Page 51 of Dragon Bodyguard
“I can hear you, you know,” Aleksander said through the door.
Kristina finally opened it; eyebrows raised high.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Can’t I come for an impromptu visit?” he asked, but there was something about his eyes that was a little wild.
“What’s the matter with you?” she asked. “It’s not your father, is it?”
“No, no, he’s gone,” Aleksander assured her. “Haven’t been in contact with him for a few weeks now. It’s really weird, have to say. I just… I need your advice,” he finished, turning to Misha.
“On what?” Misha asked.
“Well, I have this… issue,” Aleksander said, glancing at Kristina. “With the Volkovs.”
She raised her eyebrows. Misha did as well.
“Oh,” they said with once voice.
“I really hate it when you do that,” Aleksander sighed. “Anyway, remember that whole thing with the kidnapping and the maybe it was all about forming a bond between the families?”
Misha’s eyebrows dipped into a frown. He wasn’t sure he liked where this was going.
“Yes?” Misha asked.
“Yeah, so I was thinking maybe I could settle everything with the Volkovs if I offered myself as a mate to one of their daughters.”
Kristina looked about as shocked as Misha felt at this suggestion.
“Have you talked to Dmitri about this?” Kristina asked. “Or Vasili?”
“No,” Aleksander admitted. “Not yet.”
“I don’t know,” Misha said. “Stepan Volkov isn’t exactly the kind of dragon you’d want as your closest kin. He roasts people alive. On spits. Over open fires. He’s old-school medieval.”
“Yeah, I know,” Aleksander replied impatiently. “That’s why I need an in with him and I think, given the current circumstances, that binding myself to him and forming a blood bond is the safest course of action for everyone involved. Mainly me.”
“What are you talking about?” Kristina asked.
“We owe them a lot of money,” Aleksander said. “I mean a lot of money. Dad cheated them out of…” he lowered his voice to a whisper as though the walls had ears before he finished, “a billion dollars. And some change.”
“How much change?” Kristina and Misha said in one voice again.
“A few million,” Aleksander admitted, a defeated air about him.
“Jesus!” Kristina exclaimed. “Marry all the daughters!”
Misha chuckled, but at the dark look Aleksander gave him, he killed it off quickly enough. Aleksander sunk down on the nearest chair, resting his head in his hands.
“I’d hoped to arrange a sit-down, but Stepan is already too humiliated by the fact that he’s lost this much money. He trusted my father, you know? They did the kissing on both cheeks thing.”
“Wow,” Kristina said.
Misha observed his friend and offered, “If you think this is the best way—”
“It’s the only way,” Aleksander said, determination seeping into him as he got to his feet again. “It really is the only way. My only worry is that my offer won’t be accepted.”
“Go through the right channels and it will be,” Kristina reassured him. “If you have the blessing of the ruling heads, then surely Stepan can’t oppose. He’ll come aboard and you can work out… a repayment scheme?”
