Page 72 of Corruption

I huff and say, “Let’s just say that I was the perfect son until I wasn’t, and my father saw fit to teach me a lesson. It was only being his son that allowed me to keep the hand. Anyone else would have had it chopped off with their head following.”

“What did you do that was that bad?”

“I saved Nadezhda’s life.”

Kiya frowns, looking at me, then Nadia, and then back at me. “What’s so bad about that?”

“Everything when ourpakhan, Alik’s father, decided my entire family had to die,” Nadia says, sitting on the other side of Kiya and taking her other hand to massage some warmth into it herself.

“How did you save her?”

“I married her.”

“I know that.” Before I can ask exactly how she knows that, Kiya proceeds to say, “That doesn’t really answer my question.”

“Because marrying me effectively made me Alik’s blood and thus a Vorobev. And in the brotherhood, one of our staunchest rules is to not spill your own family’s blood unless absolutely necessary. Usually in the case of betrayal. I, technically, hadn’t betrayed anyone.”

“Technically?” Kiya asks.

“Technically. But not technically, my father had, and because I was his daughter, it was deemed that I had too. My entire family, also.”

“Because she was married to me, killing her would have fallen to me even if she had betrayed anyone. But since I married her after the sentence was declared, it was clear I was defying mypakhan. So I paid the price for my defiance. It should have been my life. But my father wasn’t going to kill his son. So he broke the hand I used to take Nadia in holy matrimony and did the next best thing.”

“He took your inheritance,” Kiya correctly surmises.

I nod, pretending to be oblivious to the way I hear her breath catch as I thread my fingers through hers.

“Was it worth it?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

I raise my eyebrows at her. “And what would you have done if I’d said any differently, Kitten?”

“I…” she trails off with a moan at the squeeze of her hand in mine while massaging it.

“She’s supposed to be getting a music lesson,” Nadia complains playfully, though she doesn’t stop massaging Kiya’s other hand.

“I much prefer this lesson,” Kiya sighs.

“How is it that you’re so insatiable, Kitten?”

“It’s not my fault you both worked so late last night that I fell asleep before you were done.”

“You really want us to make you come?” Nadia asks. “How many times?”

“As many times as you can before wearing out.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” I say with a chuckle as I press her hand to my lips. Then an idea strikes me. “You still need to be punished for sneaking in here.”

“Punished?”

I ignore her question and smirk. “And since you want to come so much, I know exactly how.” I stand from the piano and pull on Kiya’s hand to drag her behind me, knowing that Nadia will follow. “Come on, Kitten. It’s time we took you into our dungeon.”

28

Kiya

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