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“If you’re interested in knowing more, there is a book, authored by Mr. Barth himself. Let me see if I can find it.” Devane transmuted himself from an astute charmer into a shriveled old man as he made his way to the library door. Disappearing inside for a few minutes, he ambled back to his baffled audience minutes later with a small leather-bound book in hand. “A good night’s reading,” he said handing it to Erik.
Erik thumbed the pages absently for a few seconds, and then looked up as the others did, watching Archibald Devane shuffle away.
The silence following began to pound in all their ears. As had happened before—when the six were exploring the house together—a gentle rise in energy seemed to animate the room—all in a muted, pent-up, erotic fashion.
“Well, I guess we have our answer,” Erik broke through the quiet. “Simple enough. I think we could have guessed as much.”
“Simple! You think that is simple?” Laney seemed quite close to exploding. “It’s perverted.”
“Better not condemn yourself, Laney,” Jason said. “You heard what the old man said about fear and desire.”
“This has nothing to do with my fear and desire,” she said.
“Well then, you won’t have any problem hearing what it says in this book,” Erik said, snickerin
g at her amusedly.
“I don’t see any reason why we have to pursue this,” she sniped. “Soon as the rain lets up, we’ll get the boat fixed and be on our way. Mr. Christian Barth and Archibald Devane really aren’t any concern of ours.”
“But they are an interesting diversion while we’re marooned here,” Jason interjected.
“Oh, I think so,” Elise agreed positively.
“And why would you think so?” Laney asked her.
“I don’t know. Some core root thing just joggles in me hearing about all this. You know I once did a paper in college about the Marquis de Sade.”
“You never told me that.”
“I was so titillated I was embarrassed,” Elise almost blushed now. “Matthew, hon,” she looked toward her husband as if remembering the night before and feeling that same sort of feral power right now. She looked for something sexual.
“Maybe,” he said, absently. “But maybe later.” Odd that he would put her off. “I’m more interested in hearing what’s in old Archie’s book.”
Erik stepped back, massaging the black leather cover of the old volume as though it were something precious, “The Marquis’s Book of Pleasure.”
“Wonder who the Marquis is?” Jason mused aloud.
“I’m sure the title belongs to Barth,” Erik replied without a second thought. He opened the cover of the book, paged through to the beginning, and began to read … “The Care and Training of Human Chattel.”
“What?” Laney interrupted.
Erik looked up. “If you’re going to interrupt every time I say a word, we’ll never hear any of this.”
“That book can’t be serious!”
“Why not?” Jason asked her with a laugh. “After what the old man said, I’d believe anything. Read on Priestly.”
Erik gave his friends a nod, and began again with a bit of haughtiness and disbelief in his tone. “The Care and Training of Human Chattel. Chapter One, the Slave Decision.”
He paused. Hearing no more comments from his audience, he continued. “Being that slavery has been banned in most modern countries, the practice of keeping sexual slaves is rarely an appropriate topic for consideration. Only in secret fraternities and free societies like the one on Marquis Island will proponents of these practices be allowed to appraise such curious ideas. It is my belief, however, that the rite of slavery is one deeply embedded in the psyche of humanity—one not easily eradicated by law. It is as well, particularly desirous as a means of sexual stimulation and satisfaction. For the obviously dominant male to subjugate, imprison, and use the female species as he desires is a deeply seated craving that cannot be turned aside without giving up some degree of personal liberty and truth. Conversely, for certain members of the fair sex to deny their yearnings of submission and turn from them as though they did not exist is equally as damaging to the soul. However, to embrace the facts of our nature, and live within their dictates—ones that makes men masters above the feminine species—allows us all to thrive in a state of natural repose.”
“My god! The man is serious!” Laney suddenly blurted out.
“You thought he wasn’t?” Sandra turned on her, amazed by Laney now as much as she was by what she heard in Erik’s reading. The sumptuously delectable woman was clearly aroused, her flesh burning with heat, her face flushed, her eyes languidly sensuous with the look of sex. She stood now by the statue of their bound Venus as if the goddess were her friend.
“Want to hear more?” Erik asked.
“Yes,” Elise jumped right in, while Laney—having moved to the couch—stewed uncomfortably in her seat, and Sandra appeared to lose herself in the world of her fantasy.
