Emma closed her eyes tiredly, telling herself the manner of her punishment was of little import after all. She opened them again only when she felt Master Archer’s iron grip upon her arm. She strived to keep her back straight and her head high as he led her to a bench which had been placed in the centre of the room for her chastisement. She gritted her teeth as he sat himself on it, draping her across his lap and pinning her arm firmly behind her back. And she vowed no sound would escape her lips while he was punishing her. It was humiliating enough a lady of high birth such as herself should be subjected to an abject punishment in a roomful of strangers. So Emma knew she would fight hard against further humiliation. They would not hear her cry out in pain, no matter how painful the punishment would be.
Yet her firm resolution was thwarted just as soon as the very first nettle lash fell across her bottom, which Master Archer had already bared for her punishment. The nettle switch lashed the centre of her upturned behind mercilessly, bringing an infernal sting with it and instant tears into her eyes. She bit hard into her lip, to prevent herself from crying out in pain. The nettles lashed the cheeks of her poor quivering behind again and again, and she started to wriggle and buck under it, yet the archer’s rough hand was holding her firm in place and there was no way she could escape his burning punishment. Forgetting her determination to be brave and silent, Emma found herself crying and then simply sobbing in pain as the accursed nettle switch went on to cast its burning spell. The fiend who was delivering the punishment did not content himself to punish only the cheeks of her bottom, but diligently attended to her thighs and to those excruciatingly tender spots right where she sat down.
Emma was fiercely sobbing, her face blotched with tears, when at last her punisher tossed the infernal implement aside,and came to rest a rough hand upon her burning behind. The touch suddenly brought a strange, ignoble stir in Emma’s quim that she’d not experienced before. It was a shameful sensation which made her draw in a deep breath as she attempted to focus. Her bottom and thighs burnt as if they’d been stung by a thousand hornets, yet her quim had shamefully started to pulse with strange pleasure. Emma decided she must have already taken leave of her senses. How could such excruciating pain bring pleasure? And why was she revelling in the stranger’s rough hand upon her punished skin?
The stranger’s hand suddenly laid a crisp stinging smack upon her scorched behind. For one dreadful moment, Emma thought her punishment was not over and that he meant to continue the harsh lesson with his hand. Yet Master Archer said in a terse voice of command, “Tis done. As you can see, my woman is well chastened and subdued. And I vow she will never steal from anyone again.”
He lowered her skirts to cover her bottom as he said so, and supported her as she attempted to rise to her feet. Emma felt strangely grateful for the support, because she soon understood that her knees were trembling and she was barely able to stand. She sniffed pitifully as she fidgeted from one foot to another, and began to rub her chastened bottom furiously. The burn was simply maddening, even more maddening than the gleeful, malicious laughter she heard reverberating all around her. She held her eyes downcast, wishing she were far away from this place and cursing herself for the foolishness of having believed a deceiver such as Rowena.
“There. I trust now everything’s duly paid for,” Master Archer said grimly, now tossing a couple coins on one of the tables in front of them. “This is for tonight’s lodgings. And we’ll be off at first light.”
There were displeased mutters from the onlookers, as most of them must still think the chastisement which had taken place far too mild. With a frown and a mighty sigh, the innkeeper adjusted her wimple, then at last shrugged her ample shoulders, and waved her hand to silence the mutters of the people around them. Her hand reached swiftly to grab the coins the archer had tossed. She weighed the coins into her palm.
“This punishment is mightily light for what she did, and you know it. She isyourwoman though. She is your cross to bear...”
“That she is,” Master Archer conceded tersely, starting to lead Emma away, to the sleeping quarters.
If Emma had hoped she would be able to nurse her sore bottom in privacy, her hopes were thwarted. The sleeping quarters were crowded with pallets and with people already taking their rest and, unlike in the quarters reserved for noblemen, there were no folding screens to offer any kind of privacy from the others residing in the large chamber.
Emma attempted to sit down on the pallet where Master Archer led her, yet her bottom had started to burn and itch, and she had no choice but to further rub it while tears still streaked her cheeks.
“If you think you will make me feel sorry for you, you are sadly mistaken,” Master Archer said in a soft, bitter voice.
Emma collapsed on the pallet, on her belly, trying to even her breath and think clearly upon what she should do next. Once the infernal sting in her behind had alleviated, she should attempt to reason with this man who obviously thought himself her husband. He was a harsh man, yet he had attempted to shield her from the guards, which made her hope against hope that he could, after all, be reasoned with. Other husbands would have used their fists and delivered a rough beating for what Rowena had done, yet this man’s anger seemed to run cold rather than burn hot.
He’d sat himself by her side, with a set, dark look on his face. It was not a handsome face. His nose was crooked and it appeared to have been broken, and there was a faint white scar right below his left eye. Yet it was an arresting face, with very keen, penetrating brown eyes which made him look like a hawk. He had thick brown hair, a high forehead and sharp cheekbones. It was one of those faces which were hard to forget. Emma suppressed a harsh laughter inside herself. Certainly, she would never forget Master Archer and the stinging spanking he’d bestowed upon her. She glanced upon his tall, lean frame and upon his large hands, and that strange, ignoble heat in her quim suddenly stirred. Deeply ashamed, she stared away from him, feeling her face go scarlet.
“And still you do not ask. You didn’t even ask, did you?” Master Archer muttered with a shake of his head, now speaking to her in sheer disdain.
“Ask... Ask what?” Emma found herself muttering in return. “I-I’m not who you think I am. I am…”
She paused, searching for words, yet Master Archer laughed bitterly.
“Certainly, you are not who I thought you were when we wed. Yet you are still my wife. And bound to me. Just as I’m bound to you. And that no one can, unfortunately, change.”
“Listen, I-I am not your wife and I…”
Master Archer’s face darkened and his fine eyes looked terrible.
“Stop mocking me. And stop speaking like that. As if you were a noblewoman and the rest of us serfs beneath you. As if fancy things and fancy manners and fancy garb were all that matters in this world. As if it was all a make-believe game to you.”
“No. listen... I—”
“Stop pretending to be other than who you are! It is madness, Rowena. And it will be your doom.”
“Look, I am not Rowena!”
Master Archer halted her with a gesture, raking a hand through his thick brown hair and speaking to her in a soft, yet resolute voice.
“I swear I’ll have you back over my knee and bare your bottom again if you utter one more word of sheer madness! Andthis timeI will deliver the punishment you really deserve.”
Emma found herself glaring at him. He’d given her a sound spanking already and her bottom felt as if it had been scorched. She now pictured a new punishment from him and blushed even more fiercely than before, as the strange, ignoble stir stabbed even more deeply inside her sex. What was it about this man spanking her that made her blood so hot? She did not know. Nor had she ever believed she would feel her sex pulse in rapture at the thought of any man. She had been taught to fear men. But in spite of the spanking he’d bestowed upon her, this man was not one who stirred true fear within her. She stared away from him, striving to chase away the peculiar feelings he kindled inside her. They would pass. And she resolved to run away from him as soon as she could. It was plain he thought her his wife and would not listen to reason. Emma had long ago decided she did not want a man to lord over her ever again. And this man seemed even more dangerous to her than any other man of her acquaintance because of the strange spell his eyes and voice and hands were casting over her. So she would run away from him as soon as can be. Still, she felt quite weary after the punishment she’d endured, and she resolved to rest for a short while in order to gather her strength until her escape.
CHAPTER 2
Arthen struggled not to glance again upon the woman who had dozed off on the pallet by his side, on her belly. He sighed, knowing she might not see it, but he’d resolved to use a nettle switch not because of its fierce sting, but because it caused little damage to the flesh. A birching would have bruised her sorely, and Arthen knew they had an arduous horseback journey in front of them. Even if he resented his wife at this time, he did not wish to harm her. He simply could never treat a woman thus, even if that woman had shamed and betrayed him.
He shook his head with a dark frown, understanding Rowena was even more utterly lost than he’d thought she was. She’d not shown even an ounce of repentance for what she’d done. Four months ago, Rowena had run away from him, taking with her all the coin she was able to find in their household. If it had been up to him, he would not have chased after her because he no longer wanted a wife who spurned him. Yet her mother had begged and wept and he hadn’t been able to say nay to a woman who’d always been kind to him. She had begged him to track Rowena down and bring her back home and care for her. Her daughter was only misguided and would soon repent her deeds, Hild hadtold him, but Arthen had known it was just wishful thinking. Still, Rowena was utterly reckless and would find her doom with no one to watch over her. And she was still his wife and still the mother of his child.