Desolate Beauty {Pure Illusion Series: Book 5}

Chapter 15

A/N: Again, I'm getting bad at these releases. However, I'm still keen on finishing this story before this year is out, and with this being Chapter 15, we only have five chapters until the end. Work is eating away at me and my self loathing and missing that dude I've been missing since April is really eating me up. I hate having feelings and caring sometimes. 

Anyway, you'll notice that our timeline has been moving faster in these chapters and, for good reason. As our story starts to come to a close, it's essential that some of these pieces are brought quickly together. That being said, this is NOT the final Loki/Sigyn story I will be writing - but you'll just have to wait and see. So sit back, relax and enjoy chapter 15. 

❦

Sunlight streamed into the room, its' rays catching the Queen's face and causing her to stir. She yanked the sheets swiftly over her head, exhaustion had started to take a grip on her as of late.

Sigyn was now six months pregnant and her once flowing dresses that hid her shape so well were now beginning to tighten around her belly. The twins were growing larger each day, their movements sometimes causing her to wake up in the middle of the night and even at times, Loki as well. 

Rolling over, she put her hand out to snuggle into her husband, only to find an empty space. Sitting up, clutching one of the sheets to her naked frame, she found a note on his pillow. His beautiful scrawl indicated he would be back in two hours from his meeting and that he would take her to read in the garden. Much of the chaos that had surrounded Asgard in their return had quieted down, but the Queen knew there was more just beneath the underbelly of her kingdom. Perhaps part of her wanted to know but deep down, she would rather remain in the dark when it came to these matters. 

Pulling herself out of bed in an agonizing pace, she readied herself for the day.

It was times such as these that she reflected on her time in Asgard. She was but what the moon is to the sun in comparison to her former self. Memories flooded back to her days in the dungeons, of Theoric, Fandral and even Loki. He too had changed. Blue eyes swept over her frame in the mirror that had most recently changed. It had been a little over a year since she and the Prince had pledged their life to one another and a year since she had seen her "family" on Midgard. Time moved so quickly here in the realm of the gods. 

The gown she wore for today was gold, shimmering in the rising sun as it slipped over her smooth, silk-like, skin. Everything about her was regal, no longer the common peasant girl of Vanahiem.

It was then that she thought of Frigga, Loki's mother and the late Queen. Was she as strong as she had been in the face of adversity? Was she prepared for the tasks ahead of her such as Frigga had been with Odin? Thoughts of Odin stirred hatred within her, many times causing her to wonder why Frigga had ever put up with such a despicable man. Odin - the former King of Asgard. Odin – the man that wished for the son who had claimed the throne to be six feet under.

"My lady?"

A voice came from her door along with a soft knock, her thoughts of the former king dissipating in an instant.

"Come in Eméra."

Eméra came in; her soft brown hair had grown longer than when they had first met. It was half up and yet it still reached down the length of her back. She busied herself with her chores while Sigyn readied herself in the mirror.

"I believe I shall go down to the stables today. If I do not return in time, inform my husband that it is there that I shall be."

Eméra nodded with a small smile and finished up pinning up Sigyn's hair before setting the thin gold crown she wore out on a daily basis in her hair. Satisfied with her look, she bid goodbye to the chambermaid and headed down the halls to the stables.