Thor thought of Midgard. Of the days he had spent there, of Jane and the strange, wonderful life he had glimpsed beyond Asgard. He had returned with his heart still tangled in everything he had left behind. He had barely been given time to understand what had happened to him, let alone speak of Jane to his family. And now this. His father had taken away his hammer once. Sent him to another realm and forced him to learn humility. Thor had accepted it because, in the end, he understood why Odin had done it.
But this? This was different.
"You send me away for days, leave me to find my way back to myself, and the moment I return, you decide my brother should marry Eirlys?"
Odin's eyes hardened. "You are allowing your temper to speak."
"My temper?" Thor gave a humourless laugh. "You expect me to stand here calmly while you arrange her life?"
Frigga tried again. "We have considered what is best for both of them."
"For Loki?" Thor looked at his brother.
Loki met his eyes. There was something unreadable in his expression now, something that made Thor's anger burn hotter.
"You cannot trust him."
"I know," Odin replied.
"Then how can you trust him with her?"
Silence followed. Thor shook his head, breathing heavily through his nose. He could feel his anger getting ahead of him, just as it always did. He had never been good at controlling it once it took hold.
Beside him, Loki finally smiled. It was small, barely there. But Thor saw it. And Loki, being Loki, knew exactly what he was doing.
"You seem remarkably troubled," Loki murmured.
Thor's eyes narrowed. Loki's gaze shifted toward the doors.
"Perhaps you are only upset because you have finally realized what it feels like to lose something you thought would always be yours."
That did it. Thor crossed the room in an instant. Loki barely had time to react before Thor seized him by the front of his armor and hurled him across the chamber. Loki crashed through the wooden doors with enough force to splinter them, his body striking the corridor floor hard.
Frigga gasped and Odin rose sharply. Thor stood frozen for half a second, his chest heaving. Then he saw Loki struggling to move. His anger faltered. But Loki's face was already twisted with pain, one hand pressed against his side as he slowly pushed himself away from the broken doorway. For once, even he had not expected Thor to lose control quite so completely.
Thor moved towards Loki with the kind of anger that made the air around him feel charged. His fists were clenched at his sides, his chest rising and falling heavily as he stared down at his brother. Loki had already been injured badly during their fight at the Bifrost, and now he was barely steady after being thrown across the room. Yet Thor could not bring himself to care. Not when the words Loki had whispered were still burning inside his head.
His hand lifted and Mjolnir answered. The hammer tore through the air and slammed into Thor's waiting palm, the sound echoing through the damaged corridor. He took another step towards Loki.
That was when Eirlys came running. She had heard the crash from the other end of the hall, loud enough to make her heart jump. She had not known what had happened. One moment she had been trying to collect herself after the strange and humiliating conversation with Odin and Frigga, and the next she was rushing towards the noise, her robes gathered slightly in her hands.
She stopped the moment she saw them. For a heartbeat, she simply stared. Thor, her Thor, stood in the middle of the wreckage with Mjolnir in his hand, his face twisted with an anger she had rarely seen directed at anyone, least of all Loki. And on the floor several feet away lay Loki.
He looked terrible. His clothes were torn and stained, his face bruised, and there was blood at his temple. He had tried to push himself upright but seemed to lack the strength to do so. His usual composure was gone, leaving behind something strangely vulnerable that Eirlys had never expected to see.
Her shock disappeared beneath concern. "Loki." She hurried towards him before she had even thought about it.
Thor's expression changed immediately. Eirlys dropped to her knees beside Loki, completely ignoring the state of her own robes as she carefully reached for him. Her fingers touched his shoulder first, gentle and cautious, checking whether he reacted to the contact. She looked over the bruising on his face, then towards his temple, her brows drawing together with worry.
She had known Loki since they were children. He had always been quieter than Thor, more difficult to read, but he had never been cruel to her. If anything, he had been strangely restrained around her. While Thor and the others had tormented her with childish pranks, Loki had never once joined them.
She did not know what had happened between the brothers, or what Loki had said, or what Thor had heard in those words. All she saw was someone injured on the floor. And Thor saw the way she touched him. Something inside him tightened.
He knew his brother. Better than anyone, perhaps. He knew the thoughts Loki kept hidden behind that elegant face and that poisonous little smile. He knew how easily Loki could turn affection into possession, kindness into weakness, and admiration into something darker, pure lust.
And now Eirlys was kneeling beside him. His Eirlys.
The thought came so instinctively that Thor almost recoiled from it himself. She had always been his closest companion, the one person who could calm him when his temper burned too hot, the one who knew him before the crown, before the battles, before everything had become complicated.
And now Loki was looking at her. Even injured, even lying helplessly on the floor, Thor could not trust what was happening inside his brother's mind. His grip tightened around Mjolnir.
Eirlys, completely unaware of the storm gathering behind her, carefully supported Loki's head with one hand and examined the wound at his temple with the other. Her gentleness only made Thor angrier. Because somewhere beneath the rage was a fear he did not yet know how to name. He had just gotten Eirlys back. And already, Loki was standing between them.
Eirlys carefully slipped one arm around Loki's back and helped him sit up. He winced, but allowed her to support him, still too dazed to protest. When she finally managed to get him onto his feet, she kept a firm hold on his arm, making sure he could stand before guiding him away. Before leaving, however, she looked back at Thor. The disappointment in her eyes struck him harder than any blow could have.
She did not need to raise her voice. Her expression alone made it clear that she was furious with him. Thor had seen that look before, usually after some reckless childhood stunt, but never had it been directed at him like this.
He lowered Mjolnir slightly. Eirlys shook her head at him, silently telling him exactly what she thought of what he had done. To her, whatever argument had passed between the brothers did not justify Thor nearly hurting Loki when he was already injured.
Loki was still Loki to her, Thor's younger brother. The quiet boy who had followed behind Thor when they were children, the one she had teased, protected, and occasionally defended when Thor's games went too far. She still carried that image of him somewhere in her mind, even though the man beside her had long since grown beyond it.
She had no idea how wrong that innocent image was. With one last disappointed glance at Thor, Eirlys turned away and helped Loki towards his chambers, never noticing the look of disbelief that remained on Thor's face.