I — Desperate
The first time Mai tried to love Ozai was the first time he demanded it of her.
Mai ran her fingers across the red marks on her wrists.
It stung slightly as she did so. Even if it hurt, it gave her an excuse to not look up without acknowledging her cowardice, at least for a few moments. The man who removed her handcuffs a few seconds ago was waiting there and she did not know if she could look him in the eye.
Months after Sozin's Comet passed and all went as planned for the Phoenix King, she had been taken from the Boiling Rock by soldiers and taken here. It was a long, painful journey and she knew nothing other than the fact that she probably was not facing execution.
Facing death was one thing. Facing something worse was another.
"We won't need these again, will we?" he asked. She did not know if it was rhetorical or not.
So she wordlessly shook her head as she lifted her eyes from her skin. She did not plan on looking up at him but he set two fingers beneath her chin and forced their eyes to meet. Mai had never seen his eyes before, she now realized. They were much like Zuko's, like Azula's, and she supposed she must have known that deep down.
"What do you want with me?" Mai whispered. She wished she could be louder, but it discomfited her enough to speak that way to him. She just was desperate to know and desperate to cling to some form of strength.
"I want you," he said, which could mean many things.
"For what?" Mai asked, now desperately seeking out a way to escape. There wasn't one. Why would there be one?
"I want you to love me," he demanded, which was an order she did not expect.
She looked at him for a moment and embraced her fate, at least partially.
Mai tried to love him, tried at least to pretend for a few moments, desperately attempting to force herself to see him that way.
She could not do it.
He saw it in her eyes.