Chapter 2
Loki paced back and forth on the dais, fingers intertwined, waiting for Thor and Eir to arrive. He had given his permission for the envoy to come to him immediately, sending Sliepnir with the stable boy should Thor wish to fly and Eir ride. Eir was a classy healer, she wouldn't permit herself to fly with Thor even if it meant saving a patient's life.
He paused before the smaller throne belonging to Sigyn. It didn't look nearly as comfortable as his, but she often filled it with grace and certainty, many times reaching over and taking his hand because he was being too vicious for her taste. Sigyn was born to be queen, there was no denying it. She always knew when to purr and when to strike, often striking with her purr rather than claw. He loved watching her upon this throne. Her soft smile whenever a new petition came forward sent chills down his back and her loving gaze seared him when she caught him looking at her. Ah! How such a look stilled his heart until he felt he had to gasp for air.
The doors to the longhouse banged open and Frost Giants, surrounding golden caped Einherjar and two indistinct fur clad figures, marched in. Loki stepped back to his throne and assumed it, scanning the figures for his brother.
Thor was not among the party. He would have seen his lion frame, golden hair, and scarlet cape by now.
A hole plunged into his chest. Loki had hoped, had actually wanted…
Loki stood, pushing all emotion aside with his rise. Immediately, the sapphire Frost Giants stopped and bowed with a tilt of their heads, prompting the Einherjar to cross their chests with their right hands and bow slightly at the waist.
One of the figures did not bow.
"Come forward." Loki commanded, beckoning with his fingers.
The Frost Giants and Einherjar parted, allowing the fur clad figures to step out of formation and glide to the dais.
Women.
They stopped as Loki's mouth opened to demand the meaning of this message. His lips smacked together when the woman on the right lifted her hands to lower her hood.
Queen Jane stood before him in her doe-like beauty, stunning him to silence.
"Your majesty," She began, looking up at him without fear. "Heimdall gazed upon Jotunheim and saw that you have requested a healer from Asgard to help with your wife's delivery."
He was so stunned all he could do was nod.
"I have arrived on behalf of King Thor to tell you that a healer has been granted." Silent, the second fur clad woman lowered her hood to reveal Eir in her stern beauty of gold hair and piercing blue eyes, signature white gown beneath her cloak. "May she be allowed to attend Queen Sigyn?"
Loki couldn't stop staring at Jane. She had answered his call, not Thor.
Fárbauti stepped through the living quarters doors and turned to Loki. "Are these the healers, my king?"
He continued to stare at Jane. "Y-yes, she is."
"May I show her Queen Sigyn?"
"Um… yes."
Eir did not need to be told twice. In a graceful, hurried manner, she glided to the Frost Giantess and allowed herself to be led into the living quarters.
Jane watched Eir go, then smiled to Loki. "My soldiers, they need something warm."
Loki flashed his eyes to the servants awaiting his command at the edges of the reception hall. "See to it the Einherjar are comfortable." He commanded, immediately sending them into a frenzy of hospitality. He turned his gaze back on Jane. "Would you join me?" He gestured with his arm the door to the living quarters.
She nodded, following him off the dais and taking his awaiting palm to be properly escorted into his home.
Loki couldn't stop staring if he tried. Jane, his sister-in-law, had come to help?
They sat before the massive fire in the lower lounge on the wide couch, Jane reclining in her furs and finery. She wore a tan gown that looked warm in the firelight, a golden necklace that brought out the light in her eyes, and hair pins of topaz to tame her long brown hair. She set her cup of tea down and turned to him, smiling. "So, excited to be a father?"
He swallowed, watching as she turned her body to him to hear his response. "I'm more nervous than anything."
She nodded. "I can only imagine." They both turned at the sound of rushing giantess feet. "What's going on with her?"
His body went cold, an odd feeling for a Frost Giant. "They're Frost Giants. The birthing sack has frozen within her, prompting her birth canal to be too small for them."
Jane's eyes went wide. "So, they're stuck inside of her?"
Loki nodded, bowing his head. "I've killed my wife."
He didn't care to look at her, closing his eyes and cringing as Sigyn finally cried out, not able to contain her façade any longer. "Loki," Jane cooed. "Loki, you didn't kill your wife."
He stared at his clasped hands, ignoring her. "I don't know what I'm going to do without her."
The firelight flickered off his pallid knuckles, casting a beautiful array of shadow and orange across them that used to fascinate him as a child. A hand, beautiful with expertly manicured nails, a slight ink blot on the pinky, encircled by a sea glass and pearl bracelet, reached out and touched his hands, digging between them so that his right was held in a soft grip.
"Loki, the best thing that you could have done was ask us for help."
He stared at this soft, foreign flesh in his, remembering when he used to fantasize about being a muff around those delicate fingers. He looked up, meeting soft brown eyes that must have driven his brother crazy thousands of times.
"Why are you here?"
The question slipped from his lips and he had no idea if he should feel ashamed for speaking it or not.
Jane leaned back and nodded. "Yeah, I know it's kind of unexpected. Thor's on another realm and needed me to stay and run Asgard while he was gone. Heimdall sent for Eir and I before you even asked for it, I think."
"How can that be so?" He frowned. "I haven't relinquished my invisibility spell since I was king during the All Father's reign."
"I don't know." She looked away, her eyes searching her memory for a proper answer. "He told us yesterday. Eir spent the time packing everything she could possibly need for the birth in a bag." She looked up to the master chamber. "That thing must be enchanted! It looked like she was packing the entire healing room when I saw her."
The shadow of a smile touched Loki's lips. "Eir was always over prepared when going to the front. I appreciated that about her."
"She talks about you a lot." She turned to him. "Were you always getting hurt?"
He couldn't stop the chuckle. "No. I was always following her when we came home on holiday from the academies. Medicine was the one thing that I hadn't studied while I was away. I was always focused on magic, war strategy, and weaponry training. No time for medicine. So, I followed Eir and she eventually taught me what she knew." He looked to the master chamber. "Women's medicine, I naturally stayed away from." He returned to her. "I always thought I'd be a prince of Asgard."
Jane tilted her head. "I'm sure Sigyn always thought she'd be a partial alien on Earth, too."
Loki allowed himself a small smile.
Silence began to consume them, save Sigyn's short cries every so often.
"So, Heimdall mentioned that you were going to have twins?"
The smile faded from Loki's face. "Yes, boys."
"Do you have names for them?"
He swallowed. "Narvi and Váli." He covered his face with his hands. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
If he had been watching her, he was sure she frowned. "What do you mean?"
Tears squeezed from his eyes, hiding themselves in his fingers. "When my wife dies. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself or the boys."
He felt a rock hit his shoulder, similar to one he felt on his cheek when he first met Jane. "Ow," He frowned, turning on her.
"You're doubting your medicine master?" She glared at him with those brown eyes of hers, cocking an eyebrow that made him feel… guilty. "Tell me this, Loki. Would you expect Eir to come to this icebox, forsaking all of her other patients on Asgard, if Sigyn didn't have a fighting chance?"
He felt warmth spread to his limbs. This woman, this beautiful woman who didn't know the first thing about him, hit him right on the head with this observation. Gently, he took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Thank you, Queen Jane." He met her eyes. "Will you stay? The birth, it won't happen until at least sunset tomorrow. But, it would mean the world-"
"Of course!"
He stared, smile spreading at her delighted look. "Really?"
She nodded, her hair bobbing around her shoulders. "I could have just sent Eir and waited for Thor, but I'm kind of on a selfish visit."
He lowered their hands, tilting his head at the tenor of her voice. "Selfish?"
She mashed her lips and looked at their joined hands. "I want to see someone happy with babies."
The way she said that…
"You don't think you'll be able to conceive?"
Jane shook her head. "Eir has been giving me a fertility potion so that I can have children. But, since we've been married…"
He could see the tears forming at the edges of her eyes. Gently, he leaned over and kissed her cheek, stunning her. She looked at him through her hair, her defenses immediately rising as though her wedding band was a glowing charcoal.
"Believe me, the potion is working."
She looked at him so suddenly her hair flew. "What?"
He leaned back, looking to her midriff. "I feel the magic about you. You were barren when you were married, that's obvious." Her face fell. "But, fertility is coming." The light came back like striking a match. "It will come slowly if it's to be done correctly. You need your strength if you are to give birth to an Aesir baby." He frowned and made quick calculations on his fingers. "Most of what Eir is giving you is the same type of potion I give to Sigyn to make her Jotun, only you're becoming Aesir. You need to be completely changed for the fertility to take hold."
A smile, more beautiful than any Jane had flashed him, spread across her features. "Do you know how long that will be?"
He exhaled, "A while. Your body will have to slow aging to almost a stop. It could be anywhere from five to ten years. But, on the other hand, your children will also be slow to age making this wait time almost nothing."
Jane stroked his hand with her thumb, a motherly glow emitting from her. "Thank you, Loki."
"Just out of curiosity, would you be telling my brother about your visit here?"
She nodded. "Of course. He'll probably come by when he gets back to Asgard."
"My lieges." Eir's calm voice called.
Immediately, Loki was on his boots and rushing to her, Jane following. "What news?"
Eir gave him a short curtsy. "Your majesty, Queen Sigyn cannot give birth naturally. I request permission to perform surgery upon her."
Loki frowned. "What kind of surgery?"
"It is a surgery performed in only dire circumstances. She will be cut open beneath the stomach and up the middle and the children removed. It is a delicate process, my lord, and highly dangerous."
All warmth and seemingly all organs vanished from Loki's body.
"Will it help her?" Jane asked, coming to his side.
Eir nodded. "If the surgery is successful, which I shall do everything in my power to make it so, it will save the three of them."
Loki moistened his lips. "What can go wrong?"
"You can lose one or both of your sons, and Queen Sigyn can bleed out until she passes into Valhalla."
Loki felt like dying. What would happen if their sons couldn't be saved? What if Sigyn couldn't be saved? What if he lost the three of them, what would he do then?
"Alskling."
His head snapped up.
Sigyn, dressed in her coronation gown of flared emerald skirt, gold breast plate with small gold v-shaped plates connecting the two pieces that partially hid her bare, non-baby filled stomach, transparent emerald cape with crystals sewn like stars fluttering from her shoulders, and gold headpiece that framed her face and flared out palm width on the sides, stared at him. He looked around, seeing the Jotun forest in an Asgardian summer filled with greenery and life unlike any seen on the realm.
"Alskling, why are you freaking out?"
He blinked, his vision returning him to their home on the frozen realm, Jane beside him.
"This is a glimpse spell, in case you couldn't tell. No, they can't hear us."
He grabbed the most dominant strain of her Glimpse with his mind and allowed it to overtake his entire body. "Did you not just hear what Eir said?" He demanded, facing her. "I could lose both you and the boys!"
He wore his emerald armor that looked black in the shade, accented by gold loop designs across his chest, emerald cape, and helmet with two, wicked looking, backward arching horns. Sigyn smiled, sending his core ablaze. "Loki, you always look for what can go wrong."
"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" He neared her, "Watching out for yourself has gotten us out of many situations."
"In some cases, yes." She glided to him, her graceful gait sending images of dancers into his mind. "But, why do you always believe the negative and forsake what is positive?" She reached out and took his hands. "Why not have some faith in the flicker of light? A bonfire starts from the smallest flame."
"You are not a pile of straw, and our sons not a flame, alskling."
She kissed him, making every ounce of his resolve turn to mush at her feet. "I love you," She breathed, "Do this for me, please. You can heal my ugly scars with a wave of your hand."
"What good are scars if I don't have you laughing at me when I heal them?"
She punched his breastplate. "Loki!" He couldn't help but laugh, calmed only when she cupped his cheek. "Please? You know Eir wouldn't suggest something she isn't able to perform."
He looked at her, swimming in her mead eyes. He heaved his chest. "Fine, I'll consent to the surgery."
Sigyn wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply, forcing him to hold her tightly. Loki didn't want to break the hold. There was a possibility, however great or small, that these could be the last moments he had with his wife.
"I'll see you with our sons in my arms, soon." She assured him, boring into his eyes. "I promise you, we'll be together."
Tears fell from his eyes, unable to hold them in any longer. "I love you, Sigyn." He breathed. "Please, don't leave me."
"I vowed I wouldn't." She dropped her arms and stepped back. "I'm going to drop the spell, now. No one will ask about your tears at this point."
He nodded, swallowing the rest. "I'm ready, I think."
She smiled, searing him to his core. "I'll be seeing you, alskling."
The world around him faded back to his home, Eir appearing before him. "What shall we do, my liege?" She asked.
Loki inhaled. "Perform the surgery."