17.3

Dirk gave her an amused look. "Care to explain what just happened?"

She shrugged. "My ordeal had certain collateral advantages. This is one of them."

"I'm most impressed," he smiled, imagining using his new legion of undead and sea monster against Camarand. "What was that prattle about immortality?"

"They took away all my fun. I can't die anymore. Ever." Her expression darkened and a despondent edge returned to her voice. "It pisses me off! There's no thrill to life if all the danger is removed from the equation. It ruins everything!"

Dirk stared at her, speechless. His favorite weapon had, indeed, become more powerful than he had ever fathomed. Were she to ever become disloyal to him, getting rid of her would be terribly problematic. At this moment, though, it was difficult to imagine such thing ever being possible. It was baffling to him that she could regard such power as a mere trifle, an annoyance even. He crooned, "My dear, you possess nearly limitless magical power. It would seem you are now invulnerable."

"But-"

Dirk put one finger over her lips and shook his head, silencing her. "Furthermore, you are profoundly beautiful, and apparently will be forever. And I have it on good authority that you possess wealth beyond most people's comprehension. Finally, and most importantly of all, I have chosen you to be my queen. It would seem compared to all that, bemoaning the dubious opportunity to fear having your skull smashed when you fall from the dragon is rather senseless."

Zyrdicia's lips curled despite her concerted effort to maintain her unhappy expression. "But I get bored so easily."

"I will see that you are adequately occupied," he winked. "You will have no need of death-defying distraction."

"Promise?"

"Surely you don't doubt me?" Dirk smirked.

"Not for a second," she smiled.

"Do you think Astaroth will return?"

"I know it. Why do you want Bethel's monocle?"

"Now that I've lost the ability to manipulate her with promises of betrothal, I require a another way to control her. I won't permit her to try to thwart my plans. Besides," he added, reaching gently for his fiancee's waist, "if she or Vector has chosen to betray me, until I know which one it is, I prefer to possess both of their monocles. All the magic in Aparans shall be firmly under my exclusive control."

"You're sure about that?"

"Quite sure."

She let him pull her against him. Her mood was improving rapidly. She almost laughed when she realized he was trying to be careful not to aggravate her the soreness in her torso. It seemed terribly absurd for him to be trying not to hurt her for a change. "I think the real reason you want the monocle is that you want her magic added to Vector's. And you think now that I'm back, I will help you to access it."

"You will. I'm very adept at motivating you," he replied confidently. "What are these Annihilation Spheres you demanded from the demon?"

"Compact pieces of the energy of Creation, with the polarity reversed. Destruction in its most pure and unstoppable cosmic essence. Unleashing a single one of them caused the last great cataclysm that ripped apart the material world, shattering it into millions of fragments. It nearly wiped out the human race."

"What are you going to do with six of them, my little destroyer?"

"Obliterate Hell and Heaven. Invoke my own personal vision of the Twilight."

"You are going to destroy Hell?" Dirk coaxed, even more amused.

Zyrdicia nodded, quite serious.

"That sounds rather dangerous in light of your latest misadventure on the astral plane."

Zyrdicia nodded again, still uncertain why he found it so funny. She frowned. "I need to spawn first. My plan won't work if I don't do that first."

"Must you speak of it that way?"

"Speak of what?"

"Humans do not spawn! You will conceive my son, a future Blackpool king. You make it sound as though you intend to engage in an act of bestial reproduction."

"To them that's exactly what this is. They want to mate us in the same deliberate way you would a pair of dogs or horses."

"I'm not interested in what they think. From your lips I find it repugnant."

"I don't understand the obsession with the mystery of reproduction in your world. Last night after dinner it was on everyone's mind. If one more woman had told me what beautiful children we will have, I think I would have had to kill everyone in the room."

"What did you tell them?"

"I agreed, of course. Particularly the horns and tail anything we spawn is likely to have," she mocked.

"That is not amusing," Dirk said sharply.

"Why? Because you are afraid it might be true?"

"Are you certain it isn't?"

"Do you really care, since you are only in this for your crown and your continent?"

"Not really. Though if you bear me anything that isn't perfect, it won't live a single day." He kissed the side of her throat, biting it softly.

"Such heartlessness!" she countered playfully, enjoying the sensuality of the threatened violence. It won't live a single day even if it is perfect, she thought remorselessly. "As long as we're on the subject, I'm not willing to wait until you finish off the South."

"Timing is not yours to choose," he whispered. Dirk's hands tightened reflexively around her shoulders, his concern with not hurting her suddenly gone. He held her against him, then responded with deceptive calm, "You will get what you want eventually. In fact, I look forward to your state of powerlessness in the months that follow. Until the South surrenders, however, I require your talent for slaughter. I am not ready to consign you to helplessness - yet."

She wriggled uncomfortably. "What helplessness?"

"Vector has already advised me that while you are with child you will be unable to use magic. Surely you are aware of that?" he asked icily.

"He is such a liar! Female magic practitioners in the Magic Guild reproduce all the time. The restrictions associated with miscarriage by magic primarily apply to forms of bodily displacement. I can open gates but not go through them. As far as I know, I can incinerate whomever I please, whenever I please. Vector is merely--" she paused, her mouth settling into a knowing smirk.

"Trying to interfere?" Dirk finished her thought, then arched an eyebrow thoughtfully. He knew the Wizard resented the loss of influence Zyrdicia's presence implied. Dirk frankly had less need of Vector now. More importantly, he knew his increasing skill with the monocle enraged the Wizard. It was not hard to find reason why Vector might have betrayed him. On the other hand, Bethel had reasons of her own right now. Now that he had officially announced his engagement to the woman Bethel perceived as a rival, the prince suspected her at least as much as his Wizard. "Vector and Bethel both have ample motive to want you gone and to prevent our betrothal. All the more reason to delay conceiving our son until the matter is well in hand."

"You keep talking about a son. Why?"

"Because you wouldn't dare bear me a daughter."

"I thought you liked women," Zyrdicia smiled.

"Oh, I'm quite captivated by the charms of a particular woman. But a king needs an heir." He inhaled the faint, perfumed scent of her hair deeply, then resumed the task that had been underway when Astaroth had interrupted them. Their lips had scarcely met when the angel appeared again.

"I'm back," Astaroth announced warmly. He carried a monocle in one hand and three small, silver orbs in the other. Zyrdicia pulled away from Dirk's grasp hastily to retrieve the objects. He was surprised how easily she extricated herself from his grasp, given that she was not wearing the magical chain that otherwise endowed her body with supernatural force. Something about the strength with which she pulled away was disconcerting. It had felt as though magic had propelled the movement, not her body.

She opened her hands eagerly before Astaroth. The angel placed the items in her fingers, then gripped both her wrists with icy fingers.

"Oh, what now?" she asked irritably, pulling her hands away with a sharp jerk.

"Forget the insipid magic from City of Angels. Break the Edict! You can now!"

She almost dropped the objects in her hands. "How?" she demanded, her voice trembling.

Astaroth's huge eyes widened innocently. "I don't know. No one does. No Edict has ever been broken. But then, no mortal has ever possessed the magic of a Sephiroth who invoked an Edict. The world is entering a time for which there is no precedent, no guidance."

"Damn you! Tell me how!"

Astaroth shrugged. "You have some of Azriok's magic now. Use it!" With that, Zyr's messenger disappeared.

Zyrdicia sighed angrily. She felt Dirk's hand touch the back of her shoulder as he moved to her. His eyes were on the monocle she still carried. He opened his hand, palm up, expecting her to place the magical object upon it. Instead, it disappeared as she sent it away to nether space.

"What are you doing?"

"Hedging my bets. I'll give you the monocle, once I've sp- once I'm pregnant." She spit the final word out as though it were distasteful.

"You don't trust me?"

"I can't afford to trust anyone anymore."

"You wound me," he quipped ironically. The ploy was unforeseen, but he would get the second monocle soon enough. Of that he was quite certain. The game would make its acquisition that much sweeter.

17.3.1

"Are you both batty?!" Portia's scolding voice echoed from inside Zyrdicia's chamber as the little woman stomped out to the terrace.

"Are you certain it isn't some sort of demonic conspiracy?" Dirk whispered in annoyance to Zyrdicia as he glared at the source of the latest interruption. Well into their second bottle of wine out on the balcony, they had expected no further visitors. They planned to spend the entire day here, far away from aggravations of the horde in Castle Blackpool. Unfortunately, in this, the most remote of magical worlds, they apparently had no privacy at all. Every time they attempted to heed the call of the diabolic attraction, it seemed someone arrived to bother them.

Portia barked, "The meeting of barons was supposed to have started ten minutes ago! Everyone is waiting!"

Dirk remembered suddenly how this world had sucked up entire days in the space of a few hours the last time he was here. Its serenity was a time thief. "They will wait for their king. Shall we?"

Zyrdicia nodded breathlessly, refastening the neckline of the robe. She smoothed the fabric and adjusted the garment's hood. "Let's go then."

Before they stepped through the magical gate, Dirk paused. He instructed with feigned sternness, "Lest there be any misunderstanding later, after they announce my coronation, there will be no more disappearances tonight. Do I make myself quite clear?"

Zyrdicia smiled warmly and nuzzled against him, "Quite." Her dark mood was long gone.

Portia scoffed, "Don't make eyes like that at each other during the meeting!"

They both glared viciously at her briefly before disappearing into the gate that would return them to Castle Blackpool.