The room was silent. Her ebony hair was in a neat bow as she clutched the railings of the upper level of the room. Beneath her she scowled at the cold stone floor. She turned back and began pacing around the bed. The balcony doors were shut today. The maids had come in and locked it. When she questioned them why, they simply looked solemnly at one another. And she knew. She knew why.

"When?" She had muttered.

"At noon." One of them replied quietly, then they left.

So from morning till noon she set about building a tower of the many books that kept her company from the floor until it was high enough to see over the balcony onto the court yard of the palace. Sure enough she was right. There was an execution block in place and a crowd was being forced to gather and watch.

The executioner, in his daunting black mask, read out the crime committed by the victim. There was only one.

Treason against the King.

The King. Her eyes wondered to the platform watching over the courtyard. And sure enough he was sitting there. With his blonde headed Harem. His public mistress.

Nobody knew Snow was alive. Rumour had spread that she had been captured and killed by the king. She could have left. The opportune moment had arisen when he left his dagger in the room. She had taken it and prepared to leave, but she had taken too long and he had rushed in and stopped her after realising his mistake.

He had made her become his mistress. She refused outright, at first. But as she sat in the dungeon it came to mind that more good could be done from a position close to him. No matter how close she had to be. The Harem he appeared with in public was a very stupid and young girl. She was one of the idiotic girls that had fallen head over heels in love with the king and his hypnotic ways, and practically rushed to take the job. She travelled with him wherever he went unlike Snow.

Her hands gripped tighter around the bar as she remembered what he had told her.

"Why do I stay here? Why can't I come with you? Pretend to be someone else?" She whined. As pathetic as it sounded, he was the only company she had. Her days were lonely when he was not there.

"I think its more poetic you stay here. At the Summer Palace." He had purposefully spoke to make her question him. His eyes locked onto hers as his bare body pressed closer, savouring the innocent confusion in her delicate eyes.

"Poetic?"

"Snow melts in the summer." Before she could talk, he crushed his mouth on hers.

So she only saw him for three months a year. That was what he had intended. More often than not he had extended his visits by weeks at a time. He himself had cursed for his poetic nature as he rested his lips on her neck.

As she stared, she knew he could sense her looking. Because as soon as she took her eyes off him for a moment to pity the crowd of on lookers, her gaze returned to see him staring back at her. He summoned a guard quickly and whispered orders to him. Moments later the guard stormed into the room. Only to find Snow sitting in an armchair by the fire, reading a few books. She flashed him a sweet smile and he left her too it, smiling to himself at her kindness. As soon as he left she built the pile up again quickly, but she was too late to witness the execution, a part of her glad. All she saw now was the head a person she recognised inside a basket of blood.

The door swung open and she looked to see him storming in, snapping out of her memories.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" She screamed at him. His furious eyes met with hers.

"He was a spy." He answered with brutal simplicity.

She ran down the stairs, "he was just a child! 15! Maybe if you weren't such a bastard he wouldn't have felt the need to betray you!"

"You will watch your tongue." His boots thudded as he took a heavy step towards her.

"Or what?" She squared up to him. "You'll have me killed? You know you can't live without me. Don't even bother with the formality of denying it." She searched his eyes for any sign of remorse and found it to be fruitless.

He let out a throaty chuckle and in a deep voice replied, "don't think so high of yourself Snow White." An arm wrapped itself around her waist and brought her closer to him, "you are nothing more to me than a slave. A slave for my own will and amusement." He brushed her hair away from her ear. "For my desire. You, Snow White, are my sex slave. Nothing more."

"Good," she breathed. Then she yanked herself away from him. Her feet stomped as loud as they could up the stairs. To the wardrobe meters away from their oval bed. She opened it as he watched in amusement, and pulled out all her clothes. There were many but together they did not amount to much material used. "You won't miss a sex slave like me. I'm leaving."

"No you are not." He followed her up the stairs.

"Yes I am. You can't stop me."

"You know I can."

She did not stop taking out her clothes. She reached for a satchel in the wardrobe that had been there for the same amount of time she had. It was her only sentimental item, the satchel was given to her by the dwarves before she left. "And you know just exactly how painful the lengths I will go to are."

She flinched at the memory of the first time she tried to escape. The pain of her punishment had been unbearable. And he had loved every second of it.

"I don't care." She shoved her last pair of clothes into the bag and pushed past him. Before she descended down the stairs her grabbed her hand.

"You little threat means nothing. We both know your not able to go anywhere."

"I am able to leave whenever the hell I want." She tugged her hand away from him but he pulled her closer.

"Then why haven't you?"

"Because I thought you were getting better." She stopped struggling to free herself from his grip. "I thought this twisted arrangement between us was helping you in some way, become a better man."

"Now why would I want to be a better man, when I already have everything I want."

He pushed her against the wall, there was a thud as her back slammed against it.

"Because I thought just maybe," he moved his head closer to her and she felt his breathe on her neck, "you had a heart."

"Then leave. I dare you." He trailed his hand down her thigh and pulled her knee around his waist. His face lifted from her collar and challenged her in the eyes. She knew she couldn't leave him, and he knew that.

"I will then." She bluffed.

"No, you won't Snow." He seized her face with his hand. "You know why."

She didn't react.

"Say it." He commanded.

She still didn't answer. There was another thud as he shoved her harder against the wall. A gasp slipped through her lips. "Say why."

Her mouth stayed closed. He hovered inches above her mouth, "say it,"

"Because..." She slid her hand under his shirt and lost her train of thought. He pressed himself against her hips and his lips touched hers, threatening to kiss her.

"You need me." He finished her sentence and locked his mouth onto hers, "just as much as I need you."

She parted her legs and let him push himself inside her. A sign left him as he did so.

He never felt whole. There was always a part of him missing. When he was with her that feeling melted away, because she was his missing piece.

There were so many times he had made her angry. All the times he had executed 'innocent' (in her mind), she had thrown a fit. But he had always wormed his way back to her. After all this time she had never forgiven him, nor had she forgotten. Every time they made love he could feel the resentment she felt for him. He knew how badly she hated herself.

With each stroke she would moan and writhe, and he could see the pleasure she bathed in. It was the only thing that gave him satisfaction that what he was doing was acceptable.

"Faster," she begged.

He snapped out of his thought to see her eyes wide as held her against the wall. He grinned and slowed to a halt.

"Faster what?"

She contracted herself around him and he let out an exhale. "Faster," she kissed the nape of his neck, "master."

She saw the glint of lust in his eye. He loved it when she called him that, when she petted his ego. He thrusted into her faster than before and within seconds she came to him, letting out a wail as she orgasmed. She rested her head against the wall and he watched her breasts heave.

He let her down from the wall and she gripped the railing. He grinned, knowing what she wanted him to do. She allowed his to mould her shape around him and he entered her from behind, while his hand stalked down to her hole and he played with her clit while he moved inside her.

"Do you touch her like this?" She was referring to his other mistress.

"Are you jealous Snow White?" He chuckled as he caressed her. She didn't answer him back, she only became rigid and he sensed her apprehension. "You needn't be," he cooed in a gentle voice, "she isn't as much of challenge as you. She is mundane, being with her is a chore. She doesn't..." He paused, realising the sincerity in his voice.

"Complete you," she whispered back to him. They completed each other. As he finally came, he realised he couldn't feel the hate in her body anymore. The hate that made her skin boil when he touched her. It had melted away.

"I see so much more than the others see in you Snow White." He breathed. "I see the lust in your eyes, I know what it takes to please you. There is much more to you than the sweet young girl. You are fire and Ice, Snow White.

The night air on the balcony was cool. She had picked the lock, a whole say without being outside would kill her. The wind whipped through the silent courtyard. The execution block was still there and there was blood sprayed all over it.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she whispered to the air, "I'm so sorry Perd," a tear rolled down her cheek and she sniffed. "You weren't supposed to die for me. None of this was meant to do." She shrunk down onto the stone floor. A young blue bird rested on her hand and she brought it up to her eye level, "aren't you supposed to be asleep little bird?" It tweeted in response, tilting its head at crying Snow.

"Yes," she replied, "I am too." She smiled but it was too much, and she burst into a sob. "I'm sorry," she apologised to the bird, her spirit was breaking. "This isn't how my life was meant to be. I was meant to have a Prince that loved me, and we were meant to get married, and have beautiful children. But none of it ever happened. And everyone I love thinks I am dead."

The bird began singing. Its little beak raised high as it let out a sweet melody to soothe her tears. She put it down on the floor as it continued singing, glad of its song and made her way to the bed. The light from the moon cast a shadow on Kai's body as he lay silent, sleeping with his eyes closed.

She slipped into bed and was still, watching his face. It was so peaceful when he was sleeping. There was quiet in the room, but not like the quiet when she was alone. His steady breathing was company enough for her now.

Her hand mindlessly ran over a scar she gave him on his chest. She gave it to him over a year ago, when they first made love, she scratched him too deep that it left a jagged diagonal scar in the middle of his chest. She placed her hand over it, and felt the beats of his heart, the rhythmic beat sped up quickly. She gasped.

He didn't open his eyes, for fear of seeing her cry. Instead he put his arm around her waist and pulled her into him. She didn't say a word. In a year, this was the first time they had been this close wo each other without it leading to anything more.

"You have to leave." He whispered to her, he kissed the top of her head, "I'm killing you."

She nodded, as she pushed her face into his neck, like the missing piece of a jigsaw. He was killing her softly and there was no way she could stay.