He raked his hands over his eyes, through his hair, the sting of his nails tearing at his scalp pulling his attention away briefly.

Ugh.

He shifts, squirming. He needed... Gods, what he needed. But what he needed he couldn't have. He would have to make a concession. The Price.

Shivering in the darkness, he reached up, relaxing his pose, shaking his shoulders to release the tension he couldn't dare to express. Not if this was to go well.

Reaching up, he pulled the band from his hair, allowing the long dark waves to cascade down.

Somewhere in a quiet corner of his mind, he felt a shifting, as he relinquished all, and slid back into the darkness. He must be very quiet, and very still.

She reached up, running her hands through her hair, lifting it, letting it settle in a more flattering way, as she reached for her glasses. Was it time again already?

In the dark corner of her mind, she tilted her head to the other half of her, the boy inside, seen by few, acknowledged by even less.

She sighed in disgust as she stood, striding to the closet to pick out her most flowing and beautiful clothes. Painting her face, she glanced once in the mirror, wiping a tear that slid down her cheek.

Sometime later, she approached a dark and lonely hall. Lamps in the distance, their flames dancing in the shadows showed her her path. The patter of her footsteps on the stone floor announced her approach to he who waited inside.

In the shadows, a man turned, his golden throne barren for the moment. He glanced at the cage beside it and turned to smirk at her.

"So, back again, my pretty bird?"

She shuddered, inside her, the other half at her writhed and screamed, and she hushed in in silence. One gesture, one movement that would betray her masculine side and all might be lost, this impatient man would turn them away until she could contain it better, and stand before him in perfect feminine deference and beauty.

"Y-yes... M-master." -She stammered her voice breaking.

A dark laugh emanated from him. "And you hate it so."

"Y-Yes!" Tears welled in her eyes as she brought the bottoms of her palms to dig into her eyes, her fingers curled inwards as though claws.

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"And yet, here you stand."

She nodded miserably. No other answer was required.

He strode toward her, his hand flying from him, grasping her chin between his forefinger and thumb, his fingers digging into her cheeks. She gasped, whimpering though she made barely a sound. She trembled as he jerked her forward.

"Say it." He hissed, though he was, in fact ecstatic. His eyes flashed, as he watched her with pleasure.

"-p... -... P- Please Master!"

"SAY IT!" He barked, causing her to wince, and try to squirm away from him. He let her fall, peering down his nose at her, as she fell, crumbling to her knees. She sobbed helplessly.

"I... I crave you! Your poison touch..."

He smirked triumphantly as he pulled her to him.

"You really do hate it, don't you? And you know well why."

"It... It's wrong..."

"You only say that because you know others frown on it. What others call abuse, you, secretly, in your heart of hearts crave, and you are miserable because you are ashamed."

He forced her head to the side, growling as he bit down cruelly against her neck, snarling and biting hider as he heard her moan, that strange note that only came when she was fighting against it.

She cried out, as he enveloped her in his arms. She shuddered, dying a little on the inside.

He pulled back, smirking down at her, tenderly tracing his fingers over the mark he had left. It would make a lovely bruise come morning.

"How long has it been? Since you've been properly controlled?"

"Too long..."

"And the boy?"

"I thought he was different, but..."

He smirked, snickering softly. "Pah. He's not strong enough for you."

"But the others..."

"Oh yes, well I know. All the others, the good ones, the so-called gentleman doms who claim to play by the rules, the ones who hunt you, and pursue you, and inevitably, in the end, use you and discard you."

She looked down, trembling from head to toe.

"And it shatters you, heart and soul, every time. You know what they do is abusive, cruel, and beyond the pale of what their behavior should be. Isn't that so?"

"Y-yes but-"

"And they lie to you."

She did not respond. He was right. They both knew it.

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"No... M... Master."

He smirked, tugging her chin up to him.

"Will I ever lie to you?"

"No..." Her voice was sullen, almost broken.

"And you know exactly what you're getting with me, each and every time, don't you?"

She nodded stiffly.

"And will you sip from the poisoned cup I offer you, once more?"

She nodded, a shudder passing over her. Her voice rose in barely a whisper, as somewhere, deep in her mind, the silent, watching still side of her, turned away in anguish.

The man holding her slid an arm down across her shoulders, crushing her to him with a growl as he pinned her to the floor.