2 | 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 ▹ LOKI LAUFEYSON

xxviii. the gates

L O K I

Loki did not ask about Amora.

When Frigga appeared in his cell, he did not have to. He had asked about the battle so many times over the last week that the expectant look on his face as question enough.

He ignored the minute smile that formed on Frigga's lips at his concern before she spoke.

"The battalion has pushed the marauders farther back into the forests. There have been few casualties, but our drones and scouts say that the area that they're going into will have a higher concentration of adversaries."

Loki nodded silently, a knot growing in his stomach at the thought of Amora going into the heat of a battle. It's nothing she hasn't done before, he tried to tell himself.

But back then, I was always with her.

Now, he was in this rotten cell, helplessly waiting for delayed news.

"Amora will be fine," Frigga said, having sensed his worries, "She can take care of herself."

"Not if she's too busy worrying over one of her patients," Loki muttered.

Frigga sighed, but said nothing. Instead, she settled on the sofa, carefully folding her hands in her lap. "Amora told me about what happened on Vormir."

It was as though someone had punched Loki in the stomach. The breath left him as a heavy wave of panic washed over him. Panic and betrayal.

How could Amora tell Frigga something so intimate? The queen was a mother figure for the woman, but would the nature of this not have superseded that?

"I had suspected her to have the seidr when I first learned of Karnilla's interest in her." Loki visibly relaxed at her words as Frigga went on. "But she never showed any signs of visions until the dwarf attack, and I thought that was just caused by the weapon that wounded her."

Loki sat down heavily beside his mother, wringing his hands in front of himself. "She thinks that Thanos wants her to be his Seer."

Frigga nodded slowly, obviously not surprised by this. "That would explain why Karnilla trained Amora and Lorelei so ruthlessly. She wasn't training them for herself; she was training them for Thanos."

A shiver ran through Loki. The thought of Amora serving as a Child of Thanos terrified him. She would have experienced such pain under his iron fist. But she also would have been a terrible force to be reckoned with.

"What if he comes for her?" The question slipped out of his lips as a whisper.

A flash of fear passed over Frigga's face, but she collected herself and straigtened. "Well," she said with only a slight tremor in her voice, "if he comes now, she'll be surrounded by an army. And if he comes later, she will not be alone."

Loki nodded, his face becoming set. He would die before he let Amora fall into Thanos' hands.

He only hoped that, wherever she was, she was being careful and wise.

* * *

A M O R A

"I don't think this is very wise!" Emelía called as she scrambled to follow Amora through the underbrush.

Amora finally stopped, crouched at the edge of the treeline. She watched through the leaves as Asgardian soldiers clashed with the mercenaries trying to take advantage of the realm's vulnerability. Without the watchful help of Asgard, Vanaheim had been an easy target.