“Oh. Then you really need to get it off me, or else we . . .” She didn’t finish the thought, but I knew what she meant. Except, we couldn’t abstain, That wasn’t possible. We were married and . . . And it was obvious that the necklace was now a permanent addition.
I’d explained before that once Penelope received the bite, she would be capable of bearing my child. She must be recalling that. Would she ask not to proceed with my making her officially mine?
She moaned, a long whimper of a sound, that let me know that she was feeling as constrained by this whole snag as I was.
“Can’t you Pooka up some birth control?” she gave me a small half smile.
Even if Penelope could have removed the necklace, I doubt that it was possible to uninvite the elements of conception. The Queen had stated her intention for Penelope earlier. Moragana had probably enchanted Penelope during the wedding, as well as adding this necklace charm. It would do no good to argue with the Fae’s plans. The Unseelie were always inclined to put their desires ahead of others. Queen Moragana, even more so.
I should have guessed about the necklace’s purpose at once. An old saying I’d heard somewhere came to mind: If a Fae renders you a gift, if its nature makes it seem valuable, it is not. But when a gift seems insignificant, you can count on it being the most important of all.
Penelope
I admit that I got up off the bed to rush to the mirror so I could check what the necklace really looked like. It wasn’t actually vanity that caused me to do so, but. . . well, something stuck on my body permanently, forever . . . one could only hope that the piece of jewelry was at least suitably attractive not to make my lip crinkle up with repulsion.
Thankfully, Timothy was correct. As I looked into the mirror, I agreed that the necklace was beautiful. It shown in the room’s lights. Its herringbone chain looked as brilliant as if it were layered in diamonds, which it might be the case since among the Fae money was never an obstacle, at least not for the Queen.
As I stared at the sight of the necklace, I had to do some quick refiguring. I hadn’t wanted to get pregnant right way. Timothy had talked about having children, if it were possible, but it had always seemed when we discussed it that the timeframe would be off in the future, when I was older and wiser. But today was our wedding day. Of course I couldn’t deny us our happy time. In fact, several of them. It wasn’t how I wanted it to be, but the Fates saw things differently, I suppose.