Maria was surprised when he actually agreed to let her have a shower. He was more confusing then any being she had ever met before. She had expected him to slap her and torture her again for asking for anything. Maybe he was not as predictable as she had thought...

Being dragged out of the torture room had her anxious. After all she was naked still and she had no idea just how many underlings he had working for him. He was obviously not interested in her as a woman, in fact she was starting to wonder if his male parts even worked properly. Not that she wanted to find out. That thought was enough to make her want to throw up the meal she'd just had.
She would just have to trust that he was not going to let each of his underlings take a turn at her. Although he had done just about everything else to torture her so far.
She distracted herself by thinking about his comment. She reminded him of his mother?
"Is that good or bad?" she asked, genuinely curious.

When they reached the shower she didn't even care if he left the room or not. The water felt heavenly. She nearly moaned in relief when the clean water hit her skin. She hisses at the pain of some of her still open wounds but she wasn't moving away from the water. She cupped it in her hands, splashing her face and rubbing her neck and arms, gently scrubbing away the blood and sweat. Maria nearly cried when she saw the soap and shampoo. They were not her brand but she didn't give a shit. As far as she was concerned it was gold.

She enjoyed herself for as long as he let her, but eventually she did finish. She stepped out and looked for something to dry off.
"Thank you," she said, being polite to her torturer yet again.
Maria understood why that was. It was a typical psychological reaction to someone you feared : you tried to befriend them to lessen the fear. She hated that she was doing it. Next would come Stolkholm syndrome. 

[i]Please Alistair... Lucian... come for me soon...[/i] she begged in her mind.