Prologue

      Lucy, Juliette and the Cane

      I could remember every detail of the day Juliette Fisher first gave me the cane. It was an experience so full of shame and yet so exciting that I had never been able to come to terms with it, any more than I’d been able to get over the feelings of subservience she’d generated within me. Obedience to a strong, cruel will had become the key to my sexuality, along with the pain and shame of physical punishment, just as that first caning became the key to her relationship with me.

      The chill of the air on my bare legs as I ran, the faint tang of burning leaves, the autumn colours on the trees along the river, every detail has remained clear in my mind ever since. Juliette was leaning on the rail of the bridge, tall and poised in black jeans and a sweater, Sunday clothes, her long dark hair caught up in a ponytail, a faint but wicked smile on her lips. I already knew I was in trouble, and just as surely I knew that I’d fight, and lose.

      ‘Hello, Lucy.’

      She sounded cheerful. My own voice was a sigh.

      ‘Hello, Juliette.’

      ‘Why didn’t you report to my study this morning?’

      ‘Because … because I didn’t want to be spanked!’

      ‘You didn’t want to be spanked? And what did we say about your spankings?’

      ‘But somebody might have heard, and then they’d know, and …’

      ‘What did we say about your spankings, Lucy? Answer me!’

      I was looking at my feet as I answered, barely able to mumble the words.

      ‘We said they had to be real, so you could do it whenever you felt I needed it, or … or if I’d been naughty.’

      Just to say the word made me choke with shame, but there was no denying the sudden heat between my thighs. It was ridiculous that I went to her for spankings, impossibly inappropriate, let alone as punishment for my supposed naughtiness. Yet it happened and it was going to happen again, because however small and stupid and weak it made me feel, I needed it and I needed it from her. She knew, and she was enjoying herself, drawing out my humiliation as she went on.

      ‘Yes, Lucy, if you’d been naughty, and you had been naughty, hadn’t you?’

      ‘Not really, no.’

      ‘No? Going about with no knickers on under your skirt?’

      ‘You made me take them off!’

      ‘That’s irrelevant. It’s disgraceful, going about with no knickers, but it’s not as bad as failing to report for your spanking. You’re in big trouble, Lucy, but I’m not going to spank you.’

      ‘No?’

      My disappointment showed in my voice even as relief washed over me. I’d been imagining how I’d look, laid across Juliette’s knee with my knickers pulled well down and my bare bottom stuck up in the air, my cheeks bouncing to the slaps as she spanked me, a vision at once horrible and deeply compelling. Now it looked as if it wasn’t going to happen, or so I thought for a moment.

      ‘No, Lucy, I’m not going to spank you. I’m going to cane you.’

      ‘Cane me? What do you mean, cane me?’

      ‘I mean, Lucy, exactly what I say. I’m going to cane you. I’m going to make you touch your toes, I’m going to turn up your skirt and pull down your knickers, supposing you have any on, and I’m going to give you six of the best on your bare bottom.’

      I tried to answer her, but all that came out was a squeak as she took me by the ear. There was every chance that somebody would see, and I was struggling immediately, but she didn’t seem to care. I was led up the bank towards the main buildings, where altogether too many people were milling about and she was forced to let go. Not that it made any difference. She had me, and I followed like a puppy at heel, across the quad and indoors, where she took hold of me again, this time by my arm, to march me up to the first floor and along the corridor to the study she shared with two other girls.

      Nobody seemed to be about, to my immense relief, but that came to an abrupt end when I was pushed in through the door to find both Emily and Claire seated at their desks. Both knew there was something between me and Juliette, while Juliette had already told me that it would turn her on to punish me in front of somebody else, so my fear and chagrin turned to something close to panic as I realised I was about to have an audience. It never even occurred to me that I could have walked away, or told Juliette she’d have to wait. Instead I began to babble, and so robbed myself of my last chance of escape.

      ‘No, Juliette, please! Not in front of them, that’s not fair! It’s just not fair!’

      She might have done it anyway, more likely not, but she couldn’t possibly back down in front of her friends. Claire looked up.

      ‘What are you going to do to her?’

      Juliette didn’t even hesitate, replying as if what she was about to do was perfectly acceptable, even normal.

      ‘I’m going to cane her. Touch your toes, Lucy.’

      I might have hoped they’d come to my rescue, or at least had the decency to leave the room, but they weren’t Juliette’s friends for nothing. Claire laughed for the thought of what was to be done to me, but Emily was worse.

      ‘Go on then, do her hard!’

      Juliette