9.9

Magdalena worried that she had somehow made a wild prayer to the open night sky.

Wished too loudly and too clearly to the great dark and its twinkling stars. Let her yearning strike a spark and draw too much of the heaven’s attention down upon her.

What other reason could there be that her fool of a husband came back to her changed by the sorcery of the dragon countess in a shape that made her weak in the knees? What possible reason but the cruel and dangerous generosity of the gods that they so gifted her with this beautiful and enchanting creature that also was already her sworn married husband?

Such were her thoughts as they stood in the riverside temple on the northwest bank of the gate town peninsula.

It had taken nearly all of Swine Turn to get this meeting. The delay was thanks to the shifting auspices of the river vah and the simple fact that in the chaos that followed the Countess Jewel’s curse the priests and temples had been swamped in the people of Kaeketeh seeking intervention by the gods.

As they said:

“In times of trouble the temple’s coffers fill and the sacrifices pile high.”

But finally they were here.

Solid stone underfoot and a statue at every pillar for each of the most common gods of the River Vah, Kaeketeh and a few minor idols and shrines for the farther ranging divinities of Viznove.

Magdalena did not know when the riverside temple was built, its foundations went deep into the river and it shot free of the shore like a jetty. But instead of mooring fishing boats or barges there were just the sheer walls of stone rising up into the sides of the temple proper itself.

Inside the space was open and airy, even well into autumn. The breeze carried away the smoke of a dozen braziers up and out, each burning the offerings of a Priest working with people much like Havel and her.

There were even two waifs off on their own whispering fervently to the apparition of smoke in their own little alcove of the Temple.

The priests all wore plain brown robes, hoods pulled up to help obscure their faces from easy scrutiny under the noon light from the windows. The flicker of the coals in their brazier where the offering of fish bones and river snails hissed and spat.

Their own god minder seemed younger given what was visible of his face when the fire rose higher.

Was the temple so overburdened that apprentices needed to call to the heavens?

Young or not his work seemed to be proper to Magdalena’s inexpert eye.

The fire danced and shined and wobbled in colors more like a river than the flame.

The cry of the shorebirds singing amidst the sparks.

And just the slightest trembling hint of their marriage’s patron god echoed in the air.

She tried not to put too much attention on the fire. Tried not to listen hard enough so she would hear the god’s words. It felt more important now then all the lectures as a child. Don’t call on the gods by accident, let the priests take the risk.

Let the robed ones suffer the burden of the divine.

More than ever before in her life she tried to avoid notice from the heavens.

Magdalena was so sure that her desires had already somehow slipped despite all the time in this very temple to learn precisely how not to let loose even a hint of wild prayer.

Had she cursed an honest if foolish man with her negligence? Harmed one who she didn't particularly mind as a companion but didn't stir her longing. Not like the girls that worked the closed off rooms by the docks.

Poor fool, besotted, idiot of a man Havel deserved so much better than her. They had been fine enough friends, met when she was doing something incredibly foolish. Magdalena had been out later at night then her parents could stand given it was Kaeketeh.

And there she had run across the boy who she only later learned was the son of a gong farmer.

They had gotten along alright?

He’d courted her and she’d found it nice to talk to him.

And well you had to have a husband eventually. Her parents were going to marry her off to someone!

So why not him?

Magdalena rather liked Havel in most ways. He was polite, he treated her like a queen. He worked hard as two men combined. And he was an apprentice with the Countess’ Men! A girl in Kaeketeh dreamed of the safety that being a Gaurdswife assured.

Guardswives did not disappear in the night. Even though Magdalena had since learned from Havel that hardly happened as often as the rumors sounded like.

Guardswives were also never taken for questioning and sometimes lost.

Guardswives did not end up as bloated corpses downriver.

Not without consequences no one else could afford.

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Havel was good for Magdalena. She could have borne one, maybe two children with him as a duty. She could have maybe saved enough silver to seek more feminine company for her own needs after.

They said Guardswives even got the services of the Countess’ Wizard to ease the risk of birth. Sorcery assuring that not a single woman in the keep or spouse of the staff had ever died bringing a babe into the world. She could have suffered worse than Havel for that safety alone.

Just for that assurance against the death that had claimed her older sister?

She’d have suffered worse than Havel.

But there had never been anything to suffer from him.

To be a Gaurdswife she could have done so much worse than simple, adoring Havel.

A few uncomfortable nights a season til she was with child was a duty she could stand to carry for the man and all he gave her.

But now it was like a dream come true.

A suspiciously granted wish that stank of all the dire warnings of divine intervention that the temple spoke of and warned about every twelve days.

Havel was now everything that filled her with desire and more than she had dreamed! He was adorable and slight, but not so thin or small as to be mistaken for a child. He was pert where she always appreciated it.

He was soft where she wanted to squeeze and cuddle.

He was-

So nervous beside her, face a war of hope and concern and fear. Eyes welling with tears that he could not help but shed. So different from how stone faced he used to be and yet undeniably the same simple minded boy she ran across that night on the street.

It was just unfair!

Havel was now perfect for Magdalena! And it was so obviously a torment for the man!

She could not find it in herself to hope that her bluff about the gods would not be true. Magdalena wanted to spend the rest of her life with Havel now! He was beautiful! He was kind, he was everything she wanted and had resigned herself to never have.

Everything she had given up when she finally agreed with her parents they would make a good match.

Out of obligation for her family.

Out of her responsibility.

Out of fear.

Magdalena had given up so much and then out of the blue her fool husband found a way to be ‘accursed’ into the most perfectly astonishing creature of her every desire?!

This was not fair!

To her or Havel! Really, it was the worst for him!

She could not even begin to pretend that open, guileless face was not suffering.

But still!

The fire dipped low, the sound of water receding off the shore. Their little corner grew quiet but for the murmuring and divine influence drifting through the open hall of the temple from the other priests and their clients.

Magdalena could not help how she clasped her hand with Havel’s.

Havel was trembling, eyes a medley of hope and terror that simply could not keep itself hidden.

At last the priest nodded and signed with his left hand that he had finished the communion with their god.

There was no risk of interrupting his work.

“I have conferred with Stribog, and the word is clear, your vows still hold you both in union under his gaze.”

Relief flooded her like a torrent.

She did not even realize what she was doing until after she had grabbed Havel up around his middle, spun him in a circle and then kissed him more passionately than she ever had in their two years of marriage! Even at their wedding she’d been more chaste than this!

He didn't struggle, in fact it took only a moment before his shocked posture turned to squeezing her tight and oh so much stronger than that slight frame suggested. That was one of the few things Magdalena had ever really liked about her husband. In the dark she could forget he was a man and he could grasp her and squeeze her oh so tightly.

But now feeling her husband’s changed form pressed against her, she did not need the dark to hide what he was.

She loved every part of him!

Magdalena’s heart fluttered.

The priest had to clear his throat twice before she remembered to pull apart from her husband.

Havel’s beautiful, perfect face was awash in delight, joy and obvious longing in a way that Magdalena could never have been sure of before. And that look in his eyes no longer made part of her squirm to move away and recoil.

The priest laughed lightly, his tone lifted. She suspected it was good to see a happy couple with joyous news amidst the labors of the temple of late. Magdalena could see in a glance much more somber or angry faces at the braziers around them. It made her heart clench in guilt that so many suffered while she had this spark of joy. There were obviously sparse good tidings from the gods this season.

Their assigned priest finally spoke after they stopped mashing one another’s lips together.

“Yes, I can see you are both relieved, but there is an important matter regarding those vows given the nature of your husband’s condition.”

There it was, no gift from the gods was free. Every sermon and every story told in the spinning circles was clear on this.

Nothing was ever simply fine. Especially not for Magdalena.

And here came the cost and the hook that would spoil the perfectly terrible wish Magdalena had somehow carelessly let slip free into the heavens.

More than poor Havel was already paying.

“Your vows were explicit and clear and Stribog still acknowledges them. He owes you children of your marriage, and I’m afraid that given both of you are now women-”

Magdalena barked in laughter at the fool man’s face. She couldn't help it, he was worried about that?!

“Oh, that's not a problem, priest. We can find a way that lets Stribog fulfill his vow!”

Her fool husband though proved that for however perfect he might look he still was himself underneath all the pert features and adorable face.

“Lenka?! How is that not a problem?! Vows unfulfilled by a god are serious! How is Stribog going to satisfy our vow if we are both women!?”

Magdalena laughed and ruffled her now shorter husband’s wonderfully motley hair.

“My dear Havel, we’ve been given twice the opportunity to make them! It will be fine!”

The way that the realization swam over and practically burst in the most profound and expressive canvas of fear, shock, wonder and burgeoning if slightly smothered curiosity over her husband’s new face was possibly the second most delightful thing Magdalena had seen this season.

“Lenka?!”