The Chateau
by Tiffany Reisz
Published by 8th Circle Press
Stand-Alone novel in the Original Sinners Series
As the Jack-of-All-Wicked-Trades for a secretive French military intelligence agency, 24-year-old Lieutenant Kingsley Boissonneault has done it all—spied, lied, and killed under orders.
But his latest assignment is quite out of the ordinary. His commanding officer's nephew has disappeared inside a sex cult, and Kingsley has been tasked with bringing him home to safety.
The cult’s holy book is Story of O, the infamous French novel of extreme sado-masochism. Their château is a looking-glass world where women reign and men are their willing slaves. Or are they willing? It’s Kingsley’s mission to find out.
Once inside the château, however, Kingsley quickly falls under the erotic spell cast by the enigmatic Madame, a woman of wisdom, power, and beauty. She offers Kingsley the one thing he’s always wanted. But the price? Giving up forever the only person he’s ever loved.
Genre
Triggers
Descriptive and intense sex involving bdsm and sado-masochism
The Chateau by Tiffany Reisz is a novella in the Original Sinners universe. It's stars a twenty-four year old Kingsley. While the story takes place before the main Original Sinners series, it is not a prequel. The last chapter brings us to Kingsley shortly before The Priest, and contains spoilers the main books in the series. The Chateau is a recounting of an unofficial mission he did while working in the French Intelligence Agency, trying to find and bring home his commanding officer's nephew, who has left his home to move in with a cult that worships the Story of O.
To be completely honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. I am obsessed with the Original Sinners books, but the idea of reading a while book of Kingsley without the rest of the unholy trio (Soren and Nora), didn't get me overly excited. But Kingsley is ... well, Kingsley, and just like so many women and men in those books, he is hard to resist. The Chateau is a truly unique experience, even in the Original Sinners world, and is written well. Tiffany Reisz does an amazing job keeping her characters personalities consistent across nine big books and countless short stories and novellas (something that I have noticed even the most seasoned authors have trouble with sometimes). The best part was, the story itself was interesting. While a couple of things I predicted correctly, the story didn't end up where I thought it would.
I loved Kingsley's arc in this book. What was supposed to be a mission for him, quickly became a personal mission to find answers that he desperately wanted, not just about Soren, but himself. Tiffany Reisz could have a whole other series about Kingsley while he was working as a spy, and it would never get boring. The women in the Chateau were fascinating, specifically Madame. In a small way, Madame reminds me of Nora. Kingsley's thoughts about Madame being thought of as a kitten when she was really a tiger calls back to Kingsley's initial thoughts on Nora.
The Chateau was a pleasent surprise for me. While we didn't get our favorite threesome together (and even in the last chapter, we only get Soren and Kingsley, which was fantastic, as their chemistry is wonderful to read), I didn't miss them together as much as I thought I would. Kingsley ran the show, and it was funny at parts. bittersweet at others, and a stark reminder to Original Sinner readers of how strong the bond is between Soren and Kingsley. If you love the Original Sinners books, you need to read The Chateau. If you haven't read the Original Sinners series yet ... do it! So sinfully, amazingly good.
Kingsley: "You fucking monster. You even piss me off in my dreams. Asshole."
Bernie: "Well. I'll be back. You'll be here?"
Kingsley: "I'll be here. If I don't answer right away, it's because I'm in bed cleaning my gun."
Bernie glanced at the gun in Kingsley's right hand
Bernie: "Looks clean to me."
Kingsley: "It's a euphemism. You'll figure it out when you hit puberty."
Bernie: "I bet American girls like French men. Right?"
Kingsley: "They like Englishmen better. They assume Frenchmen will cheat on them."
Bernie: "That's rude. Why?"
Kingsley: "Because we do."
Bernie: "We do?"
Kingsley shrugged and nodded
Bernie: "That's not very nice of us."
Kingsley: "I don't make the rules."
Kingsley: "A cult? Really? In France? Are you sure you're not thinking of the Catholic Church?"
Bernie: "This is a sex cult."
Kingsley: "So it is the Catholic Church."
Bernie: "He was last seen getting into a wine-colored car. That was one month ago."
Kingsley: "White wine or red?"
Bernie: "Oh. I don't know that part."
Kingsley met Bernies eyes.
Kingsley: "You're someone's nephew, aren't you?"
Bernie looked sheepish and guilty
Bernie: "Yes."
Kingsley: "Whose?"
Bernie: "My aunt's."
Madame: "Many men have tried to find me. They never find me."
Kingsley: "I don't want to find you."
Madame: "Tell me who you want to find."
Kingsley: "I want to find me."
Madame: "Arrogant boy."
Kingsley: "Sometimes."
Madame: "If we meet, I'll humble you."
Kingsley: "I need it."
Madame: "You won't like it."
Kingsley: "You don't know me."
Madame: "You won't like it."
Kingsley: "Maybe not. But I might love it."
Madame: "Ah. Ah."
Kingsley: "I want to meet you. I want you to humble me."
Madame: "You want me to humble you. Very well. Tell me the phone number from where you're calling."
Kingsley read it off the payphone to her twice
Madame: "Good. I'll call you back."
Kingsley: "When?"
She had already hung up.
Kingsley: "Fucking sadists."
She smiled and he decided they should have two children. Both girls. Or maybe one boy and one girl. He wasn't picky.
Kingsley: "You're Jewish."
Woman: "Are Jews not allowed to use phones?"
Kingsley: "I noticed your necklace. I like it."
Woman: "Are you Jewish?"
Kingsley: "No. I'm just so happy you aren't Catholic."
She laughed
Woman: "Is it so bad to be Catholic?"
Kingsley: "I went to Catholic school."
Woman: "Is it like I hear it is?"
Kingsley: "Worse. We can raise our children Jewish. I'll convert."
Woman: "Are you circumcised?"
Kingsley: "Not yet, but if you'll give me a minute, I have my Swiss Army knife on me."
Woman: "You're awful."
Kingsley: "I'm half-American. That's where my rude behavior comes from."
Woman: "What if I like rude behavior?"
Kingsley: "God bless America."
Madame: "You might regret your choice."
Kingsley shrugged
Madame: "Aren't you worried about that?"
Kingsley: "I regret everything anyway. What's one more for the butcher's bill?"
Polly: "You're very handsome when you're wet and being a smartass. I might have to do bad things to you tonight."
Kingsley: "Bad bad things? Or good bad things?"
Polly: "Good bad things."
Kingsley: "Those are my favorite kind of bad things."
Kingsley: "I promise you, I've never put anything business-related up my ass."
Polly: "Adorable. I'm in love."
Kingsley: "I'm not adorable. I'm devastating."
Polly: "Devastatingly adorable. Such pretty eyes, too."
Kingsley: "I'm deeply offended that you think my cock is too big. Offend me some more, please."
Madame: "Your master married your sister. And you call me a sadist?"
Madame: "Thank you for telling me your fears. You're beautiful when you're naked."
Kingsley: "I've heard that before."
Madame: "I'd like to see you that naked again."
Kingsley: "I might not like it."
Madame: "Ah. Perhaps you should not have told me your fears then."
Kingsley: "If there's human sacrifice at this party, I'm never letting you fuck my ass again."
Kingsley: "Can we go now? I've been cooped up in here all day. I'm bored. I'm horny. And I need a drink. And I'm horny."
Polly: "You already-"
Kingsley: "I'm very horny."
Polly kissed him
Polly: "Kingsley."
Kingsley: "Yes?"
Polly: "Shut up."
He said nothing, though it wasn't easy.
Polly: "Good boy."
Leon: "I told you they fuck with you here. Didn't I? They fuck with all of us all the time."
Kingsley: "Then why do you want to stay?"
Leon: "Everyone fucks with everyone all the time. Might as well get fucked with by beautiful women who let you fuck them after. Really, what's there to complain about?"
Kingsley: "You make a point."
Kingsley: "Magnifique."
Polly: "You like my dress?"
Kingsley: "I meant your breasts."
Polly laughed
Polly: "Merci."
Colette: "Why are you so handsome?"
Kingsley: "Trick question, right? If I answer that, I'm admitting I'm handsome."
Colette: "Not a trick question."
Kingsley: "Oh, then the answer is I'm handsome because you think I'm handsome and yours is the only opinion that matters."
Kingsley: "I seduced so many girls my grandparents shipped me off to an all-boys school to save my life."
Colette: "How terrible."
Kingsley: "Not really. I found boy to sleep with there."
Kingsley: "I'm never leaving here, and you can't make me."
Madame: "Be good and we might let you stay."
Kingsley: "Five."
Colette: "What's five?"
Kingsley: "How many children we're having someday."
Colette: "You've already decided?"
Kingsley: "You object?"
Colette: "Five is a lot."
Kingsley: "There's ten women in this house and nine men to take care of our brats. We'll breed them, then we'll let everyone else raise them while we make some more. What do you think?"
Colette: "Hmm ... it's not the worst idea I've heard. We'll try one and see if we like that."
Kingsley: "A wise compromise. I knew I married you in my head for a reason."
Kingsley: "She put a knife to my throat but didn't press down. I wasn't too worried about her going through with it though. I was in a hotel room. If she got blood on the rug, she might lose her security deposit."
Kingsley: "Just because they wanted to fuck me more than you doesn't make them insane. Sounds like proof of a sound mind, if you ask me."
Bernie: "Did they really make you shave your balls?"
Kingsley stared hard at him.
Kingsley: "Take me home."
Bernie: "Yes, Lieutenant."
Dream
Boy: "Here's a game. It's called Blood."
Kingsley: "How do we play?"
Boy: "We kiss, and the first person who bleeds, loses."
Kingsley: "What do they lose?"
Boy: "Blood, of course."
Then he kisses Kingsley. Kingsley tastes salt and copper in his mouth
Boy: "I win."
Kingsley: "That's where you're wrong. You kissed me. I win. I need your kisses more than I need my blood. Kiss me again. Even when I lose, I win if you're kissing me."
Maggie: "God, you're even a pervert when you're unconscious. Marry me."
Madame: "If I let you come back, I will hurt you."
Kingsley: "Good."
Madame: "I will play games with your mind."
Kingsley: "I'd be disappointed if you didn't."
Madame: "You'll be devastated when I do. You understand this, yes? And you accept the risk?"
Kingsley: "Yes."
Madame: "One more night. And you'll serve me and only me."
Kingsley: "That's what I want."
Madame: "I will cut your heart open, Kingsley. Cut it open like a surgeon. And you might not like what we find inside. What do you have to say to that?"
Kingsley: "I'd say ... my scalpel or yours?"
Madame: "We, too, have a language of sorts. A secret language that only those of us who live this life understand. Your lover, the boy, did he tie you down to the bed?"
Kingsley: "Yes."
Madame: "You know that that means?"
Kingsley: "He wanted to make me feel like a prisoner."
Madame: "No. He didn't want you leaving him."
Kingsley didn't speak, couldn't speak.
Madame: "Did your lover bite you?"
Kingsley: "I told you he did."
Madame: "What do we bite every day?"
Kingsley: "Food."
Madame: "Correct. Do you eat what you like, what tastes good to you, or what you despise?"
Kingsley: "What I like."
Madame: "He bit you because he loved your taste and you nourished him like food. Food for the heart. Food for the soul. Did he strike you?"
Kingsley: "All the time."
Madame: "Why?"
Kingsley: "He's a sadist."
Madame: "But why strike you when there are so many other ways to hurt someone?"
Kingsley: "I don't know."
Madame: "The same reason I struck you. Because it leaves marks. What do we mark?"
Kingsley: "What do you mean?"
Madame: "What is the last thing you wrote your name on?"
Kingsley: "A book."
Madame: "What book?"
Kingsley: "Histoire d'O. It was my parents' copy. If it got lost, I would want it back, that's all."
Madame: "Exactly. He tied you up to tell you he never wanted you to leave him. He bit you because you were the food to his soul He struck you to mark you as his possession, as a valuable he would want returned to him if lost of stolen. That's why you miss it, Kingsley. That's why you miss the pain. Because every time he hurt you, he was trying to tell you in the only way he could how much he loved you."
Madame: "If I thought I could be with you without thinking of him, I would."
Kingsley: "Your husband?"
Madame: "You are not the only one wearing the shackles of an old love around your ankles."
Kingsley: "Maybe I can take off your shackles, you can take off mine."
Madame: "Ah, but you know the truth, don't you? About you and me? You know."
He nodded slowly
Madame: "Say it."
Kingsley: "We don't want to take them off."
Madame: "Ah, yes, he made you sleep on the floor, too. Didn't you tell me that?"
Kingsley: "He made me do it a few times. When I deserved it. Usually when I didn't. What does that mean in your language of pain?"
Madame: "It means we want you close but not too close."
Kingsley: "Why not?"
Madame: "Because it's terrifying to be a sadist in love. You get close enough to someone, they might accidentally see who you really are."
One of these days he would have to figure out why he was always falling for sadists.
Kingsley: "You never told me your real name."
She laughed softly
Kingsley: "Will you ever tell me your name?"
Madame: "Never, no. Why do you ask?"
Kingsley: "He told me his real name. The first time we were together."
She stopped laughing
Søren: "Are you going to sit and play chess with me? Or stand there laughing all night?"
Kingsley: "It's fucking freezing out here. I never should have told you about that dream."
Søren: "But you did, and now we're going to sit out in the cold and snow and play chess until one of us wins. Never let it be said that I haven't made all your dreams come true."
Kingsley: "I have better dreams than this."
Søren: "But it's this dream you told me about."
Kingsley: "The Danish Gambit. I should have guessed."
Søren: "Yes, you should have. I'm going to beat you."
Kingsley: "I hope so."
Søren: "Whore."
Kingsley: "Always."
Søren: "I beat you last night. And today."
Kingsley: "And tonight?"
Søren: "Win the game and I'll consider it."
Kingsley: "I already won."
Søren: "Did you?"
Kingsley: "I'm playing with you. Therefore, according to you, I won."
Søren looked at him with utter disgust. Kingsley grinned maniacally in response.
Søren: "I didn't actually say that. A twisted, absurd dream version of me said it."
Kingsley: "It sounded like something you would say."
Søren: "Did it?"
Kingsley: "It was obnoxious and arrogant. And pompous. Smug, too."
Søren: "Yes, point taken."
Kingsley: "Self-important. Self-righteous."
Søren: "Kingsley."
Kingsley: "Yes?"
Søren: "Checkmate."
Kingsley: "Thank fuck. I'm freezing my balls off out here."
Søren: "This was your stupid dream. Not my fault your subconscious is as much of a whore as you are in your waking hours."
Kingsley: "What's that supposed to mean?"
Søren: "You dreamed I was a wolf that sexually assaulted you."
Kingsley: "It wasn't assault. It was consensual."
Søren: "My God, Freud would have a field day with you."
Kingsley: "He'd have an entire field year with you. Field decade. Field century..."
Søren: "I have perfectly normal dreams, thank you."
Kingsley: "Such as?"
Søren: "For starters, I've never dreamt about having anal intercourse with apex predators."
Søren: "Captain Huet?"
Kingsley: "We made up eventually. He forgave me for breaking his nose."
Søren: "You slept with him, didn't you?"
Kingsley: "No comment."
#bdsm #domme #alpha #badboy #armedforces #rich #playboy #submissive #switch #trauma #unrequitedlove #secretidentity