Temptation

Deception

"Loki? What's wrong? Come here!" Frigga held out her arms. Loki and Thor had barrelled into her chamber. Thor looked shocked, Loki looking devastated beyond words.

"She's gone, mother. He banished her. I was comforting her, trying to find out who this Frederik really was. Odin - he told Odin. Frederik isn't who we think - who Eva thinks - he is."

It all tumbled out in a rush, Loki holding her hands, face strained and even paler than usual.  Thor stood by the door, scanning out into the corridor. He turned, his face strained.

"The Allfather is coming. Mother, you have to get him to understand. This was a setup. There's more to Frederik reappearing than just being Eva's brother. Please, mother....." he broke off as his father entered, flanked by two guards.

Odin's voice boomed across the room, and they all turned, heads down, hardly daring to breathe, let alone move.

"Loki. You have blatantly disobeyed me for the last time." He held up Gungnir."You are to be detained in the dungeon until I see fit. " he made to conclude the ruling by bringing Gungnir down with a clang on the marble floor.  Before he could do so, Frigga stepped forward.

"Odin! No! This time, I will NOT be silenced. Loki? You and Thor leave. Now. I will deal with this and find you later. Now GO!" She turned, with a fury none of them had seen before.

Thor and Loki almost ran from the room, and the guards looked anxiously at each other. Should they leave also? If this was going to be one almighty domestic, they wanted to be as far away as possible.

Frigga sensed their discomfort.  It would have been hard not to.  "Leave us. Stand guard outside. We are not to be disturbed. By ANYONE. Do I make myself clear?" She gave them a hard stare.

They nodded "Yes My Queen" they chorused and left, immensely relieved. Taking up their positions on the other side of the now closed doors, they let out a breath and exchanged a look.

"What is the meaning of this?" Odin walked up to where Frigga stood, hands clasped in front of her, by the fireplace.  "How dare you undermine me - and in front of the palace guard, too. I could have you clapped in irons for that Frigga, as well, you know." He sat on a long couch and laid his staff down. "So tell me my Queen, what has made you defy me for one of the few times I can ever remember?" His voice was soft now, sad almost. In all their time together, they'd hardly ever argued.

Now, he began to realise that it had only ever been about their children.  First Hela, then Thor, now? Now, yet again, Loki.

Frigga started to pace the room, clasping and unclasping her hands, trying to find the words that wouldn't send him into another rage. Wrong he certainly was but able to admit as much? Not a chance.

"Odin, husband, my love." She turned and smiled at him, and for that instant, his grey hair was gone.  The eyepatch was gone. The heavy burden of rule was still a lifetime away. She saw the man she fell in love with. 

Crossing to sit with him, she took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. "I do  not defy you out of spite. I do not wish to be anything less than the wife you deserve. I have been your most ardent supporter for these few hundred years, and I will continue to be...." she paused, and Odin smiled gently.

"I feel a 'but' coming..." he said with a soft question.

"But..... this time? This time, you have gone down the wrong path. You have allowed your own guilt to colour your judgement."

"Guilt?" Now he WAS confused.

"Yes, you still feel guilty about Loki and the throne. You allow it to colour your every move toward him. You persuade yourself he is angry. He is plotting your demise. He is on the lookout for a way to overthrow you. You think that if he were to be involved with someone like Eva, it would give him the strength to follow through with his plans. That SHE will demand the throne." She stood up again.

"You do realise, the more you try to deny him his love, the more you will drive him into her arms?" She paused her pacing and looked at him.

"B... but if I dont separate them...." he began.

"Odin, listen to me. Eva doesn't want the throne. She doesn't want to be a princess. She just wants Loki. She has no grand plan to de-throne you, us.  She loves him." Frigga smiled. "You know what it is like to love someone so much you would do anything to make them happy, dont you?"

Odin got up and took her hand. "Yes, yes, yes I do." He nodded.

"Then listen to what Loki has to say. Let him explain. Believe him, the boy you raised, the man you should be proud of. Believe him over the word of a stranger. Frederik is not all he appears to be. What brother would deliberately cause his supposed long lost and adored sister so much pain?"

She led him by the hand and sat down. "I see more than even our boys realise.  When I looked at Frederik that night, at the funeral, I was struck by how blank his expression was." She paused, searching for the right way to explain. "Frederik is not real. Well, what I mean is, Frederik is real, but this is not him. This, my husband, is a copy. A walking talking copy. Not like a duplicate he's cast, no. It's dark magic. It's someone with their features changed. Someone with Frederiks memories. I fear the real Frederik is dead. "

Now she took a breath. "I think he means to lure Loki into his confidence. To play you off against each other.  To use Loki's anger towards you and desperation to get Eva back. To destroy you. Me.  Asgard."

"No, surely not. He seemed to be so concerned for Eva. For the family. To restore harmony." Odin suddenly had the overwhelming urge he had been made a fool of. Frigga shook her head.

"For one so powerful and wise, sometimes you can be so dim." She nodded. "He - they - know they can't take on the might of Asgard themselves. They need someone with inside 9knowledge. Someone with skill and cunning. Someone with a grudge."

Now she looked at Odin. "Our son is hurting. And that hurt; the hurt YOU caused? It will be all our undoing. They will win, and we will have lost not only our lands and our people but also our future. Our son."

"But who hates us that much? That they'd be willing to risk so much. Surely not the ..." he shrugged, and Frigga nodded her head.

"The Dark Elves, Odin.  The Dark Elves are coming, and unless you make things right for and with Loki, this is going to be the end for all of us."