Heir to Jotunheim | ✔

Chapter Five

I saw Mum nodding in the chair beside me. "What a stupid rule. I dyed my hair all the time when I was your age."

I smiled, discarding my work to listen to her. "You had blue hair didn't you?"

A faint smile lifted her lips up. "Blonde, blue, a bit of green. I had bright pink at one point I think. When I met your Dad I had a wash of all these pastel colours."

"I thought you had black hair when you met Dad?" I bit on the end of my pen.

Mum shook her head, "No. I was copying him, and said I didn't look the part... something along those lines, anyway. And so he dyed it for me. It was around the same time when I told him why I dyed it in the first place."

I stayed quiet, knowing those first years when Grandad was locked away and refused to see Mum really hurt her.

"You had black hair when you came back to Earth though, didn't you?"

She nodded, "it was black until Loki came home." She turned to look at me, eyes losing as she sucked in a breath. "I wasn't well darling. I kept his hair because I couldn't bring myself to dye it back."

"You were worried he wasn't coming back." I knew the story, I'd grown up with it, as I would've found it out by simply googling Dads name. It didn't make the truth any easier to bear, knowing that Mum was sent away without Dad, only for him to go missing for a year.

"I was in a really bad place. I was great with your Dad, but that year... I kept the hair because it meant I could keep him."

I held her hand, squeezing as she rubbed her swollen stomach. The baby hormones weren't helping her raging emotions, and we'd learnt as a family to ride them out, and humour Mum.

"But this girl, Cleopatra? Is she nice?" She changed the topic, and I retrieved my hand slowly.

"She's great." I admitted. "She's nice."

"Have you made many other friends?" Mum prompted.

I shrugged again, "a few." I wasn't lying, I was on speaking terms to the people I sat next to in all my lessons, but I trusted my judgment, and was giving myself a little longer to get to know them before I labelled them as anything closer.

"Do you think she'll be the one to go to Asgard with you?"

I stared at Mum, "What? No! I've only just met her!"

Mum rolled her eyes, "If you don't take anyone from here then you'll have to somebody from Asgard's court. And I won't lie, some of them are really snobby - you could do a lot better."

"I still don't see why I need a date." I grumbled, "The others don't need one."

Uncle Thor's coronation was a big event. So big, in fact, that our entire family was leaving to Asgard to be there. That included those under the age of ten, although they wouldn't be able to return until they were old enough to pass Mum and Dads rule.

But as we were following Asgardian practice, it meant I had to follow specific instructions too. Whilst Dads main rule is to wear his battle armour, mine was to be accompanied by a date. It could be whoever I chose, but they had to be approved by Uncle Thor, as he's the new ruler, and they had to be seen by the public with me.

Dad was threatening to set me up with one of the younger light elves, whose mothers knew him from their time spent visiting Asgard to negotiate peace treaties and political policies. I didn't want to go with anyone I didn't know, and it was at this point that I was really regretting not being in a relationship.

"Odin says it's to show the people that you are a responsible man who can respect those around him." Mum didn't seem too impressed, and neither was I. Our Grandad, on Dads side, wasn't the nicest man to Mum when he trapped her on Asgard against her will for months on end, even if it did lead to Mum and Dad getting together.