Chapter 23: Oddities
Loki was sitting at his desk and had been for hours. He had confirmed that his wife had indeed went through the Byfrost and back to her sisters realm. He knew not when she would return and he was annoyed enough that for a short time he didn't care. As time went on he did care however and worried that perhaps she'd never return but he refused to go after her.
When the bedroom door opened and in stepped Cephera himself Loki was shocked to see her. He hadn't expected her back so soon if at all. He narrowed his eyes his irritation over this whole mess getting to him once more.
"Will we have to go through this every time, what's that mortal saying, you get your panties in a twist?" Loki asked her still irritated. Right after Shay had said Cephera had left his first instinct was to go after her but Loki would not jump after her every time she ran off after a fight.
"I'm sorry I ran off. I just needed to get away. I needed...I needed advice." She said.
"And what advice gave you a reason to come crawling back so soon." Loki knew he was being pretentious but he couldn't help himself. He was just to annoyed to have a calm conversation. She looked rather annoyed herself by his reaction but she was doing well to stay calm.
"I realize that you and I need to take time to get to know one another. We spend no time together save for the bedroom and I want more than just that." She said. She looked very nervous and Loki felt there was more.
"Agreed, we do know very little and if this is to continue to go better than I am prepared to spend time with you outside the bedchambers." Loki said still sitting in his chair and settling against the back. "And?" He said urging her on.
"And there are things about me you don't know that I think is important that I should tell you now rather than wait." She looked extremely nervous now. Shifting from foot to foot and her hands playing with her borrowed skirt. "You know I was adopted by my sisters father," Loki nodded. "and that my sister is half alien." Once again he nodded. He tried to be patient as he could see she was struggling with how to word whatever it was she was about to say. "Well we shared the same mother but my father was human...and well Seraphina is actually my twin sister." Loki had to think about that one a second before he nodded.
"As her twin sister I was born strange...with oddities...I'm an anomaly." She was looking down more than she was looking at him. She cleared her throat taking in a breath. Loki was curious now. He really had no clue where this was going. "Somehow, and we think it was because I shared a womb with her, I inherited immortality." Loki saw her holding her breath and waiting for his reaction but he had none to give. He felt shocked of all things. It was almost as though his mind was forcing the information back and not allowing him to absorb it.
"You're immortal?" He asked to make sure he'd heard her correctly.
"Yes." Loki was on the fence over how he felt about that. He had accepted her thinking he had little time with her. That he would spend at least 60-70 years with her before she passed and he would move on but now he was slowly getting the fact that she was his for life. Not just a small fraction of his life.
"Why was I not informed?" He asked but he felt he knew the answer.
"It was a condition of my agreeing to marry you. Your father wanted you to learn to accept me as the human I am not for my oddities." Cephera was still looking down. She seemed ashamed she hadn't told him and Loki was slightly more irritated. "That and you never really gave me any reason until lately to even want to tell you." She added. Loki couldn't really argue with that.
"You said oddities...there is more?" He questioned. She glanced up at him.
"I can also do magic." This took her less time to blurt out.
"How?" Loki didn't believe her. The energy used to perform magic wasn't something the human body could take even if she had immortality.
"When I touch those who can preform magic I can copy their magic. It's true I couldn't do it before but there was a fallen angel that myself and my sister help to free. To thank us she marked us with what people call an aurora. The aurora's magic allows me to use my own magic." Loki heard of the marks in his past. Once again he was having trouble believing what she was saying. Loki felt mixed confusion.
"Is there anything else?" He said rubbing his forehead impatiently.
"No." She replied.
"Then go. I need time to think." Loki said almost coldly. He saw her eyes search his face before she nodded and left their room. Loki sat there for a long time just thinking and stewing in it all. Part of him was livid that he had been tricked but it was also partially his own fault. Technically no one lied. He assumed she was human, assumed she was a mortal. He had allowed himself to assume such things this entire time. She might have been born human but her unique abilities and lengthy life made her a rare specimen. Loki was intrigued.
In a way Odin had given to him something rare that no one else would ever possess. Like Thor's hammer she could not be duplicated and she was his and his alone. This thought made him feel greedy and once again possessive. He was glad he had taken that step forward to rightfully claim her. Happy he hadn't let her get away. The more Loki allowed his thoughts to travel on this road the less angry he was.
It was hours of thinking before he finally stood and left the room intent on finding his wife and deciding where to go from here.
XxX
Loki found her in the library. No one else knew she had returned and seemed surprised to hear she had. Even his mother seemed surprised but also happy at the news. Tracking her down to the library took some time but he gazed at her now sat in a chair near one of the blazing fireplaces. A book sat open in her lap but she was not reading it as her cat was laying curled on the open book. She was smoothing down his head with delicate touches her eyes forever watching the flames. She looked to be in deep thought.
Loki took a moment to watch her a moment. He really hadn't paid much attention to her. Always touching her beneath poor lighting. Her expression was blank aside from her furrowed eyebrows. Her hair hanging down as he last left it. The pink flowing through it almost as though it belonged there but he knew better. Such colours were not natural to humans and so she kept it dyed that way. He wasn't sure when she would dye it as he had never seen her do it but then again he also never seen this aurora she spoke of.
Her cheeks were more rounded when she smiled. Right now they sat flat and sad looking. He also now noticed that, unlike most Midgardians, she had no ear piercings. In fact he couldn't remember her wearing any jewelry save for her wedding ring. She was a very simple woman in many aspects but simple didn't mean boring. Loki finally walked over to her. Shiaji was the first to sense his presence sitting up and causing Cephera to look over her shoulder.
She was so surprised to see Loki that she sprang to her feet with a hopeful gleam in her eyes and the cat and book went flying to the floor. The cat let off a hiss but landed on his feet. It almost seemed to glare but Cephera didn't seem to notice. She was to caught up in what Loki had to say. "Show me." Loki said. She looked perplexed as to his command. "This magic you speak of." He added to help her out.
"Oh." She looked to be thinking it over. Cupping her hands together she whispered a word and a small flame the size of a Midgardian coin appeared. Loki was unimpressed at her power but impressed that she could in fact actually do magic. Loki produced the same flame using the same technique as her and produced a much large fuller flame.
"Your humanity effects the potency of your magic I assume." Loki said to her.
"I believe so." She replied nodding. "If I do enough of it I sometimes get nosebleed and I once passed out." She told him. Her flame disappeared. "I'm sorry for not having been more up front with you."
"Your reasons were sound and you're right, I never really gave you a reason to want to tell me or a chance for that matter." Loki's flame also died. "We seemed to keep having new beginnings you and I." He said almost amused.
"It would seem so." A small smile broke across her face.
"Night is approaching. The day has gotten away from us. Come with me." Loki beckoned her to him with two fingers and Cephera followed him dutifully. Loki and Cephera moved back to the bedroom. Loki turned to her and looked her over. "Shay's or my mothers?" He asked eyeing the dress.
Cephera looked down at herself and began to laugh. "Shay." She said shifting the bust area. She had nothing near as large as Shay.
"I thought as much. I did wonder at one point what you were wearing when you left Asgard. As I recall you were naked beneath that robe when you fled the bedroom." Loki saw her turn a shade of pink and he enjoyed it. "Let's bathe. I'm curious about this angels mark." Loki grinned removing bits of his clothing as he moved to the bathroom. Cephera followed and easily slipped from the dress. She wore nothing beneath it and this also amused him greatly.
Loki made sure to light the room to its fullest light so that he could see everything clearly. As the water began to fill the grand marble bath he watched her brush the knots from her hair. When the water was ready he got in with her joining him. "Let me see." Loki told her. She seemed to be allowing him to command all that they did at this point. He had a feeling she was very worried still over what he thought about it all. He hadn't actually told her his feelings over it.
Cephera moved her hair to all gather over one shoulder traveling down her front before she turned and knelt facing away from him. Loki immediately moved closer as his eyes fell directly on the aurora she spoke of. His first reaction was to touch it and when he did he found her skin no different than any other area in feeling. However, just beneath the surface of her skin moved two silvery wings. They almost winked in and out and in some moments he saw the entire wing clearly before it disappeared once more. Loki was mesmerized. "And you said your sister also has one?" He inquired his fingers still touching her magical mark.
"She does. Identical. I've seen mine in a three way mirror but I got to inspect it best by looking at my sisters and her to look at mine." The way she spoke told Loki that such a moment was a fond memory for her.
"It is truly an angelic gift." He said to her. Loki then turned her. "You are a unique woman. Your gifts however are not enough to sway my previous thoughts. I cannot promise you everything you have ever dream of from a marriage. I will not promise my thoughts will change regarding children." He told her trying to be more kind in his words.
"I understand that. It was just the way you spoke of them. Like they would be monsters because I am human." Cephera frowned. "Half bred or not, immortality would be an inherited trait as most likely would your magic." Loki knew this but it wasn't just that. There was more behind his trepidation regarding children and it was not a thing he felt like sharing with anyone. He was not sure he would ever share his worries over it with anyone.
"Let us first work on us and leave those worries for a different day." He offered. Cephera nodded and turned.
"I'm glad you are still seeking an us." She admitted.
"After everything that's happened I don't plan to end this now. What's life without a little conflict." Loki grabbed a wash cloth and some soap and began to wash her of his own accord. She seemed surprised by his sudden actions but she didn't stop him. In fact when he finished with her she returned the favour.
So happy I'm finding ways to keep this going and interesting. Happy I got everyone on edge still with what will happen next.
Thanks everyone and don't forget to review. :P
- Twifan 1987: wahoo. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. :)
- Female Wraith: I agree and disagree. It all depends how he accepts her and goes about accepting her. In the end he has to accept her as she is and those things are part of her. If he changed his mind right away about children then that would be wrong and insulting.
- Shattered Soul: don't we all!
- 88 Dragon 06: thanks for the PM and happy you liked the chapter! For once both of them are being scolded for their reactions to things and getting some sound advice.
- Nightmare of Cat: haha. No ones perfect. Hahaha
- Loki's Dreamer: it's not that he didn't expect it but he had said that to her before although that was back when he wasn't sleeping with her.
- Hello (Guest): haha. Join the line up.
- Poodle Warriors: they have stuff to fix but who doesn't sometimes in rocky relationships.
- Doctor Loki Love: hope everything starts getting better for you. As always lots of love and Kisses coming from me to you!
- Carlos Diaz III: he is rude but in a funny manner. Lol. You get used to him in stories he shows up in for longer.
- Benfan 1: I can't wait to see what you think of this chapter. :)
- Gfor098: foot in mouth for Loki. I have finally watched it. It turned out as such an awesome coincidence. Haha
- Team Damon: nice talking to you in PM's. I'm happy you are enjoying the fic. :)
- Reneemm: I hope I've fulfilled your curiosity with this chapter.
- Katarina Lillis: haha. Now to take the scoldings and advice and put it to good use. :P
