Chapter Thirteen
The sanctuary was tense but quiet, charged with some invisible power that gripped some with desire and others with fear. Corinne had not moved from the floor. She still rested on her knees, looking at him, confused as to how and why she’d come to be there in the first place. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t move, not until he told her she could. He went to the pulpit and stood behind the lectern.
“Trust,” he said, gazing out at all of them. “Trust, as most of you know, is the first stage of submission. Do you trust me? We all begin there. And then move on, deeper. How much do you trust? How much freedom are you willing to give up? Do you trust to have your hands tied behind your back and be blindfolded? Do you trust enough to lift your chin higher when the cold, steel edge of
