The months crawled past. The heat started to relent, gently, like a claw of a cat loosening its grip on the mouse. As if responding to the pressure of the heat being lifted, Suzuki's stomach started to swell.

At one point, the Sultan pottered over to see Jafar (for he was a little too afraid of his Grand Vizier to actually demand his presence) and said, "I don't want to rush Jasmine into marrying just yet. She still has two more years; she's still a child. Perhaps we could wait?" To his surprise, the Grand Vizier had bowed low and graciously, then looked up and replied,

"Of course, my liege. Most wise." And the Sultan could have sworn he winked.

Jafar told Iago and Suzuki later that afternoon. Suzuki was now was so round that Iago could happily sit on her belly, chuckling with avian delight every time he felt the baby move.

Iago frowned from where he was gently tapdancing, making Suzuki giggle. "Isn't that a bit dangerous? All those stupid princes you wanted to pick for her will get married, and then we might have to marry her to someone intelligent."

"I need a break from taming the shrew," Jafar replied, getting laboriously to his knees and kneeling beside Suzuki. "Besides, our time will be taken up with this Gazim person."

"A new discovery in the Cave of Wonders saga, Jafar?" Suzuki asked. She tickled Iago.

"Indeed," Jafar replied. "A horrible and ratty little wretch, I am given to understand, but an excellent throat slitter. I admire that quality in a man. Besides, one more year with her childhood will bring home to Jasmine how much of a woman she is destined to be."

"Or not," Iago said levelly, "because you're going to have her killed. Like her mummy."

Jafar hesitated, then lay his head against Suzuki's heavy stomach. He listened intently for a moment and smiled with pleasure as he felt his child give a sharp kick. "Well... I'm not sure murdering Princess Jasmine would be... the best policy."

Iago blinked. "What? Eh?"

"She is... someone's daughter. Someone has cared for her. She is more than just a playing piece in my brilliant plan, she is a person. A growing girl. I don't think, with that force of personality, I could have her... disposed of."

"Good gravy," Suzuki said, "fatherhood has made you soft."

Jafar smiled sweetly at her. Since becoming pregnant, Suzuki could no longer fit into her kimonos. Her stomach and, to the aesthetic delight of Jafar, her breasts had enlarged and rounded. He dressed her slender limbs in red harem trousers and a brief red top, allowing room for her belly and emphasizing her new, interesting curves. Her black hair was taken out of their elaborate geisha hairstyles and left to swing freely, like a flag, down her back. Despite her crooked smile, Jafar thought she was divinely beautiful.

He often sat with his head against her stomach, listening to the baby grow, and talking with Suzuki about nothing very much in particular. They kissed a lot, slow calm kisses that lingered and said far more than their vague, dreamy words could ever articulate. Iago watched them both with a funny sort of benevolence and a mild look of kindly sagacity, and all three of them thought, "Dear me, I'm getting so terribly soft in the head."

It was within Suzuki's ninth month that Jafar come wandering into her rooms, holding a small gold tiara, and found her lying in a pool of blood. Her gasps rasped across his nerves.