Bound and Initiated Read Online Free
Author: Emily Tilton
that idea could take on a mystical dimension, but everything Sarah knew about David Chilton suggested that he would never be involved in any league or group, let alone any conspiracy, so soft-headed as to imagine that fucking virgins would unleash supernatural forces. She could see a cardinal getting thus involved—though by all accounts Cardinal Deriano was a hard-headed realist devoted to stomping heresy into the ground not with incense but with argument—because priests had to believe in miracles, right? But the Yale-educated, former White House council director of the CIA?
No. Not a chance. All Sarah could think, at this point, was that something about the cult of Mithras delivered to those red-robed men a real, material benefit. Her current theory posited that one or more of them had control of some resource the others needed—money, influence over some specific political field, or perhaps even an actual resource like a vast reserve of oil or copper—and that man or men was/were unbalanced enough to think that Mithraism held some sort of power. According to that theory, the sane men like Chilton and Cardinal Deriano (unless the cardinal was the lunatic, which Sarah found unlikely given his reputation as the only actual intellect in Vatican City) went along with the charade in order to secure the resource.
She wished she could research Mithraism more deeply. All she knew about the cult was half-remembered from her Western Civilization course. But Joe had forbidden it, saying, unfortunately very reasonably, “You’ll give yourself away if you know too much.”
If Sarah had information about the ancient cult, she might be able to spot differences in this modern version that might tell her where its true aim lay. But Joe was right: even the slightest slip-up, showing that she knew more about Mithraism than a writer of romance novels with submissive fantasies should know, could cause the mission to fail and put Sarah herself in grave danger.
“You have to be ready for them to hack your life in an instant. They may well do that the moment you send them an email.” That was the last thing Joe said to her before he sent her home with the new, old-looking laptop perfectly prepared to illustrate her previous year spent writing Forever Girl .
Are you yearning to try playing out your submissive fantasies in the exciting world of BDSM fashion photography? the Ostia Agency webpage read. Would you like to earn some good money while you do it? We’re looking for attractive eighteen-year-old girls with no prior experience. Email us at [email protected] for more information. Include a picture of yourself.
Sarah had written, to accompany a winsome image of herself outside her college dorm, dressed up for a semi-formal but looking—she thought—very innocent in a blue party dress that complemented her sea-blue eyes, shoulder-length golden hair, and fair complexion,
To whom it may concern,
Hi! I don’t really know what to write, except that I’m eighteen and I think I’d like to apply?
She thought the question mark at the end a particularly good touch, especially since before her recruitment to the agency and the entrance into her adult life that had gone with it, she probably would have put that question mark there instinctively and girlishly.
Five minutes later the reply had come back.
Can you fly to NYC tomorrow, departing Dulles 6 a.m.?
She hadn’t said anything about her location, of course. That made her swallow hard.
Yes?
The renewed question mark helped her recover her composure a bit.
650 Fifth Avenue, 9:15. Ticket booked in your name. We look forward to meeting you, Sarah.
Chapter Three
The door behind the receptionist opened, and a tall woman in an elegant gray dress emerged. It took a long moment of panicked thinking that she had seen the woman somewhere before Sarah realized that the woman who now came toward her across the little lobby had played the
No. Not a chance. All Sarah could think, at this point, was that something about the cult of Mithras delivered to those red-robed men a real, material benefit. Her current theory posited that one or more of them had control of some resource the others needed—money, influence over some specific political field, or perhaps even an actual resource like a vast reserve of oil or copper—and that man or men was/were unbalanced enough to think that Mithraism held some sort of power. According to that theory, the sane men like Chilton and Cardinal Deriano (unless the cardinal was the lunatic, which Sarah found unlikely given his reputation as the only actual intellect in Vatican City) went along with the charade in order to secure the resource.
She wished she could research Mithraism more deeply. All she knew about the cult was half-remembered from her Western Civilization course. But Joe had forbidden it, saying, unfortunately very reasonably, “You’ll give yourself away if you know too much.”
If Sarah had information about the ancient cult, she might be able to spot differences in this modern version that might tell her where its true aim lay. But Joe was right: even the slightest slip-up, showing that she knew more about Mithraism than a writer of romance novels with submissive fantasies should know, could cause the mission to fail and put Sarah herself in grave danger.
“You have to be ready for them to hack your life in an instant. They may well do that the moment you send them an email.” That was the last thing Joe said to her before he sent her home with the new, old-looking laptop perfectly prepared to illustrate her previous year spent writing Forever Girl .
Are you yearning to try playing out your submissive fantasies in the exciting world of BDSM fashion photography? the Ostia Agency webpage read. Would you like to earn some good money while you do it? We’re looking for attractive eighteen-year-old girls with no prior experience. Email us at [email protected] for more information. Include a picture of yourself.
Sarah had written, to accompany a winsome image of herself outside her college dorm, dressed up for a semi-formal but looking—she thought—very innocent in a blue party dress that complemented her sea-blue eyes, shoulder-length golden hair, and fair complexion,
To whom it may concern,
Hi! I don’t really know what to write, except that I’m eighteen and I think I’d like to apply?
She thought the question mark at the end a particularly good touch, especially since before her recruitment to the agency and the entrance into her adult life that had gone with it, she probably would have put that question mark there instinctively and girlishly.
Five minutes later the reply had come back.
Can you fly to NYC tomorrow, departing Dulles 6 a.m.?
She hadn’t said anything about her location, of course. That made her swallow hard.
Yes?
The renewed question mark helped her recover her composure a bit.
650 Fifth Avenue, 9:15. Ticket booked in your name. We look forward to meeting you, Sarah.
Chapter Three
The door behind the receptionist opened, and a tall woman in an elegant gray dress emerged. It took a long moment of panicked thinking that she had seen the woman somewhere before Sarah realized that the woman who now came toward her across the little lobby had played the
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