Otherworldly Discipline: A Witch's Lesson (32 page)

She stood up from his lap and patted her fingers over her skirts, feeling out of place. She didn’t feel like herself—as if by taking away what she thought she w
as—the last Byn
d
i
an—Ashcroft had taken away with it a part of herself.

In fact, she couldn’t see if what Ashcroft could still want in her. Surely, he would start comparing her to Alice, and then she was done for. Alice was going to have more political sway, more power, more control
, more strength
. And then Alice would actually learn from Ashcroft, and he would get to teach her, which Charlotte had quite robbed him of.

“Charlotte,” he noted. “You look so tired you’re going to drop over. I should have put you to bed already.”

She opened her mouth to protest the idea of him ‘putting her to bed’, but then didn’t. And not because she was afraid of adding to the already very burning pain still swelling her poor, punished bottom, but because she wasn’t as confident in Ashcroft’s affection as she had been… And even though she would sometimes assure herself it wasn’t the case, Ashcroft’s opinion of her had always been of the highest importance… And it would surely tend to drag down from here, with this news.

She grabbed his hand tightly with her own. “I love you, Ash.”

He frowned, maybe because of the desperate way she said it, like she would never see him again or something. “I love you too, Charlotte,” he replied, and then brought her knuckles to her lips. “What’s wrong?”

“I just want you to know that,” Charlotte replied. “And no matter how big of pain in the ass I’ve been to you—you should know that I wanted you since we met.”

He nearly looked suspicious with her, probably because she was never very upfront with her emotions, except promptly after a trashing. “What’s brought this on, my dear?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I just… I want you to know that I’ve really enjoyed being with you.”

He smiled softly. “Darling, if this is about your earlier thrashing, don’t worry yourself. It
’s been handled, it’s done. I am
in love with you as ever I was. Nothing would make me happier than if I get to enjoy your company every day.”

“You mean it?” she asked, looking up at his eyes, to make sure he was being sincere and not pedantic.

“Indeed, my dear. I look forward to every moment with you.” He kissed her mouth in such a warm, kind way that she felt her cheeks blush. “I can think of nothing better than spending
my life
with you in my arms.”

She bit her lip and grinned. “Me neither,” she agreed, but she secretly couldn’t wait until she turned into an immortal, where he would marry her
, if simply because then he couldn’t change his mind about her
. She didn’t think she’d ever looked forward to anything.
The months ahead were going to feel long, and grueling.
 

*
*
*

“Darling, what are you looking at?” Moriarty’
s voice said from the doorframe, which he was leaning against.

Alice hadn’t ever heard Moriarty come close or open the door. He was too light of foot—the man moved like a ghost.

She turned her head back slowly. “Nothing,” she said, in a distracted way. “Just… Just looking out the window,” she admitted.

“You can’t possibly see much at night,” Moriarty replied, stepping forward. Although the Winter Solstice was approaching very quickly. Alice had been at the tower for nearly three months already, the first snow long since passed them, and the days were only getting shorter and colder.

He put his lean arms around her waist and kissed her neck. She closed her eyes, delighting in his affection as much as she ever did. “I can’t explain it,” she told him. “Ever get the feeling that you’re being watched?”

She felt him chuckling against her neck. “You’re becoming like your sister,” he complained, tugging on her long, blond braid affectionately as he stepped away in order to tug off his boots. “Pretty soon you’ll be thinking all sorts of creatures are trying to sneak in here. You know, Ashcroft tells me she still can’t sleep
by herself. She’s nearly twenty
and still afraid of the dark.”

That was hardly gossip. She
hadn’t
know
n
Charlotte to spend much time alone at all
—no matter the time of day
. Every now and then she would go off somewhere to play her violin, but she wouldn’t do it for very long at any time. It was almost as if she was afraid of not being around others. Even when Alice came upstairs that very evening, Charlotte had already fallen asleep on the floor, her body huddled up against Ashcroft’s legs from where he sat in his chair… The girl never went to bed unaccompanied. “I don’t blame her. There’s something unsettling about this place,” she admitted, spinning around. “Reminds me of that night I ran into Lachlan… Just how the small hairs stand up straight on the back of my neck…”

“I used to feel paranoid like that when I was a younger man,” Moriarty commented, wheezing as one of his boots took an extra hard yank before he was able to wiggle his toes in freedom. “But I’ve long since not been bothered by any sort of bump in the night.” He patted his knee, inviting her to sit on his lap.

She glanced back out of the window, towards the edge of the gardens, and then turned her body, making her way towards Moriarty’s lap, where she sat down and let him cuddle her body close against his. He kissed her passionately for a long moment before he parted his lips from hers and asked, “You’re not worried about anything, are you? You’ve seemed a little anxious lately.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know why,” she said, but she didn’t argue. She did feel anxious; there was almost a pricking of her thumbs. She was constantly looking behind her back that week.

“Is it your new responsibilities? The future?” he guessed, because that had been a lot to take in after Ashcroft had told her that she was Charlotte’s half-sister and head of the faction, as she was the known eldest.

“I’m actually not too nervous about any of that,” she admitted, shaking her head. She squinted. “No, I guess it’s just a strange feeling. Paranoia,” she specified. “I can’t help it. It’s a creepy enchanted castle,” she reminded, waving her hands towards the door.

“Well, this is true. I imagine that sooner than not Ashcroft and I will have to start from scratch with our living arrangements. We were thinking of moving more nearby his faction’s citadel, past the Wastelands.”

Alice frowned. “Why?” she found herself asking. “There’s no way to get to Earthside from the Northlands, is there?”

“No,” replied Moriarty. “But that’s quite the point. Many orders of dark creatures are interested in the Earthside… And Ashcroft doesn’t really want to begin his family with so many enemies at his doorstep. And he would like to get as far away from the Western Gate as possible…”

“Why?”

“Lachlan is Ashcroft’s greatest enemy… And Ashcroft’s been getting a horrible feeling about him lately, as if the man was waiting to do something
horrendous.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Ashcroft is excited to start his family as soon as possible, and he doesn’t want his children to get involved in his own past troubles.”

Alice made a thoughtful humming sound. “Does Charlotte know this?” Alice asked, because she was certain that Charlotte, who did not keep her distastes back at all, wouldn’t have been quiet about the issue of moving so far away from where she’d grown up.

“No,” sighed Moriarty. “I daresay not. But her opinion means little on the matter; she doesn’t quite understand that we
’re not very well defended here
if it ever comes to a war. She’s too young to think of things like that…” He groaned wearily and patte
d
her of
f his lap until he could stand and
walk over to the bed,
which he fell on with a thump
. “Personally,” he continued, “I think she’s too young to get married and start having children. I say just give her a puppy first. But Ashcroft has never
been able to do things halfway
.
I think she’s happy enough
being with him
without all that, but he wants to go the whole nine yards.”

“And what about you, Mr. Miles?” she asked teasingly. “Do you want the suburban lifestyle? A wife and two and a half kids?”

“Well, I have no need for half of a child, and I was thinking more close to… say, twenty children at least,” was his certain response. “And abiding in and around the Earthside is fine for meeting a wife, apparently, but not for raising children—especially ours, since our cross-breeding would no doubt lead to shape-shifting wizards of sorts that other children might find a bit odd…”

She blushed. They’d never had a conversation like this, or really talked much about the future. What was entertaining was the fact that he was calling his future children ‘ours’.  “Twenty?” was all she could say.

“Well, not all at once,” he assured matter-of-factly. “But over the years, we might have quite a brood. I refuse to be conservative about reproduction. There are several realms and several worlds, and if we had an army of ten thousand, we’d still barely be making a dent on the overall population. I never understood why so many
folk
only have one child every century or so. Take Charlotte’s mother—she’s her mother’s first child! The woman was nearly seven hundred. Children simply aren’t so troublesome to have them so seldom...”

“Moriarty,” she sighed, aiming a chiding glance at him. “Remember that you haven’t even engaged me yet. I think you should do at least that much before we start talking about having future
litters
.”

He sat up on his elbow and peered over at her, his milky-brown eyes scanning over her body as she sat down at the window seat. “You’re right. Ashcroft was just rebuking my manners this afternoon like I was some
errant
schoolboy, and he’s getting to be all too right. Supposedly, I have no manners anymore.” He whipped his body up and walked over to the closet, removing his shirt.

“Is that big news?” Alice asked, chuckling wryly. “I’ve been saying that since I’ve first met you.”

“You didn’t meet me under the best of circumstances,” he said from the closet. When he came out, he came out with what looked like a scarf. “I let it all go to the wind that night, and could barely pick up the pieces. Though your biting wasn’t very well-mannered, either,
I might add.
” He winked and then offered his hand to help her up.

She looked at the hand dubiously and grinned. “Where are you leading me?”

“On an adventure,” he assured, pulling her up and leading her to the bed. He pulled her up so she was kneeling on the mattress, and then he came up behind her and put the scarf around her eyes, blindfolding her.

“Now, should I be trusting you this much?” she asked him, chuckling.

“Absolutely not. I’m surprised you didn’t run from the room screaming as soon as I came out of the closet with the scarf,” he told her. “Serves you right.” He began to pull up her nightgown over her shoulders.

She began to snicker. “Alright, Morry. I’m beginning to feel like I’m naked more often than I’m clothed,” she complained lightly. “Besides, how am I supposed to reciprocate if I’m blinded?”

“You know I like being in charge,” he reminded her, manipulating her body until she was flat on her back over the pillows. “You’re getting too modern for your own good. Before you know it, you’ll think that it’s up to you to run the show. And that simply won’t do for either of us.”

She listened to him remove his trousers and covered her breasts as she waited. “Won’t it?” she teased.

“No,” he growled playfully. “It’s a good way to get yourself a spanking…” He hummed thoughtfully, “Although you’d like parts of it...” She felt his rough fingers ply inside of her thigh from both sides towards her clit.

“You always say that. I always end up liking
all
of it.” She smiled demurely, but then frowned when she realized she couldn’t watch him smile devilishly back with his golden eyes glinting at her. She reached up and she tried to push the scarf off her face.

He grabbed her hands and brought them to his chest. “So quick to give up on my game?” he chuckled.

“Well, a lot of what I l
ike is visual,” she replied. “If
you weren’t attractive, this might work better… But I like looking at how handsome you are. I mean, all things considered, YOU’RE the one that that should be blind-folded...” she added with a frown.

She heard him sigh at her, and she was fully expecting, as soon as she said it, to get yet another lecture about how attractive she was. She always said that it couldn’t be helped—she had never received a compliment in her whole life until she met Moriarty. She had only seen compliments performed on television and dreamed… And he would then reply that yes, she could help talking about herself that way, and would give her a firm smack on her poor rear end.

It wasn’t that surprising when Moriarty heaved a heavy sigh and pulled his arm around her waist and dragged her body over his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed. “You always have to do this…” he groaned, and then he began giving her very firm smacks with the palm of his hand on her bare bottom.