You always knew you would be involved in a political marriage, you knew that since you were but a child. It was seen as a great honour when your father, one of King Odin's most loyal Lords, had came to an agreement with the king that you would marry his second son, Prince Loki.

On your coming into adolescence, you were brought to the castle on many occasions with your family for formal dinners, dances and banquets. It was on these occasions that you met your betrothed, and much to your relief, you found him most agreeable. He was quiet, polite, intelligent, quick witted, a very able mind who often tested your own; the complete opposite of his brother, the loud and robustious Crowned Prince Thor. You believed a marriage with Prince Loki could even be very pleasurable, in most every aspect, you enjoyed his company immensely, and thought him very handsome, tall, dark haired and light skinned, a stark contrast to most Asgardian men who were stocky built, and reminded you too much of your own father.

Both Loki's parents and you own seemed pleased at how at ease you and the younger prince were in each others company, and to your mother's and Queen Frigga's delight, they noticed that both of you seemed to show signs of romantic interest in one another as time went on.

The first time you saw Loki pull a trick was on General Tyr, he used his still budding seidr to spook the general's usually unphasable horse into bolting when the man was not paying full heed to the beast, leading the general to fall of it in front of many of his officers. You had been watching him from a balcony, but your laughter caught the tricksters' attention. Frightened you would reveal his trick, he caught up to you, but you swore yourself to secrecy, and from then on, he informed you of all his escapades when you visited, which always had you in stitches of laughter. Loki for his part, adored having your undivided attention, something he had never had before, as he usually had to compete for peoples attention with Thor.

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You rushed through the halls of the palace looking for the raven haired prince. It took all of your restraint not to break into a run on hearing that he was at the training grounds. Though it was odd to hear of Loki being there with his brother and his friends willingly, you gave it little attention. In all honesty, you were none too fond of those warriors, and they had little time for you also, as you were not willing to obsess over them and their tales of their adventures. Their stories were interesting to listen to, there was no denying that, but you rather listen to Loki and watch his seidr training.

The sound of footfalls greeted you as you came closer the grounds, the accompanying booming laughs told you who you were coming against. Thinking that Loki would not be them, you slipped behind a large golden column and statue, not wanting to have to endure their unwelcoming presence more than was necessary. Their laughs grew as they came around the corner.

"Should you not hurry back into the palace post-haste Brother? Your betrothed will surely be here soon, I am sure she is overeager to hear of your tricks, since she seems to do nothing but stand around fawning over you, waiting to be your wife." Thor chuckled.

"Come now Thor, I am sure she does more than that, she no doubt sews and draws and other such pathetic pursuits." Sif scoffed.

"Perhaps you should invite her to join you in the arena some time Sif?" Fandral suggested. All present appeared to have erupted into laughter immediately.

"Oh, that is cruel Fandral, not everyone is made for such." Hogun chuckled. "She for one seems to be far too delicate for such things."

You bit your lips together and tried to steady your breathing, tears threatening to fall from your eyes as you were forced to listen to them mock and berate everything about you.

"Such traits have their place." Loki commented. You could tell his tone was no way defensive, in fact, it told you that he too had been laughing. That hurt more than anything Thor and his equally immature friends could have ever said. You and Loki had long agreed that they were nothing short of immature; however he had joined them in their comments on that day, and it made you wonder what he had laughed about and said on other occasions. You had told him everything personal, all your secrets. Had he only just used that to laugh at you with them? You did nothing until they leave, then you let the hurt take over and fell down the pillar to the floor in tears.

Slowly you made your way back toward the palace dining hall. Ragnarok could have descended upon Asgard and you would barely have noticed, everything around you were simply blurs. Just outside the door of the hall, you notice a green shadow waiting; you could hardly look at Loki.

"There you are, I went in search of you, but could not find you in any of our usual haunts." Loki smiled innocently; you could feel bile rising in your throat. Upon seeing your slightly dishevelled appearance, Loki looked at you in slight concern. "Is everything alright?"

"I went to the training grounds to see you, but sadly you have already left by the time I got there." You stated coldly.

Loki looked at you slightly baffled at your tone and demeanour. "How did you make your way down?" His tone was still very soft.

"I went down the main corridor, then through the gardens."

How did I not see you?"

"I was hiding." You stated, "I heard Thor and the others coming, so I hid, and by doing so, became privy to their opinions of me." Loki stared at you. "What hurt more than their words however, was your laughter, your laughter at their comments. I believed you would, at the very least, not involved yourself in such a conversation, but genuinely, I thought you would have defended me." More tears fell from your eyes, causing Loki to bow his head in shame.

"I should have silenced them." He acknowledged.

"You think? I thought we were friends."

"We are, that and more."

"No, no we are not. If we were, you would never have done that to me."

"Please, I cannot apologise enough. I should never have allowed it. Please, all I can ask is your forgiveness." Loki beseeched, taking your hands in his and looking into your eyes with his green ones.

You took a moment to look at him before pulling your hands away. "No." he looked at you in shock. "No, I cannot forgive you Loki." You maintained eye contact as you spoke. "What you said hurt me more than I have ever been hurt in my life." You stated. "I will sit by you at dinner, as is expected, but do not attempt to converse with me, and do not attempt to join me after the meal either. I will take my leave and I will arrange to leave the palace until my presence is required once again."

"But…"

"There is nothing more to say Loki. Now I have to clean myself up, I have no doubt I look more delicate than usual at present. Who knows, perhaps I strained myself while lifting a brush to paint." Your tone was scathing, and every word was filled with vitriol, Loki flinched as a result. Turning on your heel, you walked off, leaving Loki looking at you leave sadly.

Much to your chagrin, the reason for your presence at the palace on that particular day was made clear over dinner, when the Allfather stood and declared that as soon as the harvest was gathered, you and Loki were to be wed. Forcing more tears to remain at bay, you somehow forced yourself to smile at everyone. Loki placed his hand on yours while Odin was speaking, but as soon as the king had ceased, you pulled it back again.

At the end of the meal, you waited until the queen declared her intentions to retire for the night before you too stood up to leave. Though Loki had done as you had requested throughout the meal and had not spoken to you, merely stealing a few glances, when you left the hall, he rushed to your side, pulling you around so to speak with him. "Did I not tell you to leave me alone Loki." You snapped.

"Please, I am sorry. I cannot express that enough, and I do understand your anger, but we are to be wed in the very near future, so we do at the very least, need to be on speaking terms."

"No we do not. Many couples do not even set eyes on one another until their wedding day, so they are not on said terms." You argued.

"And this is how you wish for us to act, as though we are strangers? Even though I know you as well as you know yourself?" Loki asked, hurt.

"We are strangers, for I do not know the man who acted such a way regarding me today."

"Please forgive me."

"I do not know if I can Loki, I really don't." You said sadly, and without another word, you left.