Part III of The Pleasures Houses of Nyph
“Sexual gratification is achieved through control and self-actualization. It is submission. It is dominance. And it is powerful.”
Synge is an anomaly in the Granite Pleasure House: a Sadist who is not aroused by pain. He’d entered Granite to learn to master the pain of his tormented childhood, not to inflict it on others. That doesn’t stop those who relish pain from seeking him out, but Synge is used to refusing them – until a desperate, virginal slave named Rown offers himself. Afraid that someone else will break the beautiful boy, Synge accepts – and Rown will learn that what his new master wants from him is not at all what he expected.
IN A world where you’re only as valuable as your training, dedication means everything. Who’s managed to emerge from their Pleasure House with a contract? And who couldn’t control themselves and have ended up working as Slaves?
When the question “How hard?” can be the difference between living a life of luxury or barely scraping by... well, those words hold a lot of power.
There are three accredited Pleasure Houses in Nyph (the unaccredited ones being worthless and unmentionable): Marble, Slate, and Granite. Marble is for the gentle—those who believe in true love and happily ever after. Slate teaches the risk-takers—those who don’t mind bondage, perhaps adore exhibitionism, but who aren’t into pain.
Though ranking the Pleasure Houses isn’t technically possible (for they all have different specialties), Granite Sadists and Masochists have always been considered the most disciplined. They train from early childhood, receive a formal education (alongside their sexual education), and come to learn themselves in ways a normal person cannot.
Those who attend Granite revel in the giving and receiving of pain. When asked, “How hard?” they’d reply “Hard as Granite.” Theirs is the House renowned for control, for mastering every impulse, and for self-discovery in the realm of all intimate matters. Even those who fail the training are worth so much more than a Slave could ever dream to be....
