Chapter 72.
Floria woke on the bed, she still wore the dress from the previous day and she itched horribly. She sat up and unlaced the front of it, slipping it off her to stand in her corset and unlaced it as well. She walked to the Bathing Chamber, filling the large tub and sinking into the water. Her mind filled with everything from the last few weeks, her thoughts worrying that she had done too much damage to save her marriage. She prayed to the Fates that she would be forgiven by him, and she picked up a fresh cloth to soap herself with. She cleaned herself quickly, drying and walking back to the Bed Chamber to find something to wear. She opened her wardrobe and found her dresses as she left them, and selected a white chemise of silk to put over her head and pulled it on.
She took down her emerald dress, the small gold beads glinting from the fabric and took the shoes out that matched it as well. She also took a corset and stockings as an after thought and closed the wardrobe to see Loki standing behind the door and she dropped everything in shock. She took a step back, giving him a polite curtsy and she lowered her eyes. He knelt, picking up the dropped dress and clothes and lay them on the bed. He held up her corset, and she put her arms out for him to put it around her waist. He slowly laced it up, tightening it so that she was not too crushed and he kissed her shoulder.
"I would do this every day for you, if you would allow it. I hope that you slept well, you were so worn from all your worries." He said and she blushed at his comment. She turned, looking over her shoulder and bit her lip. She looked at his hand and he held her ring in it, she picking it up and slipping it back on her finger.
"I did sleep well, thank you but I am unworthy of such attentions." She said softly, he taking the dress in his hands and waiting for her to put her arms up. She let him put it over her head and he tapped her nose softly, it trailed from her brow softly his finger stopping over her lips and she blushed deeper.
"Never say those words again, that is all I ask of you. You are so very worthy of the love I give you, and I will do anything to prove that." He replied and she turned so he could lace her dress up the back. His fingers closed the ribbon, tying it off and she turned to face him again and he rested a hand on her waist.
"I will need reminding. I forget sometimes, and am only a woman." She said and he motioned for her to sit of the bed. He helped her with her stockings, kissing the top of her foot before slipping the shoe on it and repeated his actions with the other one.
"You are more than just a woman, and I will happily remind you." He said and he lay her back on the bed. "And you look so ravishing in emerald, I can hardly look away."
"May I ask something of My King?" She said and he leaned over her with his eyes on hers and he kissed her lips softly.
"You may ask anything of your Husband." He said, taking her hand and kissing it and his fingers traced up the long sleeve. The digits caressing the embroidery, and he bending close to her ear and she gasped. "Ask, and I will grant all your wishes."
"May Sari return? And my Mother?" She asked and he kissed her cheek, his hand sliding over her bodice his attentions turning toward the apex between her legs.
"I will allow it to see you the happiest woman in all of Asgard, I am at your command my Nightengale." He said into her ear and the Chamber doors opened suddenly and they both sat up and looked toward the sitting room. She blushed and pushed her skirts over her legs, Loki walking toward the Councilman and glaring at him. Two Guards stood behind the man, and one held shackles in his hands. Floria stared with wide eyes, her body shaking and she looked at Loki.
"What is the meaning of this? How dare you barge in here!" Loki shouted and Floria slipped from the bed. The Councilman looked at her, and she pressed against the wall her back to it and she trembled in fear.
"My King, we were only acting on orders. Lady Floria is still to be arrested and held for her trial." The man said and Loki glared at the man. "I am only acting on orders set by your laws My King."
"Leave this room, the order is lifted and you had better pray that I am as forgiving as I am said to be." Loki said and looked at Floria. "What should I do to this man for his intrusion, my sweet Wife?"
"I... I do not know." She said and she took a step forward. The Guards walked back to the doors, and Loki gestured for her to join him at his side.
"Shall I forgive him this once?" He asked and kissed her temple. The Councilman shook, looking at Floria with wide eyes and she nodded.
"Yes. He did not know better, and he was only acting in accordance of the law." She said and he gestured for the man to leave. A Maid brought in the breakfast tray as they left, setting it on the table and Floria sat on the stool to arrange her hair. She combed it with shaking fingers, braiding some of it and twisting it all into an elegant style. She pinned it with emerald and gold pins, holding it in place and she stood to look at Loki. The Maid took the old dress from before away, curtsying to the both of them and rushing to her next task.
"Beautiful." He said and pulled her chair out for her. "How could anyone forget a beauty such as yours?"
"I do not know, but my face is plainer than other women of higher birth." She replied, sitting and he pushed the chair in. The gown had a wide neck and he removed a necklace from his pocket and put it around her, fixing it in place and her heart sank at the gift. Where she needed his words, but he gave her something material and she pressed her lips together. He sat across from her, taking his napkin and laying it in his lap.
"Thank you for the gift." She said and she rested her hand on the table. He looked at it, their fingers meeting and he held hers.
"You looked bare without it. You have nothing to fear, and I will have a Paige fetch Sari back. I will also put word out for you to select new Maids, surround yourself in good women and keep them as friends." He said and she nodded, not letting go of her hand. "You are home, and this is your sanctuary. No one will ever touch you while I draw breath, not even me if you do not want it."
"Thank you." She said and they ate in silence, her heart becoming lead in her chest again and he stood when he finished eating. He held his hand open for hers, bringing it to his lips and helped her stand. His arm circled her waist and he began dancing with her, the happy shine in his making her smile shily. She saw him again, the man who was so gentle with her and she smiled as they turned together.
"You still dance so beautifully. We need to have many balls, that way I can steal every dance from you." He said and she looked into his eyes and smiled. "Plays too, so you can be as Goddess Autumn again."
"You remembered that?" She asked and he laughed, his eyes on hers and he nodded.
"Of course, I could not look away from you that whole night. You were the most beautiful of Frigga's Maids, and I longed to sit in that tree with you." He said and she blushed, her eyes falling and she laughed at him. He ended the dance, bowing to her and she curtsied to him in return.
"I did not know you looked at me that way." She said and his hand slipped from around her waist. "Was I always so blind?"
"No. You were merely distracted, and never looking my way when I was admiring you. The way you are looking at the wall now, and do not see how I gaze at you." He said and she looked at him, her lips parted and he slipped a paper into her hands. She opened it, reading it and her mouth fell open.
"May soft she always meet the Earth beneath her gentle feet, may kind and generous all eyes fall on her. Her hair a gentle wave to cover me, her lips a sweet caress that form the words she speaks. May she always be bathed in the sun, and may her heart only know the tenderness of my love. For she is the breath of life I have searched for, and where she is my home." She read, covering her mouth with her hand and she pressed the page to her chest. She walked toward him, her lips pressing to his and she blinked back tears.
"Even in my anger, I love you, and would never harm a single part of you." He said and she let the soft tear fall. "I wrote so many of these for you, but never was brave enough to give them to you until now. You may do with them as you wish, read them, burn them, scoff at them and hate them, but please do not think that I would ever change so much that I would still not write them."
"Am I such a thing to be so desired?" She asked him and he turned her chin to meet his eyes.
"You are, and always will be." He replied, and let her grow with a whisper of touch. He walked to his desk, opening a drawer and taking out a stack of pages and handing the to her, she read the top page and her lips parted in amazement at the words.
"You are Desire itself." He said and looked over her shoulder, reading from the page. "So soft her skin, how could it compare to silk? She beautiful her smile, how could it compare to a rose? How gentle her heart, how could it compare to a feather bed? I would give up my place in Valhalla to know her lips, to caress her skin, to hear the music of her sighs as I lay in her sweet embrace. The sweet tremble of her body as I lay with her, the gentle song of my Nightengale as she whispers her love to me. The glory of her body, all for me and I have nothing so beautiful to give her in return. For she is the star I guide my ship by, and she the flame that burns in my soul."
She gasped, her legs failing her and she nearly fell to the ground. His words about her causing her to tremble, and he was quick to catch her. His arms around her from behind and she turned to look into his eyes. She held the papers, afraid to let them go and she kissed him.
"I am so sorry for thinking so poorly of you." She said and he kissed her again, lifting her up and holding her. His forehead against hers and she blinked back tears, her eyes shining. "You are so beautiful in my eyes, and I shall love you untill my last breath. I have nothing more to promise you with, and cannot over you more than the heart in this cage of my body."
"I forgive you freely, and will love you until my final day. Your heart is all I ask, and do not want more." He said back, his lips on her and she kissed him. "My sweet Queen."
"I am so very proud to be yours, and only yours. For I am home when you hold me." She said and he carried her into the Bed Chambers, laying her down on the bed and kissing her. She dropped the poems, and he set them all aside at the end of the bed for her to read later. His hands on her stomach and lifting her skirts, her gasps swallowed by his mouth.
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Floria lay against his chest, reading the stack of poems and she blushed at a particularly lewd one. He read over her shoulder, his fingers caressing her sleeve and she giggled as she read about how he saw her with a child growing in her. She shifted, her stockinged feet shifting and her skirts riding up her legs as she read. She turned the page to a new poem, and he kissed her neck softly.
"These are all so beautiful." She said and she looked back at him. "I cannot pick a favorite. How do I repay you for such beautiful words?"
"Tell me if you are afraid of anything, speak to me and I will do my best to comfort you. I swear Floria, this it the truest of loves and will never be able to let you go." He said and she looked at him, kissing his lips and she lay across his lap and looked up at the canopy over them.
"I am afraid now that this peace will not last, that you will not look at me the same in a few months. That you will rage at me, frighten me and make me feel so very small." She confessed and he caressed her cheek.
"I will do my best to never do that to you again, and if it is a lie, you may run away and I will not pursue you." He said and she shook her head, her hand covering his.
"I will not run, I am so weary from that. I will stand and fight for your affections, and pray that they return." She said and he laughed, his hand tracing over her lips as she let her hand drift back to lay next to her head. She watched him, his fingers memorizing the curve of her features and he smiled again.
"It would not be a hard battle, all you would have to do is kiss me and I would surrender gladly." He whispered and she blushed. "You will be crowned in a day, are you worried about that?"
"Not anymore. Because you will be with me, and I fear nothing with your hand in mine." She said and he caressed the swell of her breast, her chest rising as his hand rested over her heart.
"I will never let go, and will keep the storm from consuming you. No matter how hard you try to pull it back, I promise you that." He said and she closed her eyes and thanked the Fates that wove their lives together, her heart knowing truly what love was and she smiled and allowed herself to feel as he did.
That her home rested with him.