Unlike Loki

Chapter 74

(Anna)

Thor was much larger than I had pictured him to be. 

The two of them had been arguing, yelling at each other when I came in. I was glad my entering stopped it, when I thought about how much we would need Thor's help in the near future. People were already starting to come back from the dead. Shit was about to get serious. 

The three of us ended up eating dinner together, Loki and Thor laughing with each other. I warmed my heart to see them happy together, knowing that they had obviously been through a lot. Every now and then, Loki would send a glance my way, making me blush. We sent each other secret smiles, and I would sometimes feel his foot tap mine. 

I wonder what would have happened, had Thor not interrupted us. 

"So, Anna." Thor said with a mouth full of food. "Why did SHIELD have you in prison? What did you do?" He shoved another roll in his mouth. 

"They didn't have me in prison." I spat. "They experimented and tortured me, because of my powers, because I had hunted down the people who murdered my family." I had lost my appetite. Loki watched us closely.

"No. No, that's not possible. Fury never would have allowed that. If you were in prison, that was it. You were put into prison." His voice leaked genuity, and he had finished chewing. 

"Yea, well they did." I put my hand in my lap, my fingers digging in to my legs. 

He srunched his eyebrows together. "I am truly sorry. I will figure this out, talk to Fury." He nodded his head as if it were final. 

I looked over at Loki, but he just shook his head and mouthed silently for me not to continue with the subject. 

"Well, I think it's time we turn in." Said Loki. "We will see you in the morning."

"Are you two courting? Because that didn't go so well for you last time." Thor blurted out.

Loki's face turned angry for a moment, "No." He said for clentched teeth and then he grabbed my hand, pulling me along. 

We walked down the halls, slowly and in silence, for a while unitl I asked, "What was Thor talking about?"

"Nothing."

"That's not fair."

He stopped and turned to look at me, "What's not fair?"

"That I tell you my whole horrible life story and you won't tell me about an ex of yours." I took my hand out of his and crossed my arms defiantly. 

He sighed dramatically. "Her name was Sigyn. We grew up together, but lost touch somewhere along the way. At one point we reconnected, and things took off from there. She was beautiful and a warrior, I was King. I was in love, and I thought she was too. The day of our wedding, I walked in on her with another man. She wouldn't even lie with me, because she said she was saving herself for marriage. Turned out she had been with numerous men during our courtship. I grew angry with her and called it all off. She tried apologizing, but I would have none of it. I wouldn't even let her step inside the castle after that." He looked up at me.

I thought that was going to be the end of it, when he continued, "I saw her about a year later, looking amazing and healthier than I had ever seen her, stronger even. And she told me that she had changed her ways, was trying to change her life, asked if we could start over. And I was an idiot enought to agree, being too infatuated with her. That night, we made love." Thank you. Yes, I needed to know that bit. "And continued to make love, romantic, wild, and erotic, over and over-"

"Ok, yea. I get it. I get it. You had wild, great sex before you were married. Moving on." I motioned by hand for him to continue.

He looked at me sheepishly. "I did marry her. We even consummated our marriage. We were happy and wild for the first few weeks. And then she told me she was pregnant."

I shot my head up. "Oh."

"Oddly enough, I was excited. I was about to have an heir. I was about to have a child that I vowed would be raised better than I was." He shook his head slightly, looking down at his shoes. "A few days after the child was born, Sigyn tried to kill me, tried to take over the throne. That's when I knew the child wasn't mine. She even told me so. Told me her plan was to pretend that we had had a child together so that she could ascend to the throne, until he was old enough. She planned on killing the child sometime when he was an infant, make it look like an accident." I felt terrible for him, to have been betrayed, tricked and lied to like that. 

"She wasn't as good of a fighter as I thought she was, and she was deranged. I ended up knocking her out, and then sending her to the deepest pit of the dungeons. And if there was a key, I would have thrown it away. I haven't seen her since."

For a moment, I was at a loss for words. "What happened to the child?" I asked. 

"He was sent to live with a family somewhere in Asgard. He may someday find out who his mother was, but I don't think he'll ever find out who his father was. I sure never did."

I stepped closer to him. He was still looking down at his shoes. He seemed ashamed of himself, that he had fallen into a trap of a woman. Of a woman he loved and cared about. And she had betrayed him.

I stood up on my tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek, surprised to find a tear there. 

"I won't hurt you." He looked at me, making my heart weep when I saw his eyes filled with water. "Besides, sleeping with other guys is overrated. And I sware, I'm in no hurry to get pregnant. None." I smiled mischieviously at him. 

Before I knew what was happening, his lips crashed into mine.

His arms wrapped around, my waist, pulling my impossibly close. 

"I know." He breathed into my mouth.

Then he released me, scooping down and lifting me off my feet, so that I was cradled in his arms. My face was so close to his, it was intoxicating. And then he proceeded to carry me down the hall. 

He let his bedroom doors shut behind us, and set me on his bed, never once taking his eyes off of mine.