It wasnât much of a discussion. It was more like a begging ceremony, where Ellie tried her best to keep Peyton from taking the skin off her after he dragged her by the scruff of the neck of the coat heâd lent her to the gardens to snap a fresh switch. Sheâd never been switched before, but she still had bruises from earlier, and thus, she didnât really want to find out what the combination would be like.
âNow, Peyton, if you just hear me outââ she said, her eyes following the switchâs every movement as he quickly tested his choice on his thigh.
Peyton didnât hear her out. In another moment, he had grabbed her upper arm and wheeled her down to her bedroom.
âI know what I saw,â he retorted. âAnd what I saw was you lose your mind. Iâm gonna tan the brains back into you, girl!â
She tried to grab at the door frame of her room as he tried to yank her in, knowing as soon as the door closed behind them, she was in for a world of hurt. âWell, I can kind of explain that if youâAck!â She forgot how strong Peyton could be if he wanted toâshe was surprised she didnât take a chunk of the door with her when he pulled her in and shut the door behind them.
He started stripping the bark off the switch heâd found as Ellie regained her footing. âAlright, before you go nutsâI told you that the whole thing downstairs was weird. Maybe I did lose my mind! I donât know. I couldnât help it, though, Peyton. I mean, Grahamâs actually kind of an ass, but I was stillâŚâ
âLettinâ him in between your legs like a lilâ hussy? Yeah. I saw,â Peyton assured grimly.
She blushed profusely before she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. âIâm not a hussy, Peyton,â she finally said, feeling small. âI know I put you at risk, though, and I AM super-sorry.â
âRisk? Risk? You were about to screw meâand not in the good way!â he blared. âMay I remind you of what would happen if youâŚâ
âI wasnât thinking about youâŚâ she admitted. âI just⌠forgot.â
Peyton looked at her with a very intimidating, very offended expression. âYeah? Well, consider this your reminder, kiddo. Pants off.â
She, instead, put her hands on her pants like she was determined to hold them onto her hips at all costs. âI have something important to talk to you about!â
âAlright,â he said, tapping the switch impatiently against the side of his leg. âTalk. It better be REAL educational.â
She shifted her weight foot to foot, staring at the switch. âI canât talk when you have that⌠thing in your hand,â she told him.
âTalk,â he ordered.
âOkayâŚâ She bit her lip for a moment, and then unleashed everything. She basically recited everything word-for-word, but in the end, Peyton just looked more pissed than he was. He didnât say anything, though, just locked his jaw and stared at her.
She got goose bumps over her arms as she realized that the reason he didnât say anything, or move, is because if he did, he was afraid of hurting her.
âCan I change my shirt, at least?â she said, her posture an illustration of capitulation.
âStrip,â he ordered, but it was a short, controlled word.
âPeytonâŚâ Peyton hadnât seen her completely naked since her first day at the palace, when he ripped about a thousand towels off her body so that he would be able to leather her bottom, resulting in a lesson that she thought she wouldnât have to learn twice: Never blatantly disobey Peyton. She couldnât believe that she would be forced to be naked now. Now they knew each other.
Peyton wasnât in the mood to be whined at, or to wait as she pretended to still have shame left. He stepped toward her, and she covered her body as if she was already nude. He made short work of undressing her against her willâalthough Ellie was strong in spirit, she wasnât particularly strong in any other way. Especially up against a powerhouse-type like Peyton.
And she didnât try that hard, anyway. By the time he took his own jacket from her, her eyes welled up with tears.
She was wailing by the time he ripped her pants down to her ankles.
âStop your bellyachinâ,â he snapped. âWe havenât even begun yet, Princess.â
Somehow, that wasnât reassuring enough to get her to stop wailing and begging him until he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her bed, forcing her down on it. She was helplessâpinned by the small of her back.
And then he began to switch her.
It certainly didnât feel like how she feared. No, noâit felt a million times worse. It turned out that she wasnât very creative. Her mind hadnât even begun to FATHOM the type of pain that went along with a switching. Mostly because she had never equated itching with painâor was it itching? The way her skin seemed to quiver after a switching was uncomfortable enough to make her want to soothe the hot, inflamed welts it left behind, but it was a pain that couldnât be scratched away.
It was surely possible that the entire palace could hear her caterwauling; it was as if she was trying to get her vengeance on Peyton by making his ears bleed. But he didnât stopâhe bit the switch into her flanks with such skill, youâd think he was a professional.
He even was able to lecture her, audible around her sobs. âOh, this could get SO much worse,â he promised. âI told you NOT to talk to them, and then what do you do? Blatantly disobey me and WORSE. Do you knowâdo you have any ideaâwhat could happen to you if you allowed that to happen? If I didnât come in just in that second? How could you be so thoughtless? So selfish? So goldarn stupid? After all weâve been through, you go behind my back and do that⌠Thereâs no excuse! None whatsoever!â
He wasnât interested in just scorching her bottom for her, either. He switched her all the way down to the bend of her knees, until she brought up her feet protectively, and then he grabbed them both in turn until each pad of her foot had a couple of stripes across each of them.
âSpread your legs wider,â he ordered above her sobs.
She wanted to call out, âAre you crazy?â but she wouldnât dare. Still, she knew if she spread her legs wide, which she had taken great care to keep from doing thus far in the punishment it would only give him new, tender targets.
Still, it didnât look like the switching would end until she did it, so, slowly, she began to edge of her feet carefully away from each other. Peyton grabbed her inner thigh with his large hand and forced them wider before he leaned over and issued blows to that area and thenâ
SWISH-SWICK! He hit the tender, swollen lips of her labia with the flexible wand.
She thought she was going to die.
To keep this short; she began to make promises and apologies. All sorts! She promised eternal obedience, she apologized for talking to the Swarii, she apologized for looking at them, she apologized for being born, and she promised that she would stay a virgin for the rest of her life.
She would have promised to turn into a pink elephant, too, if she thought that would make any difference.
Finally, it stopped. She continued to cry, but her throat hurt too much to even speak, after all her yelping. There wasnât much to say on her behalfâshe had been thoroughly punished; she had gone against Peytonâs wishes and his trust and risked his life, and probably her own. She did feel stupid.
She didnât move. Peyton dropped the switch to her side and announced that she would stay in her room all night, and would go without dinner. She didnât want it, anyway. How could she eat, or move around the palace, after that? All she wanted to do when Peyton left the room and locked the door behind him as if she was a naughty little girl, was to crawl up to her bed and cry into her pillow until she went to sleep, and thatâs exactly what she did.
