Approximate time: Four months after chapter 21 and after "Thor".

Dyre shifted her basket of herbs, wandering the streets of Asgard's commons. The palace was too quiet, and far too many memories lied in the halls. When she wasn't feeling overly tired, or sick in the morning, she kept herself immersed in her work. She kept her condition from everyone but Thor. He was the only one left she could trust. The thunder god had needed good news after everything he had gone through.

However, Dyre wasn't sure if it was good news or not. She had found out almost four months ago, but still didn't know if it was what she wanted. She didn't know if she could handle that sort of memory. She didn't know if she could look at her child, and not feel saddened by his loss. She wasn't even sure if she was ready to be a mother. Eir had said the maternal instincts would kick in soon, but that was a month prior. Dyre felt no love for the growth lying dormant in her belly. She only felt regret.

She stopped at a stand that sold a particular herb she was looking for to curb her nausea. She heard a conversation between two older women, thinking nothing of it. Women gossiped no matter what the age. She almost dropped her basket as the conversation turned familiar.

"Loki's child, that's right."

"Such a shame. I thought she was such a nice girl."

"I'm sure he used his silver tongue to coerce her into his bed."

Tears stung in her eyes and she blinked them away. The women had no idea she could hear them.

"Can you believe the nerve of the prince though? Knocking up the poor girl and then—"

"He probably didn't even know. With his habits, he was probably busy with several other women. Was probably too busy to notice."

Dyre gripped the wooden sales table hard as the herbalist gathered her wares. They had the gall to question what they didn't understand?

"No one will understand what we have. Only we will know the truth. I do love you, Dyre. Do not think otherwise."

She focused on the conversation again, her magic simmering under the surface.

"I pity her for having that burden placed upon her. The child will be born a bastard."

"Nothing can be done about that. We'll just have to hope it does not grow up to be like its father."

Dyre paid the herbalist with shaky hands and walked away, fighting back her tears. She looked back at the women, who finally turned their conversation elsewhere. They sat on a porch of their shop in wooden chairs, people watching most likely. Both were graying, round women, spinsters most likely. One leaned back in her chair, and the wood protested against her weight. Dyre let a grin slip and twisted her wrist. The back leg of the chair vanished and the woman fell backwards with a shriek.

Her smile quickly fell as their words hovered in her mind. Her shopping done for the day, she quickly returned to the palace, not stopping for anything.

She intended to go right back to the healing room to fix herself a draught to ease her nausea. She was stopped by a passing guard who told her to look in on Thor. With a frown she did as asked, remembering her way to his chambers with ease. She knocked before entering and saw the man sitting up in his bed, a little paler than usual. "Are you feeling ill?"

"In a way. I suppose you would feel this way from time to time."

She was confused for only a moment before her sadness returned. "Yes. But I've accepted there is nothing that can be done. He is alive somewhere. We can only hope he will return someday. As for yours… I'm not sure."

Thor nodded and got out of bed, staring out his open balcony. "How have you been feeling lately?"

"Tired, sore, fat. The usual." She set her basket down on the table next to his uneaten breakfast. "Though I was not expecting the news to travel to the public. I wonder how that got out, Thor."

He turned to her, clearly confused. "I've told no one of your condition. What do you mean the public knows?"

"Just as I said, they know. I-I heard two women talking about it."

"How do you know they meant you?"

"The first words I heard were 'Loki's child'. He was only with me before he left. He had no time to be elsewhere. Who else would it be?"

Thor flinched and sat on the couch as she did. "What did they say?"

She tried to talk, but an unexpected lump formed in her throat. She swallowed to try and push it away, only to feel it sting her as she tried. "Awful things," she said, hating how her voice cracked. Her eyes watered up and she blinked a few times, gathering her restraint. "That he-he coerced me to his bed, that he didn't care at all, that he only used me." She swallowed again. "That they pitied me because the child will be a bastard. That it will be a shame if it grows up to be like its father." She rubbed at her eyes. "I don't want this, Thor. I can't— I can't be a mother to his child."

The thunder god took her in his arms and let her break down. They hadn't been as close as they grew up compared to the bond she shared with his brother, but he still card for her, very much so. He hated seeing her hurting.

"What if he never comes back? I'll have the offspring to remind me of him every day. I can't do it."

"You can, Dyre. This is a life. A real life. Something you both created. Think of it as a good thing. You can tell the child stories of its father, of how he really was."

She leaned back in his grasp and shook her head. "No. I couldn't. You know how he was. Even with me he didn't have a heart of gold. He cared, yes, but he wasn't a changed man. He was a trickster, he was chaos. He loved this misfortune of others. Do not think that behind bedroom doors he was a different man."

Thor looked away. "I had assumed he loved you deeply. That things were different when you were alone."

"Not by much. The only difference was that I could strike back. Without my magic, I don't think I could have met his pace. He's a man who needs entertainment. Provide it, and he is easier to handle. If not, you will become his entertainment." She stood once Thor let go and she rubbed at her arms. "How can I dress up stories of him to make him seem like a hero when he wasn't?"

"He saved your life."

"Yes, but for a price." She stared out the open doors leading to his balcony. "You and I both know if he wasn't stuck in that house with me for the month this would have never happened. If I had not discovered my magical abilities, it would have never lasted this long. There would have been an occasional fling here and there when he felt like it, but that would have been it. I would have stood to the side as he took random women to bed, and he would have stood aside as I took men. He only took what was ripe for the taking."

"That isn't… entirely true."

"Then it is true for the most part." She looked back to Thor, ignoring a budding pain in her gut. She brushed it off as a strange form of nausea. "However, things did go how they did. But for the year I was with him, do you know how long it took for anything to come of it?"

He shook his head. "We had assumed you secretly loved each other from the time you came home, no matter how much you two denied it."

"It took ten months and a third of Asgardian Amber for anything to change. Children demand stories of romance on how their parents met, thinking it's something of magic." She gripped on to the back of the sofa as the pain hit her again. "How do I tell them 'Your father and I were sex friends for ten months before we stopped being stubborn jackasses and confessed we wanted to be more than friends'?" She started feeling a little shaky and gripped the sofa harder. "How do I tell them that their father was an opportunist?"

Thor started looking concerned. "Dyre, are you feeling alright?"

In fact, she wasn't. The pain hit her again. "I'm not sure." Her blood ran cold. "Something's wrong with the baby."

He was at her side in a second, holing her up. "Can you walk?"

"I-I don't know."

He hefted her into his arms and took her into the hallway. "We're going to see your mother."