Loki wasn't stupid. Quite the opposite. It was common for him to use his blinding intelligence for mischief rather than good, but that was mostly out of boredom. Very little kept him engaged enough. So, he knew that there was bad coming. He wouldn't be hiding on a mountain in a makeshift shack with four doors, one facing each direction, and without notifying his wife if he didn't know it. No, if he didn't know, he would have returned to his home, to his wife... to his children.
“Tell me something I don't know,” he said quickly. His gaze darted out beyond Odin for a moment. Something was moving out there. Loki looked then back to Odin. He was beyond scared. There were things that had him scared before, but never to this level. Sure, he'd feared for his life when the dwarfs wanted to take his head off, but he was able to talk himself out of death's parlor that day and only got his lips sewn shut. There was no talking his way out of this. He'd gone too far. And this time he wasn't just fearing for his own life. He feared for the lives of his wife and children.
He didn't ask it of Odin, even though he thought it. He didn't ask if Odin would stop the inevitable from happening. He was ruler of Asgard, he could decree or make the Aesir see reason. But Loki didn't ask it. He didn't dare ask anything. He was partly responsible for the deaths of two of Odin's sons. He didn't deserve any favors or answers. Loki had done this to himself.
“They'll mean to kill me this time,” he said. It was what he was certain of. There was no other logical end to this situation. Even though Skadhi had made a horrific threat, one that was a huge part of the reason Loki didn't dare go home, he didn't actually think she would go through with it. It was more extreme a threat than anything he had ever done.