Marcus needs to charm the Lieutenant

"I know that when I tell you this you're going to want to get all stroppy again." Coraline continued, a harder edge slipping into her voice that made Marcus instantly stiffen up and pay attention, as hard as that was with his face still buried in her boobs. "I'm telling you now I won't have it, Marcus. You are going to listen like a good boy and then do exactly as I tell you. Is that understood?"

"Yes Coraline." The young prince nodded frantically.

"Good." She loosened her grip on him at last, gently pulling him out of her pillowy chest. Marcus stared up at his taller maid anxiously, hoping her plan was a good one. With his uncle looking everywhere for him, she was the only hope he had left! "Lieutenant Castus must continue to think that you are my sweet, shy daughter, a girl he has a good chance of charming into his bed." Coraline explained. "He will protect you from your Uncle so long as he believes that. Better still, he's quite the blabbermouth. He'll keep talking about his budding romance with all the other soldiers, have them all thinking you're just his young sweetheart. Fortunately for us, men are rather simple creatures. It won't even occur to him that you might be the prince he's searching for if he's doing all the thinking with his other head. We'll meet with him together like he wants, and you must act like the perfect girl. Leave him thinking he has a chance with you, tease him and entice him, but in the shy and innocent way he expects. He has your uncle's favor now, so if he's speaking out to protect us, we'll both be safe for the time being."

Marcus listened to all this mounting shock. Only his maid's earlier warning stopped him from shaking his head or shouting at her. This was impossible! Dressing like a girl was one thing, but now she was saying he had to act like one too! In front of that annoying soldier who'd laughed at him! How the Hell was he supposed to do that? Sure, he looked kind of girly, but he was still a boy, even in this stupid dress. He couldn't act like a girl and he certainly couldn't flirt with a man!

"Coraline..." He whimpered, hoping she wasn't about to get mad at him again for this. "I don't...know if I can do that."

"Yes you can, Marcus." She sighed, one of her hands reaching up to gently run through his silver hair. "You have Mama with you, remember? I'll show you everything you need. We'll get some makeup on that pretty face so you look even girlier, find some more nice clothes for you like that gorgeous dress, and I'll teach you just how to act to keep the Lieutenant interested in you. He wants to meet you tomorrow evening with me as your chaperone, so we have a little time to whip you into shape. I know it'll be hard at first, but you just have to listen to me and everything will work out, I promise." Her fingers gently stroked his forehead as she spoke, the soothing sound of her voice easing some of his worries. Inside his head, this plan still sounded awful and crazy, but she was so sure of herself. And he didn't have any ideas himself on how to get out of this mess without his Uncle capturing him. Maybe he really should trust her after all.

"Okay." He nodded. "I'll try."

"That's my boy." She smiled down at him, patting his head. The young prince found himself shyly smiling back, feeling a little flicker of warmth in his chest. He didn't mind so much when she was acting this way. In fact, it felt kind of nice. "Now we've got that settled, how did your chores go?" His maid asked, and just like that, Marcus felt his face fall.

"Um...okay, I guess." He murmured before he could stop himself.

"From that guilty face of yours, it doesn't look like they went okay." Coraline raised an eyebrow, her grip on his shoulder getting rather tighter. "In fact, I'm guessing you didn't manage to finish even with all the time I gave you!" Her voice rose, becoming higher and angrier. The young prince tried to shrink away but she was just holding him too tight. Suddenly her other hand yanked his head up by the hair, dragging him with her through into the main room of the house. "Look at this! Dirt everywhere!" She snarled, pulling his head down so he had to look at one of the shelves he'd spent so long dusting. "Did you even try?"

"Yes, I did!" Marcus pleaded. "I tried so hard!" It looked clean to him, but Coraline was furious, growing even angrier as she marched him through to each chore he was supposed to have done and finding fault with all of them. The young prince just couldn't believe this was happening, his head spinning and his heart aching each time she berated him. He'd tried his best! He'd thought he was doing everything like she wanted, but she just didn't seem to care!

The worst part was when she pulled him back into her bedroom and saw he hadn't finished folding her clothes yet. An icy look of anger flickered across her face, and she started shaking and berating him, asking how he could be so lazy and useless. He was crying by the end of it. Why hadn't he tried harder? If he'd just finished everything, even if not well, that could have made her a little happier. Instead, he'd left the one person looking out for him absolutely furious.

Coraline showed the tearful prince no pity, dragging him by the hair back into the other room. When Marcus saw that horrible chair waiting by the wall where she'd left it last time she'd punished him, his sobs became even more frantic and shrill. She didn't even seem to notice, dragging him over to it with a cold look on her face. No matter how much he tried to wriggle away, she held him there with ease as she sat herself down on the chair. In seconds, the young prince found himself yanked back over her lap. He wriggled frantically, his legs kicking even before she'd started slapping him.

"Stop struggling, you useless brat!" She snarled, yanking his arms into his back and pinning them there. Her other hand darted down to them of his dress, grabbing it and the gown together in a tight grip. "I do everything for you. I risked my life for you today! And you couldn't even be bothered to do one of your chores right!"

"Please, Coraline!" Marcus shrieked as he felt her viciously yank up his clothes, pulling them up over his waist and folding them over there. His poor, soft butt was bared, trembling and ****. She pinned him down hard in her lap, her other hand darting up into the air beside him. "Please, please, don't hurt me again! I'll do better next time, I promise. Please!"

Just like that, she paused, her palm hovering in the air above his quivering cheeks. Marcus was frozen, sobbing and breathing hard, his whole body braced for the pain to come. But she didn't hit him yet. Still sniffling, the young prince turned his head, trying to peek up and see his maid's face. Was she going to spank him again or not?