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Frigga found her son curled up on his bed, with his shoes still on and his hair disheveled. He made no movement as she sat down next to him. ‘Your father told me about what happened today.’
He hunched over his shoulders even more. That couldn’t mean anything good. That always, always meant Odin had come up with a way to punish him. Today he just didn’t think it worth his time to come deliver the news himself.
‘Did you really do it, Loki?’ His lip quivered. ‘Did you really turn off all the lights in the palace at once?’
I didn’t mean to,’ he mumbeld, even if that was a lie.
‘Did you not?’ He looked up when he heard the slight disappointment in her voice.
‘Well…’
‘You should have told your father, at least,’ she mused. ‘I am sure he would have been honourable to a fault.’
Loki put his head down again.
‘Still… I was hoping it wasn’t an accident.’
Was this a trap? That was the only explanation Loki could think of.
‘Turning off all of the lights in the palace might not be a grand trick for established sorcerers,’ Frigga went on. ‘Yet it would have been quite an accomplishment for someone of your age and training. If you had really turned them all off, willingly… that would have meant great power and talent.’
He looked up again. His mother was smiling. ‘When I was your age, I made all the plants in the greenery blossom at once. In november. That was the sign for my mother, who as you know was a great sorceress, that I might have the same gift as she had. I am glad she didn’t believe me when I tried to lie about it being a mistake.’
‘You could have ruined the harvest,’ Loki remarked. His mother chuckled.
‘You’re right. Luckily it was only a greenary.’ She put a hand to her sons’ shoulder as he sat up. His head ached from the sudden movement. ‘Loki, was it really an accident?’
He slowly shook his head, still a little skittish. His mother stroked his shoulder.
‘I thought so, my dear. It was an impressive display.’
‘Why doesn’t dad think that?’
If she was upset by the question, she didn’t show it. ‘Your father doesn’t understand magic, dear.’
He looked at his legs, which dangled by the side of the bed. ‘So he would never understand me.’
His mother pulled him into a hug. ‘That’s why you shouldn’t use magic to influence the palace anymore, at least not until he’s learned to understand it better.’
‘What if he never will?’
‘Never mind that. Until then, I could teach you. We could practice in the secret garden.’
Loki perked up his ears. He had heard people talking about the secret garden before, always in hushed tones. They said it was a somewhere hidden within the regular gardens that lay behind the palace. Once, when he asked his father about it, Odin had only scoffed and told him he shouldn’t believe in stories.
Frigga seemed to be thinking about the same thing. ‘I promise it isn’t just a myth, dear. And I also think that with the proper training, you can become powerful enough to see it to its full extent.’
Loki wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded good. And the most important thing was that he could show what he was capable of. He’d learn magic, all of it, and then show his father what it meant.
He cuddled closer to his mother. ‘I’m proud of you, Loki,’ she told him. ‘One day, you’ll be able to do things you couldn’t dream of right now. You’ll see.’