Read In the Palace of Lazar for Free Online Page B

ever took a moment to sit down in her chair.
    Briar let her shoulders slump and she listened to Mistress Tula list her flaws and mistakes. At this point, she hardly took offense to them. The woman had constantly insulted her and her playing ever since she started lessons, so she had grown accustomed to it.
    "Now, are you ready to start playing again?" she asked.
    Briar nodded mutely.
    "What are you waiting for?" Mistress Tula demanded. "Start playing!"
    Briar brought her shaking hands up to the guitar and carefully picked at the strings, fumbling through a line of notes and rhythms. With each note she missed or rhythm she messed up, she cringed and knew the anger was probably bubbling up under Mistress Tula's skin.
    "Stop," she moaned, grabbing her head with her hands. "What are you doing? You have been taking lessons with me for awhile now and you still play like a beginner. My other beginners could probably show you up if they were here right now."
    Briar sat there, a lump lodged in her throat. All she did was look forward. If she looked at her, she knew she would end up bursting into tears.
    Mistress Tula demanded that she start playing again, making sure she got the notes and rhythms right. She jumped back into the music.
    Normally, playing this kind of music would have set her soul free, and every time she practiced it did, but with Mistress Tula it felt like she couldn't express herself at all. It felt like Mistress Tula was expressing her vision through Briar's hands.
    For the next hour, it was a trial and error process. Every time she missed a note or rhythm, Mistress Tula snapped at her or forced her to play that phrase over again. With each insult she threw at her, Briar became more and more unstable, the urge to quit lessons growing stronger—if that were even a possibility.
    For the fifteenth time, she stopped her and forced her to play a certain phrase over again.
    "Are you ready to start playing like an intermediate student?" she demanded.
    "Are you ready to stop insulting me?" Briar stopped the moment the words came from her lips. That had been bubbling on the tip of her tongue and had just come out without her having control over it. Her heart stopped… she knew she was in trouble.
    Even without looking at Mistress Tula, she knew that she had stopped pacing and was glaring at her with her delicate hands folded behind her back.
    "What did you say?" she asked slowly, making the hairs on the back of Briar's neck prickle.
    Finally, she looked at her and made eye contact, even though she wanted to run straight out of the large room.
    "I'm ready to start being treated as a musician," she said slowly, her voice shaking a little. "Battering me with all the insults I've already heard before won't make me any better." What was she doing? Did she want to be spanked?
    Mistress Tula leaned back on the heels of her feet and glanced up at the ceiling. "You are a feisty one, and very, very foolish." With a fluid motion of her hand, she pointed to the corner in the far right of the room. "Go stand with your nose in the corner. Now!"
    Briar gently placed her guitar in the open case, and stood on shaking legs. She made her way to the corner, trying not to look at Mistress Tula standing with her arms crossed against her chest.
    "When you reach the corner, remove your silks," she ordered. "I will go fetch Donte to issue your discipline. Do not move an inch."
    Briar did as she asked without hesitation. She was in enough trouble as it was. The idea of Donte coming sent a panic through her. What would he do? She hadn't been spanked since that first time when she arrived at the palace, and the idea of being punished again sent a terrifying shiver up her spine.
    Her body trembled as she stared at the corner of the wall, listening closely to any sound. The wait was agonizing. Standing nude, in punishment, made her feel extremely vulnerable and tears threatened to fall. She didn't want to disappoint Donte. She stood long enough that she