Deleted Scene - The Haughty Heart Grown Humble

Author's Note: this scene was cut from the original chapter 27 due to length, but it's necessary for certain events in book 2, The Edge of Darkest Devotion. So here it is! Everyone asked about Thea sassing Sif and the Three? Also the events of this scene changed a little due to me seeing Thor 2. So, enjoy. Let me know what you think!

The title is a line from "Love's Language" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in keeping with the fact that the title of book 1 is from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," the title of book 2 is from "Where Is the Edge" by Within Temptation, and book 3's title is from "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal" by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

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Excerpt from Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lost and Found

(Deleted Ending Scene)

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Thor watched, unable to keep the grin off his face, as his brother's wife hugged Loki close. The shadows that had always seemed to reside in Thea's eyes had vanished, leaving behind the sparkle that had won Loki's heart. Thea gazed up at Loki as if she couldn’t bear to look away. Loki seemed torn between staring at his wife and his daughter, who cuddled against him with her little arms around his neck and chattered away about how "Mommy said she find you soon and she did! She find you!"

At last Loki rose in a single smooth motion, still holding Sophie to him. Thea rose with him. As if she couldn’t help herself, she reached up and touched Loki's cheek. Her fingertips skated across his cheekbone, along one dark brow, tracing down the bridge of his nose—as if she sought to rememorize his features. Those questing fingers stopped at the pale scar across the bridge of Loki's nose. Shadows flickered across Thea's gaze.

"Where did this come from?" She whispered, the pad of her finger smoothing over the slender scar.

Loki brought a startled hand to his face. Touched the scar. A rueful smile curved his thin lips. "Ah. A memento from our friend Banner," he said, but without malice, gesturing to Bruce standing with the other Avengers. Bruce's eyebrows shot up. Loki added softly, "It was during the battle."

"Oh," Thea said, and asked no more questions.

Thor's brow furrowed. She hadn’t spoken to anyone but Thor and Loki regarding the Battle of New York when the Chitauri had invaded, but the crown prince knew how she felt. Thea blamed Loki for nothing—why should she? Tortured, more than half-mad from what Thanos had done to his body and mind, driven by the threat to his unborn wife and daughter, she considered Loki blameless. But she blamed herself. Thor didn’t understand that, but he knew the only person who could convince his new sister otherwise was Loki himself, and so he didn’t make more than one or two attempts himself.

Frigga's voice broke through Thor's thoughts, dragging him back to the present. The queen rose from her place beside Odin and said in a voice suffused with mother-love, "Loki, aren't you going to introduce us to your beautiful bride and this charming little one?"

Emerald eyes darted to the queen, as if Loki had momentarily forgotten the presence of anyone but his wife and child. Clearing his throat, sliding his free arm around Thea's waist, the disguised Frost Giant turned to his family. Thor and the others moved further into the room now that the tension had broken. Tramp padded along on silent paws to stand between Sophie and the Asgardian royal family.

"Your Majesties," Loki said in a voice that rang out through the throne room, echoing off the pillars of golden stone, "my brothers, my lords and my lady," he added to Sif and the Three. "Allow me to present my wife, Princess Althea Sigyn Valerian-Odinson, daughter of Philip, son of Thomas, son of Coul…and my daughter, Princess Sophie Frigga Valerian-Odinson."

Sophie, realizing everyone was looking at her, squeaked and buried her face in Loki's neck. Her tiny hands clutched at the collar of his tunic. Thea smiled and Loki brushed a kiss across the top of Sophie's head, which seemed to make her relax a little.

"My love," Loki added to Thea, nodding to the assembled royal family. "May I present His Majesty the All-Father, Odin Borson, and Her Majesty, my mother, Queen Frigga." He gestured to the three men standing in front and off to one side of the king's throne. "My brothers—Tyr Odinson, and the twins Hermod and Balder."

At that, the twins strode forward, grins on their faces. The moment they were in reach, they pulled Thea in for a hug. She laughed, a little surprised, and hugged them back as Hermod said, "Welcome home, Sister."

Tyr came with them, though he hung back until the twins had released her. Instead of embracing his brother's wife, he reached out and gripped one shoulder. "Indeed, you are most welcome. I owe you an apology." Thea frowned and cocked her head. "At one time I made some…injudicious remarks about you to my brother. I did not know who you were. You have my sincere apology for that."

Thea glanced at Loki, and Thor saw her eyes unfocus for a brief moment before refocusing on Tyr's face. She smiled. "I accept your apology. Thank you."

But then her gaze drifted past the princes to Odin and Frigga. Thor saw Thea's eyes narrow slightly when they rested on Odin's face before warming as they touched on Frigga. The crown prince wondered if Odin had done something in the last half-hour to upset the former mortal. After all, she'd had no hostility—some dread, but no actual malice or dislike—of Odin before arriving in Asgard. Why would she look at Odin that way?

A smile bloomed across Frigga's face as she descended the dais steps to stand before Thea and Loki. She touched Loki's face, a gentle hand against his cheek. "I am so happy for you, Loki."

Loki smiled in return. "Thank you, Mother."

Frigga looked to Thea then. "Another daughter," she said with a grin. "Now the men won't outnumber us so drastically." Thea grinned back, and Frigga embraced her. "Welcome to Asgard, my dear. You have made my son so happy. Thank you."

"Thank you for looking out for him while I couldn’t be here, Your Majesty," Thea murmured, hugging Frigga back. Turning to Sophie, Thea added, "Sophie? You gonna come out and say hi?" Sophie scrunched up tighter against Loki and shook her head without looking at anyone. Her mother laughed. "I think her store of not-shy has been used up. Come on, Sophie-girl. Come on out."

With a smile of his own, Loki turned his head and murmured against his daughter's hair, "Come now, älskling. Lift your head. Do you want to meet my other brothers?" Sophie risked a peek at the people standing with her parents before hiding her face again. Loki grinned. "I must show you an amusing and silly looking creature. You will like it, I promise you."

Sophie peeked up at her father, a tiny wrinkle forming between her brows—the same wrinkle Thea and Loki both had. "What keecher?"

With an even wider grin, Loki nodded to Tyr, who rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his broad chest. "The dreaded sourpuss," Loki said in a stage-whisper. Frigga's lips twitched. Tyr saw Sophie eyeing him with wary interest. Jutting out his lower jaw to show his bottom teeth, the eldest prince crossed his sapphire blue eyes and waggled his black brows. Sophie giggled. Hesitantly, she reached out toward Tyr. Tyr caught her small hand in his massive one.

"Hello, little princess," Tyr murmured in a soft, coaxing voice Thor couldn’t remember ever hearing from him before. The crown prince suddenly wondered if, just perhaps, the thing to cure his elder brother of wenching and gambling and drinking was a family. Perhaps he would shape up then.

"Hi," Sophie whispered shyly. But she smiled. "Wass yer name?"

"I am your Uncle Tyr. And you are Sophie."

She nodded. "Uh-huh." She took her hand back and touched Thea's shoulder. "Dis my mommy." Sophie opened her mouth to say more when she suddenly snapped it shut, shrank back against her father, and made a small sound of uncertainty. Thor frowned, then realized Sophie had noticed Odin's approach. Odin took slow steps toward his foster son, his son's wife, and their daughter. When he was perhaps a foot away, he stopped.

Thor saw it again—Thea's gaze when it rested on Odin was cool and empty. There was none of the warmth she'd exhibited for his brothers or his mother. Loki's wife didn’t like the king. Why? What had the All-Father done in the last thirty or so minutes that could have changed her opinion?

He thought back to that brief moment when her eyes had unfocused. He was certain she'd been using her powers, and she'd been looking at Loki, so it stood to reason she'd been using them on him. To read his memories? To communicate with him via illusion? What could Loki have told her—or what could she have seen in his memories—that could have made her turn cold toward the king?

Odin said, in a very gentle voice, "Welcome to Asgard, Princess Althea." His gaze dropped to Sophie, and his single blue eye warmed considerably. This. This was the look Thor remembered from his own childhood. A look of unconditional love. Good. At least his father loved Sophie. "Hello, little one."

"Hi," Sophie whispered.

Thor watched as Loki studied Odin with piercing emerald eyes before the fostered prince murmured to his daughter, "Don't be afraid, min flicka. The king would never harm you. He is your friend." Thor noticed Loki said nothing about his own connection to Odin—that Odin was his father. Judging by the shadow in Odin's sapphire eye, he didn't miss it either.

And then Sif and the Three approached. Offering his most charming smile, Volstagg gestured to Sif and the other two warriors before saying, "Your Highness, allow me to introduce myself and my companions. Lady—"

"Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, I presume," Thea said in a voice that was downright chilly. Her smile had dropped away completely. Everyone in the room froze, startled. Until that moment, the new princess had been smiling and cheerful and polite, even to the king (Thor couldn’t be sure anyone but himself, Odin, and perhaps his mother had noticed Thea's coolness there) but now she'd turned positively frosty. The silver in her eyes froze to icy steel as she focused her gaze on Sif. "I would say I'm honored…but I'd be lying."

Thor had enough time to notice Odin's brows rise and Frigga blink, startled, before Volstagg made that uncertain half-cough he always did when he was flustered. Fandral's golden brows drew together. He opened his mouth, but one slashing look from Thea had him closing it again. Hogun frowned, baffled. But it was Sif that Thea looked at. Sif who stared back, uncertainty in her dark eyes.

At last Sif said softly, "You know about what happened before the shattering of the Bifröst."

Thea's expression turned just a touch cutting. "Of course I know what happened. My husband doesn’t keep secrets from me. He also doesn’t lie to me," she added with more than a little sharpness when an irritated Fandral opened his mouth to protest. "He can't. My power doesn’t let him. In fact, no one can actually lie to me. So yes—I know what happened."

But then Thea frowned and stared at Sif for a long moment, and the warrior maiden didn’t look away from those silvery blue eyes that seemed to see too much. Thea blinked. "Have you talked to either of them about how you feel?" She asked suddenly.

The Three looked baffled, but Sif seemed to know what she was talking about.

"No," she replied. "Thor thought it best to wait until your return."

Thea nodded. "That makes sense. You plan to talk to him?" Sif nodded, and a small smile quirked one corner of Thea's mouth. "Okay. What about him?" Sif shot her a warning look and Thea inclined her head. "Just wondering. I don't really care one way or the other. But thank you, Lady Sif—for being willing."

"It was a mistake," Sif replied softly. "I owe him. Both of them, really. I will settle that debt."

Those blue eyes focused on Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. "I have a question before I decide how I feel about you three."

It was Volstagg who managed to collect his wits and nod. Thor knew the massive Asgardian warrior; he hated being disliked by anyone, considering himself a friend to all. He had the slowest temper of anyone in Asgard except Hogun, and he had a fondness for women that surpassed physical attraction. He simply liked them. Liked being around them. Liked it when they liked him, either as friend or lover. It would bother him for Thea to dislike him as intensely as she seemed to.

"Volstagg, when you went to see Odin and Loki was on the throne, you and the others asked Loki where Odin was. I'm curious—where did you think he was? Why did you sound so worried when you asked? And why did you ask to speak to the queen right after learning what had happened to the king?"

Confused, Thor looked between Thea and his friends. It seemed as if everyone held their breath, wondering where Thea was going with this line of questioning. But what puzzled Thor still more was Volstagg's reaction. Color flooded his face behind his bushy red beard, darkening his already ruddy face. Hogun seemed nonplussed by the question. Fandral clenched his jaw and looked away.

Sif dropped her gaze. "You know the answers already, I take it. Or else why ask the questions?"

Thea sighed. "Because I was hoping I was wrong."

Thor frowned…then his eyes widened as the pieces clicked into place and he realized what the answer was. Sif and the Three had thought Loki had killed Odin and taken the throne. They'd believed his brother, their friend, had murdered the king—his father—in order to usurp the throne and take the crown. And they'd asked for Frigga because, upon learning Odin was supposedly in the Odinsleep, they hadn’t believed Loki, and they'd been afraid…what? That he'd killed the queen, too? His own mother? And all because they suspected Loki of orchestrating Thor's exile? From the grim satisfaction on Thea's face, this was being confirmed by her empathic senses.

Even Loki looked confused. He touched his wife's shoulder, and she glanced back at him. Immediately the coolness in her gaze and on her face melted away to protective love. Loki touched Thea's cheek. "Thea? What is it?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Just proving a point." She looked back at Sif and the Three. "You're lucky that he's your friend, you know."

Everyone exchanged baffled glances. Who was Thea talking about? Thor? Because Loki was no friend to Sif and the Three. But then, if she wasn’t talking about Loki, what had the point of this conversation been? Or was she saying that they were lucky Thor was their friend because Loki and Thea were both fond of Thor and so weren’t looking for revenge against them for whatever point she'd been trying to make?

"Of course Thor is their friend," Odin said. "They grew up together, they've gone into battle—"

"I wasn’t talking about…never mind. I suppose it doesn't matter." She shrugged. Smiled. But her eyes had chilled again when she looked to Odin. "Pay no mind to the silly former mortal, Your Majesty. I guess I just don't get how things work here just yet." She glanced at her daughter. Smiled wider.

Her nose twitched the barest fraction. Thea brushed at it as if it itched.

"Mommy," Sophie murmured from the circle of Loki's arms. "I's hungry."

"Really?" Thea asked, grinning.

Sophie nodded earnestly. "Dare's a rumbly in my tumbly."

The silly little rhyme seemed to break the tension in the room. A few chuckles floated up as Frigga gentle curved her hand around Sophie's head and said tenderly, "Well, I for one am hungry as well. Shall we settle down to dinner, then?"