He's too upset and messes up, but Kihara knows how to make him feel better

As soon as Kihara left him the tent and supplies, Marcus leapt up off the grass, **** to show her he could be good after all. Ever since she'd told him how silly he was to mistrust her like that, the guilt had felt like a cold, heavy stone inside his belly. Knowing he'd been so stupid as to think this amazing, kind woman he adored would just leave him behind at the first opportunity made him feel so terrible and disappointed in himself. He just wanted to fix things between them, and what better way than to show her he'd learnt to be a good camper!

Kihara had already stripped out of her armor, and was now knelt down and setting up another fire for them, using tinder and twigs as fuel. Meanwhile the young prince frantically hurried to get everything ready, unfolding the tent, then laying out the ropes and pins where he needed them. He wanted to do it much quicker than the last time. After all, if he finished faster, then he could help her with other things and make up for what how naughty he'd been. Only as he tried to tie a knot, his stupid, clumsy fingers were trembling too much. And those dumb, horrible pins just wouldn't go into the ground properly. He was messing everything up, again!

Tears stung in his eyes as Marcus desperately tried to repair his silly errors, but each mistake he fixed revealed another two. Then, just when he thought he was on the verge of finishing, albeit messily, he'd realized he'd unfolded the tent wrong from the start, and had been tying everything to the inside instead of the outside. He'd been trying not to sob out loud, knowing Kihara would hear, but that was just one blow too many. Not only was he a naughty, stupid idiot who'd managed to upset the woman who'd saved his life and done so much for him, now he was also too clumsy to do even the simplest things she wanted from him!

"Stop." He heard her voice and froze, still holding a tangled knot of rope in his trembling hands. "Put that down and come here, little one." She ordered. Sniffling wetly, Marcus laid the rope on the grass and turned to face where she stood by the cheerily glowing fire she'd just finished. He was expecting a thunderous scowl, but instead she was gazing at him with a sympathetic smile. That only made him feel worse...and as he shuffled over to her tears were dribbling painfully down his cheeks. "You're feeling very guilty, aren't you?" She murmured softly, reaching out a gentle hand to brush through his hair.

"Yes." Marcus sobbed. Of course she knew just how he was feeling. She'd taken such good care of him since saving his life, and he'd thrown that all in her face!

"That is good, it shows you know how wrong you were." Kihara replied, her fingers brushing over his forehead. "I've waited to say this, since I know it will make you feel much worse, but it did hurt quite a bit to learn that you don't trust my word. All the more so since the reason was so very silly. Do you really think I would just toss you aside like that?"

"No! I'm sorry..." The young prince whimpered. He wanted to protest, to tell her that he did trust her, but how could he when he'd shown at the first opportunity that he really didn't? "I'm really sorry, Kihara!"

"Had you just mistrusted me, fine. I would have been upset, but I could have understood and forgiven once we talked about why." She continued, her lips curling into a small frown that made him just want to kneel at her feet and cry and beg forgiveness. "It is that you could ever think yourself worth nothing to me that really makes me angry, I want you to know that." Marcus stared at her feet, too ashamed to even look her in the eye anymore. How could he have been so stupid? He hadn't even thought about how she would feel when he told her that he thought she'd just leave him behind! The tears stung his eyes, dripping down his aching cheeks.

"I'm sorry." He gasped once again, even knowing just how hollow and worthless those words were. They were all he had...even though it didn't make him feel any less awful and guilty apologizing to her like this.

"I was going to do this later, but it's clear you need it right here and now." She continued, her voice softening again. Marcus felt his heart ache even more. It was almost worse when she sounded so understanding. "The reason why you are so very miserable, little one, is because you know you did something very wrong and you know you hurt me and yourself, but you haven't been properly punished for it yet." Marcus froze mid-sob at that unfamiliar word. He wasn't really punished for anything growing up. He was the prince after all.

"Punished?" He sniffled, his eyes flickering to her gorgeous face. Through a mist of tears he saw her stare down at him, her dark eyes glinting. Her hand had moved down to his cheek, gently cupping his tear-stained skin under her palm.

"That's right." She nodded. "When a good boy like you does something wrong, he knows he needs to get punished for it, so he can learn to do better. That's what all your guilt is trying to tell you, even if you don't quite know it yet because no-one's taught you so. Believe me, little one, I understand, and I'm going to fix this for you. In just a moment, I'm going to sit down here in the grass and put you squarely over my lap. Then I'm going to pull down these cute shorts all the way, bare your little bottom and give you the good, hard spanking we both know you deserve."

"What?" He gasped. She was going to spank him right now? No matter how upset and anxious he was, the thought of her punishing him like that on his bare butt still sent a strange little thrill through his body. Only...it would be painful, wouldn't it?

"No arguments now, naughty boy." She shook her head. "I'm going to make this hurt, and you'll be very sore when I'm done, but you'll also feel better about everything that's happened, because you'll know you've been properly punished." Marcus swallowed anxiously. He wasn't so sure about that himself. Pain was not something he was very good at handling. Still, he had to trust her. That was what this all about, right?

"Okay." He nodded. As anxious as he was, just saying that word lifted a little of the awful weight of guilt inside him. He was putting himself in her hands, trusting her...and that would make up for what he'd done. At least he hoped it would.

"I want you to know, I would have done it anyway even if you'd tried to argue and I had to hold you down, because this is exactly what you need right now, more than anything." Kihara continued, her voice cool. "It is good to hear you agree with me though. That means I can be even harder on that naughty bottom of yours." Marcus whimpered softly. That didn't make much sense to him, but he'd already decided to trust her, right? He watched, shivering anxiously, as she lowered herself down to sit in a patch of grass near the fire. "Come, little one, lie across my lap." She told him firmly, patting her knee. He paused a moment, breathing hard. Was he really going to do this? "Come!" She snapped impatiently, her voice allowing no hesitation now.

"Sorry!" The young prince yelped. He darted forward, feeling rather like a doomed prisoner walking to the gallows. It was just a spanking, right? It couldn't hurt that much. Only he'd never been properly spanked before in his life so he really didn't know, and Kihara was so very strong. She'd promised she was going to make this painful and that worried him a lot, no matter the naughty thrill he felt deep inside at the thought of getting spanked by her. He lowered himself down onto the grass next to her, then lay across her lap, his legs dangling off one end and his head the other. She grabbed his waist and yanked him forward, until his butt was right over her knees. Then he felt her fingers slip into the hem of his shorts and whimpered softly. Did he really have to be naked?

"These have to come down, I'm afraid." Kihara purred, and in just one little tug she yanked them down to his knees, baring his trembling butt. He could feel his plump cheeks quivering in the air, soft and ****. The thought made him blush. She'd seen him naked before, of course, but something about being stripped before his punishment made him feel even more embarrassed. "Spanking a naughty boy just has to be done on the bare bottom, always, to make sure the lesson really sinks in." She continued, and he flinched as he felt her hand settle over one soft cheek. Her fingers gripped him gently, sinking into the plump flesh. He bit his lip at the tingling arousal her touch on that sensitive place sent through his body. "Are you ready for your punishment, little one?"

"Yes." Marcus sniffled, even though he really wasn't.

"Okay, then I'll begin." Her hand released him, and he heard her take a deep breath in. His whole body tensed, struggling to prepare himself for the pain to come.