Unforeseen

Summoned Before the King

Penelope,

Are you proud of me, darling?

I admit that when I saw Lord Frey walking you away on his arm that I desired nothing more than to call for his immediate arrest, but I did not. I put away my selfish desires to have you all to myself this evening, though I will not forgive either the lord or the lady for showing you the gardens at night. It becomes such a beautiful wonderland under the moonlight and I had hoped I would be the one to show that to you.

I cannot forgive them, but I can also not fault them for desiring your company. The Lady Freya seems very fond of you, and she will be a good companion to have. She is not as prejudiced as some of her fellows and I think you will find her personality pleasing, if somewhat exhausting. The twin nobles have been around the palace since the days of Thor and my youth and although I never knew them well, it is clear to me that their personalities have not changed much..

As to the Lord, he seems rather fond of you as well. He is not the first who has caught my baleful eye when they gaze upon you in such a way. You were a vision last night. It was all I could do to not stare at you myself, and I could see that Frey was admiring you as well. My dear, while you may insist upon denying it, you are a beautiful woman and the goodness of your heart tends to ensnare the hearts of any man who sets eyes upon you. Frey is no exception. He is a good man, though I hate to say it, and he was proper towards you, but if he continues to sneak glances of interest at you, I may just have to exile him from Asgard's shores.

I must warn you that I shall not put up with him or any other man making advances towards you. While you are Midgardian and that is counted against you in this court and amongst the realms, your strength, honesty, beauty, and kindness is sure to break through their preconceived views and I am sure that they will attempt to capture your heart for themselves. I am far too possessive of your love for that.

It pains me to know that I will not have the pleasure of your company tonight, but it feels like a wound to know that my duties as king will keep us apart for much of tomorrow. As your ceremony approaches, there are many decisions to be made for it in a short time. Besides that, there is much that I must attend to as the Allfather. As soon as these matters are handled, I will send for you to join me. Be ready for my summons. I am eager to have you in my arms once again.

Yours and only yours,

Loki

I folded up Loki's letter carefully, thinking over the words I'd read about a half dozen times now since first opening it last night. He'd said that he would summon me, but now as I looked out of the library's window, I could see that evening was starting to close over the city, the sun's light casting gold-tinted rays as the sun started traveling back down towards the horizon. Perhaps Loki's work had taken longer than expected... he was king after all. He was dealing with running this whole realm, not to mention trying to bring the outposted soldiers in the other realms home while also maintaining business dealings and political standing with the other realms. On top of that, he was overseeing the preparations for my ceremony so that I could become part of the Asgardian court officially so that I would be able to remain by his side and be of service to the realm. He was busy. I understood that, and yet, well, it was still hard to shake off my disappointment.

Sighing to myself, I looked over the multiple books and documents I'd been pouring over all day. I'd been memorizing my parts for the ceremony, which was simple work, along with studying more about the workings of the Asgardian courts. I'd also started looking into how the different realms interacted with each other, dipping into politics, ambassadors, and past dealings between the realms. I had started looking at books surrounding Asgard's military exploits, flipped through documents of the royal family's ancestors, sifted through the main points of Asgard's agriculture, and continued my work on understanding Asgard's culture and architecture.