His Queen | Book 1

Fifty Two: Mourning Light

Large hands slyly make their way around her waist. Warmth and strength she is offered and the arms of the one she loves beings her into the circle of his body. Lips upon her head and soft words spoken gently in her ear. Sigyn turned to and the chamber is empty.

Silent.

Cold.

There is no warm body to comfort her. She is utterly and entirely alone.

Sigyn's arms fold up to hug herself in the lonely absence of her beloved. The first golden reaches of Asgard's morning suns peak over the horizons. Her hand dappled at her wet cheeks and the tear that dropped. She stood at the threshold of her balcony all night. It seemed like an eternity she stood there waiting.

(For what?)

Her husband to miraculously pull himself from the clutches of the void and return to her as has always done in the past. No. This time was different and she knew it. She could feel it in her magic.

Sigyn had cried until there was nothing left to cry with. That feeling is painful. Choking on your own sorrows after a certain point and yet it continues to hurt her in such ways it was torture. It would chock her up, blur her vision, make her head throb and hurt it felt like two Jotnar were crushing her head with ice.

And she was left to mourn when nobody could console her.

She was beyond that now.

Something deep down told her that her husband was just fine. That he would be back momentarily. Rather, in fact, he can't be gone. He was just down the hall completing his early morning duties and is on his way back to her. He always found a way to come back to her. Always. So what makes this time different, right?

Right?

The bifrost is destroyed. She can see it was from her view in the palace. And soon Asgard would be waking up to the terrible news. The observatory; gone. No way on or off Asgard. The realm of the gods sealed off.

Sigyn's maiden's soon came upon hearing the news. They silently trotted into her chamber with breakfast offering their deepest condolences for the lost prince and assured her he will return. As he always has. Helga informed the princess that the Seer has refused her invitation and right now Sigyn could not care. She thanked them kindly with a rough and sore voice.

She didn't touch her breakfast at all that morning, even once the suns were high and bright. Her doors are shut off and the blinds drawn shut. She returned to bed in hopes of sleeping away her grief. It was a wonderful thing to sleep and think of nothing - feel nothing. All her sorrows and worries are simply gone.

Vali, her only remaining son, soon exited his mothers chambers in failed attempts to comfort her in this time of grief and sorrows.

"She loved your father more dearly than life itself." Queen Frigga brought him into her arms. Her eyes also red with crying. Gentle fingers caressed the small of his back.

"Is it true, grandmother?" he softly asked.

Frigga took in a breath. She thought this would happen. "What is true?" she asked.

"My father... his true heritage is a lie?"

Frigga unlocked her arms. She let that breath go. "It is time you knew the truth, my boy. And it never should have been kept a secret from the start I urged your grandsire to tell the truth."

Vali's brows come together in confusion and shock. "Then why...?"

"To protect your father as a boy. To raise him as one of us and to make sure he never felt left out in anyway. Being the youngest prince is already hard enough." she cupped his cheek, and smiled warmly. "Odin may be mighty and cruel in his ways sometimes. But he cares deeply. In his own way."

"Then I wonder how he courted you? Such a kind and gentle woman to be his wife. It's almost uncanny."

"Times were different in the beginning." she explained. "The people needed a gentle word and kind heart. A womans touch to rule them when Odin's word became too harsh. That is why, when he found just a small babe abandoned in the cold of Jotunheim did his heart melt. He brought that mere babe home and raised a second son."

"So my father is a Jotnar after all."

Fright pushed for a smile. "Yes."

"And that too makes me one."

"Yes." she brushed gentle fingers through his braided hair. "But you shouldn't be ashamed of who you are. For all, in some way, are we descendants of the giants. Many gods bare children with the giants and other manner of creature. Ymir was the first giant and from him came the gods."

"I know the creation story." he told her. "Bor, son of Ymir, married a giant called Bestla and had three sons. Odin, Villi, and Ve. They slew Ymir and thrusted together the realms." Vali's head fell into his hands. "What am I to do? I cannot return home to Vanaheim with the bridge gone. I don't know who I am anymore or where I belong."

"Then I shall have it known!" Frigga firmly took his head into her hands and casted soft eyes into his bright blue ones. "You are Vali. Son of Loki and Sigyn, prince of Asgard and Vanaheim. Let no other tell you otherwise. What sort of god you choose to be is up to you and I hope to the fates that you choose to be a good one."

"I am the god of Vengeance. I will have my revenge one day."

"Until that day, Vali. Who are you going to be?"

He became silent to this. Frigga let him go and his eyes dropped back to the floor. "I don't know the meaning of love anymore. My whole life I watched my mother and father and thought I knew the ultimate secret. But I am torn now. I don't know what to believe. There is this doubt that my father is somehow alone for he always returned to my mother no matter what. Come Ragnarok he will be there to die with her."

"We cannot be sure. Loki is a strange being." she chuckled. Then she sighs again and her smile dropped. "If you and your mother believes there is hope, then so do I." Her words sounded empty as if she didn't believe them herself. It was all still to early to be able to tell if the trickster was truly gone. It was like trying to call one of Loki's lies, there is just no way of knowing.

Even the Queen, seldom in her heart, even she doesn't know the truth.

Vali feels eyes on him. Not just one but several pairs. He raised his head and perched there are Hugin and Munin. They cast their black beady eyes on the young boy gently cawing at him. "What is it?" the Queen questioned.

Odin is standing by the hall doors. He strides in with his spear Gungnir. He walks a few steps into the hall before stopping and Vali jumps to his feet. Frigga grabs him arm to stop the boy launching at the All-Father. He clenches his fist and his jaw is wound tight. "You could have saved him!" he barked.

Odin is silent.

"The all mighty and powerful Odin watched as his son, or is he really your son? fall to his death! You have caused my precious mother such grief I fear for her health!" Vali's voice pounced off the golden walls of the hall they sat in. "Perhaps this is what you wanted?"

Odin remained silent.

Vali thrusted his hand at Odin. "Still, you stand there and do nothing." he growled. He sucked in a shaky breath. "My father is gone."

"I have done plenty in my lifetime, boy, and I have lived a very long time. I created the world of Midgard and gave the man and women spirit of life. I have fought and conquered the nine realms in which we would be entitled to otherwise. I have made Asgard the glory that she is before you were you stand." he motioned a gentle hand. "And I still remain your king and grandsire and in my power I wield the bifrost magic. I can give you a way home if it what you so please."

Vali's snarl seems to drop.

Odin presented his spear forward. "I will not argue with you the wrong doings of your father but he chose his fate."

"What of my mother then? Am I to leave her here in her grief?"

"She is in mourning. There is nothing we can do to comfort her."

Vali turned away from Odin and at the far side of the hall he see's the page of his brother leaning against a pillar. Shaking his head. Vali turned the other way and made for the doors before he hurled his sword at Odin.