Chapter 25
After I got back from visiting Svedra, things went downhill fast. While my wife was ignoring me, I was not allowed to ignore her! She let me know her displeasure in many little ways. I was becoming very grim and angry, myself, over this.
I kept the pocket universe in my pocket. Ironic, I know. It was interesting to note that nether Fithian or Vostich were able to detect it. It seemed to be the perfect non-detectable hide out, and that was saying something, with magic users!
I made my way to Mirwanna's part of the palace, and set my jaw. I would not be put off or placed in a cue of some sort. I had to talk to someone about my wife, and it had to be Mirwanna.
I strode with a determination that I did not usually use in the relaxed atmosphere of the palace. I arrived at Mirwanna's day secretary, and told him I wanted to see my sister. He tried to put me off, but I leveled a glare at him, that told him I would not be put off.
A short time later I was in her official office, and I was waiting for her. After about ten minutes, I was getting ready to cast a location spell to find her, when she came striding in.
"Paul. I understand you have to see me? Actually, I am glad you're here. If I had to listen to one more pledge or promise that I knew was a lie, I was going to turn someone into sludge!" Mirwanna exclaimed angrily.
"Tough day at the office?" I asked with a grin.
She gave me that curious stare that she got, when I used sayings or euphemisms from Earth. I grinned even more at her expression.
"I know you didn't get me out of my meeting with the ambassador just to relate strange sayings from that other world. Tell me what you need, I'm very busy," she finished a bit abruptly.
So I unloaded on her. I vented. I got very angry, and insulted all of womanhood with some of my words. She got a grim look on her face, but I would have none of it. I interrupted her whenever it seemed she would try to speak. I let it all out. I finally wound down, and ground to a halt.
She looked at me. "Paul, I understand your anger. However, you must look at it from her side. She is young, married against her will. You are a good man, and a good match for her, and she understands this.
"She knows she has been very lucky, but she is feeling what all woman feel when they are pregnant. The end of freedom. It is worse for her, because she is a very powerful and highly ranked lady in two kingdoms," Mirwanna paused for breath.
"Soon, she will have to stop doing any magic at all. The baby, at this stage, is not affected much. But for some reason, babies during the last few months of pregnancy are badly affected by magical energies. There have been babies born with strange and horrible deformities from active magic users, who practiced magic up until birth. So woman who practice magic, now know not to do anything magical, after four months into the pregnancy," she said.
"While I understand what you are saying, this does not tell me why she is willing to expose our... my son to demons!" I nearly shouted.
"She loves you, Paul! Can't you see that? She came to us as a hostage for her father's good behavior, and she fell in love with you. With the enemy, so to speak. She has become fiercely loyal to you and to me.
"You have been busy. Your obligations are taking you away from her, more and more often. It is worse, now, because she is pregnant. It feels like your abandoning her. This is why she wants to go with you, when you go back to the demon's land. Oh, yes! You will be going, too!
"While the gate to the demon's world has been sealed, we have not destroyed it or deactivated it. Paul, this is just too important to ignore," she finished softly, looking at me intently.
I sighed. "I know how important this is. But I can't expose my wife to demons while she is pregnant. The things that can go wrong!" I exclaimed to her.
She smiled at me. "I am actually pleased to see you behaving this way," she said.
I stared at her. "Huh?" I asked, totally confused.
"It means you care for her, as much as she does for you. While you both entered this marriage reluctantly, to fulfill obligations, you both have come to love one another. Now you have to understand what people of our station, and married couples with children, have long understood.
"Your wife and child are a hostage to the future. As you are worried about your wife and this child; she, too, is worried about you. It's very sweet actually. You and your wife are better equipped to face the future than most of our people are, Paul," she said with finality.
I thought about it. It did make a sort of sense. Still, I did not have to like it.
"She has been acting like a first rate bitch, lately. I know it's because I will be leaving again. She wants to go, and I don't want her to," I said heavily.
"I see only two things that can happen here, Paul.
"One, you can forbid her to go with you. That will create very hard feelings on her part, which will in turn, cause you to react eventually with bad feelings towards her.
"Or, you can face the fact that she is a powerful magic user, with her family god's protection. She is married to a man who has become almost as powerful as Vostich, as near as I can tell. You should be able to protect her in all things, even if she goes into the land of demons with you," Mirwanna said.
I shook my head and said, "What about her obligations here? She is my heir and if I fall and die while in that land of demons, she will have to take charge of all that is mine, here. Does she not know her responsibilities and obligations here? She would endanger both of us, and my unborn child over a fit of childishness!"
"And so you learn what true love is. A willingness to sacrifice all for the one you love. She is young Paul. Being young, her passions run high! I could decide this for you easily, if that's what you want. I could declare she stay behind, to carry on your name and deliver your heir.
"But think. She will be bitter. This will fester with her all her life. If you do go and get killed there; she will blame herself, and me, for her not being with you to save you. Yes, in her mind she will think she could have done something for you.
"She is left here, to become bitter perhaps. She won't blame you. She will focus on me, the one who ordered her to stay behind. I will have created an enemy within our midst, and a very powerful one at that. Is this what you truly want? No, you must either convince her to stay behind willingly, or may the gods help us, you have to take her with you. Those are your only choices," she finished a bit sadly.
I looked at my sister, this woman who had become queen. Suddenly I felt very glad I did not have her job. Impulsively I hugged her. She looked a bit startled but hugged me back, tightly.
"You are a very wise and loving person, Mirwanna. I am also glad you're the queen, and that I don't have your job!" I said, finishing with a grin. She flashed an answering grin.
"Well, now that I have given you my advice, what do you intend to do?" Mirwanna asked curiously.
"I am going to try like hell to convince her to stay here. If that proves impossible, I guess I will pull out my secret weapon," I said a bit mysteriously.
"Secret weapon?" She asked a bit curiously.
"Ahh, but if I tell you what it is, it won't be a secret, will it?" I asked with a sly smile.
She punched my arm, hard.
"Get out of here! I need to get back to a boring meeting," she said.
I bowed slightly to her. She gathered her skirts, and left the room in a most graceful walk.
Sighing, I left her office and wondered down corridors until I reached my official office. Mariel was not there. I asked the secretary if he had seen her, and he replied with a negative. I went back to our rooms.
She was there, and in a mood to fight. I sighed as she let me know in no uncertain terms what she thought. She finally wound down, with tears in her eyes. I held her, but she was still angry with me.
"Mariel, think of the risk to our baby, if you went with me back to the land of the demons. While you can do magic for some time, eventually you will have to stop or risk hurting the baby. You know that," I said in what I thought was a reasonable tone.
"I know, and when that time comes, I am prepared to come back here. But you will need me, I know you will!" She said with all the passion of youth.
I tried several other arguments with her. Duty, obligation, dying in that far off realm. Nothing seemed to get through to her. She is a very tenacious woman, is my wife. I finally realized that she was firmly determined to go with me or else.
Sighing, I pulled out my pocket universe and showed it to her. She looked curiously at it and asked what it was.
"It is a place of safety. Look into it. Think of yourself as going into it," I said to her. She looked at me like I was a nut. Well, seeing is believing. I willed myself into my pocket universe and stayed a moment, then willed myself back out.
She gasped as I reappeared. "Where did you go?" She asked me excitedly.
"Into this little cube. It is like a separate universe, but just for us. I got it from a friend of Svedra's. I will tell you about him in a moment. Now, I want you to look at this cube. Open your mind and listen to it. You should..." that's as far as I got as she disappeared.
I was just about to go into the cube when she reappeared. "This is fantastic! It's perfect for us!" she exclaimed jubilantly.
"Well, I knew you wanted to go. I have been weighing the pros and cons. In all honesty, I want you to stay behind. But I see that staying does not sit well with you. You are not swayed by concerns for the baby, the Duchy, or our responsibilities here," I noticed her face go stiff, and her eyes started to smolder with anger.
I held up my hand to forestall the diatribe I knew was coming.
"Knowing this, I sought advice from Svedra. He took me to a being of considerable power, and the result is what you see. It is a pocket universe. Totally safe, and built just for us. No one but you and I can get into this. It is a place of safety for you, for us in a dangerous land," I told her.
Her eyes softened. I sighed in relief. She smiled timidly and threw herself into my arms. Well, I guess the storm was over. She started kissing my face.
"Let's go into this place and explore some of its uses," Mariel said.
We entered it together, and I watched as she ordered changes and they happened before our eyes. She changed the couch I had made. It seemed to flow and shift, and a new couch took it's place. She was like a child at Christmas. Well, hell, in a way, she still was a child. She was a teen girl, after all.
She got an absolutely devilish look in her eyes, and a bed formed. She walked over to it, and sat on it.
"Shall we try out this bed, my husband?" she asked me with wide eyes.
I rolled over and sighed. Well, my wife was happy again, and I looked at her. She had fallen asleep. She looked so innocent and vulnerable. She had been a tiger, just a short time before. What an amazing woman, my wife was!
Edited by TeNderLoin
