You flushed at his compliment, wondering what he saw in you, the tiny Midgardian vampire. When you looked up into his eyes, though, you couldn't deny that the feelings were there. While Loki was usually guarded with his emotions, he was open with them with you and you saw the truth of love in his eyes.

You gave him a warm smile and continued your happy stroll through the gardens with Loki at your side. He was enjoying your obvious pleasure, amused every time he caught you staring up toward the sun just because you could. You spread your arms and twirled, tilting your head back and enjoying the warmth of the sun on your skin.

"Enjoying yourself, sweetheart?" Loki asked you, a warm fond smile on his face as he watched your antics.

You grinned in delight. "It's wonderful! It's amazing, Lokes!" you told him, all bubbles and excitement. "I haven't seen the sun properly in four years!" you reminded him and bounced up and kissed him lightly.

He chuckled and kissed you back, leaning down to lightly, chastely press his lips to yours. "You are such a ball of sunshine, my love, and I adore you," he told you fondly and kissed the top of your head. He sobered a little. "There is something you should know, however," he added, almost hesitantly.

You gave him your full attention, curious as to what he had to tell you. A little concerned over his reticence to even bring up whatever it was. "What's that?" you prompted when he hesitated.

He sighed and finally blurted it out: "Mother knows. I had to tell her what you are. II can't keep anything from her," he explained.

You felt your expression fall and your pale complexion pale further as the horror of his words filled you. "Loki..." you managed to get out softly, terrified of what he said he'd done. No one was supposed to find out what you were. Especially not Frigga and Odin.

Loki pulled you into a hug, stroking your hair to calm you. "Shh, love. It's alright. I swear. Mother can be trusted. She will not betray our trust. She cares too much for me to hurt me, and in the short time she has known you, she seems to have become attached to you as well. There is absolutely nothing to fear from her," he reassured you quickly with his silver tongue.

You were still worried. This wasn't the plan. The plan had been to hide what you were, but you knew how much he adored his mother. Of course he hadn't been able to keep anything from her. At least not something important like this. "I hope you're right," you finally told him.

"Y/N," he got your attention by using your actual name instead of one of his many pet names. "There is absolutely nothing to be worried about. My mother would do nothing to betray my trust. She was also accepting of what you are," he added quickly to reassure you. He sighed. "I had been hoping that she would meet us out here. She usually takes a stroll through the gardens this time of day..."

You heard footsteps coming up behind you and whirled to face them. Frigga was coming up the path behind you. "Darling, you were supposed to contact me if you needed me. I had to supervise Thor's friends cleaning the healing wing for me," she reminded Loki when she got close enough to speak to you without raising her voice. Her calm gentle demeanor wouldn't allow such nonsense as a raised voice without good cause.

Loki looked sheepish. You'd never seen him with that...admonished...look on his face. "I apologize, Mother," he replied in a sheepish tone. After a moment he added, "Though, now that you are here, I could use your help reassuring my lady..."

Frigga gave him a warm, knowing smile. "And what have you done this time, darling?" she asked him with a bit of teasing to her tone.

Loki puffed up indignantly, flushing a little. "Why does everyone always assume I have done something wrong?" he demanded grumpily with a hint of a whine to his tone. This was a side of Loki you weren't used to seeing.

Frigga laughs a sweet melodic sound. "You need help reassuring your lady about something and you two have been alone for hours. The conclusion is logical, darling. Plus, you have usually done something wrong when you come to me for help. Or do you not remember the bilgesnipe?" she teased her son with a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. She knew how to goad him into telling her exactly what she wanted to know.

Loki looked sheepish and embarrassed. "Mother!" he protested loudly.

Frigga waited patiently for a moment while Loki squirmed under her motherly gaze. "So, what did you do this time, darling? Or shall I make your lady laugh by telling her about the foreign dignitaries you met when you were five?" Frigga continued to tease when Loki didn't speak up.

"Ok, ok!" he gave in quickly, turning a deep red at whatever embarrassing story Frigga was threatening him with. "I informed her that I told you what she is. She became concerned over what you think of her," he rushed to tell Frigga before she could actually embarrass him.

Frigga smiled warmly. "I knew you would see reason, my darling," she told him kindly. She turned to you where you were trying to be invisible and stay out of this. "Don't fret, dear. Your secret is safe with me and even in the short time I have known you, I know that you are exactly the kindhearted intelligent lady that my son claims,"

You were somehow still shocked at her words.

Loki smirked over at you and your shocked expression. "See, sweetheart? Nothing to fear," he told you warmly.

"Whatever you say, noodle," you replied, still not convinced that things would be ok, but you weren't going to argue with him in front of the queen. So you gave him a far too mischievous smirk before you turned to Frigga. "Did you say that Loki met foreign dignitaries when he was five?" you asked far, far too innocently.

Loki spared you a glare before he turned back to his mother. "Mother, no," he begged her not to tell the story.

Frigga smirked while you erupted into giggles. "You're safe, darling," she told Loki warmly, since you had relaxed and smiled. "This time," she added with a mischievous smirk. In that moment you knew exactly where Loki had gotten that particular expression from.

Heavy footsteps approached you and you all turned to face Thor as he approached. "Brother, Father wishes to see us," he told Loki without preamble. He looked like he was in a rush.

Loki groaned. "That was the absolute last thing I wished to hear, brother," he growled at Thor. As per usual.

Thor rolled his eyes. "You know that is why we are here," Thor replied overly patiently, reminding Loki of the actual purpose of why the three of you were in Asgard in the first place. He finally seemed to remember that you and Frigga were there as well and that he was being rude. "Mother, Lady" he greeted you both with a polite head nod. He turned his attention back to Loki. "I'm sure Mother will keep your lady company while we deal with the business with Father," he suggested.

Loki sighed heavily, but his eyes lit up with an idea. He turned to you. "I'll be back soon, kitten. I must go speak with father before he becomes impatient," he told you. He didn't want to leave, but there was something he was planning too.

You kissed him chastely, especially in front of his mother. "Go deal with your father. We'll be fine," you reassured him.

He groaned but moved to follow Thor while his poor mother was left to babysit a bubbly happy vampire, AKA you. Thor nearly had to grab Loki's arm to drag him to the throne room, knowing Loki's reticence to actually go see the Allfather. The two of them walked quickly so they could get this errand over with as fast as possible. "Your lady seems to be enjoying Asgard," Thor said kindly as they were walking. "Though my friends don't need quite as much threatening from the little," he paused, almost slipping and saying 'vampire' "Midgardian," he ended

Loki chuckled. "Don't worry about saying 'vampire' around Mother. She knows,"

"Was that wise, brother? Mother can keep her own council, but... even she must be concerned over what your lady requires to survive," Thor said hesitantly. Even he wasn't really comfortable with the idea that you had to drink blood to survive, but he accepted it since you usually only drank animal blood.

"She is concerned," Loki admitted, "but mother is one of the few people I trust. I couldn't keep a secret this important from her," he added a bit sheepishly. He was close to Frigga, but didn't usually advertise how close, especially not to Thor.

"Of course you couldn't, Mama's boy," Thor teased when he was quite sure they were out of earshot of you and Frigga. Loki glared and punched his brother, not stabbing him only because they were literally on their way to go see the Allfather and he disapproved of Loki stabbing Thor all the time. Thor paused before he added. "Good luck convincing your lady to eat something..." His tone held the inflection that he meant blood and not actual food.

Loki sighed. "I'll figure something out. Right now I'm more focused on getting this meeting with the Allfather over with," he said, letting more nerves into his voice than he normally would have allowed.

"Father will be happy you're worthy. There's nothing to fear, brother," Thor reassured him quickly, warmly.

"I don't care much about myself. Father has never cared for me," he slipped automatically into the term of address. "What I truly fear is how he will react when he meets Y/N. He is not as easily fooled as your friends were, and even they noticed that her heart does not beat." He was nervous and worried.

Thor smiled. "Why do you think I suggested she stay with Mother instead of coming with us?" he asked Loki kindly. He had been trying to keep you safe as long as possible.

"I appreciate that, but we can't hide her away from Father forever," Loki protested, frustrated.

Thor nodded his agreement. "True, but we can hide her for awhile longer at least, until you come up with a better plan to keep her secret safe. I doubt Father would approve..." he added, his voice confirming his doubts.

Loki sighed again. "I'm quite sure he would not. A vampire with a prince of Asgard? It's unheard of..." he gave Thor a desperate look. "I have no idea what to do, how to keep her safe," he admitted softly. All of his plots and plannings, and he didn't know how to keep his love safe.

Thor gave him a look, not accepting his self-deprecation. "Surely you can come up with some magic to hide the fact that her heart does not beat. That is what keeps giving her away, since we can all hear it. The rest of her affliction is not as noticeable on Asgard," Thor reminded him, talking to think it through while Loki pondered silently.

"I'll have to look into the texts in the library. Maybe Mother can assist me..." Loki mused as they walked.

"Why not set Mother and your lady to the task?" Thor asked tapping his temple to indicate that he knew Loki could contact you both telepathically. "Surely they can find something. Though Mother may have a hard time dragging your lady inside on a day like today," he added with a grin. He knew you couldn't usually go out in the sun and would be hard pressed to be convinced to go inside.

Loki laughed and seemed reassured by his brother's help. He was usually a great tactician, but he wasn't thinking clearly when your safety was in the balance. "True. Mother will have to work with a stubborn vampire who hasn't been out in the sun in years," he laughed again at his poor mother's expense.

/Dearheart, would it be possible for you and my mother to go to the library to look for a spell to hide the fact that your heart does not beat? We need to find a way to hide that fact so that the Allfather doesn't do anything to rash when he inevitably meets you/ Loki asked you telepathically. You were busy admiring the flowers in the gardens while Frigga told you what they were.

/The library sounds like it's inside/ you whined in reply even as you relayed Loki's request to Frigga. You'd left the connection open while you spoke to Frigga so Loki could hear you make the request and she began to lead you inside to the library to help look for the spell.

/It is inside. I'm sorry to spoil your fun but I don't want anything happening to you if Odin were to find out./ Loki replied, sounding truly apologetic at spoiling your fun.

/We're going, we're going/ you replied, teasing. /Go be the dutiful son. We'll find something if we can/

You heard his laughter across the telepathic connection /Please let me know when you do. And if either of you need anything, ask/ he told you firmly. He paused before he added. /Also, when was the last time you ate?/

/Breakfast/ you replied too innocently. You knew damn well what he was asking and completely ignored the real question. He was asking when you'd last had blood and you didn't want to talk about that. Plus you had an idea of a spell that would work and began to scan the shelves for what book you were looking for. You'd vaguely recalled reading a reference to something in one of Loki's spellbooks back home.

/Sweetheart, you need to eat. I can tell mother if need be/ he threatened, which was playing dirty and he knew it.

/Don't. You. Dare./ you snarled at him. /I'm fine, besides, she's already got to be concerned about the fact that I have to drink blood. I do notwant to confirm her fears/ you reminded him, grumpily. You hated discussing this, and hated worse

/I'm not sure how long we will be on Asgard. I don't want anything to happen to you. Please find something to eat soon or I won't have a choice/ he told you, truly concerned.

/Lokes, I can survive for weeks without blood/ you reminded him of your encounter the first time you'd met him.

/Not if you're using magic, and not at detriment to yourself, especially while you're healing. You know you need more than the other vampires just to keep your magic from eating your body/ he reminded you sourly. He'd explained this before and you still hated it.

/It's not like there's a butcher shop here/ you reminded him, grumpy and embarrassed. You really hated talking about this.

You heard his sigh and his affirmation that you were correct in that assessment. /We can find something. If it comes to it, you have me./

You wanted to argue, but he was right. /Fine, just leave your mother out of this/

/Very well. You know I worry. Just be careful./

/I am careful/ you growled distracted as you dove into the books in the library to try to find a spell to help.

"They're working on it," Loki told Thor as he dropped the telepathic connection.

"Impressive getting your lady inside on this nice of a day," Thor replied. He'd been making sure Loki stayed on track while they walked and he spoke to you telepathically. "Pray she doesn't get bored and figure out more technology around here to upgrade and scare all of the staff," he teased, having heard about the technology in the healing wing.

"My lady is too smart for her own good, sometimes," Loki said with a fond smile on his face. "And there was a lot of whining trying to convince her to go to the library. I'm sure Mother is overjoyed at spending time with her when she wants to be outside," his voice was sarcastic. While he adored his mother, he also didn't mind teasing and siccing a whiny vampire on her was definitely teasing.

"Of course. She hasn't seen the sun for four years. I'm sure Mother is thrilled trying to keep her on task," Thor boomed his laugh. "The entire palace staff is talking about her stunt and how she advanced the healing wing's equipment by years in minutes," Thor was pressing for Loki to confirm the story. It wouldn't surprise him, not really, but he still wanted to know for sure.

Loki smiled so proudly and Thor nodded, accepting the story as truth. "My lady vampire never ceases to surprise me in anything," he told Thor with such love in his voice that even Thor couldn't make fun of him for it.

It wasn't long before they stood before the double doors of the throne room. "Ready?" Thor asked Loki after a moment's pause. He knew his brother well, and knew he needed a moment to gather his thoughts, to put on his court mask, to steel himself to go before their Father.

Loki finally sighed, straightened his spine and his face seemed to melt into the carefully cold mask he always used at court, always used in front of their father. "As I'll ever be," he replied, his tone holding an icy edge to it. Thor missed his brother immensely when he had to see this court stranger in his brother's place.

"Come along, Brother. Father will just be pleased you're worthy. That's all he wants is to see it for himself," Thor bid him warmly. He wouldn't change to meet their father. He was always just Thor, no matter the circumstances.

"The sooner this is over with, the better," Loki growled.

Thor clapped his brother on the shoulder and nodded to the guards, who swung open the big double doors so the pair could approach the throne.