Alice's Point of View
Taras was giggling softly as he watched a clip on his phone. "Oh, Botox, when will you ever learn..."
"What's that?" Alice asked over her drink.
He turned his phone over so she could see. "The war crimes tribunal in Lviv, endless comedy."
The text scrolling at the bottom was in a language Alice couldn't read so she'd just have to take his word for it. This was their third date in as many weeks and they were getting cozier all the time. Maybe tonight she'd have the guts to invite him back to her place? Mr. Vodka Martini was supposed to help with that.
"I don't know what's so funny about-"
"Everyone drinks free tonight!" the bartender cried. The previously sedate establishment was instantly riotous. Patrons were clinking glasses together, embracing strangers, and in one instance breaking into an improvised song and dance routine.
"Somebody win a football match I didn't hear about?" Taras wondered aloud.
Alice thought for a minute and then shook her head. "Don't think so. What could it be?"
"Long live the Queen!" somebody shouted and every glass in the establishment raised in unison to answer, "LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!"
"Oh," Alice realized what the fuss was about. "Reka told me she was pregnant yesterday, guess the news got out."
"Hungary is another world," her date said. "President Yavlinsky is a strong leader, and held our country together during the war, but he's probably getting voted out in the next election, corruption allegations he could never quite shake, you see. It's bizarre to see people loving their leader like this."
"That's just Reka," Alice said, finishing her martini. "One more round?" she asked, hoping she sounded sultry rather than sloppy.
Taras gulped. "Just one more. I'm not much of a drinker, you know, much as it shames my Ukrainian soul to admit."
They finished their drinks and left before the party in the bar got too rowdy. Alice's personal driver took them back to Buda Castle, no need to call an Alter. Rank hath its privileges, after all.
The alcohol in her blood impaired her just enough that leaning against Taras seemed like the best option as they walked back to her quarters in the royal apartments. His hands were more adventurous than ever, holding her just a little lower than was strictly appropriate.
We're really going to do this, she thought as they reached the doorway to her room.
The coat she was wearing felt stuffy and uncomfortable. There was a heat in her chest and a magnetic pull that drew every sense towards Taras' lips.
Just a little closer...
"REKA, WHAT DID YOU DO?" Julie screeched.
She and Taras recoiled from one another as if they'd been shocked.
Alice rolled her eyes. Cockblocked again.
"Let's see what that was about," she said after the mood was completely ruined.
Whatever it was, Alice sensed magic, but nothing dark, oddly enough. It wasn't elemental, not light magic either. The closest comparison she could make would be nature magic, like something a druid would use, but that wasn't right either.
Taras stiffened when the entered the royal bedroom, likely suspecting a terrorist attack.
"Reka, you can't do your science experiments in bed!" Julie scolded. "You might've blown up Brad. You might've blown up the whole castle! We live here, you know!"
There was a new bed where the old one had been destroyed, but other than that the place was wrecked. It was like a magical bomb had gone off.
Seriously, what kind of magic is this? Did Reka invent a new school of magic?
That thought was so terrifying it struck her speechless.
Elbereth Evervirgin, if I play my cards right I won't be able to pray to you much longer, but please, don't let my insane mistress create a new school of magic! she prayed.
Tracing a hand over the burn marks on the wall, Taras asked, "How did this even happen?"
Reka turned to them, looking like she was glad to find an excuse to escape Julie's lecture. "Ah, young Mr. Usyk and dear Alice, welcome."
"Reka, I'm not done with you!" Julie tried to get her attention back, but it was for naught.
The gears turning in her mistress' mad brain were almost audible as she observed their closeness. Reka's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands. "Alice! You've finally obtained your boyfriend. When does he move in?"
"Move in?" Taras asked tightly.
Reka had that look in her eyes, the look of infinite entitlement to other people. She was about to order them to move in together after their third date. Taras would acquiesce, Alice knew. The Queen's pressure was the strongest force in the universe. Alice wasn't against the idea of them getting closer, but she'd prefer it to be at their own pace.
Just when all hope seemed lost, Brad hugged Reka from behind, placing a hand protectively over her abdomen.
We're saved! Alice sighed in relief. With Brad around Reka would forget they were even here. She hadn't noticed him in the room until now. Odd.
"Other people aren't like us, honey," Brad said kindly. "Give Alice and Taras time."
"You're right of course, my love," Reka agreed easily.
With the Queen's pressure removed Taras recovered his voice. "But what about this room? What in the world were you doing?"
"That's what I'd like to know!" Julie added.
"Er, well..." Reka smiled nervously. "Let us call it an 'unforeseen reaction', yes, that's more or less accurate phrasing."
"More or less?" Julie pressed.
Brad and Reka looked at one another, silently communicating. "We were just so excited about the baby," Brad obviously lied, "that we decided to try something new."
Yeah, they weren't ever going to come clean. It was definitely magic, though. Maybe something to do with the baby?
Oh, that was probably it. A Demon Queen couldn't get pregnant from a human man under normal circumstances. They had to have done something. Alice blushed at the thought. Sex magic? That was definitely none of her business.
Trying to shake that thought out of her head, Alice turned back to her date. "Hey Taras, there are video games in my room," she said, hoping he could take the hint.
"There are?" he sounded confused.
She looked at him pointedly.
"Oh. Oh. I'd love to play with you," Taras said innocently.
Maybe this night could be salvaged!
They were walking steadily as they left the royal bedroom. An encounter with Reka could sober up anyone.
"This is a very silly place," Taras said once they were out of earshot.
***
Reka's Point of View
The pleasure was mounting; her husband would peak soon.
"Reka!" he cried as he filled her. She clamped down and embraced him tighter, enjoying the sensation of wet warmth as Brad pulsed within.
Her wedding ring grew so terribly hot she feared it would burn him; her love was only human, after all. Then it happened.
A magic circuit opened within and overflowed, giving her the sensation of trying and failing to hold in a full-body sneeze.
It was...it was...
The Queen threw back her head as the pleasure took her and their royal bedchamber was once again ravaged by a magical shockwave.
Drat, I had hoped doing this in my human form would reduce the damage!
"Galiban, it happened again!" she called over her shoulder.
"Is the baby okay?" her husband asked between gasps of air.
Reka smiled down at him. He'd been so sweet since they conceived the princess, always fussing over her, and she wasn't even showing yet!
"The little one is healthy and strong, my love," she reassured him.
Too strong, actually. This was starting to be a problem.
"Another bed destroyed, I see," her butler commented dryly before turning to examine the spiral burns on the wall.
"How many is that now?" Reka asked.
"An even twenty, Your Majesty," Galiban said. "The royal couple breaking beds has become the subject of many jests among the staff."
"I fail to see the humor in the situation," Reka complained. "Tell me, Galiban, how am I supposed to make love with my husband under these conditions? I've been draining my ring multiple times a day. It's not enough. The magic overflows no matter what I do."
Galiban didn't reply immediately, transfixed as he was by the ruined wall. Reka could smell the burns now. What would they tell the servants who had to clean this up again?
"This is a novel configuration," her butler said finally, "like no magic circle I've ever seen. It's wild. It's alive. The geometry is chaotic but also elegant, like the way a flower glows. It's beautiful, actually," he said in wonder.
"But what does it mean?" Reka asked as she slipped on her nightgown and joined him in examining the wall. Brad, the poor dear, would need to remain in bed a while longer to recover from their joining.
They were silent for a time, just staring and trying to make sense of the insensible. To her, the spirals seemed like nothing more than wild magic lashing out.
"Did you...say anything when you made the princess?" Galiban asked.
"Just 'I love you'," Reka said. "As a matter of fact, we both said it, right at the end."
Galiban raised an eyebrow. "Ah, the 'L-bomb'," he said meaningfully. "Your Majesty, I believe that in your passion you invoked unprecedented magic of a kind unknown to demons. Your child was conceived in love."
"And 'love' is a power word, just like 'marriage'," Reka caught on to his line of thinking. "The closer I get to my husband, the more powerful I become. Galiban, it's almost like, like being the Demon Queen again. This power...I don't know if my body can handle it."
"Worry not, Your Majesty," Galiban said seriously, looking back at her husband who was still lying down and breathing hard. "A four-poster bed, I think, the frame made from the same alloy we use for my mobile platform, with magic circles etched into the very metal."
"Would that be enough to contain the outburst?" she asked hopefully.
"Just so, Your Majesty, and to siphon off excess magic that could harm the princess' development. The Chinese will be happy about resumed crystal shipments, I'm sure."
"No doubt," Reka agreed. "This war has been bad for business. It's past time to start knitting the realm back together."
Out of the corner of her eye, Reka noticed Brad was trying to get up. She rushed over.
"Let me help you, my love," she said, allowing him to lean on her.
His legs are unsteady, Reka observed. I'll have to have Alice resume his training.
"Is it really okay to give China so much?" Brad asked. "They get Siberia, and your crystals, and your drugs. What happens when they decide they don't need us anymore?"
"That will never happen," she said with certainty. "Everything we make requires a magical ingredient, something they can never duplicate. While they focus on developing their new northern territories they won't notice how dependent on us they've become. Put simply, I'm not locked in with them, they're locked in with me."
"And they've agreed to build factories, power plants, and all kinds of infrastructure across the RECA countries," Galiban added. "Your wife is no fool, Your Majesty. She wouldn't make a disadvantageous deal."
"I'll take your word for it," her husband said agreeably. He shivered a bit, so Reka held him closer. "Is it really true?" he asked. "You didn't know about love...before?"
Reka sighed. "I was a different person then, my love. Powerful? Yes, but lonely, and looking back, I was so terribly unhappy. The Demon Land was a harsh place. Demons don't even have friends, you know, just superiors to obey, and servants to command. The idea that I could fall in love with a man, get married, start a family...I didn't even know what those words meant."
It'd been a long time since Reka thought about that life, though she lived there over a thousand years. It all sort of ran together, a jumbled mess of plots and battle, but nothing happy, nothing warm. A day with Brad was worth a century back there.
"Honey, your ring is glowing again," he warned her.
Laughing to herself, Reka dipped her ring in the box on their nightstand, letting the magic flow out of her.
"Will our daughter be like this, like you?" Brad asked softly.
"Oh, yes," Reka confirmed it. "I didn't know love until I came to this world. Our baby will know it from the very first. I'm just strong. She'll be invincible."