Sorcha's Secret World, Part 2: Mystery and Mischief.

Chapter 5, Blue rose.

"So how are things going up at Jotunnhold?" Cedric asked.

"Slow, but that is not necessarily a bad thing," Loki replied.

He had his arm casually draped around my shoulder, and I snuggled a bit closer. It was the first time we had visited the Horned God after we got married. It had taken us a while to make our way to our usual table, everyone seemed to want to congratulate us. Whatever happened with the Templars, it appeared our friends and acquaintances understood and had no hard feelings.

"We've uncovered a few more empty rooms with no discernable purpose, and what seemed to have been a kitchen."

Loki took a sip of the expensive single malt whiskey Cedric had insisted on buying for him.

"There was also a barrack room, with more Jotunn remains, still in their bunk. Until we uncover more, the mystery of what happened there remains."

"That can't be easy," Calinda said sympathetically. "What is going to happen to them? Please tell me they won't be put up for display in a museum or something like that?"

"Absolutely not. For now, Doc Lee is running some tests on the remains to see if we can find a cause of death, after that, I will take them back to Jotunnheim. They might have died far away from home, but I believe they deserve to be laid to rest with the rest of our people."

"Here you are, will you just look at the two of you, you are practically glowing with happiness!" Anita, Richard's wife, appeared next to our table.

"Congratulations, I can't believe you two eloped like that!" I got a big hug and two kisses, and despite his best efforts, Loki couldn't escape the same fate.

I looked at him and smiled. I still couldn't believe we were married either! Loki was looking fantastic as always, wearing black slacks and a white silk blend shirt with a casual elegance that belied the fact that he had spent over an hour trying on a dozen similar trousers and shirts before he ended up wearing these ones. His black hair curled over the collar of his shirt, falling just below his shoulders. Every now and again he threatened to get it cut shorter again, but so far I had managed to persuade him to keep it long. I liked it this way!

I was dressed in a purple woollen dress that left my arms and shoulders bare with a black lace cardigan over it that reached just below my calves. My hair was falling down my back in soft curls. When I had looked in the mirror before we left even I had to agree I almost looked pretty enough to belong on Loki's arm.

Laufey's necklace, as I still thought of it, decorated my neck. Matching silver earrings were dangling from each ear, a wedding gift from Loki. Blue gems of various hues were delicately cut into petals, forming a blue rose.

"They are beautiful," I had said softly as I admired them, trying not to think about the fact that they had probably cost as much as my house.

"You like them?" Loki's eyes lit up with joy, he knew I was terribly fussy when it came to jewellery. "I had them made for you especially."

I put them on in front of the mirror, admiring them in the sunlight that came streaming through the window.

Loki stood behind me, his arms wrapped around me.

"They are beautiful, just like you," he smiled. Never one to be able to resist giving a lecture he continued:

"Did you know blue roses don't occur naturally? They have to be artificially created.

No matter how diligently you seek, you will never find one growing in the wild.

They symbolise mystery, desire, love, and hope. They stand for rare and unearthly beauty, and for striving to obtain the unobtainable."