L O K I
Loki and Amora had not spoken a word to each other. A long silence had fallen between the two.
He sat back on the sofa, contently reading a new novel that Amora had brought for him. Glancing over, he felt a smirk grow on his face. She read her book with such intensity, holding it so close to her face that Loki could only see her eyes over the cover. The sorceress sat with her back propped against the armrest and her knees up in front of her. Her cold toes were just barely tucked under Loki's leg.
Following Theoric's death, Amora had distanced herself from Loki, lessening her visits to the weekly medical checks that were required. She had initially explained that she did not want to betray Theoric's memory. Loki also remembered how the healer that had replaced Amora during her absence had asked pointed questions about their trip together. There were undoubtedly rumors about their time spent together.
But in the past few months since then, Amora had started visiting more regularly. When she first came unscheduled, Amora had a book in hand and said that the royal librarian had kicked her out of the library, saying that she "needed to spend her free time seeking potential suitors". She often came with new books and news of the still ongoing battles in Vanaheim.
It was peaceful, and Loki found himself content; his cell had grown dark without Amora's visits.
A sharp gasp shattered the peace and Loki felt Amora recoil from him. His head shot up and he turned to her, adrenaline sending his heart pounding. "What is--"
Amora shushed him sharply, her eyes never straying from the pages of her book. Loki breathed a slight sigh of relief as he calmed, and a laugh bubbled out of him. He knew what book she was reading; it was one that he had read several times during his incarceration. So he could make a fair guess at what part she was on.
He leaned over to peek at what page she was on. "Is--"
"Wait." Amora did not look up as she put a hand on Loki's face and pushed him away. After a moment of silence, she put the book down and gawked at Loki. "I can not believe--"
"That she would betray them?"
"Yes!" Amora exclaimed, her brows furrowed, "She had always fought for them, risking her life for them!"
"It's alright, Amora," Loki began, his voice alight with amusement.
"No, it is not," she said, "They were supposed to be happy."
"They're experiencing the end of their world and most of their loved ones have died," Loki said wryly.
"I know, but still!"
She sat back with a huff, crossing her arms and shaking her head as she frowned with a distant look in her eye. Loki twisted his lips; he had introduced Amora to this book, hoping that she would enjoy it.
"Do you like the book?" Loki asked hesitantly.
"Of course," Amora gushed, hugging the book to her chest, "It is wonderful! I love the characters and..." She glanced away and shrugged. "I respect the author's bold choice. It just hurts me at the moment."
Loki chuckled. "It's not near as bold as what happens later when--"
"No." Suddenly, a force shoved Loki and stripped the book from his grasp. Amora sat back against the armrest, balancing his book in her hand.
"Don't. You. Dare," Amora said lowly, motioning with the book.
Loki felt a smirk grow on his face. "Are you threatening me?"
"Yes."
"Alright. Can I have my book back?"
"No." Amora lifted the book high above her head. "Promise me that you will not spoil the book for me and I will give this back."
"My arms are longer than yours, Amora." He shifted closer, feeling his smirk stretch into a genuine grin.
"Promise me," she insisted, leaning farther back and stretching her arm as far as she could.
With a sigh, Loki said, "I promise."
However, before the last syllable even left his lips, he wrapped one arm around Amora, drawing her closer, and used the other to reach the extended book. His smiled faltered, though, when his fingers fell through their mark. The book disappeared from Amora's grasp in a flash of green light.
As Loki blinked in disbelief at his empty, outstretched hand, Amora started laughing into his chest. Her shaking form leaned into his chest as she fought to catch her breath. Loki could have stopped time then and relived that moment for eternity, and he would be perfectly happy. Everything seemed forgotten and unimportant as he held her, listening to her laugh.
Finally calm, Amora drew back just enough to look up at him, a grin on her face. The expression faltered slightly, softening as her eyes focused on his face. Loki's heart began to beat faster as her gaze searched his face openly, taking in every feature.
And he let her see everything.
The way he longed to keep her this close. The way she tore him apart while, at the same time, keeping him together. The fierceness that burned through him and the softness that was reserved for a select few.
Everything that the Silvertongue could not put into words.
And somehow, she did not pull away.
With an almost hesitant hand, Loki reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He felt her breath stop, stilling the air between them. Both were motionless, afraid to break the moment.
Steeling himself, Loki cradled the back of her head in his hand and leaned down. Her fingers gently wrapped around his arm. His heart practically burst out of his chest as his lips brushed against hers.
At that moment, the barest of lights shown on the other side of the cell and the two leaped apart. Loki's book reappeared in his lap and Amora barely managed to open hers in a casual position before the queen's form was fully visible.
Frigga smiled at the two. The light in her eyes shifting to amusement at the red tinge on both sorcerers' cheeks as they avoided her gaze. "I am sorry to interrupt, but I must speak to Amora for a moment."
Casting Loki a confused look, Amora swung her legs over the side of the sofa and put her shoes back on. "Of course, Frigga," she said, nodding.
"Meet me in the Hall of Yggdrasil," Frigga said. Her gaze flickered between the two as a soft smile graced her features. "No hurry."
After her image disappeared, Loki suddenly felt his face grow hot. Fortunately, Amora was behind him, retrieving her satchel. He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, listening to the sound of her rustle through her bag. What should he do now? What should he say?
It was not like he could pretend that whatever had almost happened had never happened. They had already done that too many times.
When Amora's shuffling stopped, Loki froze, hearing her footsteps approach to pass by. His mind raced for a proper comment, something more than a simple goodbye.
A hand fell on his shoulder. Loki looked up only to be met with the feeling of Amora's lips pressed softly against his. He barely had time to react before she drew away.
Amora chuckled at the surprised look on his face as he blinked up at her. Straightening, she adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulder and moved towards the golden barrier.
Before leaving, she glanced back over her shoulder, a smile spreading across her face. "We will talk more about this later, mischief."
* * *
A M O R A
Walking into Frigga's personal study, Amora was practically buzzing. She had to force herself not to absentmindedly touch her lips or grin like an idiot. Fortunately, Frigga did not notice, or at least did not mention it.
The queen seemed oddly occupied with something. Amora eyed her mentor curiously. "What did you want to speak to me about?"
"I found something that I thought you would find interesting," Frigga said with a small smile.
Amora perked slightly before craning her neck to gaze up at the massive doors to the Hall of Yggdrasil. The doors opened to a great tree in the middle of the room, galaxies nestled in its branches.
Frigga stopped at a nearby table with a small collection of holopads and ancient parchments. "Since you told me about your seidr," the queen explained, "I have been doing some searching. You wish to pursue this gift, yes?"
Amora nodded hesitantly. It was such a powerful pursuit and she could not help but be intimidated by the prospect.
Shuffling through the different parchments, Frigga picked up one particularly fragile piece depicting three cloaked figures under a massive tree. "Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld; the strongest practitioners of seidr. They are three extremely powerful sorceresses charged by the Celestials to manipulate and shape fate."
The queen moved her attention to a holopad displaying a map of what Amora recognized as the Nine Realms. However, an emphasis was put on a distant planet that the woman had never noticed before and sat a distance from the cluster that the Realms made.
"As you know, the Nine Realms are connected through the constellation that they create: Yggdrasil, the World Tree. However, the name is derived from the planet where the "roots" lie," Frigga said, pointing at the distant planet and then motioned toward the base of the tree before them. The roots raised from the ground and unfurled to reveal an image of a lone planet.
"Yggdrasil is where the Three Norns live, shaping fate by weaving the Strings of Life and carving runes into the oak that shares the planet's namesake."
Amora watched silently as Frigga shifted to another holopad with a directional map of Asgard and Nornheim; her mind raced to process every word as the queen spoke. "Now, before you pursue anything like that, you must first learn how to use runes to manipulate fate. There is a village in Nornheim where Norn women go to learn such a practice."
Frigga finally looked directly at Amora with a small smile. "If you wish to go, this is a map to that village. I have already spoken to the witch over the teaching."
Witch.
Amora took a step back from the holopad that Frigga offered to her. All of her life, she had avoided that title; it only made her think of Karnilla and the fearful contempt in the voice of those that accused her of being one. "I'm not a witch," she said as though on instinct.
A look of sympathy passed over Frigga's face and she carefully set the holopad down and took Amora's hands. "I know you have only heard that title spoken in hate, but it is so much more than that. Witches are women of immense power, regardless of how they use it. If you ask me, the galaxy needs more witches like you."
The displeasure that she had begun to feel about healing came to her mind. This new practice could be what she had been longing for: something bigger.
But the echoes of her nightmares sounded through her mind. Witch.
Amora drew away from Frigga, shaking her head. "Thank you, but I would rather be called a healer than a witch."
"That is alright," her mentor said softly before pausing. Her next question came unexpectedly. "Are you happy?"
The queen's analyzing look nearly made Amora shrink away. The younger woman automatically nodded. With Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three away to war more often, she missed their company, but she also had Emelia and Loki. And her duties in the healing halls.
The shadow of a thought suddenly lurked back from the recesses of her mind, one that she had pursued through research in the libraries but had not yet confronted openly since her failed attempt long ago. But that had been with Odin, not Frigga.
"What is it, my dear?" Frigga asked, seeing the way Amora's brow furrowed slightly in thought.
Amora took a breath, hoping that the queen's reaction would be more productive than that of her husband. "Who is Hela?"
Frigga's face immediately turned deathly pale and her wide eyes glistened with the tears of an old sorrow. "Where did you hear that name?" she breathed.
"In Valhalla," Amora said, frowning, "Brunnhilde spoke of a powerful sorceress that had decimated the Valkyrie, but there is no record of her. No one else knows of her...except you and Odin."
The queen lowered her head as she turned to sit heavily in a chair; a tear slipped down her face. Alarmed, Amora kneeled before her mentor and grasped her trembling hands.
"I-I'm sorry, Frigga," Amora said in genuine guilt, "I did not know that this would upset you so." She felt poorly for asking, but the question burned even more brightly in her mind now. "What happened?"
Frigga sniffled and gradually regained her composure, giving a sad smile. "Hela was our firstborn."
Amora went rigid and her grip on the queen's hands tightened. Their firstborn? A wave of nausea swept through her at the thought of another royal family secret.
"Odin and I both taught her everything that we knew. I taught her powerful magic and he taught her prowess in battle. She led conquests alongside her father and used her gifts...spectacularly well." The faint smile on Frigga's face darkened drastically. "We saw the errors of our ways and chose to end the subjugation, end the violence, but Hela refused. She was ambitious to a fault and claimed that the whole galaxy should be under Asgard's rule. Under her rule."
"And when Odin sent the Valkyrie after her, she slaughtered them," Amora breathed, remembering Brunnhilde's words.
Frigga nodded, sniffing again. "Odin knew that she could not be stopped without powerful magic...so he made a deal with Karnilla."
Amora's blood ran cold at the mention of the sorceress. "Odin went to Karnilla?"
"It was the only way. I was weak...and Hela was my-my child." Frigga sighed and lowered her head again. "Karnilla imprisoned Hela and erased her from Asgard's history and knowledge, and Odin gave her Nornheim in exchange."
The room seemed to sway around Amora. Odin and Frigga had another child. One that wanted to conquer the galaxy. One that they had hired Karnilla to lock away and make Asgard forget. She could not tell if her and Frigga's clasped hands were now shaking from her own trembling or the queen's or both.
"Did you take me in to replace her?" Amora choked out.
Frigga's head snapped up, but before she could answer, there was a knock at the door. A guard poked his head in apologetically and said, "Thor and his company have returned from Vanaheim. The war is won."
A surge of victory should have gone through Amora; the Nine Realms were finally at peace and her friends were finally home. But she could only nod in acknowledgement and slowly stand to her feet.
She quickly wiped away and stray tear and started for the door, but a shaky hand touched her arm. Frigga gave her a pleading look. "Please don't tell them."
"Okay." That was all that Amora could manage to breath out before leaving to go see her friends, to go lie to them.
* * *
I'm so excited! We're finally at Thor: The Dark World, and Amora knows about Hela!
Let me know your thoughts and don't forget to vote!
Thanks :)