If you are afraid of sunshine,

　　Even the sun is scary to you.

　　If you are afraid of rain,

　　Even a sweet shower is scary to you.

　　For if you love sunshine,

　　If you love rain,

　　They are a lullaby for the soul.

　　Fear lives not in the world,

　　But within the mind.

　　So when fear calls at your door,

　　Bang, bang, bang...

　　Ask why you are afraid.

　　And then you will find,

　　There is only sunlight in your doorway,

　　Only gentle rain in your garden.

　　She had read this poem in school and thanks to her eidetic memory it had always stuck in her mind. And most of the times it even brought her comfort but now…..

　　But right at this moment Euphrasia did not feel strong or did not feel happy or did not even feel that there might be light at the end of the tunnel. She was so scared that she could not breathe. She looked up to the man who was sitting on the chair before her and waited and then said,” Have you lost your fucking mind, Arthur?”

　　“Non, Sia. Non…why would you think that?” asked the man named Arthur whose one hand was petting the massive German Shepherd which was sitting beside his Master and the other beast was lying at the feet of Euphrasia.

　　“I came to you asking for help. I would not even mind if you had showed me the door but this…what you are saying…this is unthinkable…are you fucking with me?” asked Euphrasia and her voice was trembling. It was either in fear or in rage and at this moment she did not know which was it.

　　“I am trying to help you, Sia. But you are not ready to listen…why would you not even consider the prospect of it? Once? Would you think that I would ever do something to put you in danger?” asked Arthur as he leaned up straight and Euphrasia had the same feeling which she had twelve years ago when she had seen him for the first time.

　　“I trust you, Art. And that is the reason I am here. I am a nobody….I have no identity and that was all because I made the choice. And now you are asking me to work for you?” asked Euphrasia.

　　“Oui Sia. Oui…Work for me…with me…and I assure you that within a year the entire world will know your name. Why do you think I said this to you in the first place?” asked Arthur as he sighed in exasperation.

　　“To fuck with him. To fuck with me. I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me why you are saying this?” asked Euphrasia as she glared at him.

　　“Because you are a natural, bebe. You are a natural Domme and you know it. But still you don’t want to accept it. I knew this the first time that I had seen you and you are still trying to run away from it. This is the reason that you had run away a year back. And now you are here, asking for my help. And when I am offering it you don’t want it. Then why don’t you tell me, Sia what is that you want?” asked Arthur as he looked at Euphrasia in the eye.

　　“You know the reason very well, Art. You know why I had run away. I might be able to do anything at all, but I cannot take away his calling from him. Do you even know what will happen if people come to know who he is and what does his name mean in our world?” asked Euphrasia as she nodded and moved her head and said,” I might do anything, Art but not this. Never this. It is too tough to even look at him.”

　　“Then what do you want? Tell me what is it that you want and how do you wish me to help you?” asked Arthur and his voice had a hard edge this time.

　　“My love, you don’t need to get angry on her. She is scared and confused, and instead of helping her you are intended on scaring her,” said a woman’s voice who was tied up in the room. This was Lorraine, a submissive and the love of Arthur’s life.

　　“Lorraine, sweetheart. She is an exasperating woman….no…right now she is behaving like a child. And I am at the very end of my patience. How am I supposed to make her understand that she is perfect for this?” asked Arthur and then put up his hands and said,” I don’t k now what I can say to make her understand. However, Sia, there is a wad of twenty thousand dollars in my bedroom safe. You know the combination and so I doubt that it is going to be a problem opening it for you. There is a blank passport with your picture. You can put any name you want and then go and start a new life anywhere in the world. But you can never come back to this house or city again. There will be no strings attached to the money. You have worked all these years for me as my secretary without taking any pay. You have earned it fair and square. But I am never going to see your face again.”

　　Euphrasia looked at him and knew that he was not joking. If he was offering her the money and telling her that there were no strings attached to it then he was telling the truth. But could she take that risk?

　　“I wonder what would have been the situation if it was you who had found me first instead of him. I might be doing something else tonight and you would not have had to offer me this,” said Euphrasia.

　　“If I had met you first darling, then trust me, you would playing with men’s balls like they were golf balls and they would worship you for it. And even now, when I am done with you, you are going to think that twenty thousand dollars is nothing but a blot in your account. You would be swimming in cash and walking on men in a year and you would answer to no one,” said Arthur as he looked at her with a feral gleam in his eyes. Then he came forward and then sat before her on his knees,” Tell me, Sia….tell me that you did not like holding that whip in your hands?”

　　Euphrasia closed her eyes and then remembered the feeling of the rush of power which she got from catching hold of the whip in her hands and moving it in her hands. It was the most beautiful thing that someone had ever gifted her and it was Arthur who had been the one who had given it to her.

　　“It was like I was breathing for the first time,” said Euphrasia in a rush and then opened her eyes to find Arthur grinning at her like a mad and pleased man.

　　Usually when people speak about men they do not use the terms beautiful, they say, or refer to them as a handsome man. But when you would look at Arthur, you would only say, a beautiful man. There was a strange regality in his face and his dark eyes. His hair which he kept longer than usual gave him a look like the knights of the olden times. His entire body was sculpted like Greek Gods. There were a few marks on him and his skin but most of them had a story behind it. But if any man or woman saw him they would say that they wanted him in his bed.

　　Such was his charm and such was his beauty.

　　And Arthur King knew this very well. And he used his charm and beauty like a weapon whenever it was necessary.

　　“It is strange, how I am here again in the same position, after running away from this in the first place,” said Euphrasia.

　　“You are one of us, cara. You are one of us, how can you stay away? Wherever you go, you are always going to come back to us only,” said Arthur as he touched her cheek and she leaned in to his touch and sighed. Then as he stroked her face, Euphrasia purred in pleasure like a cat.

　　“If you keep on making sounds like that then I am entirely certain that I am not going to be able to hold myself back much longer,” said Art with his eyes gleaming bright again and Lorraine chuckled in the darkness.

　　“It has been too long,” said Euphrasia as she came forward and captured his lips in a kiss. In that kiss was the sweetness of passion, a million loving thoughts condensed down in one moment. His kiss is not at all the same as those movie stars, but one steeped in a passion that ignites. It is the promise of realness, of the primal desire that lives in us all. And with it he tells her that he is awake, connected within, that he embraces himself rather than hide as a copy of those romantic idols.

　　“Part your legs,” said Arthur as his hands went to her jeans and unsnapped the button and then gripped her jeans and pulled them down to her knees and then pulled her cotton panties apart and pushed in a finger and said,” You are fucking wet, sweetheart….and so tight…”

　　“One year is a fucking long time, Art,” said Euphrasia in a volley of moans and breathless whisper as Arthur smiled again and then withdrew his hands and then smelled it and said,” You smell the same, sweet and tangy and it is like fucking ambrosia.”

　　“I cannot even think what it would be like if I can never look at you or anyone again. I cannot think how I spent a year in that place,” said Euphrasia as the memory of the night flooded back in her mind.

　　“You are hurting,” said Arthur in a somber voice.

　　Euphrasia smiled at him with a mirthless laugh and said,” Oh fuck!! That is the understatement of the century. I am hurting for sure but you know what is going to satisfy me? What is going to really make me happy right now?”

　　“To know if he is hurting or not,” replied Arthur without missing a beat and Euphrasia smiled at him. But did not say anything and waited for Arthur to answer.

　　“He is hurting will be saying less about this entire year, Sia. However, I don’t know much, I was not here. I left shortly after you left and that is how I met Lorraine,” said Arthur and Euphrasia still stated at him without any word. And Arthur said with a sigh,” He is in mourning, Sia. That man is in freaking mourning after you left and he has been mourning for this whole year. He is not in a good place at all.”

　　“That reduces my pain slightly,” said Euphrasia and then she smiled broadly and said,” I am not going to take the second option, because I am done running away. However I need some time to think about your first offer. Can you give me some time?”

　　“Of course, ma Cherie…of course…take all the time you need…but don’t take too much time…I have plans for you…big plans…” said Arthur as he pulled her in for a kiss again and this time Euphrasia did not resist and kissed him back with the same fervor and passion. After a while when both of them had tasted each other and were breathless Arthur spoke.

　　His voice was barely louder than a whisper.

　　“You asked me what I would have done first if it was me who had seen you first, ma Cherie. I would have worshipped you,” said Arthur and for the first time since coming back here Euphrasia felt that she was back home.