"Better," Karla said, "and don't forget that."

She smiled at Aurora. "You have two choices now. You can bend over as before and hold your ankles while I give you four strokes of the whip, two for getting up, two for not calling me Madame. If you don't, then you go back on the rope and I whip you until you beg me to be allowed to bend over and take the strokes. Which is it?"

Aurora knew she meant. There was no choice for her, but she still gasped and burst into floods of tears. Sobbing and wailing with humiliation, Aurora turned back and spread her legs, sliding her hands down her calves until she held her ankles and stared up at Karla, who took the whip and curled it in her hands. Aurora fought with terror as she watched the whip curl through the air. The thin leather tail lashed into her ass and she heaved, almost losing her balance as the pain erupted over her body.

"Aaaaghhh!" she screamed. "Oooohhh, help me!"

The whip went back and held there. Aurora wept, her body shaking with pain. She whipped her ankles desperately, closing her eyes as she saw the whip curling upward again and again.

Karla whipped the thin leather into Aurora once more.

"Uuurrgghhh!" Aurora screamed, losing her balance and falling onto the carpet, her body shaking with agony.

"Get up!" Karla snapped. "Fast, you stupid little bitch!"

Aurora struggled up, turning, getting her hands around her ankles once more, while the pain rang through her body.

"What do you do as soon as you've got up?" Karla snapped, running the whip through her fingers.

Aurora was baffled. She stared at Karla, trying to see through the veil, but Karla's eyes were as hard and impassive as usual.