Everything was underneath his feet. Everything. And so was she. Her hair was matted, long, and tangled. She was a dirty little flea. Her gown a tattered mess of once gleaming metal and silk. But her eyes still glowed with fire. She might be underneath his feet but she was an annoying roach that refused to die when stepped on.

Her impertinent burned him. The fire scorched his veins and face, he almost screamed. But he kept face. She could not win when he already won.

So he smiled. He opened his arms waiting to embraced. "Caroline," his voice only a whisper that disrupted the cloud of silence between them.

She said nothing. She kept her head down and her eyes firmly on the shackles that were bound to the ground. Her hands clenched and unclenched. He smiled. He had won.

She was a gorgeous woman when she wasn't so dirty. Maybe be could keep her for bed warming. Yes, fucking her would keep her silent and complacent. Teach her to tease him all those years before.

"Have you missed me, Caroline?" he asked. He could not help but notice that she was staining the solid gold of the floors. Before she came to him they would have to clean her. He could already imagine those luscious curves underneath his hands and those plump lips caressing his. Yes, this would work and that would do nicely. "Get those chains off her. She is my friend. We've been friends for decades."

The guard that had been standing by her side shuffled closer turning the key into the long padlock. It opened with a loud groan before it shuddered off her body and was dragged to the ground by its massive weight. He smiled wider when she shifted, arching her back to get out the various kinks that being curled up made. He enjoyed looking at her full breasts. Audible pops resounded as her vertebrate shifted back into their proper positions. He stood.

"Caroline! I've missed you!"

He made his way over to her, guards right on his haunches, hands on their swords as they stood at the ready. Ah, so ready for blood. They had been trained well. He watched as she lifted her eyes up and they still burned him. He tried to revel in the pain.

"Caroline, darling, I apologize if they treated you too roughly. I told them to be gentle." His grin never faltered. And she only answered with a huff of air. He continued, aching to fill the silence. "After everything you've been through you deserve a break."

She grunted. And he sighed. "What?" he asked. "Nothing to say?"

"We…" she started before a cough ripped through her throat. Her body gave strong spasms as she coughed but he only looked on waiting for her to continue. She was talking to him and that was better than he expected. He thought that she would be mute the whole time that they would be together. Which would be forever if he had any say in it. Finally, her coughs subsided and she continued in a hoarse voice.

"We were friends. We played under the sun together as children. We used to confess over childish loves to one another. I invited you into my home, my kingdom as I always do for Sillellhaim. And you kill my loved ones. Destroy my kingdom. Why? We were friends, Damon." She openly wept in front of him and his face softened. He could never stand to see that face, the face that he loved so much, cry about something so stupid.

He shushed her, bending down so that he could wipe her tears from those dirty cheeks. "You were a tease." Caroline's eyes widened and she had the gall to look confused. He wanted to gouge her eyes out. How could she look so confused. He thought he wasn't aware of her stringing him along since their childhood? How dare she!

"A dreadful horrible tease," he said. His fingers ran through her hair, tugging on the knots and ripping hair out of her pretty little head. She would soon learn to enjoy it he was sure. She gave a mewl of pain and he reveled in it. "Always taunting me. I saved you from that Augustine trashs and yet you still refused me, Caroline."

Damon sighed. His eyes wandered her form one more time before he sighed again. His eyes stared into her own as her lifted her by her hair. Tears pooled at the corner of her eyes, but her couldn't feel anything at that.

"Tell me you love me," he demanded. Caroline's eyes were flat as they stared at him. Once again he felt that burning when she refused him. It started in his face and then traveled down to his stomach. Oh, yes she would learn soon who was on top. She said nothing so he commanded her again.

"Tell me you love me."

"You can burn in the firey pits of Hell for all that you've done."

He lost his cool. His face became a deep red that matched his red robes. Veins throbbed at his temples and his nostrils flared. He did not deserve this treatment. He had done everything for her. Everything. And all he wanted was simple affection for all his effort. Why could she not love him after everything that he had done for her? Was she stupid? Could she not see the love that poured from his bones?

He slapped her. If she could not see he would carve it into her skin so she would never forget it.

"Take her to the dungeon and teach the bitch a lesson! Then clean her up and bring her back to me!"

She was dragged away and Damon returned to his seat fuming. The whole time those eyes he loved burned his face.