Odin dismissed the three of you and you all left the conference room as soon as was seemly. Both Loki and Thor were still shocked, though you saw that Thor had accepted Odin's decision. He had finally realized that Odin had been grooming you and Loki to take over the throne for him one day. You'd been practicing and preparing for it. Now, it was just a matter of Loki being officially named heir.
Which would mean that one day you'd be queen.
It was strange to think of. It wasn't that long ago that you were a foster kid passed from house to house until you ended up with the Avengers. Now, you were a princess of Asgard. And eventually would be queen.
It was also hard to imagine an Asgard without Mama Frigga in it. She would always be the queen and you relied on her experience when you were working in the healing wing. Except... it had been years since you'd really relied on her. You'd taken over the healing wing for the first time years ago when Odin went into the Odinsleep and Frigga had been unable to assume the throne. Loki had assumed the throne in her absence and you took control of the healing wing. It had gone swimmingly, and you'd both been called upon to take over the throne multiple times since then. You should've been expecting this.
It wasn't that you weren't expecting it, just that you hadn't expected the official announcement now especially with the announcement that you were with child, with twins, being announced at the same time.
It was a lot to take in all at once and you could see that Loki had reached his limit of shocking news for the day. You placed your hand on his arm. "We'll see you at dinner, Thor," you told the oaf, who was dealing with his own shock. He nodded and went his own way, probably to drink with the morons. You didn't blame him for it today. "C'mon, Lo, let's head up to our room," you told Loki gently. You both needed to process all this information. Loki nodded and the pair of you walked back to your suite.
You saw your bag of books had been carefully unpacked on your bookshelves in the consort's suite. You rarely spent time in the consort's suite of Loki's chambers, but it was nice to have your own personal rooms on the occasion you did want privacy. It was also nice having servants since they'd moved and unpacked all of your books for you. It had taken a long time to get used to having servants. Now, you were definitely used to them on Asgard.
Loki closed your shared suite's door behind him after you were inside. He took a seat on his favorite couch in your sitting room with a heavy sigh. You sat next to him on the couch and wrapped your arms around him. "Are you ok?" you asked him gently.
"I-" he paused, tried to find words. There were tears in his eyes. "I never thought-" he faltered again.
You pulled his head down onto your shoulder and stroked his hair. It always soothed him when you played with his hair. He'd even given you a new lovelock for your hair after you'd used to one he'd given you to track him and save his life. "What's wrong, love?" you asked him gently, hoping he wasn't upset about the babies.
"Nothing's wrong," he reassured you quickly, even as his arms wrapped around you and he buried his head in your shoulder. He used to do the same to Frigga as a child and he still had the habit with you when he had emotions. He definitely had emotions today. "Everything is wonderful. It's just... it's... it's so much. All at once," he admitted softly. "I love every moment of it. It's everything I could possibly ever have wanted and more," he reassured you. "I just wasn't expecting to become heir to the throne. Or for you to be with child. Or twins. And especially not all on the same day,"
You stroked his hair soothingly. "I know, love, I know. It's a lot all at once," you soothed.
"I'm going to be a father,"
"Yes, Lo, an excellent father, 12 billions times a better father than Odin was to you,"
"I'm going to be a father to twins," the disbelief in his voice just grows, though so does the joy in his eyes
You laughed. "Yes, Lo, twins," you told your adorable overwhelmed husband.
"I can't believe. One child on Asgard is rare enough. But two??"
"I meant to ask earlier. Asgardians notoriously have a hard time conceiving, that's why it's such a shock that I'm pregnant already. Do you know..." you paused, knowing he hated talking about his Jotun heritage, but it would be important in the coming months for you to know more about his heritage. The children would be half-Jotun after all. "Do you know if that's the case for the Jotuns as well?" you asked him gently.
He shook head head, refusing to lift it from your shoulder while you were stroking his hair. Especially when discussing and uncomfortable subject. "I really don't know much about the Jotuns, not besides the lies and half-truths the Allfather fed us our entire lives. We were raised to think them nothing more than savages. We learned nothing more about them besides that. And how to defeat them in battle of course,"
"Fire," you said softly. Your Loki was weak to all heat, including Midgardian summers, too hot water, spicy food, and most especially fire.
Loki nodded. "Perhaps..." he sighed and tried again. "Perhaps it is time I learn the truth about the people I come from," he said softly, finally, finally accepting that he was Jotun. It took the knowledge that his children would be half Jotun, that you would be carrying half-Jotun children, for him to accept that they were his heritage and you both needed to know more about them.
For your sake
But more importantly, for the sake of the twins.
