A/N: Hello all, sorry for the long wait, but I have been extremely busy lately. Here is the next chapter. Thank you to everyone for your patience and your reviews! You all are amazing! :-)

Jasmine, exhausted and out of breath, found herself locked into a direct stare with Jafar. His eyes were dark and menacing as they scrutinized her from head to toe. Finally breaking the freeze frame, he slowly approached her. When the distance between them was almost nonexistent Jasmine swallowed hard, trying to hold onto what little nerve and anger she had left before it was conquered by fear. Jafar's eyes moved from hers to the floor which was now riddled with reminders of the vases that once decorated the room. Raising an eyebrow and biting his lip he crossed his arms in front of his chest and began slowly circling around her surveying the aftermath of her temper.

"Tsk, tsk..." he said slowly. Jasmine began to feel less like a human being and more like a dying animal in the desert while her enemy circled her, waiting for her most vulnerable moment. She held her hands firm to her sides and as much as she tried to not show her fear she could not help but tremble.

"Now...I wonder what could have made my little flower so angry?" he said smoothly as he stopped behind her and lightly ran his index finger down the middle of her lower back. He patiently waited for her response but Jasmine, completely at a loss for what to say or do, closed her eyes and remained silent. After a moment he began twirling a dark tendril from her ponytail around his finger.

"Hmm...not speaking to me I see?"

Still silence.

"Such a shame...especially when I have so many questions for you, my dear" he wrapped his long, icy fingers around her hip bones and leaned his mouth into her ear.

"But where to begin?"

Suddenly his nails dug into her hips and spun her around to face him causing Jasmine to open her eyes and gasp. As his face morphed into pure anger he grabbed her wrists and gripped tightly while Jasmine let out a small whimper. Snarling he firmly spoke, "Why were you out of our room?"

"I...I...just" Jasmine stammered. Her week of solitude had caused her to forget how debilitating her fear could be.

"Well?" said Jafar exhaustively. Taking her chin in his hand he directed her to look at the shards of vase on the floor. "It would seem by the results of this room that you have paragraphs to say. Well I am all ears, you have my attention."

Jasmine swallowed hard. Jafar smirked, "Aw, do not tell me you have stage fright now do you?"

Jafar then gave her the same, sadistic look he had given her on their first night together, a look that expressed his victory over her. Having enough of feeling like an evil man's conquest, Jasmine yanked her wrist free and pushed him off of her. "Don't touch me! You want to know why I was out of this room?" her voice rose with each word, "I suppose it was because I got tired of feeling like a prisoner in my own home! I am not a doll that you can lock away when you are tired of playing with me! I am a human being and as such I have complete say over my own thoughts and actions! So yes, I did defy you because you don t own me! I and only I own me, you damned cursed-"

Her words were cut short as the back of Jafar's hand made contact with her cheek and before she could think she found herself on the floor, her right hand crushing a shard of vase. Through teary eyes she watched as the floor beneath her hand began to turn red from her own blood.

"You simply refuse to learn from anything, you are affected by nothing. How many times must we find ourselves in the same situation, Jasmine?"

She looked up at Jafar who was slowly shaking his head. Gathering her pride, she stood up and stared him right in the eye, blood still trailing down her palm and crashing to the floor. "Since I refuse to be your little toy I suppose t will be until one of us dies."

Jafar let out a small laugh, "My dear if I wanted you for a toy I would have made you my slave, not my queen. You see, the problem with you Jasmine is that you think you are being noble, fighting the good fight if you will. You have always been spoiled and because of this your point of view is too simple. You see yourself and your father's rule as purely good and you look at me as the devil. But believe me, your father had enemies too. Although the palace and the city are disjointed by the sudden change in leadership, things will die down. And even if you don't believe me, people have short term memories. A year from now the people and this palace will adjust, but if you do not then everyone will see you as an over privileged little girl who refuses to lead her people." Jafar grabbed her hand, and although she tried to pull it away, he held it out in front of his chest and began pulling out the shard. "I suppose it is a shame that your father never exposed you to any part of the real world. It would have prepared you to be a queen. Pity..."

Jasmine cringed, there was that word again. It was almost as if the air around her had been replaced with pity. Everyone, her father, the servants, gave her nothing but pity, and now even the source of her troubles pitied her. She couldn't take it anymore; she felt so out of control. Before she could help herself the words just came out.

"I threw the vase because I was angry. I was angry at the servants." Once he had removed the shard, she pulled her hand back to her chest and walked past him up to the balcony, looking out the window. "I despise the way they look at me, as if I am a dying dog. All these people, even my father, all they feel is shame and pity toward me. I have lost all of my respect. I feel powerless." Jasmine was suddenly surprised at the honesty that had just expelled itself out of her. Did loneliness affect her so much that she was now confessing her feelings to the person she hated most? Not quite believing that the words had just come out, she turned and looked at Jafar for evidence. His stare on her was unwavering, waiting for her to continue. He seemed to be hanging on her every word. It was then that she remembered what the Genie had said,

he's not as powerful as you think he is. You have more influence on him than you know

Was Genie right? Was she really his weak point? She looked again at Jafar who was now biting his lip in anticipation for her to reveal her thoughts. She looked down at the floor for a moment, feeling her chest begin to shake. She was beginning to feel fear again, fear over what she was about to do.