All his wrath does he pour out onto her, then, though he may not kill her.  Slaves he sends forth from himself with wealth, and they return bearing instruments of great cruelty.

Three times the slave-girl nears death, and three times she heals herself and presents herself to him again.

After the third time he can hardly bear the strength of his desire for her, and so he takes her back into his treasury and shows her a hidden door.

In the room beyond lie three Wish diamonds he has accumulated through ages, waiting for five, as is the clock that ticks ever so slowly to measure the long lives of Efreet.  Strength and Constitution, Splendour and Wisdom, Intelligence and Dexterity, do Efreet gain in this way.  A millennium might pass between one diamond and another; and they agonize whether to become stronger today to accumulate their gains faster tomorrow, or wait today to cast in longer sequences later.

"Swear yourself to me and I shall grant you your Wish," he says, as is folly and madness in truth, for a Wish is wasted on a mortal that passes away in a century.  But the desire in Befutig Safiza Uj-alet is such that he cannot bear it.

Not from her Bag of Holding, then, but seemingly from nowhere, Pilar Pineda brings forth a Wish-diamond, and lays it beside the other three.

"My wish is one that only my true master can grant," says she, "though I did enjoy this night."

Then his pride is pricked and skewered, for Efreet do not know gratitude to mortals.  He bears her to his bedchamber a final time and tries his very best to fucking ruin her.

After the last encounter he himself lies panting; and Pilar Pineda is a wreck, but not, alas, a broken one.

"O greatest flower and jewel among mortals," he says to her then, "there is a secret passed down through ages, which is forbidden and death to both of us if any learned that it had been used by those not royalty."

"I," the slave-girl croaks, and pauses to heal her throat.

"I will speak of it to none who do not already know," says she.

"I cannot bear to ever be parted from you, o Pilar Pineda; pledge yourself to me for-ever, and I shall use a threefold wording passed down in secrecy through ages, to spend three Wishes and make you an Efreeti everlasting.  All the splendors of the City of Brass shall be yours for eternity, and you be not only my slave but also my wife; I will make you scream for me every day without fail."

"O noble Malik of the Efreet," she says, "I have received the cruelty of a sensuous priestess of Asmodeus, of the seventh circle, and been used by her; I have been captive and tormented of a mortal queen who bound an Erinyes to herself, who sought to break me.  Yet your cruelty and lust is greater than any cruelty and lust I have felt, and I do not know if I will ever again receive its like.  Know that you have satisfied me."

"And yet - I must return to my master."

"O Pilar Pineda, tell me who is your master!  From them I shall purchase you, though it cost me a thousand years of service."

But she bows her head, and says, "My master is Lord Asmodeus, the Prince of Hell; only when I am passed into His possession will I know true cruelty and at last be broken."

Then does Befutig Safiza Uj-alet know despair.

Pilar Pineda heals herself a final time, and Restores herself, and rises up though rather wobbily so.

"I shall send you back to the Material, then," says Befutig Safiza Uj-alet. He is tempted as never before to shatter his honor, but it is stronger than he.

"I must gather my things.  And then -"

"Let us wander your City first, for a time."

He does as she bids, though after watching her try to take a few steps he laughs and carries her again.

Then he shows her one splendor after another of the City of Brass, for he is not so in despair that he does not hope at all.

There are gardens of such flowers as bloom in Fire, and also Elemental conservatories where you can see those flowers that bloom in Air and Water and blossom in the darkness and pressure of Earth.  There are flowers that bloom in Heaven and flowers that bloom in the Abyss; and Befutig Safiza Uj-alet shows them all to Pilar Pineda, as though to say: this is how many wonders our fair City could show you, if you asked for flower-gardens alone!

And did she cast off her mortal flesh and become Efreet, she could see the gardens of a thousand other planets from other stars and planes, piercing then the veil that lies about the City of Brass by which travelers from different planets may never meet; as the gods demanded when this place was made.

And she is moved, but not, alas, stayed.

Befutig Safiza Uj-alet does plead with her, then, warning her that Hell has cruelty but no generosity, it does not have the capacity to prize Pilar Pineda as he would, it will not shower her with gifts to complement its torments.  Her beautiful form will never know the touch of a caressing hand to soothe the whip's bite before it lands again.

O Pilar, O Pilar, why would she foresake the cruelty of the Efreet for the cruelty of Hell?  She was made to be a slave, but let her choose a more appreciative master than Asmodeus!  If the screams he draws from her are not enough, he will apprentice himself to more skilled torturers.

The slave-girl is silent for a long time.

"I do not need my master's appreciation nor his caress," she says.

"You lie."

"I did.  But though you could be my master, you could not be my god, for you would be content to sate your cruelty on me and not desire to perfect me as I must be perfected.  Efreet are Lawful, but they are not of Law."

"Your cruelty is indeed the cruelty of Hell," he says.  "How will I ever know satisfaction again, after tasting your savor and then being denied it for ever?  I am sworn not to take your life for it; but tell me what enemy of mine laid this trap for me, that I may spend the rest of my eternity on vengeance."

"Did I not swear this was no trap of your enemy?" says Pilar.  "You have shown me your might, now let me show you mine."