Page 45 of Dragon Bodyguard
“I can explain,” Misha said.
“I’m looking forward to hearing it,” Dmitri said. “Grab them.”
The men fanned out, rough hands bringing her arms behind her back. She looked over at Misha, who was being restrained by strong hands as well. Their eyes met.
Fuck.
***
The room where Byron was being held was small and bare. It really did resemble a cell more than anything else. A cot stood against one wall. There was no other furniture save the chairs that had been brought in and that were occupied by Ilya and Byron, who sat facing each other.
Byron was a young dragon. He hadn’t quite mastered that look of detached calm that most of the other men in the room wore for every occasion. There was a tinge of fear in his expression. Kristina wanted to feel anger, but all she could feel was sadness. Had her father told him to do this to her? Had he risked one of his own to secure whatever it was she represented to him?
She wanted to ask him, but it wasn’t her turn to speak. If she stepped out of line now, there was every chance she’d be slammed into one of the empty cells next to this one. So, she waited for what was to come.
The interrogation.
“Did you break into my daughter’s bedroom?” Ilya asked.
“Yes,” Byron replied.
“Why?” Ilya asked.
Kristina held her breath.
Perhaps Byron would crack, and the room would learn the truth, including her.
She didn’t even know that Misha was right, did she?
Except she did.
She felt it in her bones.
Her inner dragon sent a soft rumble through her, and she placed a hand on her heart, calming herself.
“I was following orders,” Byron said.
“Whose orders?” Ilya demanded.
“I don’t know,” Byron said. “I just know they offered a lot of money for her, and I really want a new boat.”
The line sounded rehearsed, a fake bravado tracing it that Kristina didn’t buy for a second. Even the lazy smile Byron was giving Ilya felt put on. The boy had no idea what he had gotten himself into.
Ilya got to his feet, pulling his gun, placing it against Byron’s forehead.
“No,” Kristina said, taking a step forward before she could even think twice about what she was doing.
She was glowing gently from within, something that brought all eyes already on her to widen in quiet surprise. She looked at Aleksander briefly, shaking her head at him not to intervene. Then turned her gaze back on her father’s, that cold stare he was giving her no longer making her cower. She had been bottling herself up for too long. She would not remain quiet.
“Tell him whose orders,” she said, glancing at Byron. “I know you know who gave them to you.”
Byron stared at her, then looked at Ilya, who was still pressing the gun between Byron’s brows. Ilya was frowning lightly when he turned his head to look at her, finally noticing how her inner dragon was manifesting in her veins. Her inner fire. It was white, not red or yellow. And she knew this should frighten him because if it came down to a fight, she was more powerful than him since he burned red. She could melt the skin off his bones before he even had air in his lungs to meet her fire with his own.
Her dragon knew this, so she knew it.
Her dragon could see his dragon clearly, so she saw it.
It was remarkable and new and mildly startling as he was outlined in a red glow without his inner dragon having shown itself to the room.
