The meeting had come to an end, but King Freyadóttir remained seated for a moment, his thoughts heavier than when he had entered. He had listened to Odin's proposal. He had heard everything that had happened in Asgard, everything Loki had done and everything that had nearly been lost because of him.
His daughter was precious to him. Too precious to place in the hands of someone who could no longer be trusted.
"I cannot simply agree to this," he said at last. "Loki is not the boy I remember. Whatever he may have been as a child, he has tried to destroy Asgard. How can I send my daughter to him and expect her to be safe?"
Frigga's expression softened. "Because she is too good for him."
The King looked at her.
"And perhaps," Frigga continued quietly, "that is exactly why he will never hurt her."
Freyadóttir said nothing.
"Loki knows what he has done," she said. "He knows what he has become. And if there is one thing I know about my son, it is that he will never willingly destroy the person he considers his wife."
Her eyes drifted toward the closed doors. "I remember Eirlys from when they were children. Do you know she was the only one he never played a prank on?"
A faint smile touched her lips. "Thor, Sif, even the Warriors Three had all suffered his mischief. But Eirlys? Never. Not even for once."
The King lowered his gaze, remembering his daughter as a child, always returning from Asgard with stories about Thor and Loki.
Odin leaned forward. "I give you my word. Whatever happens between them, Eirlys will be protected. She will be treated as my own child, and I will protect her with my life."
There was no hesitation in his voice. Freyadóttir looked between Odin and Frigga, then finally let out a slow breath. He still did not like the thought of his daughter being placed beside Loki.
But he trusted the people who would stand between them and any danger. He trusted Odin and Frigga. And he trusted Thor, who had loved Eirlys like family since they were children. The two realms had been friends for generations, and their kings had shared that friendship for just as long.
At last, Freyadóttir nodded. "Then I agree."
The decision was made.
The private meeting had ended, but the decision made inside that chamber could not remain there forever. A servant was sent to find Thor and Eirlys. Neither of them suspected why.
They arrived together, still carrying the easy warmth of their reunion with Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun. Eirlys was smiling as she entered, while Thor looked considerably more relaxed than he had when she first arrived.
That changed when they noticed Odin and Frigga waiting with King Freyadóttir. The atmosphere was different now. Formal and serious.
Eirlys's smile faded slightly as she glanced between the three elders. Thor straightened beside her, sensing that whatever this was, it had little to do with their reunion.
Odin spoke carefully, explaining that there was something concerning the future of both realms that required their consideration. The words were measured, almost deliberately vague, until the subject finally became impossible to misunderstand.
Marriage.
For a moment, neither Thor nor Eirlys moved. Eirlys's cheeks warmed almost instantly.
Marriage? Her eyes flickered toward Thor before she could stop herself.
Thor noticed. And, for perhaps the only time since she had arrived, neither of them knew what to say. It was not entirely unreasonable. In fact, it made a strange kind of sense.
Thor was the future King of Asgard. Eirlys was the eldest child of Vanaheim's king, the princess who would one day carry the responsibilities of her family and kingdom. Their realms had been allies for generations, and the two of them had known each other almost their entire lives.
She had grown up almost in Asgard. He had grown up visiting Vanaheim. They trusted each other. They understood each other. Their families already loved one another. And if Thor became King of Asgard, Eirlys would become its Queen. The thought should have felt strange. Instead, Eirlys found herself wondering why it did not.
There was something almost comforting about it. She knew Thor, his temper, his ridiculous confidence, his stubbornness and the softer parts of him that he rarely showed to anyone else. She knew the boy beneath the crown because she had known him long before the crown existed.
Perhaps this was what everyone had always expected. Perhaps this was simply where they had been heading without either of them realizing it. Her cheeks remained faintly pink as she lowered her gaze.
Thor, however, was caught somewhere between surprise and uncertainty.
Jane. The thought appeared before he could push it away.
He had not told anyone about her. Not Odin. Not Frigga. Not even Eirlys, despite how easily he had spoken to her about everything else. It was too soon.
Everything with Jane was still too new, too complicated, too precious to explain in a room like this. Yet when Thor looked at Eirlys standing beside him, another thought followed. He could not deny that part of him was perfectly willing to accept the idea.
Eirlys was kind where he was reckless, patient where he was impulsive, strong without needing to prove it. She knew him without demanding that he become someone else. She could challenge him without fearing him and laugh at him without ever making him feel small. She was everything he could have asked for in a wife, and somehow more than anything he had ever thought to ask for.
That realization unsettled him. Because he did not know whether what he felt was simply the comfort of having someone he had loved for most of his life standing beside him… Or something he had never allowed himself to name.
Eirlys stole another brief glance at him. Neither of them knew yet that they had misunderstood the proposal entirely. The marriage being discussed was not between Thor and Eirlys. It was between Eirlys… And Loki.
As she found it increasingly difficult to meet Thor's eyes after the word marriage had been spoken. The faint warmth that had risen to her cheeks refused to disappear, and every time she accidentally glanced at him, she became painfully conscious of how close he was standing.
She had known Thor for most of her life, had laughed with him, argued with him and grown alongside him, yet somehow the thought of becoming his wife made that familiarity feel entirely different. It was too sudden and unexpected. Before anyone could notice just how flustered she had become, she quietly excused herself and slipped out of the chamber.
She turned the corner too quickly and walked straight into someone. A pair of hands caught her arms before she could lose her balance. Loki.
For a moment, he simply looked at her. He had known Eirlys since childhood. He remembered her as the girl who was always beside Thor, bright-eyed and impossibly difficult to irritate, the one person his carefully planned mischief had somehow never touched. But the woman standing before him now was someone he had never truly seen.
She was beautiful in a way that caught him completely off guard. There was softness in her features and grace in the way she carried herself, yet nothing about her seemed fragile. Her Vanaheim robes flowed around her with every movement, the deep green and gold making her look almost as though she had brought a piece of her kingdom into Asgard with her. She possessed the elegance expected of a princess, but there was an ease and confidence beneath it that made her unlike the polished noblewomen Loki had grown accustomed to.
His gaze remained on her for a second too long. Something old and carefully buried stirred within him. He hated that he noticed the curve of her smile, the warmth still colouring her cheeks, the way a few strands of hair had fallen loose around her face. His eyes travelled over her before he caught himself, the admiration threatening to become something far less innocent. It was lustful.
He looked away. He must not. Whatever strange feeling had awakened in him, he had no right to entertain it.
Eirlys gave him a small, uncertain smile before quietly moving past him. Loki watched her disappear down the corridor, his expression unreadable, before finally entering the chamber. Thor was still there, standing exactly where she had left him, apparently trying to make sense of everything he had just heard.
Loki said nothing. Neither of the brothers knew yet that the marriage they were both silently thinking about had nothing to do with Thor but it had everything to do with Loki.