Page 71 of Loki

“Are you going to marry me today?” he called.

There it was. Val closed her eyes and bit her tongue to keep from saying yes.A baby. They were going to have a baby.

“Not today,” she replied.

Loki laughed. “Love you, future wife.”

And then he was gone.

Val lay in bed for a long time staring at the wall. What the hell did she know about having babies? She’d never even held one until Elle. And sure, she’d raised Elle, but that had been different. She’d been Elle’s guardian. Her protector. Her friend. Not her mother.

“Mother.” Val said the word out loud, letting it ring in the air. “Mother.”

She caressed her belly. She was going to be a mother.

Loki satacross from Val watching her pick at her food. He’d brought her everything she’d asked for but still ate barely anything. It wasn’t like her. One of the things he loved about her was her healthy appetite for everything in life, like him.

“Do you not like it?” he asked.

She put her fork in the carton of noodles and pushed it away. “It’s tasty. Thank you.”

The niggling feeling that had been growing inside Loki for weeks started to make his skin itch like tiny wires had been attached to the hairs. Was she tired of him already?

“Do you want the carrot cake?”

She shook her head and sipped her water.

“Is there something else I can get you?”

She gave him a weak smile. “No. Thank you.”

Two thank you’s in as many minutes? When had she grown so polite?Loki set down his fork. “All right, spit it out.”

She blinked at him, confused.

“Are you tired of me? Do you not like the house? Do you want to go back to working at Frigg’s? What is it?”

Her silence punched him in the gut.

“So, it’s me.”

“No. Well, yes, it has to do with you, but no, it’s not you.”

“Are you done with me? Do you no longer love me? Don’t trust me? Did I not manscape enough?”

“Loki, it isn’t any of that. I do love you. And you manscape enough for the both of us. It’s just—”

“Just what?” He held his breath, waiting. If she left him, he’d not be able to exist anymore. He might as well go live with Hel. Even her daily torture would be nothing compared to what he felt daily in his soul without Signe. She’d shown him what life could be like to be his true self, and he could never go back. But could he go forward without her support?

Val pulled something from her back pocket and tossed it across the glass table.

Loki stared at it and blinked twice. “A thermometer?”

Val blew out a harsh breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “No, dummy. Turn it over. Why would I give you a thermometer?”

He picked up the white stick, turning it over.

He stared at it.A plus sign? What the hell did that mean?

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