Page 21 of Loki

Well, the joke was on him this time. She'd gotten a night of the best sex of her life – sex she would never forget – and he was going to be leaving empty handed.

"While I admit archaeology is a bit of a grey area when it comes to theft – tomb robbing and the like – that brooch was just lying there in the rocks, where someone had evidently dropped it. Like our expedition leader said, all the things we're finding here belong to the world. It's our history."

Loki frowned. 'That cloak pin belonged to Odin's wife, before she was murdered, and he never removed it. Whoever stole it from him must have dropped it, and he will not treat you kindly if you try to keep it from him. But if you give it to me, I can return it to him without him ever knowing you stole it."

Men. Didn't believe you, even when you were telling the truth, when they'd got some stupid idea in their heads. "I don't have it," she said.

She expected him to be disappointed, but his expression only hardened. "If you tell me where it is, I might be willing to share your bed for another night like this one."

Might, not would, she noted. "Yeah, even if I had it, or knew where it was, I'm not trading valuable artefacts for sex. With you, or Saint Nik."

"Who is this saint you speak of?"

Jorunn laughed. "Oh, he's no saint. He's a right dodgy bastard who's trying to blackmail me into having sex with him or he'll lie about me stealing stuff. Which makes me think he's the one stealing things, and if anyone has the brooch, it's him. Now he might be interested in your deal – sex for stealing stuff – but I don't know if he's into men."

Loki stared at her for a long moment, like he was trying to read her soul. "Can you tell me honestly that you truly do not possess Odin's brooch?"

Something tingled across her bare skin beneath the sleeping bag, like he was touching her with some sort of spell. "Yes. You could fuck me into next week, and while I'd definitely enjoy every minute of it, I still couldn't give you the brooch, because I don't have it. I put it in the box with all the other artefacts we've found – arrowheads, mostly – but when I went back to look for it, it was gone. Stolen, I suspect."

His shoulders sagged. "And what of Thor's hammer?"

"So it really is Thor's hammer? I told Sibyl it was! Oh, wait until she comes back so I can tell her..." She caught sight of Loki's grave expression and sobered. "We had the hammer in the mess tent, melting the ice off it, and Karl packed it away to send to the lab with Sibyl. She'll know where it is, but I warn you, it's probably locked away in a temperature controlled cabinet by now, and seeing as she's likely to want to base her PhD and a whole bunch of research papers on it, she'll never let it go. Not for sex or money or...even you, actually. She's more into Thor than you." She shrugged. "Sorry."

Only...he didn't look upset. A little perked up, in fact. "Then Thor will find it, and when he holds his hammer again, it will surely break the spell over him. This is good. If only we can find the brooch before Odin wakes, everything will be as it should be." He nodded, then walked out of the tent, and vanished.

TWENTY-ONE

All day, Loki remained in the rocks beneath the camp, waiting for the sun to go down. He could hear and see the other scholars remaining close to their tents and each other, so he had no opportunity to slip into the camp to search for the brooch.

He would likely need Jorunn's help to find it, for she knew her people better than him. Which meant he would have to return to her when the sun set, and persuade her to help him.

No easy task, seeing as she already knew he'd seduced her once for that. She wouldn't fall for that again. Which was a pity, because after last night, all he could think about was sharing her bed again and those sweet sounds she made as he pleasured her...

Loki closed his eyes. He had priorities. He needed to kill Erik and the rest of his family. In order to do that, he would need the help of both Thor and Odin. In order to get Thor's help, he would need to break the spell binding Thor to the girl named Sibyl, and reunite Thor with his hammer. Odin's help would be harder to get, especially if he believed Erik's accusations of treachery. Which meant Loki would have to bring the brooch as a gift, as well as information on how they could defeat Erik, for Odin wanted the jarl dead just as much as he did. As did Thor.

Not to mention he had no idea where Odin even was right now.

But he'd find him. He had to.

Could Loki step aside and let Odin or Thor deal Erik's death blow? He'd vowed to kill the man, and his family, and he was fairly sure he'd succeeded in poisoning both of Erik's sons. Only the witch daughter remained, and once she was gone...perhaps he'd be willing to let the other men take their turn at vengeance. As long as Loki could watch while Erik died.

He'd make the girl's death quick. Witch or not, she did not deserve to suffer.

Which still left him without the brooch.

So...Jorunn. He would beg her for her help, and offer her a boon in return. Anything that was within his power to give. As long as she didn't ask him to spare Erik's life...he would agree to anything else she desired.

TWENTY-TWO

If anything, Saint Nik was even more irritable than usual. It seemed a mosquito had gotten into his tent, and tried to drink all his blood, or at least that's the story he told. Jorunn hoped all his itching was actually some sort of embarrassing rash that had spread to the rest of his body that would result in him needing a medical evacuation, but it seemed the universe had decided that after granting her last night's one night stand with Loki, it was now going to ignore any and all wishes she might have, no matter how much better the universe would be for it.

So she bit her tongue as she sorted through the reindeer bones they'd found, identifying which ones showed signs of human activity, and which ones didn't. She'd probably still scan all of them once they got back to the lab, but at least she could prioritise the smaller pile.

She sighed. She knew there were thousands of reindeer in the national park, but all she'd seen were the bones of long dead ones. Was it too much to ask to see just a single live reindeer while she was here?

"Will you stop taking up all the table space with these worthless bones? There have been reindeer here forever. There is nothing special about them, and they should all be tossed in the trash," Nik snapped.

For a moment, she considered emulating John Wick and killing him with the pencil in her hand. Except...she wasn't an assassin, and she'd probably only break her pencil without doing any kind of damage to Nik.

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