Notes: eleventh and longest part of my current series, titled By watchfires and thrones of crowned kings; should be almost 50K when I'm done translating. It will have more sense if read after the previous parts :)
This is the result of being very fascinated by Jotun!Loki + loving the way fandom has shaped him + reading a lot of fics with him and Thor and mixing it all in my own 'verse. I owe most Jotun words to amberfox17's beautiful stories (Wild ambition fortune's ice prefers) and the rest to online Norse dictionaries; other authors made me love Jarnsaxa as a character and probably inspired me in some way or another, but after hundreds of read fics it becomes impossible to tell, lol. The rest is all on the Marvel movies and, I like to think, my own imagination. I really hope you like this!
TAGS: Loki Has Issues, Loki Feels, Thor Feels, Smart Thor, Intrigue, Post Avengers Asgard, Politics, Established Relationship, Requited Love, Jealousy, Warning: Loki, Jötunheimr | Jotunheim, Jotun Biology, Mythological Beasts, Marriage Proposal, Hermaphrodites, Jötunn Loki, Loki is mostly blue here, Kilts, Mating Rituals, Body Paint, Shapeshifter Loki, Parent Frigga, Mpreg, Kind of since we're talking about hermaphrodites, Mating Cycles/In Heat, again kind of, Reincarnation themes.
Since English is not my first language there could be mistakes, I'm sorry if any got past my editing. Feel free to point them out, I'll correct them right away~
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Duties
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They're kings, now, and every king needs a queen. It's always been that way. Alliances, progeny, private counsel: since the dawn of history every great leader has been supported by a great wife.
Loki knows it's only a matter of time. He knows that Thor doesn't realise it, but that Asgard – despite the incredible flexibility it has shown so far – is waiting for it. He knows that the great families of the Nine Realms are educating and dolling their daughters up as if they were already queens, waiting for the opening of the auction. And trying to play dirty at parties, maybe. (Little morsels on display everywhere, buzzing around like flies.)
The very thought makes him bare his teeth. He looks at Thor and condensing frost spills from his lungs. He thinks of their nights together and the floor freezes under his feet, breaking the soles of his boots. He envisions what he could give Thor, he and he alone, and he wants to scream. It's not fair.
But he keeps quiet and calm, because Thor is not the only one who has grown. Kings possess many things. They need to give up just as many, if they want to honor their commitments.
Therefore, it will be Loki son of Laufey the one who will plan their weddings; Loki, who will find the right bride for Thor–and prepare the nuptial bed.
Not their bed, though. Never theirs. (The nest he has chosen, padded and shaped hour after hour, desire after desire, like some poor dumb Jötun in heat). Those cows will die before puttingfootinit-
Calm down, he tells himself, rubbing his forehead. You won't grow apart because of this.
No one can overcome as many difficulties as they did, love each other in spite of everything like they do, and be separated by a wife of convenience, a walking belly. He just has to make sure that the bride isn't too beautiful; that she doesn't have too strong-willed a character, doesn't possess high-level magic and culture ‒ better if she completely lacks magic, yes. That she is unable to entertain her husband with witty remarks. And maybe unable to conceive, too...
Oh, Norns.
Loki closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath.
He has more discipline than this, he tells himself; he's been able to triumph over circumstances that were much more dramatic, he has managed Thor and Odin and Heimdall and even a bit Frigga daughter of Fyörgynn. He can do this, because he has to. Asgard would never accept a Jötun queen, although, incredibly, it tolerates a Jötun ally.
And if it's not nuances always ruining his life...
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'Walking belly' is an expression I read in a biography, as a quote from Napoleone Bonaparte. After Joséphine the emperor wanted just a political wife, a woman who'd give him an heir, influent connections and nothing more. I hope the translation doesn't sound too strange.
Chapters will get longer, I swear!
