by Maggie Ryan
Perhaps it was her shame at gazing so intently at another girl's backside or the knowledge that her own would soon be exposed. Perhaps it was simply the knowledge she was totally naked beneath the gown or the sensation of feeling the soft fabric swishing across her skin. Whatever the reason, Alexandria's body grew warmer with each step. Her stomach continued to flutter, and a tingle and a feeling of wetness began to fill her quim.
Struggling with the sensations she was experiencing, Alexandria almost bumped into Penny before she realized the line had stopped moving. Expecting to be led to Miss Summer's office, she was surprised when Nanny Margaret opened a set of doors and moved aside. Nanette stepped across the threshold, the others following to enter a room Alexandria had not yet seen. Glancing around, she felt her heart skip a beat. Thick, plush carpet felt soothing against her chilled feet. Floor to ceiling windows bathed the room in sunlight. The room looked huge as it didn't contain much furniture. What it did contain had her trembling.
Ten benches were arranged in a wide circle. Though slightly resembling the prie-dieu found in a church, these were different. A bench to kneel upon was covered in burgundy leather. A padded bar where one could brace her elbows as she folded her hands in prayer had what appeared to be a length of white cloth draped across it. Unlike the prie-dieu, another bar was positioned near the floor, a foot or so out from the kneeling platform. However, what truly set these apart from a bench a repentant person would use to say their prayers—what identified these as places where physical penance was to be made—was the leather strap hanging from a hook on the side. The strap was about three inches wide and eighteen inches long. Just the sight of it had her bottom squirming.
Alexandria's legs began to shake as she watched Penny cross the circle to a bench and move gracefully to kneel, linking her hands behind her back. All too soon, Alexandria knelt on her own bench, her tummy flipping as she understood that not only was she to witness her sisters' atonements; they would witness hers as well. For some reason she found strength in the fact that she was not alone. Glancing over her shoulder, a soft smile appeared on her lips as she quickly looked around the circle. She was no longer alone, she had nine new members of her family. Every girl in this room would make an atonement, bottoms would be burning, some far more than others, and yet together they would garner support from their sisters. Once the benches all supported kneeling girls, nannies moved around the circle and lifted the white lengths of cloth.
Juliette bent close as she picked up the fabric. "This is your blindfold, Alexandria. It will not harm you. It helps you to focus your attention of your atonement without the distraction of sight. Keep your face forward at all times."
Alexandria managed a nod and closed her eyes as the blindfold was placed around her head and tied at the back. Expecting to be a bit frightened despite her nanny's assurances, she was somewhat surprised to feel a sense of calmness slowly spreading through her.
"You're to remain just as you are. You'll be given instructions when it is your turn."
She nodded again and felt her nanny's lips brush across her cheek before sensing Juliette moving away to leave her alone with her thoughts. She understood the arrangement of the benches was symbolic. A circle had no true beginning or end. Each bench was a link in a chain. Each link was separate, and yet when joined together, they made a stronger unit. Just as each kneeling girl was an individual, she was also joined as one in the ceremony.
Alexandria's stomach fluttered and her hands clenched each other tightly as she waited her turn. God, how must Claudia and Janey feel? It was hard enough to be kneeling with a white ribbon around her hair. She couldn't imagine kneeling on the bench to Nanette's left—the last link—knowing that atonement increased with every change of color. Her new friends' ribbons visually stated that each would receive multiple strokes of the cane—for some, over wheals that most likely still decorated their bottoms.
She stiffened when she heard the door opening. Alexandria strained to listen for anything that would tell her what was happening. After what seemed like a lifetime, she jerked as the sharp snap of a strap landed against a bottom. Atonement had begun.
She listened as the strokes continued, surprised not to hear Nanette crying more loudly than the soft gasps and mews barely heard from where she continued to kneel. After counting six strokes, she heard Nanette saying, "Thank you." A few moments passed before she heard the snap again, the sound a bit louder as Penny's bottom paid its own price. It seemed like only a second had passed before she heard the girl give her thanks.
Hearing her name being spoken by Miss Summers, she shuddered. "Atonement is given and received in silence, Alexandria. However, since this is your first time in the circle, I will instruct you verbally so you know what to expect in the future. When you feel the strap tap against your bottom, you are to bend across the bar in front of you."
Alexandria lifted her hands to find the bar and then bent forward, her waist supported by the padded leather.
"You are to reach back and part your gown to bare your bottom. Doing so demonstrates your willingness to atone and submit to the discipline your naughtiness has earned you. After baring yourself, bend far forward, head down and grip the bar in front, and spread your knees to the edges of the bench."
It was the hardest thing Alexandria had ever done. Even her examination the day before had been easier. Easier because her Papa had been with her. Though she'd been spanked by her nanny without his comforting presence, this was different somehow. She realized she felt almost a reverence as her hands moved to pull apart the fabric of her gown, pushing it to fall from her sides until the entirety of her bottom was bared. Bending forward, her hands found the thin rail near the floor. Her legs slid apart and her body quivered as she felt air flowing across her skin. She realized that the position exposed not only her bottom, but the entirety of her sex. Shame colored her skin with the knowledge that her quim felt hot—hot and moist.
Her head arched up as the first stroke exploded against her rear. The gasp she gave barely had time to leave her throat before her cry signified the pain of the second. This was nothing she'd experienced before. The strap was less flexible and longer than the tawse she'd felt the day before, easily covering both of her cheeks. It was also wider, allowing the strokes to overlap each other, the leather seeming to mold perfectly against her cringing buttocks.
"Oh, oh, please," she gasped as the third landed. Even knowing she was halfway through her punishment, she wondered if she'd be able to remain in position until it was done.
"Silence, Alexandria. Unclench your bottom. Soften your buttocks and let them hang loose. Push your backside well out. You must show you are submitting and willing to make your atonement."
She amended her earlier thought. Having to consciously relax her already throbbing bottom, having to push it up and out as if asking for the strap to continue was the hardest thing she'd ever done. The moment she managed to obey, the evil leather descended to strike across her rear. No matter how she tried to hold still, her bottom trembled, wagging up and down as the fire built. Tears filled her eyes as she bit her lip, struggling to be as brave and accepting as her sisters before her. With a sob, she stilled her backside, pushing it out again and accepting the fifth stroke with only another short cry.
"Six is the count for those wearing white ribbons. This is the last, but it will also be the hardest. Lower yourself further over the bar and lift your bottom up high to offer me your sit-spots."
Alexandria had never heard the reference before but remembered the feeling of the last tawse strokes the day before. They had hurt worse than the previous ones, as they had been placed right beneath the curve of her buttocks, lifting each cheek as the stroke was given. Knowing this was the one that would make sitting the most difficult, she clenched her eyes tighter beneath the blindfold and pushed her bottom up. When the stroke came, she cried out loudly, her hips gyrating as she struggled to accept the lesson. Remembering the words of her sisters, she hung her head b
ut gave her whisper of thanks. An inexplicable wave of total surrender consumed her, and left her feeling as pure as the gown she was wearing.
Chapter Twelve
Max had never seen anything quite so beautiful, quite so erotic. He handed the strap to Eleanor, who hung it on its hook. Though he wanted nothing more than to pull Lexie from the bench, to cradle her against him as she cried the tears he could see sliding down her cheeks, he remained absolutely silent, stepping back towards the center of the room as the next man stepped forward, accepting the strap from the woman they all trusted to care for and to teach the women they'd placed in her capable hands.
Though he was aware of the movements and sounds of discipline being given and received as the ritual of Atonement continued, his eyes were on the only one that mattered. The moment the doors to the room had opened, allowing the men to slip inside, he'd found her instantly. The fire of her hair drew him to her, and the sight of her kneeling blindfolded on the prie-dieu had taken his breath away. He'd known she was beautiful but she looked ethereal in the white gown. Except for her dainty feet, every inch of her skin was covered, and yet he knew that beneath the gown she was naked. No chemise covered her breasts, her quim and arse weren't concealed by any drawers.
As she heard the first stroke of the ritual being given, he saw the slight jerk she'd been unable to control. He'd seen her head lower as the second girl was strapped and saw her body begin to quiver when she heard that girl say her thanks.
His cock stirred in his trousers from the moment he'd seen her kneeling but as she listened to Eleanor's instructions, it thickened to press against the confinement of his clothing. Watching the woman who would be both his special little one as well as his wife obediently reach behind her and bare her bottom to the room had him praying the self-control he thought he possessed wouldn't be pushed past his limit.
Taking the strap from Eleanor, he waited as Alexandria shifted her legs apart and bent to grip the lower bar tightly, and had to bite back his own gasp. What he had seen the day before, what Thomas had acknowledged discovering, was again within his view. Her quim was slick, her labia parting slightly with her position to reveal the white cream of her arousal. Her clitoris, that nubbin he would teach her so many things about, was visible and turning a darker color. Her small cheeks were parted by her position, the tightly puckered opening of her bottom-hole visible. She'd learn that just as she used her hands to part her gown for punishment, she'd use those same hands to part her buttocks to offer that small, hidden orifice for both its own punishment and to discover pleasure as well.
With Eleanor's nod, he lifted the strap and laid it across her buttocks, hearing her soft cry and louder gasp as he gave her the second. He paused when he realized that her bottom was clenched tightly, as he wanted her to learn to submit properly, to willingly accept the pain he placed upon her body. Eleanor had instantly understood and after her verbal instructions, he'd watched Lexie struggle to obey, and when she did, he was so very proud. He would prove to her from the very beginning that punishment was just that—his next two strokes finished covering her backside, her skin a uniform red with darker areas indicating where the strokes had overlapped. When she lifted her bottom to offer her sit-spots, he'd seen her clit again and its condition had his cock aching. It was no longer just pink, it was swollen and very prominent between her lips. It glistened, and though he wished to drop the strap, sink to his knees and run his tongue across the bud, knowing he'd find the taste of her to be ambrosia, he lifted the strap and gave her the last stroke, leaving a stripe of red across her sit-spots that would most likely have her squirming on his lap when he finally held her that evening.
Max watched as she quivered, knowing she was listening as the ceremony continued. When the sound of the cane thwacked across the bottom of the girl next to her, Alexandria's body stiffened before relaxing again. She was obviously sympathetic to her sisters' pain but that didn't surprise him. He had seen her with the other orphans and knew she had a loving soul. The level of punishment increased as Eleanor moved around the circle. Each man knew what the ribbons in their girl's hair meant. Six of the strap increased by one, and two strokes of the cane erased each demerit as white became pink, pink became yellow and so on… until the last girl, the only one wearing a red ribbon, parted her gown and bent forward. But it was not yet her turn, Claudia Lloyds was bending first, offering herself for her chastisement. The strap bit into her already well-marked bottom nine times.
From where he was standing, Max had watched Charles Lloyds accept the cane from Eleanor. Charles was the highly respected headmaster of a prestigious local boarding school and had found his love there. Claudia had been rather a spoiled brat when she was first enrolled in the school but under his tutelage, had not only learned to behave but had fallen in love with the man who never hesitated to take her in hand. Charles had continued her lessons by placing her in Eleanor's special school whenever he believed she needed a refresher course. He loved his wife dearly and never allowed her past tendencies to go unanswered.
Did the professor think about multiplication before he lifted the cane? Was he even now solving the problem in his head to find that four twice over gave the sum of eight? Max watched as his friend demonstrated the laws of probability to his wife. The miscreant had just learned that her excessive naughtiness, signified by the purple ribbon in her hair, would result in a cane landing across her arse one hundred percent of the time. After six perfectly spaced lines had been placed, Charles stepped slightly to the side and laid the next diagonally across his wife's bottom. Though she'd cried out with each of the previous ones, this stroke, laid across the others, had her head rearing back and her cry much louder, her bottom dropping to the bench between her knees.
Eleanor spoke firmly from her position beside Charles. "Into position, Claudia. You have another stroke coming. Lift your bottom high so that the gate might be closed."
Claudia's bottom lifted as Charles moved again. When she bent further forward, he placed the last stroke diagonally in the opposite direction, her backside now bearing a crimson 'X'.
"Tha… thank, you," she whispered.
Her thanks had the last girl trembling as Lord Carrington stepped forward. His face showed his displeasure in knowing that his wife had obviously been the naughtiest, her red ribbon indicating the highest count of strokes. After strapping her ten times, he accepted the cane Charles offered him. As the rod landed with a solid crack, Lady Carrington gave a sharp cry and Max listened as Alexandria gave a soft moan. Stepping a bit closer, he watched her reaction to each crack and each cry. By the time ten fresh wheals, the last two forming another perfect 'X', had joined the barely faded ones on Janey's rump, Max had learned a great deal about his Lexie without having to speak. The whiteness of her blindfold seemed even brighter against her flushed face. Though her cheeks were still tear-stained from her tears slipping from beneath her blindfold, her quim was practically dripping onto the bench beneath her. Her arousal had not ended with the completion of the day's Atonement ritual. Instead, he had no doubt whatsoever that if he so much as touched the prominent protrusion of her pulsing clit, his innocent girl would scream the loudest of any of the young women as she experienced her first culmination.
The men reluctantly filed out of the room as silently as they had entered. Blindfolds kept the girls innocent of the fact that it was not their headmistress doling out the needed discipline; that instead the discipline was given by the men they were learning to serve. When they were sent to her office, Eleanor did indeed punish the miscreants but on Sundays, it was their husbands or fiancés who extracted the price from the ones they loved.
The men would return that evening to spend time with the girls. Until then, matters of intimate hygiene were to be addressed and naps taken. By the time the girls joined their Papas, they would be refreshed and their bottoms not quite so tender. During previous visits to the school, thinking perhaps he'd find his love among the rare women who entered training of their own v
olition, Max had seen men take their wife or intended into one of the smaller, private rooms to dole out additional punishment. Even though all had witnessed that same man as he had wielded the strap at the least, the cane at the most only hours before, evening punishment was done in privacy. Punishment by her husband or fiancé reminded the student that any misbehavior that had earned correction at the school was also addressed by her Papa.
Husbands had the duty to chastise their little ones, and yet also had the opportunity to express their forgiveness is a far more pleasurable way. Until his little Lexie had come to accept her budding desire to offer herself in complete submission, to beg him to take her completely, he would offer his own version of atonement. She'd find herself both draped across his knees for a spanking, and cradled in his arms, discovering that pain was not all she would feel given by the man she had wed.
*****
Inside the room, Alexandria felt a hand on her arm, gently pulling to indicate she was to move back into the kneeling position. "Use your hands to keep your gown parted. Your bottom is to remain displayed."
She did as instructed as the blindfold was removed. She was helped to stand and turned to face the inner circle. Feeling a bit ashamed of herself, she could not help but watch as one after another, the girls stood. Seeing bottoms with distinct, vivid wheals had her heart stuttering and her breath held in her lungs. Her gaze darted around the room to see that Claudia and Janey's bottoms bore the greatest example of why she didn't wish to be naughty. Angry, fresh welts had been laid over previous ones, turning their backsides crimson. Seeing the cross on their bottoms, Miss Summers' words about a gate became clear. Suddenly the six strokes she had received no longer felt as horrid. When Janey stood and turned, their eyes met. Alexandria saw the girl give her a shaky smile and a very slight nod of her head. The most support Alexandria could offer was a smile and nod of her own.