Note: The last time I updated this fanfic was 7 whole years ago. I'm sorry this update took so long- you all have the patience of elves <3 For those who asked to be tagged, here you go :D
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[Full Chapter List] -- [Read Chapter 6]
“I want you to kill Thranduil,” Loki hissed, his fists clenched so tightly that they were white.
You stared at him blankly. You had just returned from clearing the spider nests with Thranduil, your body flushed with adrenaline. And something more.
“He lured you away, don’t you see? Kept you occupied while he sent an assassin after me! I only survived because he attacked my projection!”
“There must be some mistake. There is no reason why he’d do that- ”
“Listen to me,” Loki’s voice was quiet now. “Nobody crosses me and lives to tell the tale. You must kill Thranduil.”
“...We should run,” you said slowly. “Thranduil’s troops are getting settled from the spider hunt. If we leave now, we should be at Laketown by nightfall-”
“You must kill Thranduil.” Loki’s voice was quiet now. “I will not have him risk your life, and have him go back on his word, twice now. Nobody double crosses me and lives to tell the tale.”
“Can we just think this through-” You stopped as Loki turned to you. You have never seen his expression so cold.
“I hold your life-debt,” he breathed. “You are my guard, my soldier, my assassin. I demand that you kill Thranduil.”
You froze, and felt the weight of honor bear down on you. He looked at you mercilessly. To defy the honor binding a life-debt meant death. Your heart would seize, and stop itself as punishment for its betrayal. It was the nature of Valkyries.
Silently, you turned from him, hands on the hilt of your blades.
“...I will do as you ask,” you choked, heart pounding wildly.
"Have you come to kill me?" His voice was low, as if he had been expecting you.
You made no answer, merely drew your blades. Thranduil was weaponless; a quick thrust into his chest and he would be done. Or a swipe at his long, graceful neck, blood soaking into the silver of his hair...
"You're hesitating, Valkyrie."
“...Did you send an assassin after Loki while we cleared the spider nests?”
He chuckled, as if he were being confronted for a poorly executed prank.
“Why? What did you have to gain?”
“Questions to stall what you know you must do. Your god has ordered you to dispose of me. Will you not honor that order?”
You closed your eyes. “To forsake that honor is death,” you whispered hoarsely.
“Then why do you falter? You would lose your life for a strange king in a strange land? Betray the god that holds your life debt?”
He was right. It didn't matter the reasons, only that you obeyed what was commanded of you.
He unclasped the brooch at his throat, and threw it to the side. He pulled his robe from his shoulders, then unbuttoned his silk tunic. His toned, muscular flesh was marred with terrible scars.
"I’m sure you’re aware. Any attempt on my life is punishable by death. And there have been many, many attempts. Three attempts I will allow you, without retaliation. Then, I intend to retaliate."
You ground your teeth and readied your daggers. You knew what you had to do, but your fingers were shaking. Your hands have never betrayed you before.
You leapt towards him, and swung down swiftly. He stood there unflinching, unblinking as the dagger was less than a hair from his face. You drew away at the last second, leaping back.
You drew a deep breath, your heart pounding wildly. What was wrong with you? Your heart seized in your chest, and you groaned.
You had to kill him. Your honor depended on it. You swung at him again. He caught your arm and pulled you against him, pressing against his warm, firm chest, one hand wrapped around your wrist, the other resting against your waist.
"...Two," he murmured, his breath hot against your ear. Shivers simmered through you like fire, and you stumbled back, heart slamming against your ribcage.
"One more try. Then my turn."
Your breath was ragged, your vision shook with every aching thump of your heart. One swift flick of the wrist. One stab in the heart. He wasn't fighting back. Why couldn't you do it? Were you not the Valkyrie? Your blade slashed down with firm determination. He swerved out of the way, his movements a fluid blur. He caught your wrist and wrenched the blade from you and held it at your throat, backing you against the wall.
You were done for. Death had finally cornered you, and now you had nowhere to run.
"A life spared is a life owed," he murmured, the blade pressed against your skin. "You belong to me now, Valkyrie."
He threw the dagger down and grabbed your wrists, pinning them over your head, his gaze dark and dangerous. Then he leaned in and crushed his lips against yours.
You lost your breath as he engulfed you with a violence he had been reigning in since the moment he first laid eyes on you. Your armor fell at your feet, your tunic shredded underneath his grasp. His hands, his lips, his teeth. Fire engulfed your flesh as he claimed you with every flick, every twist. You moaned your sweet surrender in his mouth, yielding to his insatiable hunger. He pulled you onto his waist, wrapping your long legs around him. He entered you rough, and luxuriously deep. Unapologetic and unrepentant, he ground himself inside you, thrusting and pulling with painstaking relish, filling you toe-curling intensity until your breath was ragged and you could not help but see stars.
“Not yet,” he breathed. “I want you with me.” He carried you to his bed and threw you over the bed. He grabbed your arms and pinned them behind your back with one hand. The other hand, he wrapped a fistful of your hair and pulled back. You lost yourself mid moan as he found you, yanking you against him with every slick thrust, pounding into you and fulfilling you with the force of your own weight. You were the flint to his steel, sparks flashing with every stroke. Delicious pleasure rippled through you, and you pushed against him, with him. Harder. Faster. Until you were lost in the deep rhythm of him. He groaned in lush torment, his fingers digging into your arms. And then you were one, fading in and out of each other in clenching ecstasy that rose like peaking waves that crashed and burned consumed you both. He crushed you against him as you melted, shuddering, his arms wrapped around you in possessive embrace.
You lay on your back, staring at the ceiling as Thranduil tousled your hair tenderly.
“No Valkyrie has ever been bound by life-debt by two warring sides, not at the same time,” you murmured. “...I don’t know if I can fulfill my duties to either you or Loki.”
“Then I will make it easy for you. I release you from your life-debt.”
You turned to him, eyes wide. “But why?”
He smiled slightly. “There are bonds that are stronger than honor, than a life-debt.”
“But not for a Valkyrie. It makes no sense,” you whispered, your head reeling. “My life debt compelled me to kill you. It would have compelled me to kill myself, had Loki asked. Why couldn't I do it?”
Thranduil sighed, and sat up.
“I have something to show you.”
He went to his shelf and pulled a down thick tome. “I sent an assassin after Loki, not because I perceived him as a threat, but because I wanted to test the extent of this life debt that you owed him. I received this from our historian a few weeks ago, shortly after your fight with the dragon.”
You recognized it as an Asgardian history book. Your stomach churned at the sight of it. It reminded you too much of what you had lost.
“I knew Loki's jealousy and insecurity would prompt him to send you to kill me. I did not doubt your abilities, but I questioned the extent of this debt, and therefore your resolve.”
Thranduil flipped to a page in the tome and handed it to you.
Reluctantly, you forced yourself to read the page:
Odin offered his eldest son Thor the hand of his most powerful Valkyrie after the victorious battle. The Valkyrie refused, and Odin, in his fury, cast her to the deepest of dungeons to be executed at sunrise. Her sisters, furious of the decision, rose in full revolt against Thor and his armies. For three days they wrought havoc through Asgard, demanding that their sister be freed. On the third day, Odin relented and reversed his decision, decreeing that the Valkyrie be freed, her honors and titles restored. Loki learned of his father’s decision and sealed the dungeons with his magic, preventing anyone but him from entering. By the time Odin himself came to unseal the dungeon, Loki had disappeared, taking the Valkyrie with him.
You read the passage over and over again, every cell in your body numb. You wanted to scream. Wanted to cry.
With shaking hands, you flipped through the book, going through battle after battle. Your name was still in the pages. You were remembered.
Loki had been lying to you this whole time. You had been freed by your sisters. He did nothing but swoop in and take credit. Your life-debt was a lie, and he used it to manipulate you into being his guardian for so many years. You had been free.
A hoarse cry erupted from your throat, and you staggered back. Thranduil caught you, hands steadying your shoulders.
“I’m going to kill him,” you rasped. “I'm going to kill him!”
You spun away from him, securing your armor, your boots, your daggers.
Thranduil watched you with gleaming eyes, and handed you a strange, scarlet dagger.
“This blade can pierces through Loki's mirage, and inflict the wound to the actual flesh. But perhaps you should calm down, less you miss your mark in anger-”
His words were like gasoline on a raging fire. “I never miss my mark!” you seethed, seeing nothing but red. You grabbed the dagger and sheathed it at your belt.
Loki was going to die for his deception.
This fic posted 6/12/24 only on lemonconfessions.tumblr.com . This fic is not posted anywhere else, so please feel free go ahead and report any rip-off posts on FFN and AO3 if you see any <3