Eirlys finally sat down, not because they had ordered her to. Because she wanted to hear exactly what everyone had been so determined to hide from her. She listened as the plan was finally laid before her, piece by piece. There had been discussions between Asgard and Vanaheim, assurances exchanged between her father and Odin, arrangements considered for the future, and eventually the decision that she and Loki would be formally engaged. Yet somehow, hearing the entire thing did not make it easier. It only made the reality heavier. She sat quietly, hands folded in her lap, while the people she loved explained the future they had already imagined for her. A future with Loki. A future she had not imagined for herself even once.
Her anger from earlier began to settle into something more complicated. She felt guilty for being angry with her father. She knew he had not acted out of cruelty. She knew he believed he was protecting her. She knew the decision had been made with what everyone considered good intentions. That did not erase the fact that she had been left out of something that concerned her life. The anger had been natural. She knew that. Still, the guilt remained. Her thoughts inevitably returned to Thor. She remembered his arms around her, the way he had lifted her from the ground without hesitation, the warmth of his embrace and the strange tenderness behind it. She remembered his face when he admitted that he had thought the marriage was meant to be between them.
And, most painfully, she remembered what she had told him. She would have chosen him. The words had been honest. Perhaps too honest. Now she wondered what that choice could possibly mean when the decision had already been made for her. Loki was not simply some stranger she had been asked to meet. He was Thor's younger brother, someone she had known since childhood. She cared for him in a way, perhaps more deeply than she had realized, but that affection belonged to an old memory of a quiet boy who had always seemed to need someone to notice him.
Marriage was something entirely different. She lowered her eyes. Eirlys understood that everyone in the room might have believed they were arranging her happiness. But only she could decide what happiness actually meant. After she left the family chambers with only one thought in her mind. Thor. She needed to know what he wanted before she allowed anyone else to decide what she should feel. His confession had stayed with her, especially those quiet words about not wanting to lose her. If he had truly meant them, then perhaps there was still something worth fighting for.
She found Loki before she could reach Thor. He was standing near one of the tall windows in the corridor, looking considerably better than he had earlier. The bruises were still visible, but the blood had been cleaned away and his posture had returned to its usual controlled elegance.
His eyes immediately settled on her face. "You look troubled."
Eirlys hesitated. She had no reason to explain herself to him, yet she found herself doing it anyway. "I need to speak to Thor."
Something flickered across Loki's expression. It disappeared so quickly that she almost missed it. "About the engagement?"
Eirlys looked away. "About what he wants."
Loki was silent for a moment. Then he gave a quiet, almost sympathetic sigh "I suppose someone should tell you."
Her brows drew together. "Tell me what?"
Loki approached slowly, his expression carefully arranged into reluctance. "Thor has someone else."
The words seemed almost too simple to understand.
Eirlys stared at him. "What?"
"Her name is Jane."
The name meant nothing to her. Loki continued before she could ask. "Jane Foster. A mortal woman from Midgard."
Eirlys felt something inside her begin to sink. Thor had never mentioned her. Loki watched the realization settle across her face and continued with calculated gentleness.
"Thor met her while he was on Earth."
Eirlys's fingers curled slightly against her robes. "How long?"
"I don't know precisely." That was the beauty of it. He did not need to provide details that could be disproved. He only needed to give her enough.
"He cared for her." The words landed harder than they should have.
Eirlys remembered Thor's arms around her. His confession. The way he had looked at her when he admitted that he thought the marriage was meant to be theirs. Had she misunderstood him? Had he only been afraid of losing his oldest friend?
Loki saw the uncertainty in her eyes. "If you don't believe me, ask Heimdall."
Eirlys looked sharply at him. "He sees everything beyond the realms. He would know."
That was enough. She could ask Heimdall. She could verify it. And somehow that made the revelation feel worse, because Loki was not asking her to take his word blindly. He was giving her a path to the truth. Or at least making it appear that way. Her heart had already begun breaking before she had even heard Thor's side.
She thought of how easily he had held her. How she had told him she would choose him. Perhaps she had been foolish. Perhaps Thor's pain had never been about wanting her at all. Perhaps he had simply hated the idea of losing someone who had always belonged in his life, while his heart had already been given to someone else. Her eyes lowered.
Loki's expression softened. He stepped closer. "Eirlys."
She did not answer. For the only time, she looked genuinely lost. Loki reached towards her, then stopped just short of touching her, as though giving her the choice. When she did not move away, he gently placed a hand against her arm.
"You don't have to pretend that this doesn't hurt." That was precisely what she had been trying to do.
Her composure cracked, only slightly. But Loki saw it. He drew her carefully into his arms, and this time there was no teasing in the gesture. He held her as though he were offering the comfort she had desperately needed from someone else. Eirlys closed her eyes. She did not know that the man comforting her had deliberately chosen the exact truth capable of destroying her hope. And Loki, holding her against him, knew it perfectly.
Eirlys remained quiet in Loki's arms, but her mind was anything but still. She knew who Loki was. She had known him since childhood, but she was not foolish enough to believe that the quiet boy she remembered was still the whole of him. He was the God of Mischief. Manipulation was practically woven into his nature.
He could read a room, read a person, and twist a situation until everyone believed they had arrived at their own conclusions. And yet, he had agreed to the engagement. That was the part she could not quite understand.
If Loki truly wanted freedom from everyone else's expectations, why agree to marry her?Unless he wanted her.
The thought unsettled her. Perhaps he wanted her badly enough to accept a marriage he would otherwise have rejected. Perhaps there was something behind his carefully controlled expression that he had no intention of admitting.
Eirlys slowly pulled away from him. She did not confront him or accuse him. Rather, she let her expression remain exactly as he expected it to be. Hurt. Confused. Vulnerable. If Loki wanted to believe that his words had worked, she would let him believe it.
She could play that game too. And Thor… Her heart tightened at the thought of him. Thor had someone else. Jane. A woman from Midgard who had somehow found a place in his heart while Eirlys had been nowhere near him. Perhaps that was why he had never said anything all these years. Perhaps she had mistaken familiarity for something more.
She would not embarrass herself by asking him again. If Thor wanted Jane, then Eirlys would not stand between them. But she would not allow herself to be treated like some piece on a royal chessboard either. So she made her decision. She would agree to the engagement. Not because Loki had manipulated her into it, or because her father had arranged it, or even because Thor had chosen someone else.
She would agree because she wanted to see what happened when she stopped playing the role everyone expected of her. If Loki believed he had successfully manipulated her, she would give him exactly that impression. If Thor believed she had accepted Loki because her heart had been broken, she would let him believe that too.
And if either man thought they understood what she was feeling, they were welcome to be wrong. Eirlys lifted her chin. She would become Loki's intended bride. She would smile when required. She would behave as though she had accepted everything gracefully. And behind that polite expression, she would decide exactly how much of herself either brother was allowed to see. Eirlys would not be the girl everyone protected. She would be the one making the choices.