Mia gasped. The pain was intense, she gasped for air as she collapsed against the wood, overcome by the fire the now spreading across both cheeks of her bottom. Mia thought that her breathing must be very loud, and her heart still pounded in her chest. “Tell me why you are to be punished Mia.” As Liana spoke she paced around into Mia’s view. Though she was diligent in her work, she had been disciplined in the past, and even then, at the hands of masters for whom she had no fondness she had found pleasure in the experience. “Because I broke your vase.” Mia replied. It had taken weeks to build up the courage to knock the vase to the floor. The eighth blow followed, tap, withdraw, swat and scream. She had in her hands a thick leather strap with a handle of polished wood. Chains ending in shackles hung from each wall, and from a bar that crossed the ceiling.
