Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

She sat and watched them a little longer, and then rose to make her way around the palace. From the Northern Courtyard, she followed the black slate walkway down to the beach, where she and Loki often brought the kids to swim and play in the sand. Then came the Eastern Courtyard, where some of the most beautiful gardens in Asgard could be found.

The path wound down to the Bifrost and she made her way to the observatory, where Heimdall greeted her with a smile. “Good morning, Your Highness.”

“Good morning, Heimdall. Do I dare ask?”

“He is fine. It’s becoming a bit more difficult to see him, but I believe he has found Thanos. He was meeting with an informant of sorts last evening.”

“Let me guess, one with blue hair and skin?”

“Yes. I believe she is going to help him.”

“I’ll just bet she is,” McKenna grumbled.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nothing, Heimdall.” She forced a smile to her lips. “Can you see him now?”

“No. He faded from view earlier. Now, we wait.”

“Wonderful.”

“He knows he can call me at any time, Princess McKenna, and I will open the Bifrost for him.”

“I know. I just feel better when you can see him.” She absently rolled the stroller back and forth. “And I assume that if you can’t see him, neither can that cube.”

Although she expected it, her heart still sank when Heimdall nodded. “That is so.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll try not to bug you too much.”

“It is no trouble, Your Highness. Come as often as you wish.”

“Thank you, Heimdall.”

And with that, she left, making her way back to the palace. It was time for lunch for the twins, and then Eir and Kirsten shooed her away for some quiet time for herself.

With nothing else to do, she went to the stables and smiled at Stellan. “Sunrise, please?”

The stable boy bobbed his head. “Of course, Your Highness.”

A few minutes later, he returned with the golden palomino Loki had given her last year, with the hopes she would develop an affinity for riding. Although she preferred being atop Ravn with him, she also enjoyed riding Sunrise, and had become quite proficient at it and now, swung up into her saddle as if she’d been riding her entire life.

At the paddock, she found Odin and his older grandchildren, Selig astride Cap, his pony and Aislinn astride her pony Snowball. She smiled. They were both natural horsemen, like Loki and Odin before them, and she didn’t worry about them quite as much as she used to.

She sat there, watching them and listening to their laughter as they enjoyed themselves. It was a relief to see and hear, as she certainly didn’t want them moping about and she was certain Loki hadn’t told them he might not return.

“Mommy!” Selig came thundering over. “What’re you doing here?”

“I came to see what you guys were doing? Having fun?”

“Mommy! Bestefar told me he’d teach me to jump!” Aislinn beamed at her.

“He did not,” Selig told her. “He said you could learn in a few years, but not yet.”