Annalise hummed quietly to her daughter as they rocked in Astrid's chair. The baby's belly was full, her mother's chest no longer ached and contentment radiated between the two. Her own eyes growing heavy, Annalise let them slide shut as her daughter relaxed in her arms. When Astrid sneezed suddenly, a burst of frigid air shot from her nose while her fingers and toes simultaneously turned blue. The Queen's eyes flew open as she looked at her child in shock. A thin layer of frost covered Annalise's hand where the baby had expelled her breath. She sputtered in surprise and yelled for her King.

"Loki!"

A moment later her shirtless husband sauntered into the room, already prepared for bed. He gave a rare warm smile at the sight of mother and baby in the rocking chair.

"Yes, my little peach?"

"Your daughter just sneezed ice at me. And her extremities turned blue."

Loki paled, his eyes widening.

"No, she couldn't have," he whispered.

"Yes. She did." Annalise took in his rigid posture and furrowed brows. "Now, wipe that horrified look off your face and tell me what's going on. She sneezed cold air, she didn't breathe fire. I'm fine. It could be worse, Loki. If you would just educate me as to why our baby has subzero tendencies, we can put this matter to rest."

Still stunned, Loki braced himself against the wall and shook his head, "We made it this far without any signs… I'd hoped the traits were recessive."

Astrid squawked and began babbling as her parents' conversation wound her up. She kicked her little feet and Annalise rose and quickly closed the distance between herself and her husband. She held Astrid out at Loki.

"Give her a kiss? I'm putting her down before we fully wake her up."

Loki stared at the baby, still grimacing. He'd tainted his beloved child. This was all his fault. Annalise frowned.

"Loki, kiss your daughter goodnight."

With a heavy sigh, Loki regretfully observed his daughter for a moment before leaning forward and pressing his lips to Astrid's forehead. The child cooed and Loki couldn't help but melt, stroking her pudgy cheek with a sad smile.

"Goodnight, my darling."

Anna mimicked the affectionate act and strode with Astrid back to her crib. Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure Loki didn't go anywhere. The Queen was anxious to return to her perturbed husband. Putting the baby down, she took Loki's hand and gently led him from the baby's bedroom to their sitting room. He was so sufficiently dazed that she took him by the arm and herded him into a seated position on the sofa, then daintily sat in his lap. He stared straight ahead into the blazing fire, occasionally shaking his head.

"I'm truly sorry, Annalise."

"Loki," she murmured, cupping his face in either hand and forcing him to look at her. "Do I look upset?" He stared blankly at her. She shook him to the best of her ability. "Do I?"

"No."

"Good. Because I'm not upset. I know this has something to do with what the Black Widow was trying to bait me with, something about what you are." Her thumbs rubbed soothingly against his cheeks. "Now, you need to hear me. Because you look more broken than I've ever seen you." When he glanced up at her with pain in his eyes, her heart ached. Loki's brow creased and his mouth twisted with guilt.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop. Stop it right now."

He gave an aggrieved smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. "When did you become so bossy?"

Her full lips curved into a smile and she pushed his long, inky hair away from his face. "I've always been bossy. I must compensate for my lack of height somehow."

That drew a small, but genuine, grin from Loki.

"Talk to me," she urged.

He sighed heavily, idly playing with the sleeve of her dress as he spoke. "Until this day, you have known me as an Asgardian."

Thumbs still reassuringly stroking his face, Annalise nodded.

"I-I am not truly of Asgard."

Annalise quirked a brow in confusion, "Are you human?"

"No, darling, I'm not human at all. I'm from neither Asgard nor Midgard. I am of Jotunheim," he said the word as if he were spitting poison from his mouth.

Anna frowned and tilted her head.

"It's one of the Nine Realms. Jotunheim is a bleak, destitute land of ice and snow and death and suffering," he explained. "I am a Jotun, a Frost Giant. The type of ice monster parents tell their children about at night to scare them. A violent blue beast with limitless hunger for power and destruction."

Annalise cleared her throat and raised a brow at the truth of his statement. Loki glared and pushed her hands from his face.

"My situation is different. I am powerful, I don't simply hunger for it. And, it's my birthright to be king."

More concerned about Loki's feelings towards Astrid and himself than pointing out how he embodied the creatures he'd just described, Annalise let it go and allowed him to continue.

"I was taken from Jotunheim as a babe during war and adopted in secret by the Allfather, the ruler of Asgard, with hopes of one day bringing unity between our people." He laughed coldly. "I was brought up alongside Thor, under the impression I was his natural born son. He and his wife raised me to be a king. Now I know Odin never would have put a Frost Giant on the throne of Asgard," he spat. "Before I came to Midgard, he fell into a deep sleep… And Thor was banished. I briefly ruled as the rightful king of Asgard… But Thor returned, despite my unconscious father's decree, and Odin woke, taking back my throne." His lip curled in disgust and his fingers unconsciously dug into the flesh of Annalise's hip. She winced, gently removing his hands and holding them in hers.

"I know you don't care for Thor, this is why? Because he's next in line for the crown instead of you?"

Loki sneered, "There's a multitude of reasons why I can't stand the oaf. But that is a conversation for a different day. For now, we must focus on curing our child."

She gripped his hand tightly. "What do you mean curing? There's nothing to be cured."

"On the contrary. We must treat this immediately. I'll summon the best healers from Asgard—."

Annalise sat up straight in his lap and gripped his face with a hand on either cheek.

"Loki, so help me, you will do no such thing. You will not treat or cure our precious daughter of a single thing. She's not ill. She's perfect, remember? You remind me how perfect she's is all the time, especially when she's spat up on my shoulder or drooled mushed carrots on my favorite Prabal Gurung silk blouse. And you're always right. She is."

For a moment, Loki's eyes softened as he recalled the utter purity and flawlessness of his daughter. However, that hardened look returned almost immediately, making it clear Astrid's paternal lineage was far from forgotten.

"We must try. I will not allow my child to endure the pain I did of being different, of exemplifying a monstrosity and living as an outcast." He gazed into the fire one more, squinting at the flames. "Perhaps her Jotun traits can be subdued with magic."

Annalise's fingers pressed into the flesh of his jaw as she fumed.

"I forbid you to suppress anything remotely Jotun about her. I'm serious, Loki. Astrid is exactly the way she's meant to be. I have no doubt of that."

Loki considered his wife, peeling her hands away from his face and running his fingers through the length of her hair to soothe himself.

"There's no way you can possibly understand, Annalise, and I am aware of that. It's alright. I forgive you. You're stubborn, which both renders me insane with anger and makes me hard at the same time," he noted idly. "One day, you'll come to understand why I must do this."

Annalise squirmed off his lap and curled her fingers into a fist to keep from slapping him.

"Do not speak to me as if I'm inferior," she hissed. "I am your queen and your equal, Loki of Jotunheim. No one else holds the status I do, and you must therefore listen to me more carefully than your Chitauri and SHIELD advisors. Astrid will not change. You will not alter her in any way. She is as God, or the Gods," she shook her head, "whichever, have created her. You will not change the tiniest bit of her innocent self. If she grows up different than human children, we will explain to her why. There is no way to protect her completely from the pain of existence, that's simply a fact. No parent can shield their child from that, and despite your status, you are no different."

Loki looked as if he had more to say, but no sound came from his opened mouth. Annalise smiled sadly and cradled his face with a palm.

"You may be King of Midgard, but there's no possible way you can be right about everything. Believe me when I say this: Astrid is incandescently beautiful just the way she is. She needs no help from either of us to become any superior."

Loki looked away and fussed with the straps of her gown. Without a word, he pushed them over her shoulders and pulled at the garment, exposing her swollen breasts.

"Ah, ah, ah," she berated, cupping his face once more. "Do you understand what I've said?"

He glared and shrugged her off.

"Yes, little Queen."

Annalise's shoulders sagged in relief as she allowed herself to fully enjoy the feeling of her husband's hands on her skin. Head tilted back, her rich, warm hair draped over her back.

"Loki," she gasped as he took a nipple into his mouth.

He groaned in response, suckling sweet milk from her nipple as her hands buried themselves in his hair. Impatiently he lifted his wife back onto his thighs and rucked her skirt up around her middle, causing her to squeak and cling to his shoulders and he balanced her.

"Loki," she whimpered as she laved her tender bud.

He chuckled and ran his fingers along her clothed slit, pressing her panties against the moisture gathered.

"Annalise," he groaned, "I cannot express how much it pleases me that you react to our arguments like this," he accented his point by pushing the fabric aside and thrusting two of his fingers inside her dripping cunt.

She did her best to ignore him, unable to keep her hips from thrusting against his hand as she wrapped her own around his shoulders and neck.

"Loki, please," she whimpered, all thoughts of their daughter cast aside as her husband violated her in the most delicious ways possible. Her husband nibbled against her neck as he fingered her, slipping his digits inside her as she writhed in his lap. He idly nibbled at her collarbone.

"Would you defend me with the fierceness with which you defend your children?"

Annalise shook herself out of her reverie and paused, looking at her King in question.

"Wha-what?"

"Would you defend me? If Thor or Odin or some other force tried to overpower me? Would you fight for me as valiantly as you fight for Astrid?"

Annalise's face grew serious and she gripped Loki tightly.

"Yes, Loki. I'd fight for you with just as much passion."

He seemed to lose control at her admission, sucking and biting her neck as he pumped his fingers into her pussy. Her back arched as she twisted in his lap, her hips humping against his hand with every ounce of energy she had. His own hips surged against hers, his erection pressing deliciously against her rear as they moved together. Her crooked his talented digits and she cried out, her hands pulling his hair painfully tight as she began throwing everything she had into thrusting against him.

"You're mine, Annalise. Irrevocably. You'll bear my children, raise them and serve me for the rest of your life," he grit against her neck as he nibbled.

Annalise groaned, her cunt contracting over his fingers as he made his declaration. She objected to nothing. Instead, she keened, her head falling back as she exploded. Pleasure radiated from her core and shot through her body, firing through every extremity until she was too exhausted to hold herself up. Loki cradled her and whispered soothingly to her.

"My good, good girl," he crooned. "Such a regal force as my queen, and such a delicious slut in my bed."

She shivered, her face buried against his neck as she caught her breath. Once finished panting, she began pressing her lips against his tender skin, making him hiss when she nibbled gently.

"You said you were blue," she murmured.

Loki froze and proceeded to shove her off his lap. She landed with a grunt on the floor and glared as she rose to her feet.

"Loki, let me see you. I want to see you. Please?"

He continued staring daggers at her, his eyes cold and unyielding.

"I want to know my husband in every aspect of the word," she whispered.

His lip curled, "You want to know the monster. Fine."

Loki pushed her away once more, causing her to stumble and nearly fall. She ignored the act, instead watching him closely as he began to glow with a blue sheen. Slowly, his skin turned colors, from pale milk to a royal blue. She gasped, shaking her head in awe as he revealed his Jotun self to her.

"Do you like what you see, my Queen?" he sneered.

Anna took a tentative step forward, then another.

"Kneel."

He looked completely taken aback at her request, but after a moment, he bent his knees and sank to the floor.

"Is this what you wanted, Annalise? To feel superior to me?"

Annalise ignored his comments as she circled him, now that he was finally at a height she could properly view him at. He was beautiful. His maroon eyes made her cunt pulse and she longed to run her hands over his textured skin. When she came to the expanse of his back, she couldn't help herself. She brushed her fingers against the raised marks, groaning softly as he gasped.

"You're beautiful."

"Your sarcasm is wasted on me. I know what I am."

"Damnit, Loki." She sank to her own knees, making herself as vulnerable as he was. Cautiously she pressed her lips against the skin of his back, a small smile tugging at her lips when he shivered. Annalise continued to explore him, running her tongue along his textured skin until her it was practically numb from his cold flesh. She crawled before him, looking him in the eye as she settled with her rear on her heels.

When she spoke, she couldn't look him in the eye. The act was too intimate. Instead, she stared at his chest, her hands caressing the hard muscles.

"I love you, Loki. In case you have any doubt, which I know you do, because you're you. I love you as you were, and I love you like this. You're magnificent."

Without waiting for a response, she leaned forward, laving her tongue over one of his nipples before following the pattern of raised skin down his front. His stomach muscles contacted as she knelt lower, her tongue exploring and licking curiously. Eventually she gathered the courage to look up at him, and she did, she groaned. His eyes were half shut, his long hair almost obscuring his face.

"I'm not sure I entirely believe you, little queen."

She nipped at his flesh in anger, but refused to part with it. He gave a pained laugh and buried his fingers in her hair.

"You little minx, don't bite me." She, of course, nipped at him again. He chuckled. "Alright, alright. I believe you. For now."

She rewarded him by trailing her tongue along his biceps and down his forearms, licking the crease of his elbow. Slowly she made her way to his hand. Making clear eye contact, Annalise took a digit into her mouth and sucked firmly, making them both groan.

"Fuck," he growled.

Annalise smiled around his finger, pleased that he felt pleasure at her ministrations. Loki fumbled with his trousers until they fell around his knees.

"If you truly want to pay tribute to your king, worship me," he hissed.

Annalise released his finger with a loud pop, and stubbornly looked him in the eye. When she kissed him, he barely responded, but she didn't allow herself to be discouraged. Pressing her lips firmly against his once more, she pulled away and maintained eye contact as she lowered herself. Without breaking his gaze, she wrapped her slender fingers around his bobbing cock, smiling in satisfaction as he pulsed in her grip.

"You doubt the sincerity of my reverence?"

Loki grunted in response, looking over her shoulder into the fire.

"Fine."

Without complaint, she gave the tip of his weeping cock a kiss, showering his member in affection as her lips traced the length of it. Loki growled and fisted a hand in her hair in warning, though a warning of what, she was unsure. Unbothered, she continued showering his cock with kisses and licks.

"Enough," he hissed.

Unable to help herself at her husband's gruff order, Annalise traced the length of him with her lips once more, bringing her mouth to the head. Looking up at him once again, she licked her lips and sank over him, groaning as she did so. Slowly she engulfed him, stopping only when her lips came into contact with his public bone as she took him down her throat. Loki grunted, fingers twisting in her hair as her mouth began its retreat. Loki still doubted her sincerity, but the feeling of her hot tongue running itself along him was overwhelming and he couldn't keep his hips from thrusting forward.

"Fuck," he snarled.

Annalise smiled around him until he roughly pushed her away, sending her sprawling on her back.

"You truly want to be with a Frost Giant, do you? You wish to bed a monster?"

Annalise spread her thighs in response, refusing to look away from him. He scoffed and crawled forward on his knees. Taking his cock in his hand, he pressed the tip of his cool member against her sopping slit and both groaned at the contact. He ran the head back and forth against her folds, spending extra attention to her clit until her hips rose up off the floor.

"Loki, please," she begged.

With a smirk, Loki surged forward, not giving her a chance to adjust to his length as he forced his way in. Annalise cried out, pulling his torso over hers so she could kiss him as he began to fuck her. Utterly surprised, Loki's hips thrust of their own accord, his rhythm hurried and frantic when he realized his bride refused to be disgusted or repulsed by his natural form. Instead, her fingers roved over his back as she cried out and whimpered, digging her nails into the heavily muscled flesh.

When he glanced down at her to find her eyes not only open, but staring desperately at him in his most monstrous form, he lost control. His hips snapped against hers as he let out a roar, pumping until he felt her convulse beneath him, her eyes only shutting when she could no longer bear the pleasure. As she arched beneath him, Loki came, shooting his cool Jotun seed into her.

Both lay panting, Annalise with her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Thank you for showing me yourself, Loki."

She peppered his neck and shoulder with kisses as he relaxed over her, fighting to keep from crushing her. Without a word, he sealed his lips over hers, silently thanking her for her acceptance of him.