“Zachary, Griffin is demonstrating for us the attendant slave posture. Kneeling, hands resting on knees, thighs—” she said and put a foot on Griffin’s inner thigh and pushed “—wide-open. Very good, slave.”

“Thank you, mistress.”

“Slave, please recite for my guest the first rule of S&M here at the 8th Circle.”

“Hurt, but do not harm, mistress.”

“And the second rule.”

“Respect the safe word always, mistress.”

“And the third rule?”

Griffin looked at Zach before answering.

“No vanilla sex allowed…mistress.”

Nora broke into a wide grin. “Good boy. You are dismissed for the moment. But stay close.”

Griffin rose to his feet and leaned over.

“I’ll stay so close you’ll think I’m inside you,” he said in a stage whisper meant for Zach to hear and nipped at Nora’s neck. Zach tried to ignore it.

“Hurt but do not harm?” Zach asked. “What’s the difference?”

“Hurt is a bruise on the outside.” Nora sipped her mineral water delicately. “Harm is a bruise on the inside. If you’re a masochist, pain feels like love to you. Not being hurt is what hurts.”

“Are you a masochist?” Zach asked, fascinated despite himself.

“Not exactly.” Nora smiled almost shyly. “Not everyone who practices S&M is an actual sadist or masochist, not in the pathological sense anyway. With Søren, I loved submitting to pain. I loved the submission, though, not the pain itself. There are a handful of actual masochists down here, though, if you want to meet one. Fair warning, they can be almost as dangerous to play with as the sadists.”

“Warning taken. You don’t seem like those people down there.” Zach nodded toward the pit.

“Those people down there are doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, politicians, you name it. If I’m not like them it’s only because I don’t have a real job. And I have played in the pit before, I’ll have you know. It’s like Sodom and Gomorrah down there sometimes. Tonight’s Monday so the play’s a little tame.”

“You say ‘play’ like this is all a game. But people are actually getting hurt down there, Nora.”

“I have one word for you, my uptight English editor—rugby.”

Zach winced. Rugby—the sport as rough as American football but without all the padding.

“A lot of people think we’re crazy, Zach. Some even think we’re evil. But I’m a Switch so I’ve seen both sides of the whip. I know you can’t imagine it, but this is love to a lot of us. When Søren hit me, it was because he loved me, because that’s how we loved each other.”

“Sounds horrifying.”