Winter's Hearts

Chapter 23

"Fine," he said with a sigh, putting up with your eccentricities this time. You'd remove the glyph as soon as you found him again after spending time with your mother. "Ladies," he bid you both and offered a more polite bow to your mother before he made his way across the hall to his own suite from where he'd presumably send a message to the maids about your chambers.

Your mother turned to you and hugged you again. "I have not seen him this happy since his Father ordered your exile," she told you when the hug broke and she linked her arm with yours so you could walk with her to her chambers. They were a couple floors down with most of the rest of the Valkyrie. You'd always been assigned to Loki, even years and years before you'd become his official Valkyrie. Frigga had decided you should live across the hall from him instead of down with the other Valkyrie. You knew she saw a lot more of the future than she let on, though you hoped she hadn't seen that your exile would last 900 years.

You spent a long time catching up with your mother, sitting in her sitting room with her. You told her of your life on Midgard and finding the princes again, breaking the memory charms, everything that had happened since. You showed her your engagement ring.

The hour was late indeed when you had caught up with at least all of the basics. It was so great to see her again. She had begged, pleaded, threatened, and everything else she could think of to get Odin to unbanish you, but it had been to no avail. She hated that you'd lost 900 years of your life alone on Midgard when you should have been here living your life with Loki. You'd lost him longer than you'd had him. You were going to make it up by spending the rest of your very long lives together.

"I don't know how long we'll be home this time," you told your mother before you left her chambers. She'd offered to walk you back to your suite, but you'd declined. A Valkyrie was perfectly safe in the palace and you could take care of yourself if there was trouble. "We left Midgard suddenly and our teammates will worry if we don't return soon,"

"You have your work to do as do all Valkyrie. I'm sure I will see you again soon, Daughter," she bid you warmly and hugged you again before you left her chambers. You stepped into the hall and focused on the tracking glyph you'd left on Loki's hand. You sighed heavily when it wasn't pointing to his chambers where he was supposed to be, but towards Thor's idiot warrior friends' sittingroom. At least you'd had a feeling they were going to kidnap your Loki.

So you trudged over to their sittingroom when all you wanted to do was get some sleep. It had been a long day. You burst into the warriors' sitting room and they cheered when they saw you. "Kyrie!" they shouted, raising their mugs of ale. Thor, Loki, Lady Sif, and the Warriors Three were all sitting around the various couches and huge pile of food that always lived in this room. Loki was smashed, you noticed the second you walked in. You wondered how soon after you left that they kidnapped him and how much they'd spiked his drink with. His cheeks were nearly purple, which only happened when he was fevered or drunk.

"Hi boys, Sif," you greeted them as if the last 900 years hadn't passed. "You seem to have stolen my fiance," you told them dryly. The boys started to hug you, but then realized that you were a lady now, and got confused. They were also rather drunk. You laughed and hugged them anyway. Just because they were morons, didn't mean they weren't family.

They pressed a mug of ale into your hands and insisted that you sit and talk with them until you'd finished it. You smirked and downed the entire giant mug in one gulp to even more cheers. "Sorry boys, it's been a long day. I'm sure we'll be home at least another day. I'll catch up with you tomorrow, I swear,"

"At least let us see the ring!" they protested. You sighed and held out the ring for inspection.

"Kyrie~" Loki's arms wrapped around you and he hauled you into his lap. Shit, Loki was drunk.

"Darling, what did Thor's idiot friends feed you?" you asked him gently.

Volstagg held up a flask. "The good stuff," he replied with a grin. You rolled your eyes. Of course it was the fancy good stuff. Ale didn't make your Loki this clingy, silly, or lead-tongued.

"You guys just want to see me haul his drunk ass to bed," you grumbled at them as you got off of Loki's lap and hauled him to his feet. He didn't protest until you had bent, gripping his leg, his arm still held firm and hauled him up onto your shoulders in a fireman's carry. You could just toss him over your shoulder, but it was easier to distribute his weight across your shoulders now that he was bigger than he'd been the last time Thor's idiot friends had gotten him drunk enough that you had to haul his drunk ass to bed.

"Kyrie~ put me down~" he whined, but didn't struggle for fear of falling. You held him securely anyway. He tended to get squirmy once you started moving.

The idiot warriors cheered again at the sight of Loki being carried by his Valkyrie. It had always entertained them, as did drunk Loki. You flipped them off for it, good naturedly, but still. They cheered harder and your rolled your eyes. "I'll see you guys later. Thunderhead, I trust you can find your bed on your own." He raised his mug of ale in reply. That wasn't an answer, but he wasn't strictly your responsibility.

"You're strong," drunk Loki commented as you started from the room. You sighed. Drunk Loki had a lead tongue and tended not to shut the fuck up.

"Why'd you let them get you this drunk, my darling silly love?" you asked him, teasing.

"Didn't know it was Odin's good stuff until after they'd poured the first mug down my throat," he whined. You sighed in exasperation. Of course they hadn't told him. He was reluctant to get this plastered. "I love you~"

"Yes, yes, I know," you replied dryly. You should have just teleported up to his room, but it was habit to walk the journey back with your drunk charge, or charges occasionally when Thor was too drunk to function. They deserved the embarrassment for getting that drunk.

"Put me down now~ I can walk~"

"Sure you can," you replied sarcastically. You finally made it back to his suite and opened the door. It was perfect and home and just how you remembered it. You carried him through your shared sitting room, past his private workroom's door to his bedchamber and dumped him unceremoniously on the bed. He giggled. Actually giggled. "You're going to be a mess in the morning," you informed him as you tugged off his boots, and socks. He was too drunk to function on his own. You were going to kill Thor's idiot friends.

"I can undress myself," he protested and you saw a hint of a shimmer of green magic. You smacked his arm, not hard, just enough to get his attention.

"Stop that. Magic and booze don't mix," you reminded him firmly. He pouted and looked like your harsh words were going to make him cry. You kissed him lightly. "C'mon, let's get you tucked into bed," you told him gently. You tugged his armor's top up over his head. He tried to kiss you, which was very hindering to this process. You gave him a kiss when the top was off and tossed unceremoniously on the floor. A couple more kisses and his undershirt followed. The question came about if you were brave enough to find out if he was wearing underwear. You finally decided to brave it, because leather armor pants could not be comfortable to sleep in. You also weren't sure if you were relieved or disappointed to find that he was in fact wearing underwear.

You didn't dwell on that, but instead managed to get him to lie down in the bed and stop trying to kiss you for thirty seconds while you got the blanket up over him. You stole one of the tunics from his dresser to wear. You weren't using magic in front of him while he was this drunk. He would get ideas and something would blow up. You dressed quickly before he could miss you too much and do something stupid like try to get up, and climbed into bed. You pulled him to you and kissed his forehead when he contentedly laid his head on your chest. He was asleep in moments while you stroked his long hair. "Mine," he murmured while he was falling asleep.

"Yes, darling. Now get some rest," you told him softly.

Silly drunk trickster.

You kissed his forehead again, used magic to snuff the lights, and curled more comfortably to get some sleep yourself.