Chapter 81.
"Floria!" Loki shouted into the lightly falling snow, the flurry ending and he scanned the ground ahead of him. He walked the path, worried that the snow would become harder and he shouted her name again. He walked around a curve, and saw her laying on the ground in the path. He shouted, running forward and he looked at her still form. She was cold, but still breathing as she lay on the ground. Her breathing steady, and her hand curled inside her gloves.
"Floria! Wake up!" He said, patting her cheek and her eyes opened and she blinked at him. She looked around her, sitting up and he stared down at her in shock. "Come, you fainted. You need to get back to the house, the snow is starting."
"What?" She asked him and he helped her to stand. She stumbled forward again, dizziness overtakingnher and he caught her before she could fall.
"It seems that you fainted, come back to the house." He said, and she let him help her. She came to herself slowly, putting her hand into her pocket and her eyes going wide. She looked around her, and she stopped Loki before he could take her further.
"I lost it, it fell out of my pocket." She said and walked back along the path. He followed after her, watching her eyes scan the ground and she turned circles.
"Lost what Floria? You are not well, you need to rest and take food." He reasoned, but she did not listen. She crawled along the ground and searched through the brush at either side of the path, desperate to find what she had dropped.
"No, I lost them. Please be here." She said and she searched under a bush. Loki stood over her, trying to help her to her feet and she pulled away.
"What did you drop? Let me help you." He said and she wiped tears from her face and looked up at him.
"I lost the ashes, I lost the remains of my child." She said, weeping and he joined her search with her. He pushed aside the grass and they both looked the entire route that she walked, her despair growing and she sobbed into her hands.
"I don't see them anywhere Floria, I searched." He said and she sat in the dirt and wept, holding her hands over her heart and she cried out. He looked over, seeing a shine of gold and he walked toward it, finding the vial and he ran back to her. "I found it! Look!"
"What?" She asked and she took it from him, pressing it to her lips and holding it against her breast. "Thank you! Oh thank you!"
She cried, wrapping her arms around his neck and he held her back, taking the hand she held the vial in and he pressed it between both of their palms. She put her hand over his and he pressed his hand over her other one, both of them grieving together for a moment and she stepped away from him. She took his hand, leading him down the path and she walked to the pond.
She stood at the edge if the water, walking into the frigid pool and he tried to stop her by pulling back. She shook her head, pulling him into the water with her and she shivered in the cold. Her lips turning blue as she stood up to her chest and she held the vial, dropping it into the water and she submerged herself. Loki panicked, watching her come up and drip water from her hair and dress. She shivered, and she stood silently as the vial sank to rest at the bottom of the pond.
"This is where... where the child wanted to be. I wanted do find the right place, and dropping the vial was a sign from it." She said and shivered, holding herself and she looked at him. "It is at rest here."
"Floria... I know." He said and wrapped his arms around her and cried into her neck. Both of them taking the time they needed to grieve, and he holding her while using magic to warm her and keep her from going into shock. He walked with her out of the water, helping her to the shore and she shivered in the frigid air. He waved his hands to dry and restore her dress, doing the same to himself and they walked back to the house in silence.
By the time they returned, the heavy snow was on them and she had the hood of her cloak up to keep it off her. The three servants were searching the storm for their King and Queen, Till running toward them and wrapping a blanket over Floria as Dell took her into the house.
"You are shivering with cold Lady! Come inside before you catch a fever!" Dell said, leading her up the stairs to warm her Mistress in a bath. "I am so glad he found you, we were worried to death. Come and have a hot bath, it will take the chill out of you."
"Poor Queen Floria." Till said, helping Loki shed his coat and boots. "A woman as sweet as that should never know sadness."
"That is true my friend." Loki said, and the man patted his back and put a blanket over his shoulders.
"Neither should you my King. Forgive me for not recognizing your grief." He replied, and Loki forgave the man, walking up the stairs to see if Floria was going to be well.
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He lay in his bed that night, the wind driving the snow against his window. He listened to his howl, a small creak in the floorboards getting his attention and he opened his eyes to see Floria standing next to his bed and lifting the blankets. She put her knee up on the bed and he blinked at her in the dim light, her eyes falling on him and she stopped and looked as if she were waiting for permission to join him.
He opened his hand to her, turning on his side so she would be closest to the fire and she lay down with her back to him. He held her around the waist, his eyes blinking to fight the tears he hid and she sighed as she lay and watched the fire burn. They remained silent for a long time, the only sound to him was her breathing and the snapping of the fire. She shivered with the howling wind, and he held her closer to him to Male her feel safe.
"I blame myself for the baby dying." She said and he blinked harder, his arms around her and he wanted her to not hurt anymore. "I think, that if I had not lost my temper or become upset by what I saw, that it would never have died. Eir said there was something wrong with it, that the heart did not form correctly, but I thought she was sparing my feelings from the sadness I was holding. I know that of I had not acted so, I would not have lost it."
"It is not your fault Night... Floria. I know Eir, and she would not have lied to you about such a thing. She would have been honest with you from the start, don't blame yourself anymore." He said and she turned toward him and touched his lips.
"Call me Nightengale again, please." She said and he smiled at her, he let his tears come and she held him close to her. "I am so sorry for failing you, I don't want to loose you either."
"I know, I just feel as if I do not deserve you sometimes, as if I am a beast that kidnapped you and stole you from being free and trapped you in a crystal cage." He said and she shook her head, caressing his cheek and she held his hands.
"No! I came to you willingly, and you are no beast or monster." She said and looked into his eyes. "To prove this to you, I want you to love me as a Jotun."
He sat up, looking down at her and he blinked in shock, he could not believe what she had said. His heart pounded in his chest, and she lay back and untied her shift and pulled it up her legs. He shook his head, her hand pulling this face to look at her and she sat up and kissed him gently.
"Do it, I am a woman who would go to any length to show you that you are not a monster. I want this, and I care not what face you wear." She said and he buried his lips in her hand, kissing it and she let the shift fall off her shoulders. He stared down at her, and held her face in his hands.
"I can't... you would hate me. I look..." he said and she stopped him and she held her fingers over his lips.
"You look so beautiful like that, and I want you to know that I am your Wife. Every aspect of you is welcome in my life, and I am offering myself to all of you. Our children carry all of you and all of me in them, and I love them no less. This is why I grieve the loss of one so deeply." She said and he shifted under her hands, his skin turning blue and his eyes red. She leaned toward him and kissed him, lingering before pulling away and her breath came out as a puff of vapor from the cold. He lay her down, his hands trailing over her body and he slipped the sleep pants off his hips.
"I don't want to hurt you again if another child is lost." He said and she pulled him close to her, her arms around him as she kissed him again.
"I will grieve all that I loose, and will still love you." She said and she lay under him as he entered her. She gasped, holding her breath a moment and blushed, stilling and he looked at her. "I was not prepared for the cold, but I still want this."
He kissed her, trying to keep her from growing too cold as he lay with her. She gasped, her back arching toward him and she pulled him closer to him. She moaned, her sighs filling the room and the bed rocked under his lust. She gasped again, her heels digging into his thighs and she rocked with his rhythm.
"Not a monster!" She gasped, and her hands gripped his shoulders. He threw his head back, moaning himself and she held her breath as she stilled and she turned her face to the side and trembled. He followed soon after her, and she gasped for air as he shifted back and her body relaxed as he collapsed on top of her.
"Floria... Did I hurt you?" He asked her and she shook her head to say no, his heart still pounding and he kissed her.
"No, it was so very beautiful." She replied and he kissed her breast and she gasped in shock as he tore her shift open down the front. His hands slid around her back and she moaned as he kissed her breasts, his tears filling his eyes and he nuzzled against her skin as he moved against her again.
"Good, I am not done." He said and she held him to her and she kissed him tenderly.
"I love all of you." She said and he continued holding her as he lay with her again. His eyes filled with tears, and he crushed her to him as she accepted him fully.