Heir to Jotunheim | ✔

Chapter Twenty Seven

~Dahlia's POV~

The house was quiet. Silent. Just how I liked it.

I pushed the back door open, shutting it softly behind me so it wouldn't wake the babies upstairs.

I slid my shoes off, placing them next to the door, then wandered barefoot around the garden, sinking my toes into the grass as a cool evening breeze swept around my arms.

I took a deep breath, lifting my eyes to the sky to watch the stars sparkle as it was finally night.

I felt like the last few weeks had been chaotic, all of my children were angry and upset and it was only now that the calm was beginning to show.

Tyr would be leaving to Jotunheim in two days time for a year, only coming back for holidays in line with Charlie and Maya's schools. Freya would be leaving a week later to move to Manchester, now she had secured the opportunity of a lifetime to work in costume design, a dream she's had for years.

Charlie was still quick to temper, like her dear father, but soon she would be the oldest in the house and I had a feeling she would feel happier then.

Maya was exhausted from school, complete burnout even though she was only in primary, but knowing that in a week, her body clock would have adapted to holidays, she could relax more.

Brooke's inability to speak wasn't worrying me as much as it had been - she was a happy child, she just communicated a little differently. And little Billy was still blue but very healthy, and finally beginning to sleep for longer than two hours at a time.

But my sleep schedule had been butchered since I had Brooke. She hadn't been a happy sleeper when she was younger, and Billy looked set to follow.

The ages of the children were spaced out pretty well, but there was still a lot of us, especially as my Dad had moved in too. But I loved all of them - even though I was sleep deprived this was the life I had dreamed of since I was younger.

The three younger children were asleep, Charlie was on her Xbox, Tyr and Freya were at their partners houses, and Loki was showing my Dad more Asgardian poetry.

Queit nights alone like this were rare, but reminded me of my time on Asgard.

The nights I would spend looking out of the window at the foreign land, the sounds of the lives being lived below.

Memories of Loki slow dancing with me on a balcony, his whispers in my ear, the ruined building where we confessed our attraction, the secret kisses, stolen nights together...

My heart swelled with the knowledge that he was mine, and I was his, forever.

Music began playing softly through one of the windows upstairs, gentle and smooth, the singer quiet as the piano keys played. It was perfect.

I walked to the tree in the corner, next to the flowerbeds, and lay down. The colours weren't too noticeable in this dark, but the smells were strong and my mind cleared as I began my daydream.

It was the same each time. I loved my life but I missed the intimacy of just Loki and I. So when there was calm, and I wasn't worried or stressed about the children, I remembered those stolen moments and played them out.

"Are you okay?" I blinked, but didn't lift my head as Loki's voice called gently across the garden.

"All good," I lifted my hand in half a wave as he walked over.

I tilted my head, watching as he bent down, still in trousers and his white shirt, and lay down beside me.

"I understand that star gazing is easier when there isn't leaves blocking the sky."