A hard punishment, given out of love and care.

Moments later, Marcus found himself in a position which he was...growing more familiar with. He was draped across Kihara's muscled thighs, his belly resting on her lap, and his legs dangling from one side. Even with the thin covering of his silk shorts, his bottom felt very exposed and **** as it quivered in the air across her knee. Knowing that his lover was about to give him another hard spanking made him shiver with a strange mixture of nervousness and anticipation, and as he wriggled into place against the hard muscles of her legs he felt his little dick start to ache and throb, already growing hard in the soft silk covering of his shorts.

"You look nervous little one." Kihara purred, just the rough sound of her voice enough to make his skin flush and tingle. She wasn't angry anymore, in fact she seemed relieved they'd worked things out, but he was under no illusions here. Just because she was calm and in control didn't mean she was going to go easy on him. Quite the opposite in fact. As she'd told him, it was her responsibility to punish him when he was bad and she was a woman who took all her responsibilities very seriously. Her hand slid under his belly and he let out a hoarse gasp as her teasing fingers gently cupped his stiff dick through the thin silk of his shorts. "And yet, you're so very hard." She continued, just her light touch on his sensitive erection making him moan and squirm across her muscled thighs. "I think this naughty part of you is still convinced you're going to enjoy your punishment."

"I...um...I don't know about that." Marcus stammered, blushing even hotter. He knew he definitely wasn't going to enjoy this, she'd make sure of that...probably, but that didn't mean he could deny the appeal her taking control and punishing him for his naughtiness still had, even after he'd found out exactly how painful her spankings could be.

"Well, I'll just have to spank you extra hard to make sure that doesn't happen." Kihara nodded. "This isn't fun like we had in the bath yesterday. It's a punishment, and you wouldn't learn much of anything if you enjoyed it." Her hand slipped from his dick and he gasped out as she took hold of his silk shorts instead. In an instant she'd pulled them down his legs, baring his soft bottom to the air. The young prince glanced up, giving her a pleading look with big, blue eyes. He'd thought at least he'd have what tiny protecting the thin silk shorts would have given from her stinging palm. "I told you before, little one." She shook her head, her lip curling ever so slightly. "Naughty boys always get spanked on their bare bottoms." Her hand rested on his soft cheeks, gently stroking over the smooth curves, and he shivered across her lap. The feeling of her warm, callused palm on his bare bottom was comforting, but...it left him even more aware that same hand was about to be spanking him instead. "Hmm, before I start, I want to hear it from your lips." Kihara said, continuing to gently stroke her soft skin under her palm. His bottom tingled under the attention, feeling even more sensitive, which...wasn't exactly a good thing right now. "Ask me to spank you, little one."

"Yes...Kihara." Marcus nodded quickly. "Um...please spank me on the bare bottom." He blushed hotter, confused how he could feel so embarrassed saying that when he was already half naked and in her lap anyway.

"And why is that you need to be punished?" She continued, her fingers gently squeezing in, sinking into the supple flesh of his bottom.

"Because...because I didn't trust you." The young prince whimpered, the words making his heart twist inside his chest. "I convinced myself of stupid things and ran away rather than talking to you like I should have. So, you're teaching me better, you're teaching me that I need to come to you first."

"Exactly so." She nodded again, giving his bottom another gentle pat. "Are you ready?" She asked, her hand still resting on his soft skin. Marcus swallowed hard, trying to relax his body across her lap. He knew he didn't have a hope of enduring this with any bravery. The best he could do now was show Kihara he could be a good boy after all by accepting his rightful punishment without struggling or pleading too much. After how awful he'd behaved, running away from her and refusing to believe in her, he deserved much worse. The young prince bit his lip hard, trying to push that thought away. Even knowing those were the sort of feelings that had made him end up here, his bottom bared across her lap for another spanking, it was still hard to keep them from slipping into his head like that. Kihara knew best, and if she'd decided a spanking was what he needed, then that was that. "I asked if you were ready, little one." Kihara repeated, her voice rather sterner now, making him tense.

"Yes." He breathed. "Um sorry, I'm ready." He knew he really wasn't, but he needed this all the same. Her hand slipped away, and he lowered his head, staring down into the sheets of her bed. There was a moment's pause, as Marcus struggled to prepare himself, even knowing it would do no good. Then he felt her tense slightly and her firm palm cracked across his soft cheeks, the sharp smacking sound filling his ears. He jerked forward across her lap, letting out a high-pitched yelp of shock. Oh, that had been hard. It took a moment for his brain to catch up, and for the sharp, stinging pain to bloom across his soft skin. Just long enough, in fact for her to raise her hand and spank him again, just as hard. His legs jerked up as her palm landed with another stinging crack that filled his ears. "Ow." The young prince sobbed, tears already starting to fill his eyes and dribble down his cheeks. In just a few moments he understood this was going to be nothing like the playful swats she'd given him in the bath, nothing like his shy fantasies of going across her knee.

Kihara didn't pause or hesitate, not even for an instant. Her hand just kept rising and falling, each time landing another sharp smack across his bare, quivering cheeks. He felt each firm spank jolt through his body, followed moments later by the stinging heat in his sensitive skin. With each slap of her hand, the pain grew, and soon Marcus was squealing and sobbing, hardly able to gasp as his chest heaved with each **** breath. He bucked across her lap like a trapped animal, his body trying to squirm away from the pain, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape to. She had him pinned across her lap, and she was going to spank him more than he could bear to take. The thought made him cry even harder, tears streaming down his face to thoroughly stain the sheets under his head.

"Owww, Kihara please!" Marcus squealed shrilly, his frantic voice echoing through the room. "Please, it hurts!" His bare legs kicked out helplessly behind him, feet thrashing in the air. Another hard spank landed on his bottom, then another and another. The spanking seemed endless, like he was going to be here forever, sobbing and thrashing across her knee. He was sorry....he was so so sorry about what he'd done...but wasn't this enough? His hands darted up from his sides as she raised her palm again, and before he could even think to stop himself he'd covered up his bottom, sheltering his sore cheeks from any more spanks. Kihara tensed in surprise, her hand jerking back before she could land another swat. The young prince managed a strangled whimper of relief, even as his stomach clenched with guilt at the same time.

"Stop it." Kihara growled. "I don't mind kicking or squirming, but you will not get out of this by covering your bottom." Marcus tried to move his hands, he really did, but his limbs just felt so weak and helpless. And his bottom was so sore already, if he moved...she'd keep spanking him! The thought froze him in place, no matter how much he told himself he had to be good. "Do I have to tie your hands above your head?" She snapped. "Because I will."

"No...please, just stop." Marcus sobbed. He managed to raise his head, staring up at her back over his shoulder. Her gorgeous face was barely visible through the mist of tears, but the faint scowl on her lips still made his heart sink even more. Not only had he earned this punishment, now he wasn't even able to bear what she thought he deserved. He didn't want to disappoint her, or try to wriggle out of the spanking...it was just...he was so sore already! Hadn't this been enough? He'd learned his lesson, really! "Kihara...please. It really hurts." He whimpered, his own weakness feeling like a shard of ice in his chest. Above him, her lip trembled, her dark eyes swimming with concern. For a moment he thought she might listen to his pleas, his heart trembling with relief that the spanking might be over, but then she sighed softly.

"I'm sorry little one." She shook her head. "I'd stop...I want to, but...my darling, this was very serious, much more so than you know yet. I need you to understand just how bad it could have been for you. Imagine if someone else had found you scurrying through the harem. They could have taken you away from me, hidden you and given you to my aunt or someone even worse. Of course I'd have tried to find you, I'd have moved heaven and earth, but...there's only so much I can do. We might very well never have seen each other again, and all because you couldn't trust me." Her voice trembled, and Marcus let out a miserable, keening sob, the pain in her words hurting his heart even more than her spanking had his bottom. She was right, that could so easily have happened because of his stupidity! The thought of being taken away by the horrible empress and never seeing the woman he loved so much, that was worse than a hundred spankings! "That ends now. I'm not accepting it for one moment more. I'm going to keep spanking you, little one." She murmured, and the determination in her voice left no doubt at all, in her mind or his. "I'm going to keep spanking you good and hard until I'm absolutely sure you've learned that I'm the one who's meant to take care of you."

"Um...yes, okay." The young prince managed to whimper between hoarse little sobs. He paused, his soft, pink lip trembling as fresh tears trickled down his cheeks. While the thought of more smacks on his sore bottom made his heart sink, he...knew she was right.After all...if she hadn't decided to punish him like this, he'd have been too silly and blind to realize just how much trouble he'd almost gotten himself into by running away from her like that. He sniffled wetly, shocked all over again at how stupid he'd been to doubt her. No wonder she'd decided he needed her to look after him! "Can...you please hold my hands Kihara?" He asked, staring up at the gorgeous face of the woman who'd...somehow decided he was worth doing all this for. "I don't think I can stop myself otherwise."

"Good boy." She murmured. In an instant she'd swept up both his hands, holding them tight against the small of his back in one of hers. The feeling of her strong fingers gripping his smaller, softer ones was comforting enough that Marcus felt himself relax a little across her knee despite the burning of his sore, red bottom. He felt her shift in place, her muscles tensing underneath him, and took a sharp breath in.

That moment of preparation didn't help much at all when her hand swung down and cracked again across his bare bottom, his soft cheeks jiggling and clenching under the **** of the smack. It was just as sore, adding to the hot glow that sunk so very deep into his poor, quivering flesh. And of course she didn't stop with one smack either. As her hand rained down, landing spank after spank on his bare bottom, Marcus found some of the tension easing from his squirming body despite the pain. He was still sobbing and squealing, his bare legs still kicking and his fingers fluttering helplessly as she held his hands firmly captive against his back to keep him from covering himself again. The stinging of his poor red bottom didn't give him much of a choice but to react that way. He couldn't control his body, she'd made sure of that. However, the young prince had found a strange comfort in his own helplessness.

He couldn't do anything to stop this, to stop her from spanking him, but then he shouldn't anyway. This was what he needed, after all. Each sharp smack landing on his bare bottom, and even the stinging pain that followed was a lesson, one he could learn from. Yes, it was all very sore, and he doubted he'd be able to sit comfortably for a long while after this, but...he felt like he understood what Kihara was trying to show him. He belonged to her, she'd told him as much before, but that didn't just mean naughty fun where she bossed him around in bed. It meant trusting her and always going to her first whenever he felt confused, lost or upset. Like she'd always said, he was a highly strung boy, too sensitive to manage on his own. He'd made plenty of mistakes because of that...and he'd continue to make them in the future, but...Kihara was here now. And she was going to take charge of him, she'd promised as much. So, she'd always be there to put him over her lap and spank him to set him straight, no matter how many times it took. All he had to do was trust her. That should be easy, he loved her after all.

That realization was enough. Marcus sobbed helplessly, giving himself over to the pain, his legs kicking and his hands clenching on hers as she held his fingers tight. But even amidst his sobbing and squirming, he felt a kind of release, like a gate opening to let out a flood of frigid water. The guilt and torment he felt over failing Kihara and running away from her, his lingering terror of the empress and being taken away from her, even his discomfort and confusion being so very far from home in this strange and scary place, all that began to fade, flowing out of him just like the hot tears flooding down his cheeks. If she hadn't spanked him like this, who even knew how long it would have taken before he'd have managed to get over all this on his own?

As the sharp and now familiar sound of her palm smacking against his soft bottom filled the room again and again, Marcus made a silent promise to her, and himself. It was time he stop letting his own fears run away from him. He knew there would be moments he'd get scared and worried in the future, let his silly thoughts run away from him. That was just part of who he was. And he was so very lucky he had such a strong, wise and kind woman like her willing to look out for him all the same. So, instead of running, instead of getting himself in a fuss about whether she really cared for him or not when she'd proven that already in so many different ways, he'd go to her first. He'd tell her what was bothering him, maybe she'd soothe his worries, or maybe she'd decide he needed another spanking for being so silly, it didn't matter. She knew what was best, always, and it was time he stopped being stupid and trying to convince himself otherwise.

At last, after what felt like a very long time indeed, Kihara stopped. Her hand paused, resting on top of his glowing hot bottom. Marcus took a sharp breath in, still half-expecting her to draw it back again and land another stinging smack just as he was thinking it was over. When it didn't happen, and instead she began to gently rub her callused fingers over his sore cheeks, he let that gasp out in a whimpering sigh, his whole body going limp across her lap. His legs slumped back down onto the bed, his shoulders easing over over. She kept holding his hands together, gently stroking along them with her thumb. For a few long moments, the young prince just lay there, still sobbing. He felt exhausted, but...also lighter, like she'd lifted a rock from his shoulders. No matter how sore his poor bottom still was the relief he felt at her tender caresses felt so much more important.

At last, he managed to lift his head, blinking away the tears that clung like dew drops on his silver lashes. He stared up at her with wide blue eyes still glistening wet, just the sight of her gorgeous face managing to take his breath away all over again. Her dark eyes stared back at him, swimming with concern, her full lips parted, her long black hair framing her sharp features. The young prince gasped, feeling almost like he was in a dream. He loved her...he loved Kihara so much he couldn't even find the words in his own mind to say it. She'd saved him from his uncle...she'd looked after him for all this long and difficult journey, taught him so much about love and all those other things he'd learned, but more than that she knew exactly what a shy, silly and anxious boy he was, and yet...she'd never abandon him, never cast him aside like he'd been so very scared might happen. That one fact slotted into his mind like a key clicking into place to open a door that had always needed opening. It all fit so well the only question left was why he'd been so stupid as to end up doubting that in the first place...again after she'd taught him once in the oasis not so long ago. It must be so frustrating for her, no wonder she'd decided he needed to be spanked!

"Um...I'm sorry..." He managed to sniffle. "I'm really really sorry, Kihara."

"I know you are, my darling, sweet boy." She replied. "And I'm sorry too...but things are going to be different now, okay?" Her fingers traced around the curves of his bare bottom, her touch soothing as she gently cupped and palmed his soft cheeks. "You're mine, little one..." She breathed, and the warmth in her voice made him shiver with delight, his heart aching and full. "Only mine..."