"Suli, you stay. Everyone else – out."
There was a lot of confusion in the group. Furies were shocked to the core with the boldness of this scientist woman, asking an Emperor to give you a child was a wild thing to do. One could be sent for execution for such boldness; it was borderline offensive.
Darkseid was panicking. He had come to terms somewhat with letting Suli go. She was the love of his life, but for the better future of the Empire, he decided to enter a political marriage with a New Genesian. And now she wished for something like that?
Dream was salivating with the juiciness of the situation. This man was supposed to become her husband, and Suli, someone who took Dream under her wing, decided to ask something so perverted from Darkseid. And she was standing right there! Honestly, she didn't know what to feel about the situation. On one hand, maybe now she would be sent back to her peaceful life at New Genesis? But the most likely scenario was that she would end up being cheated on even before her marriage ceremony. Were Apokoliptians always so unhinged?
But strangely, she enjoyed the thought of it in a weird, perverted way. She always enjoyed reading her cheap smut novels with risky situations and perverseness running amok. And now the situation even involved her! Why did she enjoy that? Was she a pervert, too? Maybe she had some kind of voyeur fetish or enjoyed being cheated on? Questions!
Although she did make one discovery that she was sure of: she enjoyed being at the center of events. Suddenly, she became a heroine in a novel, a bride in a political marriage, one of the pretty ladies in an action movie and got to run last minute through a portal; took part in a planetary-level business deal between Darkseid and heroes of Terra. Maybe she was destined for more rather than being a mere communication officer in the New Genesian army, like she always thought she would end up being. Maybe she should look into more interesting stuff she could be doing with her life?
No one else noticed her eyes flashing a tint of red in that moment, as others were focused on Suli's wish. And in the blink of an eye, the tint was gone, like it was never there before.
Eventually, everyone had exited the throne room on the orders of the Emperor, leaving only two alone.
Suli began talking almost immediately.
"I'm sorry for my boldness, my lord. I mean not to offend you with it." She bowed deeply; her eyes shut from shame. Saying such a thing in front of everyone took a lot of willpower from her. She felt like she was burning from shame. Her face was flushed; her breath was hastened. She had never felt so humiliated before in her life. But this was all necessary.
Darkseid continued to look straight at her; his red eyes were unmoving. She felt goosebumps crawl on her skin from how creepy his gaze was. His red eyes, despite how beautiful they were, were too strong, too discerning. She felt judged and as if she was stripped naked under his intense gaze. She dropped her head and didn't dare to raise it back up again.
"Explain." He had finally said after a long, stretched-out pause. One could slice awkwardness in the air with a butter knife.
She started speaking without meeting his eyes, her own were studying her footwear.
"You may know that I'm a witch", her voice was full of desperation and shame. "I was born in the family of witches".
She hesitated a bit, as if waiting to see if he would catch something. He did not.
"Witches of Apokolips are a dying phenomenon, all because of a curse that was put on us by a sorceress called Hecate. She is a primordial goddess of magic".
"I know of her", Darkseid interrupted. "What was the curse?"
Suli clutched her fists; drops of blood were flowing from her fingers down onto the hot floor of the throne room. The sizzling sounds of rapidly evaporating liquid seemed to grow louder in the quiet air of the massive room.
"We are to conceive only with someone stronger from this planet".
"Is that bad?" he was confused. That didn't sound that bad for a curse. Often, curses, especially one that was cast by a goddess, would involve illnesses, eventual doom and death of the bloodline, or something in the same manner.
"As witches we draw our power from our bloodline, and each new member of our family would make us stronger, our magic more potent, and under the effect of that curse - our lives miserable.
At first, all was fine; our ancestors didn't even know about the existence of the curse. Until it ruined everything. For countless generations, our marriages were meticulously planned. We schemed, murdered and deceived. No love, no warmth of embrace, no family. We are regularly broken and beaten down; our family is being looked down upon as gold diggers and power chasers. We tried so hard to endure, to persevere, to elongate our family line further.
Most people with power are rotten to the core, cursed with their own ambitions; they don't see anyone other than themselves. Some of them are closeted psychos, maniacs even. My ancestors lived through lives of slavery to our spouses, to tyrants and abusers, all for the sake of the future generations."
She was bawling. For the first time since her mother sat her down and taught her family history, she was allowed a respite. Someone to indulge her doom in. Who would have known that someone would be the ruler of Apokolips? Especially one with a reputation like the Darkseid had.
He was called Young Demon for his ruthlessness on the battlefield; it was said that he had won countless battles by himself. Of course, she didn't see him in action, even during their trip to New Genesis, they got into a fight once, were ambushed on a spaceship and were forced to retreat.
The other side of it was his name. Darkseid. It was a name from the ancient tales, a god of tyranny that would bring doom and destruction to the universe. Not much else was known from those tales, but the name was legendary. Every single child on this planet knew of Darkseid, a prophesied Emperor who would conquer the universe, but that would also destroy all life.
And here he was in the flesh. Did he choose his god name himself? As far as Suli knew, it was a complicated matter; people did choose their god names, but they were not random; they mirrored their own being. In short, the name of the New God reflected their whole being; a single name would tell whole stories about the god in question.
Darkseid was a powerful name, declaring its owner to be the enemy of the Light. A destiny that she would never wish on anyone, even an enemy. A fate to be hated, despised by most people of the universe. Only the dark creatures would flock to someone with such a name, hence why it was given to the ruler of the Apokoliptian gods. They were the evil ones after all. But the company of evil creatures was not a welcome one; treachery and debauchery, corruption and sadism were the best friends of people here.
And Suli was cursed to be the bride of the Darkseid himself. There was no male on Apokolips worthy of fathering her children, a ritual showed as much. The ritual to choose the next best match, the weakest possible candidate, was passed down in their family for thousands of years. She dreaded the day that she would perform it on the day of her coming of age, which was half a year ago. Not long before, Darkseid had entered her labs himself. It was definitely the works of destiny, maybe even under the influence of the Destine the Endless, who knew.
Regretfully, her destiny was in the hands of Darkseid. Now that he was promised to another, she became desperate as there was no one else on this planet to be worthy of her. And if the rumors of Darkseid's powers were true, there is unlikely to be one, ever. Her children would be the last in their line.
"Maybe it was for the best", she thought to herself. "It would finally end this endless cycle of misery."
"I can't agree to your request", he said after carefully considering her wish and listening to her story.
A sigh escaped her lips. She knew that he wouldn't agree. Why would he bastardize the political marriage with New Genesis? It was an accomplishment that would go down in history if the alliance survived the first years of turbulation. Not many people believed it would last, many New Gods included. But it was a decision made by their leaders, so everyone complied with it.
But Darkseid continued talking.
"Not without Dreamer's consent".
It physically hurt Darkseid to refuse her. So he allowed himself a risk of agreeing to her request, seeing his loved one begging him in tears. He would ask Dream's opinion on the topic, seeing how she would be his wife in the future. He wished to be careless and avoid his duties as a ruler, but the alliance with New Genesis was hanging on a thread. And the thread was Dreamer herself.
But he was sure that Dreamer would never agree to something perverted and twisted like this. The queen consenting to her husband having bastards? Unheard of. And in addition to that, Dreamer was a young girl raised in the comfort of Supertown. She was probably raised on strict rules and societal norms, seeing how magnanimous society was in New Genesis.
He knew that it was all wishful thinking; it was greed speaking for him. There was no way that his new fate would allow him to have a relationship with Suli; it would never allow him to be happy. The real fate was a cruel bitch. But he couldn't help but hope.