ear "Because Loki is something else entirely."
"Is it because he's older than you."
"It's a start!" I did understand her reasons. Loki is 500 years older than Serena.
"Wait! Hold on! I'm sorry... how are Siri and I a good match?" Thor interjected. Serena and I turned to look at him with matching looks of disbelief. I tossed her napkin at him.
"Oh, you are helpless." I rolled my eyes. I then looked out of the window and saw that the sun was high above the palace "I need to get going. Mother requires some help with something," I hugged Serena and my brother.

- Serena's Pov -

I could kill my best friend. If only she wasn't the Goddess of Death. Thor looked at Serena.
"Do you know why she said about us being a good match?"
"Not a clue," I merely shrugged, getting up myself "I have to go too. Bye, Thor." I smiled at him and left the hall before he could ask any follow-up questions.

I quickly hid behind a statue and took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. The anger I felt towards Hela was intense. She should consider herself lucky that she's my best friend. I checked to make sure that Thor wasn't following me before I ran off to the gardens. It was the perfect time of year to see the roses in full bloom.