Loki of Vanaheim (Part 3)

Late (Sigyn)

Wherever he went, I had no plans to welcome him with open arms or a concerned expression. Not at all. I fumed in the front room and rocked in the chair that once lived in the boys' room. Being left alone all day to care for two overexcited children made me immune to the annoying squeal of the wood every time I tipped backward. My only consolation was the fact that the twins wore each other out while bouncing off the walls, leaving me to stew alone in peace.

Moonrise insects soon gave way to the deep calls of nocturnal creatures outside the fortress walls. I gave up my post by the fireplace and sat at the kitchen table instead, scribbling angrily in my journal. No way to reach him. No word of when he might return. Had Loki's time in Don given him a taste of freedom, and he became capable of abandoning me? Was family life so burdensome?

My self-doubt spiraled into a pathetic self-pity. I knew I shouldn't have let him go with the boys alone. They overwhelmed him. He saw other men living their lives and having adventures...it isn't Lo's nature to be settled as we are. It was always a matter of time, wasn't it? I wiped my tears away and sniffled, now stuck in a paradox of being too upset and too tired to sleep.

The front door lock rattled quietly, and I startled. I didn't want him to see me looking a mess hunched over my diary, so I hurried to my position in the chair again and put on a scowl. It would serve him right to know how upset I was.

Loki entered with his face first. He scanned the room and found me. "Ginny? You're awake?"

"No thanks to you." I turned my gaze to the flames below and hoped they would dry any tears on my cheeks.

"Forgive me." He came in fully and shut the door. His tone was genuinely meek.

How annoying. I argued with him in my head and rocked ever faster, letting the chair speak for me. Aren't you going to tell me where you were? Aren't you going to mention how well I've kept this place since you've been missing all day? Aren't you going to ask how I could handle two children who were filled with the adrenaline of exploring someplace new? Battling Vali's demands for horses and keeping Narvi out of your pack, which also meant I wasn't allowed to look? You have some nerve to stroll in at such a late hour and—

Loki touched my hand gently. "Stand."

I rolled my eyes, but there was some hope in my heart that he had a good excuse. After all, he did return, didn't he? My knees creaked like the chair when I rose to my feet. "Now what?" I sneered, trying to emulate his old icy wall.

But whatever frost I brought to the room, he melted with his warm voice. "It's good you're awake."

"And why's that?"

"I would've woken you anyway." Firelight flickered across his face, but those eyes of his were brighter than I'd ever seen. He slowly dragged his open hand up my left shoulder and into my hair, twirling his elegant fingers around the small plait that was due to be retied.

My belly rolled in a sequence of knots that I wished to ignore in favor of admiring him. "Woken me for what?"

Loki leaned down and pressed his lips into mine—so tender, it was as if we'd never kissed before, and he was testing his own strength. The knots in my stomach flew away and sprouted goosebumps all over my arms and made my hair stand up. It hadn't been more than a week since we'd last made love, but his growing urgency reminded me of our first night together after many months apart on Asgard. Desperate, unyielding, with satisfaction a touch out of reach.

Despite his reasoning being a mystery, I slackened like soft clay. He could do whatever he wished, and I would not complain. This fervent attention more than made up for the hours I spent wondering where he was—or was it a spell that made me forget my near-blinding irritation when he first walked through the door? Had it really only been a few minutes?