Page 53 of Vienna Bliss

Alena slid into the hug, burying her face against his chest.

“You’re safe.” Alexander murmured against the top of her head.

“I was arrogant. I thought he was going to try to rescue me.”

“Rescue?”

“Be the knight who rescues the helpless damsel.”

“I thought I was your knight.”

A soft laugh against his neck eased some of the icy rage. “Oh, you are. But your armor is black.”

“Of course.”

He stroked her back from the nape of her neck down to the top of her ass. As his hand neared her butt she tensed.

Alexander took several deep breaths to calm his rage. “What did he do to you?” He thought about what he’d said, and then added. “You don’t have to tell me.”

But he wanted to know. Not that the details mattered. Absolon was dead, whether the man knew it or not.

“What he did can’t change the plan.”

“If he hurt you, it changes everything.”

“No, Alexander.” She leaned away, and her back was straighter, chin lifted and she looked more like herself than she had a moment ago. But her forearms were still pressed to her stomach, as if she were trying to hold herself together.

He wanted to believe it was because he’d held her, that his touch made her feel safe.

Alena licked her lips and then swallowed. “I… I let him hurt me so that we didn’t have to change the plan.”

The cold within him changed from rage to shock. “You…”

“He cornered me in that little parlor. Asked how much you were going to sell me for, because he wanted to buy me.”

Alexander closed his eyes, but only briefly.

“I…I played along, but when he ordered me to…” Alena was no longer looking at him, rather her focus was on the wall behind his shoulder. “I told him that I wasn’t allowed to talk about your affairs, wasn’t allowed to let other men touch me. That he respected, when I’m sure he wouldn’t have had I just continued to fight back.”

“Continued?” She’d fought to protect herself, but had still been hurt? The rage he felt now was so much worse, because it was rooted in fear.

“I realize that I couldn’t…that if I pretended I was anything other than your BDSM slave I would undo all our work.”

“Who gives a fuck, Alena?” Alexander surged off the bed, needing to move, needing an outlet for his anger and the fear that was no longer cold, but hot. “I’ll kill him.”

“You won’t.”

“Alena, it’s not worth it. I don’t give a fuck about…”

About anyone. Anything. Except you.

I love you.

He wanted to say the words but he knew they’d come out wrong, garbled and messy.

Alena sighed heavily, and then slid off the bed, standing beside it. Then she started to talk, her words calm, her posture erect and once more regal, as if the story she were telling wasn’t about herself.

“I thought I’d gotten him to leave after he knew he couldn’t buy me. But he had a plan.” She huffed out a cold laugh. “He’d prepared. Had a chain and handcuffs ready.”