The Princess in the Tower

by Cordelia Gregory

  Diana curled her body into a ball under the covers stuck in the memory as her tears flowed down her face until she fell back asleep, worn out with the emotion she was being forced to endure from the past.

  Her dreams were ones of nightmares, partly brought on by the fact that James, knowing the castle like the back of his hand, had managed to outwit Alexandrov’s men and escape. Now he was in hiding, and Diana couldn’t help but worry he may visit her again. Her memories of James’ drunken visits to the tower for sex and the brutality he used upon her to make her capitulate, the birth and the cruel Russian Mafia friends he placated by allowing them to sleep with her made her feel as though she were still trapped in that world for real. The memory images drifting through her dreams were vivid and living again. Claustrophobia consumed her. She couldn’t get out. Her heart pounding she woke up with a screaming start. She sat up in bed straight into Ilya’s arms.

  Alexandrov sat on the bed next to them. They were both dressed, in their trademark designer suits that made them look so handsome and powerful. Ilya in a dark navy suit with a light blue shirt and a dark grey silk tie. Alexandrov in a light grey suit with a pale blue shirt and navy silk tie.

  “What is wrong, Diana?” Ilya asked with heavy concern, his voice a soothing caressing Russian whisper. He rubbed her shoulders. “Did you have a bad dream, little one?”

  Alexandrov smoothed some strands of hair away from her forehead.

  “Tell us about your bad dream, kotyonok. You are safe now.”

  There was something different about the way they were talking to her. Both of the billionaires were using a soft, deep whispering voice and speaking to her in a fatherly tone. It made her feel safe, warm and so protected. It melted the tension around her. The urge to cuddle up inside their arms was overwhelming. She just wanted to cling to them like a child while the cruel memories thrust to the top of her mind in her dream faded away.

  “I was just dreaming about James, the past, my son’s birth and him being taken away from me. It was awful. I wish I could erase the memories. I don’t think I am ever going to be able to move on from what has happened.”

  Tears gathered in her eyes and spilled over her cheeks in her frustration. She wiped at them. “I just have to keep trying until I do,” she said with determination not wanting to sound weak.

  Ilya hugged her again and Alexandrov rubbed her back.

  “You are not weak, little one,” Alexandrov informed her as though he had read her thoughts. “Far from it. You are one of the strongest women I have ever known, and I have known many. We will have a doctor come and visit to help you get through this trauma.”

  Alexandrov’s smile widened.

  “But in the meantime, we have something for you to do.”

  Ilya spoke again.

  “Now, today, little one is going to be very different for you. We are going to make you feel safe enough to overcome a fear.”

  Diana’s smile faded to be replaced with a frown. She tried to pull away from the men, but Ilya caught her arms and held her in place.

  “No. No, I am not ready. I can’t go outside. You can’t make me. Please I…”

  Ilya interrupted her, reprimanding her like a child and making her frown deepen.

  “Enough, little one. I will not hear this.”

  Alexandrov remained silent appearing to allow Ilya to take the lead on this one.

  “I… I mean, we want to be able to walk down the street with you on our arms and show you off to our friends. You are a beautiful woman, Diana. You need to be loved and appreciated for it,” he said firmly. “You will do as you are told, and we will help you. It is time.”

  He seemed to be having difficulty maintaining his soothing deep caressing whisper and his fatherly tone over his frustration. She didn’t want to disappoint either of them but being outside… going out into the city was just too frightening. She wasn’t ready.

  “How can you do this to me?” she pleaded in a small voice.

  “Because we are both in love with you. I love you,” Ilya confirmed cupping the side of her face to brush a kiss across her lips. He let go allowing Alexandrov to repeat the same action.

  “It is true. I love you. We are doing this for your own good.”

  Diana stared at them repeating the words, “because we both love you,” over and over again in her mind.

  “You love me?”

  She couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t heard those words from anyone in such a long time. She’d told herself she would never trust the words if they were spoken to her again by a man but here there were two of them saying it. Trusting had been hard for so long, but her heart told her she was being given the deep heartfelt truth. She’d trusted Alexandrov and Ilya from the day she’d met them both individually at that conference over three years ago. Even their thoughts appeared to be in-sync, as if they knew what each other was thinking at any given time. To confirm her suspicions, Alexandrov said, “I think we always have since we first met you at that conference. I just wish we could have saved you from all of the pain James caused you.”

  Ilya caressed the side of her face as Alexandrov did the other side.

  “You are our sputnik,” he smiled.

  She gave him a confused look.

  “Our life-long companion,” Alexandrov translated, some humour returning to his tone.

  “I do not mean to hurt you, malen’kiy.”

  Ilya was calling her little one in Russian again.

  “This fear was given to you by James confining you in that room,” he continued. “We want you to have your freedom and live again. Please say you will try for us,” Ilya persisted.

  Diana wanted her freedom more than ever. She nodded, wiping her eyes and feeling her heart start to thud at the very thought of going outside again.

  “Diana,” Alexandrov spoke in a soft gentle voice once more calming her heart. “We have a special way to help you feel safe again. We ask you to trust us and we will require your complete obedience as our submissive, my kotyonok.”

  “Will you spank me if I don’t?” her own voice suddenly sounded fragile and childlike as though they were prompting it from her.

  Both men turned to grin at each other, then softened their smiles when they turned back to her.

  “I think your bottom is still a little too sore this morning for us to spank you, but we do have other methods of persuasion,” Alexandrov warned. “Diana, I expect your complete obedience just as Ilya does.”

  “Did you feel safe as a little girl?” Ilya asked. “Were you happy, little one?”

  Diana smiled and found her mind drifting back to her childhood. “I was a very happy little girl until Mummy and Daddy died in a car crash we were all in. Then I had to live with my father’s mother. She was cold, distant and sometimes cruel. I couldn’t wait to leave,” she finished wearing a frown on her forehead. A flood of memories entered her head. “I had no brothers or sisters to lean on.”

  Alexandrov rubbed her arm.

  “We are going to take you back to being a little girl again when you felt warm and safe with Daddy.”

  Alexandrov was using that whispering voice again. It stole inside her making her melt and feel fragile and deliciously vulnerable in his expert care. Just like Daddy used to make her feel when she was scared of something.

  “I bet you had lots of pretty dresses to wear, little one,” Ilya continued.

  “Yes, yes, I did, Daddy.”

  Diana put her hand to her mouth it had just slipped out. She stifled a surprised giggle enchanting Ilya. She had already slipped into the child role without even realising.

  “I was a flower girl at my mum’s cousin’s wedding. I had a beautiful white dress with little lace flowers. I loved wearing it. I felt so pretty.”

  “Then we have a surprise for you, kotyonok.”

  Alexandrov stood and took a large white box with a large pink bow on the top from the mahogany table near the long Georgian style window and brought it over to the bed. He handed i
t to her.

  “This is for me?” she said with wide excited eyes.

  “Open it,” they chorused.

  Diana undid the pretty pink satin bow and lifted up the lid of the glossy white box. Inside was a large amount of white tissue paper. It rustled as she sought the prize underneath it. There, set on another bed of tissue paper, was a beautiful little girl’s white dress not too dissimilar to the one she wore all those years ago. She lifted it out.

  It was definitely a little girl’s dress but designed for an adult woman. It was short, satin with a white silk tulle skirt underneath. There was a large, white satin sash separating the bodice and the skirt that tied at the back with a huge bow and the bodice was covered at the top with netted lace, which carried on into three quarter length sleeves. It was beautiful and she couldn’t wait to try it on and be a little girl once more.

  “I want to put it on. Thank you, Daddies,” she gushed kissing first Alexandrov’s then Ilya’s cheek.

  “You are welcome, little one. It gave us great pleasure in picking it out for you. First, you must have breakfast and then a bath, little one,” Alexandrov said sternly. “You haven’t been eating very well at all and we are going to correct that.”

  She didn’t like the sound of that. Food was the last thing on her mind. She had been too anxious with everything that had been going on. She didn’t feel hungry.

  “But I don’t want to eat, Daddy,” she pouted.

  “Now, now, malen’kiy,” Alexandrov began. “You will do as you are told, or you will be over Daddy’s knee for a spanking as soon as your bottom has recovered from the last one.”

  Diana lowered her eyes and deepened her pout falling into her role perfectly. Ilya tucked his fingers underneath her chin and lifted her head up.

  “I am sure she will be a good girl for both of us and eat her breakfast.”

  There was a knock at the door.

  “And there is breakfast now,” Ilya announced.

  The day felt later than breakfast time. She frowned and looked at the clock next to the bed.

  “But Daddy, it is after twelve. It is lunchtime.”

  Ilya opened the door.

  Alexandrov was fluffing and arranging the pillows at the back of her head and guiding her back on to them.

  “We returned in the early hours of the morning and little girls need their sleep. We let you sleep in,” he told her.

  She kept the sheet around her breasts to cover her modesty when the door was opened, and a maid allowed in. She came into the sun-drenched room, with light pouring in from the two large Georgian windows that ended at floor level dressed in heavy white damask curtains pulled to the sides and tied. The room was so fresh and clean. There was a purity about it. Everything was white or pastel colours. Fresh freesia and beautiful yellow roses were arranged at intervals around the room on tables, the fireplace, coffee table near the large white Georgian fireplace and small chest of drawers near the large mahogany four-poster Empress bed in which she lay. She turned to Alexandrov.

  “Daddy, this isn’t your room, is it?”

  He smiled.

  “No, it isn’t, little one. This is our room now,” he said picking up her hand to bring it to his lips and glanced at his brother, as he supervised the maid, to indicate he meant the three of them.

  She nodded.

  “It is very pretty. I like it a lot.”

  The maid left closing the door quietly behind her.

  “Has she brought everything we asked for?” Alexandrov asked his brother.

  “Yes, the room was prepared last night and stocked with everything you asked for.”

  “Good.”

  “I will get breakfast ready.”

  Diana strained to see what was on the tray, but Ilya deliberately kept his back to her and shielded the contents of the tray. She grew more suspicious when Alexandrov caught hold of her arms when she sat up to take a better look and insisted she sit back and wait until Daddy brought her breakfast to her.

  He brought a strange bowl with pictures of all the Disney princesses on the side and a plastic baby spoon. She looked at him confused as Alexandrov moved from the side of the bed and let Ilya sit down to begin feeding her. Diana looked in the bowl and let out a small laugh.

  “You can’t be serious,” she said slipping out of her role for a moment.

  “I am perfectly serious, baby girl. Now open wide and let Daddy feed you,” he informed her in a serious fatherly tone. “You haven’t been eating. This will be easy to swallow.” He scooped some of the pureed food on to the spoon. “It is organic and very healthy for you. It is apple and pear. Open wide,” he said bringing the spoon to her lips.

  “I am not eating that,” she refused folding her arms defensively in front of her. “That’s baby food, for heaven’s sake.”

  “Yes, it is. Alexandrov and I have decided this is the only way we can make you feel safe enough to trust us when we take you outside and help you confront your fear. We want you to feel like a child again for a short while and enjoy returning to your childhood. You have been abused and have lived under constant threat. Let us do this for you. The whole experience will nurture you. Now hush and open wide, little girl.”

  The very idea of being regressed back to a child appalled her at first. She’d thought they were playing a fun game when talking before. She hadn’t expected anything like this. But what they said made sense. Would it do any harm to regress for a while? She didn’t want to feel like she had last night when outside. Perhaps it would work. She wanted to be back in control of her life again. She eyed them uncertainly and then made a decision. She opened her mouth wide and allowed Ilya to deposit the first mouthful of apple and pear baby food into her mouth. He cooed over her as he retrieved a second spoonful and brought it to her lips once more while Alexandrov tied a pink bib with silver stars and the words, ‘Daddy’s Favourite Little Girl’ on it.

  “That’s a good girl. Eat it all up and then we will give you your bottle,” Ilya said.

  She nearly choked on her food when she heard the word bottle but the small voice in the back of her mind urged her to let them take care of her. When she’d finished, Ilya wiped her mouth with the bottom of the bib and undid it.

  “You have done well, finishing it all, little one. Good girl,” he said softly looking upon her with pride and love before depositing a kiss on her cheek.

  Alexandrov stood at the side of the bed shaking a bottle of milk. He tipped some of it out on to the back of his hand.

  “Just the right temperature,” he smiled.

  He sat on the bed next to her and swept an arm around Diana’s shoulders. He arranged her body so that he cradled her like a babe in arms. He pressed the rubber teat of the bottle to her lips and obediently she parted them so he could gently push it into her mouth.

  “Suck, kotyonok,” he whispered coaxing her into feeding, tipping the bottle up to make it easier for her. “This isn’t just milk. It is a special drink to build you up again,” he informed her.

  She thought of the last time he had commanded her to suck and hoped he would do it that way once again soon. Ilya sat at the bottom of the bed and watched his brother feed her like a baby cooing over her just as he had done, applauding her when she sucked the frothy milky liquid into her mouth. It made her feel warm inside and the tender care they both showed her made her feel so safe and protected.

  Bath time was fun. There were lots of bubbles, toy ducks and lots of giggles while her two daddies bathed her making sure she was a nice, fresh, clean little girl before putting on her pretty dress. Daddy Ilya brushed her teeth while she sat in a towel on the side of the bath after Daddy Alexandrov had dried her wet naked body. But what happened next made her want to be a naughty girl.

  “Lie down on top of the towel, little one,” Alexandrov commanded his little girl.

  Unwrapped from the towel, Diana did as she was told. He now had a bag next to him that was navy and looked like a baby bag. It had lots of little ducks on it. He op
ened it up as Ilya came to kneel on the other side of her to watch the proceedings. Alexandrov took something out of the bag and held it over her face. Diana stared up at it in horror.

  The object was a diaper, large enough to fit over the bottom of a grown woman.

  “Are you going to put that on me?” she asked in a small voice shocked with the notion.

  “Yes, little one. We want you to go outside and be free, unhampered by needing to pee. We think you might use that as an excuse to go back inside,” he told her gently.

  He looked down at her stomach and rubbed her lower abdomen, carefully pressing down on it. Diana winced feeling just how much she needed to wee now. It was as if he knew and that was why he was pressing down on her stomach. It made her feel annoyed. No way was she going to wear a diaper like a baby.

  “I think you need to wee, little one. You haven’t for a while.”

  What? Are you timing and controlling my bodily functions now?

  She dropped the act.

  “Yes, I do, Alexandrov and I want to do it alone. And for the record, I am not wearing that diaper.”

  She watched the two men exchange a grin.

  “No, baby girl. Until we say otherwise you will pee in front of us so we can make sure you are safe and taken care of. Little baby girls cannot go to the grown-up toilet on their own or use it at all. You will go in a potty or in your diaper for now. If you are a good girl after a few days, we will let you use the toilet again.”

  She stared at him wondering whether to get up and run. But then she had given them her agreement. However strange it appeared, this was to help her take back control of her life again. She pouted.

  “You have an adorable pout, Diana,” Alexandrov grinned and bent to kiss her lips. She said nothing.

  “Let’s get you on the potty. Then we can put the diaper on you and get you dressed,” Ilya suggested taking a pink potty, again big enough for an adult with pictures of little baby girls in diapers with blonde hair.

  Inwardly Diana grimaced but remained silent and just nodded unable to bring herself to say yes. This was going to be humiliating.