Eagle (A Loki love story)

Chapter 131

Mira's POV

When we landed in the Bifrost sphere, Dreyma was screaming, clearly traumatized by the transport. It was odd for me to not see Heimdal and his golden armor greeting us, but instead a shorter, bald man in blue and black.

"My King." He knelt down.

"Rise." Skurge's eyes glanced over at me, and the shrieking bundle in my arms.

"It is good to see that you have returned healthy, my Queen." My mouth fell open, but then slowly shut. I suppose he was right, Loki was King and as his wife, that made me Queen. I looked up at Loki, not entirely sure what to say.

"I am equally elated. And I am certain that news of our return will not be reaching the public from you."

"No, your Majesty."

"Good." He put me down on unsteady feet and moved so I was behind him, "Grab hold, love. Give Dreyma to Eir." I did as he asked, placing my hands on his shoulders, "Legs around my waist." It took me a moment to figure out how to do that, I got ready to just jump, but the pain that caused made me think twice. Tentatively, I hoisted one leg up and Loki grabbed it under my knee to give me support. Holding my breath, I pushed off the ground and got the other one around, locking my arms around his neck. The burn was excruciating, but I was up.

"Why did we do this again?"

"Hold on." With no more warning than that, Loki dropped forward to go on hands and knees, only he didn't fall nearly as much as I had braced for. Instead, I felt him grow taller, his body widened significantly, and his neck became elongated. In the span of a few seconds, I found myself suddenly astride a huge black stallion. Out of panic, I grabbed his mane tightly and pulled hard. Loki let out a squeal.

"Careful! That comes out, you know!"

"Then give me a little more detail next time!" While Loki's particular breed of horse wasn't very wide to begin with, his girth still made me stretch past comfort. I winced and squeezed his sides.

"Are you in pain?"

"A little." I shifted a bit on his back, getting used to the feel of his muscles moving beneath me. Eir handed Dreyma up to me, but only after we'd gotten me wrapped in a dark, nondescript cloak. Dreyma was still crying when I got her back.

"You two head for the palace now, I will follow shortly and visit you in the morning." Loki bobbed his head and started forward at a walk.

Previously when I'd travelled up or down the bridge, I'd either been in a rush and using my powers or at least trotting on a horse. So it wasn't until now that I was able to fully appreciate just how long this bridge was. There was a large golden gate just outside city limits, and I thought we'd be stopped when I spotted guards patrolling, but Loki must've used some kind of mental manipulation, because the gate opened just enough for us to breeze through and no alarm was sounded. The bridge was so long in fact, that I managed to calm Dreyma down before we even reached the gate.

In all the time I had spent in Asgard previously, it seemed like it never slept. There were always people up late partying, as well as those up early for training or other duties. But now, in the wee hours of the night, the city was completely quiet and deserted. The only light coming from torches that lit the way to the palace and even then, some of them were burning low. We got into the courtyard as easily as we got through the gate, and once in a secluded area, Loki stopped.

"I'm going to lay down now so you can dismount." With that, his knees buckled and his legs folded. I'd never seen a horse actually lay down before, but now that I was astride Loki while he was doing it, I developed a whole new respect for it. As soon as I slid off his back, Loki transformed back into himself. It was odd to see him in such a horse-like position on the ground, but he quickly got to his feet and dusted himself off. Then, he swung me into his arms once more.