"Is that my privilege? Do you refuse?"
"Refuse?" It was not yet sunset. This might be a torture more complex
than any which had yet greeted me. From the scarlet glint in her eyes I
felt she was playing with me, as the cat-things of the forest play with
their helpless victims. My mouth twitched in a grimace of humiliation as
I lowered myself obediently until my head rested on her fur-clad knees.