Loki studied Eirlys in silence, because he had expected innocence, her to blush, stumble over her words, perhaps even apologize for something she had not done. Instead, she stood before him with an irritatingly calm expression, having already pieced together half of his little performance.
"You are not nearly as gullible as I thought," he murmured.
"I shall consider that a compliment."
"It wasn't."
"I shall still consider it one."
His lips twitched as he seemed genuinely caught off guard. "You saw through me," he admitted.
"Not entirely."
"No?"
Eirlys shook her head. "I still don't know why you wanted Thor to believe we were kissing."
That question silenced him. Loki's gaze lingered on her face before he looked away. "Perhaps I simply enjoy causing my brother discomfort."
"Perhaps," Eirlys replied. "But I think you wanted him to believe it for another reason."
Loki's eyes returned to hers as he stared at her for a moment longer before giving a quiet, almost reluctant laugh. "You are troublesome."
"So I've been told."
Outside, Thor's shadow remained motionless, Eirlys finally understood that Loki had intentionally come into her chambers at that ungodly hour because he had wanted Thor to see them like this. Her eyes narrowed, but she remained still, partly because she did not want to give Thor another reason to misunderstand and partly because Loki's warning had caught her completely off guard. Loki slowly lowered his hand once he was certain she understood. The moment he did, Eirlys drew a sharp breath and glared at him. He merely gave her the smallest, most infuriating smile. Whatever she had been about to say, she now knew exactly what kind of game he was playing.
Yet it wasn't. It unsettled him in a way he could not explain. A strange, uncomfortable heat rose beneath his skin as jealousy flickered through him before he could smother it. He hated that feeling. What he hated even more was that he could not decide whether he was angry with Loki for crossing a boundary or with himself for caring so much. As Loki disappeared down the corridor, Thor remained there in the darkness. And for the first time, a thought he had never permitted himself to entertain settled heavily in his mind. What if he had misunderstood what Eirlys meant to him all along?
Eirlys remained by the doorway for a moment after Loki had disappeared down the corridor, watching him walk away. The palace had grown quiet again, the distant sounds of footsteps fading until only the soft crackle of the torches remained. She looked toward the darkness beyond the doorway. She could not see him but she knew. "Thor."
Nothing at that as a faint smile touched her lips. "I know you're out there."
Still, he did not answer. Eirlys stepped onto the threshold, her fingers resting lightly against the edge of the door. She glanced into the shadows, where she knew he was standing, even if she could not make out his face.
"Whatever you're overthinking about," she said softly, "nothing happened."
The silence that followed was almost amusing. Almost. Eirlys lowered her gaze for a moment before adding, "Though… it might one day."
That finally made the shadows stir. She smiled to herself.
"After all," she continued, her voice gentler now, "I am getting married."
There was something strangely vulnerable in the words, despite the teasing certainty behind them. "Perhaps you should remember that before you spend the entire night imagining things that never happened."
Thor remained silent and Eirlys sighed softly. "Go to sleep, Thor."
She paused, then added with quiet affection, "You think too much when you're tired."
For a moment, she waited but no reply came, so she shook her head, hiding another small smile. "Goodnight."
And with that, Eirlys stepped back inside. The wooden door began to close. Just before it shut completely, she looked once more into the darkness. "Sleep well."
The door closed with a soft click, Thor remained where he was alone with the silence. And somehow, Eirlys's words had done the exact opposite of calming him. Nothing had happened. She had said so herself. Yet the words it might one day echoed through his mind with maddening persistence. Thor stared at the closed door.
Then, very quietly, he muttered to himself, "That was not helpful at all."
And the darkness offered him no answer.
When Eirlys finally lay beneath the covers, sleep refused to come. She turned onto her side, staring into the darkness of her chamber while the events of the evening replayed themselves in her mind. Loki's smile, his deliberate closeness, the way he had glanced toward the doorway before approaching her, the words he had whispered, and, most importantly, everything he had not said.
Eirlys thoughts roamed inside her faintly, that was the troubling part. She was beginning to understand Loki without him explaining himself. She knew when his smile was genuine and when it was merely a mask. She was learning the difference between his teasing and his deflection. She could recognize the slight change in his voice whenever he was hiding something particularly important.
Tonight, she had known exactly what he was doing. He had wanted Thor to see them. Not because he had any genuine intention of kissing her, but because Loki wanted to place a thought inside his brother's mind and leave it there. A question. A doubt. Perhaps even jealousy.
Eirlys slowly pulled the blanket closer. "Why?" she whispered into the darkness.
She knew Loki disliked being underestimated. She knew he enjoyed controlling a situation before anyone else realized there was a game being played. And she knew that, beneath all his cleverness, there was something deeply wounded about him. That was the part she understood least. Or maybw she understood it too well.
Loki did not simply seek power, he sought proof. Proof that he mattered. Proof that he could not be dismissed. Proof that he could make people react to him, even if the reaction was anger, fear, or jealousy. And tonight, she suspected, Thor's reaction had been the real prize. Eirlys closed her eyes, remembering Loki's expression when she had confronted him. For one brief moment, he had looked almost impressed. You are not nearly as gullible as I thought. She scoffed faintly at the memory.
"No, Loki," she murmured. "I'm beginning to know you."
The thought should have frightened her. Instead, it left her strangely unsettled. Because Loki had not told her these things, she had simply noticed. She had pieced together his silences, his expressions, his carefully chosen words. Somehow, she had begun reading the spaces between everything he said.
And perhaps that was dangerous. People like Loki were not accustomed to being understood. Especially not by someone they had expected to deceive. Eirlys opened her eyes again and stared at the ceiling. She wondered whether Loki realized how transparent he could become when someone stopped listening to his words and started watching him instead.
A small smile touched her lips. Maybe tomorrow, she would tell him or she wouldn't. For now, she pulled the blanket beneath her chin and finally closed her eyes. Somewhere in the palace, Loki was undoubtedly planning his next move. And, for the first time, Eirlys found herself wondering whether she might already know what it would be.