ask Cook to go ahead with the service as there’s no reason everyone in the household be made to wait to break their fast. If you see his lordship, please inform him that I am waiting for Lucille to decide exactly how long she wishes to remain over my knee, her bloomers lowered to bare her little bottom before making her request for a proper tawsing.”
Lucy flushed yet again and saw Molly giving her a look that seemed to convey that as sorry as she was for her mistress, she was very glad not to be forced to remain to witness seeing Lucy get her bum reddened.
“Yes, ma’am,” Molly said, giving a quick curtsy before leaving the room.
Angry at having her apologies totally ignored, Lucy was even more determined to win this ridiculous war. Her mum had always said one had to pick one’s battles and she was picking this one. Hell itself could freeze over before she’d surrender. The sound of voices had her lifting her head, tilting it in order to hear what was being said outside the door Molly had forgotten to pull closed behind her. Gritting her teeth, she prepared herself to ignore whichever servant entered her room. If a bit of embarrassment at having yet another person see her bare bottom was the cost of victory, so be it. Lowering her face to allow the witness anonymity, her head jerked up again when she realized that one of the voices she heard quite distinctly did not belong to any servant.
“I see, thank you, Molly.”
Those words were said in a voice she’d recognize anywhere and in a tone that had her buttocks quivering. Swallowing her pride, she said, “Please, Mrs. Bremmer, I… I accept now that you must have the authority to sp… spank me. Please, just this once… please forgive me. I… I promise never to speak to you with such rudeness again.”
“Child, that is not what you were instructed to do now was it?”
It wasn’t what she wished to hear, but at least the woman was speaking to her. Lucy felt her heart racing and swore she could hear every footfall of Edward’s boots on the floor of the hall and quickly answered, “No, but I’ve learned my lesson. I-I don’t need a span… spanking.”
“You were instructed to request your tawsing, young lady. You’ll find a bottom that has been attended to by an expertly applied tawse feels very different from one given a simple spanking,” Anna informed her. The leather continued to move and stroke Lucy’s bottom. “Try again, Lucille, as every moment you are making me wait to attend to your naughty bottom will make your coming chastisement harder to accept. I’m afraid your poor bottom is in for quite the lesson already. Do you really wish it to be extended?”
Lucy hung her head, all thoughts of pleading for mercy draining from her body. Despite the past weeks of being perfectly behaved, it seemed nothing would stop this punishment. She might have thought she had been within her rights to question the removal of her belongings, but it was now quite obvious that Mrs. Bremmer considered her to have been defiant and disrespectful. And Lucy was all too familiar with what happened to little girls who were considered naughty. They paid the price for that naughtiness with any one of several horrid implements being applied to their bare bottoms.
“Please… oh, please, Mrs. Bremmer,” she begged, her voice cracking as the first sob escaped her. “I’m so sorry… I… oh, God, please don’t do this. I-I just didn’t want to wear Louisa’s clothes and be a little girl. It… it isn’t fair… it isn’t right for him to require this of me. I’m… I’m a grown woman,” Lucy said, her voice breaking.
“We’ve already established that you are not a ‘big girl,’ Lucille. Regardless of your opinion, fair or not, disrespect and blatant misbehavior are never, ever overlooked in this house. You did not act as a grown woman and simply converse with me about something you didn’t understand. Had you, perhaps you would have discovered your beliefs are incorrect. However, we will not be able to converse about anything except what is to happen to this poor little bottom. Now do your duty, Lucille, or perhaps you’d like your entire lesson applied right here?” Anna ended her statement with another swipe of the tawse against Lucy’s sit spot.
The threat… no, the promise was the final push Lucy needed. “Please… please may I have