Nas nods, but doesn't look happy about my mentioning Vance. He looks down at the floor, shaking his head like he’s waiting for the name to leave the room before addressing me again.

“Okay. Now, since you’ve made it clear that this is what you want,” Nas begins, his face completely serious. “I need you to understand that there are rules.”

“Nas, I told you I don’t want a twenty-four-seven dynamic. I’m not interested in house rules.”

“I’m not talking about house rules,” Nas cuts in. “I’m talking about the rules in the Kingdom. Upstairs, you're free to do whatever you want, although I feel like our dynamic will find its way into our daily interactions as well, but time will tell that story. However, life is different down here, and you need to know that the rules don't bend here. The second you enter this room, you’re in my world, where I reign supreme. Here, you do as you're told, when you're told. You belong to me. I’m god, and the only time that dynamic changes is if you use the safe word. Personally, I don't intend to ever put you in a situation where you’ll have to use it, which means you’ll never have any power here. You belong to me, for me to use however I see fit, and you’ll do it because being my submissive means aiming to please me. Do you understand so far?”

I nod, but it comes with a frown. “How do I please you?”

“By giving me control,” Nas replies like he knew the question was coming. “We’ve talked a lot about your kinks and limits, so allow me to tell you what I crave. Yes, I’m a sadist, but what does it for me is having control over you. Knowing what you want and seeing how you react when I do or don't give it to you. I get satisfaction from watching you react to me in situations of both pleasure and pain. If you disobey, it sets a fire inside me that wants to explode like dynamite. Being a brat will result in punishment, and no matter how much you talk about the twenty-four-seven dynamic, that’s non-negotiable. In here, you can and will be punished. If you don't agree to that, you can leave now.”

From the way my heart is pounding, I feel like I’m the poster girl for anxiety, but I don't get up to leave. I’m in Nas’s world now, and if I want all the things I’ve been craving, I have to accept his rules. So, I don't move an inch.

“Good,” Nas says. “In this room, you will never call me by my name. Ever. You will refer to me either as Daddy or Sir. You choose.”

“Oh god. Daddy or Sir? Do you have a preference?”

“Yes.”

“Which is it?”