You walked arm-in-arm with Loki back to the car, occasionally glancing at the ring on your finger, not quite believing it was there after all of these years. When you were young, you'd expected it to happen eventually, but after you were exiled, you gave up hope of ever seeing Loki again.

"Unfortunately, we must stop by the living room before we can go upstairs," Loki told you when he parked the car back in the garage at the tower. "The team insisted on seeing for themselves that you were returned home safely," he added grumpily as he came around the car to your car door. You laughed as you took his hand and let him help you from the car.

"Don't be offended, love. They just want to make sure we're home safely," you told him warmly, laying your hand on his arm to walk with him to the elevator.

"They wished to make sure you were home," he corrected.

You shrugged. "Midgardians are weird." He finally relaxed and inclined his head about that one. "Surely Thor wants to make sure we're both home," you suggested. You knew Thor worried about Loki, even in your care. He didn't answer that, so you knew you were right.

"How was your evening?" Thor asked pleasantly when you stepped off the elevator.

"Might as well show the oaf, Kyrie-love," Loki told you warmly. Damn Trickster had told his brother what he was up to tonight.

"You are an incorrigible showoff," you told him, but softened your words by kissing his cheek. He smirked in reply, and didn't deny it. You stepped over to Thor and held out your left hand so he could see the ring.

"Congratulations, Lady Valkyrie!" Thor boomed. "Finally figured out why you had that ring in your trinket box for 900 years, huh, Brother?" Thor teased.

"He bothered you about it?" you asked, surprised.

"I caught him pondering the ring one day and teased him about his mystery lady," Thor replied.

"Wait!? You're engaged?" Nat demanded, jumping to her feet and leaping over Clint to come see the ring. The rest of the team came around too and carefully oohed over the shiny, careful not to touch your skin. "You have an excellent eye for jewelry, Loki," Nat complimented his choice. He looked surprised for a moment to be addressed directly, but he inclined his head, accepting the compliment for what it was.

"Loki acquired that ring over 900 years ago, before Kyrie was sent to Midgard," Thor explained to the others. You stepped back and went back from the crowd of the others and went back to Loki. He wrapped and arm around you and kissed your temple, reassuring. The others wouldn't touch you. They knew better.

There were toasts and more congratulations before you were finally able to escape upstairs with Loki. His arm was around you as you walked down the hall to your rooms. You saw his hesitation, he wanted to invite you to stay with him, at least for awhile, to enjoy the rest of your evening, but he obviously didn't want to push either. You summoned a bottle of the Asgardian mead and two wine glasses. "Nightcap?" you asked a little shyly, not entirely sure of your welcome.

He took a step toward his room automatically. His rooms had always been the shared space over the years. "That sounds like an excellent idea, darling," he told you warmly and opened his bedroom door for you. You stepped past him, scanning the room automatically for threats as you stepped through his shields over the threshold. You kicked off your heels next to the door and settled on his bed, pouring mead into the wine glasses. You watched as he stripped off his suit jacket, loosened his tie, and carefully rolled up his shirt sleeves. You floated one of the wine glasses over to him.

You sat on his bed, chatting for a few glasses of mead. "Mind if I find something more comfortable to wear?" you asked, not feeling like using magic to change right now.

He gestured to his dresser. "Help yourself." You rescued one of his tunics from the dresser and with your back to him, carefully slipped off your dress and bra. You knew his eyes were on you as you slipped his tunic over your head. It came down to your thighs, so was perfectly acceptable for this. When you turned back to the bed, he was lounging in nothing but pajama pants. Nothing but pajama pants. He had liked what he saw too...

You smiled and joined him, the mead forgotten as you curled into his arms to kiss him. He welcomed you with open arms. The kisses started light, but quickly grew in heat as your lips parted, your tongue danced with his. You shifted, straddling his lap, your fingers wound in his hair and you slowly kissed your way down his neck to the spot where it met his shoulder and he moaned in pleasure. You could feel him hard under you, through the loose material of his pajama pants.

You sucked gently on the spot on his neck, fingers still wound in his hair, tugging ever, ever so gently. He gasped and moaned in pleasure, his hands sliding down your back to cup your ass. You leaned up to kiss him properly again.

He paused before things went too far. "Kyrie-love, just because we got engaged tonight doesn't mean that I expect-" he started, but stumbled for what he was trying to stay. "I love you dearly, but we don't have to do this tonight. We have all of eternity, there's no rush. I know you haven't..." he hesitated again, not wanting to push. You weren't surprised he had indulged over the centuries, nor did you fault him for it. You appreciated that he wanted to make sure you were comfortable with the pace. He knew you hadn't kissed in over 900 years. Obviously you hadn't done anything else with the mortals either, but he didn't know...

"That...isn't an issue," you finally replied. You had to be careful of what you said. You were under orders after all. He raised an eyebrow, not expecting that response. You couldn't lie to him. Damn god of lies. You sighed heavily and climbed off his lap to sit next to him. The mood was broken and this conversation needed to happen now. He needed to know. He sat up again to look at you, sensing the heavy conversation. "I have... before. Once, but still..." you finally added since he wouldn't stop giving you that look that demanded an explanation.

He growled, his eyes narrowing, coming to the wrong conclusion, as his anger flared. "Who? Who do I need to kill for touching you?" he growled. You saw the assumption that it was against your will.

You shook your head. "It wasn't like that," you reassured him quickly.

He blinked quickly, confused. "But... I gave you your first kiss..." he said softly, hurt, assuming more wrong assumptions, but you let him talk. He had to tease out enough of the story for himself before you could help him. You had orders. "There were no competitors in the city of the Valkyries and we were together from the moment you returned home..." his voice was hurt. "I would understand if in the years were were apart..." You shook your head. "While we were together?" he demanded, angrily, his rage flaring. "Who?" he snarled. "Why would you do that?" he growled, but with tears in his eyes.

"I swear I didn't betray you. I would rather die than betray you, but I've been forbidden to tell you what happened," you told him softly, just as frustrated, tears in your eyes. He growled.

"Who could possibly-?" he started.

"Your Mother," you told him firmly. "She pulled rank and gave me the order all of those years ago, forbidding me to tell you, reforbid it when I became a full Valkyrie, and it's still binding today," you snarled, frustrated and angry at Frigga for the first time that you could remember. You held out your wrist to him, so he could see the tattoo there. "If you want answers, override the order," you reminded him. He was the only one who could override the order. You were bound to his service. He hated pulling rank more than anything, but...

He took your wrist more roughly than truly necessary and lifted it so his lips touched the sigil on your arm. "Tell me what the Queen forbade you to divulge. Your prince demands it," he ordered, his voice a growl. You could hear his unspoken words, he would decide if you got to keep the ring he had given you when he heard your tale.

"It was a couple months before we turned a hundred, before I left for the trials," you started and nearly sighed in relief that it had worked and you were free to finally tell him. He sat and listened to you speak, impassively. "Lady Hilde wouldn't stop flirting with you, insisting you were going to be hers. She wanted the conquest of one of the princes and you were too polite back then to deny her firmly enough to leave you alone. I stopped her when I was around, since she made you uncomfortable, but I couldn't be with you every moment. She forced a love potion on you at a feast one evening, spiking your drink. She made the mistake of bragging about it too loudly to a couple of the other court ladies within my hearing. I thoroughly kicked her ass for it, since I couldn't legally do anything more at the time, threw you over my shoulder, and dragged you both to our mothers.

My Lady Mother took care of Lady Hilde. She is well and truly dead, I'm sure. Mother could take care of her even though I couldn't at the time. I was too late to save you from the effects. Even your mother couldn't do anything. The only thing we could do was let the potion wear off on its own. You were a mess, love," you didn't have the words to describe the state he had been in. "That potion was strong and... love potions never truly work as expected. They're finicky at best. The love part faded almost immediately, if it had ever worked at all, but it left..." you hesitated.

"Lust," he supplied softly. You nodded.

"Lust and so much rage. You were suffering. It was all I could do to keep you from slaughtering everyone in the palace, though somehow you could stand my presence. I don't know who sent her, I never asked. I never wanted to know. But someone thought one of the... pleasure women... might give you some relief, but you nearly splattered the walls with her blood for the insult on your honor at the suggestion. I only just got her out of the room with her life, by literally throwing her bodily from your room. I held you while you sobbed and whimpered at what that shit did to your body and mind," you shuddered at the memory. He had been in such an awful state.

"You..." he said softly, haunted by memories he didn't even have, he couldn't ask the question that he wanted to. He wanted to ask if you'd given him the sex the potion had demanded.

You nodded, answering his unasked question. You'd done your duty to your prince, but not for that, but because you loved him and it was the only thing that would help, that would end the torture sooner. "I gave you what comfort and relief I could," you didn't need to go into details on that. He wouldn't want to know. "My...assistance... helped and after three days straight of hell and suffering, you could finally sleep and slept the rest of that stupid love potion off. We got through that mess together, but when you finally came out of it completely, you didn't remember a thing. Knowing the state you'd been in, your mother thought it best it stayed that way and ordered me to never tell you about the love potion incident. There are very, very few at the court who even know about it,"

He pulled you into his arms, looking horrified. "I'm sorry I doubted you. I can't believe you did that for me..." he said softly. "I can't- I still don't remember-"

"Do you want to really know?" you asked him.

He hesitated, but finally nodded. "I need to know," you sat up again, closed your eyes, took a breath, organizing your thoughts, organizing the memories so he would see what he was looking for. You nodded and his fingertips touched your temples. He was in your mind a moment later, a polite visitor, only viewing the memories that were offered. Unfortunately, you both had to relive that hell in the viewing.

You held him while he shuddered at the memories,stroking his hair, rubbing his back. You presumed that viewing your recollection of the events sparked his own proper memories. You didn't ask, just held him, soothing until he finally relaxed enough to fall asleep in your arms.

It wasn't how you'd been planning on ending your evening, but the story had to be told. He had to know.

You kissed his forehead and he made a soft noise. "Shh, love. You're safe now. No one will ever hurt you like that again," you told him softly. He smiled softly and settled back into sleep.