Loki's mind reeled with all the new information. He had seen so many futures while he was being tortured, the mind stone had shown him so many possibilities, but none of those possibilities had included Sky. He had had no idea that they existed, so he couldn't even fathom this series of events. He had known Skye was genderfluid. He had seen their blades, seen their wings. Even he hadn't put all of the pieces together, not really. There had been too much else on his mind.

He'd been too busy getting Thor to get his ass in gear and get his stupid friends together to stop the Chitauri attack. He'd banked on his brother stopping him. He'd had to work carefully while under the influence of the mind stone. He'd had to hide what he was doing from Thanos and those who wanted to use him.

Now?

Now he was supposed to be focusing on how to get through this trial with his head still attached to the rest of his body. He quite liked his head exactly where it was. He'd succumbed to call of death once and was tortured for it. He really didn't want to repeat that experience.

Loki had known he was an Omega, known he was adopted, known he was Jotun since the day he presented, since the day the collar had been locked around his neck. He'd understood on a logical level what that meant. He'd never accepted it, not really. He'd been humiliated that day. His entire life he'd been led to believe that he was supposed to be an Alpha. He'd never learned or accepted that he wasn't. He'd never felt the draw to an Alpha.

He realized after meeting Skye that none of the Alphas he'd met had been the one for him. He couldn't say with certainty that Skye was his fated Alpha, but he could say that he knew and felt the draw now.

He'd also never fully accepted his Jotun birth. He was Asgardian by nurture, a prince by both nature and nurture. He avoided learning about his Jotun heritage his whole life.

If he survived this trial, he would have to learn. There was no getting around it when the Alpha who called to him was half-Jotun. When they knew his history and his people's history better than he did.

Loki was the rightful heir to the Jotun throne. Or at least he would be if he weren't an Omega. Everything wrong in his life started with that stupid fact.

"There is no shame in being an Omega," the memory of his mother's voice echoed in his thoughts unbidden. One didn't just argue with mama Frigga, especially when she took that tone. He risked a glance to her, glad that this was one of the futures where Odin hadn't kicked Frigga out of the trial.

The trial always went better for him when Mother was allowed to remain.

At least in all the versions of the future he had seen.

Loki tried to force himself to concentrate. His mind kept wandering to unhelpful things. Part of him knew and understood that his mind had been shattered so many times when he'd been tortured, that it had been affected by the mind stone. He wasn't at his best, despite how he tried to hide it.

His shattered mind was having trouble focusing.

He needed to focus. He would die if he didn't.

And now that he found something, someone, interesting enough to want to get to know, someone intriguing, who seemed to care about him, just for being... him. It was enough to want to live for. Skye hadn't cared that he was a prince, or a pawn to use. They... had just wanted to help him, or so it had seemed.

It was intriguing enough to get his attention. To make him want to live for something, now that his mission to save his idiot brother for a little while longer was complete.

He loved Thor deeply. That didn't mean he would ever think his brother wasn't an oaf.

Skye showed their true form, explained their true heritage, giving the explanation more to Loki than to Odin. The crowd watching was shocked, especially the aforementioned idiot Thor. Loki was in awe.

They were beautiful.

Their hybrid form, their natural form, was balanced, exquisite. It was like nothing Loki had ever seen. They were perfect and Loki found himself drawn to them.

Thankfully, he didn't move closer to them and embarrass himself. He retained his composure. This was still a trial. He needed to make his stupid broken mind stop thinking about the hot Alpha and focus on making sure he didn't die in the next ten minutes.

Odin glared at Skye, his eye narrowing as his expression hardened. That wasn't a good sign. But even Odin couldn't deny Skye's credentials. Their Asgardian credentials were strong enough, but given they were also a prince of Jotunheim. Yes, they definitely had justification to take Loki under their protection.

And courtship? Courtship? Where had that come from??

"Very well," Odin finally relented reluctantly. "What proof have you that the Omega's actions were not his own?" Odin didn't acknowledge Loki's rank or that he had raised Loki as his own child. That wasn't a good sign for Loki's case. Everyone knew it. Frigga moved closer to her husband, Thor shifted his position to better protect his brother. Loki didn't see Hodur, but had no doubt his other brother was in the shadows, watching, waiting to see if he was needed to step in at the last moment to save Loki's life. Loki hoped he didn't need to.

It really looked like Odin was looking for an excuse to take Loki's head.

The futures he had seen always showed Odin wanting to take his head.

Loki would have to use his Silvertongue very, very carefully to keep his head attached and his lips from being sewn together. It would be a delicate balance indeed.

And one he would have to execute with all of his skill if he wanted to get to know the Alpha who wanted to court him better.