CHAPTER 23

They turned to face the crowd and found the whole room on their knees, well everyone but the Avengers who were staring at Darcy in awe and Loki with trepidation.

It was at that moment when the two frost giants came forward and knelt before the two new rulers. Loki and Darcy shared a short knowing look and then turned back to their guests.

"Your Majesties, we have a petition to ask of you."

Loki inwardly grinned but kept his features aloof and nodded.

"Since you are our true heir and your queen is carrying the babe next in line for the throne, we would ask that you take on your father's position temporarily until the child is old enough to assume the throne."

Darcy smiled and hoped that Loki would not disappoint them.

"You are asking me to take the Throne of Jotunheim until my son is old enough to rule you?" he asked for the benefit of the crowd.

"Yes, my Lord. We are asking that you become our temporary king until the child is old enough."

"Your request is not one that I would have answered favorably years ago and would have told you no. However, I am a different man than I was then. I am going to grant your request on one condition."

The two giants looked up at their heir and the new King of Asgard and asked, "What condition?"

"That you appoint a governor from your people to take the complaints of the people until the time that my child is ready to rule. I cannot leave Asgard to sit on Jotunheim's Throne so there must be someone there to take care of the people in my place. That governor will report to me regularly about the people. I will be going to Jotunheim in a week's time to see for myself if this has been done," Loki told them with a small smile.

"So you are going to be our king?"

"Yes, I will, but only if I can rule from here, as I will not leave my wife's side and she cannot leave Asgard at the moment."

"Then we will do as you have said, Your Majesty." With that the giants rose and stood aside.

While Loki was dealing with the giants the Warriors Three and Lady Sif were watching in amazement. Loki truly had changed. Sif was the first of the four to come to stand before her new rulers.

"Your Majesties, I pledge my loyalty to you. My sword is yours to command."

Darcy was surprised by Sif's words.

"Thank you, Lady Sif," Loki said to his old friend and more recent enemy.

The Avengers were the next to come up to the Throne to congratulate the couple. Darcy thought it funny how each and every one of them almost threatened Loki with bodily harm if he ever did anything to hurt her or tried to take over the universe again. She looked at her husband to see that he merely smiled at their words.

Once the entire room had paid their respects the banquet began and Darcy managed to slip away for a few moments, as she was exhausted from the combination of recent events and carrying twins. She leaned against the balcony of the same anti-chamber she had stayed in right before her marriage. She stood thinking about her life and how it had changed so much. The memory of her life on Alfheim, her memories on Earth and her return to Asgard and the man that she loved. She felt arms wrap around her.

"What are you doing in here, Love?" her husband asked kissing her temple as they stood staring out over Asgard.

"Thinking," she said leaning against him.

"About?" he probed.

"Life," she answered as she turned around in his arms.

"Do you regret coming back here?" he asked almost afraid of hearing her answer.

"Of course I do not regret coming back here, Loki. I was just thinking about how my life has turned out. I mean if someone had told me years ago that I would end up being the Queen of Asgard I would have laughed. I had been raised to be queen but of Alfheim which is a smaller realm than Asgard. Now. Now I am just overwhelmed I guess."

He knew exactly how she felt for he felt the same way. "I know, sweetheart. I feel the same way."

"Loki, did you really mean it? I mean about the Frost Giants?"

"Yes, my dear. I spoke to Odin about the situation after you told me about their request and then to Jane."

"Jane!" she exclaimed in surprise. "What made you ask Jane about this?"

"I needed to know if she had any insight as what could be done. She was the one to suggest the governor idea and explained how it worked. I would be lying if I said that I didn't want my birthright, Darissa. I saw what you did when you visited Jotunheim and I knew that they needed someone to rule over them and as I had already been named Odin's heir, I knew that I would not be able to rule Jotunheim too, nor would I leave your side to do so. So I had to find a way to do both."

"Well, I am glad that they agreed to your terms Loki but I have a question and now that you are King of Asgard you can make this decision. What about their source of power? Will you be giving it back to them?" she asked after a second's hesitation.

"They will get their power back but not right now," he said and held up a hand when she was going to protest. "Their power source can only be held by their ruler and since I am that ruler at the moment I must be the one that has control over it. When our son takes their throne I will be giving it back to them, I promise you this."

Darcy nodded after he explained it to her and understood the reasoning behind it.

"I think we should return to the banquet, my king. We will be missed otherwise."

He offered her his arm and together they returned to the banquet.

Xxx

Two days later, the Avenger Team, Thor, Jane, Odin, Frigga, Loki and Darcy were standing in the Bifrost Dome say farewell to the Avengers.

"Farewell, my friends," Thor said in his normal booming voice followed by Jane's much softer farewell.

Tony was all smiles for he had gotten permission to come back to Asgard with Pepper when he finally got up the nerve to ask her to marry him.

"Don't forget you are all invited back when it is time for Jane and I to deliver," Darcy said hugging each member of the group.

"Oh we will be back for that," Tony said with a smirk.

"Tony just remember not to get Pepper pregnant before bringing her through okay. And Natasha make sure you are not pregnant as well. We would hate for you to go through what Jane and I did all those years ago."

"We will remember, Darcy or should I be addressing you as Your Majesty?" Tony said with a smirk.

"Darcy is fine. We are friends after all."

With that the Avengers returned to Midgard.