“Now, Claire, or this will go much worse for you.”
* * *
Galien gripped his sword belt and waited as Claire undressed. She fumbled a bit with the laces on her bodice, but she managed to strip off all her clothing and bend over the bed. Her hands shook and she grasped onto the blankets, shuddering breaths revealing the height of her fear. An urge to gather her up in his arms and soothe her worries built up, but he pushed the desire down. When danger visited the village or his keep, he expected all those under his command to obey his orders, including his wife.
Galien and his men had killed five of the marauders and captured two for questioning. The prisoners had been executed of course, but not until after they’d spilled all their secrets while begging for their lives at Galien’s feet. The cowards. After hours of interrogating the two captured men, one of whom bore the Hohenzollern crest, it had been revealed that several bands of Hohenzollern knights still roamed the countryside, men who hadn’t been at the castle during the siege. The lot of them had ridden over the hill during the siege at Hohenzollern and turned to flee before the conquering army spotted them.
Galien ground his teeth together, all the rage he’d felt during the fightreturning. The prisoners claimed a camp of Hohenzollern knights was in the forest not far from Minrova, and a search of the woods had found an abandoned camp, but no sign of the remaining men. Tomorrow, after the storm calmed, they would set out again in search of the cowards and put an end to them once and for all. No one attacked Minrova or any of Galien’s holdings and got away with it. He took the safety and well-being of his subjects very seriously, and though he had disregarded much of what his father taught him growing up, this was the one lesson he had taken to heart, the one lesson he held dear, and he intended to honor the memory of his father by hunting the villains down.
Claire might have grown impatient waiting for him, but he had serious business to take care of, and he had wanted her to remain in their chambers, safe and protected within the walls of his keep, so when he’d finished dealing with the attack he knew exactly where to find his lady wife. He’d told her to wait. A simple command, and yet he’d caught her in the act of disregarding his orders.
His anger flared as he considered how frantically he’d be searching his keep at this very moment if Claire had succeeded in leaving their chambers, how worried he would have been that a sly Hohenzollern knight had infiltrated his home and harmed his sweet wife. Mayhap his imagination was running wild with worry, but the fact remained that she had disobeyed him, and for that he needed to punish her. To make her understand that she wasn’t allowed to pick and choose which orders to follow and which orders to ignore.
“Spread your legs, Claire.” He moved to her side and placed the sword belt on the bed directly in her line of vision. “Wider, wider. Good.”
She sniffled and her shoulders shook, but she kept her thighs open as he’d asked. The pinkness of her quim glistened up at him, and he placed one steadying hand on her back and with his other hand reached between her legs to stroke her center, wanting to know exactly how wet she’d become. She always reacted to his discipline in this way, and he found this time was no exception. Though she appeared frightened, her womanly core dripped with copious amounts of her desire. As he prodded her slick entrance, her hips shifted and he caught sight of her secret puckering hole nestled so innocently between her bottom cheeks.
A dark thought crept into his mind, a new way to punish his naughty wife, to help her feel true submission and perhaps think twice before misbehaving again. He pumped two fingers in and out of her wet quim and moved his other hand down to part her arse cheeks. She tensed and tried to rear up, but he pushed her down and continued spreading her bottom to reveal her shy, untouched hole.
“Be still, wife. This is part of your punishment.”
“Wh-what are you going to do?” She looked over her shoulder, her wideeyes displaying her utter shock over this new treatment.
“I intend to punish your arsehole, Claire. Naughty wives deserve to be punished in naughty ways.” His reply came out stern, his displeasure over her planned disobedience burning hot. At least while he punished her bottom hole, he’d have some time to calm down and the lashes she received with the sword belt wouldn’t be fueled by his anger.
She turned her head and hid from him, burying her face in the blankets as her body tensed. “My lord,” she said, her voice muffled in the covers. “Please, I beg you, this is a most cruel punishment.”
“No,” he said with a firmness that made her start. “It’s not cruel, Claire. It is just. Cruel would be causing your husband undue worry when he didn’t find you where you were supposed to be, not long after an attack by a renegade band of Hohenzollern deserters. I ordered you to remain in our chambers for your safety, in case the threat against Minrova grew, and I also wished to easily find you afterward to hold you in my arms and breathe in your flowery scent and satisfy myself that all was well with my wife.”
“I-I am deeply sorry, my lord. I was worried about you and wished to find you first. I know I was supposed to wait, but—oh!” She gasped as he pressed two fingers into her arsehole, using moisture stolen from her quim to guide the way. “Oh, my lord. It hurts!”
He wasn’t even knuckle deep, yet she thrashed about on the bed and closed her legs, trying to rise up. He angled one leg in front of hers, preventing her escape and holding her down as he pushed in and out of her arse, delving knuckle deep before withdrawing and pushing inside again. Her hole was hot and tight, and his desire swelled at the thought of taking her snug entrance and giving her a good pounding with his cock.
She cried and kicked her feet to no avail, he didn’t ease up on her once, and he eventually pushed deeper, until both his prodding fingers were fully submerged in her tightness. Keeping them still for a few moments, he urged her legs apart again and smacked her thighs until she complied. Fresh sobs erupted from her throat, and she cried pitifully into the blankets.
As expected, his anger began to melt as he punished her, and by the time she stopped fighting him and lay limp over the bed while he plunged in and out of her backside, only a whisper of his irritation remained. He gave her three more deep thrusts before withdrawing from her tight hole. Giving her time to recover, he washed his hands in the water basin and returned to sit beside her while stroking her back, trailing a hand up and down her soft warm skin, thinking she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. The sweetest too, and he longed for her punishment to be over so he could hold her and stroke her hair while whispering words of comfort in her ear.
He removed her coif and combed her locks out with his fingers, wishing it were appropriate for ladies to wear their hair down at all times, because he liked the look of her with her hair spilling about her shoulders. She sighedand caught his gaze while wiping at her lingering tears.
“Are you still terribly angry with me, my lord?”
“No, sweet Claire. I have calmed down considerably, and I regret that I frightened you so. I do, however, mean to finish your punishment.”
“Must you use your sword belt? Couldn’t you just spank me with your hand?”
He gave a shake of his head and stroked her face, brushing away another tear as it trickled down her cheek. “You cannot talk your way out of a whipping, Claire. It’s going to hurt, but it will teach you to mind me, teach you to obey your lord husband. You took a vow before God to obey me, and I intend to help you honor that vow, because I want you to be your best, and because I want to ensure you’re always safe, and happy.”
“Will you hold me when it’s over?”
His heart contracted at her request. Of course he would. He always did. “Aye, Claire. I will hold you forever if you wish it.” He stood and picked up his sword belt, and it felt unusually heavy in his hand. Moving behind her, he pinned her wrists together, securing her hands at her lower back. “Twenty strokes,” he announced, raising the leather high and bringing it down with an echoing thwack.
Claire tensed and whimpered with each lash he rained down, and on the fifth stroke she lurched upward, desperate in her attempt to escape. He pushed her back into position and stuck her upper thighs, three blows in quick succession that made her cry out and beg for mercy. She shook under her sobs and uttered heartfelt apology after apology, and promises to obey him in the future. Despite her discomfort, he continued on and meted out the full punishment, even when the sound of her sobbing pained him, until the belt impacted across her bottom cheeks for the twentieth time. Then he dropped the belt and gathered her in his arms, just as he’d promised.
Chapter Eight
His loving embrace surrounded her, comforting her and reassuring her of his regard for her. If he despised her, surely he wouldn’t offer her such tender care after a punishment. In his arms, she felt the completeness of her love for him, a stark feeling of rightness. There was no doubt in her mind that she loved him, and she was certain he held similar affections for her. Perhaps he loved her as deeply as she loved him. Oh, how she hoped.
She shifted on his lap, her welted bottom sore, outside andinside. Shame heated her face as she recalled the reason for the tenderness in her private hole, and how exposed she’d felt when he spread her arse cheeks to punish herthere,using the wetness from her quim to ease the passage of his fingers. The intrusion had burned and filled her up, and after he’d thrust in and out for a spell, her center had started to ache and throb. Moisture coated the insides of her thighs, evidence of her excitement even during a harsh chastisement.
