Beg her one more time to stop before this next stage

"Please." Your voice breaks on the word, high and breathy and utterly feminine. "Please, Miss Velvet. Don't do this next part. You've already taken everything—my name, my voice, my face. Can't that be enough?"

Miss Velvet pauses with the syringe hovering above your hip, those piercing pink eyes studying your face with an intensity that makes you shiver. For a long moment, she says nothing. Then she sets the syringe down on the metal tray with a soft clink.

"Look at me, Candy." She leans down until her face fills your vision, her red hair falling forward to frame her porcelain features. "Do you know what I see when I look at you right now?"

You can't answer. Your throat constricts with emotion.

"I see someone on the threshold," she continues, her voice dropping to something almost intimate. "You still think of yourself as a man trapped in an increasingly feminine body. Your mind hasn't caught up to what your reflection shows. That's why we have to continue."

"I don't understand," you whisper.

"Your face is female. Your voice is female. Your hair, your skin, your bone structure—all female." Her gloved fingers trace along your jawline. "But your body below the neck is still male. Still muscle-bound and broad-shouldered and narrow-hipped. Every time you move, every time you feel your body respond, it reminds you of who you used to be. It gives you something to cling to."

She straightens, picking up the syringe again. "I need to destroy that anchor, Candy. I need your body to match your face so completely that there's no part of you left that feels masculine. When you move, you'll move like a girl. When you look down at yourself, you'll see breasts and curves. When you walk, your hips will sway."

"But it hurts," you say weakly.

"Yes." Her smile is gentle but unyielding. "It hurts beautifully. And when it's over, you'll be whole. Female from head to toe, inside and out. No contradictions left to confuse you."

She positions the needle against your right hip, the sharp point pressing into your skin. "I'm not stopping, sweetness. But I want you to understand—this isn't cruelty. This is completion."

The needle pierces your skin, and you feel the deep purple liquid begin to flow into your hip joint.