Balthazar's gaze swept over her as she stood before him.  Her pose pleased him more than she could have known, hiding herself so pointlessly from his eyes.  Her fear was delicious and the trembling declaration of her willingness to serve... as she asked so fearfully to be made into his toy he licked his lips and smiled.<br/><br/>He reached out and took her hands, drawing them away from her body dispite any protest.  His hands encircled them, and he lifted them so she could see the pure white leather cuff appear from beneath his hands to seemlessly encircle her wrists.  Then he released her hands and put his hands about her neck, and with the same soft tingle she had just felt at her wrists it was also bound in a magically unbroken collar of the softest white leather.<br/><br/>"I accept your servitude," he whispered as he leaned in, his hands still around her neck, and took a kiss from her trembling lips.<br/><br/>--==--<br/><br/>He listened and nodded.  "This castle is riddled with passages," he agreed with a smile, "I have knowledge of several, but not the one you mention."  He considered and nodded to her.  "I will join you there shortly, we'll want something to work the bricks loose and perhaps to deal with any doors beyond that have grown stubborn with age."<br/><br/>Then he slipped away, surprisingly stealthy for a man of war, and after retrieveing a long metal bar and a smaller chisel from the stonemason's tools, he made his way to join her in the King's study.