He leaned into her touch and adjusted his position so than she was sitting between his legs, her body resting against his chest. "I'd love nothing more than to listen to you talk of our child for hours on end my deafest one." he said with a smile, pressing his lips to hers in a gentle kiss, seemingly never able to get enough of her. "tell me what you have in mind while I check." he reasoned, resting his hand on the center of her belly and shutting his eyes. In less than a few moment's his hand started to glow slightly with a goldfish tint.
She settled against him, letting her own eyes close as she started to talk softly. "If it's a boy, I liked Arvid or Frey, Leif, maybe Liam." Slowly, she shrugged, fiddling with the fabric of her dress as she smiled, "Something like Alaric also crossed my mind… or Noah. I'm not sure with boy names. I feel like I would know what to choose when I see our child in person if they're a boy. For girl names…I really liked Brenna or maybe Freja, like your mother. Iona and Tatiana sounded pretty too." Again she paused, tipping her head back to look up at him, "What about you? Any names you liked?"
He smiled, loving all the names she had said so far, though more drawn to others. "I'm liking Alaric and leif for the boy names though all of them are wonderful. As for the girl names, I'm honored that you'd consider a name close to our Mother's." he pressed a kiss to her brow. "They all sound great my love, truly." he paused for a moment before smiling softly "ready to find out what they are?"
Avalin nodded eagerly, resting her own hand against her stomach as she looked up at him, "I'm ready whenever you want to tell me." She couldn't wait to hear if they were a girl or a boy, and whichever one it was, she hoped that Loki would be happy. Finding out would just make it easier to find a name that both of them liked.
He leaned down close to her ear "no matter what I tell you, know that if it were the other gender, i would still have loved it all the exact same." he pressed a kiss to her head. He smiled softly, gazing down at his beloved wife and soon to be child and took a deep breath "I am glad to personally announce that the kingdom will be receiving a beautiful, baby Prince." his smile widened, seemingly saying the words, only made it more real. "we're going to have a boy." he hugged avalin close, pressing kisses to anywhere he could reach.
For a minute, Avalin didn't say anything, just looked up at Loki with the happiest look on her face. "It's a boy," She repeated, the look on her face even brighter than before as she hugged her husband as tightly as she could, "A little boy that's going to be as amazing and brilliant as you, my King." Slowly she loosened her hug and pressed a kiss to his cheek, then to his lips, clearly happy to finally hear what gender their child was.
He laughed happily and hugged her back “and as lovely and kind-hearted as you, my Queen.” He replied, kissing her back with as much love and joy. He didn’t care what happened now, only that his son and his wife were safe and happy, nothing meant more than this.
(Should I have Thor come in soon?)
She hummed happily, finally breaking the kiss and just studying his face. It seemed like nothing could ruin this moment, she was back in the arms of her love after months of not seeing him, and to add to the moment, she was pregnant with their child.
As if her thoughts were Karma though, there was a rushed knock on the door, clearly from Magnus. Why it was hasty though wasn't something she could figure out as she glanced between the door and Loki with a slight confused face.
Loki glanced up in surprise and carefully de-tangled himself from her. He pressed a finger to his lips and waved a hand to changing his appearance back to the guard. He pulled off the cloak and draped it over his arms. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before stepping off to the side as he had seen many a times before from other guards, giving a higher standing individual space.
Avalin hastily detangled from him, even as much as she hated to. It only took her a few more seconds before she was sitting on the bed, putting on her best face of uncomfortable pain as she rested a hand on her stomach. She didn't even look over at Loki, hoping that it was just some random servant looking for something.
Instead, the one person she didn't want to talk to walked in, accompanied by a slightly worried but stone-faced Magnus. "Avalin, why aren't you working in the kitchen?" Thor asked, looking around the empty servant's quarter and glancing at Loki in his guard appearance, "Why is there a guard in here."
As quickly as she could, she thought up an excuse, even though it meant she had to break her silent treatment, "I was working, but I felt really sick and your guard just helped me walk down the hall here. He was just making sure I was alright."
Loki kept his gaze down, reluctantly bowing in respect, hoping he could keep up the act just a bit longer. He kept down a retort, Thor knowing full well that Avalin was pregnant yet still insisted on keeping her working. He managed to keep his temper at bay, hoping what showed would only be taken as concern for Avalin.
"She seems to be doing alright for now. If you'll excuse us, we have a patrol to head out to." He pulled the cloak over him and nodded to Magnus, urging him to the door,not wanting to test his brother's temporary ignorance towards his altered appearance. "I do hope you the best, Lady Avalin." he said over his shoulder, only looking to her and not to Thor. "My lord," he nodded his head to THor, though the enthusiasm had dropped a significant amount
Avalin nodded in return, giving him a thankful smile that she was known to give anyone that helped her, "Thank you, Sir." Internally she was relieved that Loki and Magnus seemed to be safe for now, though as Thor spoke next, she knew there would be trouble.
"Wait. You two stay. I'll send someone else out on patrol," Thor said, turning his head to glance at the pair of them before spinning back to Avalin. "I know you've been pleading me to have a chance to see Loki since he's been locked away. Well, I've thought over the idea, taking into account your pregnancy, and…I would allow you to see him now. Maybe seeing him can help you feel better. These two can accompany us to the prisons." The king had a small, hesitant smile on his face, like he was hoping she would take him up on the offer and forget how many times he had said no.
She was silent for a minute, caught between two bad choices. If she chose to go with Thor, he would find out that Loki wasn't in his cell, getting them in trouble. But if she stayed back, he would get suspicious, knowing how much she had wanted to see him earlier. Softly, and with a small smile, she tried to choose the better option, wishing on Vahalla that Magnus and Loki would figure out something to help her out. "I would love to see him. Would I be allowed to actually touch him, or just see him through the barrier?"
He cursed silently, glancing towards Magnus before paying attention to Thor. If thor would stay back, then he could easily conjure an illusion of himself in the cell. If he decided to come with, then it would be much harder to convince him that he didn't escape. "My lord, forgive me but this patrol is of urgent matters, perhaps even concerning your attention, surely the visit can wait until later today?" he suggested, hoping he didn't sound as desperate as he felt.
Thor turned back to face the two of them, his words clearly final, "Someone else can take your spot, I'll have a servant notify the rest of your team. If it was urgent enough to call my attention, someone would have gotten me from the party sooner." He didn't seem overly mad at his persistence, just annoyed that he had asked multiple times. With that, he turned back to Avalin and motioned for her to stand.
Slowly, Avalin stood, glancing at Loki and Magnus hastily as she walked over to Thor and then past him towards the door, "Let's get going then. I want to have as much time with my love as I can."
Loki fell silent after that, knowing he said more, he’d risk all their safety more “of course my lord, forgive me.” He bowed and stepped aside to let them out of the room. He pulled Magnus aside when Thor and Avalin had gone a few feet in front of them “is there an alternate path to the cells?” He asked in a hasty whisper
"Only one, and it's much longer than this way," Magnus replied in the same hushed whisper, clearly worried and trying to think up a plan, "We just need to distract Thor long enough for you to get there. Can you make a copy of yourself stay here with me? I'll get something figured out."
Avalin walked alongside Thor silently, one hand resting on her stomach and a soft smile on her face. "So, why did you choose to finally let me see him today?" She asked, very well aware that Loki and Magnus had fallen behind to hopefully come up with a plan.
He nodded and shut his eye for a moment, conjuring another replica of himself. He slipped into an alcove on the side, watching as the four of them walked onbefore he changed back to normal and stared to look around for the passage way that led to the dungeon's hopefully close to his cell.
Loki's replica remained silent as it was magically ordered to (i don't know how his replicas actually work so imma go with Loki can manipulate them or give them a set of instructions to follow) staying beside Magnus at all times and keeping a controlled expression
Thor shrugged, glancing back at Magnus and the replica, "I just had a feeling that you wouldn't stop until you were allowed to see him."
Avalin hoped that Magnus and Loki had figured out a plan, but to be safe, she slowed her pace, smiling and nodding, "Well, you were right." Her slowed pace would let them have more time and easily could be seen as she still wasn't feeling the best, even as she still felt perfectly fine, "I just hope that he's happy to see me. I mean, it's been months, and I don't look my best by any means."
Loki tried his best to avoid as many people as possible as he made his way through the castle. He had found the other passage way that Magnus had mentioned, though he hadn't expected it to be this long. He assumed this was a meant to get prisoners out in case of a threat greater than themselves ever attacked the castle or in case of a true emergency, though the fact that it was so long made Loki think this was only to give the prisoners hope that they could escape and not necessarily an effective escape way. He could feel himself getting away from the group the farther he went, his replica feeling a strained distance away. He only hoped he was heading towards his cell soon
"Cmon Loki," Avalin mumbled to herself, sure that Thor wouldn't be able to hear her. She slowed even more as she walked, focusing on keeping her pace slow but believable. The more time she could give Magnus and Loki to do whatever they were planning the better, especially since every glance she got back, she could see easier that the Loki next to Magnus was a replica. The cells were only a short distance away, and she could only hope that slowing down had given them time.
Loki finally made it to the cells. recognizing the hallway he and Magnus traveled down to get to the servants quarter. He finally found the cell he had been in, glad that it was still open. He took a quick glance around to make sure he was still in the clear. He paused before stepping inside the cell, thinking back to when he once planned to conquer all the 9 realms. He would have never allowed himself to be put back into a cell, not without some fight back and resistance. Then again, he didn’t have Someone he had cared for other than himself that would get hurt if he did fight back. He prayed to Valhalla before pressings the button to close the cell and quickly stepping inside. He sat down in the middle of the cell and quickly conjured a few whisper of magic to make it look like he was meditating
The three of them rounded the corner less than a minute later, Thor wearing his usual regal expression, whereas Avalin looked about ready to squeal in happiness. Not only was she allowed to see her husband for even longer, she also knew that he was safe from Thor suspecting anything. "Loki," She whispered happily, walking up to the barrier of the cell and pressing her hand to it.
"Hello, brother," Thor said, not even bothering to do more than nod his head in acknowledgement, "I brought you someone that you've probably been wanting to see for a while."
Loki’s eyes opened when he heard his wife call his name and smiled softly. He slowly stood and met her at the barrier, pressing his hand to the barrier to match hers. “My loves,” he whispered, eyes filling with the same adoration and love as before. He flicked his gaze towards Thor and nodded his head “you have no idea. One second feels like eternity away from her, imagine months” he narrowed his eyes, trying to make his point know to his kingly brother. “All the same, I’ll take any time I can get with my wife and soon to be child.”
