𝐸𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇

chapter 3

 I hear the page of a book flip. A small laugh rings out. A mumble of words I can't understand. But all the while, I can't see a thing. "H-hello?" I croak, my voice sounding hoarse and small. A small gasp, footsteps, a hand on my head. 

"Ember, hey, are you ok?" Loki. 

"Mmm... I think so," I say. "But I can't see a thing." 

"Well there's a bandage over your face." 

"Really? Whatever Mother gave me must have worked well because my face is numb, except for my mouth." 

"Ah. Do you need anything?" 

"No. Well wait. Can you go get Thor?" 

"Em... Thor got banished, remember?" 

And I do. 

I do remember. 

Thor is gone. 

My older brother, who teased me, played with me, fought battles with me, loved me, did this to me... is gone. 

"Oh... yeah," is all I can will myself to say. 

"I'm gonna go tell Mother you're awake. You gonna be ok if I go for a minute?" 

"Yeah, I'll be fine." 

"Ok." I wait a couple of minutes, then I hear footsteps and Mother's voice outside of the room. The door creaks open. 

"Mom?" I try to keep my voice from cracking. 

"Yes, dear, I'm here, I'm here." She kisses my forehead. 

"When will I be able to take this off?" I ask. 

"You should be able to take it off right now," Mother responds, "Want me to do it?" 

"Yes, please." I hear the slicing of scissors and I can see again. Loki stands in front of me, Mother beside me. Loki has a look of shock on his face. "What?" He shakes his head. "What?" I demand. "Loki get me a mirror if you won't tell me." He runs out of the room. A few seconds later, he comes back in with a mirror. He hands it to me. I hold it up to my face and see a long gash across my face, paler than my skin. I run my finger along it, my mouth slightly open. I have a scar now. It looks pretty cool but... I liked my face before it. This is all Thor's fault. 

"Can I get up?" I ask Mother. 

"Of course, honey." Loki takes my hand and helps me to stand up. "Where do I take you, M'lady?" he asks his voice dripping with sweetness. "To my bedroom, kind sir." As soon as we step out of the door, we drop each other's hands. We walk to my room and I sit down on my bed, my legs criss-crossed in front of me. 

"So," Loki says, "When are we gonna get the throne?" 

"Loki, you know only one of us can be the King or Queen, right?" 

"Not if we share it." 

"Share it?" 

"We can share the rule. You be the Queen, I be the King, but we aren't married, we just share the rule of Asgard." 

Hmm. This idea could work, and I would love to be Queen now that Thor is gone. 

"Alright, done. I'll go along with your plan." 

"Good. Actually, Em... I have something to tell you." 

"What?" I ask. Whatever he has to tell me, can't be good. 

"So when you went unconscious during the battle on Jotunheim, a Frost Giant picked you up. Your skin turned... blue. Then he grabbed my wrist and my skin turned blue too. A different Frost Giant grabbed Volstagg's wrist and it burned, but didn't turn blue." 

"Why would we turn blue and the others wouldn't?" I ask. 

"I don't know, but I have a theory. Can you teleport?" 

"Probably." 

"Then teleport to the treasure room." 

"See you in a minute." I pull the smirk™. Green light floods my vision for about five seconds, before fading away. I now stand in the treasure room, The Casket in front of me. Loki appears beside me. "Are you ready?" Loki asks. I nod. Loki takes one of the handles on the casket and I take the other. We pick it up and stare at it for a minute. My fingertips start to turn blue. 

"Stop!" comes a yell from behind us. We look at each other. My hands are blue. 

"Are we cursed?" Loki asks. 

"No," Father says. 

"Then what's happening?" I demand. 

"What are we?" Loki asks. We set The Casket down. 

"You're my son and my daughter," Father says. We around to face Father. Our skin is blue, our eyes are red, there are markings on our faces. Then as soon as it came, it starts to fade. 

"What more than that?" Loki whispers. We start to walk towards Father. "The Casket wasn't the only thing you took from Jotunheim that day, was it?" Loki asks. We get closer and closer to Father, who says, "No." We stop at the bottom of the steps Father is standing on. 

Father starts the story, "In the aftermath of the battle, I went into the temple and I found two babies. They were small for a giant's offspring. Abandoned, suffering, left to die. Laufey's son and daughter." 

Loki looks down. 

"Laufey's son," "Laufey's daughter," me and Loki say at the same time. My eyes fill with tears. I blink them away. Loki starts to hyperventilate. "Why? You were knee-deep in Jotun blood, why would you take us?" Loki asks. 

"You were innocent children," Father says. Then it dawns on me. He took us for a reason. He's lying. 

"Stop lying!" I scream, "You have lied to all of your children your whole life so for once, tell us the truth! I think we deserve to know where we came from, Odin." 

"You took us for a purpose. What was it?" Loki asks. Father stays silent. I look at Loki, whose eyes are filled with tears. 

"Tell me!" Our pained voices echo around the room. 

"I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day. Bring about an alliance, bring about permanent peace. Through you two."

"What?" Loki whispers. 

"But those plans no longer matter." 

Loki looks more hurt than I've ever seen him before. 

"So we are no more than stolen relics? Locked up here until you might have use of us." Loki says.

"So we're just leverage to keep peace?" I ask. 

"Why do you twist my words?" Odin asks. 

"You could have told us what we were from the beginning, why didn't you?" Loki yells. 

"You're my children. I wanted only to protect you from the truth." 

"What because w-we're the monsters parents tell their children about at night?" Loki asks.

"No, no-" Odin starts. 

"You know, it all makes sense now! Why you favored Thor all these years! Because no matter how much you claim to love us," Loki starts to walk up the stairs. Odin sits down. He holds his hand out to Loki. "You could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!" Odin's hand drops, as does his body onto the floor. I run to the top of the stairs, tears spilling out of my eyes. We bend down and look at Odin. Loki takes one of his hands and I take the other. 

"Guards!" we scream, "Guards, please, help!" 

The guards rush in and pick up Odin. They shut the door behind them. 

"Long live the king," I whisper.