When Shoshana returned nearly an hour and a half later, Erik had laid out a spread of nearly every breakfast food imaginable, and she smiled some. In spite of her small smile Erik could tell something was on her mind. "Sit, have something to eat. You should sleep too, I doubt if you did last night."
"You didn't have to do this. I was going to change and get a basket…" She told him quietly, placing new sheets on the bed to make it after breakfast. She was still dressed in his robe, reluctant to change it was so comfortable, and it covered so much more than most of her outfits did.
"Here in the East women may be expected to wait on their husbands for the duration of the marriage, but at least for a while after the wedding women are spoiled rotten by their husbands in the West," he explained. "Go on, eat. There will be time for work and chores later," he promised her, waiting for her to sit and take food before he ventured to ask his next question. "How was your appointment with the nurse? It seemed to run a little long."
"Violating. And it didn't end with the nurse; I had to see the Sultana. She wanted to inspect me herself," his bride remarked coldly. "I'm remarkably glad I chose to be with you, though. I'm such an awful liar she surely would have tripped me up with all her questions."
"I should hope you're also glad to have been with me for the same reasons I am glad you were with me," he remarked coyly, and Shoshana smiled privately as her face flushed. "What all did she ask?"
Shoshana took a bite of an apple, as if speaking with her mouth preoccupied would make the topic any less embarrassing. "She wanted a full narration. So I was honest with her. I told her about your face, and how you locked yourself away, and she seemed pleased. Then I told her about when you came out; I left out conspiring to sodomize myself, I'd prefer to think that thought never crossed anybody's mind. I mentioned how you needed a little convincing, but once you weren't convinced I was just trying to save my own hide and run off how remarkable it was," swallowing her bite, she continued. "That was when she really started prying. That woman has a truly foul mind, did you know that?"
"I did, actually. What was it she pried about?" He asked, truly curious. It seemed to him there wasn't much more to it than what Shoshana must have already told her.
"…The size of your manhood, for one," she told him, olive skin flushed dark red. "Whether or not you were as sexually competent as you seemed. How long you lasted. Things of that nature."
Erik very nearly laughed. "And what did you tell her?"
She flushed even darker then, something Erik didn't think was possible. "The truth. That you were larger than the girls in the harem told me you would be and it made me nervous at first, and that while I didn't have as much experience in these matters as Her Highness, I hadn't been paying particular attention to how long it lasted and that I was thoroughly satisfied."
The masked man did laugh then, and kissed his bride on the cheek. "I am remarkably proud of you, Shoshana. I really must apologize for the harshness of my words before the wedding, clearly I was wrong about you. It takes a lot of nerve to not only go through with a wedding and all its accoutrements, but to make such a jab at the Sultana? You, my darling bride, are a lioness."
The young woman shook her head, though her glow now was one of pride at his praise. "No, you were right about me then. I'm simply… changing, is all. I'm done just surviving; I want to actually live now. Does that make any sense? I decided to marry you a few days ago, but it was just before the ceremony last night that I realized why I was actually going to go through with it. When I looked in the mirror I didn't see a little harem girl with no future, I saw a bride."
"It makes perfect sense. I made that realization in Italy, some years back. It's a difficult but glorious realization, isn't it?" He smiled, standing to put the sheets on the bed.
"'Some years back'? How long have you been traveling?" She asked curiously. He had said he was only nineteen, twenty at the oldest.
"Ten or eleven years I think, give or take a few. I left home quiet young."
"When were you in Italy?" She pressed, suddenly realizing how tragically little she knew about her husband's past.
"Those dates are even less precise, I'm afraid. I think I was around fifteen when I left, but that's a very rough guess."
"What did you do there?"
The question was as innocent as the last, but for some reason it elicited a more delayed response from the man making the bed. "I was the apprentice to a stonemason. I helped build a few homes for wealthy Italians."
Shoshana smiled encouragingly. "I'll bet they were beautiful. Papa went to the Vatican once, he said Italy must have been the most beautiful country in the world."
"It is certainly one of my favorite," Erik smiled back, to her over his shoulder, though she thought she could see a hint of sadness on his mouth.
"Why didn't you stay, then?" She asked innocently, and Erik debated for a long moment whether to answer or to change the subject.
"I killed a young girl there. My Master's daughter. It was an accident, but I knew I could never face him… so I left."
Shoshana frowned deeply. "She's the one girl you've killed? You mentioned when you mended my back-"
"Yes, she's the one." Erik interrupted before she could finish, eager for the subject to be finished. "Finish eating and change, there's something I want to show you, and someone you should meet."
Curious but taking the hint, Shoshana finished her food and moved into the study to change. Erik had brought a trunk of her things from the harem himself, since it seemed no one else was going to. Married now, she dressed as modestly as possible and made a mental note to go shopping for proper attire. From now on her bare belly should be seen by only her husband.
Erik kissed his wife when she emerged from the study, a gesture she returned happily. Why she had been so nervous about marrying Erik she simply couldn't recall; so far, albeit less than a day into their marriage, he was wonderful. He guided her down a hall before coming to a stop in front of a long, thin table with a vase pressed against the wall. Several torches flanked either end of the table up on the wall, unlit in the daylight. "Stand back, just watch." He told her, and she obediently moved back against the far wall to observe.
In a barely noticeable gesture, Erik reached up and touched one of the torches, and suddenly he was gone. Shoshana's breath caught audibly in her throat at the sight. "Erik..? Erik please tell me this is a trick and not one of your magicks…"
In another blink of an eye, Erik was back, smiling broadly. "It's only an illusion, I swear to you. Almost identical to the one you helped me with, actually. Do you remember that little trap door you fell through, the one that rotated? Well this is exactly the same, except that you have to pull a lever to get the door to rotate since it's here in the wall. Whoever built this was truly a genius, it's very nearly silent and extraordinarily quick," he spoke with immense admiration in his voice, though she could tell his mind was already racing around the mechanics of it for possible ways to improve it even more.
"Come here, take my hand," Erik offered his hand to her, and Shoshana ventured forward to take it.
"It's just like the trick with the doors?" She asked nervously, and Erik nodded.
"Exactly like it, but through a wall instead of through the floor. Watch," Erik touched the torch, and in a blink of an eye the hallways was gone and they were standing in pitch darkness. Shoshana moved to hold Erik's arm, alarmed by how sudden the darkness had set in. He hushed her gently, and suddenly there was light in the passageway. Erik held a torch above them, revealing a row of torches along the wall as far as could be seen.
"These passages all lead outside of the palace walls. In case something happens I wanted to make sure you knew they were here."
"Why would something happen?" She looked up at him curiously.
"The Sultan requested an audience with me today. The Daroga thinks it's about some of the political upset in the court. It could get me involved in some… unsavory business," he told her, blowing out the torch and moving them back into the main hallway of the palace in another blink of an eye.
"How many passages like that are there?"
"I'm not sure yet. Six that I know of, but there are probably more. This is the closest one to our rooms. I'll show you the others if I think there's need for them," he promised, and she nodded.
Hand in hand they walked through the palace for twenty minutes, crossing through the courtyard clear to the other end of the massive complex. Every minute that passed Shoshana grew more curious about where they could possibly be going. This was the more elaborate end of the palace, where the Sultan housed people on his political staff and important guests….
Erik stopped them in front of a large set of double doors and knocked firmly. Within moment the Daroga opened the door to them with a smile. "I wish you had told me you were bringing your wife, I would have brought in food…"
"We've already eaten," Erik promised, clasping the man's hand cordially. Shoshana bowed deeply, though Nadir bid her to rise.
"There's no need for that here. You are the wife of my friend, that makes you as welcome in my household as he is," Nadir smiled warmly.
Suddenly a young boy entered the room, looking weak and pale but with great joy in his face. "Erik? Is that you?"
Erik smiled and moved to the boy, who only recognized his form when he was near. The boy's vision was failing him now, as quickly as the rest of his facilities. The tall Magician crouched to be level with the boy and opened his arms to embrace him like a brother. "How have you been, Reza? I'm sorry I haven't been by, things have been very busy."
"It's okay, Father told me you were busy. He says you got married!"
"Just last night, actually," Erik smiled to the boy. "She's here with me, if you'd like to meet her?" he beckoned Shoshana forward, and picked the featherweight boy up so she wouldn't have to crouch.
Shoshana bowed politely with a smile. "It's an honor to meet you. My name is Shoshana." It was hard to keep a smile on her face when the boy was so clearly ill, but it smiled back which lightened her heart some and when he spoke it was in the tone of a perfect gentleman.
"The honor is mine, Shoshana. I'm Reza."