Otherworldly Discipline: A Witch's Lesson by Korey Mae Johnson Page A

then?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, something in him was screaming for her to say ‘no’ and begging for her to say ‘yes’.
    She quickly shook her head and looked towards the door then back to him. “Ashcroft—it’s eight o’clock in the morning. And I’m sore from last night! Don’t you think—”
    “Now, Charlotte.”
    “But the servants know,” she whined, but she slid off the bed and stood in front of him. “They’ll be able to hear, and they’ll know!”
    He turned her around and pushed her down so that she bent over the bed, her body in a perfect “L”, her bottom sticking out to meet him. He grabbed a hold of his belt. Her toes dug into the rug underneath her, her hands gripping the comforter under her body. “P-p-please, Ashcroft. Give me a break!” she pleaded, trying to crane her neck around to look at him. “I ’ m really, really sorry, and I promise I’ll make it up to Moriarty!”
    He didn’t answer, and in truth, he was barely listening. Through her shift he could see the rounded curve of her bottom, admiring how her soft legs draped out of the fabric.
    “I’ll do anything if you don’t spank me again. Anything!” she continued, her voice turning squeaky as he tested the belt against his own thigh, checking for pliancy before he placed a strong, pinning hand against the small of her back.
    “Anything except behave. Didn’t I tell you that there would be discipline if you did not follow my rules?” Then, with a firm flick of his wrist, he let the belt slap against her shift. Her skin might as well have been bare from the slapping sound that it made.
    Charlotte’s body froze at the pain, not moving until he delivered t w o more swats in quick succession. And then she began to heartily struggle, trying to drag her body away from his pinning hand to escape further up the bed.
    Of course, he didn’t let her move; he merely used more of his strength to pin her. She wasn’t strong—she was very slight, and when she realized there was no escape she let out a desperate, bellowing cry.
    SWAP! SWAP! SWAP!
    She put her hands in back of her, trying to shield herself, and he adjusted to pin ne d her hands to her back. “Ashcroft! Please! Please!” she begged, running in place against the floor. Once he had her where he wanted her—completely immovable—he continued.
    SWAP! SWAP! SWAP!
    She seemed like she was trying to hold back her cries, releasing only sharp howls. A couple of swipes to the backs of her bare thighs made her scream. “I’ll do anything!” she repeated to him. “Just stop!”
    “This is nothing compared to what could have happened!” he assured. “ You would barely serve as an appetizer to all sorts of things beyond your reckoning. Do you need to continue to have close calls or will you just heed me ?” he lectured, and meant it. The times were certainly over when she looked upon his advice as ‘optional’.
    SWAP! SWAP! SWAP!
    “I’m so sor-rrry!”
    “You simply don’t know your value. You are not just some hum-dum human with no purpose, and you’d be getting a hiding even if you were because you’re completely disrespectful and downright naughty. Instead, you have a type of power that nobody else possesses in all the worlds, in the whole universe! And you were just going to throw it to the winds by letting something kill you off!” Somehow, reminding himself of that was only getting him angrier.
    SWAP! SWAP! SWAP! “I didn’t mean to!” she promised. “It just happened!”
    “No, it was completely avoidable—” SWAP! SWAP! “—if you’d just do what I tell you to do and stop acting like you know better!” SWAP! SWAP! SWAP!
    Finally, she seemed to reach a breaking point where she began to sob into the bedspread. “Have we learned a lesson?” he asked, knowing how pedantic he sounded, but awaiting an answer anyway. “Will we follow the rules?” SWAP!
    “Yes!” she promised, and continued sobbing.
    “And what will happen if we do