[ As always, he quiets when she speaks, a storm passing over. Only here, with her, would he ever have dared to let the storm come, to make his grief known. He trusts her with the entirety of his heart, the way Odin must surely have trusted Frigga. He knows how fortunate his father was in such a wife; he knows how fortunate he is. ]

I could not ask for that, though I might hope. [ His voice is faintly bleak. ] I would be wrong to risk Asgard's destruction. But I wonder, sometimes, if I should not have renounced the throne and followed him, instead of waiting for him to return. Perhaps he would not have wanted to be my brother, still. But at least he would have known I wanted him and not the throne. 

[ He looks at her gravely, troubled. ]

Is it wrong of me, do you think, to wonder so?