Max is a chick name: glad you are enjoying Loki/kids. It seems to be a trending favourite among my reviewers.

Poodle warriors: I imagine Loki trying to be one of those people who liked to try and understand everything but who can really understand children?

Sorceress of the trees: omg I read your post and had a little chuckle. :p you're so silly, in a good way. That's right all out bling bling royal wedding!

Doctor Loki love: I enjoy revisiting left over question from the past chapters. You can't always find out everything in one go malice doesn't work like that. :p happy time are plenty but nothing is perfect. Trying to capture life's up and down in general.

Next guest: I actually can't wait to get to when the kids are older. I wanna do a chapter from their point of view. Lol but lots of time before that. Glad you enjoy.

I also want to take a moment to thank all those who have also been favouriting myself and my stories. Thanks everyone for the support.

Chapter 54: To forgive and move on!

Cephera was already sitting in the bed when Loki joined her. He had a look on his face like a lightbulb just went off. Curious she waited for him to get comfortable before turning to cuddle her head on his shoulder.

"I keep forgetting to ask." He began all serious like. "Shiaji, I always assumed he ran on magic but I realized last week that was not the case." He peered down at her when she tilted her head up at him. Her heart sank at the question. There were reasons she avoided talking about those things, but she sighed. It was probably time to explain it to him.

She sat up and fiddled with her memorial braid nervously. "He runs on the energy captured from a dead persons soul. It's what makes him so life like. The person the energy belonged to is no longer there, but the energy is still strong when preserved properly." She paused.

Loki was also sitting up now. "And you knew this person?" He probably could tell by her facial expression.

"My mother." She stated it as a simple fact but took a heavy breath afterward.

"You never talk about her." He said studying her face. "I assumed she didn't bring you happy memories."

"She was a fragile woman. She was a good mother up until Seraphina began to display her talent with magic. Seraphina's use of magic scared off my father. My human father. He declared we were freaks and not his children. We never saw him after." Cephera stopped playing with the braid only when Loki took her hand in his.

"We can talk about it another time." He assured her. She shook her head.

"No. Now is fine. After my real father abandoned us, she blamed myself and my sister for her heartache. She became distant. Seraphina became the mother figure as our mother slowly began to lose her mind. Sometimes she'd forget we existed and then when she got angry, she would yell at us. Seraphina wanted to run away but she stayed because I didn't want to leave our mother like that." Cephera felt her heart tighten. She rarely allowed herself to remember the old days.

"Kindness is your best trait but sometimes you give it to those under serving of it." He sighed. She squeezed his hand.

"I was the only kindness she had left. It was years later before we found out why Seraphina was different. Back then I couldn't use my magic. I didn't know I had any. When her father showed up to claim her he killed our mother." Cephera said it quickly. Dwelling on the thought to long hurt.

She could see the look of utter shock written on Loki's face. "King Yorin. The man you call father. The man you seem to love and adore now, killed your mother?"

"He did. He was angry with her for taking such shabby care of his daughter, for losing her marbles over some man. My relationship with him was very complicated and not born of love. He tried to kill me on several occasions between the death of my mother till we approached him on his home realm." Loki drew a hand over his face trying to take it all in

"And how is it you ended up his daughter if you despised eachother ?" Cephera laughed.

"The million dollar question." She commented. "After my sister managed to save my life from him he allowed me to stay to keep her satisfied. I stayed out of his way, but the people didn't like it. They saw him as weak. A group of people decided to revolt. They attacked the palace and made it to the receiving room. No one saw it coming, my father was wounded and it was bad enough he would not have recovered."

"I see were this is going." Loki pointed out.

"Yes, predictable as I am." She smiled. "I had a chance to kill him. To take revenge, but I didn't want to. I don't like feeling hatred. Instead I healed him using that magic I learned from the angel. We both recovered. It was only after that I decided to forgive him his past misdeeds and forget the past and move on. You know everything else. I was adopted and here I am. I don't like talking about it only because it bring up those old feeling of hate."

"The next time I see him I can curse him for a while if it would make you feel better." She could hear the joking tone but she had no doubt he would do it if she were to really ask it of him.

"No. What's done is done. Shiaji was a gift from my sister but he was created by my father. It was the only thing he could give me that he knew I would cherish beyond anything else. Shiaji isn't my mother but he carries her spark. That's precious to me." She curled herself into Loki as he pulled her to lay down once more.

"Every year I find out new things about you." He mused. "Perhaps next year you'll tell me another tale." Cephera didn't reply. She thought of her past and shivered. She had vaguely told him how she killed someone once but that was a story she didn't want to revisit tonight. One day she would tell him all of that too. She closed her eyes and fell asleep in his warm embrace.

Waking next to Loki and still wrapped in his arms was soothing. After reliving her past with him the night before she had dreams of those days. Cephera wasn't regretful of her decision to save the man she had once wanted revenge on but she was remorseful that her mother had died.

King Yorin had turned out to be a very kind man despite his womanizing ways and crude speech. He also had a tendency to violence but she rarely saw it since her first meeting with him. It seemed he had calmed down after he finally got his only heir to his kingdom safely.

Cephera had thought about it for years. Why did he choose their mother. She had asked only after her adoption. King Yorin had tried for years to have a child. He tried many different women in his kingdom after killing his own wife when she failed to become pregnant and then was caught with another man. Servants, nobles, commoners, he was unsuccessful in his quest to produce an heir.

He had begun searching different realms, trying different woman. For over two centuries he was unable to attain his goal. Until he finally tried earth. Cephera's mother was beautiful and apparently fit his needs nicely. She was married and so to not draw attention or alarm her, he took on her husbands image and bedded her. It wasn't until he checked up on her years later he found out she had his child. At first he thought they had both been his. Twins.

He thought he stuck gold but eventually he came to realize Cephera was not his. And that a rare occurrence happened were a woman gets pregnant for two men. He left his daughter in her care until she was of age to crown as heir and that was when he came to earth to claim her.

At first he had seen Cephera like one would view a bug. Something that needed to he squat. He felt Cephera was holding Seraphina back, bringing her down from her true potential. Eventually she grew on him. Adopting her had been his own idea and surprised both of them when he brought it up. It was the most confusing and exciting day of her life.

She felt confused to call the man who murdered her mother 'father' and excited to be accepted. Over the years after her adoption she had also won over his people. She was just as much a princess of Mechanova as her sister and she was proud of it. Setting out on the journey to find Seraphina's father had been the most dangerous and fulfilling journeys of their lives. In the end she set her mothers death aside. She now cared about the man who stole her from them and she wouldn't take it back.

She hoped her children would never have to deal with hardships but Cephera knew life had a way of screwing you over. She was surprised life had been so calm for herself and Loki. Sure there was drama and worries but overall they had led a very happy life together. She hoped beyond all hope it would last.