-:-
(chapter two)
-:-
Mai did not sleep. Could not sleep.
She began to feel tired as the sun rose, but once she tried to close her eyes, the slave girl entered with Mai's breakfast.
She scowled at Mai, as usual.
"Katara," Mai abruptly blurted out. "Your name is Katara."
She looked stunned. Like she never expected anything like that from Mai. But Mai supposed she could not blame her for that.
"Yeah. It is."
"What got you stuck here?"
"Azula defeated me and Zuko, and Ozai brought us here to be prisoners. In my case, a slave. And I don't act out because Zuko and my brother and Suki are in the dungeons."
Consoling people never came easily to Mai, but she gave it an akward shot. "I'm sorry… I can't do anything because of Zuko too. Sorry about your brother."
"Yeah." Katara looked away.
She left without another word.
Mai has no appetite.
The best she could do was pick at the food.
-:-
Mai spent the day in her room, her cell, numb and empty. She was detached from this world.
Until the guards barged in and escorted her to the dining room for dinner.
Ozai waited for her. One of the guards shoved her down into her seat before they all stepped back.
"You look so unhappy. I thought you would be hungry."
"I'm not," flatly said Mai, but her stomach decided that it was an ideal time to growl.
"Do I repulse you as much as your eyes reveal?"
"Yes."
He smirked. Smirked.
She wished she had a knife.
"I can tolerate that for now. I know you will eventually think fondly of me, even if I have to force you to."
"You may be a talented conqueror. But no army or emperor has the power to control thoughts."
"That is no way to speak to your future husband."
She thankfully did not have to reply, because the slaves served the food. They all looked Earth Kingdom, to no one's surprise.
Once the food was on the table, Mai forced herself to look away from the meal she so desperately wanted.
"I really doubt you're interested in me as your wife except to fuck me. You can do that whether I hate you or not, unfortunately."
"I want much, much more than sex with you."
"Oh? Well it really seems like you're psyched about doing it."
"Of course, I look forward to it. But I can resist when we have a lifetime enjoying all acts and positions I can dream of with you."
"If I ever stoop as low as to sleep with you, I set the boundaries. I do. Not you."
He seemed to enjoy her discomfort talking about sex. Mai assumed that was why he was doing it.
As she stayed silent, he continued, "Sex with boundaries isn't really sex. If our bodies are capable of it, we should do it."
Mai's skin crawled.
-:-
The dinner was long and painful to Mai, but she managed to control her mouth and force herself to indulge his desire for conversation. All that kept her going was knowing she could be alone afterwards.
But then Ozai announced, "You will stay in my chambers tonight."
"I thought you said you would wait."
"I will. No sex. Just sleep. I promise you."
Mai did not ever believe a promise from a royal, but from the look in his eyes, she saw she had no choice.
She followed him to his expansive royal chambers.
He shut and locked the door and then strode toward the bed while removing his shirt. She did not move.
She cast him a dark glance.
"Do you have such a low opinion of me? I am not going to rape you."
"Then why do you want me here?"
"Comfort." He sat down on the bed.
He threw a small slip at her. She caught it.
"Change your clothes."
She turned around and did as she was told. She thankfully could not see him, but she felt his eyes on her the entire time.
"Come lie down, pet."
"I am not your pet."
"Given your current circumstances, I would disagree." He patted the bed beside him.
Mai clenched her teeth, but she walked over and joined him.
He was physically attractive, at least. But that did not make up for much at all.
"Massage my back."
"I don't know how." It was the truth.
"It is easy to figure out."
"I'm losing my faith that you just want to sleep."
"You really do not believe I won't do anything to you."
"Well, you forced me into an engagement to you, locked me up here…" Mai rolled her eyes pointedly. He grit his teeth. She sarcastically continued, "Why on Earth would I think you would hurt me?"
"I have plenty of women for sexual gratification. I want a wife for more than sex. We all need companionship, even the most powerful among us."
"Yes, it must have nothing to do with you wanting to pump a baby into me because Azula is a lesbian and she has you wrapped around her little finger."
"The need for heirs does not discount that I also have a need for a romantic companion."
"This will never be romantic. Even if I did not despise you, I don't do romance."
Ozai pushed her away, done with the massage.
"Neither do I." He laid her down on the bed, the side beside where he usually slept, alone, after whatever bed-slave or dreamy eyed noble girl he used for the night and then kicked out.
He could not remember the last time he slept beside a woman. Perhaps it had even been since Ursa. He was not certain.
Mai stayed on top of the blankets, to his displeasure. She turned to him.
"So you chose me for a companion?"
"Yes. You were, after all, my betrothed after Zuko became a traitor."
"I made it clear I would rather die by lightning than marry you. That I only love him. I would much rather be a sex slave to you than a companion."
"You will learn to love me."
Mai fell silent as he began to stroke her hair. His hands were gentle, but his eyes simmering with such rage that he would hurt her or Zuko if she protested to that ridiculous statement. She had already pushed it too far tonight, and he was rapidly losing his patience for her defiance, as sexy as he found it.
"You will be cold without the blankets. I see you shivering. I would be a poor host to not let you get comfortable on the precipise of winter."
She bit her lip, wondering if putting up a fight was worth it. But she was freezing, shaking, on the verge of her teeth chattering, so with her jaw clenched and eyes steely, she slipped beneath the several layers of expensive blankets.
Mai had never slept beside a man, unless one counted sleeping by Azula after playing boyfriend girlfriend. Well, that would make her the man, she supposed. Azula always demanded to be the girlfriend.
It made her mind wander to Ty Lee. She was in the Fire Nation now, with Azula presumably on a power trip. Even if Ty Lee had been a virgin — as she had slept with Azula many times before the Boiling Rock — Mai doubted her former best friend had the same alleged restraint as her father.
Ty Lee…
She did love Azula. Maybe she could love her again. She and Mai often fought in the Boiling Rock about Ty Lee missing Azula so deeply.
And Mai supposed Ty Lee always found good and happiness in the worst of situations.
But thinking about how easily Azula would abuse Ty Lee for kicks made Mai nauseous.
She snapped out of her painful thoughts when Ozai pulled her closer, softly pressing her body against his.
"I am not being frisky," he said calmly. "I just want you close as we sleep. You are safe with me. A man my age has control over his arousal, nor does he need sex every night."
To her surprise, he was right.
All he did was softly stroke her neck until he fell asleep.
She lay in the prison of his muscular arm for some time, her only pillow his hard chest.
Mai imagined she would suffer awake all night.
But as snow fell outside, she fell asleep against his warm, firebender body.
If she kept her eyes closed, he almost felt like Zuko.
-:-
Mai woke and at first had no idea where she was.
She cautiously, slowly broke free of him, intending to slip back to her room before he woke, prison cell it may be or not, but she woke him.
He seized her roughly by the arm.
"I do not recall dismissing you."
"I didn't want to wake you."
"So considerate," he mocked. "Kiss me before you go, and do it like you mean it."
She steadied her heart, swallowed her anger, leaned down and kissed him on the lips.
Ozai grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer.
He kissed her cheek. She could tolerate that.
He kissed her neck . She could handle it, disgusting as it was.
He kissed her shoulder. Kissed her collarbone.
When his lips began to drift far too close to Mai's breast, she broke free and fiercely slapped him across the face.
He roughly seized her wrist. And twisted. Hard.
And he kept twisting until she finally could not contain herself, and cried out in pain as it snapped.
He released her at last.
"Fuck you," she snarled, sitting up on her knees. "I wore the clothes you wanted. I massaged you, I slept in your arms all night. I believed your promise of not forcing sex, and if you ever want me to trust you again, you'll let me go when I decide to go."
He sneered at her. Grabbing her by the neck. He squeezed and pulled her in closer.
The bitch needed to be broken in. Desperately. But he also knew she required manipulation to become the woman he wanted. If she could not trust him, she would not be a valuable wife.
And so he released her neck and summoned the guards to escort her back to her room. Her gilded cage.
Grooming her as a wife was worth releasing her just this once.
-:-
"Your wrist looks bad," said Katara as she brought Mai her breakfast.
"I don't think the Phoenix King likes my attitude toward him. But I can't say it's changing any time soon. Or ever."
Katara's cheeks flushed and she hung her head as she whispered. "Did he force you last night?"
Tears welled in her wide cobalt eyes. Mai never did know what to do about someone who was crying.
"No. We just slept in the same bed. He made me massage his back and lie on top of him. He wouldn't let me out of his arms. It was sick."
"I'm sorry."
"He touched you, didn't he?"
"Worse than that. Dragged me in to warm his bed more times than I want to count. He kept telling me how exotic I am. That it was a rare treat to fuck a Water Tribe girl."
"You must think I got off easy. Maybe I did. I was in an arranged marriage to Zuko since we were kids. We got lucky and actually loved each other. But when he left to join you, my fucking awful parents amended the contract and promised me to Ozai. I thought I got out." Mai hollowly laughed with a dark look in her eyes. "Worse, I guess, I thought I could save Zuko."
"You were brave. Beyond brave. And I don't think you got off easy. I'd rather be fucked by him a thousand times rather than sleep beside him, marry him, pretend to be his loyal lover."
Mai hated to agree.
-:-
"The Phoenix King requests you join him for tea on the west patio."
Mai obeyed. She hated it. But she did it anyway, mainly to preserve her dignity and not allow anyone to brutally force her.
She walked to the palace with four heavily armed guards surrounding her.
Her eyes slowly drifted to a knife at one's belt. But he noticed her gaze and set his hand over it before she could even contemplate how to steal it.
They took her to a large, elaborate patio in the west gardens, now adorned with a fire fountain.
Ozai sat at a stone table waiting for her.
"Your wrist looks painful," he said. "If you need anything to make you more comfortable, ask. There are countless apothecaries in the city."
"I guess I wouldn't say no to something for the pain," begrudgingly admitted Mai.
"I apologize for the damage. But I am sure you aware I could have done much, much worse as a repercussion for attacking me."
"What do you want?" asked Mai as she sat down across from him.
He let the bluntness slide this once.
"Casually talk, have some tea."
"I don't have much to talk about. I'm not allowed to leave my room."
"The more cooperative you become, the more freedom you will gain." Ozai examined her as she looked at him coldly. "I have a gift for you."
A pretty and young slave girl nervously set a small box in front of Mai. Ozai looked far too pleased about it for the gift to be anything good.
Mai tentatively opened it. When she did, she clamped her hand to her mouth to keep from making noise or showing emotion. She would not let Ozai win. Slowly, she made herself cold again, even if her heart thundered.
"Who's finger is that?"
"I think you know, my love." He paused. "Don't worry so much. He still has nine more."
"Why? I obeyed you!" Mai shot to her feet, but Ozai simply snapped his fingers and the guards shoved her back into her seat.
"My love, your defiant and traitorous mouth was bound to get you in trouble one day. I simply reminding you the stakes of being so reckless." He sighed and pretended to look sympathetic. Mockery. It made Mai sick. "I would prefer to break you in the way I like, but I respect your little virgin wishes, and therefore, I must use other tactics at my disposal."
Mai whispered, struggling and struggling to contain her anger and remain stoic, "He's your son."
"He is a traitor. And I cannot count how many times you murmured his name in your sleep last night."
"What do you want from me?"
"Dedication instead of defiance."
"Your highness—"
"Ozai," he growled. "Unless you would prefer something more affectionate."
"How about snugglebug?" sarcastially taunted Mai.
"Did I not just warn you to watch your mouth?" he said. "Ozai is the name you'll soon be moaning at night. You may as well get used to saying it."
"It's laughable that you honestly think you could ever get me to moan."
Ozai's lip contorted into half of a snarl, and his glare was as powerful as his daughter's.
Once he composed himself, he simply said, "You haven't been in bed with me yet. You'll moan. Trust me. You're fortunate I like a challenge, but I will not stand for being insulted again."
Mai said coolly. "It's good you like a challenge. Because you're going to get one.
Ozai smirked in amusement.
Mai clenched her fists under the table.
-:-
Mai spent two days alone, and then the wedding planning began. She did not know how she would stomach it, until she realized one benefit, and only one.
So she pretended to show remote interest in the flower selection until Ozai arrived.
"You look beautiful today."
She ignored the compliment.
"I need Ty Lee," said Mai.
Ozai scoffed. "You need what?"
"I know it seems like I have no emotion, but it hurts me to not have her here planning my wedding with me. We promised we would do it that way, before the war went the way it did."
"And what do you offer in return?"
"If I have Ty Lee visit, I will be a good little fiancée and plan our wedding. If I don't, I will resist every last step with everything in me."
"I can handle two months of defiance. Once I have deflowered you, I doubt you will be so bold."
"Maybe. Maybe not. Depends how good you are in bed. But I still want Ty Lee. I knew if I ever got married, I wanted her to plan it with me. You say Azula controls her, and she never acts out the way I do. I want Ty Lee to help me plan our wedding. Are you afraid or something?"
"To please you, I will ask my daughter to bring her. But if she doesn't, you will not resist if you know what's good for you and Zuko. And I expect a trade if Azula agrees, and I can make her agree."
Mai set her hands on her hips. But she still felt weak under his gaze. Perhaps since she was at a disadvantage, perhaps because he was muscular and towered over her.
"What trade?" she dared ask.
"You sleep in my bed, instead of your cell, until Ty Lee arrives. And I do vow to you, I will not indulge myself with your body until my wedding. All I want is for you to sleep in my arms."
Mai thought about it for a few moments. Thankfully,
Ozai expected her to do so.
"You have a deal."
He smiled.
-:-
Mai did what she had to do to see her best friend again. She slept in his bed and kept her mouth shut the best she could. He wanted her to touch him, kiss him, talk to him, and so she did. None of it was overtly sexual, thankfully. The furthest he went was resting his hand on her inner thigh.
Yet, somehow, the forced intimacy made her feel more violated than if he fucked her.
It lasted five days and nights, and then Azula and Ty Lee arrived.
In the throne room, Ozai embraced his daughter and then released her. They were talking about something but Mai could not hear it after looking at Ty Lee.
She saw her smile, saw her wave, and then saw the horrific scars.
Scars. Burn scars. All the way down her left arm.
Mai's stomach churned.
Azula motioned that Ty Lee could join Mai as she began to discuss politics and plans with her father.
Ty Lee seemed almost like herself as she hugged Mai. If it were not for the burns, maybe almost nothing had changed at all.
"Hey." Mai stepped out of the crushing embrace.
"I am so happy you're okay!"
"Well, define okay."
"You're alive! And you look super pretty!"
"I'm sorry for what happened to you. It can't be easy belonging to Azula."
"I love her, Mai. I really love her."
"Why?"
"There's good in her. You don't see the Azula I see."
Mai knew Azula was in earshot, and presumably Ty Lee was being careful with her attitude and words. They both saw the same Azula. Mai knew it.
Mai asked, gesturing at the horrific scars, "Why did she do that to you?"
"I tried to run away. But I don't want to anymore. I want to build a life with her."
"But does she want to build a life with you?"
Ty Lee hastily changed the subject. "I'm so excited to put together your wedding! It's amazing!"
Mai swallowed.
She wished she could have saved Ty Lee.
-:-
Mai examined the flowers Ty Lee decided upon. The sample was not horrible but Mai still hated flowers.
"I like them. You deserve them, being so well behaved lately." He took her arm and slowly turned her to face him. "And you look healthier with Ty Lee here. Unless you're just finally getting excited for the royal wedding."
He caressed her face.
She took a deep breath and made herself tolerate it.
He took her by the waist and slid two fingers into her mouth.
"Suck," he ordered.
She bit down. Hard.
He cursed and then grabbed her, lighting a hand and pressing it against her back.
She fought with everything in her to not give him the satisfaction but the pain was the worst she had ever felt in her life. She cried out and fell to her knees the moment he released her.
The pungent scent of burning flesh made her gag.
Saliva and tears dripped copiously onto the floor beneath her face.
Ozai seized her hair and forced her to look at him.
"If you bite me again, I will make you watch as I pull out your little boyfriend's teeth." He let her hair go and looked at the guards. "Get her out of my sight."
Mai allowed them to take her.
-:-
As Katara applied salve and bandaged Mai's back, she softly asked, "Are you still sure you don't want me to use my bending?"
"You're the only person I remotely trust in this place. I don't want him to execute you."
"I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Yeah, whatever. Don't break an arm jerking yourself off about it."
Katara smiled.
"I feel awful that you're hurt, but I like that you bit him. I wish I could get away with that."
"You said he has your brother?"
"And my friend Suki."
"What about the little blind one?"
"She made it out. I don't know where she is, but I'm sure she's okay."
"Yeah."
Mai's mind drifted away.
-:-
Ty Lee sat with Mai in the heavily guarded bedroom. Mai had not been able to speak to her the past two days thanks to Azula holding her on such a tight leash. Never one without the other.
"So Azula let you out of her sight?"
"She's finally starting to trust me again. It's really good. I worked so hard for it!"
"You're not pretending, are you?" painfully realized Mai. It disgusted her to the core.
"Pretending what?"
"Pretending to be in love with her even though she's keeping you as a slave."
"I'm in love with her. So what?"
Mai could not suppress her frown.
Ty Lee hugged her tightly, as if that could make any of this better.
-:-
Mai kept her head bowed and eyes averted as she sat on Ozai's bed in the late evening.
"Do you want me here for a reason?" Her words were cold enough to create ice sculptors.
"I won't penetrate you. You don't have to be so afraid."
"Who said I was afraid?"
"You're trembling."
"It's cold."
He allowed her to get away with it.
"I need to bathe. Join me."
"And where does that lead?"
"I want you to join me and wash me, and that is all for the night. Nothing more."
Mai did not suppose she had a choice. She couldn't handle another finger in a box.
She strode with him to the enormous bathroom, filled with lavish scents and soaps and golden fixtures. The bath itself was large enough for her to stay several feet away from him, but she doubted he would allow that. It was filled with water and steam.
He stripped off his clothes as she kept her eyes averted. He stepped into the bath.
She kept her expression cold and unreadable as she slowly removed her clothes until she was naked in front of him for the first time. He was lying back so casually, watching her, as she dipped her toe in. The water was scalding, but part of her liked that. She stepped in, controlling her breath and her face.
He looked her up and down.
"You are even more beautiful than I imagined."
He beckoned for her to come closer.
She slowly moved through the water to him as she said, "So you like to imagine me naked, then."
"Who wouldn't?" He smirked as she kneeled before him, and he handed her the fragrant and expensive soap.
She took it in her hands, rubbed it on his shoulders. Moved to his chest, his arms. He did not do much but slow her hands a few times.
She finished, after a longer while than she would have liked. His golden eyes sparkled. She bit back a snarl.
He turned her so her back was against his chest.
He took the soap. Rubbed it on her. Was gentle, slowly cleansing her limbs and back. It was far from the worst thing she had experienced. And even though it made her sick to acknowledge it, she liked it. She felt herself relaxing in his arms as he washed her and she hated herself for it.
His hands moved to her breasts. He began to massage the soap into them. For quite longer than they needed to be cleaned.
When he rubbed his thumb over her nipple a moan slipped from her lips. And he laughed. She wanted to slit her own throat.
"It's okay to like it. I want you to like it."
Mai leaned her head back against his shoulder and allowed him to continue.
Slowly, aware as he could be of even her slightest movements, he let his hand slip down her stomach to her thigh, softly rubbing her there, closer and closer to her core. It elicited a soft gasp. He released her after a few moments and kissed her neck.
They only lingered a small while more before he dragged her from the bath.
She dried herself, feeling shame welling up in her stomach like vomit. He pressed his hand against her lower back, and both still wrapped in blood red towels, he led her into the bedroom.
"Get on the bed."
"I am not going to have sex with you."
"I won't make you."
He laid down on the bed and pulled her by the arm to fall on top of him.
"I just want to kiss you," he reassured as she opened her mouth to snap at him.
They crushed their lips together as he gently pressed his hand down on her naked back.
It wasn't too bad. Or maybe Mai was just losing her mind.
But it stopped being pleasant a few minutes in.
His cock was hard. And pressing fiercely, insistently, against her stomach.
He took her by the hair and guided her lips toward it.
She pulled back so quickly that he lost his grip.
"You said you wouldn't penetrate me. That includes my mouth."
He examined her with half of a sneer, but finally grabbed her hand and curled it around the base of his cock.
"Stroke it." And she did. "Good girl. Keep going."
He relaxed as she kept it up. Maybe it wasn't his top choice of what he wanted to do with her, but it was their first truly sexual contact and he had waited to long for it. The anticipation certainly increased the pleasure.
Her pace gradually quickened. His back tensed.
"Lick it," he groaned. "Now."
It was possibly the most disgusting thing she could think of, but she did. Leaned down, ran her tongue over the shaft. She closed her eyes as she did it twice more. She swirled her tongue once around the tip, and then quickly rose to return to using her hand. If he thought she would do that again, he was out of his mind.
He wanted so desperately for her to suck. To fuck her mouth. But he knew she needed to be properly manipulated to make her into the woman he wanted, and so he reluctantly allowed her to go back to using her hand.
It only took a little longer for him to hit his climax.
He let out a low groan as he came. It was certainly a more than decent orgasm, albeit far from the best he ever had.
Mai recoiled at the semen gushing from him.
Pearly white and sticky, all over her hand.
"Don't you dare use my blankets. I'll get a towel for you." He grabbed one from the floor and handed it to her. She frantically rubbed herself clean.
As she slowly laid down, he began to stroke her hair.
"Are you alright?" The sound of such genuine, sincere concern made Mai want to spit in his face.
Where was that compassion for Zuko?
He asked gently, "Did I push you too far?"
"No," lied Mai.
They remained in silence for a few moments before he caressed her face.
"I do believe, once you let go of your anger, we could be very happy together."
Mai took in a slow breath.
As he slowly drifted to sleep with his arm around her waist, she tried to picture it. She tried to imagine what her life would be like if he got his way.
A wedding dress. A night with him. And more of those to come. Her body swelling with his monstrous child. Mai clenched her jaw.
She needed to escape before her wedding.
And bring Zuko with her.
She wouldn't ever be together with him.
And she wouldn't let herself end up like Ty Lee.
She needed out of this nightmare.
And so she stayed up scheming, while he slept ever so peacefully beside her.