Loyalty and Mischief (WIP)

Chapter 42 - You're disconnected from the world you thought you were part of

"Where is everyone?"

Sigyn jolted up from her hunched position over the dining table. A raven-haired woman stood at the bottom of the stairs, one hand still on the bannister. Her mind took a little too long to connect the petite figure to her spouse. Were it not for Loki's ice-blue eyes resting on her as he waited for a reply, Sigyn's fatigue would've surely made her demand what this stranger was doing in her home.

"Fandrall is tending to the horses," she replied, "and Rúna went to get water."

"You didn't come to bed," remarked Loki, finally moving towards her. "Did you even sleep?"

"Not really," admitted Sigyn, rubbing the sleep from her eye. "I didn't want to take any chances with the Olympians."

"Eros won't have told anyone what happened. He knows as well as I do we can't afford another war."

"And Hermes?"

Sigyn scrutinised Loki's body language. Her husband sat slowly, eyes cast down and a grimace on that beautiful face. She well recalled the way he'd stopped her from killing his former lover. Part of her was grateful he had done so. But the desire to burn that son of a bitch alive still simmered within her. And Loki knew it.
The attack on Hermes had fractured something between them. The darkness slumbering within Sigyn had clashed with Loki's agony and insecurities. For over thirty years, Sigyn hadn't seen the apprehension in her beloved's eyes... until last night.

"I'm sorry," she spoke reluctantly. "I know I shouldn't have attacked Hermes. Him being here... it was just the final straw."

"I appreciate your apology," said Loki, "but it's unnecessary. Hermes needed to be taught a lesson, and if I still had access to my powers, I would have done it myself."

"Still, I shouldn't have lost my temper and control that way. But when I heard your screams and felt your pain... He already hurt you so much in the past, and he dared to do it again now."

"He didn't hurt me."

"Don't make light of what happened, Loki."

"I'm not. Hermes was trying to calm me down."

"By forcing himself on you?"

"No, he just... I've known Hermes a lot longer than you, Sigyn. He's not like that."

She couldn't help but scoff. "Tell that to the mortals who fell victim to him and wrote the stories."

"Those are often greatly exaggerated," said Loki with a roll of his eyes. "You wouldn't believe some of the things they've written about me."

"Often," noted Sigyn, "but not always."

"Sigyn, can we please stop discussing this? Hermes won't bother us again. You've made sure of that, and Eros is one of the few Olympians I actually trust. He'll keep Hermes in check."

Frustrated, Sigyn averted with a huff. She pinched her lips and crossed her arms. Loki heaved a sigh, but she didn't react. She didn't even glimpse at him. For the first time in their marriage, Sigyn felt annoyed she didn't know more of Loki's past. She'd never made a fuss about him keeping things private and had always respected that. But these last weeks, ever since she'd learned of Loki's involvement with someone as dangerous as Mephisto, she'd begun to second-guess that decision. Her husband's secrets were threatening not only him, but her as well.

Aphrodite's curse is perhaps a blessing in disguise, pondered Sigyn. Loki will have no choice but to speak to me. Only... what if I don't hold his trust the way he holds mine? Would the truth of his past be so terrible he would rather spend the rest of his life without magic and in this form than to confide in me?