The Bifrost dropped Loki, Thor, Hailstohm, DiNozzo, Bishop, Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg off in the observatory. Bishop and DiNozzo staggered on landing, Loki grasping Bishop's arm to keep her from falling. Hailstohm's mortal illusion flickered and vanished, leaving her looking like a frost giantess once more.

Heimdall stood looking down at them from the podium, his hands around the hilt of the massive sword Hofund. His amber gaze was impervious as it moved from the Asgardians and Hailstohm to the NCIS agents.

"I thought the Allfather tasked you four to bring back the princes and the Lady Hailstohm, not Agents Bishop and DiNozzo as well," Heimdall said wryly. "Have they become a part of the retinue now?"

"See, that is why the Warriors Three is a stupid name," DiNozzo panted. "Because look, Heimdall just referred to 'you four.' Not 'you three and Sif.' And from what I've been seeing, you four tend to all do things together anyway. It's not an occasional feature or crossover – Sif, you may as well give up on your solo career and just join the band. You're not going to go anywhere by yourself."

Sif scowled at DiNozzo. "Will you just shut up?"

"Probably not," DiNozzo replied, giving her a slight smirk.

"We brought them because of danger on Midgard," Loki told Heimdall, inwardly smiling at how annoyed Sif looked with DiNozzo. "SHIELD has labeled them as enemies of the US."

"So I saw," Heimdall said.

"Did you happen to see how we can stop Project Insight?" Bishop muttered. "Maybe what our next step should be?"

"Agent Bishop, that is not how my vision works," Heimdall told her. "I can see far in order to protect the Nine Realms, but I cannot see the future. I would have to spend some time watching to find a way to answer your question, Agent Bishop."

"How do ethics work in your line of work, anyway?" DiNozzo asked, frowning. "Do you have to worry about ethical obligations of what can be shared and what can't? Is there, like, gatekeeper-universe privilege? Anything not in protection of the Nine Realms is confidential or something? But wait a minute. If you can't share things aside from what's important to Asgard, then how come you were spying on Jane for Thor?"

Heimdall's expression didn't flicker. "I never said anything on that issue, Agent DiNozzo. The only ethics of my position involve my oath of loyalty to the throne of Asgard."

"And even then, there are loopholes," Loki muttered.

"The Allfather awaits your arrival," Heimdall said to Thor. Thor nodded, and led the group out of Himinbjorg, Heimdall looking out the aperture at the stars as they left.

[----]

Both Odin and Frigga were waiting in the throne room as Loki, Thor, and Hailstohm approached them down the long aisle. Bishop and DiNozzo had elected to wait outside the throne room, not being a part of the Asgard-Jotunheim negotiations.

"So, you have returned at last," Odin said, sounding a little displeased. "Is NCIS more important than negotiating terms of peace and equality with a former enemy?"

Yes. But Loki didn't think Odin would appreciate the honesty right now.

"Allfather, you did not need us to conduct the negotiations," Hailstohm answered respectfully. "I am a warrior, and so are your sons. We sought to provide aid to the Midgardian agents, nothing more. No disrespect was meant. Since Midgard has assumed a more prominent place in the affairs of the Nine Realms, I thought I should be acquainted with the world and its guardians."

"You are warriors, yes," Odin said. "But a warrior looks not for war. They remain ready for it but do not seek it out. Both of my sons have learned this lesson well, I thought. Now we stand in peacetime, and so, even as warriors, must take up occupations suitable to peacetime.

"The preliminary stages of the negotiations have gone well. I have spent long hours speaking with your advisors and elders, Lady Hailstohm, and we have drafted out a treaty that would restore the monarchy of Jotunheim and establish peace between our two realms. In the cause of reparation, the Casket of Ancient Winters will also be returned to Jotunheim to complete the restoration of your realm."

Hailstohm's eyes lit up at the mention of the Casket as Loki paled slightly. It was touching the Casket that had confirmed his heritage as a frost giant, as a monster.

No. Stop thinking that way.

But why? a little voice asked, prodding at the back of his mind. Why should I stop calling them monsters? You've heard the stories. You know what they have done, what you have done. How could they not be monsters?

How could I not be a monster?

"However," Odin continued, interrupting Loki's rapid train of thought. "There are a few final details to work out."

"Such as?" Hailstohm asked.

"The fact that you are not the heir to the throne," Odin said levelly. Loki felt a wave of apprehension wash over him as his father added, "You are of the House of Rekening, Lady Hailstohm, and so not a direct heir to the throne."

"I am well aware of that," Hailstohm remarked, her eyes narrowing. Loki felt stiff with fear at what Odin might say next. "I thought this negotiation, in part, was to evaluate my claim to the throne before validating it and releasing Jotunheim from being basically one of Asgard's colonies."

"And your claim would be legitimate, were it not for the existence of a direct heir," Odin rebutted calmly but sternly. "Laufey may have been one of the last living members of the House of Farbauti, but there is one left. Loki, Laufey's son, still lives, and while he does, he is the direct heir. According to Jotunheim's own laws of monarchy, no one else may succeed to the throne if there be such an heir."

But I do not want to be the king of Jotunheim, Loki thought, biting his tongue. It would not do to speak now.

"That is our law," Hailstohm said. "And Loki, Laufey's son, would be the rightful heir to Jotunheim if he had not been disavowed by Laufey as a child and cast aside. By our laws, he is not an heir, for he was never acknowledged as one." She glanced at Loki. "By our laws, he should be dead."

Loki's eyes widened as he stared at Hailstohm. He had heard the story of how Odin had found him: after the battle, in the temple, the Allfather had found him on the ground."You birthright was to die! As a child, cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now, to hate me." But now, he heard that he had been purposefully set aside, his own father refusing to acknowledge him as his son. Even with Loki's preexisting hatred for Laufey, it still stung.

"With all respect to Prince Loki," Hailstohm continued, glancing over at him. "He cannot inherit the throne of Jotunheim for he was not accepted as Laufey's heir. By our laws, a child not accepted as an heir is cast away in the temple. It is a practice seldom used, but one Laufey was pressured into during the final days of our war in an effort to end his line of leadership. Although Loki is the biological son of Laufey, he has no position in jotun society as our king."

Then why try to teach me about Jotunheim? Loki wanted to demand, but again bit his tongue.

"Nevertheless, Loki is the son of Laufey, whether or not he is considered a legitimate heir," Odin said. "For he did not die that day, despite Laufey's disavowal. He has a claim to the throne, the same as you. So I have a condition of you taking the throne, Lady Hailstohm: you will marry my son, Loki, and you will both rule Jotunheim as equals."

The chamber fell so silent, you could have heard a pin drop. Loki was staring at Odin in shock, the words and their meaning slowly seeping into his brain.

"You will marry my son, Loki."

Odin wants me to marry Hailstohm. He wants me to rule Jotunheim. He wants me to marry Hailstohm.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No!

"No!"

"Loki," Odin said warningly as Loki's shout echoed off the walls of the throne room, the god having started forward out of his frozen stance, fists clenched, chest heaving in anger and dismay.

Loki looked to Frigga, hoping for some sign that he would not have to do this. But Frigga's expression was sorrowful.

I love Ellie. I will never marry anyone beside her.

"I won't marry Lady Hailstohm," Loki insisted. "With all due respect to the lady and the House of Rekening, I do not wish for a place in jotun society, I do not wish for their throne, and I do not want to marry her."

Odin stood, glaring fiercely at Loki. "Loki, I will speak to you privately."

Loki unwillingly walked toward his father, glancing at Thor, who looked grim, and at Hailstohm, who also looked grim but unsurprised by the marriage announcement.

"Loki," Frigga said gently, touching his shoulder. He paused and glanced at her as she continued, "I know this isn't what you want. But please, let him speak."

"He can't say anything that will change my mind," Loki told her flatly. "I don't want this. I never did."

He walked toward Odin as Frigga descended the dais steps toward Thor and Hailstohm, the three of them retreating to a respectful distance. Odin stood off to the side of the throne, watching Loki sternly as he approached. "I know you do not want this," he said quietly. "But the throne of Jotunheim is your birthright."

"I thought my birthright was to die," Loki said, echoing Odin's words from after his attack on New York.

Odin sighed, looking suddenly old and weary. "You are Laufey's son, Loki. Laufey may not have acknowledged you as his heir, but his blood courses through your veins, whether either of you wished it or not."

"I want no part of that blood," Loki said. "I never did. I hate them, and I hate the part of me that belongs to them. I don't want that throne, Father. I never wanted it, not theirs. I am Asgardian – you raised me as an Asgardian. How can you expect me to rule a people I neither know nor understand? And I don't love Hailstohm – why would I marry her?"

"Loki, you were meant to be a king, same as your brother," Odin said heavily. "Jotunheim's throne is rightfully yours."

"According to Hailstohm, it is not," Loki pointed out.

"Yes, you were cast out as heir," Odin said. "But you didn't die. You still stand as a blood heir to the throne, despite Laufey's intentions concerning your death."

"I won't marry Hailstohm," Loki declared. "I will not."

"But you won't marry a mortal," Odin told him. "You will live far longer than Eleanor Bishop. When she dies, even if it be from old age, you will still be young as you watch them bury her. The grass will die over her grave before a hair on your head turns grey. Loki, perhaps you will have a moment of peace when you are with her, but then you will have to endure years of hollowness after her death as you long for her. And there will be nothing you can do about it. You will only be able to watch." He looked at him. "I do not want you to have to suffer that."

"But I love Eleanor Bishop," Loki insisted, feeling a dagger had just been thrust into his heart. "She is the only woman I will ever love. I know that."

"Do you want to watch her wither and fade away before you?" Odin challenged in a low voice. "Do you want to watch her die?"

Loki lowered his head, squeezing his eyes closed. He felt pricks of pain in the corners of his eyes and shook his head, not wanting the tears to fall. But in his mind, he could see the youthful Bishop suddenly elderly, her blonde hair grey, her smooth skin wrinkled, and then Loki saw her lying still on a pyre, arms crossed over her chest as he looked down at her, leaving him to go to a place he could not follow.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Loki asked Odin softly. "All I ever wanted was to be your son, to be a part of this family. But now I see I was nothing but a pawn on your chessboard!"

Whirling around, Loki stalked out of the throne room, ignoring Odin's calls for him to stop. He left the throne room and nearly ran down the corridor, his vision blurred and his ears ringing. His thoughts were so jumbled he had no idea what he was thinking or where he was going. When he finally could think coherently again, he found he was kneeling in the weapons vault, sitting before the Casket of Ancient Winters, tear stains on his cheeks.

Loki looked up at the jotun artifact, loathing filling his heart. "Why do I belong to you?" he demanded of the relic, glaring at it. "Why do you make me...this thing? Why? Why?" More tears slipped down his cheeks. "All I ever wanted was to be my brother's equal, to please my father. That's all I ever wanted, the only thing I strove for. And yet you...you told me I was a monster. You told me I didn't belong."

He hung his head. Loki had no idea how long he sat there before he heard footsteps on the stairs behind him and stiffened. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Bishop hurrying toward him, her expression concerned. "Everything okay?" she asked.

Loki took a deep, shuddering breath. He thought about lying, but he didn't want to lie to her. "No."

Bishop sank down beside him, her arm sliding across his back comfortingly. "What happened?"

"My father told me that I am to marry Hailstohm," Loki said bluntly.

Bishop recoiled, disbelief crossing her face. "What?"

Loki shifted to face her, cupping her face in his hands. "Darling, I will not do it. I will not marry her. I love only you. Ellie...." He didn't know what else to say, so he trailed off into silence, just gazing into her eyes.

"Why does he want you to marry her?" Bishop asked quietly.

"Because I am Laufey's son, the only child of Jotunheim's dead king," Loki stated. "He wants Hailstohm and I to rule Jotunheim together, as a part of Asgard's peace with Jotunheim. But I want no part of that world, of those...." Again, he couldn't find the words, so he just looked down.

"Loki," Bishop said. "Why were you raised as Thor's brother if you are a frost giant?"

Loki looked at Bishop. "It is a long story, Ellie. It's not one I want to talk about right now."

She nodded, pressing her lips together. "Okay. I understand. But I'm here to listen when you're ready."

Loki leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. "You know I only love you."

"I know," Bishop whispered as took Loki's face in her hands, closing her eyes. Loki loved the touch of her fingers against his skin. "I love you, too."

"We can run," Loki said quietly. "If Odin won't drop this idea of marriage, we can run." When Bishop didn't reply, he pulled back, meeting her eyes. "That is, if you wish."

"I would run with you anywhere," Bishop whispered, leaning closer to him. Loki felt her lips touch his, softly, and returned her kiss before holding her close, taking comfort in her warmth and strength. Her willingness to go with him did not soothe his fears, it only enhanced them.

Running would only take them so far. The galaxy might be a big place, but Loki had plenty of enemies out there who wanted him dead, particularly one mad Titan. Odin's considerable power kept him safe within the Nine Realms itself, but outside...outside was a different matter entirely.

But to stay with Bishop, Loki would do anything.

/**/

And so starts the week of Loki!

I'll be posting extra updates this week for Dark Soldier on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and Mastering Illusions will be updating on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Wednesday is getting two updates because it is the day of the Loki premiere! Finally!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter; I felt like Odin was channeling some Elrond from Lord of the Rings there for a second. Were you surprised that Odin expects Hailstohm and Loki to get married?

I'm excited to get to write more on this book this week! Keep your eyes out for another update coming soon!

Skylar Wittenborn