{SET BEFORE THE EVENTS OF 'THOR'}
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"Did you know," she said, sitting on the ground and turning to the prince, "that Midgard has an entire language dedicated to flowers? Each of them mean something else. It's a very sweet way they can express emotio...
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Asmund yawned as he woke, then closed his eyes again, infinitely too comfortable to get out of bed just yet.
In the last month and a half, Asmund had felt better than he had in a long time. Without having to use illusions every hour of the day, he discovered a new amount of energy that he previously exhausted keeping secrets. This enabled him to live in a healthier and happier way.
Frey had left the palace the day before his wedding rather unceremoniously, claiming to need space to think things over. Asmund wasn't sorry to see him go. After the events of the last few months, he made Gale self-conscious and his brothers uncomfortable. As for Asmund... he had lost all respect for the man. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get those nights in the prisons out of his mind, those nights when they hurt him because of his father's orders.
"Morning, Your Majesty."
"I'm not a king yet," he mumbled without opening his eyes. "We're a few months off from that, future queen."
Gale smiled and played with his dirty blond curls, messy with bedhead. She kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
"Good morning, Your Highness."
He rolled over into his back, smiling up at her. "And how are my two favorite people today?"
"Tired, but good," she replied, laughing under her breath. Oh, how he loved that laugh.
"Then go back to bed," he said with a sleepy smile. "The sun's not even up yet, yndislef stelpa."
Gale smiled at the pet name, one he started calling her early in their romance. The day they met, he wanted to get her attention but didn't know her actual name. Yndislef stelpa, translated to 'lovely girl' from Icelandic, one of his many languages, was the first thing that popped into his head, and it stuck.
"They need me in the healing wing," she insisted, trying to escape, but strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back into the bed. "Asmund!"
"We have a few hours. The rest of the world can wait, so long as you stay right here with me."
She giggled and kissed him deeply. "Oh, all right."
"Your Highness!"
Asmund groaned and sat up, rubbing a tired hand over his face. So much for a few hours. The sun had barely begun to rise in the sky. Being in charge of an entire realm left him with little to no privacy. This didn't bother him as much as it would bother others purely because the first year of his marriage was a complete secret. While he didn't appreciate people barging in on his quiet moments, he preferred the interruptions to pretending that those quiet moments never happened.
