Page 25 of Last Thrall of Asgard

The warmth in my belly from the ale made my vision hazy, similar to after Freyr’s formidable fucking, and by extension, Loki seemed hazier too. Softer. Prettier.

When he licked his lips of his next gulp of ale, I followed the trail of pink with a sense of pining to taste him too.

“You’re staring,” Loki said.

“You stared first.”

“Just looking for faults.”

“Faults?”

“There must be something wrong with you.”

“Fuck you too!” I spat. “Just because you have so many faults doesn't mean I have to.”

There was that softness again, a little less grin in his smile, but just when I thought I was seeing it, it was gone. “Would youcall ingenuity a fault?” he asked. “Would you call a penchant for chaos evil? Many have.”

“Are you admitting to being chaos incarnate?”

“‘Tis the nature of Jotuns! After all…in the beginning,” Loki boomed, like some practiced storyteller, which he clearly was, “there was fire and ice and the void between. Chaos. Disorder. Darkness! But when the flames from Muspelheim, the realm of fire, and the frost and frigid winds from Niflheim, realm of ice, met within the void, henceforth was born the first Jotun, first of my brethren.”

Loki’s voice was enchanting, and I found myself leaning closer and closer as he spoke. The room seemed dimmer too, with the only light coming from us.

“So you see, Oli, I exist because two opposing forces that never should have met became something new in their joining. Chaos incarnate indeed! May chaos reign—”

“Notonlyyou though.” I stopped him short. I really couldn’t resist. “All life sprang forth from that joining, which, by your logic, means I am as much a child of chaos as you are.”

“Well—”

“And no, I don’t think chaos means evil. It’s simply the opposite of order, of monotony. Spontaneity can represent some of the greatest joys in life,faultsand all. The greatest beauties. The greatest…” I stared at Loki’s lips. “Pursuits.”

“Careful,” he said in a lower husk. “You’re still telling agodhe has faults.”

“You started it.”

There. Softness again in the curves of his lips. The room was so dark now, even the visible side of Loki’s face was shadowed, so the second half of his pretty bowed lips was hidden.

“Ingenuity isn’t a fault though, no,” I continued. “You are certainly ingenious with your shapeshifting. A horse. A bird. A fly.”

“I was a flea, actually, when I snuck into Frigg’s room to prove she’d been an unfaithful wife to Odin.”

I leaned closer, almost enough to bump my nose to his, because I wasn’t talking about stories anymore. “I think you were a fly.”

Loki’s gaze darted to my lips then, but it was me who bridged the gap.

His finger intercepted me. “I’d say you’re in the right state of mind now, yes?” Loki stood, and I teetered forward with the imbalance of his loss.

“Right state for what?”

“A meeting with my daughter.”

“…what?”

“This old trickster does swindle on occasion, but do forgive me.” Loki was backing away as I spun in my chair. “I wanted you thoroughly relaxed and pampered to not be too angry with me when, truth be told, your next stop? Is Hel.”

“But—”

The floor dropped out from under me, and instead of stealing a kiss, I plummeted into unknown depths.

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