So important chapter!

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Have fun with this chapter :))

Loki was with Mechel and Vidal, training. He moved gracefully and blocked every attack from the guard while spelling Mechel and protecting himself magically. Inside of the castle the four women were having tea and discussing life.

Serelle was currently braiding Leiyah's hair into an intricate updo. Regiana mentioned, "I thought the festivities were very nice. Loki is an exceptional young man. He seems very infatuated with you Leiyah."

Her cheeks turned slightly pink and her sister chuckled. "That is nothing to be ashamed of. Loki clearly wants you to be happy and you have matured with him."

"Thank you grandmamma."

"Now Serelle, when will you marry?"

Kaylina interjected, "I don't think we need to worry about that." Serelle added to it, "I don't need a man to be queen."

"Certainly not! But the pleasures of love and companionship. You would enjoy them, my dear."

"Grandmamma, leave her alone. Perhaps she will marry for love as well, just like mama."

Serelle finished the updo and took another bite of a cake. She loved sitting with her family, loved the familiarity of it and the simple-ness. Other families sat together and ate and talked, it was a chance to be normal. Her sister asked her, "How are you doing? Feeling better?"

"A bit yes, I am still very tired and my stomach aches at times still."

"I think I contracted what you have, my stomach is acting up and I am very exhausted."

"We can get healthy together. Just like we did as kids."

"Books and cookies." The two laughed, but Serelle added, "I must feel better by next week though, we have a council meeting and you and Loki need to be there."

"We wouldn't miss it."

Leiyah walked over to the tall windows on the east side. From there one had a view of the training pits and she saw her husband, with Vidal and Mechel. It was so interesting watching him, the way he moved, as if he anticipated every move the other were to make. She loved watching him, not just training, when he was sweating and out of breath, but in everything he did.

"Watching your man?" Serelle's teasing voice came from behind her.

"Don't I have a right to?"

"Of course. He is yours after all."

She was quiet, then asked, "I hope the council will be welcoming to Loki's ideas."

"They will be. Nothing bad has been said about him."

Leiyah only then noticed her sister's unease. It was too easy to read Serelle, even without magic. She wore her emotions on her face, as clearly as she wore the bright red lipstick she always wore. Her face was a little flushed from her sickness still, but it was also patchy, a sign of nervousness. Her eye's weren't focused on one single thing and her lips were slightly bruised, from her biting her own lips. "Would you like to walk with me?"

Serelle heard the hidden message in her voice and nodded, letting the older two women know where they would be going, their special place. They reached it quickly, it was the highest tower in the east wing and had always been theirs. They had found it when they were very young, and just added things to it, removed others and made it theirs. It had a special place in their heart and it was one of the things Leiyah missed the most, not yet having found a place that was purely hers. Serelle surprised her by starting the conversation, but obviously her sister wanted to deflect. "Tell me sister, has the Allfather sent any word, that you two shall return?"

Leiyah clicked her tongue, "Not yet. I don't even think he knew about the coronation."

"Mhh." Leiyah had a small cramp in her stomach and held a warm hand against it. "Sorry for making you sick."

"No you are not. You used to always do it."

It made her laugh. Then she was silent again. Leiyah took the initiative. "What is wrong?"

A long sigh, "You could always read me."

"You wear your emotions too easily on your face."

"Yes. Promise it stays between us?"

"Always."

A long pause. "I don't know if I want to be married."

"Oh. My sweet sister, you don't need to. If you do not wish it, then it will be so. Nobody can force you."

Unease was written clearly in her eyes, "You were forced."

Leiyah huffed, "I know. But you are the heir to this realm, nobody will force you to anything."

"We thought the same thing about you."

"Serelle this is not about me. You wish not to marry, and so you won't."

"What if father decides I do need to marry."

"You are far too important for the realm. Trust me, if you do not wish to marry, you won't. There is no reason to marry. If you never have children, then one of my children will ascend to the throne. You just do whatever makes you happy. Please Sel, for me. You have all the choices in the world."

Serelle had a tear running down her cheek now. "What is it? Why are you crying?"

"You didn't have a choice."

Leiyah hugged her close, ignoring the stabbing in her abdomen. "Please. Don't think that way. I am so happy. Sure, it didn't exactly happen the way I had dreamed off, but I got to marry the man that I love. And he is good to me. I hold no grudges, no regrets."

"I do. I should have been there. I should have stopped father. I should have made more of a protest to have you two live here. But I was a coward."

"Serelle, stop. You are not a coward. We were all scared of what the Allfather would do. And I doubt he would let us live here. If anything, I should have been more careful. I should have not insisted that father take me with him."

She was crying more now, when she said, "But then you would have never met Loki."

Leiyah let out a small laugh, "Please stop crying. Everything worked out fine. Nobody got hurt, and you have all the choices left open for you. You can marry any person you want, except Loki. Hands off."

Serelle had to laugh at that, "Pity, it looks like he knows how to properly treat his wife."

"He does, trust me." Serelle got quiet after that, walking around aimlessly, plopping down on a sofa, getting back up, walking some more, but staying quiet. Leiyah sat down and looked out the top window, watching the people walking, going about their business. Then Serelle continued, "What if I can't feel anything for a person ever?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you remember Darlan, the son of one of the lords papa works with?"

"Yes."

"Remember how you said you liked him, when we were younger. How you fancied him?"

"I do. Vaguely. Whatever happened to him?"

"He got married and has 3 children. But my point it, you felt those feelings before. Before Loki. You felt an attraction to somebody."

"Your point?"

"I haven't."

"Oh, so what? It is not like we were swarming with men here."

"But, Leiyah, I have never felt interested in anyone, not even remotely. No man, no woman, nothing. I fear something might be wrong with me."

Leiyah looked at her older sister, always there to protect her, now bared her secret and had no answer to it. She saw the fear in her eyes, saw the unease. "You flirt with plenty of people."

"Flirting is different, I want them to notice me. I want to one day feel sexual pleasure. But at the same time, I don't want them by my side the whole time. I can't imagine myself waking up next to them, talking about all kinds of trivial matters and such, I just... I can't. Alright, example; when you think of Loki, what do you think of?"

"How much I love him."

"No, more smaller things."

"Oh." A smile graced her lips, remembering his soft hair, the piercing eyes, the subtle smirk, "I imagine what we could do tomorrow, or what I could do for him some day. How much he makes me laugh when he isn't trying. How his hands fit mine perfectly, and how he is never too warm."

"And you love spending time with him. Love just doing stuff that couples do."

"I do."

"I don't see that for me."

Leiyah moved closer and took her hand, she always had such cold hands, so small. "You don't have to. Like I said, you don't need to marry. There are so many things you can do in your life. If a small thing such as marriage is not of importance to you, don't do it. Do it like old kings did, choose consorts."

"I don't know if you are joking or serious" Serelle laughed.

"Me neither. But you don't need to succumb to traditions, or certain regulations because someone dictated that that is the right way of living a life. No. You choose your right life."

A hug between them, "You always were so smart. I love you."

"I love you too. Always."

"Can I ask one more question?"

"Of course."

"What is it like to have sex?" Serelle blushed deep. She saw the looks between Loki and Leiyah. But she also knew, that like her, Leiyah had been a virgin.

"Your first time? It is different for everyone. It-"

"No, not the first time. Just in general. What does it feel like? How do you know what to do?"

Leiyah thought before answering, "Alright, to be frank, it is wonderful. It is exciting, new, familiar and brilliant all at the same time. You are so deeply connected to someone, and you yourself feel empowered. It makes you feel things you never thought you could feel. And it is addicting."

"What?"

"I can't get enough of him, everything he does is so amazing. He can make me lose control so easily. And once we are done, we just go at it again. After our wedding, once you left, we spent a week in bed, just exploring each other, and almost every night since."

"How are you not exhausted?"

"I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"I want to experience sex. I want to feel that. I just, you know the stories we heard. It always sounded like a duty. Not for pleasure."

"Don't listen to those old women. Sex should be pleasurable."

Serelle asked, "Surely you were too exhausted to have any sex here, since you've been back."

A grin, "Oh, sweet Serelle. Every night."

"In your childhood bedroom! How scandalous." Leiyah laughed and hit her with a pillow.

"Thor would love to train with the guards here, he could finally learn something new."

Leiyah laughed at her husband's words, at the casual way he had said it. "I thought you said he hated learning new things."

"That is true as well. Perhaps he should stick with Asgard and Earth." Another laugh. The beautiful woman was currently sorting through things they had bought and separating them in functionality. Her stomach cramps were getting worse, and she felt dizzy and tired. Loki embraced her from behind, kissing her hair and holding her close. "Let us lie down for a while. We have nothing to do today anymore. Only the meeting tomorrow. Come." She sighed but agreed that some sleeping might do her good. Serelle had been feeling horrible two days ago but was up on her feet again today. Leiyah still at times thought of their talk. She wasn't worried about her sister. She had read of people who did not feel romantically inclined to anyone, and if that was the case then her sister would still be happy and have a full life. She would make sure of that. What worried her was the fear her sister had, about everything. She was alone so much, Serelle had always relied on her, but now Leiyah was so far away and with Odin watching her closely she could not leave for Vanaheim whenever she wished. "What are you thinking?"

A smile graced her lips, "My sister. She has been troubled lately."

"Any way I can help?"

"No, I fear this is something only she alone can overcome."

He hummed, wrapping his arm tighter around her, "Is she feeling better?"

"Yes. Only some light fatigue now."

"And you?"

"Fine." Loki could hear the lie but he did not press further. She was a bit feverish, and Loki had tried to help her in many ways. Some days she was feeling a lot better, others she was worse. Loki had asked a healer and they had assumed, that the stress of everything had caused her body to grow a bit weak and contract a cold. She would be fine with rest.

"We don't need to go. The council has been fine without you for a long time now. And they don't need me. Let us stay and make you feel better."

"Loki. It is your first council meeting, we will not miss it." Leiyah stood, gratefully taking his hand. She had felt even worse yesterday and today was a match. She had spent the day in bed, her stomach cramping horribly, tired and feeling very unwell. She was surprised to not have a cough or other symptoms of a cold. The only ones being; a slight fever, sweats and cold, tiredness and her stomach cramping. Loki helped her, bringing her soothing foods, reading to her and being on call when she needed. But today was important.

The lords and ladies of the council bowed to them, greeting them and some still saying congratulations. Leiyah smiled, but was happy to sit down again as the room had started to spin slightly.

"Now that we are all here; let us begin" Arvid started, "Our first order is the Winter Solstice. What do we want to do for it this year?"

One lady with short red hair asked, "Will princess Leiyah and prince Loki be with us?"

Loki answered, "It is not clear, but I doubt Odin will allow us to leave so soon again." Loki had made no secret out of the fact, that Odin had not wanted them to leave.

"So there won't be a show this year from the two princesses?"

"Most likely not."

Leiyah added, "But perhaps we can still do a showcase, let others perform. Serelle is still here. Perhaps we could combine it with the shows for the people."

Serelle agreed, "It would eliminate more planning. By simply adding a royal part to the shows we could prolong them and give more to the people."

"Wonderful. I will let you organize then Serelle. If Leiyah is still here, she can help."

"Certainly father."

"Another business is this years' grain. There is less of it, as many fields were used for war last year. We must find fields and make them grow fast, and prepare the broken ones for next spring."

A group of men answered, "We will find a way."

The council continued, it was trivial matters. Once the army was discussed, Loki gave some great insights on how to further training, how to involve magic wielders even more and how to protect borders more securely. Many of these ideas had been ignored by Odin years ago, but it seemed that this council took his word to heart and asked him to teach some of the brighter and stronger magic wielders in the army. It continued on like this and Leiyah felt more and more faint with every passing second. She was hungry, but the thought of food disgusted her. Adding to that she felt a weird pull in the region she felt her magic the strongest. As if it were trying to break out. She swallowed it down.

"Are there any plans of the Allfather visiting the royal city?"

Leiyah looked up, her vision swimming slightly, "What?"

"It is a concern of the people. With Loki now being prince, does this mean the Allfather could set foot in our city?" A younger lord asked.

Loki answered, "I do not think so. Odin is not as concerned with me as he may have many believe."

Leiyah said, "And if he can't swear his secrecy he cannot be admitted."

"But it is the Allfather."

Serelle clicked her tongue and whispered to her sister, "How long still, I would like to know."

Leiyah was about to respond when a sharp pain in her stomach made her bend over. "Leiyah!" Serelle was bending over her, "I thought you were feeling better."

Loki was holding her, "She is feeling worse, she has hardly been eating."

Arvid was standing at the top of the table, worry in his eyes. "Please, bring her to the healers. She should have gone days ago." Both Serelle and Loki stood, ready to guide her, as well as two guards from the back and four council members. Loki smiled gratefully, "I will manage. Please continue." Loki lifted his wife up, who was clutching her middle and walked her out of the room to the healers. There they immediately sprung into action. Loki was asked to wait outside, which he did after severe pestering.

It felt like an eternity, when in reality it had only been ten minutes before the door opened again and a healer beckoned for him to come inside, stating Leiyah wanted him there. He heard rushed footsteps, Arvid with wife and daughter, but the healers stated that Leiyah only wanted her husband right now.

She was drinking a small potion, which made some of the color return to her face and the eyes cleared a bit. Loki took her hand and waited.

The head healer stated, "It is nothing bad, Your Highnesses. But we must work with it accordingly. More importantly you must."

Leiyah was worried, "What is it?"

The healer smiled, "Congratulations, you are expecting a child. I would say you are 6 weeks along."

Loki's heart which had been beating faster than ever, stopped. "I am pregnant?"

The healer nodded and made the particles above Leiyah show her the small life inside of her. Leiyah turned to Loki who was watching it.

"But why do I feel so sick?"

"Well, Your Highness, have you been eating?"

"Not recently. I have been throwing up a lot."

"You need to eat, your child is trying to tell you that it needs food. And maybe try different foods. I will provide a list with foods that are very good during pregnancies. And another thing we need to look out for is your magic. It has been causing you to feel sickly, as well as all the stress you have been having."

"Meaning?" Loki was now alert, wishing to know how to help his wife.

"It means, this child has a lot of magic running through it, it will affect her in ways we don't know. I will personally craft something to help with that. But it is vital now to train your magic daily, as we don't know which limits you will have, or which new powers. And less business. More relaxing and fun activities."

Leiyah mumbled, "We were in the middle of reorganizing the library."

"That will be fine, no heavy lifting later on in the pregnancy though. Have fun. Enjoy this time as much as you can. I will give you those potions, take one every 3 days, it will help. Also on your return to Asgard I will send a healer with you. She might be able to help you better than the ones in Asgard. Rest, fluids, food and simple, relaxing activities will make the cold- like symptoms go away." Loki shot his wife a look, remembering how beautiful she looked in his illusions and how he did not think sex was a simple activity. As if the healer could read his thoughts she added, "Sex is permitted. Her Highness will most likely be very aroused, as many are during pregnancies, and as long as it does not cause her discomfort it will be fine. Many also believe during the final month, sex can induce labor. Do what your body tells you to do, and any questions; I am here."

Leiyah nodded and watched the healer leave, waiting for Loki to say something. "So. I am pregnant."

Loki turned to his wife, looking into her beautiful eyes, down to her stomach. No signs yet. "Loki?"

"We will have a child."

"Yes."

Loki started grinning, grabbing his wife's hands and kissing them both, then kissing her mouth. "We are expecting a child."

"Are you happy?"

"Happy? Ecstatic. I could not be happier. We will have a child! Oh my darling, you have made me the happiest person in the 9 realms. Again."

Leiyah smiled and let a tear fall. "Are you happy about this?"

"Yes. I have been wishing for this for so long. I can't believe it finally happened."

Loki kissed her again and put a hand on her stomach, "Your family is outside."

She nodded, "We should tell them."

Loki opened the door with magic and the three concerned people came in. "Is everything alright? What did the healer say?"

Loki nudged his wife to tell them, "I am pregnant." Arvid only blinked, Kaylina stared at them but then smiled and Serelle let out a squeal and hugged them both. "Congratulations!"

Kaylina added, "I am so happy for you."

"Papa? Say something."

Arvid had tears in his eyes, "Oh my sweet children. I am so happy for the two of you."