The Art of War

Chapter Forty-Two: Beginning

"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead."

-Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

Thor was less than pleased when he got the word from the guards that Loki was in Jane's chamber's, here he'd thought his brother had answered the few questions posed to him at the trial honestly. It was just as well no one else noticed he had only left an illusion or there would have been trouble. Then afterward was when word reached him that voices were coming from Jane's chamber and since he hadn't seen her Thor was concerned for her. He didn't know what Loki might do under the influence of Hel's potions. He had stalked up to the door but paused short of knocking.

"Loki..." Jane's voice was infused with lust, enough to make Thor's face contort in disgust. It seemed they were wasting no time making up. She called out his brother's name a second time and Thor glanced to the guard's standing outside. There was no expression and he couldn't quite spare them pity in that instant.

"Tell me the moment they contact you. I will need to speak with Loki." Thor hissed the words, not wanting to be the one to interrupt the loud interlude happening beyond the door. He stalked away from the area even more quickly than he had upon arriving. That was in no way what he wanted to hear. Certainly he didn't expect Jane to just return but he'd had some small hope that she might want to after Loki's mistreatment of her over this last week.

His hands pumped into fists and released a few times as he left the area. He still wanted to beat Loki senseless for his mistreatment of Jane – and then she'd gone and done this. He should feel happy his brother had found someone, as he'd convinced himself he was once before – but this had changed those feelings. Loki had all but destroyed Jane in this control from Hel. Thor knew he shouldn't blame his brother for his actions under such an influence but he still did.

Thor was pacing in his room not long after, fretting over the weeks events, concerned about how deep Hel's influence might have gone. Which was part of his reason for her hasty and harsh punishment – if she still had some magic over Loki – it would end when she was beheaded any time now. Thor had wanted time to seek honest answers from him before that happened – but events hadn't allowed him to even speak his questions.

But it didn't stop the rage that boiled beneath his skin every time he remembered Loki tossing Jane from the dais. Waving away reminders of her as if she were nothing more than breeding stock. Throwing her in the prisons as a vague afterthought while he followed Hel about like a loyal dog. Thor should have spotted it sooner that Loki wouldn't act in such a way – even should he someday dismiss Jane so easily he would never follow another as he had Hel. That sort of submission was not in Loki's nature. It should have been a spell.

But Thor hadn't wanted it to be. On some level he'd wanted to hope that Jane would realize Loki was a cad and return to him. Thor felt all the more a jerk himself for the realization. He should want his brother to be happy, should want him to have someone – but Thor still loved that someone. Thor feared that she would get hurt – by association to Loki if his brother didn't intend to harm her himself.

Then, there was his own complication with Sif – which made him no less angry. Certainly Sif had meant well to some degree – but she'd also taken advantage of him on another. Though he believed she hadn't become pregnant on purpose he had to recognize that she was now carrying his child. He had to decide if that child would become a bastard before she came to the end of her term. Sif he'd always cared about but not in a romantic sense – she was one of his best friends. There could be worse unions – particularly for a Prince of Asgard – but she wasn't who he wanted.

Then there was Jane, what were Loki's eventual intentions? Did he plan to wed her? Or just bed her so he could hear her crying out his name. Thor blanched, doing his best to put the sultry tone of Jane with his brother out of his mind. The council had pressured Loki about what he wanted to do with Jane and he'd put her in a concubines quarters. Perhaps that had been Hel's influence but perhaps it had not – they had no way of knowing exactly when Hel first poisoned him after all.

The knock at the door came and he was hesitant about what he would say now that they let him know Loki and Jane were at least more decent than they had been when he'd walked up to their door. He took a deep breath and steadied himself, Jane had as much a right to know as anyone else what Loki's eventual intentions were going to be.

He moved out and back down the stairs to where her quarter's were placed, knocking and glad he didn't hear anything inappropriate happening.

"Come in brother." Loki's drawled tone was hardly encouraging.

In the room they were sitting at a small table, food settled on the table in front of them. Both still disheveled from their exercise. Jane blushed at Thor's arrival and looked down at her plate, she was wearing a fairly thin robe and clearly wasn't expecting his visit. Embarrassed didn't begin to cover how she felt given the guards had mentioned Thor had tried to visit while she had been 'otherwise engaged' with Loki – their words not hers.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Loki asked, unlike Jane he appeared to be downright enjoying Thor's discomfort – and probably some of Jane's as well. He did seem to really enjoy reveling in anyone's embarrassment.

"Loki, there are still things we need to discuss, but you left the area of the trial – I assume you had a good reason?" Thor did his best to stay on topic and ignore the uncomfortable situation. Why didn't he just wait until the next day at court?

"Of course I did brother, I needed to reaffirm to Jane how false my actions in previous days had been. Apologize for the harsh actions Hel forced me to take." Loki replied, then added. "Help her forget the cruel world for a while. As you heard from my understanding."

Thor made a mental note to fire the guard that tattled on his accidental eavesdropping. He felt his own cheeks color from the very clear implications. He instead frowned at Loki's lackadaisical mannerisms. "This is not a joke, the security of the entire realm was at stake."

"Yes, I do realize the danger my being controlled against my will placed on Asgard." Loki retorted, his merriment lessening slightly before he shrugged at Thor. "What would you have me do brother, alter time?"

"No." Thor knew his remark sounded a little unreasonable. Loki couldn't help that he'd been put under a spell anymore than Thor could. "However, immediately dismissing the court to a mere illusion so you could come and...relax, isn't a proper way to react either."

Loki figured just busting out: 'well I had been ordered to kill the woman next to me so I didn't have much of option' wouldn't be taken well. He decided to go with. "Jane is quite important to me brother, the masses heard what they needed to hear – my personal presence wouldn't have changed what came to pass. So, can I help you with anything else? For we would like some time to each other after everything that's come to pass."

Loki delighted in Thor's frustration – the fact that he'd lost to Loki finally. That it had been in the one area Thor most desired only made it more delicious. It was clear as day that Thor still desired Jane, beautiful, intelligent, boisterous Jane who had seen some of the darkest parts of Loki – and still picked the trickster over the hero. Were it any sweeter his teeth would turn as green as his tabard.

"Yes," Thor stated, he knew he shouldn't state the words, but he couldn't help them from coming up. His own envy was driving him to do things that were foolish before he could control himself. "I wish to know your eventual intentions toward the Lady Jane. As the council wished to know before this whole problem started. With Hel doomed to be beheaded any moment I want to know if Jane will remain here as a concubine, or if you plan to raise her status to your fiance'. Will she rule beside you or always be beneath you?"

"Thor!" Jane was the one to remark, frowning at the blonde. "Do we really need to do this now!? Don't you think we could have a little time to recover after everything?"

Loki had a reply in mind but Jane interjected before he could speak up, a slow grin coming to his face as he glanced to Thor. "It appears any answer to the council, or yourself, will have to wait brother. Jane is correct, now is hardly the time for demands or rushed decisions. You and the old men will have an answer by the time the week is up. Now, please excuse us."

Thor bit his tongue, not for Loki's sake, but for Jane's. She wouldn't want them to argue – she'd always reminded him a bit of Frigga in her own way – caring for others even if it wasn't always the most logical thing – it was the right one. The hero bowed to them and left the room, closing the door as he stalked off – frustrated at his own actions.

"Did you really just have to throw out there that we were having sex?" Jane asked a few moments after Thor had left and Loki had returned to his meal.

After a sip of tea Loki shrugged back at her. "I didn't lie to him, here I'd thought you'd appreciate a little honesty."

"I'd appreciate it more when it was for the good of everyone and not just your own amusement." Jane answered with a negative shake of her head, sending some of her uneven hair into her face so she had to shove it back. "Are we really going to be forced to choose between my being a sleep toy and marrying you?"

"That does seem to be the case." Loki answered, continuing to eat as if the idea didn't have him nearly as upset as it did her. She still wanted to really date Loki for a while, get to know him more. She cared about him, but she was nervous about the prospect of marriage – she somehow doubted Asgard King's did the divorce thing unless it was King Henry style. "This doesn't bother you?"

"Let's just say, being put under a spell to follow all orders give's one a certain perspective by the time it is over. I knew the answer I wanted to give but you had already replied to Thor so I thought it best to speak with you first." Loki replied. Smirking as his words seemed to have her on edge. "You shouldn't' forget to eat – you were the one that insisted you were famished."

"Right." Jane couldn't argue that too much, her stomach was unhappy with her and she was a little afraid to ask. What did Loki want to say about her? Did he want to marry her? Just keep her for the sex? It was good sex but she wasn't that sort of woman. The idea that might be all he wanted her for scared her.

"As for our relationship...given how our afternoon has progressed..." Loki smirked a bit, his reply only making her blush all over again at the pregnant pause. "Between you becoming a constant bedtime companion or my wife...we could always choose the third option you mentioned were on your human tests often. Tell them 'all of the above'."

Marriage? To Loki?

Til death do we part?

She was an Asgardian now, and they lived for thousands of years, not decades like humans. If she signed onto this, she was in for the longest haul of her existence. Then there was the fact that rooms for concubine's still existed – she was in one. Though that had been in part the plan, she felt a twinge of green rise in her chest at the idea of Loki with other women. Would he really be content to just have her forever? Odin had only held onto Frigga but she'd heard that Odin's father had dozens of other women in his court. She didn't look at marriage like the Asgardian's did – it was a lifelong partnership – not a team effort.

Would he agree to her terms? Would he even have to honor promises if he did? Then again, that's part of what trust was. All the contracts, the threats of punishment, the problems in the world didn't stop couples on earth from cheating on each other. Even if it was put into writing that wouldn't give him pause if that's what he truly wanted. She knew all too well after last nights interactions what Loki was capable of when he desired something. Would it remain her forever?

Marry Loki and become the Queen of Asgard? If anyone would have told her that was even an option a year ago she would have thought them completely insane. Then laughed about how absurd such an idea was. She doubted she was worthy of being something like Queen, but she wanted to help Loki how she could – as he'd saved her many times in the past. Supporting him felt natural, important, as if to do anything else was a crime. If he was serious about having her marry him then she would tell him yes.

She nodded, confirming the thoughts to herself as she washed off, smiling so much her cheeks were starting to hurt by the time she'd climbed out of the spray of the water to dry off. It was short lived, she didn't have the first idea how Asgardian's planned weddings- and even on earth she was far from the girly girl. What would be expected of her?

In the end it wouldn't matter. She would have Loki with her. That was what she'd asked for and all she needed. They would get through whatever might come in the future together. She leaned in and offered a long kiss before pausing to whisper. Her words getting him to offer her that devilish grin she'd fallen in love with.

"When do we start?"

End Story

Loki amuses me when he's in a great mood, that's when he really shines in my opinion. Not that I don't enjoy him being vulnerable and confused or emotionally charged – but it all pays off when he's really enjoying something and his face lights up. I hope I pulled off a little of that here. I figure they deserve a little bit of relaxing after all they've been through. I am going to call this fiction here and if I do something further I'll put it in another fic A. because I've had a lot of people make that request. And B. because I have another plot for them in mind but it'll be longer than just a few chapters and will deserve it's own fiction.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Thanks a lot for all your support throughout this epic. It was quite a journey – and likely Loki and Jane will pick up in another fiction for me later. Well specifically a sequel to this as I have a bunch of other Loki and Jane ideas! I hope you'll check out my other fictions with them, be they already begun or to come in the future. As well as my first attempt at a OC/Loki fic which will be forthcoming once I have the time for it. (It'll be named: Loyalty) I love you guys and thanks for the reads.