The King and The Lionheart (Loki fanfic V:1)

The Edge of Glory Part 5

     "We don't have time for your games, Loki. All the people of Asgard wouldn't just turn against us in a single night." Thor argues.

     "No, but he will use his powers of manipulation or mind control, whatever you want to call it, with his infinity stones."

     "Infinity stones?" Thor asks confused at the realization that hit me in the face.

     "I can't believe it, does he have the gauntlet? How many in infinity stones does he have? Which one or ones?" I ask my voice getting higher with curiosity and quicker with impatience.

     "Yes, last time I saw him one, and it was the mind stone, which is how he's able to control people." Loki explains.

     "Your eyes," I gasp, realizing that my theories weren't too far off, he was under the influence of someone with the ability to control minds. He looks at me sadly and nods. Thor stands shakily and looks at Loki with tears in his eyes.

     He walks over to hugs his brother. "I'm sorry I didn't know, I didn't try to save you."

     "Well, to be far you thought I was dead," Loki says trying to extract himself from Thor's brotherly love. Thor continues to apologize and Loki sends me a pleading look. I put a hand on Thor's shoulder and he lets go of Loki to look at me. I put myself between them and put my head on Loki's shoulder, an invitation to put his arms around me, which he does.

     "You didn't kill all those people?" I ask. He didn't kill anyone, he didn't kill Phil.

     "Not by choice no, once you guys brought me back to Asgard I was finally out of his reach, he didn't know where I was going so he couldn't find me anymore," Loki explains and I feel a few tears coming into my eyes. "I'm here for you, I'll stay with you until the end," He whispers into my ear so only I hear this.

     Thor stays with us until it gets dark and he goes to his own room. "I guess I should go to my room and get some sleep."

     "Should you really?" I ask suddenly too shy to look at him. He looks at me surprised "Just to sleep," I correct. His lips lift in a serene smile, knowing that this is an intimacy that we can finally experience. We have some time to focus on us, even if it is only for a bit. He goes into the wardrobe and finds long pants to sleep in. I walk into the closet and find some shorts and a shirt to sleep in.

     When I walk out I see him waiting for me in the bed. We take a moment to smile at each other before I run, jumping into the bed, and he pulls the covers over both of us. He holds me in his arms "I know it sounds weird but I'm happy that all this happened." I breathe.

     "Me too." He whisper into my hair and holds me close.

     We lay there for a moment, just listening to each other breathing before I think of something I want to talk about. "We can't stay here for long, we have to stay focused on the mission. If they prove that I'm their queen they won't want me to leave them, especially after what happened to my mom."

     "I agree, but we can't take what we have here for granted. We are completely safe and have everything we could need," He points out.

     "Yeah," I agree, laughing I continue "I can't believe we're here, talking like this."

     "Like a husband and wife?" He asks and I go quiet. I didn't really think of it that way, to be completely honest I haven't even considered that a possibility, not since before he "died." As I lie there I hear his breathing slow until I can tell that he's sleeping deeply. I turn in his arms to face him, careful not to wake him up. I look at his sleeping face, rid of all worry and pain, this is the only time he can look like his mind isn't moving at a hundred miles per minute. I wrap my arm around his waist and fall asleep.

     I wake up to Loki waking up in my arms. I open my eyes to find him already looking at me "Good morning," He says, his voice husky with sleep.

     "Morning," I croak as I wipe the sleep from my eyes. I lie there and after a moment I feel him move some hair off my face. I breathe a laugh and open my eyes to see him propped up on his elbow staring down at me. "We should get up," I try to break the tension, knowing that if we stay here for much longer I'm not going to want to leave. He hums understandingly but we neither of us seems to want to be the first one to move.

     Slowly he moves closer to me until our mouths connect. I sigh and he holds my closer by putting his hand on my waist. "Good morning,"he repeats smiling. I laugh and repeat the sentiment. We lie there for just a moment before Loki decides to break the spell "So you'll be having a bunch of tests performed on you today while Thor and I look around for anything weird."

     I nod and detach myself from his arms. By the time I come out of the bathroom ready to greet the day I see that Loki's already left. A servant knocks on the door and enters when I tell her to. She takes me to the healers' room for all the physical tests. I try to get the test results out of them but they all say the same thing; " The regent will tell you the results later."

     These tests take up half the day so when they release me it's well last lunch but too early for dinner. Beefing on angry from the lack of food I stomp around looking for Thor and Loki. When I finally find them in a sitting room full of windows I ask "What have you found out?"

     "Not much, unfortunately. Maybe as they get more comfortable around us it will be easier to overhear their conversations," Loki reasons. I find myself glaring at him and he cocks an eyebrow at me, knowing that I shouldn't be blaming him for anything at this particular moment.

     "Are you alright, Amril?" Thor asks putting his hands up defensively when I turn my glare to him.

     I sigh angrily and rub my face tiredly with both of my hands. "Sorry, I'm sorry. I have been poked and prodded all day so I haven't had anytime to eat yet."

     The brothers share a humored glance at each other, all of us knowing this isn't the first time this exact thing has happened. I usually don't forget to eat often but when I do everyone knows about it, especially my close friends. "It"s alright, I think they serve dinner in the dining hall in about an hour," Loki says.