A Royal Arrangement

Chapter 19

- Vidarr's Pov -

I was lounging in a chair in the tailor's office. I was knackered. I hardly got any sleep before Baldur came bounding in like a lamb, claiming that he needed a new suit-making up. Obviously, I declined, wanting to spend the day nursing the hangover I was suffering from. But then our mother ordered me to go with him. I will make him regret waking me up.
"Are you new here?" Baldur asked the woman standing across from him. I noticed she was rather attractive, with her long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.
"I am, My Lord," she said shyly, proceeding to put her stuff away in a hurry.
"Oh..." Baldur laughed after a couple of moments and he pointed to her "You have something in your hair, a piece of fabric," upon which she furiously tried to remove the thing from her hair but it refused to budge "Wait, hold still... I'll get it," he said taking a few steps forward, but she retreated and flinched so badly he halted in his movement. He didn't speak and she didn't either but not for long she ran away sobbing to some room in the back.
"What did you do?" I asked, slowly standing up.
"Nothing. I went to take some ribbon out of hair," Baldur tilted his head. I sighed.
"Come on," I grabbed my brother and we went to find the young lady.

We rushed to the back room, where we found the young lady crying over a desk.
"Are you alright?" my brother asked which startled her as she looked in his direction and then got up a moment later.
"Did someone hurt you?" he asked after a few minutes but she didn't give him an answer "My lady, We can see you are upset. We only want to help. Has someone hurt you?"
"No. No one has hurt me," The lady sniffed "It is just a bad day,"
"Is there anything we can do?" I offered.
"Please don't tell Madame Sophie about me crying. Please, sir. I need this job," she said before turning away, grabbing her coat and making a quick exit. Baldur and I looked at each other.

"Well, it seems that while Mother made everything promise not to hurt you but the mistletoe, I think that curse took away your natural ability with women," I mocked. Baldur clicked his tongue and faced me "I mean what hope is there in the world if Thor and Loki can pull but you can't? I thought you said you were the most charming brother out of us all?" Baldur shoved his fat finger in my face.
"Vidarr... I... Shut up," Baldur walked away. I swear that steam came out of his years.
"Great comeback, brother," I taunted. I may have chosen violence this morning. I heard Baldur sigh "Even better response... exhaling!"
"Are you always going to be this annoying?" My brother raised his voice at me.
"I am 500 years older than you. So yes, It is the older siblings' duty to be annoying," I grinned.
"I wish Mother made you stay home. I would have preferred Father's company," Baldur complained.
"So do I. So do I," I then proceeded to make his day hell.

- Loki's Pov -

As much as I didn't want to, Mother was right. Escaping Asgard temporarily was a good idea (Though I will never let her know that) since everyone knew what had happened between me and Dimitri. I wasn't proud that I let my temper get the better of me. and certainly not proud that my brothers were involved but confronting Dimitri was something I had to do. I had thrown and received some serious blows but by the end of the fight, Dimitri had looked worse than me. I had got away with only a few bruises. After fighting with Thor, the siblings and the warriors three, I had to learn to duck. Volstagg had a habit of launching his axe.

As Hela also suggested, I took Vesper to Midgard. (Despite wanting to rule the mortals once upon a time) I loved spending time in London and New York and could not wait to show Vesper his favourite spots. Only Vesper was completely silent when we arrived at Trafalgar Square.
"What is wrong?" I asked and Vesper turned to me with a puzzled look on her face.
"This is London?" she asked for clarification to which I nodded with a smile and then she stared out again in silence.
"You don't like it?" he inquired upon which she turned to him again.
"Of course, I do... It's just so busy and full of life," she said with an enchanted look in her eyes which he found amusing.
"Come, let us find where we are staying," I wrapped my arm around Vesper and led her away—laughing as she squealed when the pigeons flew around.

Our house for the week was on Baker Street. I chose it there as I do love old English Literature. It was comfortable. I gave her a short tour of the house and then walked to Hyde Park where flowers had bloomed everywhere as it was now Spring.

We walked hand in hand through the garden in silence, enjoying each other's company, and sat on a bench.
"I can see why you love this place so much," Vesper mentioned after a short silence.
"I have many fond memories. Despite trying at one point to overthrow these people," I explained.
"Why did you try to do that??" she asked me curiously in a soft voice.
"I was under someone's control. He wanted to destroy half the universe because of a stone called The Mind Stone. It is one of the six infinity stones. I was not myself,"
"There are 10 stones," Vesper added. I tilted my head at her.
"When did more appear?" I exclaimed.
"I do not know but my father once spoke about it. But he also said that they were spanned across many universes,"
"My father once had two in his possession. The Space Stone and the Aether. Both nearly caused the end of my life. Both made me realise that my father was right. The Stones were dangerous and should have been destroyed once they were discovered." I then coughed. I don't normally agree with Odin.
"You don't speak about Odin very much," Vesper sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder.
"I do look up to him. He might be a delusional old man but," I answered with a wistful look on my expression "I hope to become half as good as a father as he was... one day," I know the hint wasn't exactly very subtle but I wanted to get a start on the subject at least. Vesper looked at me timidly. And I may have started to worry, fearing that I should not have said anything.
"I hope so too," she said softly.
"Would you... would you want to have children with me?" It was an idiotic question but the sentence had escaped his mouth before I could stop it. She chuckled for a moment and then put her hand on my face and caressed it gently.
"Who else will I have children with?" she replied "I do think it would be helpful to wait a while... We haven't been married a year yet," she added cautiously "Maybe in a few months we can discuss this matter?" she added.
"Of course, that's a good idea. I'm only glad we're on the same page," it was a start. I took her hand, brought it to my mouth, and kissed it with a smile.

We got up and wandered around the park. It was a warm day today, too warm for the time of year. Vesper tilted her head as something caught her eye and she bent to pick up the object. A blue football.
"Is it common for people to play with weirdly stuffed balls here that look like Vali's head?" Loki grinned and Vesper asked what that was.
"Indeed," I waved a hand over to a group of young men kicking a ball back and forth between them "It's called Football. Midgardians have a fondness for the sport."
"It sounds fun... Maybe we should invite our siblings over one day during our stay here," she suggested as she placed the ball on a bench. I slowly walked up to her and pulled her towards me.
"Maybe another time. You see, I'd like to be alone with you for the week without... other people interfering. After all, we are on our honeymoon," I said, cheekily. Vesper blushed "Shall we go back to our room?"
"Oh, I'd still like to see some of London," she said innocently.
"Fine. Then I'll show you to our room. You haven't seen it yet,"
"Oh... we can do that later," Vesper innocently conveyed.
"No, we can't definitely do that later," I laughed. I picked Vesper up and threw her over my shoulder. She squealed and then started laughing.
"Okay. Okay! Put me down! I can walk!" Vesper made very little attempt to escape my grasp.
"Oh, but darling, this is more fun," I grinned and walked quickly to our room.

That night, As I watched Vesper sleep, I thought to myself that while I was lucky I still couldn't understand why I still felt uneasy. It was bothering me. Everything was going well. I was happily married, which hadn't been the intention at all. I was so set on having a marriage of convenience and seeking comfort with several ladies in the local brothel if there had not been feelings and attraction towards Vesper. But thank god there was. Way more feelings than I had accounted for. If she would allow me, I would make love to her all day. Why did I still feel as if I was longing for closure? Perhaps it was closure to my old life? Naturally, There were times when I missed my old life. I was now responsible for the finances and affairs of my own household. Maybe that is why my mother suggested that I take a holiday. Vali joked that I had grey here and there in my hair.

As the clock struck midnight, I heard a voice in my head. Heimdal was calling me. Sighing, I carefully climbed out of bed and went to sit on the balcony.
"This had better be worth my time," I sat on the floor and closed my eyes. Using my mind, He called out to Heimdall. It was a thing that all Asgardians could do "Where is that idiot?"
"I can hear you know," Heimdall spoke, Making me jump.
"Why did you want me?" I huffed. Aiming a middle finger to the sky.
"Two reasons. Firstly, your brothers wanted me to check up on you. Vali stands with me now," Heimdal stated. I heard Vali say hello.
"I'm his older brother, I do not need a babysitter," I scoffed. Heimdall laughed.
"The last 1500 years were for nothing then,"
"What else did you want, Heimdall? You said that you called for two reasons," I changed the subject.
"Sigyn Hellstrand is performing for one last time at The Golden Globe," I disconnected the link as I opened my eyes.