Jon looked at herself in the mirror, still hovering somewhere between a state of shock and total panic. Jon could hardly believe she was thinking it, but she would make a very lovely bride - - even if it looked to be a shotgun wedding. The white gown's low-cut bodice lifted and compressed her breasts to create massive cleavage. Her short red hair was crowned with a circlet of white roses, which combined with the long white gloves encasing her arms to give her a regal air. She looked more mature than her years, but that could have also been due to DeMorrell tweaking her age while he had reshaped her body into her new female form. Of course, there wasn't much the dressmaker could do to conceal the pronounced swell of her pregnancy, but, all in all, she was a vision of fertile female loveliness, a woman any man would be proud to have as his bride. The baby rolled over inside her, reminding Jon of what was to come in the next month or so. The young redhead hung her head and cursed beneath her breath. The dressmaker and his small swarm of assistants did not even notice.
Her plan, if it could be dignified by such a term, had gone well so far. Jon had sought to trick DeMorrell into sending his other pregnant captive, "Nora," back to Jon's hometown, ostensibly to earn a living as a waitress at the Burger Barn. In reality, Nora was actually Jon's grandfather, Jack Merlin, an adventurer who through a series of misadventures had become trapped in the body of the ruthless young woman that had betrayed Merlin and their mutual enemy, Lucius DeMorrell, alike. Luckily, DeMorrell had not realized he was liberating his oldest rival. Instead, he thought he was humoring his bride-to-be by disposing of a rival for his unwanted affections. Back home, Granddad was now free to pursue whatever means she had available to thwart DeMorrell and rescue Jon. Of course, after months of captivity, punctuated by multiple rapes and beatings, Jack was pregnant by DeMorrell and somewhere in her third trimester, which was hardly a condition that lent itself to staging a rescue from a heavily fortified compound, but any help was better than nothing!
So Jon's plan to dupe DeMorrell into releasing Granddad so she could return with help was a success, but she had found herself making some big concessions to DeMorrell in order to convince him to use the stone which had only recently been hers. Jon was not at all looking forward to making good on the promises she had made DeMorrell if only he would "just send Nora away!" First, she would have to marry him. DeMorrell had wished for that and, short of obtaining the stone to reinterpret the wish, Jon had figured she would have to go through with it. Worse, she had promised to be a dutiful wife, obedient to his will, and fruitful as well, providing him with as many children as he might desire. Examining her face in the mirror, Jon guessed her new age to be anywhere from eightteen to twenty-two. That meant she had nearly two full decades of childbearing years ahead of her. Jon's unwelcome passenger rolled over inside her womb and she gulped back nausea. Hopefully, the cavalry would arrive before she could field her own basketball team. God knows, she felt like three of them were on board allready.
The only upshot to all this was her release from confinement. DeMorrell had a small private ceremony in mind and Jonni, as he referred to Jon, must be prepared. To that end she had been brought from her wing of the mansion to DeMorrell's private sanctum, the chambers they would share together before much longer. Jon had desperately tried to remember the paths they took, which hallways, where they turned, how many doors and windows they passed on the way, if they were guarded or not, and so on. Awkward and front heavy as she was it wouldn't be easy to make a run for it. In fact, she probably couldn't run at all in her fecund condition, but if escape were to be possible she would have to do it herself and she would have to remember the way out. Jon didn't think DeMorrell would be foolish enough to leave the stone where she might get at it. He wasn't a stupid man. Still, anyone as rich, powerful, and corrupt as DeMorrell had enemies. It stood to reason the man might have hidden weapons or secret passageways in his private chambers before the stone made such things obsolete - - just in case he was ever attacked on his homeground.
So Jon was determined to search for these weapons and escape routes if they still existed. All she had to do was get some time alone. To that end, Jon began complaining. She was hungry. She was tired. Her feet hurt. Her back hurt. She didn't like the way the dressmaker was poking and prodding her. When DeMorrell was finally summoned to confront his fussy fiance, Jon looked him in the eye in that surly way her mother had once addressed her father when pregnant with the twins. One hand in the small of her back, the other rubbing her belly, she scowled and exhaled loudly.
"Yes, my dear?" DeMorrell seemed distracted as if he had other matters to attend to.
"I'm tired. The baby's tired," Jon pouted, "I don't want to stand up anymore. I want my nap."
"So be it," DeMorrell nodded, "All of you leave. My intended needs her rest."
After the small entourage of servants had left DeMorrell turned to her with something of a leer, "You may sleep here in my bed, Jonni, dear. We'll be making extensive use of it soon enough!"
DeMorrell spun on his heel and left. It briefly occurred to Jon that if the man caught her plotting trachery what her grandfather had endured would be a walk in the park. And yet, Jon knew she couldn't live with herself, especially as DeMorrell's baby-making sex slave, if she didn't try. What to do? To search his chambers or not? Jon was thinking it might be for the best to have a look around. Her future husband had thrown a curveball with all that "no memory of my plans or security protocols" stuff just prior to sending Granddad back home. Granddad might have a whole cache of magic junk stored away somewhere, but it wouldn't do either of them any good if she couldn't remember where to find Jon and the wishing stone.
Of course, DeMorrell might be back at any second and he was looking for any excuse she gave him to use the stone. It might be for the best to be a good little woman and stay put.
Jon's head spun a little. What was she going to do?
