Melanie walked into Lord Lucian Drakkon's ceremonial room. The door opened up to a wide room lit by candles. The flickering flames casted shadows that dances and shifted across the dark marble walls. The rivers of gold shimmered against the twelve pillar candle flames that wavered in the darkness.

Melanie's rose red dress transitioned to a dark scarlet color. As the door closed behind her, the light from the candles grew brighter as the darkness was pushed away. Standing in the center of the room was Lucian. Dressed in a robed suit of purple and black with accents of silver that glistened in the light of the candles.

She walked toward him slowly and stopped five paces away. However masculine and dominant he appeared in Clearwater at KCC, he looked twice that now. His presence stretched further and his overall character seemed to triple as though being out of his world had weakened him.

"You look incredible." He said, his smooth deep voice was dark and warm like melted dark chocolate.

"Thank you, My Lord." She replied.

A thin grin slipped onto his face. He knew she understood how to act and what to say. He knew that she had fully integrated all of his rules into her being, making them her way of life. It was almost as if he had trained her to be his submissive.

"You look extraordinary My Lord." She replied.

"Come here Ms. Rivers." He said.

Even with his voice being smooth and calm, there was a forceful dominance that Melanie couldn't resist. Even if she wanted to she wouldn't have, which she didn't want to. Little did she realized that as she stepped into the room, her submissive that had been locked away, was being let out.

"Yes, My Lord?" She asked.

Lucian reached over and snagged the pillow from the chair behind him, setting it on the floor in front of him.

"Kneel." He commanded, his voice a dark whisper.

"Yes My Lord." She replied and knelt on the pillow, head looking up at him, eyes locked with his.

"Repeat after me." He said, "I am equal to My Lord."

"I am equal to My Lord." She repeated.

"I am a worthy of my love and my lord's love." He said and she repeated it.

"I am a Servant and I am a Queen."

"I...am a Servant and a Queen." She replied, never breaking from his garnet gaze that seemed to glow in the flickering candle light.

"Good. Never forget that. You are not weak. You are my equal not my lower. You serve me as I serve the people and in return I serve you as you serve the people. We are a partnership." He said and reached over pulling up a box from the seat behind him.

"From this moment on. You belong to me, mind body and soul. Our connection is built of trust, compassion and honesty."

"Trust, compassion and honesty." She replied.

He smiled approvingly and opened up the box. Withdrawing three different sized rings, he put the box down and as his hand left it's surface, the box vanished into mist and vapors.

"I vow never to hurt you, never to disrespect you and never to abandon you."

Melanie watched him slide on a small metallic band over his left middle finger. The metal coiled around his finger before it tightened and twisted into a sealed locked position. He raised the medium sized ring and slipped it over her head. Pulling her brown hair up and over the ring, he let go of it.

The metal ring hovered around her neck for a moment before it coiled inward, shrinking in size until it was snug with her skin. Then it tightened the opposite direction until it clicked into a locked position. Melanie shuddered slightly but felt no more or less constricted than if she were wearing a rubber choker.

"Stand." He commanded.

"Yes My Lord." She took his hand and stood up.

With the last ring in his hand, he split it down the middle separating it into two thinner band. Handing it to Melanie, he held his ring over his right wrist. Melanie mirrored him. As he let go of his ring and outstretched his hand, she did the same. The thin silver bands tightened around their right wrists as their hands clasped together.

The rings coiled one way, then coiled the opposite way until they locked into place.

"You are mine and I am yours." They said simultaneously. "I shall serve you with all that I have and all that I am. From this day until my last."

They released grips and for the very first time in nineteen years, Melanie felt herself relax. The strain of hiding. The constant nagged desire to feel that submissive ownership and claiming dissolved. She looked deep into his eyes and felt it. He held the key to her collar and she held the desire to his dreams.

They were equals in opposite positions. A perfect system of give and take. One that she had longed for.

"I am yours My Lord. From now until my very last breath. I live to serve you." She smiled.

Tears trickled down her eyes as those words left her mouth. Lucian would have asked what was wrong if it were not for the connectiontion that now bonded them.

"Let it out my slave." He said in a deep voice. "You no longer need to hide it. You are mine and I want all of you."

"Thank you...My Lord." She replied through stifled tears. "You own me." She said, a little chuckled behind those words.

"I own you. You are mine." He replied.

"I am yours." She nodded with a smile that was as wide as it had ever been. "I am yours." She said again, tasting the delicious truth to those words.

"Come with me Queen Drakkon." He said.

"Yes, My Lord Drakkon." She smiled.