{"id":363,"date":"2016-01-17T21:44:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T02:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/?page_id=363"},"modified":"2016-01-17T21:44:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T02:44:18","slug":"like-a-thorn-edited-by-cecilia-tan-sarah-desautels","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/?page_id=363","title":{"rendered":"Like A Thorn edited by Cecilia Tan & Sarah Desautels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>ebook $5.99
\nISBN 9781885865854
\n24,350 words<\/p>\n

[wp_eStore_add_to_cart id=134]<\/span><\/p>\n

(also available on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>, Barnes & Noble<\/a>, Smashwords<\/a> and AllRomanceEbooks<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Five classic fairy tales reemerge as deliciously dark erotica stories with a BDSM twist. These stories describe the many diverse faces of bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism in sexy encounters ranging from haunting to healing, and painful to playful. You\u2019ll discover .how a witch really likes to punish naughty interlopers, why Beauty might love her beast more than the prince, how to produce handy bruises when a pea just won\u2019t do the trick\u2013and more. Ranging from present day to \u201conce upon a time\u201d settings, each story offers a fresh perspective to both legend and BDSM.<\/p>\n

Many people know that today\u2019s idea of fairy tales is a far cry from the darker, original versions. Like a Thorn<\/strong><\/em> explores this underbelly of the fairy tale through the many faces of BDSM. Far from run-of-the-mill handcuffs and dungeons, this diverse palette of tales features BDSM as a vehicle for unorthodox moods, relationships, and dilemmas. Mari Ness\u2019 haunting \u201cCinder Feet\u201d tells us just how high a price Cinderella might have had to pay for not making it home by midnight, yet how worthy that price might be. Next up is \u201cThe Princess and Peony\u201d by Mercy Loomis, a charming romp between a princess and her part-time maid, full-time lover who plot to produce princess-ly bruises with a sexier method than sleeping on a pea. Kieran Dewhurst\u2019s \u201cThe Last Mistress of the Chatelaine\u201d tells of the sweeping yet down-to-earth romance between the dread Bluebeard and his seventh wife, who uses spunk and sense to help her husband face his sins head-on with a deliciously brutal punishment. \u201cThat Wicked Witchcraft\u201d by Sunny Moraine follows, a present-day story in which a modern witch discovers two teenage thieves in her house\u2013and comes close to eating them for dinner after she ties them up. Finally, Shanna Germain\u2019s lyrical \u201cSkin Deep\u201d tells of a controversial Belle: one who didn\u2019t go to the beast as his saving grace, but to revel with him (and often over him) in the darkness of the enchanted castle and the painful price he must pay for her affections. These imaginative retelling captures the complex psychology, emotion, and harmony between pleasure and pain present in every BDSM encounter\u2013and every tale is titillating enough to become any grown-up\u2019s first choice for a bedtime story.<\/p>\n

Includes the stories:
\nCinder Feet by Mari Ness
\nThe Princess and Peony by Mercy Loomis
\nThe Last Mistress of the Chatelaine by Kieran Wyn Dewhurst
\nThat Wicked Witchcraft by Sunny Moraine
\nSkin Deep by Shanna Germain<\/p>\n

Read an excerpt:<\/span><\/p>\n

Excerpted from Skin Deep
\nby Shanna Germain<\/p>\n

They say I am the Beauty. Capital, like that. Beauty. In a softly brushed script that makes you feel safe, that gives you images of beauty beyond your imagining. Sometimes with flourishes and fleur-de-lis and a bird tucked into the bower of the B, as though all of those things will make it true. They even named me Belle. Which, in some ancient country, stands for beauty. All those Bs, the way they roll off the tongue. B. Buh. Buh. A stupid sound, for a stupid, pretty girl.
\nBut B can stand for so many other things, can it not? Beast. Bad. Bare. Bones. Bitch. Blood.
\nI am all of those things inside. Aren\u2019t we all?<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

My father brought me a rose from the creature\u2019s castle. He picked the most gorgeous one he could find, I\u2019m sure\u2014my father is a kind, big-hearted man, if he is a bit blind. The flower was red as blood, and big around as my fist, each petal wide and curled as a tongue. I thanked him kindly\u2014I am nothing if not a dutiful daughter\u2014and then I took the flower to my room and stripped every petal from it, every silky slip of flesh, and threw them out the window.
\nLet my sisters have the dresses, the rings. The silk and pearls. Let them have their twittering laughter like fragile birds, as they twirl in the light.
\nI wanted for other things. The broken mirror. The poisoned comb. The cursed spindle.
\nThey say I went willingly, and that part is true. It wasn\u2019t for the rose, or even for the beast though\u2014after all, I hadn\u2019t met him yet. Would I have gone if I\u2019d known what awaited me? Oh yes. Oh yes.
\nBut I went for the stem, the thorns. Strong as a lash, sharp as claws. I bent the long stem of it over and over in my hands, closed my palms on their curved points until they pierced my flesh.
\nOh, yes, I went willingly. Wantingly. Wantonly. A thorn in each hand.<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

They say he is the beast. His b is big, but lowercase, as though it deserves no more. Carved from hard wood and boasting of sharp, rough edges. Here, the sound of b is ominous. Towering backwards d, like dirty, dangerous, despicable.
\nI hear him coming. Does he mean to eat me up?<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

I want for nothing here, in this hidden castle of his.
\nHe knows my pleasures as well as I know them myself. Better perhaps. An outfit that I didn\u2019t know I wanted until it appeared. A bird that sings me awake each morning at the window. Gardens of thorns without a single flower. Chests of delights\u2014boots made of the finest doe leather that curve around my calves, long strips of crimson and gold scarves, rings jeweled in stones and sharp-edged mouths\u2014just mine for the picking through.<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

My heart hammers to see him. Such a huge creature he is. Such big hands. Long claws, those fine points at the end. I wonder at his teeth, the tapered sheen of their curves. At the wide pink tongue that rests within the cage of his menacing mouth. His eyes golden-brown as ripe pears, soft and tender in contrast to that sharp mouth.
\nAnd then he kneels before me, his forehead nearly brushing my covered breasts. His head bowed so that I can see the back of his neck, the tendons and muscles that strain his shoulders and upper back. I want to drag my palms over the jumping swathes of skin, pull at his hair. But I stay standing, only his breath touching me, the low snarls of want that heat the space between my thighs.
\nBut such good manners, that soft, fine voice.
\n\u201cGood morning, Belle.\u201d \u201cAre you well, Belle?\u201d \u201cWill you marry me, Belle?\u201d
\n\u201cGood morning, beast.\u201d \u201cI am, beast.\u201d \u201cNever, beast.\u201d
\nHe will ask again tomorrow. He always does. He must.
\nGlutton for punishment, he is. Such a terrible, terrible glutton.<\/p>\n

* * * *<\/p>\n

They say I dream of a Prince. This, too, has a seed of truth. He is tall and handsome, with hands as soft as lily petals and lips as red as apples. He comes to me in my dreams, and he promises me many things. \u201cOh, Beauty!\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re the only one who can save me!\u201d
\nBut it isn\u2019t true. It\u2019s the curse speaking, the witch\u2019s voice behind those pretty, pretty lips.
\nI know I could save him. Return the beast to his pretty, pretty Prince. But I won\u2019t. I won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

(To read the rest of the story, download LIKE A THORN today!)<\/em><\/p>\n

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ebook $5.99 ISBN 9781885865854 24,350 words [wp_eStore_add_to_cart id=134] (also available on\u00a0Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and AllRomanceEbooks) Five classic fairy tales reemerge as deliciously dark erotica stories with a BDSM twist. These stories describe the many diverse faces of bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism in sexy encounters ranging from haunting to healing, and painful to … Continue reading Like A Thorn edited by Cecilia Tan & Sarah Desautels<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":871,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-363","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/363\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/circlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}