by Red Phoenix
“No need to scold her. Her Master is back, and she needs that connection.” He looked at Rytsar. “A couch can be cleaned.”
Rytsar thanked him, feeling foolish that they were making such a fuss over a dog. But…he was grateful for it. Kissing the top of Mudryy’s head, he began petting her as she wagged her tail enthusiastically.
“What is the story behind this dog?” Celestia asked. “I know Mr. Wallace told us she helped you, but in what way, may I ask?”
Rytsar looked down at the animal on his lap. Mudryy lifted her head and licked him on the chin in response.
A smile crept across his face. “This stray took it upon herself to look after me. I cannot explain why. First, she tried to provide companionship, but I did not want it. Then she became my provider.” He patted her head. “She is an excellent thief.”
Marquis gave him an amused smile. “We know. She has stolen several items from the table.”
Rytsar looked down at the mutt, silently pleased.
“When it seemed that all was lost and there was no chance of escape, this dog…” His voice broke, remembering that moment. “…she chose to stay through the bitter cold so I would not die alone.”
He paused for a moment before adding, “You cannot repay someone for that kind of loyalty.”
“No, you cannot,” Marquis said soberly.
A tear fell onto her head, and Mudryy whined.
Rytsar shook his head, petting her again. “For a man who hated animals, I have become…unnaturally attached.”
Celestia laughed softly. “It’s sweet.”
Rytsar turned to Wallace. “Let me ask again. Are you recovering well?”
Wallace nodded. “As you can see, I am now sporting a new fashion accessory. It’s all the rage.”
“Do not make light of my question,” Rytsar cautioned.
Wallace’s smiled was relaxed. “I am doing well, Durov.”
“You may call me Anton. But I must be blunt with you. After what happened, there is no way I believe you can be doing well.”
Wallace cocked his head, the eye patch now somehow a natural part of him. “Was it traumatizing? Of course. However, I have been through worse things in my life, Anton. It also helps to know that it was absolutely necessary. No matter how many times I replay it in my mind, I see no other course of action, if we were all to get out of there alive. No one would have survived if a fight had broken out between the two brothers.”
“Agreed.”
“But it’s not just those two things that have helped with my recovery.” He looked at the mutt on Rytsar’s lap. “Mudryy has been a real comfort to me. It’s as if she can feel and sympathize with my pain. I can’t tell you how much her simple presence is a comfort.”
Rytsar knew that truth personally.
Wallace then glanced over at Marquis and Celestia. “Between these two, I have been able to talk through my fears and emotions concerning what happened. After much reflection, I have no doubt I was meant to be there that day. I played out the role I was destined to fulfill.”
Wallace turned his attention on Rytsar and smiled warmly. “There is one more thing that has me at peace.”
“What’s that?”
“Kylie. A girl I met a few months ago, who has turned my life upside down.”
“In a good way, I take it,” Rytsar said, responding to the expression on Wallace’s face.
He leaned forward and answered, “She has been my greatest support, believe it or not.”
Rytsar looked at him in surprise, knowing the tremendous influence Marquis Gray had had on him. “Really?”
“Kylie has changed my life in ways I couldn’t imagine, but what cemented my admiration of her was her reaction the first time she saw me after…” Wallace pointed to his face.
“Do you mind sharing?” Rytsar asked, now intrigued.
“Not at all,” he said, smiling easily. “I had warned her ahead of time that I’d been injured, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her exactly what had happened—it was too fresh, at the time.” He shrugged. “When she came through the door, I expected her to cry or get upset about my eye. But she didn’t.”
Wallace lay back against the couch. “No, the first thing she did was wrap her arms around me and gaze into my one good eye and tell me, ‘You’re back in one piece. That’s all that matters to me’.”
He said nothing for a moment, reining in his emotions. “For reasons I can’t fathom, the loss of my eye has meant little to her. She’s treated me as if I’ve always been this way. It makes the adjustment easier.”
“That is an unusual reaction,” Rytsar agreed.
“She is an uncommon woman,” Wallace said, smiling once again.
Rytsar reached over the dog to pour another shot, and glanced at Wallace to see if he wanted more. When Wallace nodded, Rytsar filled his up to the brim, as well. They both gulped down the fiery vodka and ate another pickle with gusto.
“So I have no reason to worry about you?” Rytsar pressed.
Wallace smirked. “I’m not saying I don’t still have my moments when it flashes in my head and I relive that moment again.” His brow furrowed, but then he looked to Marquis. “Thankfully, I have people around me to pull me out of it. I’m determined not to live in the past.”
“You are a remarkable man, Todd Wallace,” Rytsar said with deep sincerity.
Wallace chuckled. “I’m not sure how much of it has to do with me as a person. I believe circumstances shape us. You either survive them, or they destroy you. In the act of surviving, we develop scars, and those scars help shape us. On rare occasions, such as in my case, those hideous scars help shape you into a better person.”
“Wise words,” Rytsar complimented him, thinking back on his own life.
“I can’t take credit for it.” Wallace glanced at Marquis. “He was the one who spoke them to me.”
Rytsar nodded to Marquis in respect.
Wallace added with a smirk, “Truth be told, I’d probably be a selfish dick if I hadn’t been ripped a few good ones in my life.”
Rytsar frowned for a moment, thinking aloud. “I wonder what I would have been like without my past?”
“No need to contemplate,” Marquis assured him. “You are who you are now. It cannot be changed, and you are both remarkable people in your own right.”
Rytsar let out a low chuckle, reached over Mudryy again, and grabbed the bottle of vodka to refill the two glasses, not even asking Wallace if he wanted more.
“Let’s drink to our incredible selves,” he announced with a grin, raising his glass and clinking it against Wallace’s. Rytsar winked at him as he drank it, but his mind was now on other things…
He spontaneously kissed the dog on the nose before standing up. “I am off to see radost moya and my brother, Thane.”
Celestia clapped her hands together. “How wonderful your reunion will be.”
He looked at her for a moment, and the vision of a small box with blue ribbon came to mind. He suddenly remembered he’d failed to deliver her gift to Thane, and now he had no idea where it was. “I must confess something, Celestia.”
Her smile broadened. “Yes?”
“I never gave Thane the gift, and I have no clue what happened to it.”
She batted her eyes sweetly. “I can’t believe you even remembered…but you’ll be happy to know that Brie found it and gave it to Sir Davis for you. All is well.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’am certain it lifted my comrade’s spirit.”
“It would be lovely to think it did,” she replied, blushing.
“Farewell, good people,” he proclaimed as he headed down the hallway, feeling a little drunk—not on vodka—but on the knowledge he was heading to Brie and Thane.
Rytsar took a deep breath before entering the hospital. He felt a little lightheaded, as if he was living in a dream that he would wake up from at any moment.
Braving that first step, he walked into the hospital and headed to the front lobb
y desk, having forgotten the number of the room. “Can you tell me where Thane Davis’s room is? I am his brother.”
The receptionist looked up at him, and a slow smile of recognition spread across her face. “Are you Rytsar Durov, the Russian who was kidnapped a few floors up?”
He put his finger to his lips. “No one needs to know who I am.”
She grinned, blushing profusely, and whispered, “Of course, Mr. Durov.” She wrote the number on a piece of paper and slid it over to him as if she were handing over top-secret files.
“Thank you, dzyevooshka.”
Her giggle garnered the attention of those around her, so he quickly exited the scene, taking the stairs rather than the elevator.
When he finally reached the door to Thane’s room, he could barely contain his excitement. Bursting inside, he yelled, “I’m back from the dead!”
A little old man stared at him in surprise.
“Oh, wait, you’re not Thane,” Rytsar mumbled.
“No, and if you don’t get out of my room, I’m calling security!”
Rytsar raised his hands. “No need for that.”
He quickly shut the door and looked at the paper, verifying the number. He stood there, looking confused for several seconds before the movement of a nurse down the hallway caught his attention. Walking over to her, he asked. “Please, where is Thane Davis? I was given this room number.”
She looked at the paper. “Oh, the numbers are switched. The room you want is over there.” She pointed at the room two doors down.
“Thank you,” he said, giving her a curt bow.
Shaking his head in an attempt to regroup before he opened the door, Rytsar walked in. Instead of his triumphant declaration, he remained mute as his gaze landed on Brie, standing beside the bed, and her round belly.
“Rytsar?” she cried.
Rytsar walked into the room, his eyes locked on Brie. “Oh, radost moya, you have grown…” He walked over to her, laying his large hand on her stomach and closing his eyes.
I am back, moye solntse.
Peace washed over him.
He soon felt the gentle hand of Brie cupping his face. “Rytsar…” She choked out his name as she traced his rough jaw with her fingertips.
The urge to kiss her was too strong. He leaned down and planted his lips on hers, the rush of emotion and chemistry cascading over him. When he finally pulled away, he looked at Thane guiltily. “I am sorry. I couldn’t resist.”
“Hell, I’d kiss you too if that were my thing. Get over here,” Thane commanded, slowly pulling himself up in the bed. The two embraced, refusing to let each other go.
It was minutes before Rytsar finally released him. “I’m glad to see you, brother.”
“I am too. But, damn it, man, you look terrible. Seriously terrible.”
Brie rushed into his arms, burying her face in his chest, her round belly pressed against him. “I can’t believe it…” Her quiet sobs filled the room.
Rytsar looked at Thane with a half-grin.
This was heaven.
Unity
“Durov, I’m concerned about you,” Thane stated after having a chance to look him over.
Rytsar laughed. “No need, comrade. I am on the mend.”
“Well, I want my doctor to look at you, regardless.”
He was about to shake his head no, but Brie’s look of concern stopped him short. Out of consideration for the babe, he did not want her to waste a second worrying about him.
Sighing, he answered with resignation, “If it will ease your mind.”
Brie traced her finger over the long trail of sutures on his right cheek. “What did they do to you?” She ran her hand over his stomach and then wrapped her arms around his waist, commenting, “You’re so thin.”
When she looked up, he saw tears in her eyes.
“Do not fret, radost moya. I survived.”
“But at what cost?” Thane asked. “We need to know.”
“It might prove too much for radost moya to hear right now. Better to forget.”
“But I won’t forget,” Brie insisted. “I have worried and imagined all kinds of terrible things after speaking with Faelan. I need to know what really happened to ease my mind. I would rather know the truth than for you to keep me in the dark.”
Rytsar glanced at Thane, who nodded his agreement.
Sitting down next to the bed, Rytsar pulled Brie onto his lap, needing that physical contact with her.
“After I was taken from here, I was flown by a small aircraft to their secret compound in Siberia. Apparently, I pissed off my captors by insulting the Koslovs, because they were quite free with their physical dislike of me,” he explained jokingly.
But his words made Brie whimper. “You insulted them to stop that man from shooting me.”
Rytsar glanced at Thane. “See, this is why it is best not to speak of it.”
“Brie is simply making connections. Go on,” Thane insisted. To Brie, Thane said, “Babygirl, every choice Durov made brought him to this point. He is back with us. Guilt has no place here. In listening to his struggles, you and I only seek to understand what he went through, not to bear a burden of unnecessary guilt.”
Brie swallowed back her tears and nodded. With her honey-colored eyes locked on Rytsar, she pleaded, “Please continue.”
He looked at her with compassion. “You know if anything had happened to you, my life and the lives of everyone in the room would have ended. I made the only sane choice at the time.”
Rytsar then looked at Thane. “Brother, had I known they would storm the hospital, I would never have come that day.”
“We know that,” Thane answered. “It was never a question.”
“By the time I made it to the Koslov compound, I was in bad shape. Very bad.” He thought back to that first night and said in an almost wistful voice, “I think I died…”
When he heard Brie gasp, he tilted his head and smiled. “But I heard your voice, radost moya. You called out to me and brought me back.”
Brie’s face became ashen.
“What is it, Brie?” Thane asked.
“I think he is talking about my flogging session with Marquis. I felt Rytsar pulling away from me and screamed out his name.”
Brie stared at Rytsar.
“Then it must be so,” Rytsar replied easily. At this point, nothing would surprise him. He added with a smirk, “I suppose I must thank Marquis for the timing of your session.”
“What happened after you were revived?” Thane asked him.
“The Koslovs kept me in a cell away from the main building and gave me my daily intake of water so that I would die—but not too quickly.”
“How long did they keep you like that?” Thane growled under his breath.
“From the day I was brought to them until the day I left. I would have died, had it not been for the stray.”
“Yes, Faelan told me about that miraculous little dog. Tell me more,” Brie begged.
“Yes, she’s a foolish creature who took it upon herself to feed me scraps that she managed to steal.”
“Strange that there was a stray way out in the middle of nowhere,” Thane commented.
“I have no idea where she came from, but there is no doubt that dog saved my life, comrade. It is the reason I had Wallace bring her back with him.”
“That’s so beautiful,” Brie cooed sweetly.
“So the Koslovs dragged you all the way out to Siberia simply to die?” Thane asked, obviously stunned.
Rytsar sighed loudly, remembering his encounters with Stas.
“I do not believe that was the only reason. I’m certain there were other plans for me, but they were thwarted by my unstable condition.”
“Plans?” Thane pressed.
Rytsar glanced at Brie before answering. “I was visited by Stas—alone.”
“Ah…” Thane said, a look of concern on his face, knowing what that meant.
“I tried to bite his damn tongue off b
ut, unfortunately for me, I failed to do that and only incited his anger.”
“Did he…hurt you, Rytsar?” Brie asked in an agonized voice.
“Hurt my ego? Never. I knew I was irresistible,” Rytsar jested, but when he saw her look of devastation, he answered seriously. “His tongue only got as far as my mouth. No one violated me.”
Brie rested her head against his arm.
Only Thane knew all the gory details of what happened with Samantha in his dorm room, but Brie had been given the barest of details, so her concern for him now was touching and appreciated.
“My action against Stas almost got me killed a second time. After trying to rip his brother’s tongue off, Gavriil decided to abandon me to the elements. I was literally freezing to death when your ransom was accepted and they dragged me out of my cement coffin and into the main building.”
Rytsar turned to Thane and smiled. “That was brilliant, by the way. The way you handled my brothers and the Koslovs. But, damn it, peasant,” he scolded. “You shouldn’t have taken the risk!”
Thane smiled knowingly. “Like you, I made the only sane choice in a volatile situation.”
Rytsar had no comeback to dispute the truth of his statement, but he had to know the terms of the ransom. “My brothers have no money, comrade. What did you give to make it the kind of deal the Koslovs would agree to?”
Thane smiled, shaking his head. “Do you remember the island?”
Rytsar felt the blood drain from his face. “You didn’t!”
Thane seemed momentarily confused by his reaction, then started to laugh. “No. I did not sell our isle, my friend. What I meant to say was that, like the island, where you kept its worth a secret from me, I mean to do likewise with you. Suffice to say the amount I paid was worth having you here now.”
“Let me pay you back,” Rytsar pleaded.
“The sacrifice I made was nothing compared to Wallace. I would not dream of it.”
Rytsar frowned, but nodded his understanding. “So I take it he explained everything to you?”
Brie’s bottom lip trembled. “It was so terrible, what happened…he said you all came close to dying that day.”
“Da, and we would have, were it not for his bravery. You will be happy to know that Stas repaid his debt before he died.”