“You helped me decorate,” she says, reaching for his hand as she reminisces about their early acquaintance. “I wanted to make it extra special.”

He deserves it.

“I’ve been . . . alright. I still have my coffee shop.”

And she smiles at that.

“You?”

~ a disclaimer.

“Okay . . . I might have gone a little overboard, but I wanted to have everything covered.”

It certainly has.

“Hello, Erik.”

So very needed. Or at least always welcome.

~ “I enjoyed riding horses,” she says of her time on the farm. “But other than that . . . I needed to be around people with big ideas and open minds. I would never have met you had I followed the path my family wanted for me.”

The sophistication she picked up along the way.

~ impressive. And I imagine it does come in handing getting a staff to fall in line.”

For now, she has no clue what else he might be up to. She certainly hasn’t picked up on the fact that he might be on to her.

Sigyn would scold herself later for that. Usually, she is not so distracted. ~

~ to see the world.

Hello, world.

Yes, it got her in a mess of trouble now and again, but it has been worth it to experience this.

Adventure. Chats with handsome strangers. Not that she meets many as handsome as him.

“I don’t think that sounds boring at all. Military background is quite ~

“Some farms, yes,” she replies with a laugh. “Definitely not my farm.”

Everyone around her was content to see the same plot of land for the rest of their lives. There is nothing wrong with that — if anything, Sigyn was the one who was made to feel wrong for wanting something else. She wanted ~

~ at least for the moment.

“Did you truly mean all that you said?” she asks, wishing to know if the offer had been a genuine one.

He had called her a jewel. That he did not want another to claim her hand.

Her.

“My sister . . . she is the pretty one.”

~ make me happy.”

Her mother might have hoped for Thor to take a fancy to one of her daughter, but Sigyn knows Freyja would agree to Loki. If that is what Freyja and Odin decide, it would be so.

“Thank you for . . . back there.”

Rescue might not have been the intent, but Loki /did/ rescue her ~

~ it. Sigyn is not sure if she believes in love at first sight, but Loki had seen something that made him leap. How he saw it in her is a mystery.

“No,” she admits honestly. “I do not wish to be married off to someone my mother chooses. I love her, but . . . she sees advantages. Not what would ~

~ something — someone — different.

In this moment when he asks what she wants, Sigyn wonders if perhaps Loki did what he did back there because he saw her fear and simply freed her from it. Helped. Had she not seen the sincerity in his expression, she would have assumed it to be so. But she saw~

When the god is nervous, Sigyn seems to find herself. She turns to look up at him.

He is undeniably handsome. Not the way Thor and his lot are. There is something . . . otherworldly about Loki that Sigyn decides she likes. He is different, and the only thing that might suit her would be ~

~ Odin, Frigga, Freyja, and the rest of the court begin to move towards the ballroom and dining hall.

Löfn approaches. She kisses her cheek. “Be careful, little sister.”

Then, Sigyn and Loki are alone.

~ encourage and wish him luck on whatever he would discuss with Sigyn. His rather bold and abrupt proposal no doubt.

Frigga is a mother, and he is her dear one. She wishes more than anything that what Loki decides will make him happy. If Sigyn is that happiness, may the Norns bless them both. ~

Sigyn stares at his hand a moment before taking it. Stepping closer, she adjusts so that she is holding his arm instead.

“The gardens sound lovely.”

Even Frigga chimes in. “The roses are beautiful this time of year. I hope you enjoy them, Lady Sigyn.”

Frigga gives Loki a look — one meant to ~