“Maks, I don’t want to go in there.”
He ignored her and opened the door, then grabbed her by the arm and marched her in.
She’d been expecting Dimitri and Alex to be here and ready to yell at her like her step-dad would have done, but instead the foyer was empty. When her gaze landed on Alex standing in the doorway leading to the formal sitting area she took a step back against the closed door. Oh boy, he was mad. Really mad. Wondering just how much trouble she was in, she smiled at Alex.
“Hi.”
His nostrils flared and he said in a soft voice, “Where were you?”
“Um, I wanted to go for a walk around the fountain.”
“And why did you not take your bodyguard?”
“Well….” She dropped her gaze, not liking the dead look in his eyes that made her stomach clench. “Dimitri didn’t want me leaving the building, so I didn’t think Maks would let me. I just wanted to go outside.”
“So, you are saying you willingly disobeyed my brother, put yourself in danger, and you did this all because you wanted to go outside?”
“Gets worse,” Maks said in a tight voice from behind her and she winced.
Maks told his story, and at the mention of Alex and Dimitri’s father contacting her Alex went arctic and she swore the temperature of the room dropped by twenty degrees. If she thought he was mad before, the icy rage that was reflected in his eyes for a brief moment before his expression shut down scared the piss out of her.
Trying to mitigate the damage, she whispered, “Alex, I’m sorry.”
With three swift strides he crossed the room then put hand over her mouth and said, “Go to your room.”
Normally, she would have told him to fuck off, but glad for the chance to escape Alex’s anger she went up the stairs in record time and into the bedroom she shared with Dimitri.
As soon as she entered she chucked her heels off and threw her jacket into the corner. Her stomach cramped up and she moved to her bed, grabbing Dimitri’s pillow and holding it close before she began to cry. This was so fucked up. All she had done was go outside. Well, okay, so she should have taken Maks, but they were all overreacting. The only thing that had happened was that Dimitri’s nanny had given her a ring from his father. That wasn’t exactly terrible.
She lied to herself, trying to deal with her fear as best she could. A few minutes later another man’s voice roared from downstairs and she clutched the pillow harder. That was a bad, bad sound.
Oh fuck, Dimitri was home.
She curled up into a ball and hoped he wouldn’t be too mad at her.
When the door opened, she flinched and tucked her head down, waiting for the yelling to begin.
Instead, Maks said in an unexpectedly gentle voice, “Rya, you need to come downstairs. Dimitri and Alex wish to speak to you.”
She whimpered and he made a soft, shushing sound.
“Rya, you must face them.”
To her humiliation her voice came out shaky as she said, “I’m afraid.”
“Why? He loves you beyond reason, but you must be punished for what you’ve done. He will tolerate almost anything from you, but putting yourself in danger like that…is very selfish. If anything had happened to you he would have never forgiven himself. I would never forgive myself either. It is my job, my privilege to keep you alive, but I cannot do that when you do something like this.”
Guilt began to chase away her fear and she sat up in bed. “Okay.”
He helped her off the bed and she followed meekly behind him as he led her to Dimitri’s study. The closer they got to where Dimitri was waiting the more her breathing increased until she was panting.
“Calm,” Maks said in a low voice when they got to the door.
She wanted to tell him to fuck off, but he opened the door and she followed him in, keeping her eyes firmly on the floor. Nervously lacing her fingers together, she waited for someone to say something, but there was only tension-laden silence. Taking a step further into the room, she dared to dart a glance up and really wished she hadn’t.
Alex and Dimitri stood right next to each other, about two paces in front of her, watching her with the combined fury of two angry gods. She studied their faces, looking for some kind of compassion, but she may as well have been looking at robots. Nothing came through and her lower lip trembled as Dimitri stared at her with complete dispassion.
“Kneel,” Alex said in a dead voice.
She did so without hesitation, going into the slave position with her forehead touching the ground, her arms stretched out before her, and her butt resting back on her heels. It was the most humbling position possible from her, a way to use her body to show her how sorry she was. No one said anything for a moment and she pressed her hands to the carpet so they couldn’t see her fingers trembling. Adrenaline flooded her bloodstream and she really, really wanted to run away from the terrible anger directed at her.