Alex stepped into the room first and Nadia followed closely behind, a nervous excitement coursing through her, eager yet scared to see what this mysterious part of the house contained. The room, apart from the soft glow reaching through the doorway, was submerged in darkness. There appeared to be no windows, and if there were, they were very firmly shut and very successfully blacked out. Nadia stepped forward to stand next to Alex and he reached back and closed the door. It locked with a click and they stood next to each other in total darkness, breathing softly.

Nadia’s fingers reached out for Alex’s hand involuntarily. On finding him he gave her hand a slight squeeze and let her go. Then he flicked a switch to his side and the light in the room grew, slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, but then in the soft crimson light, Nadia could see the circular shape of the room, outlines of shapes within, furniture perhaps, items hanging from the walls, and the light continued to infuse the room with an eroticism Nadia could almost taste. She looked at Alex, who was smiling, arms outstretched, surveying all before him. He turned to look at her.

“Welcome to our room Nadia. Not our bedroom, not our bathroom, not our kitchen, not our playroom or painroom or fuckroom. Just…our room. Do you like it?”

Nadia was speechless. For the first time now she could see clearly what the room held. Benches with all sorts of possibilities; straps, buckles and screws, a set of stocks, a couple of poles with dildos on the end attached to some sort of metal contraption. On the walls there were rows of whips, belts, chains, cuffs and the like and many things she did not recognise. God, am I going to get an education she thought, and then fantasised of being naughty in their room (he had said it was our room!) and being punished for not learning quickly enough and a smile spread across her face. On the ceiling, closed hooks on rails held ropes that had been tied off to the wall and the spot lights of soft illuminescence shone from all around.

“It’s beautiful!” she whispered.

“Let me show you around,” said Alex softly and he took her hand which she held tightly as she followed him. They walked around the wall and Alex, pointed out some item of bondage or other, describing its use, sometimes making her blush. He was very knowledgeable about the history of his craft and explained where certain artefacts had come from or were first used. They were almost exclusively European but it was hard to say with any certainty about some of the older and more recognisable objet d’arts.