Forever. I Promise (Sequel to As one. Always)

Chapter 13

The throne room was quiet as Thor paced it. I was standing neat the back, waiting for a moment of his time, something I had never had to do before. Before all this Thor was so available. But he was the king of Asgard now. He had things to do. At the moment he was listening to petitions his advisors had collected. I could see by the way he paced that he really did not want to hear any petitions from the people at this moment. The man had just lost his father for goodness sake! But when you're a king people tend to forget your needs as a person.

After waiting for half an hour I was a little fed up with waiting. I had some important developments to tell Thor, and they couldn't wait. I cleared my throat, getting the attention of the advisors standing around him. "Thor, I have some important discoveries I'd like to inform you about, if you have the time."

"Yes, please. We will continue with matters of the realm later." He dismissed his advisors, looking relieved. "What have you found?"

"Nothing good." I wasn't sure how to break the news to Thor. I was still shaken about it myself.

He made a gesture for me to go on. "Well, the room was wiped clean. It was nearly impossible for me to find anything. But, I managed to find a small trace of a magical signature."

"Do you recognise it?" Thor stepped closer to me. I nodded. "And? Who does it belong to?"

I sighed, feeling a little shaky. I had checked the signature multiple times, even though I didn't need to. I knew that signature like the back of my hand. "Thor...it's...it's Loki's signature." I stammered, closing my eyes.

I opened them when I felt two large hands grasp my upper arms and pull me forward. Thor was holding me tightly, his eyes searching mine. "It can't be. Noelle it can't be Loki's." His grip tightened. "He's dead! I watched him die, we buried him!"

"Thor, put me down." I winced. He did, putting his hands in his hair. We were both quiet, Thor still processing this.

"Are you sure?" He said after a while. "It is his? It could be a fake."

"Magical signatures can't be faked. It's his." I felt my shoulder's sag. I had just started to get better. I had just started to move on. Even in death, Loki still seemed to follow me around.

"How is this possible? He's dead."

"Is he though?" I asked, my voice shaky. "Thor, they never found a body."

Thor shook his head. "When Jane and I left him, his body was cold. When we went back later to find him... we had thought his body had turned to ash, like Frost Giants usually do."

"Did you find traces of ash? Anything to show that he had been there?"

Thor smiled grimly. "Svartalfheim is a realm of ash. We wouldn't have found anything."

"So he may not be dead." I put a hand to my temple. I was starting to feel the draining effects of magic, and that of the Bifrost. "We have no proof that he is dead."

"He couldn't have gotten up and walked away. He had been impaled, Noelle."

"Maybe he had assistance?" Could someone have helped Loki? "But then again, I felt Loki die. Even while I was unconscious I felt him die." None of this made any sense. And I didn't believe in ghosts, so that was out of the question.

"Noelle, Loki was a master magician. If anyone could cheat death, it would be him." Thor shook his head. "I don't know where to proceed with this information. Anyone we told would think you were crazy." I rolled back my shoulders.

"It's the only lead I have from you. Either we go from here, or we give all of this up." I wasn't about to go chasing down the magicians of the realm, asking if they killed Odin.