You and Loki both jolted when you heard the twins' voices in your mind. /Mama! Papa!/ the tiny voices repeated.
The twins had magic. Of course the twins would have magic. You and Loki were two of the strongest sorcerers in the realm, if not the strongest sorcerers in the realm. The only one who could possibly be considered stronger would be Mama Frigga herself, and you'd never question if she were stronger or not. It was safer just to assume she was.
Still, the twins weren't even born yet. They shouldn't have magic yet. It was unheard of, even among the strongest magicians in the realms. Any of the realms.
Loki placed a hand on your stomach, coming out of his shock faster than you had. You felt and heard Loki's magic as he used it to answer the twins. /Hello, darlings/ he greeted them warmly and you felt the twins light up in delight at hearing their father's voice in their minds.
You wished desperately for your magic back in that moment, wished for the ability to speak to your children. You reached for your magic and felt it fizzle away with a sharp searing pain. You knew better than to reach for it when you were without your powers. Years of being powerless for three days a month had taught you that the hard way.
This was worse.
Usually it didn't include the searing pain. It only had the magic fizzling away, the feeling of helplessness, and defensiveness that came with not having your magic. It was like missing an arm. Or worse, missing your heart. It was such a vital part of yourself that being without it was worse than words could describe.
The moment of pain was just a moment before Loki's magic was there. He was loaning you power, as he had done before. You gave him a grateful look as his magic supported you, soothed your pain, and gave you just enough power to do what you so desperately wanted to. /Hello, my loves/ you told the twins and you could feel their joy, their love, their excitement at getting to interact with the outside world. They wanted to learn, wanted to grow, wanted to experience.
So you gave them as much as you could. You read to them nearly constantly, Loki taught them pieces of elementary magic. Frigga spoke with them and taught them. She was amazed at their skill already.
No one, not even Mama Frigga, had ever heard of infants having magic before they were even born. She hadn't wanted to believe you until the twins spoke to her themselves. Frigga watched your health still more closely at this change and it took you longer than you wanted to admit to realize why.
The twins were growing too fast.
You'd had to unbury a book on jotun biology from the dusty library archives before you finally understood the problem. Jotuns had about the same length of pregnancy as Asgardians, but the jotuns were giants. Their women were a lot bigger and their children grew faster. They came out looking more like toddlers than infants.
So of course your children were developing faster than Asgardian children developed. Mentally, physically, and magically. But especially physically.
You were fucked.
There was no way you could have a natural birth of giant children. It physically wasn't possible. You had to check with Frigga as to whether C-sections were a thing on Asgard. They were so ahead on most technologies, but so very behind on others and you hadn't quite gotten the ability to upgrade certain technologies on Asgard. Like cell phone reception or computers.
You realized that you really needed to speak with Mama Frigga about the possibility for a C-section, especially while there was still time for Thor and Loki to return to Midgard and kidnap a doctor to perform the surgery if it wasn't known on Asgard.
So you left your suite to make your way to the healing wing. You wore Loki's cloak around your shoulders as habit, since you were without your powers. It was tradition in the Asgardian court for a noble lady to wear her protector's cloak when she was without her powers. And you were under the protection of the heir to the throne.
And more protection with Loki's heirs in your stomach.
So it was extra stupid when the assassins came out of the side hall to accost you. To be fair, you didn't know if they were assassins or kidnappers.
Regardless, they were stupid to think to attack you.
Loki would flay them alive at the trial.
And if they were very, very lucky that would not be literally.
The assassins drew their blades, thinking to intimidate a helpless maiden.
You weren't a helpless maiden just because you had no magic. Or just because you were very, very pregnant.
"Get her!" one of the assassins yelled to his companions.
Sounded more like kidnappers, but it really didn't matter.
They were dead either way.
They rushed in to attack and you drew one of your hidden blades while you sounded the alarm. It would only take moments for the einherjar to get to you. You only had to hold out that long.
You shifted into a fighting stance, your blade gripped in your hand. Just because you were pregnant, didn't mean you couldn't fight, especially when you had to.
That also didn't mean you had to be stupid about it. You held out your free hand and you saw the assassins' eyes widen in shock and disbelief. They had seen the move before. They knew what it meant. They just didn't believe that you could pull it off. It wasn't exactly wide-spread knowledge on Asgard. You hadn't felt like bragging.
Now the realm would know that you weren't as defenseless as you appeared.
You smirked at the assassins as Mjolnir flew to you and landed in your waiting hand.
You didn't have your own magic at the moment.
That was alright.
Not having your magic didn't make you any less worthy.
