Astraea sipped from her tea, eyes staring out into the garden where she watched butterflies land on the golden flowers. She might've felt content at that very second sipping her morning tea, but she knew it was about to change; as it did every morning. She'd feel fine, she'd wake with a smile and greet her hand maidens. Her days typically started off well, then she'd remember. She'd remember she would have to leave this room eventually, she was in the middle of planning her wedding. For several weeks now, Astraea had been spending as limited time as possible outside of her chambers, more so in fear she'd run into Loki.
Her soul was craving his touch, but she couldn't. She wasn't allowing herself to slip like she already had. If this gets any worse, she would surely lose her head or be banished to the jails. Astraea sucked in a breath as she felt the chilling tingle in her heart. Loki. She had gotten into a rhythm of knowing that every time she'd feel that blistering cold tingle in her chest, it was Loki. Ignoring the tingle, she sips her tea and stares outside, but unfortunately, the tingle only got worse and sharper.
"You've been avoiding me," said a familiar voice behind her. In a moment of shock, she nearly spilled her tea all over her. It was Loki, standing there, his eyes locked on her, a mixture of emotions swirling in their depths.
"By gods, why would you sneak up on me like that!" A little frustrated, she nearly spilled her steaming hot tea all over her. She stands to meet him, arms crossed over her chest.
A smile plays on Loki's lips, wolfish and amused at the same time.
"And I haven't been avoiding you, I've been planning a wedding."
Loki is amused, "So I suppose the new information about your mother's killing is of no use anymore?"
"I didn't say that." The young goddess stumbled over her words. "What is this new information?"
Loki chuckled darkly, "Everything has a price."
Astraea felt small under his gaze. She felt the cold tingle in her chest and she felt her thighs grow slick.
"What's your price."
"A kiss." His smirk spread across his face as her cheeks reddened.
"No, we can't, it - it was a mistake. I'm marrying Thor and fixing the mess I made."
Loki stalks a step forward. "So you're giving up on solving your mother's death?"
Astraea didn't know. She couldn't keep up her lies anymore, or her secrets. If she chooses to ignore her mother's death and marry Thor, she still wouldn't be able to keep it a secret that she lost her virtue to someone else — no not just anyone else, Loki. But if she chose to continue on with her mission to find out who killed her mother, she'd have to stick with Loki and tell Odin the truth. Either way, in every decision she was faced with, it all lead right back to Loki.
"Yes." She chose, "I am leaving it be. No matter the outcome, she will still be dead; I can't bring her back. I am going to marry Thor and fix this soul bond between us and finish what I came here to do. Be queen and rule alongside your brother."