Loki was livid.

His brother was an idiot. Not only was his brother an idiot, he was a tactless, witless, oaf of an idiot, who couldn't bother to think before he opened his big fat mouth.

Now Loki had a mess on his hands thanks to his idiot brother.

He wanted to stab him again, but knew that wouldn't help anything. Well, it might help. Thor did tend to behave better when he was bleeding, at least in Loki's opinion. It really was Thor's own fault for sitting within arm's reach of Loki. If he didn't want to be stabbed, he shouldn't have been sitting within stabbing range.

Loki hadn't even thought about it before his favorite dagger had been in his hand in pickaxe grip and had been in Thor's side in the same moment. The movement was habitual and so automatic that it took no thought.

The whole team was staring at him, not for stabbing Thor, that was a common occurrence, but for the news about his Sigyn. Well, all of the team was staring but one. The Lady was just staring at nothing, too shocked to be staring at him in particular.

You owe her an explanation he heard his Sigyn's voice in his mind. His conscious always spoke with Sig's voice. She was his Heart and his conscious, whenever he deigned to have one.

He owed the Lady an explanation. Unfortunately, he was likely going to have to give the entire team one thanks to his idiot brother.

He didn't like having his business aired to everyone, but his brother wasn't giving him much of a choice. Useless moronic brother.

The team was still clamoring questions. Loki held up a hand for silence. Surprisingly, they all quieted, though Nat had to sit on Tony with her hand over his mouth to make him shut up. "It is true," Loki started, his voice quiet, though that didn't matter in the now silent room. He could be heard perfectly well by everyone. "I did have a wife. Her name was also Sigyn. She grew ill and died twenty years ago," Loki couldn't keep the pain from his voice, though he tried. It was clear how much he still cared about her to this day.

"T-twenty years ago?" The Lady asked quietly, breaking out of her shock some.

Loki felt bad for what he was about to do next to her, for his next words. He was the god of lies, but his Sigyn would kill him if he lied to her and lying to the Lady with her soul would be lying to her. So he couldn't lie to her. So he had to tell her the truth. All of it. "Twenty years to the day," he admitted reluctantly. The words cost him every ounce of effort to get out.

He saw that they cost her too. Her shock returned and her words were unguarded when she said "I turned twenty today," her voice was quiet, too full of shock to truly register what she had said. She had been born on the day his Sigyn had died.

His Sigyn had been here the whole time.

He could have known her had he just known where to look.

He knew that was irrational. She had been a child and on Midgard. It wasn't the right time to find her until now. Loki knew all of that rationally, but it still hurt his heart that she had been here all alone when he felt like he should have been here with her, should have been at her side. Should have been with his Heart.

I turned twenty today

The words turned over and over in his mind. Today was her birthday. What a lousy gift she was being given. Did she even understand the repercussions of those words? Loki wasn't sure with the shock of the news. Loki wished he was better at people, wished he knew how to remove that haunted look from her eyes.

Loki summoned his last saved piece of his mama's special chocolate cake from his dimensional pocket and approached the Lady like he would a frightened animal. He knelt in front of her so they were at the same level and offered it to her with a gentle smile. "Then such a momentous occasion deserves a special treat. This is a special chocolate cake that my mother made. I was saving it for a special occasion and have found such an occasion. Happy birthday, drotning,"

Loki waited with bated breath to see if she would accept his offering. It was the first step to courtship, especially for the Jotnar, the offering of food. Even if she didn't know it.

Thor looked like he was going to say something idiotic again, but kept his mouth shut before he got stabbed again. He had just barely stopped bleeding from the first time.

Sigyn carefully reached out "You're sure?" She asked before she accepted the small plate at Loki's nod "Thank you," she said softly, a bit shyly with everyone watching. She wasn't used to kindness.

Loki would change that.

His Heart would know love again.