Against Her Will (Dragon's Lair) (5 page)

She rattled the bars like a monkey in a zoo.

*              *              *

“You can’t be serious.”

“You will not punish her.”

“Sir, she tried to escape. You had the false escape tunnel built for this exact purpose, to allow the girls a chance to get rid of their desire to run away.”

“You will not tell me what I did
!”

“Sir.
Once their hopes are squashed, and once they are punished severely for their crimes, they will fall into line. You taught us this, sir.”

“Hold your tongue.”

“I have charge of this girl, and you undermine the very principles you set for our Lair. When she becomes unreasonable, who will pay the price? How many times do you want me to beat her then, sir?”

“Watch yourself, Nurse Julia!”

“You are cruel to destroy her training before it has even begun!”

He
shaded his eyes. “I can’t let you punish her when we trapped her.”

Nurse Julia
lowered her fist. “Sir, it was at your instruction that I learned the fundamentals of Dragon training. Spare the rod and spoil the girl. If she becomes spoiled, I’ll get blamed.”

“I can’t.”

“Sir?”

He turned away.

“Please, sir, it hurts but is necessary. You taught me that.”

He lifted anguished eyes, raking his fingers through his hair. “I
know. And I forbid you to punish her for entering the tunnel.”

“But…”

“That’s an order from Master Dragon.”

Julia sucked in her breath. “May I ask why, sir?”

He gave a helpless shrug. “Because I had her brought here. Because I don’t want her to hate me when she finds out the truth.”

“Sir…”

He spoke the last lines too softly for Julia to hear. “Because she agreed to marry me. How can I betray the woman who would give me her life?”

*              *              *

The metal plate creaked open, revealing the open tunnel. Sarah dove for the open grate and scrambled back to the other opening. She fell onto the floor of her original room. She slapped the grate against the wall, but she couldn’t make it stay. In desperation, she tilted the metal to stand next to the opening. She shook the knot out of the hem of her nightgown, dusted her dirty hands, and rushed back to her bed. She crept under the covers, heart hammering so hard she thought she would burst.

Before she could think anything else, a stunning redhead entered the room
and threw back the covers, making Sarah stand next to the bed. Sarah thought the woman would lash out at her for trying to leave, but she gave Sarah a grim smile. This was the woman who had brought Sarah so much pain the day before, but she had also given pleasure. Sarah trembled, confused but flushed with adrenaline. The foreign insertion into her bottom made her wriggle a bit more than normal, and her hands drifted downward again. If she were not engaged to be married, if she were not quite sure of her proclivities, this entrancing siren could cause Sarah to stray. She might have mistaken the thrill of fear as physical attraction.

“Still not dressed, my pet? We’ll have to solve that, now won’t we?”

The woman picked up a pile of clothes lying at the foot of Sarah’s bed. Or, rather, the bed in this strange room where Sarah found herself. Sarah blinked as the details of the room came into surprising relief. Intricate carvings on the four posts of a sleigh bed, fine embroidery and lace edging the pristine white coverlet, and delicate blue and white floor tiles. It was all a far cry from the concrete of her prison. The crisp linen of the woman’s uniformed suit must have been sewn by a tailor, the way the fabric perfectly accentuated her figure. Sarah stared, mesmerized by the easy, flowing grace of the woman’s every movement. Strong, purposeful, and yet gentle.

“Can’t have you in your nightie when we take you to the doctor, can we?” The woman—what was her name
?—took Sarah by the arm and yanked the nightgown over her head. Ignoring Sarah’s sputters, the woman tugged a stretchy knit undershirt over her head and onto her arms. She buttoned Sarah into a plain white dress and smocked pink pinafore.

Sarah looked down at hersel
f and felt as if she were a living doll in a large dollhouse. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped she would wake up, safe at home in her own ratty bed, complaining because Luke had to work late. Instead, she stepped into kid leather boots and watched as the woman used a hooked piece of metal to fasten each shoe button.

Then, all of a sudden, memories of the previous day came flooding back. Sarah buried her face in her hands, unable to look the woman in the eye.
Not to mention, her bodily needs upon first waking up had not yet been fulfilled, and something kept her from asking.

The woman slapped her hands, but lightly enough to inflict
a sting rather than true pain. “Stand up straight. I’m going easy on you because it’s your first day and you were quite good last night, but one false step and I’ll put you back in the stirrups for another taste of the crop.”

Sarah blinked, shaking her head to convince her brain that it had not gone crazy. Yes, the woman smiled affably at her, and her tone was as gentle as if she were suggesting Sarah try a new pasta dish instead of eating the same old one again. But yes, at the same time, the threat dripped with menace, all the more for its sweet tone. Sarah whimpered, placing her hands on her
still-sore bottom. Not for anything, even if it meant these ridiculous clothes, would she want to go through that pain again. No, she thought to herself irritably, she hadn’t liked it. Not one bit. Not even the parts that felt good. “Why are you mad at me?” she asked in a meek, childish voice. “You weren’t mad last night.”

The woman stared at her. “How could you try to run away?” The note of incredulous hurt made Sarah’s stomach writhe. “Master Dragon has spoken for you, so you won’t be punished for it. But if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll wear your backside out with my strap and finish with a dose of
the cane.”

Sarah shook her head
. Her stomach sank. Not until she experienced displeasure did she realize how much she valued this woman’s opinion. She wanted to hear the soft, cooing words of love that Julia had given her last night.

“No,
ma’am
,” the woman corrected. “Or no,
Nurse Julia
.”

Sarah wriggled in place, her toes aching in the stiff new leather shoes.
Julia’s restrained anger contrasted sharply with the brutality of the prison guards. She had, after all, been kind. Sarah had been stupid to hurt her feelings. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

Julia caught her breath. She
was
mad, but she was angrier at Master Dragon’s ill-advised indulgence than at the girl’s naughtiness. Recruits were expected to try to escape, and those who did not were sent for extra psychological evaluation. Sarah had passed the first of many important tests on her journey to become a Dragon girl. It was not her fault that Julia had watched the escape attempt through teary eyes. Watching Sarah desperate to run away, Julia had excoriated herself for the previous night’s activities. Had she been too harsh? Had she pushed too far? Should she have been more circumspect in her comforting afterward? Had she probed too far in her attempts to awaken the little girl she knew existed in her new charge? Julia forced herself to stop scowling and instead give the girl a kiss. “Nurse knows you will get into mischief because that’s what little girls do,” she said soothingly. “I know you want to be a good girl.”

Sarah nodded. Odd, how relieved she felt to receive the kiss. Her attention was quickly distracted, however, by other needs. She had woken up that morning
without finding any bathroom, and she needed one right away. She switched her weight from one leg to the other, jiggling in desperation. Her hands held her crotch as she struggled to keep herself composed, but as soon as she realized what she was doing, she took her hands away, red-faced.. Here she was, dressed in funny old-fashioned clothes, but it was no reason to hop around as if she were a kindergartener asking her teacher for a bathroom pass. On the other hand, even in the awful cell she had been given a chance to take care of nature’s call. She hopped a tiny bit, trying to take her mind off the growing pressure in her bladder.

Julia
took no notice and rapped a hairbrush on the top of Sarah’s head. “Stand still,” she chided. She brushed Sarah’s hair and braided it into two ridiculous pigtails. She dusted off Sarah’s shoulders and spritzed the top of her head with water to smooth down the curly wisps of hair. Sarah was too consumed by her need for a bathroom to care. She actually crossed one leg in front of the other and gave, unknown to her, a charming little-girl dance of desperation.

Julia had to turn her head away to hide her smile. She never raised a hand against her charge without good reason, but not because she was soft on discipline. Indeed, Julia could terrify any girl without a single word. No, it was her subtle nuances of power play, control, and humiliation that reduced every would-be rebel into a naughty little gi
rl, ready to be molded into anything Julia desired. How could any girl plot rebellion when her entire body was focused on physical need? By now, after an entire night with the stainless steel butt plug in place, Sarah would be bursting for relief in more than one way. In every single training case, the mere act of having to ask for toilet privileges would take the initial fight out of a fresh-caught girl.

Sarah, unaware of Julia’s thoughts, leaned against the edge of the bed praying she could hold out just long enough not to shame herself.
Normally, she would not have thought twice about asking for something as simple as a restroom. This time, though, she was cowed by the cool, almost smug air of the woman straightening her stockings. Finally, in a cross and angry voice, she blurted out the words that should have been phrased as an ordinary, unremarkable request.

“Where’s the bathroom?”

Again, Julia had to turn her head to hide a smile. She hoped she could hide her smile from the ever-present cameras, too, but in Diamond it would be unlikely. Still, could Richard fault Julia for taking pleasure in her success? Whether Sarah knew it or not, she had just given her first major capitulation. Herein lay Julia’s genius: anyone could beat a girl into terrified submission, but it took patience and skill to create an environment in which the girl submitted of her own volition. Sarah must learn that her body and life no longer belonged to her. Instead, she must submit first to Julia and then to the Daddy whom she would call “Master.” The test would be whether Sarah submitted correctly and swiftly enough to save herself from public shame. No motivation could be more powerful than the fear of soiling herself. If Sarah failed to learn in time, she would find that her life could get much, much worse. Her responses would give Julia clues to the girl’s natural submissive tendencies—and in which direction Julia should push her training.

“There’s no bathroom here,” Julia said, and she extended her arm to show it was the truth.
She permitted herself a small smile, allowing Sarah to see.

Sarah stared at Julia, horrified. Her abdominal muscles strained with the effort to keep her bladder in check, and she hardly dared to move.
She pushed against Julia’s arm in the hope of getting past her, but her strength was no match for that of the taller woman. Julia stepped back and crossed her arms, waiting. For what? “Let me go,” Sarah pleaded, shame forgotten in her urgency. “I have to go
now
.”

“Yes,” Julia answered, deliberately misunderstanding Sarah’s words. “You need a full check-up before we can start your training, and we can’t keep the doctor waiting.”

Just as Julia had known would happen, Sarah was so frantic for the bathroom that she could not take advantage of the opening door. Julia led Sarah by the arm, and Sarah tripped over her own feet.

“
You know what I meant,” Sarah insisted, the tips of her ears turning scarlet as she walked with Julia through a narrow corridor. The guards had beaten her nearly senseless, but she had held onto her inner resolve. This was violence of a completely different sort, and she was not equipped to defend herself. “I need a bathroom.”

Sarah needed other things rather than the bathroom, but there were limits to amount of shame she could endure in one day.

Fortunately for Sarah, she had no idea that Julia’s smile reflected sympathy—no, empathy — for her plight. Sarah only thought the smile showed that Julia was having nasty, mean-spirited fun at her expense, and the anger gave her enough energy to maintain control of herself. “You have to let me go to the bathroom!” she spat.

Julia could have clapped her hands with glee. Oh, it was too fun to train a new recruit once again!
They all thought they were the only ones to resist, but they all broke eventually. In the most enchanting ways, more often than not. She could hardly keep herself from turning Sarah over her knee right then and there. The girl would learn not to try to command her superiors. But no, the effect of the lesson would be negated unless she waited for exactly the right moment. “I’d advise you not to give your Nurse orders, miss,” she said, closing the door behind them and waiting to hear the electronic latches click into place. The Lair’s security was top-notch, and no one had ever escaped from the most secure suite, Diamond.

A trickle dampened the inside of Sarah’s thighs, and beads of perspiration stood out on her forehead. She could not understand the cruelty of denying a basic human need, and she panted with the effort not to release
her bladder. “I’m going to pee my pants!” she wailed, not caring that passersby stared as they walked down the corridor. Another trickle escaped, and she swore.

“Go ahead,” said the awful Julia, crossing her arms once more. “Of course, if you muss up your beautiful
new clothes, I’ll have to take my strap to you to teach you manners. Would you like that, my pet?”

Tears formed in Sarah’s eyes, and she flushed with deep embarrassment. She didn’t know what was worse
, the threat of physical pain and humiliation or the certainty she would wet herself within seconds…no, she could hold it! She must!

Julia watched Sarah’s mounting
panic, and she took out her strap. The narrow black harness leather ended in an ornately carved wooden handle, and from tip to handle the implement measured nearly twenty inches. Sarah did not know enough to fear the strap yet, but Julia would teach her. The willful girl must master her first simple lesson: Ask permission for everything. Julia had to admit that the unexpected naughtiness had just made her day better. She had thought only to administer a few swats for the inevitable misbehavior at the first doctor visit, but she had never dreamed Sarah would not know to ask permission to use the bathroom. Julia checked her watch. Dr. Schroeder would blame her for not having Sarah ready on time, and he might even write her up. Still, if Julia could make the lesson worthwhile for everyone, she could turn this glitch into an advantage.

Without warning, Julia swatted Sarah’s pert buttocks. The girl cried out in pain, and after a few seconds her cry quickly morphed into a howl of anguish
. She tried in vain to turn around and hide the skirts of her dress and pinafore that hung in a wet mess. Surprise, pain, and sheer biological necessity had loosened two decades of socialization, and Sarah wilted in front of her very much like a two-year-old who had been caught in a toilet accident by her mommy. She could not speak, and she hung her head in shame.

Carefully controlling her excitement, Julia stepped closer to Sarah. She lifted the girl’s chin with the edge of her strap.
“Look at you,” she said, infusing her voice with as much censure as possible. “A great big girl of twenty-two, and yet you wet your pants as if you were a baby. What would people think if they saw you now? How would you like me to march you to the doctor’s office and tell everyone that you can’t control your bladder?”

Sarah’s lower lip trembled, and she shrank even lower. “You wouldn’t let me go,” she whispered in a poor attempt at defiance.

At last, the teaching moment had arrived. “No,” Julia agreed. “You were a very naughty girl, and I shall have to punish you.” She paused for effect and then added with a sultry smile, “You won’t like that very much, my pet, but it will only add to my enjoyment.”

Normally, Julia didn’t start laundry lessons with her charges until second day of training, but Sarah had taken matters into her own hands…with disastrous results.

Terrified, Sarah tried to bolt, but Julia gripped her shoulders. She stripped Sarah of her clothes in one practiced motion. Sarah cried out and tried to cover herself, but Julia would have none of it. She pushed the soaked clothes into Sarah’s arms and made her march back into Diamond. The clothes went into a special sink for hand washables. All of Sarah’s clothes had been hand-stitched by Julia’s personal seamstress, and they were too delicate for a machine. Besides, washing her own stained clothing would teach the girl a lesson.

“Please let me get dressed, Nurse ma’am,” Sarah begged
. Even though she hated the childish clothing, anything would be better than standing in the nude, shamed more times than she could count. She threw in every possible softening trick, but nothing swayed the grim goddess. “Please ma’am, I’ll do whatever you want if you just give me something to wear…”

The strap thundered across Sarah’s bare bottom, and she doubled over in pain. “You’ll do whatever I want, my pet. That goes without saying. Do you know how to wash clothes the right away, or will my strap have to teach you?” Julia stepped back to get better aim the next time. Sh
e’d have to practice her swing during her next rest period. The crimson blotch on Sarah’s left cheek fell a bit lower than she would have liked. She wanted Sarah sore enough to remain cooperative, but not too sore for the inevitable punishment she would earn from Dr. Schroeder. He always fussed when too many marks made his examinations difficult.

“I’ll wash!” Sarah gulped back her howls and dove for the detergent bottle. She squirted a handful onto the clothes and filled the sink with hot water. “
Ow!” She screeched at another lash.

Julia shook her head. “The longer you take, the more you’ll hurt. You should know better than to use hot water on delicates. Use cool water. Not so much soap, either. That bottle is to last you for the rest of the month, and the Lair doesn’t like wasteful girls.”

Sarah started to let the water out of the sink, but Julia slapped her bottom, lightly, this time, and just with her hand. “What did Nurse say about waste? Add cold water until it’s the right temperature.”

Sarah wanted to stamp her foot at the constantly changing messages, but she was confused by the sudden gratitude she felt. Instead of the horrible leather, Julia had corrected her this time with the touch of her hand. If she were honest with herself, Sarah would admit that it had felt almost…good. Cool and soft, tender rather than the anger of a million bees. Another trickle of moisture, a different kind this time, began to form between her thighs. “Is this right?” she asked, casting a glance sidelong in an irrational desire to be praised.

Julia hesitated. Normally, she would punish a charge for speaking without permission. But it was the girl’s first day, and it was her first time to ask for approval. The desire to please was a submissive’s strongest asset, and Julia meant to cultivate it. She could reward the attempt at good behavior while still teaching necessary lessons about respect. “No, my pet,” she cooed, bending Sarah over the sink. She took a practice swing with the strap, causing Sarah to flinch. “When it’s right, you won’t have to ask.”

She
stood over Sarah, using the strap to turn the girl’s bottom bright red as Sarah struggled to wash the dress, pinafore, panties, and socks to Julia’s exacting standard. Each item had to be washed three times before being deemed acceptable, and then she had to hang each item on a small clothesline.

By the end, the clothes had been
washed as much with Sarah’s tears as the water and detergent. She could have cried with relief when Julia finally gave her approval, even though she still felt slightly conflicted. What was she doing? Why was she letting this woman boss her around and demean her? Then she caught a glimpse of Julia’s mouth tightening with disapproval, and she hurried to pay attention. She would think about dignity and rights and freedom later. Right now, she only wanted freedom from the awful strap.

When the clothes were finally ready, Sarah looked around pitifully for replacement clothes. Instead, Julia filled the tub with hot water, told Sarah to get in, and scrubbed the girl all over with a stiff-bristle scrub brush instead of the usual washcloth.

“Ow!” Sarah complained, trying to keep her tender bottom away from the brush. “That hurts!”

Julia turned Sarah over her knee, dripping wet, and quickly applied the flat side of the scrub brush to
the backs of Sarah’s scissoring thighs. “I’ve had enough of your disobedience and sass, Miss. I’ve made allowances for this being your first day, but your behavior has been abominable. Do you want me to send you back to the holding cell where you’ve been for the past few days?”

At that terrible threat, Sarah grew absolutely still. She did not say one more word, not even when Julia plunked her back into the bathtub for another thor
ough scrubbing. She let out a plaintive sound of pain through firmly pressed lips as the brush chafed her newly spanked skin, and she kept her eyes down. Yet again, she wondered why she didn’t make a run for it. She stood up gratefully as Julia drained the water from the tub and dried her briskly with a fluffy towel. This time, she lathered Sarah in sweet-smelling lotion and dusted her with baby powder. Again, she dumped Sarah across her lap and pried apart her bottom cheeks. Only the previous threats kept Sarah silent, but tears trickled down her face. If only she could be safe at home, or chattering with Becky at the office! She would never complain about last-minute deadlines or outrageous electricity bills again if she could escape this nightmare.

Julia applied an enormous powder puff to Sarah’s baby-smooth bottom. Really, she should take out and clean the plug, but in the excitement there had not been enough time. She would leave it to Dr. Schroeder’s capable hands.
However, since Sarah had shown she was not yet ready to ask for permission to take care of her basic needs, she needed to be taken to a younger stage where she would not be expected to understand protocol. Julia took out a pre-folded cloth diaper and pinned it around Sarah’s legs. It was awkward pinning it onto the girl while she lay facedown, but Julia thought it best to take the path of least resistance for the moment. While the diaper would provide a nuisance when it came time to spank the naughty girl, the overall effect would be both humbling and adorable.

Sarah had not thought anything of the soft fabric being wrapped around her legs, something Julia had counted on. She thought it was part of Julia’s peculiar method of drying her, just like the powder puff. When Sarah stood up, however, the bulkiness of the diaper took her by surprise. She
tried to unfasten the pins, but Julia spoke to her sharply.

“Leave it. Little girls who don’t know enough to ask to use the potty will no longer be allowed to use it.”

Sarah had thought nothing could get worse than the past few days, and in an objective sense she was correct. Compared to the initial abduction, the beatings, and the imprisonment, what did it matter if she had cloth between her legs? Still, the diaper and its outrageous yellow duck safety pins mobilized her outrage in a way nothing else had done so far. She bounded to her feet, her chest swelling as if it might crack. “Take the damn thing off me!” She shouted, stamping her feet, and attempted to hit Julia. But she was too slow.

Julia had moved to the side and made sure she was not obstructing the surveillance camera hidden in the mirror over the sink. She had a feeling the outburst to come would
provide Richard with a “gentlemen’s video” worth its weight in gold. As much as the clients of Dragon’s Lair valued the perfectly trained graduates, they still enjoyed the challenge of a fresh-caught recruit. Just as some cowboys preferred to catch and tame their own wild horses, some buyers wanted to see every single sign of the girls’ initial willfulness. In fact, Julia was betting that this tantrum to come would increase the girl’s asking price rather than the opposite. What man, watching Sarah’s hot-headed, angry reaction wouldn’t want to take her over his own knee to spank and spoil?