Stephen looked away, focusing on a spot on the pavement below, "Can't I?"

Her brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"What would happen if I set you free, Grace?" He asked, quietly.

She gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth to cover the opening, "Stephen! I told you about that before! It's not what you may think, and just because it seems like a good idea from some movie doesn't make it applicable in real life!"

"But, Grace, I struggle with this. I feel like you are enslaved to me, and it makes me feel just... rotten inside. I feel like I have left you no free will but to serve me for the rest of our lives. It hurts me greatly to think of such a wonderful person such as yourself constrained in such a way."

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Grace scooted closer to him, while squeezing his hand, "Don't you understand? I would choose this fate over any other possible form of life. I'm deeply in love with you, Stephen. There are events in motion right now that prevent us from going back anyway." She absentmindedly touched her stomach, over the spot where life was growing inside.

"You don't have a choice though, Grace," groaned Stephen. "If I told you to go away forever, you would do so, simply for the matter that I had wished it. If I told you to... I don't know... wear a clown costume for the rest of your life, you'd do that, too! If I commanded you to spend the rest of my life in your portal, would you not slip away right now to complete my wish?"

She looked at him with red-tinged eyes, saying nothing and everything with a single look.

"There's no freewill aspect to it at all, Grace. How can I know you really love me, and not the magic?"

Grace frowned, dropping his hand. "So that's what this is about? You doubt my love?"

"No, Grace, I don't doubt the love. Only the manner in which it is given," he replied.