11.
~ 'I can do this.' Ariadne thought to herself as she rooted her feet to the floor.
"No." she said with a shaky breath.
Arthur looked taken aback. His face slightly puzzled by her refusal to do what she was told.
"Go upstairs to my room." he said an a cold, detached way.
"You said you were sorry about what happened last night." she said; her voice trembling. "You said you didn't want to be the kind of husband who... who did those things to his wife."
Arthur was walking to her. His eyes locked onto hers and making her body freeze, too afraid to move.
"You... you said you were sorry about... about spanking me... and... and..." she swallowed hard and looked up at him.
"Dear, I wasn't sorry about using the strap on you. You deserved it. I wanted to apologize about what I said to you afterward. About how you weren't as smart as men. I think you're very smart and I wanted to say I was sorry about making you feel otherwise." he said in a husky whisper.
She tried to step away from him, but her feet wouldn't move. He was too close right now. His breath was warm and sweet from the honey Mrs. Marsh used in his evening tea. The comforting smell of his aftershave still clung to his clothing and she had to fight the urge to hide her face in his chest and cry.
"Arthur." she said in a strained voice.
"Go upstairs to my room." he ordered solemnly.
"No." she whispered back as she hoped, he would take pity on her.
He took her hand in his. The feel of his large, firm hand in hers made her breath come harder. His palm and fingers so strong and gentle all at once.
"Arthur." she pleaded as the memories from last night came back to her.
"You disobeyed me today. Not only did you go back to the ladies meeting after I forbid you, but you cut off your hair." he said as he lead her upstairs. Her body forced to comply as he held fast to her hand.
She had become like a child resisting punishment as his strong body moved her up to his bedroom.
She knew she couldn't physically combat him.
"Arthur, I'm sorry about my hair. I'll wear the hair piece. No one will know." she said as he pulled her into his bedroom and shut the door behind them.
"I'll know." he said roughly.
"Last night, when I did it, I was upset by what you said." she explained as she backed away from him and stood by the fire again.
"Well, now I'm upset." he said and shrugged off his jacket. Once more hanging it in his wardrobe and finding the leather strap.
"No! You will not hit me with that again!" she said defensively.
"Take off your dress, Mrs. Brandon." he said. Ignoring her protest.
She felt her lower lip tremble at the sight of the leather strap. Memories, warm and welcomed rushed back to her and made her body prickle. As if she had just woken up for a long sleep.
Her hands went to the collar of her dress and she started to unfasten the top buttons. She normally needed Mrs. Marsh's help to get out of her heavy, cumbersome clothing. Especially the layered on winter clothes. The buttons in the back were especially difficult and she had to try her best to reach for them, when Arthur's hands were over hers.
"Let me." he said soothingly. His large hands loosening her dress as he carefully undid each button and she felt her heart beat faster. His voice had been kind and gentle, and she felt, for just that moment, he was her husband again.
"I really am, sorry about my hair." she whispered as she looked back at him.
He only nodded. His hand loosening her dress enough for her to slip out of it.
She stepped out of her winter dress and left it pooled on the floor.
"Corset?" she heard him smirk as he wrapped his hands around her waist. His fingers tripping over the unforgiving underclothes that synched her body into shape, and kept him from her skin.
"It wasn't my idea." she laughed nervously as she pulled her much shorter hair over her shoulder and Arthur began working on the lacings that would free her.
He pulled the silk cord of her corset out of the holes one at a time. Ariadne having to bite her lip to keep from telling him he only had to loosen the stays that kept her tightly restrained.
She liked the agonizing slowness of him undressing her.
"I've never seen you in a corset before." he whispered in her ear and she shivered. "I've only ever see you in your night dress when were together. Never in your underthings."
"You like for me to wear them?" she said softly and had to remember to breath.
"Yes. You feel more... forbidden this way." he whispered.
"Then I'll stop wearing them. I'll start wearing men's clothes." she threatened.
"Always so defiant." he said in a husky voice. "I think you like be a contrary."
"One of the joys of women, is that we are as contrary as we chose to be." she told him.
"That is one of the joys of women." he agreed slowly. "Not my personal favorite, if you must know. Tell me, why must you go against everything I say or want?"
"Qui tacet consentire" she said remembering her latin.
"Silence, gives consent?" he said in a mocking tone.
"If we keep silent, things will never change and those in power will assume we agree with their laws." she told him as he roughly started pulling free her stays.
She took a deep breath as her corset loosened and her breasts were no longer restrained.
"To keep silent while an injustice occurs, makes you just as guilty as those who committed the injustice." she said as his hands roamed under the corset.
"I see." he said in her ear. "Tell me, my dear Mrs. Brandon, what injustice do you face? Are you forced to live in poverty? Were you even forced to marry me? Am I the brute you think all men are?"
She felt his hands roll up her under dress and find her breasts. His thumb and forefinger plucking her nipple. She felt herself tremble slightly at the rush, like fire, go off in her body.
"We..." she panted and stood on tip toe and arched her back. Allowing him to fully cup both her breasts.
"We both know what my options were." she managed to say before her legs started to shake too much.
"Stand up strait, Mrs. Brandon." he growled and moved away from her.
She felt a little afraid of the hate that was in Arthur's voice just now. She looked back at him as her coset, far too lose now, slipped to the floor.
Ariadne stepped out the binding garment and, without being told, pulled down her panties as well. She still had on her dress gown. A gauzy, thin piece of clothing that would often act as her night dress. She striped that off as well and stood fully exposed as he walked around her. His hands lightly touching her belly as he looked over her naked body in the fire light.
Arthur seemed unimpressed. His face returning to that scowl that always meant trouble.
"It's alright that you don't love me." he sighed and met her eyes. She opened her mouth to argue this, but shut it again just as quickly. She didn't want to lie as say she did love him.
She wasn't sure how she felt about Arthur sometimes. She wasn't sure how she felt about herself most days. How could she love anyone else when she was a ghost half the time?
"We can work on that, Ariadne." he said softly as the leather strap came into view again. Arthur looked at it for a long time and Ariadne started shaking.
"It's alright." he said softly. "Go lay down on the bed."