"You seem tired, slave."

Caydrick did not respond to her question, but stayed silent on the floor, eyes closed. He knew she was sitting in her chair with a goblet of wine, judging by the occasional sound of a sip. He knew she wore - as usual when around him - a light weight of red, silk fabric that exposed the devilish parts of her body. The same parts that had bile rise in his throat - which was why he never looked at her anymore. Much to her dislike.

He shifted on the floor when his knees started to ache. His fingers felt numb from being chained in the air for so long. He had been sitting here for at least two hours.

"Still tired from last night?" Yridessa continued in the same playful tone and made a short chuckle, "Maybe I should put you back in your cell."

He scoffed sarcastically, since he knew she had no intentions of putting him back anytime soon. He could not help but hear how ridiculous it sounded; 'Putting him back' to his little cell, like he was pet of hers. The thought made his gut tighten with anger.

"Oh please do," He dryly replied, keeping his eyes closed. "Nothing truly brightens a room like your absence."

A sharp laughter shot from her, "Oh, your rancor only perks my mood, sweet Caydrick," She chuckled again and crossed her legs, "The more you reject me, the more I will want you."

Caydrick looked down again and did not reply. He knew how twisted her mind was. It did not matter how he responded to her devilish words, she would always get the last word. And honestly he did not care anymore. He did not care about anything.

After 3 months in captivity, he had slowly started to lose faith in ever regaining his freedom. While locked in his isolated cell, he had on several occasions tried to escape by overmanning a guard, delivering food. But the guards at the door had weapons, and since Yridessa found his scarring attractive, she did not care if they harmed him. As long as his life remained intact.

But it seemed that life had all but left Caydrick. Left him a shallow, empty vessel of a man, waiting for death to find him.

"Oh, I had completely forgotten," Yridessa begun anew. Caydrick was certain whatever she was about to say, was something she had not forgotten, but had waited to say until the perfect moment, "I heard you got a nickname. Have you heard of the name?"

Ah, yes; The nickname.

- The door to his room was bolted with almost every possible lock you could imagine, but the actual door itself was surprisingly thin. Caydrick had been able to hear every single word in the conversations, that the guards had outside his door. Most of the time they just discussed their latest conquests. But other times, usually at night, when they were working late, they started talking about rumors and gossip. Since Caydrick had not been sleeping much, he had been a fly on the wall for the past many conversations, and he was surprised of how much they talked about him.

Most of what they said, he already knew about; The army had long ago figured out what had happened to him. How he went from being the untamed animal on the battlefield, to the caged up lion in the den.

And funnily enough, that was how the nickname had emerged; The lion, Cay, was now caged up. Ergo: His new clever nickname was now Cage. An abbreviation of 'caged-up' and a crossover by his old nickname Cay.

Absurd and condescending, yet strangely soothing. He did not like it any more than his old slave name 'K', but at least it was better than being called just Slave.

Caydrick tilted his head sideways and let it rest on his arm that was tied above his head. He knew Yridessa would start teasing him with it now. It would not have an end.

"I see that you do," Yridessa noted, when Caydrick snarled his upper lip at her,"I like it, I must admit. I think I will call you Cage from now on."

Caydrick scoffed flatly, "In that case, allow me to repay the favor," He replied, "Do you remember my old master, Eore?"

"Why of course I do, Eore is a dear old friend of mine. What about him?" She chuckled and sipped her wine.

"Well the slaves in your staff had a nickname for that whip he always carried around. Have you heard of the name?" He impersonated her in a mocking voice. He knew she did not know about the name, though. It has been a name purely known amongst the slaves.

"Tell me," Yridessa sneered at him and immediately he could feel her anger light up. She hated not knowing.

A smirk formed on Caydrick's lips, hearing her displeased like this. He intentionally waited a few more seconds before calmly replying, "We named it The Bloody Snake."

A moment of surprised silence passed, before Yridessa then scoffed, unimpressed, "What a ridiculous name. No wonder why my slaves work so poorly, if all they do is spend their time coming up with foolish nicknames."

Caydrick clenched his fists, but kept calm. She did not know a hard days work, even if it slapped her in her demonic face. All the slaves worked their hands red and raw, trying to please a man that always praised their work with a lash from his whip.

"That whip worked more than you did," He calmly replied and ignored the subtle hiss she made at his words, "It was always coated in red, tainted with the blood of its victims. The lash was raw from all the times it had caused hurt, and felt like sharp fangs against our skin."

"So I have The Bloody Snake to thank, for all those beautiful scars on your back?" Yridessa mused, "Remind me to send my appreciation to Eore."

"But the funny thing is though," Caydrick continued, ignoring her still, "That like a venomous snake, you eventually grow immune to its poison, if exposed to it long enough. And that is exactly what you are," He said, opening his eyes up to meet hers, for the first time in three months, simply because he would not want to miss her reaction. His gesture did not go unnoticed; Her eyes widened and sparkled with joy.

"You are a venomous, bloody snake, always coated in red, and causing harm to what ever you touch. You are constantly poisoning me, trying to drain the life out of me, even as we speak," He snarled, keeping his eyes locked onto hers, "But just like Eore's whip, I stopped feeling your poison - I have grown immune to your venom, Bloody Snake," He snarled, when her face contorted in fury.

Yridessa whipped out of her chair and grabbed her own whip - a black designed whip with rubies embedded in the handle - and stormed towards him, going around him, until she was standing behind him. "You will never become immune to me!"

The whip lashed against his back, but her force was nothing compared to his time in slavery - and definitely no match to General Dane's whips.

She kept whipping him, screaming in fury, and all he did was scoff at her. It was pathetic; That she thought she could harm him with her tiny, black whip. It felt like a butterfly's wing beat, in comparison to Eore and General Dane. But Yridessa never gave up - she took the blood pouring down his back as a sign of weakness.

If only she knew.

Finally, when her weak arms were growing tired, she screamed and threw the whip away. She came around him and yanked at his hair. He immediately closed his eyes, knowing she wanted to look at him.

"Open your eyes!" She screamed into his face, "Look at me!"

When all Caydrick did was smirk up at her, she screamed again and slapped her hand across his cheek. The impact hurt even less than the whiplashes.

"Is that all you got?" Caydrick provoked, when she started breathing heavily from exhaustion.

Another scream of fury left her lips and she slapped him again, this time across the other cheek. She was only making herself tired.

"Pathetic," Caydrick spat, and let out a dark chuckle. "Give it up, Yridessa. You have lost against me."

"I will never loose!" She screamed at him, specs of her saliva hitting his face, by their close proximity. "I am Queen of Verona and Venice City, and you will never, ever defeat me!"

"She's screaming... she's oozing... Yridessa is loosing..." Caydrick sung, making her scream even louder, "I'm laughing, I'm grinning... I'm slowly winning..."

"GUARDS!!!"

Caydrick rejoiced as the door was opened and her guards walked in. It was procedure by now; The guards ran towards him, one of the holding the infamous cloth with the belladonna tincture, that would bring him to his unconsciousness.

Caydrick had been her slave for about four months now. For each moon that had passed, he had taunted Yridessa a little more, eventually given up looking at her all together - and that annoyed her. During her intercourses with him, she had demanded him to look at her; Apparently his eyes gave her a sort of sick sexual thrill, when he looked at her with all the hatred he felt. She loved seeing him in his misery, and Caydrick loved not seeing her not get her will. He had all but hidden his emerald green eyes under his lids.

Every time he woke up chained to her bed, Yridessa was waiting naked in front of him. It was a natural instinct to open your eyes when you awoke from a slumber - or in his case, a drug - and it was the only moments Yridessa got to see his eyes. So she made sure the short glimpse he would catch of her, would be the worst he could possibly imagine. She then moved on to use that vicious salve of hers, that would harden him, before she begun her hellish torture.

He did not understand how it was possible for a salve to harden a man. He had never heard of such a product, not ever - and he had gotten around the kingdom in his time as a soldier. Not ever had he heard of this. So he had to assume it was a salve from a distant country she had visited, during her trip abroad. He wanted to know what it was, and who made it - and who she payed to keep it coming to her chambers, for her purpose alone.

The salve had a horrible bi-effect, Caydrick had discovered. It was something he would never admit to her, but the salve gave him a false feeling of the need to climax. He did not know how it was possible; It was like the salve could control his lower region, like a witch could cast a spell over a person and control their mind. The salve tightened him - tickled him, created a tension in his stomach that would not go away, before he woke up exhausted in his room.

He had never come during an intercourse with her. How could he? Just knowing and feeling what she was doing to him, was enough to make him mentally vomit. He was repulsed by every moan that escaped her lips, and every cry of his name that flew from her mouth in her ecstasy. But every time her insides clenched around his length as she came, the salve's bi-effect activated - having him fighting the urge to explode, every time she collapsed on top of him. He had promised himself he would never let it happen; The scare of ever reproducing with her, was enough to empower him through ever intercourse with her.

But he was curious; How was it possible? Where did it come from? Who made it? With so many questions and no answers, he was beginning to grow irritated. He knew she would never answer them, at least not without something in return.

And to his problem, he might have found a solution.

-*-

"Let us play a game."

Yridessa looked up at him; he could tell even though he was chained to the floor, with his eyes shut close. He had caught her by surprise this time; She had not noticed, he had awoken yet.

"A game?" Yridessa said, almost in disbelief, "What are you up to now, Cage?"

He knew the idea had spiked her interested and curiosity. "I will ask you a question, which you will answer truthfully. And in return," He paused, letting his eyes meet hers, to make sure he got her attention properly. Her mood sparkled by the simple action, "You can ask anything of me."

Her eyes started glittering when he finished his sentence, and she immediately stood up. "Anything?"

"Anything," Caydrick replied harshly, knowing she would take full advantage of this. But what was a little of her torture, compared to the information he might achieve? Besides, she could not possibly expose him to anything she had not yet done to him. "On the terms that you must answer every question I ask you, truthfully."

A slow smirk spread across her lips, and she slowly sat down again, "Agreed."

Good. Let the game begin.

"Let us start out easily," Caydrick begun and flicked his eyes to meet hers. "When did you first realize you wanted me?"

She giggled - an actual giggle - though it sounded poisoned by her devilish soul. "Oh must you ask me this?" She drawled and sent him a mischievous look. "How crass."

"Answer the question," Caydrick said, impatiently.

Yridessa sighed and softly twirled her goblet, admiring the red wine flowing in it. "Do you remember our first meeting?"

Caydrick scoffed. How could he forget?

"I take that as a yes," She smirked, and crossed her legs. "You were so tiny. Ribs poking out, sunken in cheeks, legs so thin, I wondered how you were able to hold yourself up. Honestly, I was considering just throwing you to the dogs," She chuckled, as if the memory was filled with happiness and warmth, "But then I noticed that corn-colored hair of yours, the shade of the purest gold," She sighed longingly by the memory. "So pretty. But then Eore told me that they were uncertain of your origins, so of course I had to know more about you. Do you remember what I asked you?"

Caydrick let his eyes meet hers, and he noticed the devilish smile play on her lips. His stomach turned.

"Yes," He replied lowly.

"I asked your name," She answered non the less, "And then you replied. Tell me what you said," She sat up in her chair again and placed her hand by the corner of her mouth. "Say those words again."

Caydrick narrowed his eyes to slits at her, knowing this was some sick, twisted arousal to her. Saying those two small words, would no doubt bring her too much pleasure.

"You said I could ask anything of you," Yridessa reminded him, and raised a cocky brow. "So say it."

He felt physically sick, just thinking about it. But he was not going to show her weakness. So, holding her gaze firm, he opened his mouth and spoke the two words, "K, Mistress."

Yridessa closed her eyes, as a delighted smile fell upon her lips, "Mmmm... The way you say that; Mistress," Her eyes flew open and landed on his. "Your tongue caressed the word so beautifully, that that little scrawny boy managed to soak my undergarments," She chuckled and licked her lips. "You still do."

Caydrick gnashed his teeth and swallowed a few profanities, when all he really wanted was to throw up. He managed to keep it down.

"So, when I heard your voice, I needed to see more of you," Yridessa continued, slowly rising from her seat. "I asked you to stand up, and you did. I then asked you to look at me. Do you remember?" She said, slowly walking up to him.

Caydrick kept his eyes locked up on hers, as she stopped in front of him, peering down. She then slowly crouch down to his level, resting on her knees in front of him. He automatically averted his eyes, when their close proximity started to nauseate him.

"And that is when I saw..." He felt her hand on the side of her face, before he registered her voice. It was soft, but immensely cold and clammy against his burning skin. He flinched by reflex, and tried to free his skin of her touch, but she persisted, "I want you to let me touch you," She said, almost an order. "You said anything I want," She needlessly reminded him.

A sneer formed on his face, but he stilled, non the less, true to his promise, since he knew if he wanted the rest of his questions answered, he needed her cooperation.

Yridessa smiled satisfied and let her icy palm run down the side of his face, the pad of her thumb running across his eyebrow.

It felt sickening, truly, like there was a large beetle or spider crawling on his face, tracing their disgusting small legs across his hairs.

"I saw..." She continued, "I saw... The absolute greenest eyes I have ever seen," Her foul wine breath fanned his nose, and he recoiled, swallowing the vomit that was rushing up his throat.

"They were as green as summer-grass, sparkling like little emeralds," She sang, almost like his eyes were a poem to a God.

"I know what color my eyes are, thank you," Caydrick snarled, cutting her sickening rant short. He did not know how much longer he could stand her being this close.

A short wispy chuckle escaped her lips. "But do you know the effect of them?"

His eyes flipped up to meet hers shortly, to see her icy gray eyes loom back at his. He immediately averted them again, when bile started rising again.

Her hand disappeared, and so did her breath. He opened his eyes to see her return to her seat.

"So that is when I first knew," She smiled. "Of course you had absolutely no sex appeal back then, but it was just a matter of time before Eore brought you back to me. We sent you into my army, and you know the rest," She finished with a smirk, picking up her wine.

Caydrick processed the information and found himself content with what she had told, thought it disgusted him. At the time, he had been only but a teen and she had found him attractive. It was horrible to think that a grown woman could find a small boy attractive, in that sick way that she did. But he had asked for the truth, and that was what he had gotten. Moving on.

"Next question," He said, as she set her wine down again. "Let us talk about your little business trip." He said, causing a surprised reaction from her. "I want to know who you are trading with."

"Oh you ask the most plaguing questions," She drawled and sighed, "Must we talk about business?"

"If you want from me what I know you want, then answer the question," Caydrick persisted and pressed his lips harshly together. He was getting closer now, he could not have her backing out.

Yridessa raised an interested brow and then slowly licked her lower lip, "Alright fine. Which merchandiser are you interested in?" She asked, as if she did not already know the answer to that.

"Let us start with that nifty little potion of yours," Caydrick growled and gritted his teeth, "What country is that from?"

"I already told you, it was a gift from Japan," She smirked and took a sip from her wine.

"Who gave it to you?"

"A wise old man, who's great grandparents had found a cure to animals who would not breed," She casually replied as if they were discussing the recent change in the weather, "He took the liberty to show me the salve on his horse. Very impressive, I had to admit. Once the stallion was done breeding, the young mare could barely stand on her hooves."

The thought was so sickening, Caydrick actually almost threw up right then and there. Thank God he had a strong stomach, and so he managed to keep it down. But only just.

"It got me thinking; What if the product worked on humans as well? And if so, would it make the man just as crazy as the stallion?" Yridessa continued and smirked at him, "All I then needed was a man to try it on. And I think we have established that it works."