There was a knock at the door to Jon's chambers and only a limited number of people it could be. Her maid, who would go away if she told her to, or DeMorrell or one of his men, who would enter anyway. Jon hoped it was DeMorrell. She had a plan and the sooner she put it into effect the sooner she might escape her imprisonment in this place and in her current form.
"Enter," Jon called out in that soft voice which was still so unfamiliar to her ears. The door opened and she was not disappointed. Her visitor was DeMorrell himself.
"And how are we this morning, my love?" DeMorrell arched one eyebrow, cocking his head to the left slightly, his intense gray eyes never leaving Jon's face.
Jon sighed tiredly before speaking. The sigh was genuine. Being pregnant was harder work than she had once thought, but the rest of what she said and did would be artifice. She had decided upon a plan and now was as good a time as any to put it into effect. DeMorrell did not check in on her every day so this might be her only chance.
"Tired. I'm still getting used to, well," Jon rubbed the side of her belly for effect, "all this. I don't know what's normal and what's not."
"This is to be expected," DeMorrell nodded in a satisfied way, "I would be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by the psychological changes that flow from what I have done to you. Do you still think like a man, I wonder, or are you already become more female in your thought processes?"
"I - - I don't know," Jon answered honestly. It was best to mix truth with lies. They went down easier that way, "I still think of myself as a man, but I'm so emotional now. I don't know if that's from all the hormones or if I'm just freaking out. I mean, I think this would freak out any guy it happened to."
"Yes," DeMorrell smiled happily, "Yes, I suppose it would."
"The baby is moving around a lot today," Jon murmurred; this part was also true. She gave DeMorrell a sheepish look full of embarassment, "Do you - - do you want to feel it?"
"Perhaps later," DeMorrell demurred, but he approached the couch and took a seat on it uncomfortably close to Jon. There was a familiarity in his manner toward her that unsettled Jon. He really did act as if he regarded her as his wife. His eyes lingered on the pronounced curve of her belly before flickering back up to her face with a quizzical look, "You seem talkative today. Moreso than usual. Why?"
"I don't know," Jon shrugged, "I guess I'm lonely. Maybe I just want company. I might hate you for what you did to me, but at least you're someone I can talk to. I tried talking to the maid, but she never says anything back."
"I know. I made her mute. No sense in taking any unnecessary chances."
Jon felt a brief surge of pity for the woman who cleaned her rooms and fetched her food and drink. It occurred to her she didn't even know the maid's name. She hoped making her mute was all DeMorrell had done to her, with or without the stone.
"Maybe it's being pregnant," Jon allowed her eyes to meet her captor's. Here was were she put things into motion, "Being a woman would be weird enough, but I'm going to have a baby. I'm slower, weak, vulnerable. It's probably genetic. A pregnant female just naturally seeks out the support and protection of a man. I don't love you, don't think I ever could, but you do take care of me. You gave me the maid and pretty much anything else I've asked for, so - - - so I'm trying to be good."
"Trying to be good?" DeMorrell laughed, "For me? The man you hate? Whatever for?"
Jon looked down and away, blushing a little. All natural responses to the admission she was about to make, but she realized they actually helped rather than hurt her plan. "I - - I know you'll never change me back. I'm going to be a woman for the rest of my life and I'm going to have this baby, I know all that. I don't know why you did this to me, but that's the way it is. You have the stone and you have the power. This is the way you want me, so the sooner I accept that the sooner I can stop feeling like a freak. And maybe if I'm good enough for long enough you'll let me out of these rooms."
DeMorrell gave her a searching look. There was a skeptical twist to his lips as if he didn't quite believe her, but Jon had a hunch he was pleased by her submissiveness. She had acknowledged that she was his to do with as he pleased and that in turn had pleased him. The trick would be to not push too hard too soon.
"I know you'll never let me go," Jon shifted a little in her seat, turning to more fully face DeMorrell and rubbing her belly, trying to keep him focused on what he had done to her, trying to make him feel powerful, invulnerable, "And I know you'll make me have more babies if you want them. I just don't want to end up like Nora."
"Nora? Oh, her, yes," DeMorrell's eyes lit with understanding. Or at least he thought he understood. Jon kept her face neutral. She didn't want to give anything away at this crucial juncture.
"Did you know that when I first saw her she told me, 'Welcome to hell?'" Jon put a little fear into her eyes. It wasn't hard to do. She was afraid - - for herself and for Nora, especially since 'Nora" was really her grandfather. DeMorrell might not know that, but Jon did and she didn't want this evil bastard to hurt her any more than he already had.
"You had just made me like this," Jon flicked at a lock of her red hair, briefly looked down at her breasts, "And when I saw her - - naked, dirty, pregnant, and with those dead looking eyes - - I just, I don't know, I don't want to be like her. Don't keep me trapped in some dungeon, Lucius, please. I just couldn't take it."
"And you won't have to, my love," DeMorrell patted her thigh in what Jon guessed was supposed be a reassuring manner. She tried to not let him see his touch made her stomach churn. DeMorrell smiled, "You are already coming along much better than Nora."
"Well, good," Jon smiled and sat up a little straighter, trying to preen the way a normal woman did when she heard a compliment, "I'm, well, I guess I'm glad."
"Really?" DeMorrell chuckled.
"Yeah," Jon nodded sheepishly, "I mean, I know it was your wish that made me so hot for you, but when we were having sex I was almost jealous of her."
"Jealous of Nora? Whatever for?" DeMorrell's eyes narrowed a little, "I thought you didn't want to be stuck down in a dungeon like her."
"I don't! Please, don't," Jon said quickly, "You just have to understand that when you made me want your body like you did - - I was sort of out of my mind. I still hated you, but I hated the idea that you had fucked her before me even more. That you gave her a baby before you did me. We were having sex, and it was heaven, but I couldn't help thinking that when you were done with me you'd go back to her."
"And now?" Demorrell asked after a moment to digest this information.
"I'll be the wife you wished for, Lucius, I promise," Jon tried to sound desperate, yearning, "I will obey you, I'll give you everything you want, I'll give you all the babies you want - - but you have to send her away."
"Why should I do that?" DeMorrell frowned, "I'm not opposed to the idea. She has been punished for daring to betray me, and you should remember that with the stone my punishments for betrayal can now be much, much worse, but how does it benefit you?"
"As long as Nora is here you might decide you like her better. That you want her up here and me down there," Jon sniffed and swallowed hard as if about to cry, "I might not like what you've done to me, but I can learn to live with it. Maybe I could even learn to love you. This baby is half mine, after all, and I don't want anything to happen to it. I know you are going to keep me like this, so I at least want to be happy. That means I have to feel safe. Send her away."
"Where?" DeMorrell's eyes glittered. Once his enemy's only male heir consented to be his wife and had a gaggle of children trailing at her skirts his victory would be complete. It was a strong temptation.
He was actually considering it, Jon could tell. How she played this next part would be very important. Tossing her head as if she were tired of even discussing it, Jon made an exasperated noise and laid the final part of her trap, "I don't know - - I don't care, anywhere! If you still want to punish her make her work at the Burger Barn or something! I worked my ass off there last summer and I hated it! It would have been even worse like this." Jon cupped her massive belly and shifted a little.
DeMorrell laughed, "Jon, my dear, you never fail to amuse me. You imagination is so limited. Now I know my having the stone is for the best - - still, it would be an appropriate punishment. The spoiled daughter of the Volancorts, a single mother forced to make her living as a waitress."
Jon sensed DeMorrell was coming to a decision. She held her breath.
DeMorrell fished the stone from his coat pocket and held it up before his face as if peering into its depths, "Very well, if it will reassure you, I wish..."
