Her hand slapped across his face, the sting not even feeling like a mosquito bite.

"Look at me!" She screamed from above him.

Caydrick just kept his eyes closed, and turned his head as far away from her, as he possibly could, while being shackled to a bed.

Yridessa moaned and rode him, her foul insides clenching around his manhood like the shackles that were currently locked around his hands and feet. Her nails dug a trail down his chest and made every hair on his skin stand up. And then she came apart.

Her screams of ecstasy ricocheted into the ceiling, while she clammed around him, her liquids flooding down his shaft.

Caydrick's jaw locked as the demonic potion's side-effect kicked in; His legs wanted to shake, his blunt wanted to explode, but he never let it. His eyes remained closed, but he reminded himself who was sitting on top of him, doing this to him, and that kept him from giving after for his own release. Thank God.

Yridessa collapsed on his chest and breathed heavily, her inside walls still wrapped around his hard shaft. Caydrick despised that that would not go away until a few hours. The potion always lasted for way too long.

Yridessa finally caught her breath and sat up again. She did not climb off him, but instead kept herself seated on top of his hips, not even bothering to pull him out of her.

"You promised me," She whispered coldly, "You promised you would look at me. That was our deal."

Caydrick released a breath he did not know he had been holding; It took a lot to keep himself together. The need to explode only grew, as long as she stayed wrapped around him. Hopefully she would get off him soon. "Disappointed?"

"You never fail to disappoint me," Yridessa clenched her insides around him, and he swallowed a guttural groan, "But we made a deal, and I have kept my part. You promised me you would look through our next intercourse, and you have not. Now open your eyes!"

Caydrick just gave her a snarl and kept his eyes closed. He did not have to reply - and right now he did not have the strength to.

Thankfully Yridessa climbed off him, and left his cóck freed from her torturous cúnt. The relief was immediate; He felt himself calm and the need to explode dulled. And just in time as well. One moment longer, and he would not have been sure if he could have held it together.

Yridessa dressed herself in her red robe, quickly tying the robe around her waist, "You will regret this, Cage! By now you should know better than to defy me!"

"Like I care anymore," Caydrick murmured and felt his body start to relax. Today's session was over.

"We will talk about this later," Yridessa growled. As she walked up to her door, to knock on it, Caydrick noticed a slight shakiness to her steps. She was sore from riding him so long. At least he knew that would be hurting her for a good time.

"Guards!"

Caydrick simply let himself fall into a light slumber, while the guards came through the door and looked at him with their even mocking glares. Once the cloth was pressed in front of his mouth and nose, he inhaled deeply and gladly surrendered to the drug that brought him to an hour of peace.

-*-

Back in his den, Caydrick had started to grow bored. He kept in shape, by doing simple exercises, like lifting on his arms or pushing his body off the ground in a repetitive motion. He did not do it for Yridessa's pleasure, but for his own; He knew that when he got out, he would be no use, if he did not have the strength to wry her neck around. Or stab her in the heart. Or in her foul cúnt. Yeah. That would be good. How the karma would be soothing.

Caydrick heard someone outside the door, wrestling with the locks. By now it was a routine, so he did not even bother to roll his eyes this time, when he knew Yridessa wanted to speak to him, to torture him for his misbehavior.

The door opened, but Caydrick kept his eyes on the view from the little rectangle hole in his cell. It was a beautiful Venetian evening, and the sun was setting.

"No tricks this time Cage? Come on," One of the guards, Kocus scoffed, "Wimp." His steps came closer.

Caydrick simply sighed and closed his eyes. He did not put up a fight, when Kocus wrestled him to the ground and drugged him. Instead he thought of the view of the setting sun, as his final image, before the world went dark.

-*-

"You made a promise!!!"

"And so did you. You promised to be a fair leader and always put the well-being of Venice and Verona city above all else. I guess we both fail to keep our promises."

Yridessa's palm slapped across Caydrick's cheek so hard, he felt the bones in her fingers crack against his cheekbone. But the pain did not register. Just like it never did anymore.

Yridessa paced the floors, pulling her hair out from fury. Or at least, that is what Caydrick assumed. He had his eyes closed.

"You said you would open them!" She shouted at him, "You said you would look at me!"

"I will never look at you again, Yridessa," Caydrick growled, "Just like I will never do your bidding."

Yridessa screamed again, and Caydrick heard something break - something made out of glass. She fumbled with the shards of glass, until her heels stopped in front of his kneeling figure. "I will cut off your lids!" She screamed into his face.

"No you will not. You adore my face, so you will not do anything to harm it," Caydrick smirked coldly, "Try again."

Yridessa let out another angry scream, before she walked around him, to his back. He felt the tip of a glass shard press against his shoulder blade, "You know what Cage? When I first enslaved you, five years ago, you were so submissive. So obedient. What happened to that scared, little boy?"

Caydrick grimaced, when the sharp edge of the glass started digging into his skin, and drew a drop of blood from him, "I was never scared. I just never found the right person to yell at. I have not still - you are not worth my time. You ignore everything I say anyway."

The glass cut down his skin, painfully slow and drew a long slash into his already scarred back.

"And you ignore mine," Yridessa hissed, "But you shall not ignore me. You will look at me!"

"Go fúck someone else, Yridessa."

She jabbed the glass shard into his shoulder blade and drew a hiss from his lips, when she left it there, "I will only take you to my bed. No one else is a worthy match."

"Oh, so now I am worthy?" Caydrick scoffed, and felt a twinge of pain from the embedded glass in his shoulder, "I thought I was worthless."

"On the contrary, you are the most valuable thing to me. No one else defies me, no one else keeps me satisfied like you do," She said, walking around him, to his front again. He did not have to open his eyes to know she had that cold smirk plastered on her lips, "The way your words always keeps me on my toes, the way your cóck swells up inside me when I am-"

"Fúck you," Caydrick spat. "Fúck you, and your potion, Bloody Snake. The day I escape from these chains, I will show you just how much blood you can drain from a person."

"The day you escape from those chains, are the day you get carried out as a dead man," Yridessa informed him. "Now for the last time; Open your eyes and look at me!"

"Never."

She screamed again, and Caydrick heard the unmistakable sound of her whip being picked up, and dragged across the floor. The next thing he felt was the lash connecting with his back. One. Twice. Thrice. Fifteen. Twenty. For each lash, Yridessa let out of scream of fury. Caydrick on the other hand, never let out a sound, but simply stayed silent and took every beating from the whip. The pain did not register, and he had actually started to wonder if he had grown immune to the lash of a whip. Was it even possible? It would seem so.

For what seemed like hours, Yridessa whipped him, until blood was staining the floor, and Caydrick started to feel dizzy. When he started to see stars from his eyes and let out a tired sigh, Yridessa finally stopped.

"Getting tired?" She hissed, breathing heavily.

Caydrick could feel the blood gushing down his face and back, the loss making him light headed. But he knew he could do this forever, or till he died. He would never cave.

"Go to hell," He breathed, "I will meet you there."

She screamed infuriated and the next thing he heard was a vase breaking. He was tempted to look up, just to see her going crazy, but he resisted and kept his eyes closed. Instead he listened with a satisfied smirk, as she continued smashing everything she could get her hands on. He had driven her mad, and it was worth every drop of blood he had shed.

Suddenly the smashing stopped. Her heavy breathing became louder, as she took a few steps towards him. Something was up.

When her breath controlled and her feet stopped in front of him, he immediately knew that something was off.

Suddenly her hands ripped his hair and forced his head up to meet hers. He squeezed his eyes permanently shut.

"Fine!" She seethed into his face, no more than a hairs breath away. "Have it your way! If you will not look at me, I will make sure you never see me ever again!"

She let go of his hair and his head dropped to his chest again.

"Killing me will only make me happy, you know," Caydrick replied.

"Oh, I will not kill you," She said. Her voice changed into the voice he had learned to be her devilish one. The one she got, whenever she felt most demonic. "You will work for me until you no longer can satisfy my needs," She continued, the sparkle in her voice growing. "Then, and only then, will I kill you."

He heard her knock her door, and not moments later was the door opened by a pair of guards.

"Bring him to the tower, and call for Aifenhard! Tell him his services are required!"

He heard the guards shuffle in the door, and he could already smell the tincture they would drug him with in a matter of seconds.

"You will regret defying me," Yridessa breathed. He could not tell from where, since he never opened his eyes. "You will regret it to the day you die!"

"Bite me."

That was the last Caydrick remembered, before the guards pressed the cloth to his nose and mouth, bringing on the inevitable darkness.

-*-

Everything was dark.

As Caydrick opened his eyes and looked around, everything was pitch black. It must have been night, and wherever he was, he had to be in a room with no windows. He knew that his own room had the little rectangle window, that provided him with a subtle sheen of moonlight in the night times.

But this... This room was dark.

He could not even see a hand in front of his vision as he tried to sit up - but then regretted the decision when he felt a couple of wounds on his back crack open. He groaned and lay back down again, silently wondering how long he had been out. It must have been a long time. His eyes felt puffy, as though he had rubbed them raw for a few hours. Actually now that he thought about it, his entire head hurt. Despite the black and blue body he without a doubt sported, his head was the part that throbbed the most.

He lifted his hands to his temples and rubbed them, trying to release some of the tension he was feeling.

His mind wondered back to what Yridessa had said.

If you will not look at me, I will make sure you never see me ever again!

What had she meant by that? He knew her well enough to know that she never made empty threats. And who was this... 'Aifenhard' she had mentioned? And what services did he specialize in?

And what was the connection between all this?

A sudden idea popped into his head.

This dark room he was in... Maybe it was suppose to be an isolation? This Aifenhard guy... maybe he specialized in creating dark rooms?

It seemed too simple. He was missing something. Something there was right in front of him, something he was not seeing...

His hands dropped to the familiar sheets, the ones he always slept in. He could feel it was his sheets, he even located the small hole he usually stuck his finger into, when he was lost in thoughts. But it could not be...

His hands fumbled in the dark, and sought out his nightstand, almost hoping not to find the cut corner. But it was there.

So he was in his room. So why was it so dark?

A thought occurred; A thought so dark, he immediately shoved it out of his head again, because he could not even bare to think if that was the truth.

There was a reasonable explanation. There had to be. Maybe someone had closed of the window, that was why the room was so dark.

If you will not look at me, I will make sure you never see me ever again!

He shot to his feet, ignoring the excruciating pain he felt, as most of his wounds re-opened. His feet hit the ground, and he took a careful step forward, searching for the wall with his hands.

This thought was so frightening, it was enough for him to need validation. He needed to confirm that he was just overreacting.

He located the wall and started searching for the the rectangle shape of the window. He knew it was right about...

His fingers grazed over the wooden frames of the window, but froze when he felt the metal bars. His fingers snaked around the steel, making absolutely sure there was nothing covering them.

And then his fear was confirmed, as his head throbbed again, and his puffy eyes felt swollen.

"No..." He whispered silently, and brought his hands to his eyes. He delicately let them trace the outlines of his eye sockets, feeling the slight puffy skin surrounding his eyes.

What had she... done?

His heart started beating faster, even though it felt like his whole body had stopped. Caydrick stumbled back, away from the window as the small screech of a bird reached his ears. The sound was like a devil's laughter to his miserable condition, as the back of his knees connected with his bed. He fell down onto the pallet and sat in silence, as another bird started tweeting.

The window was not covered, the moon was not clouded; It was not even night.

According to the birds it was broad daylight.

And according to his his own discoveries; He was blind.