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I WILL LISTEN ALL NIGHT LONG IF NEED BE. IT IS WHAT A BRIDE IS FOR. 

@cevheri     as does most women your age,   you are aware that your sole purpose as my wife is not to only to bear my children,  correct?   if that was the case—i’d have a hundred wives and thousands of fledglings.     ease yourself,  my love.   

you must know..           [blood rushes past to rise to the very top of her head. an excommunicated nun in the making, mayhaps.]           i have experience.   it is minimal, but i know of child making. 

@cevheri       eager aren’t you?      not tonight.   when the time is right,     i will summon you to my personal chambers.        

“whatever shall i do to endear to you, muhjatī?”           the reach of her precise fingers move to caress face turned away, with no summoned strength whatsoever, leaving only imprints of tender, human warmth.           “it is only a glimpse of your smile back that i am after.”

@cevheri     i do not feel very endeared by it,  wife.   [The frown turns into a pout,  boyish and almost child-like.]   

“ah..”             it must have escaped her, in a lap unhurried affections and attentions. a breath, and in it, the expiry of hopes and hopes-against; with the unmistakably human heartbeat possessed by alarming celerity, incongruous was the gradual twist of her head, the slow blink of now-cognizant eyes.           “i did not mean it in such a way.    it was but an act of endearment in my heart of intentions..     miquella,     won’t you look my way?”

SO THAT WE MAY TALK TO THE EXTENT OF OUR HEARTS’ DESIRE. AND KISS IN THE WAY THEIR PEOPLE INTENDED FOR LOVERS TO KISS. 

YOU’RE AWAKE. DID YOU REST WELL?

  [   TWO  YEARS  LATER    ]    ..     “For the love of GOD,  stop this,  Miquella!”   Elizabeth cries out,  her nails digging into the skin of his arm.  “  ..  God has abandoned us,     that is why I stepped in.”         

She notices it first,  Miquella’s head does not bow and his palms do not press together when the prayer begins.  INSTEAD he stares at the crucifixion statue mounted on the wall,  hands folded behind his back.   “You are guilty of something—”   She whispers,   “This is your time to speak to God and ask for forgiveness..”  she’s awarded a snort—the corner of his mouth curling slightly.  “I’ve spoken to God,  he told me to cleanse the world of filth.  Of you.”    

[  THE TWO—FACED SINISTER AND SAINTLY   ]   “My father once asked:  [   What is evil in its purest form?  ]       I RESPONDED,   MAN.”