Temptation

Monster

"So you are, brother. So you are." Loki murmured from his vantage point. He'd taken Odin's ruling hard. Never be with her? Have to see some other man defile HIS Eva? How cruel could Odin be? Just when he thought he'd seen and heard it all. 

Harold was told he wasn't needed. Fortunately for Loki, Harold knew this was a lie.  He stayed in the background, but he stayed.

Retreating to his chambers, sealing himself off from the world, Loki licked his wounds. Tried to think of a way to fight back. Tried to remain positive.  Tried not to cry.

He failed at all of them. Eventually, his need to see her overcame his desire to shut out the world that despised him and taken her from him.

Now, he had stolen into the garden, hiding behind a large tree to watch.

For a while, he'd just quietly observed. His heart racing, his palms sweating. For no other reason than looking at Eva. He was cloaked by a spell. No one could see him, but equally, he could touch or speak to no one. At first, though, it had been enough.

Then Thor had arrived. All hugs and kisses and reassurance. Trying to worm his way into her affections. Trying to make her forget him. His heart and his head hardened. Jealousy coloured his judgement and made him forget his desire to remain unseen.

As soon as he spoke, the cloak dissolved in a ribbon of green. He stood, one hand on the tree trunk, in full view of the embracing couple.

Eva opened her eyes and gasped, jumping back as if scalded.  She had nothing to be ashamed of, but the way Loki was looking at her almost scared her.

Thor looked over, confused by Eva's sudden movement.

"Loki!"

"Brother!"

They approached as one, but Loki scowled at them both.

"So, you dont waste time do you Brother?" Loki sneered, arms folded. He looked Eva up and down, his stomach clenching as he realised just how beautiful she looked in her new fine dress. She didn't need silk and satin to be beautiful to him, but dear goodness, they did no harm.

Thor sighed. "Loki, for Gods sake, I was hugging my new sister. Are you really so bitter you'd deny her that much?" He walked over to stand with Loki, a hand on his shoulder. "And NO, before you say it, I'm not rubbing it in. I'm just emphasising that she is MY blood, not yours, therefore..."

Eva smiled, instantly recognising what Thor was driving at. "we are not related Loki." She crossed the grass and took his hand, uncrossing his arms. "We are NOT related."

At that moment, she'd realised that there wasn't time to dance around each other. To pretend they weren't attracted to one another. To be demure and courtly.

"I think - I know - you have feelings. Feeling you need to hide. I did, too. As far as I was concerned , we were from two worlds. Whatever I felt - and still feel - for you, we could never be together.  All that has changed."

She gazed up into his face, a gentle smile on her lips.  Lips he longed to kiss.  Her beautiful eyes were filled with hope.

Hope he crushed with one sentence.

"No, we are not related. We never will be. In any way."

"What?" She was devastated. How could he just turn off the feelings that had so plainly been building between them?

"Brother?" Thor was confused. Even to a blunt instrument like him, this seemed so wrong.

"You say you have feelings for me?" Loki still held her hand, now looking at it as he spoke. "You infer I have them for you?" He looked into her eyes. "Then leave. Leave and do not return.  If you leave, of your own accord, Odin will forget you ever existed." His voice was soft and strained.

"Will Odin be the only one to forget?" She could barely form the words.

"No." He lied as he closed his eyes and set his jaw. "I will also forget."

"Liar!" She slapped him as hard as she could, and he simply smiled at her.

"Better?" His voice was honey smooth, and his eyes glittered like a snake. What she couldn't see was his heart tearing itself in two.

Eva felt on the verge of both tears and collapse.  "You.... bastard." She hissed and turned on her heel, stalking back to the palace. She would leave. She would let Odin have his way. Let Loki go back to being the loner he would always be. She'd never asked to be a princess; she'd never wanted to be a princess. Sadly , all she wanted now was to be Loki's Princess.

Loki stood in silence watching her go. He could feel Thor's gaze burn into his back.

"What?" He spun round and glared at him. "Did you expect me to fall into her arms? Beg her to run away with me? Tell her I would give everything up to be with her?" His voice was laced with venom.  Thor looked at him steadily. He'd never seen this look on Loki before. The look of a devastated man in love.

"Yes.  Yes, I did."  His reply was soft and cut far deeper than anything abrasive would have. He could see in Loki's eyes that he was right.

"Well, as usual, I'm a disappointment, eh?" Loki stalked away, his cloak flowing behind him. Thor shook his head.

"Oh brother, if you could only see what I do. You've never disappointed me, only made me sad.  Maybe one day, you'll realise I love you."

Thor walked away. He would speak to Eva. He would speak to Frigga. Between the three of them, they could form a plan. One that didn't end with the only other person in all this that deserved a happy ending being denied that chance.

That person was currently sitting in her chambers, breaking her heart.  Not because she was leaving Asgard and leaving Loki. Because she knew she just couldn't.