Almost Chance Part 10 

Jen was lost in ecstasy, unimagined delight coursing through her body,
every part of her burning with a fire like the sun, white light in her
mind, almost all consciousness extinguished by the intensity of the
sensation, but she wasn't enjoying it. She knew that this was what
Mistress had promised her, experience and pleasure beyond anything she
had ever dreamed, but she also remembered Mistress' other promise. She
had given way to her pleasure down in this cellar, taken the release
Mistress had expressly forbidden her, disobeyed her explicit command
and Mistress had promised that she would be punished if she did that.

Mistress had shown Jen that her body was capable of more than she had
thought possible before, both in experiencing pleasure and enduring
what should have been pain but it was not what her punishment could do
to her body that Jen feared. Mistress had shown her the depths of her
soul as well, that core of subservience and willing slavery she had
eagerly accepted as an integral part of her, changing her entire life
in the space of these last few hours. Jen had not just experienced her
pleasures for herself, but for her watching Mistress, just as she had
willingly accepted the pain of servitude to please her. She had
sustained herself with the prospect Mistress had tantalised her with
from the start - the chance to enter Mistress' bed and show her the
height of Jen's devotion to her. Only now, when there was a
possibility of that being taken from her, that Mistress would dismiss
her tomorrow without having taken her into her bed, did Jen truly
realise what it had meant to her.

Slowly, her body returned to the mundane world, feeling the bonds that
held her in place, the cushion pushed into her chest, the tight grip
of the velvet blindfold around her head. She could sense Mistress
standing near her and she took hope from that, knowing that connection
was still there, but she could also imagine the look on Mistress face,
disappointment mixed with anger.

She heard Mistress move around her, the familiar click of her heels on
the stone floor as she moved around her. Jen felt her bonds being
released, first the straps that fixed her ankles to the floor, then
the complex pattern of ropes around her arms and finally the blindfold
was taken from round her eyes. Jen kept her head pointing down,
looking at the pattern of bars that held the cushion off the ground,
resting her hands on them lightly as she tried to support her body.

'You may remove yourself to a more comfortable position.' Mistress
said. Jen noticed the new tone in her voice - harsher, more
dispassionate, no 'my sweet' or 'my dear' in either her words or her
tone. Carefully, Jen lifted herself off the cushion, feeling the ache
in her legs as she moved them, the strain across her back and
shoulders from supporting herself. For a moment, she stood, but then
the weakness of her legs was too much and she fell to her knees in a
combination of exhaustion and desire to show her continued willingness
to serve despite her transgression. She wanted to look up at Mistress,
remind herself of her beauty, but the combination of shame and
exhaustion kept her head down. She heard Mistress moving round the
room, replacing the rope and the straps to their places on the wall,
pulling the cushion away to one of the alcoves in the wall. Finally,
Mistress returned to stand in front of her.

'Good. At least you remember the position to wait for me in. Do you
remember my command to you before we came into this cellar?'

'Yes, Mistress.' How could she have forgotten? Her body burned with
her shame at breaking it.

'And what was that command?'

'That I should not take any release when in this room, Mistress.'

'Yes. And what did you do?'

'I disobeyed your command, Mistress.'

'Yes you did, my slave. And now, you will be punished for disobeying
me. Do you have anything to say in your defence before I punish you?'

'No, Mistress.' Jen knew there was nothing that could justify her
failure to obey Mistress. The demands of pleasure had been great, but
she knew she could have resisted them, controlled herself better, done
what Mistress expected of her.

'Good. Before I commence your punishment, you can choose not to take
it. If you request it of me, I will remove your collar and your other
clothing and return your freedom to you. You will then be free to
leave my presence and my service, but you will never be allowed to
come back. Do you understand? Do you wish me to free you?'

'I understand, Mistress.' Jen knew that the choice she was being
offered was not one really, not to her. From the moment she had first
followed Mistress' commands on the train, she had totally surrendered
herself to her. Even then, she had known deep down that only Mistress,
not herself, could free her. 'I wish to take my punishment as you
command.'

'Good. Stand up.' Jen obeyed as quickly as she could, her legs still
shaky as she rose, still looking down at the ground. 'Look at me.'
Carefully, Jen raised her head, seeing Mistress' face, not as she had
imagined it, but completely impassive, almost looking through her.
'Now, walk over to that far wall and stand facing it.'

Jen walked slowly, still becoming accustomed to moving her body again,
her body still recovering from its earlier experiences. For a moment,
she thought she would fall as she walked, but just managed to keep her
balance, finally reaching the wall. She stood as close as she could
while still standing straight, her toes touching it, her face close to
the cool stone. She tried to keep herself as calm as she could while
she waited, unsure if this was the punishment in itself, or if more
was to come.

Behind her, she could hear Mistress moving again, the click of her
heels moving towards one of the walls, then a sound of clinking metal,
then the heels coming towards her again, now accompanied by the sound
of metal. Jen braced herself as Mistress approached, hearing her close
in behind her.

This time, there was no warning of her bondage, but Jen didn't resist.
Mistress grabbed her left leg, pulling it out from her, then swiftly
bound it to a ring in the wall with a chain she had carried over from
the wall, repeating the process with her other leg and her arms,
leaving Jen's body in a loose 'X' against the wall, still standing on
the soles of her feet, but with little room to move, every slight
twitch of her arms and legs accompanied by the soft scrape of the
metal chains that held her there. Then, Mistress' hand were on her
head, tilting it back, something moving in front of her face. For a
moment, Jen thought it was the blindfold again, but this moved down
past her eyes, a rubber strap forcing itself against her lips, her
mouth opening to take it in, then tied tightly behind her head,
gagging her.

'Bite on it. It will help you survive the pain.' Mistress' voice was
cold, but Jen gripped the invader between her teeth, trying to calm
herself, wondering what the pain would be as Mistress stepped back
from her.

She felt something being drawn across her rear, a slim wooden cylinder
with an uneven texture. A cane, she realised, putting the shape and
feel together in her mind. She closed her eyes and bit down hard,
pushing herself against the wall as if to get away from it, something
in just its feel upon her skin communicating dread, an anticipation of
the pain it could inflict. Mistress ran it over her skin, using it to
trace the curve of her soft buttocks, letting Jen feel its entire
length as it coasted slowly over her, letting her become aware of
every curve and bump in the cane's surface, feeling it bend as
Mistress pushed it against her, touching the hard point of the end
against her skin. Mistress pulled it away from her slowly, the sense
of it remaining against Jen's flesh. Her body shivering slightly as
beads of sweat ran down her back

Then, a sudden swish followed by sudden intense pain across the soft
mounds of her rear as it stung into her, a high-pitched slap as it
connected with her skin. She tried to cry out, but her noise was
stifled by the gag as she felt the red stripe of pain across her,
marking her. She could feel it in slow motion in her mind, her skin
sinking beneath it, swelling and stinging in response as the pain bit.
Before, she'd been able to endure the pain, translate the strain of
her muscles into sensation, their slow ache matching her body's desire
for pleasure, but this was too much, too harsh, too sudden, too sharp
to feel as anything but pain.

Another stroke came, and another, each landing just below the one
before it, making the stripe grow, the pain intensify. Jen counted the
blows in her head as they landed, a fourth, fifth and sixth, coming
quickly, thick tears forming in her closed eyes, biting deep into the
rubber gag, each blow doubling the pain she felt, making it sharper,
like a razor in her mind. Seven, eight, nine came, and now her entire
rear was glowing with pain, the harsh sting massive cutting deep in
her mind, as dominant in her senses as pleasure had been so recently.
Ten, hitting on the bottom of the curve, pulling on the chains, the
pain reminding her of her shame at failing Mistress. As her body had
filled with joy and desire earlier, now it filled with the mixture of
pain and shame, engulfing her, swallowing her.

Then, a pause. Had it ended? She knew that this was real pain, far
beyond anything else she had endured, sharp against her skin,
lingering and spreading, her cries of anguish lost in the gag. Then
one more, well below the last one, landing in the middle of her
thighs, somehow feeling worse than all the others, two separate
sensations, one on each leg, her knees buckling, the chains on her
arms tugging harshly at her as she sank. She could feel herself
sobbing, tears flowing down her face, gulps of air sucked past the gag
into her heaving chest. She remembered what Mistress had said earlier,
that one word could end this, even spoken through the restriction of
the gag, but she couldn't even bring herself to think of it, let alone
say it. She knew she deserved this pain, this humiliation by and
before Mistress, reminding her of her failing. Even as it tossed in
the maelstrom of agony, her mind accepted that this was what Mistress
desired of her, that by enduring it she could show she was still
worthy of Mistress.

She was pressed into the wall, trying to brace herself for another
stroke, waiting for the slow eternities to pass before it came,  but
then Mistress was close by her again, her hands on her head, untying
the gag and pulling it away. Jen gasped for breath between sobs,
wanting to compose herself for Mistress. She felt Mistress brushing
against her as she sobbed, rubbing lightly against her as she moved,
her presence easing the pain, reminding Jen she was still part of her.
Carefully, her fingers stroked through Jen's hair as she leaned into
her, her voice soft again as she whispered in her ear.

'Well done, my dear. You endured that part of your punishment well.
Now, I must leave you here to reflect on the lesson you have learned,
but I shall return for you when I judge you have endured sufficient
time here.' With that, she turned and walked away, the click of her
heels quick on the floor as she went. Jen heard the door swing open,
then was plunged into blackness as Mistress extinguished the lights in
the cellar before closing the door and leaving Jen behind.

Still sobbing, but feeling herself recover after hearing the love in
Mistress' voice again, Jen leant against the wall, hearing her chains
scrape against the wall. She could still feel the pain burning across
her thighs and rear, knowing that a bright scarlet stripe was there, a
physical representation of the shame she felt within her. In the
darkness, she felt alone, acutely aware of the absence of Mistress,
more than ever before, but she could feel a hope burning within her,
keeping her strong. Mistress would return for her and maybe then she
would take her into her bed. Jen had survived her punishment and now
she could wait in hope for whatever came next.

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