Midnight in the garden of mischief & mayhem

Chapter 15

As we whizzed off, my curiosity finally got the best of me. "Loki, will you just tell me where we're going?"

"It's close."

I groaned. "That is not a hint my love, that is a tease."

All I got in response was a taunting grin, so I contented myself with watching the scenery fly by around us. The water sprayed up from the hull of the boat, and I felt the little drops touch my skin like a cool mist. This sort of perfection didn't seem like it should exist. I mean, wasn't there always some sort of conflict? Some plot twist that left the main characters in turmoil. I stood in the boat watching the golden city roar by with the man I loved by my side and thought that maybe there didn't always have to be an interruption in happiness. Perhaps there were happy endings after all.

"We're here." Loki almost had to shout over the wind rushing by our faces. He pointed at an island not far from us, rimmed in reddish-gold by the setting sun. A beach rose up out of the water with the whitest sand I had ever seen. From the beach, the ground sloped up to a little house that sat right inside the treeline. The rest of the island consisted of dense green forest from what I could tell.

Loki pulled the boat around the island and into a small cove that had been hidden from my sight before and tied the boat to a small pier that jutted out from the sand. Small waves lapped at our feet as we alighted and I looked around in wonder. We were only perhaps a few miles outside the city but this seemed like a different world. Exotic birds called from the treetops, somewhere in the distance I could hear a waterfall, and the whole island had a moist earthy smell that reminded me of the interior of a conservatory.

Apparently Loki had transported our things here with his magic this morning, so we walked up the beach hand in hand. I still couldn't believe that we were finally married. I had known Loki for the better part of my life and it seemed like a lifetime ago that that innocent child had wandered into a hidden garden and met her dark-haired prince. What would she think if she could see us now?

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I woke up the next morning just before sunrise. Loki still slept soundly beside me, his chest rising and falling in rhythm. Slipping silently out of bed, I pulled on the long-sleeved shirt he'd worn the previous day, and let myself out onto the balcony that branched off the living room.

As I watched the clouds turn rosy, the events of the previous night came to me in hazy, half-remembered moments, like pages torn from a book. I remembered how his hands had felt as they held me, the way his mouth had moved, hot and insistent upon mine. I felt almost as if I could still hear his whispered "I love you"s, that I could still feel his body beneath my fingertips.

I stepped down onto the beach, the cool sand pushing up between my toes. Waves lapped at the pristine white of the shore and I wandered down to the edge of the sea, the cool water flooding over my toes. The sun was rising on the horizon, leaking crimson across the sky. I couldn't even see the city from here, and somehow I thought that Loki had probably done that purposefully. He had told me he wanted no distractions while we were here, nothing but us. 

"Allyra?" Loki's voice floated through the open doorway. I silently walked back up to the balcony and peered into the kitchen. He was standing in the doorway of the bedroom, wearing only his pants, and rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What were you doing out there?"

"Watching the sunrise," I replied, "I love it here." I breathed in deeply, the ocean breeze mingling with the scent of wood and linens that permeated the little house. "I never want to leave."

A smile spread across Loki's face, accompanied by a look so full of love that I blushed to the roots of my hair. "Then it's yours, and we can stay here for the rest of our days, just say the word." He walked toward me, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace. His breath tickled my ear as he murmured "How about breakfast?"

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We spent two weeks on our little island, completely isolated from everything. I couldn't believe how filled up I felt. By the end of our honeymoon, I felt like our love was infused in this place. Every part of the house held a memory for us. The very walls held so many of the most sacred kind of secrets: those whispered by lovers in the dark. 

I lost all track of the days, time moved so slowly here. But the time still came for us to get back on the boat back to the palace. I said a silent goodbye to our paradise and we set out.

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When we arrived back at the palace, preparations were underway for Thor's coronation. Flowers were being strung along the archways by servants. Everywhere there was movement and all of the people in the city seemed excited. All but one. 

Loki never spoke of the upcoming ceremony, and I could tell it was hard for him. He was happy for his brother, I could see that, but it also killed him to watch his chance at the throne taken away. He didn't believe Thor was capable of handling the responsibility of ruling Asgard and I tended to agree. Still, it didn't matter whether we had judged him to be right for the throne.

A king was about to be crowned.