Lady Francesca, the King’s consort, cried out in agony as the torturer tightened the rack another horrifyingly brutal notch as he waited for the irons to finish heating in the flames of the brazier.

“Lady Francesca, the King was not amused when he learned the woman sharing his bed was a traitor. You will be mistaken if you think the King’s interested in your confession. He already knows that the gate guards captured you, attempting to smuggle stolen plans of the harbor defenses out of the city.”

Pausing, the torturer tightened the rack another notch to the delightful sound of Lady Francesca’s high-pitched screams of agony.

“The King’s already signed your warrant of execution. You are here, in this dungeon, to die an unspeakably slow, agonizing death for your traitorous crimes.”

I listened in disbelief. When the guards caught me, I knew I would die for treason, but I’d expected it would be the headsman’s axe or the executioner’s gallows. Never in my darkest nightmares had I expected to be brutally tortured to death.

Staring in horror as I watched the torturer approaching with that white-hot glowing iron in his grasp, I thought, I’d never imagined I’d get to die fulfilling my darkest erotically masochistic fantasy. My final thought, just before the torturer applied that hot flesh-searing brand to my left nipple, I’m so lucky...