[ Loki is the one to break eye contact, done with a impatient breath and an agitated motion to his fingers. She's so damn confident -- not unlike Sif -- but in trusting that there's something good in him -- very much unlike Sif, and the overwhelming majority of Asgard. It's the same naïve faith in him that Thor once held... until Loki made a point to squash it. Multiple times.

Herein lies the final bridge anyone is likely to offer him and his instinctive reaction, once it's been nearly crossed, is to burn it.

Eyes closing, he inhales through his teeth and stops, just-- stops his tongue from sabotaging himself. His thumb and index finger, rubbing against each other, eventually still; his hand relaxes. There's something like resignation on his face and in his sigh when he meets her gaze again. ]

That doesn't change anything. [ His voice lowers a fraction. ] The atrocities they've committed. They're right there in those ancient pages -- on the tongue of every parent reciting a cautionary tale to their child before bed.

[ Sadly, he doesn't even note the irony of the statement against his own actions. ]