The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 79

Just a quick FYI, it gets a little dark near the end!

Two months passed quickly with Loki around me. Hiding his presence with me was easy, especially with a lively clone in the dungeons and only Frigga visiting him. Since Frigga knew, the visits were only a formality and a smokescreen. The three of us had regular meals together once a week. Loki and I also made regular visits to see the dragons. Once he recovered from his wounds, the five of us went on a hunt and we had another one planned for Friday. At the moment, the two of us were sitting together in the gardens. It was a beautiful day, most of the flowers were gone but a section of what looked a bit like Japanese anemones had bloomed early.

"I love it out here." Loki declared.

"Hence why you're here and not in the dungeons?"

"No, I'm not in there because of you. I merely prefer it outdoors as opposed to our bedroom." We hadn't spent much time outside in the time he'd been back. Loki had gotten a little mad at me about it, but he had been terribly overconfident so I'd reeled him in a bit.

"We need to find a better way to get you food. Gretta is becoming suspicious." Gretta was the maid I'd assigned to bring food up to Loki's old chambers, "She can't figure out why I want to stay in there when my room is so much better. In her opinion anyway. Yesterday, she made a comment about how it seemed like nothing ever moved in there. That it didn't look as 'lived in' as it should."

"Shall we do something about that?"

"Yeah, maybe? You know what, no. I think that'd make her even more suspicious. I think it's time to find a different way to get your food." Loki took the shape of another man and generated the armor of a palace guard.

"Problem solved."

"Fine."

"Now," He moved so we were laying down in the grass with my head on his chest.

"I believe it is time to have a serious conversation." I looked up at him and strained my neck a bit.

"What kind of conversation?"

"Our future. My future. We both know I cannot live this way for much longer."

"What do you have in mind? You wouldn't have started this conversation if you didn't already have at least part of an idea."

"You know me so well. Tell me something. What will Thanos do to me for failing him when he gets his hands on me?" My blood turned to ice when I began imagining all of the different ways Thanos would make his life worse than hell. And mine too.

"Terrible things." Was all I managed to reply with, "So what do you have in mind?"

"I need to fake my death."

"That's a little extreme, don't you think?"

"Thanos is equally extreme."

"Don't say his name."

"Arista–"

"Please." I was practically begging, and I knew Loki could see that.

"Very well. But here comes the hard part. I wish to do it in a way that puts me in favor in Thor's eyes, because when the final battle comes, we'll need all the help we can get. Because, like you said, he's not a total idiot and will eventually put everything together and I wish to be in his good graces when he does."

"I agree. But how are you planning to do that?"

"I was hoping you'd have an idea about that."

"Give me a minute to think." We laid down and looked up at the clouds drift over the planets and I thought about how we could possibly complete this momentous task. After awhile, something came to mind.