Claiming His Human Wife (3 page)

“You will be my wife when you come to your mortal senses. Though I have not bedded you yet, Rhiannon, I will punish you as a man would punish his wife.”

She stood in his grip, panting as she recalled what she knew of husbands and wives. Most women in the Land of Zertrin were married at the age of twenty; the men were usually a little older.

Once, she had witnessed a husband and wife quarreling in the woods near the village. When the woman tried to walk away, the man had forced her over his knee upon a tree stump and administered a heavy spanking.

Rhiannon shivered in Edwin’s grasp. They were but strangers. Surely he would not be so familiar with her as to mete out physical discipline.

“Please.” She trembled, her hands shaking at her sides. “I don’t even know you.”

For the first time since he’d emerged from the shadows, Edwin’s eyes gleamed with a hint of compassion. Hope flickered inside her chest. Maybe he would let her off with a warning.

“We will know each other soon enough, but I’m afraid I cannot even be persuaded to take it easy on you this first time,” Edwin said, still with that glimmer of warmth in his eyes. “You will treat me with respect, or you will suffer the consequences under my hand.”

Rhiannon panicked. She hadn’t been spanked in years. She pushed at Edwin and desperately attempted to escape his firm hands, but it was no use. He easily pulled her protesting form toward the center of the cabin. He then paused and glanced around as if he searched for something specific.

“You will stand right here while I get a chair,” Edwin whispered into her ear. “If you move your feet a smidge, you will feel my belt upon your bottom instead of my hand.”

Rhiannon gulped, but said nothing. She believed him. She also knew there was nowhere to run anyway. It was dark and cold outside and the cabin was but one room. Her insides churned as Edwin dragged a tall chair from the shadows, but she fought the urge to run. This spanking was sure to be painful, given the size and strength of this Crigon, and she feared the sting of his belt even more.

When the screech of the chair being pulled across the floor ended, Rhiannon met Edwin’s gaze but didn’t speak. Only pride kept her from breaking her silence to beg him to be gentle. Edwin moved to her side and looked down at her with resolve. “Remove your dress. It will offer you little protection from the sting of my hand anyway.”

She stepped back and shook her head.

“Remove your dress at once, or I will remove it for you.”

Not wanting to test him, Rhiannon slipped the dress from her shoulders. It pooled around her feet just as it had on the hilltop when she’d offered prayers to Retta on her family’s behalf not too long ago.

She stood in front of Edwin, completely naked and trembling in terrible anticipation.

“Smart girl,” Edwin commented. “It’s good to see that you can listen to a man’s orders.”

She fought the urge to slap his face again. No one in the village would’ve ever dared speaking to her in such a manner, not when she was the granddaughter of the magical village healer and daughter of their army’s commander. She fought the urge to scream and to run as he descended to the tall chair, pulling her naked form down and across his huge legs.

Edwin’s warm hand rested upon her upturned bottom and he wrapped one leg around her struggling legs. With his other hand, he grasped her wrists together against her back, holding her effectively in place. “Now,” Edwin began, “This is what happens when a wife disrespects her husband.”

She felt his hand leave her bottom, and a split second later felt the sting of the first slap. She gasped and attempted to twist from his grasp, but he only smacked her again. Over and over his hand came down upon her bare, upturned bottom. Edwin punished her with vigor, alternating cheeks and even slapping the tops of her thighs. The sting was unbearable and took her breath away. Rhiannon writhed on his lap, trying to escape the torment even as he held her tighter.

“Please,” she finally begged. “Please, that’s enough.” Pain blazed across her backside, but still the slaps rained down in steady succession. She grew hopeful for a moment when Edwin paused, but to her dismay he pushed her further over his lap and forced her legs apart. Never in her life had she felt more terrified and vulnerable, her thighs open to his gaze.

The next few blows were concentrated on the sensitive area where her thighs and bottom met, and she bit her lip and tried to bear the pain. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she sobbed harder, no longer trying to be brave.

“Now”—
smack
—“are you going”—
smack
—“to respectfully listen”—
smack
—“to what I have to say?”
Smack!

“Yes!” Rhiannon yelped. She desperately wished to be upright with her thighs closed. Her face heated with the shameful knowledge that he could see her intimate parts.

Edwin delivered several more hearty slaps, one after the other, across the tops of her thighs, alternating his hands as he further punished her smooth flesh. Rhiannon whimpered and gave up her struggling to lay limp across his lap, surrendering to the chastisement. She had been foolish to slap him and sorely regretted it.

“Now, I am going to tell you about Ettonelli and Strellia, Retta and Stretta. You will sit quietly and listen. Do you understand?” asked Edwin.

“Yes, I understand,” replied Rhiannon in a shaky whisper.

Chapter 2

Rhiannon eyed her dress on the floor, feeling her nakedness more than ever with her bottom stinging terribly. “You may get dressed,” Edwin said. She complied quickly, and stood before him trembling and whimpering softly. She ached to rub her bottom, but she feared another spanking if she did, so her hands remained fidgeting at her sides.

Edwin stood and led her to the bearskin bed in front of the fire. She eased down on her throbbing bottom and waited for him to speak. To her surprise, he placed a blanket over her shoulders before sitting beside her. His nearness caused her to feel momentarily lightheaded, and the heat coming off his body rivaled that of the fire. She resisted the urge to move closer and snuggle up next to him.

“Retta and Stretta being sisters at war is a myth that has long been perpetrated by those from the Land of Holon. There are actually windows connecting Ettonelli with Strellia. The mortals who walk the Land of Zertrin reside in Ettonelli after their deaths, but visits to Strellia are permitted and encouraged. The Crigon immortals who once walked the earth as mortals reside in Strellia, only to leave in pairs to roam mortal Earth during the fertility seasons. Crigon children can only be conceived in the mortal lands, but they are born in Strellia and grow up fast to the median age.” Edwin paused and looked at Rhiannon. Her eyes were swollen and she looked thoughtful.

“So, why are those loyal to Retta damned to the Caves of Terr after being touched by a Crigon?”

“That is another myth perpetuated by those from the Land of Holon.”

“Do the Caves of Terr not exist?” Rhiannon was trying desperately to wrap her mind around this new information. Despite the fact that this Crigon was a stranger, there was truth in his eyes and she believed him.

“Oh, the Caves of Terr exist. But only those mortals who have committed grave crimes, such as murder, are sent to the Caves of Terr.”

Rhiannon’s heart broke. “So, my grandmother? She murdered your wife, did she not? I suppose she has gone to the Caves of Terr.”

Edwin inched closer to Rhiannon and placed a firm hand on her tear stained cheek. “Yes, at this moment your grandmother resides in the Caves of Terr. But when I take you as my wife bearing my child back to Strellia, your grandmother’s debt to me will be repaid. When this happens, her spirit will soar from the Caves of Terr to Ettonelli where you may visit her yourself.”

A single tear ran down Rhiannon’s cheek. This Crigon wasn’t a wicked beast after all. He could’ve taken a wife from the mortal lands and returned to Strellia decades ago, but by waiting for a female descendant of the woman who murdered his wife, Rhiannon’s grandmother would be spared from the Caves of Terr.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I will go with you willingly.” And suddenly Rhiannon felt very shy. Edwin would be her husband, Edwin the handsome Crigon who had just administered a painful spanking to her moments ago. She squirmed in her seat, trying not to wince from the soreness.

“I’m pleased to hear you say that, little human,” Edwin said with a smile. “We must remain on the Cold Top until the melting begins. There is a secret passage on the other side of the mountain leading to the lands nearest Strellia. We will travel there once the melting has begun and you are with child.”

Rhiannon nodded and bowed her head nervously. Then curiosity got the best of her. “Why wait all these years to locate a descendant of my grandmother? Why not take any woman from the Land of Zertrin and return to Strellia sooner?”

Edwin scooted closer, his thigh resting a mere inch from hers. “I could not take just any woman from the Land of Zertrin in good conscience. Most woman are betrothed at a young age and as you already know, all from your land fear Crigons and would not be willing. Years ago, I would have taken your grandmother, but since she evaded me for so long, you are the next logical choice.”

What a set of circumstances, Rhiannon thought. “I understand.”

“The Cold Top is a hard place to survive, and you must listen to me at all times. If you disobey me in anything, I will not hesitate to punish you. Understood?”

“Yes, Edwin,” Rhiannon mumbled, bowing her head even further and hoping she would be able to avoid another spanking.

* * * * *

“I’ll be gone hunting for most of the morning,” Edwin said, placing a hand on Rhiannon’s sore bottom. “You will remain inside while I’m gone. There are grains and other foods inside the pack I brought. You’re a woman. You know what to do with it all.”

“Yes, Edwin,” Rhiannon replied, relieved that he was leaving for a while, rather than take her immediately as his wife after witnessing her morning prayer to Stretta.

He patted her bottom again, this time with more force. “I will make you my wife tonight as we lay by the fire,” he said. Rhiannon blushed deeply and felt her heart drumming in her ears.

She recovered from her shyness quickly and smiled up at Edwin, feeling lost in his wide, blue eyes. “All right. Good luck with the hunt.”

After Edwin had gone out into the snowy forests of the Cold Top with his spear, Rhiannon busied herself cleaning up the cabin and preparing the kitchen. They would be living there for quite some time, and it had to look livelier if it was to feel like a true home.

Rhiannon unpacked the items brought by Edwin and used the grains and hearth to start baking bread for lunch and dinner. The smell of rising bread soon filled the cabin. Once the kitchen was cleaned up, Rhiannon eyed the curtains with disgust. They were so dusty that one touch left fragments of dirt floating in the air. Obviously, the curtains from both the large windows needed a good shaking outside.

She took them down and walked toward the cabin door, humming a joyful tune all the way. Tonight Edwin would take her as his wife and after the cold season she would see her grandmother in the afterlife. There was no real separation between Ettonelli and Strellia. She felt like this was a fairytale, an unrealized dream come true. Edwin was handsome and gentle—when he wasn’t smacking her bottom. And he seemed to look deep inside her with his marvelous, twinkling blue eyes.

They had spent the early morning hours becoming better acquainted, at his insistence. She had told him all about the village and he had told her all about his life before Strellia. The Crigons had inhabited lands near the Zertrin lands, living in the forests in marvelous tree houses. He had been a hunter and a builder, and though he had been married, he avoided all questions about his wife. He had left the mortal lands of Earth with the rest of his kind over five hundred years ago to join the goddess Stretta in the first immortal world.

The rising dust from the curtains caused Rhiannon to pause, coughing herself back into reality. After she bundled them underneath her arm, she opened the cabin door and stepped out into the cold. She shivered and her feet were cold in the snow, despite the fact that she wore shoes.

It was cloudy, but the profiles of trees were visible all around. Rhiannon left the door open and sloshed through the thick white for a good place to shake the dirty curtains. To her delight, she found a large rock underneath a tree that wasn’t snow covered, so she beat the curtains against it until the dust was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief that the outline of the cabin was still visible through the fog when she turned to walk home.

Rhiannon immediately removed her wet shoes upon entering the tiny cabin. She restrung the curtains and huddled in front of the fire, adding two more logs of wood. The bearskin bed on which she knelt would be the very place Edwin would claim her as his wife, bringing her into womanhood. She found herself smiling at the thought, and she imagined how it would feel to touch Edwin’s warm, dark skin.

After Edwin returned from a successful hunting trip a short while later, they sat at the table enjoying the fresh baked bread. Rhiannon felt faint each time she stole a glance at her husband-to-be. After lunch, she got a stew going with the rabbit he’d caught and tidied up the kitchen again. She heard the cabin door open and close, realizing that Edwin had gone outside without saying goodbye. Rhiannon felt a little miffed about that, but she continued around the kitchen, humming and cleaning and stirring the stew.

The rattling slam of the door caused her to shoot straight up and gasp. Edwin stood with his arms crossed, glaring angrily at her.

“You went outside today.” His accusation brought a chill to the room.

Rhiannon fumbled. Yes, she had gone outside—but the curtains had been so dusty! Damn her wet boots by the door and footprints in the snow! The village had had plenty of ridiculous rules, most of which she had always ignored, going where she pleased without a second thought. Edwin’s rule about going outside hadn’t seemed much different, at the time.