The past weeks of no interaction with him, and the women and what they did in the dungeon, had created an aching longing as well as a blind terror that she’d almost do anything to stop. Could any physical pain be worse than the pain she felt now? What if he fell in love with this woman? Even if he didn’t get rid of Faith, how could she live like that? Trapped in this house, watching him with someone else, while she remained forever without anyone to fill the hole created by the lack of him?

Why couldn’t he be normal? Why couldn’t he crave equality and moonlit strolls on the beach?

Faith crept down the winding hallways in the darkness. She felt along the wall until she reached the end. The door was cracked as always, and thankfully it didn’t creak when pulled open. Though even if it had, the stairs went down so far in a spiral of stone that she was sure no one could have heard it anyway.

She slipped through the door and down the stairs to the halfway point—close enough to hear what was happening, but far enough away that she could make a quick escape without being caught when they were finished.

In the dungeon, Leo’s voice changed. It went deeper—as if the devil himself had taken possession of him. It was a change so visceral that she could feel it on the staircase where she hid.

He made the women call him Sir. The night he’d brought Faith home, he’d insisted on Master. Faith pondered this difference. Did he want them to call him Sir because he didn’t consider them his property? Would calling him Sir have been easier? Would she have found it less weird? She wondered what Caprice had called him: Sir—or Master because of relationship history? Did one go from Sir to Master? Or from Master to Sir? Was this how everybody like Leo operated?

Faith wasn’t a naïve idiot. She was vaguely aware of the world of kink, of spanking and bondage and whips and stuff like that. Only the more arcane implements and toys confused her. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand what it was. She didn’t understand why it was. Why would any woman allow a man to do this to her? Why voluntarily put yourself at so much risk at the mercy of another? Why face pain with every sexual encounter? Was there something wrong with them? There had to be. It wasn’t normal to need to be hurt or hurt someone to get off.

Over the weeks, Faith had grown familiar with the sounds of the different implements as they sliced through the air and made impact with flesh. The reactions elicited differed depending on the woman. Some he gagged so that only muffled sounds of distress could be heard. And yet, when they left the dungeon later, they always displayed a peaceful look—as if everything in their world had been set right again. What did Leo do to these women? Faith got a strong sense of the physical things that happened from her perch on the stairs and her earlier tour of the dungeon. The part that was confusing was the end result. They looked… happy when they left. Satisfied. Secure. Confident. What the hell? It didn’t match what she heard. The mewls, the whimpers, the screams and cries and begging for mercy.