The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 52

Time passed quickly, once the hubbub about news of Thor's coronation as well as my victory died down anyway. Word of my power spread like a wildfire throughout the kingdom, as well as the fact that Loki was openly courting me. That fact increased his standing with the general public, which was good for his ego and his conscience. Five months passed in no time and the hatchlings could no longer stay in the center of the maze. At half a year old, they were squeezed into the area at about the size of Kurt and far too big to stay in the maze. We had moved them to the clearing a month ago and set up magical barriers to act as fences and as they grew, not only did we expand their field of influence but they had to rely more and more on themselves for their food. Since going out to see them was an hourlong trip at the least, it was nearly impossible to go and see them every day. Even three times a week was difficult for both of us to find time to slip away for a long enough time. Not only that, but the hatchlings had hit their first of three major growth spurts and required more food than we were able to provide. Most of this growth spurt focused on their wings, and making them proportionate to the rest of their body. The next one, which would be in about a year from now, would function to increase their muscle mass and the third a year after that. The dragons had yet to show any sign of their breath weapons but Kaylinth, who checked in on them from time to time, assured us that it was totally normal and that each dragon was different as to when they developed the skill.

Preparations for the coronation were proceeding on schedule, Loki had gotten out and dusted his barely-used ceremonial armor as well as a certain piece of attire I had never seen before. His golden, horned helmet.

"Ram horns?"

"Thank you!" He nearly shouted, "Thor has always calls them cow horns!"

"Well what funny thing does his helm have?"

"Feathers."

"So he's a pigeon." I practically saw the light bulb above Loki's head and his lips curled upwards into the smirk I knew so well.

"Ohhhhh, that'll be good. Thank you for that."

Later that same week, as I was gradually siphoning my energy into my rings when I finally felt it get harder to do. The rings eventually had limits as to how much energy they could store without breaking down the magical barrier that stored the energy in the first place. It was kind of like filling an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a single bathroom faucet. At last, I had enough energy to provide Loki with another glimpse to my past.

"What is it?" He asked as he slipped into bed with me. I hadn't even noticed he was in the room until he said anything. I had been contemplating what I should show him but hadn't been making much headway.

"I uhh...." I looked up at him. He looked totally unaware of what I had been thinking about. The last time I had shown him a vision, he had gone into a sort of daze for a few days. It hadn't impaired him at all but sometimes he would kind of zone out in the middle of a conversation with me and that, unfortunately, was one of the possible short-term effects of memory sharing but now he seemed to be ok.

"It's nothing."

"Clearly not. What troubles you, dove?" He rolled onto his side to face me, bringing a hand up to cradle my face.

"Do you remember what we....did....at Kaylinth's layer?" And just like that, Loki's eyes seemed to fade a bit and spark up at the same time. He was no longer untroubled but he was insanely curious.

"So what are my choices again? Early life and what else?" I thought for a moment about how to sum everything up for him without taking an hour. Then it came to me and I rose from the bed.