Chapter Text
Thor’s Queen
“Loki. I want to show you something.” Thor looked determined, which often didn’t bode well, so Loki set down his book and rose at once. He followed without comment, until Thor threw open the throne room doors and gestured with both arms towards the “improvement” he had made.
He had installed a queen’s throne.
Loki heaved a sigh. Thor had been hinting about Jane for weeks. “Thor, you can't,” he explained, in the most patient voice he possessed. “I know you think you love her, but the realm will never, ever accept a queen from Midgard. She cannot sit here beside you. You would anger too many people, and especially as a new king you cannot take that kind of risk.”
Thor shook his head, laughing. “No – it's not for Jane. I do wish to visit her, as I've said, but I would not ask her to leave her home for me. It's not for Jane, brother. It's for you.”
Of course. Loki recovered quickly. “Well, I certainly won't be your queen,” he sniffed, and then walked up to the dais to examine the addition up close. Green and gold, just his size, a little sinister-looking perhaps but why would he expect any different. (Or want it, of course.)
The piece really was beautiful. Too bad he could never sit in it. He sighed and turned to face his brother down the steps. “You know I can't have a throne, Thor. People won't like it. Father most certainly won't like it; he'll probably wake up for the express purpose of throwing me off.”
“Father can go hang.” That struck Loki speechless, and in the silence Thor elaborated: “You have been standing at my shoulder whispering in my ear during every single meeting and audience. I wouldn't have it any other way. But I do want to honor your importance openly, and if Father for some reason is not pleased with that, then he ought to have chosen an heir who could rule without your help.”
It was tempting – so tempting! – to just bow down in the face of Thor's tantrum and do as he said, but in the end Loki found himself incapable of not speaking his mind. “It’s not as bad as Jane, brother, but acknowledging me as your counselor is also a risk. So let's discuss.” He spun and sat down gracefully in the new throne, letting his cloak billow, and gestured for Thor to come sit in his own.
Thor laughed as he ascended the stairs. “You love it – I knew you would. That throne isn't going anywhere.”
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They compromised in the end by keeping the throne in the ether, close by, where Loki could call for it with a flick of his wrist. He began most mornings standing at his usual place behind the king, but when they needed to have a conversation of length he would step up and draw the chair forth to sit down in.
As he had expected there was cost involved; people began joking about Thor's queen with more and more open mockery, until before long something had to be done about it.
Thor reminded everyone that disrespecting the House of Odin - kings, princes, or otherwise - was a punishable offense. He announced the warning loudly and publicly, but the whispers continued, and so eventually he had an offender arrested and dragged to the throne room in chains.
The prisoner was flung to the floor at the foot of the stairs. “As it is my brother you have wronged, it is my brother who will decide your fate,” Thor said. “But know that by offending him you have also offended me. If Loki's sentence is too lenient, I will impose my own and I assure you it will not be.”
Loki tried not to feel surprise. Of course Thor would leave this to him. They had decided last night to have the man terrified, flogged, and released, and though it was not the first criminal Thor had passed judgment on, it was the first punishment likely to stir ugly memories and Thor hadn't particularly wanted to dwell on it. Or enact it, apparently. A king really should not be so squeamish... but lecturing him would have to wait.
Loki rose from his chair and came to the top of the stairs. “I understand you've been referring to me – a prince of this realm and the brother of your king – in a manner that is...” He laughed, shaking his head. "Not entirely respectful. Queen Loki, I hear? Is that true?” All at once he dropped his smile and leaned forward, staring down into the prisoner's eyes. “I will know if you lie.”
The prisoner swallowed hard, and nodded yes.
“Mm.” Loki straightened, turned away and began to pace the dais. “That is not my title. I wonder why you thought it was.” Perhaps he could get the fool to accuse others. It would be a convenient excuse to lock away some of the court’s undesirables, or at least leverage to hold over them and keep them compliant. He spun to face the prisoner. “Perhaps you’ll tell me.”
Eyes wide with terror, the man only stammered: “I- I didn’t really… I didn’t really think it… that is, my prince, it was only a joke. I swear it.”
So much for using this politically. If he pressed again for names everyone would sense pretext, and he might well go from Thor’s Queen to The Evil Queen in Asgard’s vocabulary. So instead he said: “Ah, I adore jokes! Let us all hear it.” He came partway down the steps. The prisoner shrank back, along with half the spectators, and it was suddenly so satisfying to be feared that Loki decided against something as common as a beating. “If I think it’s funny, then you will leave here a rich man.” He paused. “A free man.” An even longer, more dire pause. He dropped his voice to a growl. “An alive man.” The prisoner made a sobbing noise and Loki waited for his silence before continuing, briskly: “But if your joke is not funny, then I'm going to deform you. Do you understand?” More sobbing. “Now. Tell your prince... and your king... what you said.”
As it turned out, it was not funny. The prisoner left with extra tongues growing out of his cheek and forehead, so that he could have extra practice in controlling them, and there was much less joking about Thor's queen after that.
(Thor asked later whether the tongues would be permanent. “Of course not,” Loki assured him, even though he had no idea.)
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The End.
(A/N: I'm not sure that Loki is right to attribute Thor's actions to squeamishness; I think he might have just thought it polite to let Loki, as the one who has history, make the final decision in the end. Not sure though. They might discuss it someday.)