“Yes, my lord, I understand.” She sniffled and felt small in his arms. “I am so sorry, and I am ashamed of my actions.”
He pulled her slippers off and reached up her dress to tug her hosen down, and she shifted on his lap to assist with her undressing. Next he removed her headdress and freed her hair from the coif beneath it, and her hair billowed down her back. “Stand up, Claire.”
She rose up with his assistance and her stomach went aflutter as he guided her to the center of the room. Without a word, he began unfastening the laces of her bodice, and soon she stood in nothing but her thin chemise. He removed his sword belt and placed it atop a trunk by the wall. He approached her with his arms crossed while he tapped at his chin, as if he was pondering the nature of her punishment. She shivered as though a sudden chill descended upon her, though the servants had already been in to light the braziers for the night, and the room was actually quite warm.
“You will be completely naked for your punishment, Claire.” He moved behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
Anticipation twisted her insides and merged with her regret, leaving her a bundle of nerves. He had never punished her while she was completely unclothed before. Yes, he had bared her bottom, but her dress had remained on and given her a sense of decorum. Galien meant to strip away all her modesty, and as her chemise drifted to the floor, she felt truly humbled and repentant. She couldn’t meet his eyes as he led her back to the bed.
He sat down and forced her to stand between his spread legs, and her lower lip quivered as she stood there naked before her clothed lord husband. Her hands flew up to cover her breasts, but he grasped her wrists and pulled her arms straight at her sides, forcing her to remain exposed and vulnerable.
“From now on, Claire, when you require chastisement, I shall strip off your clothes before I thrash you. I think it makes you more amenable to my authority, and I confess I also like to look upon my wife. Keep your hands in place,” he admonished as he stroked her inner thigh.
She trembled and quaked, wishing he’d take her over his knee so she might hide her face in the covers.
“Spread your legs, wife. Good. Now hold this position.”
She summoned all her inner strength to stay still as he probed her quim, tracing his fingers along her entrance and tapping against the nubbin where all her pleasure seemed to originate. He wrapped one arm around her body and held his flattened hand upon her womanly core. Heat gathered and pulsed between her thighs, and she looked down, wondering about his intentions. The sound of a stinging slap filled the room, and she gasped and shut her legs tight and shielded her quim from further punishment.
“Please, my lord,” she begged. “Please don’t spank me there. It isn’t proper.” She tried to escape his hold, but he pinned her hands behind her back and forced her to remain in place, smacking the insides of her thighs until she opened to his liking. “It hurts, my lord.”
“I am your husband and it is my right to punish you as I see fit,” he said,shooting her a stern look. “Keep your legs open, Claire, or you will earn extras.”
She didn’t want to earn extras, especially if those extras consisted of more slaps laid upon her tender nether lips. Squeezing her eyes shut, she endured a quick round of smacks to her quim. She winced and cried out with each blow. Tears coated her face, though they hadn’t been wrought from pain. It hurt, but the humiliation of this particular punishment stung far worse than the slaps raining down upon her lips. Despite herself, pleasure also bloomed beside her discomfort, pulsating with each crack of his fingers across her most sensitive spot, that tender bud he’d swirled his thumb over whilst pounding into her.
He paused and parted her lower lips, delving inside with ease, and to her mortification she realized she had grown wet. A sob burst from her and she longed to slip into a crack in the stone walls and disappear. Never had she known shame so great.
“Over my knee, wife,” he said, withdrawing his hand from her center. He arranged her over one strong thigh and wrapped his other leg atop hers, and she took it as a sign that this punishment was going to be quite severe. Next, he gathered her wrists at her lower back again. Naked and completely restrained over her displeased husband’s lap, she sniffled and waited for the first smack to fall. At least his sword belt still rested atop the trunk, out of reach for the moment.
“I understand why you became upset this evening, Claire,” he said, cupping her right cheek and giving it an ominous squeeze. “However, I expect you to conduct yourself like a lady. If you raise your voice at me again in my own hall, I will take a birch rod to your bare bottom. Have you ever been birched before?”
“No, my lord.” She’d heard the screams of her brothers taking a birching though, and she had always strived not to land in such trouble as to warrant the use of the birch, and thus as a child she had only received a handful of quick, rather light spankings from her father. Coldness spread through her at the thought of receiving a birching from Galien, and she hoped to never give him cause to mete out a punishment so severe.
“It is a nasty implement, the birch rod. I sincerely hope to never use one on you, Claire.” He moved to rub her left bottom cheek now, and she shuddered over his lap, trembling with a mixture of fear and relief that her spanking was about to begin.
“I intend to spank you fast and hard, Claire, and then this will be over. I want you to be a good girl and take your punishment. You were naughty. And this, sweet Claire, is what happens to naughty wives.”
The first blow landed, and she clenched her arse and reared over his lap, the sharp sting of it taking her breath away. Before she recovered, he rained a second and third smack down. She wiggled and cried out with each hardspank, and still he maintained a rapid pace as he switched from cheek to cheek with each strike.
“Oh, please, my lord!” After a dozen slaps she was ready for her punishment to be over. The pain of his hand cracking steadily down on her smarting flesh continued to take her breath away, and she gasped and tried to turn over on his lap. When that didn’t work, she attempted to slide to the floor, but he tightened his grip on her and kept spanking. Her struggles didn’t slow him a bit. And to think she had asked for this spanking—had told him she was ready to be punished.
Once her escape attempts failed, she pressed her face into the blankets and sobbed. When she remembered her promise to Galien to be good and accept her punishment, she sobbed even harder. How quickly she’d forgotten that promise to submit when faced with the unendurable sting upon her bottom cheeks.
He thrashed the tops of her thighs, as well as the tender area of her lower backside. Her wet face stuck to the blankets, and the intensity of the fire blazing across her skin chased away all other thoughts. There was only the pain and the knowledge of what she’d done to deserve this punishment from her husband.Thwack! Thwack!His hand didn’t seem to tire, and as exhaustion from her struggles and crying fell upon her, she went limp over his lap.
He paused and caressed her throbbing bottom. “The next time you are upset with me, wife, how will you behave differently?”
She sniffled and turned her face to the side, taking in a deep breath before she replied. “I-I will speak with you about it, my lord, in a calm manner.” Hot tears poured from her eyes.
“What else?”
“I will not disrespect you again, not the way I did tonight, my lord, for which I am very sorry.”
“Good girl. We’re almost finished.”
* * *
Galien ceased rubbing Claire’s reddened backside and brought his hand down ten more times, rapid blows that tore a howl from her in between her sobs. He then turned her over and enfolded his arms around her, aching to comfort her and needing to feel her close.
