The Love Of a Trickster

1

The blade spins seamlessly through the air, cutting through flesh and bone with barely a sound. I hear a thud as the severed head falls and the body slumps to the floor. Slow, sarcastic applause sounds in my wake.

"Well done, Feyre. You have just singlehandedly killed our one known source of information!" The black haired man, clad in black and green leather snarls at me, his anger becoming apparent.

"Well it's not my fault that the great Odin has so many enemies! You, of all people know how easy it is to despise him," I retort.

Loki stalks towards me, pointing his gloved finger at me. "Do not forget who I am, mortal. You are no Valkyrie yet."

"And whose fault is that? You were the one who promised me power and safety. It's your fault I'm here so don't go pointing this on me!" I balk at the harshness of my words.

"And who was the one who asked me to save them?" Loki's smooth voice whispered in my ear. "Who was so desperate that they were willing to pledge their life to my service if I freed them?" His fingers wrap around my shoulders. "Let me see if I can spark your memory."

"Just stop!" I spin out of his reach, barely managing to keep the heat out of my face. I hate how he can manipulate my thoughts, my actions, me. Most of all, I hate how he makes me feel. His presence is conflicting to me; both love and hatred at once.

"Tut, tut, little love. You should be more respectful to me." His blue eyes snap with mischief. "After all, aren't I the one who will be cleaning up this mess too?" He waves his hand around to emphasize.

"Odin can find some other way to get his intel. I should think he'd be happy that he's rid of another enemy." I stoop down and shove the head into a sack and swing it over my shoulder. "I'll be delivering this to him now."

"Very well." Loki turns away from me, but I can still sense his smirk. "By the way, you might want to clean yourself up a bit. That blood on your face does make your eyes sparkle, but Odin won't enjoy it as I do."

I stiffen and immediately bound out of the building. My thoughts overwhelm me as I climb on my borrowed Reaping Mare. As I fly towards the city of Asgard, I find old memories surfacing, not doubt drudged up by Loki's unhelpful goading.

I am a small child, just a girl of 8. My mother and father were just killed in an accident and I wait inside a police car to be questioned. The officer comes and I roll down the window, trying to hide my tears. "Don't be afraid, Lily," he says, kindly. "I just want to help you. What do you remember?"

"I remember the highway and a big truck," I say. "The truck didn't see us. He slammed on his brakes...I think there was a landslide in front of him? Daddy tried to miss him but we swerved into a tree. When I woke up, Mommy and Daddy were just sitting there. They wouldn't answer me. I couldn't move. Then the firemen came. They had to cut me out of the car with this big scary machine. They wouldn't get Mommy or Daddy. They said they were already dead." I burst into a fresh spout of tears. "

"It will be all right. Do your parents have any relatives who would want to keep you?" The officer asks.

I shake my head. "Gramma and Papa are dead and my aunts and uncles never talked to Mommy and Daddy. They didn't like us very much."

"I see." The officer writes something down on a notepad. "Sit tight. I'll be back."

He never came back. The next thing I knew, I had been placed in a foster care system. I went from home to home as I wasn't accepted, or I was deemed "too volatile." Then, when I had just turned 16, everything changed. The boy beside me had found me crying in an alleyway after I had been told, once again, that I was not accepted. I knew that I was too old to be adopted. No one wanted me. Then the boy approached me.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"Why do you care?"

"I want to help, if I can." I had no clue then that I was dealing with the trickster himself.

"I'm being sent away again."

"Being sent where?" His British accent seemed vaguely familiar to me. As did his blue-green eyes.

"To another foster home. I've been in the system for eight years. No one wants to adopt a teenager. I'll just be there until they kick me out." I wipe away some of the tears. The boy slides down the wall next to me and sits.

"If it's any consolation, I have somewhat of the same issue. You are an orphan, correct?" I nod. "So you feel different?" Again, I nod. "I'm the same way. My brother always sees me as the odd one out. Sometimes I wish they could see me for who I am."

"Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same thing." That stunning smirk was on display again, goading me into talking first.

"Lily. And what about you?"

"Loki."

"Loki as in, the God of Mischief Loki? I thought he was just a myth and besides, if you really were him, you'd be a lot older than me," I point out.

"Not so. True, I am older than this body, but I can make myself appear any age I like. For this particular situation, I felt this body would suffice. Now, let's say that I really am Loki. Do you want my help getting out of here?" He raises an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Prove it."

He lets out a resigned sigh. "Fine." Before my very eyes, he shifts into a snake, then a dragon, and then an older version of himself. "Convinced?" He changes back to the boy.

I nod. "I guess so. How can you help me?"

"I can take you back to Asgard with me."

"But I'm a human."

"You don't have to be. If you were proven worthy, you could become one of Odin's Valkyrie's and then you could live there forever." He smiles at me cunningly.

"What do you want in return?" Even then, I didn't exactly trust Loki.

"All I ask in return, is your life's services."

"You want me to serve you?" My voice sounds as skeptical as I feel.

"I think it a fair trade. I take you to Asgard, train you to be a Valkyrie, save you from a life of destitution, and all you have to do is serve me until you die." He holds out a hand to me. "So, what will it be?"

I draw in a deep breath and grasp his hand. "Deal."

"Excellent." He pulls me to my feet. "However, Lily isn't exactly a proper name for a Valkyrie." He thinks for a minute. "You will now be called Feyre. Welcome home." He taps a staff on the ground and a wall of rainbow immediately surrounds us. The next thing I knew, I was standing on Asgardian soil and my life as Loki's lackey began.