The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 83

His words caused me to all but explode with rage. I leapt at him, hands aimed for his throat and ready to kill but Thor intercepted me, snatching me from the air by grabbing my waist. I struggled against him, but he was too strong, refusing to let me go until Odin was long gone and no longer worth chasing after. My outburst had scared Jane, causing her to back up against a bookshelf.

"Arista, stop!" It took all I had in my to not shove her hand from my shoulder, "The old coot isn't worth it."

"Not today, anyway." I muttered, not even loud enough for her to hear.

"Why don't you tell us what really happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"With the Dark Elves."

"Right. I don't have the entire story. The person you want for that is Bor, but he's dead and so is everyone else who was there so I guess I'm the best you got. During the final battle, it looked like, for a long time, it looked like we were going to lose, that is, until Asgard took the Aether from Malekith. After that, things looked....dicey at best, but with the Aether gone, it was over for Malekith. So, he and an unknown number of others boarded the mothership, cut power to everyone else, and fled. The damages caused by the wreckage was horrific, but I was not around to see it."

"Why not?"

"I was....injured.....during the first leg of the battle. The guardian of the Bifrost at the time pulled me back to Asgard and I spent several months in recovery."

"But you know what happened to the Aether."

"Yes. I hid it in the hollow core of Svartalfheim."

"Why was it not destroyed?"

"Because it's one of the Infinity Stones. Those cannot be destroyed, even by me."

"Yes...that would be true." He was lost in thought.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to get it out of me, would you?"

"No. But I can try and feed it as much energy as I can. Although that may just speed up the rate at which it pulls on your life force."

"Feed it how?" I winked and wiggled my fingers, subtly drawing her attention to my ring.

"These stones have special properties, but I won't bore you with the specifics, after all, your speciality is astrophysics, not geology."

"Fine. Then when is the formal ceremony going to be?"

"What formal ceremony?"

"For your wedding. You promised me I'd be your maid of honor."

"You may change your mind about that once I remind you who my husband is." I muttered.

"I thought Odin was exaggerating when he said your husband was a war criminal."

"Nope. He was being very honest."

"You're stalling. Who is he? I've probably never heard of him."

"Oh, you have. I can guarantee that."

"What's his name?!" She was becoming very impatient.

"Loki." Everything was silent for a moment, while Jane's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"The same Loki that attacked New York?!" I bowed my head, unwilling to meet her eyes.

"He was a different person before that."

"Oh my God. And you're still married to him?!" I pressed my lips together and exhaled slowly.

"Look, there are a lot of things going on that you don't understand, moving pieces in the shadows that you don't see and hopefully never will."