
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/428400.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Thor_(2011)
  Relationship:
      Loki/Thor
  Character:
      Loki_(Marvel), Thor_(Marvel), Odin_(Marvel), Hogun_(Marvel)
  Additional Tags:
      Mpreg, Character_Death, Jotunn!Loki, Alternate_Universe, Anal_Sex, Dark,
      Unplanned_Pregnancy, Alternate_Universe_-_Dark, Sexual_Slavery, Underage
      Character
  Series:
      Part 2 of The_Symbols_Series
  Stats:
      Published: 2012-06-08 Words: 6245
****** A Symbol of Love ******
by bellacatbee
Summary
     Loki is Thor's Thrall, humiliated and mistreated by everyone but
     Thor. Loki knows that should he ever conceive their child would be
     considered a danger by Thor's father but Thor seems blind to how
     precarious Loki's situation is within Asgard.
Notes
     Thank you to everyone who's read this series and enjoyed it. It's
     been lovely getting your feedback. I've been promising to write Thor/
     Loki mpreg for a while now. I hope that you all like it.
Two years had passed since Loki came to live in the royal household of Asgard.
Two years in which he had grown willowy, a little of the height of his father
in him even if he was his runt, but he was still smaller than the powerful,
muscled men who surround him – the guards, companions and advisors of Thor.
Loki was still a youth, still only sixteen and he might yet grow stronger
although he was forbidden to practise with weaponry. The old man, Odin, feared
that Loki with a knife or sword in his hand would be a danger to his son. He
knew little about the magic Loki practised under cover of darkness. Loki used
his powers mostly to amuse Thor, to show him little parlour tricks that were a
secret between the two of them but Loki was still learning, still honing his
skills. Odin would have been horrified if he knew how powerful Loki really was
but Loki was clever enough to hide that, to appear docile in Thor’s company,
completely in the Asgardian’s control.
 
Loki was still Thor’s favourite. Still his beloved thrall that he kept by his
side but Loki was not contented in Asgard. There were things that worried him,
one thing foremost. Thor had taken him as a lover many times, spilling inside
him and they both knew that Loki’s body was such that he could conceive from
their coupling albeit unlikely. Loki was still a runt and Thor was still
Asgardian. They were somewhat incompatible if nothing else.
Although Loki had heard stories about couplings such as theirs producing
offspring, he was sure they were only stories. For him they were the stories of
Princess or Princes kidnaped from their palaces of ice and forced to wed the
barbarians from Asgard. Thor’s childhood stories were much the same but it was
Loki’s people who were the savages and Thor’s women who were taken. Always
women in Asgardian legend and Loki found it odd that they had such distinctness
between the two of them. In his homeland the genders were distorted. There was
very little to tell the difference between the two, both could bear children
and it was really only through outward presentation that they choose a gender
to show.
 
Still he worried, any child conceived by he and Thor during their union would
forfeit all rights to the royal line of Asgard because of Loki’s bloodline. It
should be the next in line to both his father’s throne and Thor’s, but because
Loki was nothing more than a concubine in Thor’s household then any child of
his would suffer that same fate. He had fears his children would be taken from
him, that they would be bought up to be artful little palace whores. They might
be taught to be charming, taught to be pleasing but they would never know that
they were heirs to the throne of the kingdom of Asgard. Sometimes Loki lay
awake at night, wrapped up in Thor’s arms, his chilled blood boiling in his
veins as he imagined the injustice of it all.
It was an afterthought to the many other degradations that Loki endured daily,
the many overt humiliations that followed him. The fact that there was hardly
any likelihood of him conceiving meant he didn’t often worry himself over a
future that hadn’t happened. Loki still had ambitions to leave Asgard, to not
be Thor’s kept pet but to be his equal in every conceivable way.
He could hardly achieve that if he spent his time worrying about what was not
and never would be.
**
There were so many places in the palace that Loki was not allowed on his own.
It had taken Thor a long time and more persuasive power than he usually had
before the boy had been allowed into the library. The fear that there might be
something in the books that Loki could turn to his advantage, that he could use
against them had amused Thor. His father still acted as if Loki was a prisoner
and not as if Asgard was his true home. Seeing Loki’s delight in being able to
read the books, being allowed a little privacy inside his own mind had been
worth the arguments to Thor. He still had to post guards outside the door when
Loki was reading and the youth was never truly on his own because he was
watched at all times, but Thor still tried to give him something that resembled
a normal life.
It was hard though and no matter how Thor tried there were some areas of his
life in which Loki was not allowed to be his equal.
Loki was never allowed into the council chambers to hear discussions on war or
the running of Asgard. Even if Thor promised to escort him, told his father
that Loki was no threat to them, he was still not allowed to bring him into
their meetings. Loki had to be locked in their shared room and Thor was
forbidden from talking to him about what had been discussed. Loki was almost
always angry after those times. Already Thor knew he would be met by scowls and
cross words if Loki even bothered to speak to him at all.
None of it was Thor’s idea but he could not refuse to attend matters of state
due to Loki’s sulking and he told himself that firmly even when he locked the
boy away and all the way through his councils with his father and his father’s
advisers. It was only afterwards, on the long walk back to his chambers, that
Thor was left to think about his duplicity in keeping Loki a captive.
Thor was already dreading the moment he unlocked his door. Although his little
Loki had thawed to him over time, had come to care for him as Thor had always
hoped he would it did not mean that Loki did not resent his life. Every time he
was locked away like a caged bird – beautiful but trapped – it only served as a
reminder of the freedoms he had lost and would most likely never regain in
full. Thor wanted to give him everything but even he understood Loki would not
be in his arms if he had a choice. There were some things he had had no control
over either but when Loki was angry everyone was his enemy, even those who
loved him most.
His footsteps sounded heavy, even to himself and Thor had no doubt that Loki
was sitting in their room, glaring at the door, willing him to walk away
because sometimes to Thor it seemed Loki preferred being angry with him than
facing the fact that Thor was his ally and friend. More than a friend in truth.
Loki had not left his bed since his first night in the kingdom and Thor tried
most anything to make certain that Loki never left his side. He would not give
Loki the satisfaction of remaining angry with him, not when Thor craved his
company.
He stopped outside his bedroom door, drawing the key from his pocket and he
unlocked it, taking a breath before pushing it open, expecting something to be
thrown and aimed for his head. Loki was silent however, sat in a chair at the
window, his knees tucked up under him. He did not turn his head to look at Thor
and Thor could not help but wonder if ignoring him was Loki’s new way of
showing his displeasure at Thor.
He stepped behind the boy, laying his hands on his shoulders and Loki sighed,
head bowed.
“Would you like to go outside?” Thor asked. His windows looked down upon the
gardens. They had never been off-limits to Loki. Night was falling now and they
were entering the cold months where no one else would find pleasure in the
frosted ground but Thor knew that this time of year was when Loki was both most
happy and most melancholy. He was reminded of his old home.
“Yes, I would.” Loki said, tuning his head and Thor thought he could see tear
tracks on the boy’s face but they were faded and Loki could not have been
crying for long. Thor frowned, even so, and bent to kiss them away.
**
Loki liked the gardens. He was allowed to run freely in them, barefooted and
almost unclothed. He let his magic flow there, under Thor’s watchful gaze,
turning the ground to ice and snow beneath him, freezing the flowers, making it
all a beautiful landscape of frozen blue. Thor followed him carefully, his
heavy tread leaving marks in the snow that Loki had created. Everywhere through
the garden it was easy to see where he had tracked his thrall but Loki was easy
prey. He never moved too far from Thor’s reach, never ran from him. Even if
they were the only ones in the garden it didn’t mean they were the only ones
watching. Thor’s father had eyes everywhere and while Loki might be able to
amuse himself with little displays like this, anything which suggested he was
not otherwise completely in Thor’s power would have caused some sort of
punishment.
This time Loki was like a deer, bounding over the snowy ground and Thor had to
sprint to keep up with him and at last finally catch him. He didn’t know how
Loki could stand the cold he had created, how he could run in it wearing
nothing but his nightshirt. Thor covered him with his body, pinning Loki
against a tree and Loki’s fingers rubbed against its bark, turning the leaves
brown. They fluttered down to the ground around them, a patchwork of faded
colours, leaving the branches bare above them.
“Let your father see.” Loki whispered, sliding his arms around Thor’s neck and
Thor has glad that Loki had never used his clever fingers to turn him to ice
the way he was obviously capable of. “I know he will have spies watching us,
Thor. Let him see how well you love me still.”
Thor hid his smile, bending his head to nip at Loki’s throat. Loki it seemed
was always aware of his position as Thor’s bed-warmer, of the need for the two
of them to be together physically as well as in each other’s company and Thor
did not mind that so much. While he hoped privately that his father had never
seen him and Loki lay together, he knew others within the palace had and he
knew they would have reported back to his father.
Thor tugged at Loki’s clothes, pulling the thin shirt off the boy, revealing
Loki’s naked form to him. Loki was still as beautiful as the first time Thor
had seen him, even more so now that he was growing up. Loki was growing tall,
like all his race although he would still be considered small in comparison to
them. His dark hair had grown long, curling around his shoulders and he was
beginning to carry the traits of the man he would one day be. He was still a
youth now, still covered in an innocence that bellied all he and Thor had done
together. Thor was utterly beguiled by him and everything about him.
The first time they had lain together Thor had been unable to take him the way
he fully wanted but Loki had grown. Thor had been gentle with him. He’d trained
Loki, working him open a finger at a time until Loki could take four of his
fingers at once. He’d not done more than that for a while, letting Loki grow
used to feeling of being filled, letting him grow used to something moving
inside him. Within a few weeks Loki was begging for more, begging for Thor’s
cock in him and Thor had been only too willing to move them towards that
joining. Loki was still so small and Thor marvelled even now at how Loki took
his cock inside him, how willingly he opened to him.
Even now in the frozen wasteland of the garden Loki spread his legs willingly.
Thor picked him up carefully, bracing him against the tree and struggled with
the bounds on his trousers, pulling his cock free. Loki waved his fingers in
the air, a momentary flicker of light sliding between them and then Thor was
able to push himself inside Loki, the boy already stretched and wet through his
magic. He dragged Loki down, hands cradling his hips and Loki groaned, tipping
his head back.
He reached between them, fingers stroking over the base of Thor’s cock and Thor
grunted, shoving forward to press himself even deeper into Loki.
“Always hard for me, aren’t you?” Loki teased. Thor pulled back a little to see
that for all his goading, all his begging for Thor, Loki was not hard himself.
He stopped his thrusts and Loki grumbled softly, reaching up to tug at his
hair. “Don’t stop. Why have you stopped?”
“You’re soft.” Thor said, nuzzling against his cheek and Loki sighed.
“Then make me hard.” He said, rolling his eyes and Thor found himself smiling.
Sometimes he thought Loki would prefer it if Thor simply took his pleasure from
him and ignored Loki’s needs but he couldn’t do that. Loki was too precious to
him. They were in this together, both he and Loki, bound together by the peace
contract their fathers had made. The last thing Thor wanted was for Loki to be
treated as nothing but a slave when Thor’s hands were tied by the treaty as
well. He had never been asked if he wanted Loki although he always had. He was
doing what was good for Asgard, what was his duty as their Prince when he took
Loki to his bed. It was only luck that had bought him a thrall as beautiful and
engaging as Loki. He wanted Loki to begin to understand that, to begin to
realise that Thor loved him and had from the first moment Loki was presented to
him.
He changed the angle of their bodies, canting Loki’s hips up and drove into him
again. This time he was trying purposefully to ensure Loki enjoyed it. He
sought out the spot inside Loki that he knew drove his young lover mad, thrusts
growing deeper and more careful in precision until Loki cried out, hips pushing
back towards Thor, his soft cock giving a twitch of interest between them.
Thor kept his thrusts to the pace he’d set, slowly coaxing Loki to hardness
with each press of his cock inside Loki and Loki’s eyes rolled back in his
head. He was moaning now, low and soft, too far gone to speak and Thor risked
pulling back just far enough to see the beads of pre-come rolling down Loki’s
shaft before he pressed in again.
“You’re so beautiful like this, Loki.” He panted, kissing Loki’s throat,
leaving his marks there. “So beautiful.”
With every slide into him Loki was welcoming, gripping him tightly as if he
didn’t ever want to lose the sensation of Thor’s cock inside him and Thor gave
him what he wanted greedily, wanting to bury himself in the boy. Sometimes all
Thor wanted to do was lie in bed, joined bodily with Loki, growing soft and
growing hard but never leaving him. Loki would not allow it. The day to day
life of being a Prince would not allow it but Thor still wanted it.
Loki tangled his fingers in Thor’s hair, tugging sharply and a second later he
was arching back against Thor, clenching so tightly about him that it was
almost painful. Thor couldn’t move, could only support the two of them as Loki
came. He came a beat behind Loki, his seed milked from him by Loki’s eager
hole. Slowly, carefully, Thor sank to his knees, pillowing Loki between himself
and the frost-bitten tree roots.
“So beautiful.” He whispered, brushing back the dark hair that had fallen
across Loki’s face. Loki looked good with a pink tinge to his cheeks, the
sharpness gone from his face and replaced with a softness now he was no longer
guarding himself. Loki could not wear a mask when he had come undone like this,
could not make Thor think he was heartless. His eyes were closed, a small smile
on his lips as he breathed in slowly and Thor wished he could always keep Loki
in the blissful state.
Loki opened his eyes then, sighing in pleasure and tilted his head a little to
kiss Thor.
“Even when I want to fight you, you won’t let me.” He murmured against Thor’s
mouth. He wiggled a little in the snow beneath them, getting himself
comfortable within it even as Thor had begun to feel the chill of it seeping
into his knees, the sensation a decidedly uncomfortable one for him. He eased
himself from within Loki’s body, tucking his spent cock away and Loki wallowed
in the snow, Thor’s seed seeping from within him and mixing with that other
whiteness.
“You never have need to fight me.” Thor promised him, kissing Loki’s mouth
quickly. “I wish you would realise that, Loki. If I could, I would give you
everything.”
Loki looked as if he was about to say something but then he shook his head,
sighing again but this time it was not a pleased sigh. “Let us talk of
something else, Thor. I don’t want to ruin this moment.”
Thor did not know what he had done to upset Loki again but he didn’t want to
continue it so he kissed his young lover again and slowly the snow beneath them
thawed and Loki melted into his arms again, as willing and happy as Thor had
ever had him. He made love to Loki again, intermingled amongst the tree roots
and if a large black Raven perched in one of the branches and watched them
intently Thor paid no heed to it. As Loki has said, they should let his father
see.
**
A full moon passed over the house of Odin before Thor realised that Loki was
ill. He was sleeping more, a tiredness in his bones those even long hours in
bed seemed to do nothing to quench. At first Thor had thought he had simply
reduced Loki to boneless joy, that Loki did not want to leave his bedroom and
that maybe Thor had finally received his wish and Loki was now pliant to all
his desires. Then he became aware that Loki was pushing him away more often,
that Loki had begun to be sick when he thought Thor could not hear him in the
early hours of the morning. Loki ate very little, refusing the plates of food
Thor bought him as if the very smell of the cooked meats and bread made him
nauseous.
Thor could not recount how long it had been since Loki began the illness. He
could not recall how many nights he had lain awake in the darkness of their
room, hearing Loki throwing up in the confines of their little bathroom,
wanting to go to him but knowing that Loki would forbid it. Loki seemed to
almost have chosen to give in to his illness. He lay in bed during the day,
taking little sips of water from a cup which Thor offered to him and eating a
morsel or two of food which Thor forced upon him and sleeping for long hours
while Thor watched over him and then emptying the contents of his stomach at
night when he thought Thor was not awake to stop him.
Thor found himself beside himself with fear.
Loki could be dying, he reasoned, wasting away from some disease he did not
understand, some disease which affected Frost Giants only. The fact that Loki
would not talk to him about it, would deny it even Thor could see the very
evidence in front of his eyes was too much for Thor to take.
Eventually he couldn’t stand it any longer. Watching Loki waste away before his
eyes was more than he could stand. Loki was incredibly light and even when he
fought against him Thor was stronger than him, picking Loki up and cradling the
youth in his arms. He ignored Loki’s shouting, ignored everything but the fact
that Loki needed a healer. He carried him through the halls, Loki wrapped only
in the fur from their bed. He had complained bitterly before that he was too
hot for bed clothes, wiggling from them and throwing them on the floor and Thor
had not the heart to believe it was anything but the truth.
He kicked open the door to the healers hall, depositing Loki on the nearest
bed. He had not needed to be here himself for many moons but he remembered how
it had been, how he had lain in bed while his arm was bound and a little
medicine used to ensure he would not become infected. He only wished now that
whatever afflicted Loki would be as easy to detect as the deep cut on his arm
had been.
“He’s sick.” Thor called out, pointing at Loki who had curled around himself.
“Heal him.”
The nearest Healer, an old woman, hurried over. Loki spat at her but she pushed
him down with forceful hands. Thor almost smiled. Even their old women were
stronger than his little Loki. He would have smiled where it not for the fact
that Loki was still ill and obviously frightened. Thor did not know why Loki
was so determined not to be seen by a Healer. He didn’t know if Loki wanted to
die, if this was Loki’s new form of rebellion – wasting away right in front of
Thor’s eyes. Loki had that cruel streak in him and Thor wondered if Loki could
stand to hurt him that much, if he would happily take himself away behind the
veil of death where Thor could never reach him again.
It was a rebellion against Odin, against Asgard but if Loki died then it would
be Thor who would be broken by it, not the kingdom.
The Healer tugged the fur away from Loki’s thin frame and Thor turned away,
giving Loki some privacy. He stalked from the room, not wanting to further
humiliate Loki by being present during this inspection. He walked up and down
the corridor, frowning every time he heard a whimper or heard Loki cry out.
Finally the noise stopped and that was even worse for Thor. There was a long
silence, painfully long, and just as Thor was about to push the door open again
and find out just what was causing that silence the door opened and the old
woman came out into the hallway.
“What is wrong with Loki?” Thor asked.
The woman looked at him, her eyes twinkling and Thor wondered what could
possible give her the reason to look at him like that, as if there was some
merriment to be found in the situation.
“Your thrall is quite fine, milord.” She answered and Thor wondered how he
could hurry her through her explanation because Loki could not possibly be fine
if he could not keep his food down.
“How? How can he be so?” Thor demanded and the woman shook her head, her smile
growing more amused and Thor found her more infuriating.
“He is only pregnant. I am sure many of his kind have been through it before.”
She said.
For a moment Thor did not really understand her words. He had always known it
was a possibility that Loki might carry his child. He had known that the Jotunn
were both male and female at once but he had long stopped thinking of Loki as
different from himself. Loki was the beautiful boy who lay in his bed and
allowed Thor inside him. The thought that when Thor spilled in him it might
create a child had been one he had stopped thinking of when their first few
couplings did not result in that sort of union. Thor had always felt if it were
to happen then it would happen as soon as Loki was bedded, as soon as his body
was filled. He had not expected it might be years.
The healer seemed to understand his hesitation. She placed her hand upon his
arm and gave him a smile that was softer now. “He was still young when he came
here. He was ready now.”
Thor pushed her away gently and went through the open door. Loki was still
curled in on himself, his hands pressed to his stomach and he looked up at Thor
guiltily as Thor settled beside him.
“I didn’t plan for this.” He said the words stubborn and defiant. “I didn’t
want your child, Thor. I do not want it. I will get rid of it.”
“Why would you do that?” Thor could not understand, his bigger hands moving to
cover Loki’s smaller ones. “When will it show? Are you not pleased? I am
pleased. I have never had a child before, Loki and to have one with you…”
He trailed off at the expression Loki made, the deep sadness that spread over
the boy’s face. “Loki?”
“Our child, Thor, it will be illegitimate. A bastard.” Loki bit out and Thor
felt the sting of those words. He knew how Loki, runt of his family, born of
bad blood, had been treated but Loki should know that Asgardians did not regard
their children born out of wedlock as lesser. Thor would still have it train
with the warriors, would still love it. It would be his most glorious of
children, his first born. His heir unless he married and Thor did not feel very
much like marrying if he could not make Loki his wife. If the treaty they had
both been party to had been of a different kind then Loki might already be his
bride but that had not been, much to Thor’s disappointment.
“No, it will never be…”
Loki cut across him angrily. “Of course it will! I am your Jotunn whore, Thor!
I am your concubine. They will take our child from me. How could they not?
Otherwise it would always be your heir, wouldn’t it? No one wanted this. Not
your father. Not I! You are the only one happy about this, Thor!”
“Then you knew?” Thor asked angrily, only half-listening to what Loki was
saying now. To know that Loki had known he was pregnant and had kept that
knowledge from Thor, had let Thor believe instead that he was dying hurt him
deeply. They should have been celebrating. “You knew what was happening to you
and you never said?”
“I hoped to kill it.” Loki said, lifting his chin defiantly. “I hoped to starve
it from my body, to deny it life before I could grow to love it. If you make me
carry this child, Thor, then I will love it and I will not be parted from it
when it is born.”
Thor sighed, reaching to pull Loki against him, cradling Loki in his arms. “Do
you think I would not love it too? What makes you think it will be taken from
us?” He asked and Loki sniffed.
“I know it will.” He answered.
Thor laughed and kissed him softly, kissing away the tears that had begun to
form in Loki’s eyes. “Nonsense. You are mine and this child is mine. I will
keep you both.” He said and felt Loki relax a little into his arms. “I am the
future King and I will have no other heir but this one you bare me, Loki. I
have always been yours, have I not? Since you first came to me? I have loved
you Loki since I first saw you and I love you still.” He promised and this
seemed to convince Loki even if nothing else did. Thor already was warming to
the idea of a feast in which he would present Loki, swollen with child, to his
subjects and let them rejoice in the news that there would soon be a new royal
son or daughter in Asgard.
“You should rest now, Loki.” He murmured tenderly, brushing the black curls
from Loki’s forehead. “Take the medicine you are given and eat. I want our
child to grow strong within you.” He said, patting his hand over Loki’s still
taunt stomach. He wondered when the child would begin to show and how close
Loki had come in his plans to kill it. He would make sure now that Loki rested
and ate his fill. He hated to think that Loki might have worked some damage to
both himself and their baby with his foolish actions. He settled Loki into the
bed and covered him with furs, making certain he was warm and well attended to.
Even though he thought them foolish Thor could not fault Loki for his design.
Loki had been frightened, had imagined himself alone and imagined that he would
be left bereft, the child torn from his womb and given away. Thor had never
heard such a preposterous thing but he could understand Loki’s fears. Thor too
would be lost if he could not hold his child when it was born. He would look
forward now to watching his beloved Loki grew, swelling with their child inside
of him. Their child who would be a symbol of the love Thor had for Loki, the
love he hoped they both shared.
**
Thor left Loki sleeping, a slight spring in his step as he walked now. He had
never been a father before despite all the maidens he had bedded and to share
that joy with Loki first was something to be savoured. Although Thor knew he
would love any child he had, to have one with his beloved Loki was surely the
greatest of blessings. He had festivities to plan now, a week of feasting at
least, and he headed towards the kitchens, intent on discussing the possible
choices of menu. They would need to step up their hunt if they were to catch
enough wild deer and bore for the meal Thor had planned and their cellars would
be drained dry of mead.
His walk however was interrupted by Hogun who appeared at his elbow suddenly, a
shadow with a soft tread and Thor was about to remark to his friend what a good
assassin he would have made when he noticed the grave expression on Hogun’s
face.
Hogun was never a cheerful man but something in his look made Thor feel
disquieted. It stripped him of all his happiness.
“What is wrong?” He asked, fearing the worst.
“Your father wishes to have a word with you.” Hogun said and Thor felt a sense
of foreboding. He had not feared visits to his father before but this meeting
being called so suddenly after the discovery of Loki’s pregnancy filled him
with dread. His mind was still filled with Loki’s ramblings, Loki’s worries and
he tried to force them away and make his feet follow Hogun down the corridor
towards his father’s chambers.
**
His father was an old man. He was seated in his chair, leaning against it for
support and Thor wondered when he had begun to see his father as old rather
than regal. It had happened slowly, Thor was certain of that. He had always
regarded his father with respect. His father had always had the best interests
of their Kingdom at heart and Thor had always tried to follow in his footsteps.
Now he found himself considering the possibility that his father had begun to
grow weary under the responsibility of the crown. He had been King for many
years after all.
“You wanted to see me.” He said, waiting for some instruction or something,
some idea of why he had been called. His father leant forward heavily and Thor
wondered if he was tired. He seemed tired.
“I heard about Loki’s condition.” His father said. His tone was cold, annoyed
even.
Thor nodded. “Yes, I’m very pleased.” He said cautiously, not certain now that
he was supposed to be happy with Loki’s pregnancy. His father certainly did not
seem happy. His father groaned, leaning back in his chair and rubbing at his
temples.
“We will have to get rid of it.” He murmured. “We cannot keep it. It will
always be a threat, Thor. When you marry, when you have heirs, it will always
be there in the background, a danger to our Kingdom.”
“Get rid of it?” Thor asked, not truly believing he was hearing the words from
his father’s mouth. He would not have thought his father capable of viewing a
harmless, innocent child as a danger.
“Yes, get rid of it. Force Loki to miscarry, bash the child’s head in when it’s
born. Send it to a brothel. Get rid of it, Thor.” His father said, his fingers
curling into fists and Thor wondered when his father had become so cold. Had he
always been this cold? He had been the one who had accepted a treaty which
forced Loki into their household, which bought him there as a concubine when he
was still only a small boy. If he had not been an old man then he would have
bedded Loki and not Thor. Those thoughts, that knowledge, made Thor sick.
Everything Loki had thought, every fear he had had, it was all true.
Thor found himself trembling with rage. There was nothing he could think of but
Loki, lying in the healer’s bed, sleeping peacefully in the knowledge that Thor
loved him and their child, that Thor would protect him.
“No.” He said simply, watching his father’s face crumble at the refusal.
“Thor,” His father warned. “This is not your child. It is a nothing you
conceived with your thrall, it will never be accepted. It is a half-breed
bastard and nothing more. I will never allow it the throne of Asgard.”
Thor nodded calmly. He could see that now. His father would never accept Loki
and he would never accept the child that he had conceived. Thor should have
known that, should have understood it from the moment he was called to his
father’s rooms but he had been hopeful. Now he knew what he had to do for the
good of Asgard.
**
Loki awoke to a gentle hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. He sat up,
rubbing at his eyes and realised it was Thor in the darkness of the room.
“Thor?” He asked, wondering why Thor looked so angry. His face was drawn, his
whole body tense and he had something clasped in his hand but Loki could not
see what it was in the dark. “Thor?” He asked again, suddenly frightened of
Thor in a way he had not been in a long time.
“My father told me to kill our child, that it would never be my heir.” Thor
said, his voice expressionless and Loki moved to protect himself, hands raised
and ready to strike with the magic he had been cultivating. He knew he should
never have expected Thor to love him as much as he said he did. And now he knew
Thor did not love their child. Not in the end, not when it came down to it and
his father commanded it of him.
“Don’t do this.” Loki said, unsure what Thor planned to do. Would he strike
him? Strangle him? Rid himself of both Loki and the child or would he just cut
the child from him? It was still so little, a nothing really but Loki had
believed in Thor, believed in his love and he had let himself grow attached
when he never should have. Loki did not want to have to hurt Thor but to
protect himself and his child he would. Thor had forced him to confront it, to
accept it and Loki would not allow it to be taken from him now. He did not want
to hurt Thor though. No matter how hard he had tried to stop himself he had
opened his heart to the oafish man as well.
Thor raised his hand and dropped the thing he held in it on the bed before
Loki. It rolled and came to a stop in Loki’s lap, the head of Thor’s father,
his expression one of shock as if he could not believe that it was the hand of
his own son that had struck him down.
“I killed him for you.” Thor said and Loki gazed at him, uncertain what the
fluttering in his chest was. “I am King now and you are not my Thrall and our
child is not a bastard.”
Loki looked again at the head that Thor had bought him, a token of his love for
Loki, a symbol of it that Thor could hoist high over the gates of Asgard and
show to any who dared think of crossing Thor. Thor had killed his own father to
be King. He had killed him to protect Loki. Loki washed his hands in the blood
of the old man as pushed his head away, reaching for Thor instead.
“My father and his kingdom next.” He promised Thor as he sealed their mouths
together in a kiss.
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