Coming Home (Sequel to This Time Around)

Chapter Forty-Five

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Loki rolled onto his back and opened his eyes. The room was quiet. No McKenna. No babbling Kyra.

No pain in his lower back.

He stretched and groaned softly in appreciation. McKenna had magic hands. Somehow, he didn't think even Eir could ease the pain as well as his wife did. It seemed his back bothered him even more since his confrontation with Thanos.

Thanos.

McKenna hated the idea of him still existing and she didn't even know the entire story of what happened when Loki let go of Gungnir and fell from Asgard. All he would say was that she was better off not knowing. And he strongly felt she was better off not knowing.

He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, and reached up to rub his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in the process. He didn't like to think about the hell he'd endured at Thanos' hands. The more he thought about it, the worse his nightmares became and McKenna was already troubled enough by his nightmares as it was. But at the same time, he didn't want to give her nightmares, either, and if he told her what happened on Titan, she would never sleep peacefully again.

He tried to forget. At times, he even managed to, for a little while—such as when he was playing with the children, or when McKenna was in his arms—but then it came roaring back in the vivid nightmares that left him sweating and moaning and thrashing about in the sheets.

Thanos knew what he had in having an Asgardian prince land almost literally at his feet. And when he discovered the betrayal Loki's suffered, and that he was not Asgardian but was, in fact, Jötunn, it almost sealed Loki's fate entirely.

A Frost Giant. Midgardian summers were difficult on him, as his lower body temperature meant that once the air temperature rose above sixty degrees or so, he was far warmer than Midgardians. When they were in New Jersey, the central air conditioning went on in late March or early April and they didn't shut it off until October, sometimes not until November. McKenna was a good sport about it, as she knew that not only did the warmth affect Loki, but it affected their children were as well, and so she thought nothing of tugging on her favorite Rutgers sweatshirt in the middle of July.

Thanos knew Loki's weakness as a Frost Giant. And he, of course, used that weakness to his advantage.

Heat.

Fire.

Anything and everything that would break the Asgardian prince.

Loki squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will the dark thoughts from his mind. If he didn't, he'd go mad again. Just as he did six years earlier.

"Loki? What's the matter?" McKenna's voice floated through the darkness, a beacon of golden light in a sea of despair.

McKenna.

She was his beacon of golden light in every way possible.

He lifted his head and forced a smile to his lips as she came into the room. "Nothing. I'm just trying to wake up."

A small furrow appeared between her eyebrows, but she didn't press. Instead, she moved to sit beside him. "I was just coming to wake you. Selig is up and asking for his funnel cake."

Thank the gods. Another welcome distraction. "How is he feeling?"

She smiled and nodded. "Much better now. His side is a little sore and Eir doesn't want him doing much for the next week or so, but he's going to be just fine. I've already spoken to Miss Elke about tutoring him while we're here."