Time passes differently in the dimension I now resided in. While it was possible that a thousand years had passed with Osirek, only two hundred had passed on Earth. There came a time in my life as Empress that I found myself wishing more than ever that I could give Osirek an heir. But my body had been ruined in the birth of my stolen son in Rome. There was nothing I knew of that could fix it.

I hid how I felt as well as I could, but I think Osirek noticed something regardless. The Bond we shared as mates made it possible for him to look into my mind at will, and vice versa. I never invaded his mind except to communicate when he was away from the palace. Time passed indeterminately. Seasons were a little different, and I could never figure out when my birthday was in all the time I spent there. Osirek never had a celebration either, not for a birthday at least.

It was some time after I had started wishing for a child I could not have that something changed. Osirek decided that the both of us should take a holiday together. So, we packed up and went to another region on the planet entirely to a villa in the mountains on a crystal clear lake. My two personal maids, Erin and Ara, came with us, as well as Osirek's personal manservant and assistant who went with him everywhere.

The lake was crystal clear, and mirrored the surrounding mountains and forest like glass. The air was crisp and clearer than I was used to, always having the salted scent of the sea in my nose, this clear mountain air was foreign but so refreshing. It was Autumn in this region, and the colors were vibrant and beautiful.

The villa was lavish and elegant, and the servants were lined up in the main hall to greet us as we entered. There was sunlight everywhere from high crystal glass windows that were immaculate. Osirek led the way to the bedchamber we'd be sharing. Normally people took separate quarters, but to an outside person the fact that we always slept in the same room was something of how favored I was and how loved I was. It made me happy when I heard the servants whispering among themselves about it. Osirek and I never said those words, but it was always clear through the way we acted.

We spent our days in leisure, Osirek only attending to urgent matters of state while the person who had been left in charge took care of the small things. I have to admit that it was very nice to spend so much time with him, doing nothing and just enjoying each others company, and we stayed at the villa for several months like that.

* * *

As time went on I got used to everything, but I started to forget other things as well. I no longer remembered a lot of my time before I came to live in that dimension. I lost track of how long I had been there, I lost track of almost everything except for the way things were. Later on I found out that two and a half centuries on Earth passed, though it was much, much longer in that dimension. Servants changed, humans died, though their lifespans were much longer than those of humans on Earth. It was only difficult because the nobles started to whisper and their wives began to ask about when there would be additions to the imperial family. Children. Something I could not have. I couldn't tell them that I was not capable of bearing a child. An empress not capable of bearing children was frowned on, and her position could become less stable. All I could do was to smile and say that that was a matter for me and Osirek.

Osirek must have been hearing the same from his council, because one night he actually mentioned it to me about what I would think of the two of us having a child. Thus far I had been able to keep my shameful secret from him. Now though I was faced with having to come clean, and I feared seeing an angry, or worse, disappointed expression on his face. He knew what had happened to me in Rome. He had been the one to tear my son from my arms.

“I..” I had to take a breath again before I could say anything. “I am not able to bear children after what happened in Rome. You know this. You were there. And you killed the only child I will ever have had.”

I absolutely still blamed him for what he had done. I never knew otherwise that my son had not been thrown into the river to drown as unwanted babies often were. I couldn't meet his gaze, so I missed the expression that flashed across his face for a moment. And for a minute he was silent, pulling me into his embrace and holding my slightly stiff body against his relaxed one.

“Is that what you think? That you can't have anymore children because you were destroyed in that place?”

“I don't think. I know. I spent five hundred years with you, and then I stopped bothering being good and bedded hundreds of men in a short time and I have never gotten pregnant again.” My voice was tense and angry and I didn't know why I felt so defensive.

He only chuckled with his head above mine out of my line of sight. “We shall see about that..”

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I didn't understand it, but I couldn't help feeling a little bit of hope. He had, after all, brought me back to health when I had been burned at the stake. Maybe he could somehow fix the issue. But I could not bring myself to ask him. I didn't want to get my hopes up only to be let down. I didn't think I could handle such a disappointment.

I couldn't sleep that night, not even a wink. I couldn't get my mind off of the childbearing 'issue'. And every night afterwards I dreamed of a child, or of being pregnant even though I didn't remember what it was like. I was obsessed, though I never said anything to anyone about it. Not a soul heard anything about it. Osirek didn't mention it again after that first night, but nothing had changed between us, he didn't grow cold, or leave me because I was barren. If anything, he seemed even more enamored, more enthusiastic at night in our chambers to the point where one morning I could not actually get out of bed my body was so satisfyingly sore.

I felt different somehow that morning, and I couldn't place it. I wore soft clothing that day, light weight fabric with my hair free down my back. Osirek was busier than usual, so I dined alone for lunch that day. It sometimes happened, but I knew I would see him that evening and it didn't bother me.

That odd feeling I'd had since waking wouldn't go away though, as if something was different and I couldn't place it. That was what was driving me out of my mind. I was sore all over, and it felt like I had a sour belly the whole day, as if I had eaten something that didn't agree with me. I mentioned these things to my mate when he came to dine with me for dinner and our usual walk in the gardens afterwards. He told me I should take a couple of days to rest and take it easy. There was something in those indigo eyes as he spoke, as if he knew something he wasn't telling me.

“It feels like you aren't telling me something. What are you hiding from me?”

Osirek laughed, the sound echoing in the quiet garden. “If I was hiding something from you you would know it. Don't forget, the Bond we share works both ways.”

I begrudgingly accepted it, but the feeling that he knew something I didn't wouldn't go away. He could tell I wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he didn't say more. He simply brought me back to our chambers and kept me up until dawn.

In the next week I started to feel off even more than I had before. I was hot, uncomfortable, and I felt a strange, insatiable need for Osirek that would not go away no matter what I tried. He seemed to know that I needed him though, and he didn't leave my side, most of the time spent in our bed aside from bathing.

That unbearable need lasted two weeks without letting up. I had never experienced such a thing in my entire life, and I was relieved to my core when it finally went away. For a few days I was able to return to my normal activity, though I felt a little off in a different way periodically throughout the day. My appetite was all over the place, if I didn't eat, I would end up sick to my stomach, but I was sick to my stomach anyway and so I didn't want to eat for fear of vomiting. My body didn't like what I was eating anymore either, and all I could stomach was bread and cheese. I was suddenly wanting the meat I could smell cooking at times, but at the same time the smell still made my stomach churn and the sight of meat in any form started to make me ill.

I had no idea what on earth was going on, and my attendants finally sent for a doctor to see me when just the sight of food spontaneously made me vomit one morning. But instead of a doctor, Osirek came to see me even though he had a meeting that morning. He got into the bed with me and pulled me over to lie on his chest with his arms around me. He was quiet for a long moment before he said something I could not and dared not believe.

“You are pregnant,” he said simply. I looked up at him with what even I knew was disbelief.

“That's impossible. I can't have children anymore. My insides were destroyed.”

“You died, and I healed your charred body into the woman you see in the mirror every day. Why is it impossible for you to be pregnant when I can bring you back from that with a little time?” He smiled down at my incredulous face.

“But--” I couldn't truly argue with him. I couldn't believe him either. I wasn't watching his face, but I could feel him smiling at my disbelief. “How could you even know?”

“Because I can smell you, and when you had that insatiable need not very long ago, that is a pregnancy induced heat. You are pregnant my Empress. Get used to the idea.”

Osirek stayed with me until my stomach settled and I could eat something before returning to his duties. I was stunned, but I still wasn't sure that he was right. I just couldn't believe that after everything I had been through, that I would have a child that wouldn't be stolen from me and murdered.

I was ill every single morning, and if I ate something strange, it was always a very bad idea. I seemed to want meat, but the sight and smell of it made me ill. Even Osirek stopped eating it in the same room as me. I continued my duties as Empress, I just wasn't able to work in the mornings anymore. As time went by, it was difficult to continue denying what was clearly the truth. There was no other reason for me being ill, or for both the aversion to food as well as the craving of those same foods I couldn't be near.

Secretly, I went to see the palace physician one day. I wound up fainting because with the doctor's examination he confirmed what Osirek had said. I was actually pregnant. Osirek found out about seeing the doctor because my attendants informed him that I had fainted with the man. I woke to find myself in my bedchamber with my head resting on something warm, the sound of a heartbeat in my ear. I knew it was Osirek before I even opened my eyes. And he knew I was awake before I opened them as well.

“You need to be more careful. You should not stress yourself so much. The doctor said you are to remain in bed for a couple of days after such a shock.”

I felt sheepish. I hadn't been able to believe him, and now it was confirmed and official that I was with child. Shock was putting it lightly. And as it truly sank in, I started to cry. My whole body shook and trembled in reaction. This being had given me absolutely everything that I had ever wanted, and I was so blissfully happy that it bubbled out in uncontrolled tears. Osirek wrapped his arms around me and said nothing more.

It took me some time to settled down again, spent against him both physically and mentally after everything. I drifted off to sleep with Osirek's heartbeat still in my ear, exhausted but happier than I had ever been in my entire life.