Ten Counts by Ulan

Melkor and Mairon

Herd
He noticed him from the very beginning; there in the jarring whiteness of Eru's music and that of his herd, Melkor heard the notes one particular voice sang - deep, flowing beneath the surface and near unnoticeable, so that only one such as Melkor, who sang the bolder version of the discordant tune, could recognise that subtle defiance.

Create
His lieutenant had not been won with lies, by corruption, nor by turning the Maia's will against the rest of the Valar, as had been Melkor's way with the others; instead, Mairon was tempted with but the simple words: "This is remarkable. Did you make this?"

Ambidextrous
Mairon, like Aulë, had the gift of hands, the ability to create the most incredible things, his knowledge of the craft nearly at par with his master; however, only Melkor saw that Mairon, unlike Aulë, was proud, and needed his name to be known and inscribed on the work of his hands.

Loyalty
It was not that Mairon had been a difficult catch, but neither was he easy; surprisingly, he was initially loyal to Aulë, despite their differences in philosophies, but this loyalty was a quality that Melkor had come to covet in the end, making it doubly important for him to win Mairon to his side.

Exchange
Long had he known of Mairon's loyalty and devotion, and once he had them turned to himself, very soon did Melkor find himself delighting in them; there were even those odd times, when the mood struck, that he would work precisely for that attention, for the look of lust and wonder from those intelligent eyes.

Amber
In the beginning, Melkor was amused by Mairon's vanity, but conceded that he was, indeed, beautiful above the others; he chose to walk in a fána, after all, that was pleasing to the eyes, choosing hair of dark gold, skin like ivory, and those deep, sharp eyes that shone like amber.

Experiment
Anyone as curious as Mairon and who was so enamoured with the different forms and ways and tricks of the flesh would inevitably come to this, which was good, for Melkor enjoyed demonstrating the pleasures of the body to him, especially given how Mairon trembled beautifully like the earth and the mountains when they shook under Melkor's hands.

Juxtapose
Melkor had always been upfront with his intentions, but Mairon was subtle, preferring the elegance of seduction that led to slow corruption; it amused Melkor, who decided to keep Mairon close, for while Melkor could see the merit of such techniques to win more followers over, he had no patience to execute them himself.

Carbon
In the beginning, when Melkor sang the fires and the power underneath the earth into Eru's music, Mairon had listened, was quick to understand it, enough to create the song that would form into existence the gems he now presented as gifts to Melkor.

Usurper
He knew his power waned, the more of himself he gave to Arda, while somehow Mairon's power grew; yet Mairon remained to be his most loyal of subjects, never went against Melkor, never turned his other subjects from him though Mairon already very well could, and this was something Melkor never quite understood.

Chapter End Notes

I have always thought that Sauron was a more nuanced character than Morgoth. Morgoth was kind of in-your-face about his evil; Sauron, though, had finesse. Lol, I don't know how to call it. It's interesting, too, how and why he remained loyal to Melkor. Loyal-to-Melkor!Sauron is canon, right?