A silent staring contest ensued. Aeron was surprised just how long it lasted, but in the end the woman dropped her gaze and sighed grumpily.
“Okay, fine. Maybe Ididneed his help,” she admitted. “But I wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place if you hadn’t dragged me here to Jeriko.”
“You wouldn’t have been in that position if you hadn’t tried to run away,” Aeron countered.
The woman sighed again.
Aeron walked over to the big window at the side of the bedroom. It offered a view of the city outside. It was not a pretty sight. The air was murky with pollution from the refineries, and the sky was threatening rain.
“While you were taking your bath, Murdok and Zeth told me everything that happened. They said you used a blade from a knifemonger’s stand to slice your collar and escape. You cut yourself in the process.”
“Just a scratch!” the woman protested.
Aeron lifted his hand. “Let me finish. After that, they tell me you fled down the street, through a crowd, and into an alleyway where you encountered a man. He assaulted you, but Murdok arrived and intervened before the man could do anything too…severe. Would you say all of that is accurate so far?”
“Yeah.”
The sky was starting to spit rain against the window. Dirty, discolored droplets that slithered down the panes. In the street below, merchants were hurriedly packing in their wares to escape from the coming storm.
“Zeth also informed me that you appeared to know the man who attacked you. He said you made reference to someone called… Tulliver?”
“I told Zeth about it in the bathroom,” she answered sullenly. “I don’t feel like telling it again.”
Aeron turned from the window and looked at Zeth. The young mercenary gave a silent nod. Good enough. They could speak of that later.
For now, the woman.
Aeron strode slowly to the chair where she was sitting and crouched in front of it, bringing his eyes level with her own. She peered at him warily from within the cushioned depths.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Rona. As a result of your defiance, you inflicted harm upon yourself, and you almost got harmed in a much more serious way by a bad, bad man. That is unacceptable. I’m not angry with you. I am simply telling you this for your own good.”
“I won’t run away again,” she said. “Promise.”
“Perhaps. But I need to make sure you understand that we mean business. You must be punished, Rona. You must be spanked.”
“Oh hell no!”
The woman started to spring from the chair, but Aeron caught her and pushed her back down again.
“Easy,” he said. “I thought you just promised you weren’t going to run anymore.”
“I wasn’t trying to run away! This is bullshit! Murdok already spanked me in the alley.”
“Hestartedto spank you,” Aeron corrected, “but I stopped him because I wanted to know what was going on before I made any decisions about meting out your punishment. Now that I’ve heard the full story, I think it’s time to complete your spanking. Are you going to take it like a big girl, or do we need to tie you down?”
“I’m not agirl,” she answered, her face practically glowing with indignation. “I’m a grown ass woman.”
Aeron sighed.
“Alright,” he said. “Tell you what. Since you’re a grown woman, I’ll give you a choice. Either you suck it up and accept your spanking, or you give back the shares of stock I gave you.”
The woman’s eyes went wide, and her face drained.
“You can’t do that,” she said.
“Of course I can. I’m the one who bought them. I gave them to you as a gift. And if I want to, I can take them back again.”
The woman scowled at him.
