As Melody's tolerance for pain slowly increased, the sessions became longer. Pain and pleasure became so mixed up in her mind that sometimes she could not tell the difference. Were the crystals biting into her skin or just Mab's nails? All she knew was that she wanted more...more...and now she writhed in response to Mab's touch as though the crystals weren't even there.

"You're such a quick learner, my sweet." Mab praised her.

Melody's bonds broke apart for the first time in months. She looked up at her mistress, startled. "What are you doing?'

"You have excelled beyond my wildest dreams. I see no reason to keep you tied up any more."

Mab petted her hair. "Of course, any time you wish to be tied up again, all you have to do is ask."

Melody shuddered in desire.


Her skin was pale and flawless when she met Merlin in the library. There was no indication of what she had endured.

"Melody!" he stood up and pulled her into a relieved hug. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." she pulled out of his hug to examine him. He looked healthy and whole.

"Where were you?"

"uhh...Mab was teaching me some things."

"Like what?"

"Like not to steal her crown." Melody looked down sheepishly.

"What?! Do you have a death wish?"

"Mab thinks I do." Melody quipped. "She is still looking for a remedy."

"I'm going to leave, Melody." Merlin told her, taking her by the shoulders and looking earnestly into her eyes. "I want you to come with me. Mab admitted she has won, so I made her promise that we could both leave of our own free will."

Melody looked up at him with little hope. "Where would we go?"

"It doesn't matter. Perhaps we can travel for awhile until we find something you like." Merlin brushed aside her concerns. "Just go pack your bags. I'll take care of everything else."


Melody found Mab perched like a statue of carved ice on her throne. She was alone in the dark, only her slightly luminescent green eyes giving away her location.

"So you're both leaving me." her voice whispered, but was easily heard throughout the chilly room.

"What did you expect?" Melody countered.

After a few minutes of silence, Mab began to speak.

"Merlin was already in love with Nimue by the time he came to me. The love he would have felt for me was already captured by someone else."

Melody stared at her, wondering what had brought this on.

"An unfortunate mistake on my part. I should have guarded him better. But you, Melody, your heart was not taken and was wide open when I first came to you. So your affection immediately fell where it should."

Mab brushed fingers over her eyes, then continued.

"I thought perhaps with Nimue dead, Merlin's affections could be transferred to where they were always meant to be. But it seems I was too late. I underestimated the strength of the bond between the two of them. I thought the bond would unravel naturally on its own since his heart was supposed to be mine in the first place. So I did nothing originally, thinking events would take their natural course."

Mab touched her face and Melody flinched.

"I killed Nimue, not only to protect you, but because I didn't want to lose you the same way I lost Merlin."

"I don't understand." Melody finally whispered.

"Anyone with fae blood adores me. It is instinctive to love me because I am the queen of fae, the creator of fae. Unfortunately, when you add human blood to the equation, the instinct isn't as strong and it can be ignored."

"How do I know what I feel for you is real then?"

"It is real. You are fae." Mab answered as if that explained everything.

"But...but it's not freely given."

Mab was quiet for a moment and softly spoke, "There is always a choice."

"There is no choice if the blood-link compels you to do it."

"Compelling is not the same as forcing."

"There's a very fine line between the two."

"Yes, but they are still not the same. Merlin's defiance certainly proves this. Frik's does as well."

Melody's fingernails dug crescent wounds in her palms as she clenched her firsts and felt her rage rise up again. "This is how you would argue I should stay? Oh, you were meant to love me! You're just flawed!"

Mab lowered herself from her throne and continued speaking.

"Don't play the victim Melody. Anything I did was what you wanted. On some deep level, you wanted it. The only difference between us is that I'm simply more honest about my desires."

"Because you feel no shame.."

"No I do not. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I am brutally honest about what I do and what I expect."

Mab paused briefly.

"So the question is... whether you can be honest with yourself and do what you want to do."

"Do you know what I want to do?" Melody stepped forward, face to face, toe to toe with a goddess.

She pressed her body against Mab's, trembling with fury. "I want to rip you open. I want your blood to coat these crystals until they're scarlet."

Mab watched silently as Melody's lips drew close, her sweet breath caressing her face.

She paused for a moment before Mab's lips, feeling like she was trembling on the edge of a precipice.

Very gently she bit Mab's lips and a slight shudder ran through her at the taste.

"I want you to bleed me and bruise me and tear me to pieces. Break everything, take everything away until I scream, until I can't feel anymore." Melody whispered desperately.

Mab gripped her arms, slowly pushed her back onto a nearby table, strangely gentle and silent.

"You want me to take everything away?"
"Yes."

"There is no going back."

"Yes."

Mab trailed her mouth slowly down her body until it hovered over her center.

"This is your last chance to leave."

"No."

Mab pushed her legs apart and set her lips against Melody's inner thigh.

Melody screamed as Mab's teeth sank gently into the delicate skin of her inner thigh. Mab began to drink and Melody felt a raging fire course through her veins, all drawn to that one spot where Mab drank.

Melody moaned and writhed. Mab held her legs down keep from being accidentally struck by a wayward knee.

After a few minutes of constantly building pressure, Mab gave one final lick to the wound that sent Melody over the edge with another shriek.

Melody rested against her queen. The wound on her leg already healed. Only a ring of silvery stars marked where Mab's teeth had been.

Mab held her against her body and stroked her hair. Melody purred.

Mab's fingers brushed the silverly mark and Melody twitched violently in ecstasy.

"What is it?" Melody asked her.

"A share in my immortality."

Melody was silent at that pronouncement and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Really?"

"Yes, you're going to be mine for a very, very long time."


Epilogue:

A simple stone with a named etched in it was covered in purple wildflowers. Two ethereal women stood before it. One of them bent down to scrap the plant life off of the grave marker so the letters were clearly visible. Merlin.

The older woman seemed more saddened by the name than the younger. Centuries had past, but they still came to this same spot once every ten years.