Home | Loki [Book Two]

Chapter Twenty

It had taken a few days, but Asgard was pretty much as good as new. Most of the damage had been on the outskirts of the city or in the palace, so it was easily contained and dealt with.

The traitors from Niflheim had been put through a trial and dealt with fairly. It pained me to punish many of my own people, but it had to be done.

Thor was currently the acting king, taking over as a benevolent ruler and promising to be a better king than any prior to him. His official coronation was scheduled for about a week and a half after Hela's defeat. 

Surprisingly, Loki did not seem all that affected by his brother's rather sudden rise to power. I was glad that he wasn't mad about not being king.

"When is the coronation, again?" I asked Loki. We were at the stables getting ready to enjoy the scarce peace we could find in the countryside. 

"Tomorrow night," he sighed. "I've told you this a dozen times."

"I know; I just don't want to not show up. People already have a bad enough opinion of me."

"They don't have a bad opinion of you," he assured me. "They're just resistant to the unknown."

"I highly doubt that."

"You saved their lives. Besides, that little girl is basically your daughter."

Loki was right. The little girl I had talked to before the battle lived with her widower father, who was a soldier in Asgard's army. He was frequently away from home, and the girl, named Rienna, was alone much of the time.

In the last week, she had come over to the palace library to visit nearly every day. Rienna loved to hear stories that were old news on Midgard but hadn't made their way to Asgard yet. 

Without a better counterargument to present, I swung myself up into the saddle and left Loki behind in the stable. 

"Where to?" I asked when Loki finally caught up to me. 

"Wherever the wind takes us," he said with a smirk, quoting a conversation we'd had more than a year ago.

I glared at him and took off at full speed towards the edge of the city.

"Alright, Omega, what do you think?" I spun out of the closet with a dramatic flourish. 

"It's shorter than most of the dresses," Rienna, whom I had nicknamed Omega, said. 

"How am I supposed to fight in a floor-length gown?" I protested.

"You shouldn't have to fight, Mayhem. It's a coronation." She was surprisingly wise for one so young. 

"Fine." I made the dress longer so that the back slightly dragged on the ground. 

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Maybe when you're older." I fiddled with the gold belt. "I feel like I'm going to be out of place."

"You definitely will be," she assured me. "You're royalty, and royalty should stand out."

I would definitely stand out, that's for sure. The dress was similar to the one I had worn on Sakaar but instead faded from green to black as opposed to the other way around. The sleeves extended to my wrist and the back of the dress had a cutout that exposed my shoulder blades. A thin, warrior-style belt added a gold glint to the dress. It was a sleek combination of Asgard, Niflheim, and Asgard. 

A knock sounded at the door. 

"Mayhem?" Loki asked through the door. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes!" I said, sounding strained as I attempted to shove my feet into the black flats I was wearing for the coronation. "One moment."