Jane could hardly breathe after feeling the rush when she was pulled to Asgard. She had spent years looking at the universe through telescopes and mathematical models, trying to understand things that existed impossibly far beyond her reach. She had built theories around things she had never touched, never seen with her own eyes, never been able to prove completely. Yet now she was standing in Asgard, and every carefully constructed boundary between science and impossibility had been shattered. After passing through the Bifrost and meeting Heimdall, Jane had barely managed to form coherent sentences. She kept looking around as though someone might suddenly tell her that this was an elaborate illusion. The golden city stretched beneath the strange sky, the architecture rising around her in impossible grandeur, and even the air felt different.
"This is real," she whispered.
Thor smiled. "Yes."
Jane turned toward him, almost laughing from sheer disbelief. "I'm actually in another realm."
"I told you."
"You did not adequately explain this."
"I have tried."
"No, you haven't."
Thor laughed as they continued toward the palace. Inside, Jane became even more overwhelmed. She touched the carved stonework, stared at the enormous halls, and kept turning her head whenever something unfamiliar caught her attention. Every few steps brought another question, another observation, another moment when she simply stopped because her scientific mind could not decide whether to analyze what she was seeing or marvel at it.
For once, there was no instrument between her and the impossible. She was standing inside it. And then they saw Loki. He was the first to notice them. Loki had been crossing one of the great corridors when his gaze landed on Thor. His expression immediately became guarded, but then he noticed the woman beside his brother. Jane.
He barely had time to raise an eyebrow before Jane marched straight toward him. "You—"
Loki stopped in his tracks and before he could comprehend anything, Jane slapped him. The sharp sound echoed through the corridor. Thor's eyes widened. For one brief second, Loki's face became utterly still. His cheek stung, and his pride had certainly taken the greater injury. A mortal had just struck a prince of Asgard in front of his brother. He could have reacted and reminded her exactly who she had just touched.
Instead, Loki slowly turned his head back toward her, a smirk appeared. "I like her."
Jane stared at him, apparently unsure whether he was joking. Thor, meanwhile, looked as though he had just witnessed two storms collide. Loki's expression remained almost amused, but beneath it, anger burned sharply. He disliked the audacity of the mortal standing before him, yet he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing hostility on his face. Besides, she had spirit, he could respect that.
From the floor above, however, someone had seen everything. Eirlys who had been walking along the upper gallery when the commotion below caught her attention, stopped near the balustrade and looked down. Her eyes immediately found Loki and Jane. Then the hand that had just struck her future husband. Eirlys's expression hardened. She had never met Jane, but she already disliked her from the very moment she heard her name. Maybe that was unfair and irrational, yet she did not care.
There was something deeply irritating about watching another woman arrive in Asgard and immediately have the bloody audacity to slap her husband-to-be. Worse, Thor had done absolutely nothing. He had simply stood there. Eirlys's fingers tightened around the railing. She had no idea what exactly she felt for Loki. Their relationship was complicated, their marriage arranged, and she was still trying to understand the man beneath all his masks. But he was still going to be her husband.
And watching another woman strike him while Thor stood there as though it were perfectly acceptable irritated her far more than she cared to admit. Down below, none of them noticed the woman watching from above. Eirlys quietly stepped away from the railing, her expression perfectly composed. Only the slight tightening of her jaw betrayed her. Whatever happened next, Jane had already made one hell of a first impression and maybe she had to pay for it.
Eirlys had already abandoned the food preparations to her younger brother, who seemed considerably more enthusiastic about arguing over menus than she was. She had decided that there were certain battles she simply did not need to fight. The cake, however, was hers to decide. She sat at the long table surrounded by samples, lists, and sketches, giving her attention entirely to the arrangements before her. Most importantly, she did not look toward Loki but she knew he was there.
She could feel his gaze occasionally settling upon her, but she refused to acknowledge it. If Thor had brought Jane to Asgard hoping Eirlys would become jealous, then he was going to be disappointed. She would not give him that satisfaction, nor would she allow Jane's opinions to dictate a single detail of her wedding. She listened politely when suggestions were offered, thanked people when necessary, and continued making her decisions with calm certainty.
Jane approached the table with genuine excitement, apparently eager to contribute. She began describing cakes she had eaten on Earth, mentioning chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and combinations that involved several layers and fillings. Eirlys listened without interrupting, her expression courteous.
When Jane finished, Eirlys glanced at the sketches before her. "The marriage is an Asgardian and Vanaheim tradition," she said calmly. "There is no need for you to add mortal customs to it."
Jane's enthusiasm faltered slightly as Eirlys offered her a polite smile, making it clear that the matter was settled. Loki watched the exchange from across the room. He knew that look, Eirlys was irritated. Yet she was hiding it prettily. After several minutes, Loki finally decided that approaching her might be safer than watching her silently punish everyone with that serene expression.
He walked toward her. "Need help?"
"No."
He paused. "I wasn't aware you had decided everything already."
"I have."
Loki glanced over the table. "Perhaps I could at least—"
"Loki." The warning in her voice made him stop.
She finally looked at him. "You have contributed absolutely nothing to this planning except distracting me."
His eyebrows rose. "I was attempting to be helpful."
"You were staring."
"I can multitask."
"Then multitask somewhere else."
Loki had no immediate response. Eirlys returned her attention to the cake designs. "And don't touch anything."
Loki stared at her. Then, despite himself, the corner of his mouth lifted. "Yes, my lady."
"Good."
He remained standing there for another moment, clearly tempted to say something else but a single glare from Eirlys convinced him otherwise, making him retreat. And though she refused to look at him, Eirlys heard his quiet laugh behind her. That only irritated her more.
Thor had been standing only a short distance away when he heard Eirlys dismiss Jane. To anyone else, there had been nothing wrong with it. Eirlys had smiled, her voice had remained soft, and every word had been perfectly courteous. She had not insulted Jane or raised her voice. If anything, she had sounded almost gracious. But Thor knew better. He had known Eirlys for years. That smile and politeness were too precise and deliberate.
Whenever Eirlys was genuinely pleased, her smile reached her eyes. When she was amused, there was usually a spark in her expression that made it impossible to mistake her mood. But when she became truly irritated, she became excessively polite, as though every ounce of her patience had been carefully placed behind a locked door.
Thor watched her return to the wedding arrangements without sparing Jane another glance. He almost sighed. So she was jealous. The realization gave him an unexpected flicker of satisfaction, followed immediately by guilt. He had brought Jane here partly because he wanted Eirlys to understand that he had not been alone on Midgard. He had wanted to make certain things clear.
Instead, he had apparently managed to annoy his oldest friend within minutes of Jane's arrival. And yet Eirlys's reaction bothered him more than he expected. Thor looked toward Jane, then back at Eirlys. He knew that expression, she was pretending not to care. And somehow, that was far more obvious than if she had simply admitted that she did.