“Thanks, Headmaster, that’s kind of you.” European Prime Minister Casimir Perry had stood timidly at the threshold of the Salon de Sade, as if afraid the ivory carpet would blacken under an outsider’s feet. “Where is everyone?” He scanned the oval ring of seats, all empty.

“Fair question. You’re the guest of honor tonight and should have arrived last so we could cheer you across the threshold.” Faust poured himself a glass as well. “In fact, the rest of us were asked to get here twenty minutes ago. It seems there’s crisis enough afoot to have all the other Hive heads running late.”

“But not you?” Perry fidgeted with his embroidered cuffs, fresh from Madame’s tailors.

“Unlike our colleagues, I delegate Gordian’s entire administrative burden, so, while I may be surprised by this delicious crisis, I’m not expected to do much about it. Shall we sit?”

Faust gestured to the window bench, so freshly brushed that not a speck of lint had had a chance to colonize the velvet. Madame and her servants had outdone themselves for this occasion, transforming the oval sanctum from an earthly to a celestial paradise. Fawn-thin tables stood against the walls, lush with sweetmeats and covered platters alluring as unopened presents. If roast beasts and flame-grilled hunks on spits are a man’s feast, this was a woman’s: intricate patisserie, ribbon candy delicate as jewelry, chocolate truffles, bite-sized cakes, and bouquets of fruit sliced so thin that the light shone through their juicy petals like stained glass. The benches had been restuffed, virgin sheepskins piled on the floor, while the tools of love in their glass cases, both the museum pieces and those ready for use, gleamed clean. Even the curtains over the grand window were new, night blue glittering with constellations, which made the masses in the Flesh Pit below seem as distant as mortals glimpsed by Zeus and Hera as they lie locked in love’s afterglow on steep and snowy Ida.

Perry stared into his glass. “I’d rather stand.”

“My dear Casimir, this bench has the most interesting view in the world. There’s a more telling cross-section of humanity down there than in the Censor’s database, plus porn. How can you possibly prefer to stand?” His eyes softened. “You’re nervous?”

“Of course.”

Faust smiled. “The entire European Parliament doesn’t make you nervous.”

The Prime Minister rubbed his temples, which had amassed more care lines in his five decades than Faust’s had in eight. “The European Parliament can’t deny me sexual satisfaction for the rest of my life. Aren’t you nervous around Madame?”

Faust laughed. “Only when I’m sober.”

“How did they do this to us, Felix? I was too young to understand when I got sucked in, but you’re a psychologist, you must have watched it closely. Here we are, the most influential people in the world, prancing around in frills because it’s the only way we can get turned on anymore.” Perry ran his thumb around his glass, coaxing a soft note from the crystal. “Madame lured us all into this long before we were important, but how did they know we’d become what we are now? Are they really able to spot the ones who’re ripe for this perversion when we’re young, and then make sure only we can get into office? Or is everybody this kind of pervert deep inside, and it’s just Madame that brings it out in us?”