by Allysa Hart
Stripping out of my clothes, I positioned myself in the mirror in a way that allowed me to see the marks Grayson had left with that awful implement. I traced each raised stripe with my fingers, surprised at the angry red color against my white skin. I could still feel the sting of the switch, but now that it wasn’t slicing his displeasure against my skin, I could almost bear it. And as always happened after a spanking, I was horny as fuck. Even more so thanks to Grayson and his evil punishment. I was still balking at his evilness. My fingers traveled to my swollen clit, and I circled the little nub gently. I was so primed.
“Ari, how do you want your eggs?” Grayson’s voice boomed through the door. I grabbed a hand towel and screamed into it. I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how frustrated I was. I would take care of myself in the shower.
“Scrambled, please.”
I had one foot in the shower when I saw movement through the bathroom window and noticed there was someone coming down the lane from the castle. Trepidation seized me, filling my chest with feelings of terror after my close encounter in the boat, but when I looked closer, I realized it was Ruthie.
Terror was replaced with hope, as I quickly shut the water off. I hadn’t seen her in a month, and excitement took over at the thought of even getting to say hello to her. Grabbing my dress, I threw it over my head and darted out of the bathroom and out the back door. As fast as I moved, she was faster, and by the time I reached the lane she was well past me. I yelled her name, but she didn’t hear me. Either that or she was ignoring me. I dropped my chin to my chest, upset I missed a rare opportunity to talk to my best friend. I missed her so much.
Sighing, I watched her retreating back, and wondered what she was doing out of the castle. I didn’t have to wonder long. A piece of paper slipped from a pile she was gripping, and fell onto the lane behind her. Before I could move toward it, a gust of wind picked it up, and it landed at my feet. I spotted my own face on the flier and fell to my knees feeling like somebody had punched me in the gut. In the middle of the page was a photo of me and under it in giant red letters it read: Guilty of Treason.
Treason? How could I be guilty of treason? Confused, and wanting answers, I looked down the path, but Ruthie was completely out of sight. Was she hanging these lies up all over Venus?
“Ari,” Grayson called from somewhere close. I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see anything. The world spun and all I could see were those big bold letters. Wadding the paper into a ball in my hands, I chucked it as far as I could down the lane Ruthie had traveled, and screamed at the top of my lungs.
“That’s what I think of your stupid fucking lies,” I yelled. Grayson put his hand on my shoulder and I spun on him. “She won! She fucking won. I give up. She can keep the crown, the castle, the stupid fucking village of minions. All of it. I’m done.”
Grayson frowned, but I could tell from his face that he wasn’t all too shocked by my outburst or the cause of it. “Watch your language, little girl. Tell me what happened.”
“What happened? You want to know what happened? My parents died and then I died. Lamia killed me and took everything I had. Princess Arianna doesn’t fucking exist anymore.” I stomped over and grabbed the balled up piece of paper, hastily unwrapping it to show Grayson. “This.” I pointed to my picture. “This is a stupid girl who fell for a bunch of lies because she was so naive that she couldn’t see through the bullshit. She is weak, she is gullible, and she deserves every fucking thing that happened to her. She doesn’t get to be happy, she doesn’t get to have friends or family or anything. She gets to live here with an ogre and she gets to watch as everything she ever dreamt as a girl is destroyed. She doesn’t get to live in peace, she gets to be afraid all the time, worried all the time, and sad all the time. The witch wins.” My voice cracked at that final statement, but I swallowed back the tears. I wasn’t going to cry anymore; there was no point. I was just done. Pushing past Grayson, I made my way back up to the house, sign in hand. I dropped it in the kitchen trash before making my way to my room, and locking the door behind me. I needed to be alone.
Hearing Princess Ariana say those things about herself, and watching the pure defeat in her eyes, stunned me into silence. I had done my level best to shield her from the sea hag’s attacks, but I couldn’t keep her imprisoned in her own home. She had already been through that. My palmed itched with the thought of all of the nasty words that had flown from her beautiful lips, but I shoved it down, knowing she needed space to deal with her shock and pain.
I went back to setting the breakfast table before calling her. “Ariana, come eat, sweetheart.”
“I’m not hungry,” she called back. Here we go. I sighed to myself and went to her room. I wiggled the handle, and found it locked.
“Princess, you need to eat.” I knocked, leaning against her doorjamb with my arms crossed, and waited. Eating was the first battle we had every time she had a meltdown. Next would come the self-deprecation. If she stayed true to form, I didn’t know how long I was going to be able to keep from whooping her cute little ass.
“I’ll eat later,” she whined, making no move to unlock the door. “I need to take a shower and I’m tired.”
“Yes, I’m sure you are. You were up early.” I said, trying to remind her of our morning romp instead of the mess that had just transpired.
Finally, I heard her footsteps as she made her way across the room, unlocked the door and flung it open, earlier abandoned towel in hand. I moved to the side so she could pass by, and she looked up at me with pleading eyes. “I’ll eat later, I promise, okay?”
I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all, but I gave in. For the moment. “I’ll give you until after a shower and some rest, then you will put something in your belly.” She looked as if she wanted to protest, so I stopped her by continuing. “I know you’re hurting right now, little one. I can’t even begin to imagine how you feel, but you are mine and we have certain rules, don’t we?”
She nodded, never once making eye contact with me.
“Ariana,” I warned.
“Yes, Grayson.”
“What happens to little girls who don’t follow their daddy’s rules?” I purposefully ignored her use of my name, calling myself daddy to remind her of the way things worked and nudge her into a different headspace.
“Grayson,” she whined, elongating the second half of my name, and stubbornly choosing to ignore my prompting.
“Answer the question, Ariana. Unless, of course, you would like a quick demonstration.”
“They get punished,” she muttered under her breath as she shifted from one foot to another.
“Indeed, and how does Daddy punish you?”
“With spankings.” Her cheeks turned pink and she still had not looked at me. I hooked my finger under her chin and raised her gaze to mine.
“That’s right. I do not have a problem giving you space to process, but you will do so in a healthy way or I will be forced to step in.”
“Yes, Ogre Daddy,” she agreed, finally.
“Good girl. Go take a shower. I’m going to eat, and then I will be in the garden if you need me.”
She didn’t respond, so I moved out of the doorway to let her pass, watching until the bathroom door closed behind her. It was going to be a long day.
I wasn’t wrong. Ari stayed in her room until supper time, but I was not going to let her skip another meal.
I found her curled in a ball on her bed, staring blankly at the wall, unmoving.
“Okay, little one, time to eat.” I spoke gently so as not to startle her.
“I’m really not hungry.”
“We had a deal, sweetie. Are you reneging already? Should I go get your favorite spoon?” I hated resorting to threats when she was feeling like this, but it felt like my only option.
“No, I’m coming.” She got up, albeit slowly. She dragged her feet all the way to the kitchen with me close behind flexing my hand to keep from giving her a swift smack to get he
r moving. She sat at the table but made no move to pick up her fork. I took my spot across from her and folded my hands in front of me.
“Eat, please.”
If she would have moved any slower to obey, the food would have spoiled right there on her plate, but she took one bite, and then another. Once satisfied she was going to continue, I picked up my own fork and stabbed at a piece of potato.
“Did you get any sleep, sweetheart?”
“No.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No.”
“How’s your ass?”
“Fine.”
My attempts at small talk all fell flat so I shifted gears.
“What book do you want to read tonight?”
A flash of interest crossed her features but it was extinguished as fast as it had appeared. She set her fork down and wiped her mouth. “Can I be done?”
I clenched my jaw to hold back every stern edict sitting on the tip of my tongue until I settled on something mild and reasonable.
“I would feel better if you ate a bit more. You haven’t eaten all day.”
“I’m full.”
“If you finish your chicken, I might be able to find you a special dessert,” I coaxed. If sweets didn’t work, nothing would.
She shook her head and took her plate to the sink. “I’m not in the mood. I think I’ll just take my tablet outside and read for a bit.”
She moved like a robot into the kitchen, put her uneaten food in a plastic container, put it away in the fridge and loaded her plate into the dishwasher.
I watched her move, wanting to simultaneously spank, fuck, and cuddle her into a better mood, but I did none of those things. Instead I finished off my own food and after a quick clean up, headed for a bath in the garden. I wanted to be near her without making her feel suffocated. Maybe it was purely selfish, but I needed to stay close or at least feel close. I couldn’t let her shut down emotionally; we had come too damn far for that.
A long day turned into a long week. Ariana did just enough to keep my dominant side at bay, but barely. She was not herself in the slightest. I hated that we had gone so far backwards after all the progress we had made. She was a bigger mess now than when she had first arrived.
In the beginning, she had been at least open to trying to feel better. She had let me hold her during panic attacks and read to her to stave off the nightly anxiety that seemed to creep up at bedtime. She’d giggled when I plied her with baked goods, and jumped for joy when I surprised her with goodies. She had struggled, but there had been more good than bad.
Lately though, she had been an unstable, emotional, cagey nervous wreck who spent her days moping around the cabin. She would chew her fingernails down to the quick, and she jumped every time I made a noise.
Most of the time, she could be found sitting in the garden, staring up at the castle with an intense glare as if by doing so, she could will the spells into breaking, free her friends, and force the villagers to see the truth.
I felt helpless watching her, and I was at my breaking point.
After three evenings of the same, I could no longer keep my silence. “Ariana, little princess,” I cajoled, taking the seat across from her as I had done many times before. “Talk to me. Tell me what is going on with you. You are barely eating, only enough to appease me, and you sit out here for hours every night, staring up at the castle and chewing your nails to the quick.”
“Just thinking,” she answered.
“I got that, but what about?”
She shrugged and turned back to her book, but I saw the telltale glisten of unshed tears.
“What’s the rule about shrugging at daddy, little girl?”
She visibly swallowed, looking up at me with wide eyes, but her expression was frustratingly unreadable. I needed something from her. Something that called me to action. Some reason to turn her over my knee and spank the answers right out of her. But again she gave me none.
“Sorry, I just… I have questions you know? And you can’t answer them and I can’t ask the people who can and…” she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders, as she stared off into the distance. “I just sometimes think it would have been a whole lot better if I would have gone down with my parents.”
That comment hit deep in my gut and coiled there. It hadn’t been that long since I got her back, but I couldn’t imagine life without my little princess by my side. She made my life less about surviving and more about thriving and enjoying. I knelt in front of her and placed my palms on both her cheeks to get her attention.
“If you ever insinuate something like that again, you will not sit comfortably for a good long while. You are the most important thing in my life, do you understand me, Princess?”
She nodded as much as my grasp would allow, but I didn’t move until she gave me the words I wanted to hear.
“Yes, Ogre Daddy.”
“Good girl.” I kissed her forehead, allowing myself time to linger and breathe her in. God, I missed her. I couldn’t keep letting her do this to herself. The lies breeding inside her were eating her alive, consuming her. I wanted her spunk back. I craved her sass, her smile, her special ways of driving me insane. I had to figure out a way to help her learn to let go.
Lying in bed that night, I devised a plan in my head. The risk was high, but the reward was higher. I loved her enough to take that chance. My little princess was in for one hell of a wake-up call.
“Ariana, sweetie,” I called, making my deep timbre sound as soft and cajoling as I possibly could. “I’ve got a plate of triple chocolate cookies hot from the oven and a cup of warm tea for you.”
I held a large tray in one hand as I came around the corner to where she sat in the garden, staring up at the castle as she did every night.
She didn’t even look at me. “No thank you, Grayson. I’m not hungry.”
I set the tray down and sighed. It was the most she had said to me all day.
Walking over, I extended my hand in front of her. “Ariana, it’s time to come inside.”
Her brow crinkled and she opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off, with my voice at its ogriest timbre. “Now, Ariana.”
She looked at me then, her eyes widening when she caught sight of my hard jaw and no nonsense expression. I wasn’t happy, but I was calm.
She wasn’t happy either, but she put her hand in mine, and allowed me to lead her inside. I didn’t let go in the kitchen, or the dining room, keeping my hold tight as I led her through the house to her bedroom. I directed her to the bed and she sat.
“Do not move,” I commanded, finally freeing her hand.
“Okay,” she agreed with a worried frown. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, little princess, you are not in trouble, but it is time for a lesson.”
I left the room then, offering no explanation of my cryptic statement, and returned quickly with the brand new wooden spoon she had bought me after I had taken the first one to her ass, and an old leather belt that used to fit me, once upon a time.
I could feel her eyes on me as I set the items down on the nightstand one by one, but she said nothing, and neither did I. I definitely had her attention though, as I tiptoed from the room and came back with my stool. I didn’t dare sit upon her bed, and risk it breaking under me.
I used this stool for one thing, and one thing only. To sit upon with Ariana either on my lap or over it. Her face fell when she saw it. “You said I wasn’t in trouble.”
“And you are not.” I sat down, and grabbed her hand, pulling her to sit curled in my lap. “But you are getting a spanking.”
“But… why?” Her lip quivered, and a lone tear fell down her cheek.
“Do you trust me, little princess?” I asked, knowing what the answer would be.
“With my life.”
“That’s the thing, Ari. You don’t have much of a life these days. You may as well still be captive up there in the castle for all the time you spend staring at it.”
“Ariana, we want the same things. I would like nothing more than to see the reign of Queen Lamia come to an epic and bitter end. I want your friends to see the truth and the light as you have. I want to be changed back into the man I once was, and be able to live a full life again. And more than anything else, little princess, I want to see you take your place upon the throne as the rightful Queen of Venus.”
Her shoulders lifted and fell with a sad sigh. “I don’t care about that part.”
“I know you don’t, Ari, but hear me out. None of that will matter if you don’t forgive yourself. The queen could be cast far beneath the sea, never to be seen or heard from again, but if you continue to allow her to rule in your heart, she will always win.”
“You don’t understand.” Ariana wept, pressing her face against my shirt. “These are my friends. My kingdom. I let them down.””
“This was not your fault, Ariana, and these lies you keep telling yourself are the reason you are getting a spanking.”
“I don’t want a spanking, Grayson.” She blinked up at me with wet lashes, pushing her bottom lip into a pout.
“I know you don’t, Princess. And I want you to understand that this is not a punishment for anything you have done wrong. This is a therapy spanking. We are going to clear out all those past hurts. We are going to name out your fears one by one, and we are going to replace them with truth.”
“That sounds hard. I don’t think we should do that.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” I agreed. “But it is important. Because, Ariana, no matter what happens, no matter who is freed, and which spells are broken and who sees the truth, and who doesn’t, you, my princess, are the true queen, and it is high time you start behaving like one. A queen rises above her trials, and finds the silver lining in her mistakes, do you understand me?”