It's not wrong, but... she's not in her right mind. Susan doesn't want to make a choice she might later regret.

"I..." Susan took a deep breath again, forcing her shuddering body to remain still. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I...I'm fine." She repeated the word, as though hoping that if she said it enough, it would become true.

Slowly, reluctantly, she pulled herself away from Sarah, feeling the absence of her fingers and hands keenly, and with regret. Her skin tingled, as though in recrimination, reminding her of all the things that she could be doing and having done to her right now. The savage need for pleasure filled her, she wanted to writhe, to beg, to lose herself in it.

That was the problem, really.

She wanted to lose herself in it. Susan realised that she was trying to use the sex as a distraction, as a way to focus her mind on the pleasure of the act and nothing else. Somewhere else, that might have been fine, acceptable even. But not here. Not now. Not when that bastard was trying to break her down. She realised that if she did this, she was as good as helping him condition her for it. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy sex... Sarah's fingers tracing her pale skin had made her shiver with longing. But she also knew that she was trapped, enslaved, and helpless. She wasn't in her right mind at the moment. She didn't want to do something like this right now... no, she was scared that if she did do it, she wouldn't easily come back from it. Kanor wanted to make her a sex obsessed little toy, a plaything that acted only on her basic desires, having long since lost any concept of honour or duty, or desire to be anything else but his sex ****.

She wouldn't do it. She wouldn't take that step. She knew how easily it could turn out badly, just how far she could fall if she did. She was terrified. Terrified of what might happen if she did allow herself to enjoy it.

"Sarah...." She said, looking at the maid, trying to mask the bitter disappointment which flowed through at at the knowledge of what she had turned down. "I'm sorry. I'm not ready... I mean, I'd like to, but I am afraid... this bastard is worming his way into me, and I am scared that..."

"That if you do this, you're playing his game." Sarah said sourly. Her face looked grim, but she nodded slowly. "You're worried that you're going to become the toy he's trying to make you. I... I understand that. I am sorry, Susan I didn't mean to stir up something like that. Maybe it's because I've already passed that point. There's no hope for me."

"No, Sarah!" Susan said. "That's not what I mean at all. If you talk like that again, I'm going to slap you for it!"

Sarah blinked, not having expected that from the princess. "You'll slap me...?"

"You talk like you're really his ****!" The princess fumed. "I know what you said before, and I know that you've had such a hard time here! I know it's been terrible, but the moment that Kanor gets into our minds, it's already over! He can chain us, and make us do things, and toy with us... but we're not slaves until we accept it! Even if he kills us, we can die freely if we just refuse to bend the knee to him."

"I bent the knee long ago." Sarah said, turning away and looking towards the wall. "I'm a good little ****. A good little whore. I broke. I was weak. I...I...I-"

The ringing sound of flesh on flesh resounded through the cell. Sarah jerked to the side, her hand rising to her cheek where her skin was starting to turn red. Susan stood, messaging her hand as she glared at the maid.

"I told you." She scowled. "No more talk about being broken. You're not broken, Sarah. You're not some helpless ****. Since I have come here, you helped me. Since I was captured, you've given me some hope. The fact that you can last so long like this... it proves to me that we're not beaten yet. Yes, it's bad, and yes, you've fallen far. We both have... but...but it's not over yet. We're not beaten."

"I told you Susan, I am already broken, I-"

A second slap sent her reeling to the side.

"You're not broken until I say you are!" Susan barked. "I am your princess, I am the last of the royal line, and I am ordering you not to surrender so easily!"

She frowned, realised what she was saying, and flushed red.

"Um, sorry, Sarah, that came off as more definite than I intended. L-look, if you were broken, you wouldn't speak to me like this. You wouldn't have helped me before. You wouldn't have agreed to try and help get the key. You are not broken, Sarah. Kanor has gotten into your head and made you think that you are, but you're not. I look at you, and I see someone who is still willing to fight. Someone who can still resist. So please, no more of this talk about defeat. We lost the battle, but the war has only just begun. First the chains, then something else, I swear to you, I'll get us out of here."

Sarah said nothing for a moment. She looked absolutely stunned, running her cheek with one hand. The Princess had a surprisingly powerful slap, but more than this, it was the shock that she had been hit at all. Slowly, she considered her position, her words. She'd been in this hell for what seemed an eternity. Could it really be that there was a way out? It seemed safer to believe otherwise. Safer to consider herself helpless, just a toy, a **** to be used. Because if she wasn't... if there was a chance to escape, and they failed, it would hurt all the more for losing it. The pain of slavery was not as great as the pain of freedom lost a second time.

But then, she looked at the princess, really looked at her, and for the first time, she saw her not just for what she was at the moment. Susan was not an impressive figure right then. Slim, pale of skin, her breasts bared to the world. Her eyes red from tears. And yet, there was something else, something more. A power to her eyes. A strength which reminded the maid of her famous ancestors, heroes who had protected and defended the people. She looked at the princess, and saw not just what she was, but what she could become.

Slowly, very slowly, she nodded her head.

"It's one of the hardest things I have ever done." She admitted softly. "But for you, Princess Susan, I will try. I will try to live up to what you see in me. I will try to be the type of person you think I am. I will try to resist, to prove that I am not broken. I... I can't promise that I will succeed, but by all the gods in all the worlds, I will try."

"Princess Susan?" The princess blinked. "That's real formal, Sarah. Considering we've seen each other naked, and even technically had sex, I think we can cut the titles. I'm just Susan."

"No." Sarah said slowly. "I didn't think until now, but you're right. You're the last of the royal line. You're the only one to survive, and you told me what I needed to hear. As far as I am concerned, you are my princess. No, you are my queen."

"Not a queen." Susan said, turning aside. "Never a queen."

"Your mother is dead. The rules of succession dictate that..."

"No." Susan said firmly. "There are ceremonies, specific rites, a coronation has to be held. I may be a princess, and I may....may be the last. But I am not a queen."

Susan looked away for a moment as she spoke. She honestly didn't know who she was trying to convince. Sarah, or herself.