Free Droit De Seigneur by Carolyn Faulkner

and joined her, but with the King only an hour away, he knew he couldn’t do that in good conscience. He knew how that would end, and he didn’t have time for it, especially considering that she obviously needed to be reminded that she had been prohibited from doing exactly this.
    So, as she climbed, naked and glistening out of the water, he appeared out of the forest, walking onto the shore and preventing her from reaching for her clothes. Instead, he appropriated the scrap of cloth she’d brought to dry herself with and proceeded to do it himself, rubbing her briskly but gently all over until she was entirely dry, and even taking several swipes at her hair, but giving up since there was so much of it. But he did manage to get a lot of the water out of it, and seemed to enjoy running his hands and the cloth through it.
    Amber had stood docilely throughout this process, which had surprised him somewhat.
    That wasn’t like her, and he was a tad suspicious. But he didn’t waste any time once he thought he’d gotten her to the point where she’d be a little more comfortable standing out of the water, and he brought her a bit to his side, bent her over while holding her with one arm, and stepped on that long hair of hers with his foot, which trapped her right where he wanted her. She couldn’t get up without scalping herself, and her bare bottom was exactly where he wanted it. The wooden training sword he’d been using earlier in the day was the perfect implement to help refresh her memory about the rule he had set for her. It wasn’t as if he had made a thousand of them. She should have been able to obey that one.
    “What did I say to you not too long ago about staying close to the castle, Amber?” She had forgotten. She really had. There had been so much hustle and bustle with the King arriving shortly, and she just couldn’t stand it any longer. Amber had made sure she’d gotten everything done that she could, helping everywhere she could, but she needed to escape for a while, just one last time, knowing she’d be pressed into service in every possible way while he was here, so she ducked into the woods to swim and bathe while she thought no one would miss her.
    Of course, he would notice, and she would end up punished, as always. It seemed he never missed a chance to blister her for one reason or another. Sir Piers punished her three or four times more often than her father ever had.
    She shuddered to think what he was using on her now. Amber could feel the welts rising individually each time his arm fell, and, as usual, she was crying almost before he’d begun spanking her. It annoyed her to no end that she had so little control of herself around the person she wished she had the most control! Her emotions seemed so scattered with him, and it was as if he knew her body much better than she did – how to deliver it searing pain and unbelievable ecstasy, sometimes in the same instant.
    It was in the middle of this disciplinary session that they heard thunderous hoof beats, and before they knew it, they were descended upon by a large army of men bearing the King’s crest, and then by the King himself, who stepped to the forefront and required that his men, who found the scene to be quite comical, step well back into the woods.
    William, who knew and liked Piers quite well, walked down to the shore, where both of his subjects were on their knees to him, one quite prettily but unintentionally giving him a very nice view of English scenery, indeed.
    “Rise, rise, the both of you.”
    Piers did so immediately, handing Amber her new tunic and shoving her behind him to don it quickly.
    Amber was shaking so badly that it took her five times longer than it might have, because she knew the King of England was a mere ten feet from her.
    When she was done, she barely peeped around Piers, wanting to sink to her knees again, but William wouldn’t hear of it. “I see you’ve found a fair English flower with whom to