"My love...?" Eldrid mumbles from her slumber as she felt their shared bed raise at the departure of her husband. She didn't like sleeping alone anymore, not since she had found her soul's companion. "Where are you going...?" She asks softly as she sat slowly up in bead, pulling the sheet above her chest to cover herself. They couldn't keep their hands off of each other now that they were wed, so they didn't. They reveled in the fact that they were learning things about the other they wouldn't have known if they weren't wed to each other. They intimate things that made the other blush and squirm. Loki thrived on it all. And Eldrid did as well.

Loki looked over and smiles bashfully. "I have matters to attend to, Rose." He says with an ashamed smile that he had work to do. "Do not fret, i'll return shortly." He tells her, stepping over to her side of the bed. His hand cups her cheek as she looks up at him. He could look at her eyes for hours, getting lost in them. They were the windows to her soul. The very essence of who she was laid within her crystal blue eyes. How they sparkled as she got excited for something, or how they would lose their color and brightness when she would be sad and depressed.

He hoped he would never be the cause for her soul to ache. But lying to her was the only way to ensure that what he was going to do would still keep her by his side. Loki couldn't lose her again. He refused.

"But where are you going?" Eldrid asks as a yawn overtakes her and she leans into Loki's hand, finding comfort in the coldness of his skin. The subtle coldness that defined who he was. What he was.

"There's been a disturbance with Mjolnir on Midgard. I intend to make sure nothing disasterous has happened since Father banished Thor along with his favorite hammer." Loki states, he was trying to give as much truth as he could to his beloved angel. He despised lying to her, but he knew it was for the greater good that he do so. And with him being known as the Silver Tongue, lies became natural to him from a young age. He could charm anyone. Lie to anyone. And not have them suspect a thing unless that person was Frigga. Only she could discern his lies from truth.

"Should.. Should i come with?" Eldrid asks in a slight panic. She didn't want anything to happen to her brother and his weapon of choice while they were on Midgard. That was the last thing she wanted.

Her concern for Thor made Loki cringe within but he didn't show it to El. He wouldn't. "No." Loki states quickly. "Should something arise, one of us should still be here." He reminds Eldrid and she sighs with a nod, knowing he's right.

"Alright... but..." Eldrid mumbles, not finishing her sentence and it makes Loki chuckle with a small smile. She was still asleep for the most part, only partly awake. He had tired her out from their thralls earlier when they were alone in the throne room. He had learned when he was younger and El was still on Alfheim that he enjoyed being in the thralls of passion and love making in public. He enjoyed the urgency and the excitement it gave him. And now... now he loved being able to see his beloved wife cry for him on the throne that was now his. The power it made him feel, being able to give his wife something only he could give her. No one else.

"But?" Loki asks with an adoring smile.

"Souvenir..." Eldrid mumbles as she yawns once more.

"Of course, Rose. I would never forget." Loki says with a chuckle. Eldrid hardly got to visit Midgard, in fact, Loki wasn't sure she ever had. But she loved seeing things from there. She had a collection of books and a small collection of clothing items from various centuries on Midgard. Eldrid was fascinated by Midgard.

He gently lays Eldrid back down onto her pillow, his soft singing filling the room and lulling her back to complete sleep. Loki would only ever sing for her. Only his bride and love. Perhaps if they had children, he'd sing for them. But until then, Eldrid was the only one to ever hear his voice. And he continued to sing until he had stepped out of the room, leaving his wife sound asleep and not knowing what was truly happening behind the scenes.

"She is completely compelled by him!" Volstagg's loud voice echoes through the halls of the common room they had all shared after the battle of Jotunheim. The Warriors Three and Sif were conversing about what to do about Thor. And about Eldird and Loki. They were concerned for their close friends.

"Compelled? That sounds like she is in love with him, Volstagg." Fandral states as he shifts in his chair, leaning onto his knees in thought. "

"That is because she is." Sif says to the men. "She and I have been friends, sisters, for centuries... we conversed on many occasions. She always spoke of a man who claimed her heart when she was on Alfheim. Someone who truly knew her, who loved her, but had broken her heart."

"And you believe that this man is Loki? Her brother Loki?" Volstagg asks in surprise. It wasn't uncommon for royals to find love within their families, but it wasn't practised all that much anymore.

"Loki was always the outcast of the three siblings." Sif reminds them. "But El... she always clung to him more than Thor for certain things. Thor is her protector, there is no doubt, but Loki was her confidant."

"It's true." Hogun speaks up, he was the quieter one of the Warriors Three, only speaking when necessary. "You saw how they acted in the throne room today."

"There was no mistaking it." Sif states, sure of herself. She didn't like that Loki had possibly subdued Eldrid into whatever delusion he had playing in his mind, but she couldn't do anything about it right now. Not while they only had theories.

"It'd do you some good to not speak of myself and Loki behind our backs." Eldrid states from the entrance of the room, startling the Warriors Three and Sif. "He will not take kindly to it." She adds, implying that if Loki found out, he would be furious. She had awoken a few hours after Loki had departed from their shared chambers. She simply couldn't sleep well without him. Her soul was lacking her beloved.

So she did what she had done for years before Alfheim, she would walk the palace halls until she was tired once more. Only this time, she caught wind of a conversation being had about her and her husband without them knowing. And she wanted to know why.

"Then perhaps you can shed some light onto our wandering minds, Princess." Fandral says, trying to use his charm to ease Eldrid. He was hoping that them being friends would give them some ground to be honest and open.

"Shed light onto my relationship with Loki?" Eldrid asks, wanting to be exactly clear about what was being spoken away from her presence.

"Yes. Only you or he himself could tell us the truth, El." Sif says, standing and stepping over to her close friend and sister figure. The two women were close, so close that they talked about if Thor and Sif ever courted, what that would mean for the two of them. Sif had her eyes on Thor, but he was too proud to see the treasure he had before him in Sif. Now, Sif was not a prize to be won, she was the goddess of war. But she was still a woman, she still wanted to be sought after and longed for. Romanticized. She wanted to be the subject of someone's devotion and to devote herself to someone in return. "What is the true nature of your relationship with Loki?" She asks.

Eldrid looked at her friends, her sister figure. She didn't know how they would react. Everyone had been taught and raised to fear frost giants. To shun the Jotuns. And Loki was one of them.

"Princess?" Volstagg wonders why she isn't answering right away with the most basic answer. To respond with that they were simply sharing responsibilities of the throne and crown as siblings.

But that wasn't what was going on.

"Loki is not an Asgardian." Eldrid states, she had to make that extremely clear to them before she went into the nature of her and Loki's relationship. And why it was okay.

"What?" Fandral asks in disbelief.

"How is that possible?" Sif asks.

"Father found him, cast off on a rock on Jotunheim..." Eldrid explains as best she can, remembering what Loki had said to her. "Laufey's son..." The room is dead quiet when the information is revealed. This was not what any of them were expecting. To know that their friend and ally was in reality, a Jotun, and not only Jotun, but Laufey's son. In reality, Loki was the heir to the Jotunheim throne. That was his right.

"So you're not... related..." Sif says in disbelief. "That means you should be ruling in the Allfather's stead, not Loki."

"I do not wish to make this information public, Sif." Eldrid states bluntly. "It is private. Even telling you all this... it will anger him, i'm sure of it. It is still new information."

"But you are the rightful heir and ruler after your brother." Fandral states, standing up in protest.

"The public does not know that. Nor should they." Eldrid snaps, tired of hearing how she should be queen and ruling instead of her husband. She loved Loki too much to take the throne away from him when it was something he had always been looked over for. This was his chance to prove himself. "I will not take the throne from my husband."

The room is silent once more. With the announcement of Eldrid declaring that Loki is her husband, it stuns the four.

"Husband?" Hogun asks tentatively. He was wary of Eldrid, he could see that she was on edge giving this information away. He didn't want to cause her to lash out in any way.

"After it was revealed that my parents.. are not Loki's... we were wed... because we indeed had loved each other once, before the revelation.. But we were free to do what we pleased, knowing our parentage did not collide." Eldrid explains. "We were wed yesterday at sunrise."

Sif is wide eyed, her mouth agape slightly as the information is laid before their feet. "You... are married to him?" She asks in stunned silence. "Eldrid!" She exclaimed. She wasn't sure how to react. It was true that El and Loki were not related. But the fact that they were wed so quickly, it was a shock to them all.

"We believe that we have the rest of our lives to figure everything out. Why put off our shared happiness for minor details." Eldrid says with a soft smile. She knew they wouldn't agree with everything she and Loki had done. "We love each other. We would die for each other."

"What of your mother?" Volstagg asks curiously.

Eldrid chuckles softly. "As if my mother didn't know from the beginning of it all. She has ears everywhere, eyes everywhere else." She reminds them all. "She was our witness to our ceremony. She was the one to tell me to follow my heart. That true love is never flawed.."

Sif looks at her sister figure with concern. She could tell Eldrid was infatuated with the idea of being in love and being loved in return. Something she had always wanted since they were young. And Loki was cunning, he could charm anyone, even the woman he claimed to love so much he married her the moment he could.

"Do you not see what he is doing though, El?" Sif asks softly, stepping closer to her friend, taking her hands into her own. "He is quite possibly manipulating you..."

Eldrid recoils, taking her hands away from Sif. "He would never do that." She snaps bitterly. "He loves me." She states sharply. Sif knew she had crossed a line, but it was one that needed to be crossed for it to be implanted into El's mind and for her to think about it.

"He may love you... but... please, remain cautious." Sif says, trying to backtrack without really doing it. The words she had said still remained in El's mind. That was her goal.

"Enough of this nonsense." Eldrid snaps coldly. "You do not know what you are talking about." She states. She quickly smoothed out her robe and regained as much composure as she could before leaving the room where her friends stood in a collective stunned silence.

Eldrid would not hear anymore slander against her or Loki. She couldn't stand it. She had finally found happiness after centuries of being alone on Alfheim, and her friends wanted to strip that from her. She couldn't bear it.

Meanwhile, Loki had returned from his escapades away from Asgard, Heimdall keeping watch over the Princess as well as using the bifrost to return the interim king back. "What troubles you, Gatekeeper?" Loki asks as he steps into the bifrost's chamber.

"I turned my gaze upon you in Jotunheim, but could neither see you nor hear you." Heimdall states. He was suspicious of Loki and he knew that he needed to inform Eldrid. "You were shrouded from me like the Frost Giants that entered this realm."

Loki tilted his head slightly as he stepped away from the bifrost's entrance. "Perhaps your senses have weakened after your many years of service." Loki says. His plans were coming together nicely, even with the addition of his beloved. He had nearly everything. He wanted to return to his bride, not talk to the gatekeeper.

"Or perhaps someone has found a way to hide that which he does not wish me to see." Heimdall counters.

"You have.. great power, Heimdall. Did Odin ever fear you?" Loki asks, in turn causing Heimdall to wonder where he was going with this conversation.

"No." Heimdall responds.

"And why is that?"

"Because he is my king. And i am sworn to obey him." Heimdall answers.

Loki smirks, getting the answer he had wanted. "He was your king, and you're sworn to obey me now. Yes?" He reminds the gatekeeper. Heimdall may have married Loki and Eldrid, but Heimdall was sworn to obey the king. And the crown and throne now laid upon Loki's shoulders.

"Yes." Heimdall says after a few seconds of pause.

"Then you will open the Bifrost to no one, not even Eldrid, until i have repaired the damage my brother in law has done." He snaps a command to Heimdall as he storms out of the bifrost.