Loki's Daughter, Mortem and Mischief

Chapter Fifty One

LOKI'S POINT OF VIEW
I couldn't deny what I was seeing, no matter how much I hated it. I had watched the same scene all those years ago whilst I was a prisoner at the TVA. A young girl, fair and innocent, meeting a young man who didn't deserve a second chance. A girl too infatuated with a boy who simply couldn't bear to keep her away.I knew the story all too well, as I had rewatched it nearly a million times.

But I hated that. I had been that boy in the cell and I knew how the story ended. Sure, it had worked out for me, I now had the wife and daughter of my dreams. But Hela was a child. She was my child. Yet here I was watching as she became hopelessly entangled with the prick that timeline had deemed "perfect" for her. Let me just put this into perspective, my daughter-the little girl I had once believed to be the smartest thing in the entire universe, was falling in love with a good for nothing timeline outlaw. And somehow I was just expected to watch it all unfold?

No fuxking way. No matter what fate or the TVA had decided, I was going to absolutely everything in my power to stop it. My Hela, was still mine. And she would be for at least a millennia. I would be damned if I saw her honor stripped away from her at 16. Furthermore, I would be more than mad if I let it all happen. I simply had to try-try to protect her from Grimnir or somehow put a stop to this nonsense. Or, at the very least, I was going to make sure that it would all be slowed. I could not sit idly by, watching as my daughter fall in love.

"Wake up," I said as I snapped open the drapes in her room. Hela groaned as the sunlight pooled into her bed. She had been up till the wee hours of the night, tending to Grimnir-I was sure she was more than tired. Oh well.

"I have no meetings till three. I don't need to get up this early," she grumbled as she pulled the sheets over her head. "Not true," I replied, pulling the blankets off of her bed. Hela glared at me from where she lay, now left with only a pillow.

"I have no meetings till three," she repeated, dotting up in an effort to grab the sheets I stole. I clocked my tongue, holding the blankets farther away from her. "You're going riding with me,"
I stated, "Now."

She opened her mouth as if she ready to argue even more. I waited expectantly, ready to shoot down whatever stupid excuse she was about to make. "Fine," she huffed as she slipped out of bed. She made her way to her dressing room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

As she got dressed, I could just barely hear the obscenities she was muttering. She seemed less than excited to be going on a hunt, and by the sound of it-she was very disappointed to know she wouldn't be able to check on Grimnir that morning.

Hela emerged from her dressing room with her long ebony hair tied into a ponytail that sat at the crown of her head. Even tied up, it fell past her ribs. She wore a simple black tunic, cinched around the waist with a scaly leather belt that matched the leather of her boots. She didn't wear a single item that bore the least bit of color. Even her gauntlets were black. But truly, what really completed the look was the bratty scowl she had on.

"My don't you look...witchy," I replied with a kind smile. "Why are we doing this? I have a busy day. I wanted to sleep in. Wouldn't you rather go with mother later?" she asked, completely ignoring my comment.

"Busy day? I thought you said your netting's didn't start till three, that hardly seems busy. Or were you expecting to make a trip to the dungeons today?" I asked. Hela's cheeks flushed red as she pulled on her riding gloves. I could easily tell that she was more than angry about me finding out about her secret affair with Grimnir. Not that I cared. Maybe someday she would finally understand that I was just protecting her.

"Besides," I added as I pushed open Hela's bedroom door, "We've hardly spent any time together."

"We spent six hours together yesterday," Hela countered with a raised brow as we began to walk to the stables.

"That's different. You were covered in blood and frankly, I didn't want to be there. I'd like the time shared with my daughter to not include blood...boys...or diplomacy of any kind," I explained. Hela nodded, scrunching up her nose as if to say fair enough.

As we arrived to the stables, I beckoned for one of the servants to saddle up our steeds. But Hela flashed me a confused look as she immediately called off my request. "Now you're just being difficult," I said sharply.

"We can saddle our own horses, papa. Don't make them all hault their duties just to fall at our beck and call. They have more important things to do," she said as she hoisted my saddle off the rack. As bratty as the comment was, I couldn't help but smile. Rarely I could see the bits of Sigyn poking through Hela's personality. Far more often, I was met with a mirror when I interacted with my daughter. Sigyn had insisted the same thing when we went riding for the first time, her words were nearly exactly the same to what Hela said now.

I watched as Hela saddled my balck stallion, pulling the leather straps tightly but gently. The steed barely moved a muscle, completely calm as Hela prepared him for me. For as good of a huntress my daughter was, it was always a marvel how kind she was to animals.

"He's ready for you," Hela said as she walked past me to the stables where her horse stood. Within just seconds, she had her silver mare saddled and bridled. After seeing Hela in so many dresses, crowns, and evening gloves, it had become easy to forget her roots. It was hard to imagine that this girl was the same one who fed chickens every morning, fished till the sun went down, hunted until it came back up, the one who had dutifully taken care of me back in New Asgard. It was relief to know some part of that girl still existed within my daughter.

"Where to?" Hela asked as she mounted her horse, jumping up and swinging her leg over with the upmost ease. "The countryside," I replied as I boarded my own steed. She nodded and for once she waited to follow my lead, dutifully following me out.

For at least a good three miles, we didn't speak a word. The only sounds were the chirping of birds and the crunch of leaves under our horses' hooves. Hela looked calmer with each step, her stoically sour expression melted away and was replaced to the one I knew. Her lips were just curled ever so slightly, her eyes twinkled in the sunshine, and I could just barely see the faint freckles spattered across her nose.

"I know why you brought me out here," she said, finally breaking the silence between us. I raised a brow, looking towards her.

"It's because you're worried about Grimnir and I," she stated. Her voice wasn't accusatory, or angry. If anything, she sounded understanding. "And that's okay, cause...I am too," she admitted softly.

"Why's that?" I asked as we came along a field of wild flowers. She smiled lightly at the vast array of colors, taking a pause in her thoughts to just admire the beauty of it all.

"I know what he did to me was cruel and that he made me very very stupid. Trust me, I want to hate him. I want to take pleasure in his pain, or even just forget he exists. But I can't. And I don't know why," she explained.

"We could always kill him and just not tell Mobius. Then you'd have no choice but to forget him," I said, only half joking. Hela laughed lightly, the first genuine laugh I had heard in a while.

"I've tried," she admitted through her laughter. "I've tried poisoning him, tried to drive him to insanity so he could finish it all himself, I've even plotted to kill him in his sleep with my magic. But, he's somehow immune to night shade. His mind is far stronger than I could've ever imagined. And for some damn reason, my magic won't work on him-not fully at least," she continued with a small shrug.

That was somehow...relieving. I nodded as I took it all in. Again, I knew this story all too well. My lies didn't extend to Sigyn just as Hela's deadliness couldn't take over Grim. My stomach twisted as I tried not to think about the gravity of what it all meant.