Touching Rune (9 page)

Dimitri slid opened the door to the shower and adjusted it until steam started to fill the enclosed area. He turned and grinned at her wide eyes. He held his hand out to her, waiting patiently as she tentatively placed her frozen fingers in his.

“See, it is warm almost hot now,” Dimitri said gently.

“Oh!” Rune breathed out as she held her hand out.

Blissfully warm water poured over her fingers then her palm as she turned her hand over in wonder. She had never seen anything like it before. “You bathe in it? How long does the warm water last?”

“For as long as the water flows,” Dimitri said with a chuckle.

“Are you trying to make us believe you have never seen a shower before?” Sergei asked in disbelief.

Sergei’s eyes swept over Rune’s expression of awe to Dimitri briefly before he turned his attention back to Rune. Her expression was no longer one of awe but of determination. She reached out and grabbed his and Dimitri’s arm in a fierce grip.

“Out!” She said turning and pushing them toward the door. “Out! Both of you. Now! Out, out, out!”

“What…” Dimitri said before he found both he and Sergei staring at a closed door. “… just happened?”

“She acts like she has never seen a shower before,” Sergei said looking at his friend.

Both men stood staring at the closed door. They could hear the door to the shower open and close. A few seconds later, the sounds of water splashing and delighted giggles echoed through the thick door.

“I need a shower and it won’t be a hot one,” Sergei growled out as he turned to glare at Dimitri. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t….” He drew in a deep breath before continuing. “Don’t let her go anywhere and don’t you fucking do anything until I get back.”

Dimitri nodded as another loud giggle filter through the door. “I won’t,” he grunted out.

Sergei returned ten minutes later, his damp hair testament to his quick shower and change. Dimitri bit out that he was going to get a shower in the guest room next door. His dark glare was the only warning he gave Sergei that the same ‘off-limits’ was applied while he cooled off his own blood. Sergei felt for his friend as he watched him gather up a change of clothes and disappear through a connecting door into the room next door.

Sergei hadn’t even bothered with dressing when he returned to his rooms, deciding his silk boxers covered enough should he run across any of the servants. He had been in almost agony the few hours that he had tried to sleep. He and Dimitri had both worn their boxers to bed thinking it would be interesting to see what Rune would do when she awoke. So far, nothing she had done made sense to him.

Dimitri returned five minutes later, toweling his short brown hair dry with a thick towel. He raised an eyebrow when he heard the singing that had started shortly after Sergei left for his shower still echoing through the air.

“She is still in there?” Dimitri asked in disbelief.

“Obviously,” Sergei replied dryly. “I had a servant bring us some coffee and refreshments.”

Dimitri grunted as he threw the towel over the end of the bed. “We might as well enjoy some,” he grumbled. “Something tells me she might be a while longer.”

“She is going to turn into a prune,” Sergei remarked as he glanced one last time at the door before stepping into the outer sitting room.

Twenty minutes later, a rosy-cheeked Rune walked into the sitting room wearing one of Dimitri’s thick black robes. Her nose wiggled as she drew in the delicious aroma of fresh coffee and warm pastries. Sergei closed his eyes and counted to ten, swearing he was going to need another cold shower if she didn’t get that look of hungry delight off of her face.

“That was totally awesome!” Rune said, using one of the children’s favorite sayings as she poured a cup of coffee. She wiggled her nose at the strong taste and added several teaspoons of sugar and a generous amount of cream to the brew before loading a plate with pastries and fruit. “I could have stayed in there all day but I was worried when my fingers and toes started to shrivel. I hope they don’t stay this way.”

Both men’s eyes went immediately to the tiny toes peeking out from the oversize robe. They looked at each other with a strained expression before turning to watch as she curled up in the chair she had fallen asleep in last night. It was time to get some answers.

“Where are you from?” Sergei asked as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Mm,” Rune replied as she took a sip of the doctored coffee. “Here and there.”

“Where is that specifically?” Sergei asked trying not to grind his teeth in frustration.

Rune looked at him, chewing the piece of fruit she had picked up with the pastries. She swallowed and looked thoughtful for a long moment before shrugging. She picked up another piece of fruit and studied it thoughtfully.

“Let’s see, I’ve been to Norway, England, Germany, and France.” She shuddered as she said the last. “Nasty place during the time I was there. Everybody was fighting each other and cutting off heads. Spain wasn’t too bad until…” her voice faded as she popped the piece of fruit into her mouth. “I couldn’t speak the language so it was a relief when I left there. Then, America…” her voice faded again but this time there was a sad look in her eyes. “I liked it there,” she murmured.

“Who sent you?” Dimitri asked, sitting back. He decided he liked the look of his robe on her slender figure. “Who is your contact here?”

Rune raised her eyebrow at Dimitri. “I told you I can’t tell you that and you don’t have to worry about me contacting anyone,” she replied moodily, setting her plate on the low table next to her.

“Why?” Sergei asked quietly.

Rune turned her head to look at Sergei with a sad smile. “Because he always knows where I am.”

“How?” Dimitri demanded, looking her over. He had searched her after he laid her in his bed last night. That was why he had been hard as a stone. “You didn’t have any tracking devices on you.”

Sergei looked sharply at Dimitri who shook his head in warning. Sergei knew that Dimitri has installed scramblers throughout their living areas. He wanted to make sure that there was no way anyone could pick up their private conversations. He had also had the interior of the ceiling coated to make it impossible for heat signatures to be seen from satellites.

“Tracking devices?” Rune repeated, confused. “What is that?”

“Surely you have watched some American movies or television shows that used those in their productions? Books?” Sergei added when Rune continued to look at him with a clueless expression. “The Internet?”

“What is that?” Rune asked looking back and forth at both men.

“You’ve… never heard of the Internet?” Dimitri asked slowly.

“No, what does it do? Do you have it? Can you show me?” Rune asked.

Her mind raced through all the new things she must have missed over the last hundred plus years. She had watched the children and listened to their conversations but lately they had been using devices that she couldn’t really get a close look at and using words that she wasn’t familiar with. There was only so much that she could see from her place in the garden and the older children had been coming out to it less and less over the past few years.

Sergei glanced at Dimitri with a cynical look of disbelief. His expression changed to impatience when Dimitri’s cell phone buzzed. Dimitri frowned as the name of one of the men he had in Los Angeles popped up.

“Excuse me,” he murmured, standing and walking over to the window.

Rune’s mouth dropped open and she stared at Dimitri in disbelief when he began talking rapidly in Russian into a small box. She set her cup down and stood up. Walking over to where he stood, she looked at the small black and silver box he had pressed against his ear.

She touched it with a finger and leaned closer when he looked down at her with a frown. She pulled back and grinned up at him. Turning, she looked at where Sergei was still sitting watching her.

“The man who came to the garden had one of those things,” she said, waving her hand at Dimitri who was having a hard time concentrating on his conversation and trying to listen to Rune at the same time. “He was always talking into it but I never could figure out what he was doing. I thought he was just a strange little man who talked a lot to himself. Do you have one of those?” She asked.

“Of course,” Sergei replied pulling his cell phone out of the front pocket of his pants. “Are you going to try to make me believe you have never seen a cell phone before, as well?”

Rune didn’t respond. She didn’t care whether he believed her or not. She wanted to see all the things she had missed out on. Each century brought new things but nothing like this. This was… magical. It was unbelievable that someone could talk into a small box and there be someone on the other end who could hear what they were saying. She had seen it where a person could tap on wires and make words with the taps but nothing like this.

“How do you get someone to talk to you?” She asked as she took the device and turned it over.

“Press the circle on the front,” Sergei replied.

Rune pressed the button and a beautiful picture showed on the front along with the time. She touched it and a message came up. She looked at Sergei in confusion.

“Try what again?” She asked.

“Here,” he said, reaching up and pressing his finger to the circle. “It is programmed for my touch.”

“Oh,” Rune murmured.

She touched one of the little pictures at the bottom. She squeaked and almost dropped the box when it made a musical sound. A picture of Dimitri came up on the screen. She looked at Dimitri in shock.

“Slide your finger along the green,” Dimitri said in amusement.

Rune looked back at the phone and slid her finger carefully across the slick glass like he told her. It stopped making the musical sound and his picture disappeared. She looked back at Dimitri who still held the small box to his ear.

“Hold it to your ear and speak into it,” Sergei said in exasperation. He stood up and took her hand in his so he could press it to her ear. “Say hello.”

“Hell…. Hello,
” Rune whispered.

“
Здравствуйте,
малышка
,”
Hello, little one,
Dimitri’s deep voice replied. “My robe looks very sexy on you.”

Rune swiveled to stare at Dimitri with wide eyes. “You talked to me! In the box, you said something in your language and you said…
” Her voice faded as she flushed. “He talked to me!” She said looking back at Sergei with excitement. “Can you make someone else talk to me? Who can talk on this? How do you make it do that? Can I do that? I don’t have anyone to talk to but if I did, could I do it too?”

Dimitri’s laughter echoed through the box into her ear before he disconnected the call. He slid his phone back into his front pocket. He watched as her face crumpled in disappointment when Sergei took his phone out of her hand. A knock on the door drew their attention to it. A moment later, one of the female servants led several people into the room.

“What is that?” Rune asked, feeling nervous as four other women came into the room, each carrying armfuls of bags.

“Clothes,” Sergei said shortly. “We will leave you to their talents. Dimitri, I’d like to speak with you in private.”

Dimitri nodded. “Cheri, she will need a complete wardrobe. Everything,” he ordered before he followed Sergei out of the room. “Have one of the servants bring her to our office when you are done.”

“But…” Rune’s voice died as she watched the men walk out of the room, leaving her with six women who were circling her as if she was a fish and they were a shark who just realized there was a meal ready for them. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Make you beautiful,” Cheri St. Fleur said with a snap of her fingers. “Starting with your hair.”

“What do you mean; you don’t know where she came from?” Sergei asked the old man standing in front of him. “You gave her your coat, socks and a pair of your shoes.”

Micha turned his sock hat in his hand. He looked back and forth between Dimitri and Sergei. His old hands trembled slightly as he looked down at them. He had known immediately when he was summoned to the office what it was going to be about.

“I was cleaning up in the atrium,” Micha explained again. “One minute I was alone and the next, the young lady was there.”

“And you didn’t see anyone else?” Sergei asked sardonically. “No other workmen? No other containers? No bright light?”

“Why would there be a bright light?” Micha asked confused. “No, I did not see any of those things,” he quickly added with Sergei’s face darkened at his question. “Just the young girl lying on the center platform where the statue had been only moments before.”

“Where the statue….” Sergei bit off with a curse. “Is the statue still there?”

“No,” Micha whispered softly. “No, it disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Sergei asked in disbelief. “You are telling me that a full-size bronze statue that we paid over two million US dollars for has just vanished into thin air and you did not see a thing?”

“Sergei,” Dimitri murmured quietly before he turned to look at Micha. “Thank you, Micha. That will be all for now.”

Sergei kept his temper until the door to his office closed. “I want the surveillance tapes for that part of the palace and every entrance into it from yesterday,” he snapped at Dimitri.

“I’ve already ordered it,” Dimitri said, relaxing back against the window. “I also talked to the guards. They saw nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Fire them,” Sergei said with a wave of his hand. “Get ones that don’t look for the ordinary. Get ones that know what in the hell is going on at all times.”

“Sergei,” Dimitri warned as his own temper began to build. “The security team we have is one of the best in the world. We will find out how Rune was able to gain entrance and who she is working for. It is only a matter of time. I will make some inquiries into the history of the statue and the orphanage in New York, as well.”

Sergei ran his hands through his short black hair and nodded. It was not his friend’s fault that he was feeling as if he was caught in a whirlpool and didn’t know how to get out. He looked up at the door when a tentative knock sounded.

“Enter,” he called out.

The door slowly opened and one of the servants entered and bowed briefly before stepping to one side. Sergei bit back a curse when he saw Rune standing in the door with a closed expression on her face. If he had thought she was beautiful before it was nothing compared to what she looked like now with her hair hanging like silk over one shoulder and the form-fitting black cashmere sweater dress and knee length black boots encasing her figure.

“We are in trouble, my friend,” Dimitri said under his breath as he walked over to stand next to Sergei. “I don’t give a damn who sent her or where she came from, I’m keeping her.”

“We,” Sergei murmured. “…until we tire of her.”

Dimitri looked skeptically at Sergei before he took a step forward and lifted his hand to Rune. He didn’t care what his friend said; he had no intentions of letting this unusual woman slip through his fingers. He would find out who she really was and who had sent her. He had to remember that he had seen things that Sergei had not… Things that could not always be explained. Sergei only believed in what he could touch and logically explain.

“You look beautiful,
дорогая,” Dimitri said with a smile.

*.*.*

Rune scowled at him and ignored his outstretched hand in favor of pulling on the back of the dress the woman with the thick French accent and even bigger attitude made her wear. She had been poked, prodded and pulled in every direction as the woman snapped out commands to the other women who quickly stole the thick black robe and left her shivering in the middle of the sitting room. She had fought having the color put on her face but the woman had been adamant that she needed some. The only women that Rune knew that wore such things were not the type she wanted to be associated with.

“I’m not a whore,” she had told the woman with a glare. “I do not color my face.”

The woman had given her a heated glare right back. “You are the mistress of Sergei
Vasiliev and Dimitri Mihailov. You will be dressed accordingly,” she had informed Rune arrogantly. “I have never let them down and I will not do so now. Paulette, her hair. I want six inches cut off the ends.”

Rune had gathered her hair in her arms, uncaring that she was standing naked as the day she was born. She would fight them tooth and nail if they tried to cut her hair off. Only a disobedient thrall wore her hair cut short.

“I am no man’s mistress,” Rune had snapped back, dancing around the chair. “You will not shear my hair like I am some lowly wretch. I am the daughter of a landowner and great warrior given said land by the chieftain of our clan himself. I am the warrior daughter of…” her voice faded as Cheri St. Fleur stepped forward with a determined stare. “Stay back,” she had whispered.

Of course, the hated woman and her followers had not stayed back. She had been pushed into a chair and they had done what they wanted to her despite her attempts to escape. When Cheri told Paulette to cut off all of her hair if she so much as sneezed, Rune had frozen. The slender woman had a huge section already wrapped in her hand with the scissors ready. Rune had whimpered as she heard the first slice and closed her eyes in shame.

Now, one of the reasons for her shame stood before her grinning. Sheer frustration over being thrust into a situation she did not understand overwhelmed her. She hated the feelings the two men stirred inside her. She had never felt this way before and had no one to turn to for advice. She should have had her mother and older sisters but everyone she loved was gone. She had never felt as lonely and out of place as she did now.

“I hate you both!” Rune said in a low voice. “Do you see what those… those horrid women did to me? I look like a whore!”

She glared when Dimitri choked back a chuckle. She pulled her hair around and waved the shorter length at them. She was ready to kill them both. If she had a sword, she would have tried. Tears brightened her eyes as she stared back and forth between Sergei’s astonished look and Dimitri’s amused one.

“They cut my hair!” She cried out in a hurt voice. “They put paint on my face.” She sniffed. “They put this, this thing on me and called me your mistress. They would not listen when I told them I wasn’t. I hate you! I will never be your whore! I am the daughter of a landowner. I am…” She cut her hand across the air and turned on her heel. “I am leaving. I don’t care if you need help or not. You can help yourselves.”

Without another word, Rune walked by the stunned servant leaving behind two equally astonished men. She would find her way back to the atrium. She didn’t care how long it took to find it. She would search every corridor until it led her to where this had all started. She hurried down the corridor, breaking into a run as she turned the corner. She didn’t care what happened to her. She refused to live out the last few days of her life in shame.

*.*.*

Sergei cursed under his breath as he shot Dimitri a hot look of confusion. Dimitri returned Sergei’s gaze, wondering what in the hell just happened. He thought she had looked beautiful.

“I swear I don’t understand that woman,” Sergei muttered as he watched the servant quietly disappear. “I do not know a single woman in the world who would not have been demanding more designer clothes and makeup.”

“Or who would have complained about being our mistress,” Dimitri commented looking down the empty corridor.

“We had better go find her before she tries to escape,” Sergei bit out. “It is below freezing outside.”

Dimitri pulled his cell phone out and pressed a series of buttons. “Secure all entrances and exits. No one is to leave until further notice,” he instructed before disconnecting the call.

“Where do you think she might have gone?” Sergei asked.

“Let us start in my rooms,” Dimitri replied.

*.*.*

It had taken her almost three hours of wandering and a servant who understood enough French to point her in the correct direction before she found the atrium. After the first thirty minutes, she had begun to appreciate the beauty of the palace that Sergei and Dimitri called home. Beautiful paintings, tapestries and statues lined the many corridors. Polished marble and glossy aged wood gleamed as she wandered from one floor to the next.

Servants laughed and talked in rapid Russian as they worked in different areas. All had been polite but none had understood her quiet plea for directions until a young man pointed her toward a narrow staircase. He told her to stay to the left until she came to the place she was seeking. Rune had given him a grateful smile.

“Thank you,” Rune whispered as she took the cup of hot tea from Micha. “I hope I didn’t get you into trouble.”

Micha chuckled. “I have been in trouble many times in my life, little one,” he said as he poured himself a cup of tea and came to sit next to her in his tiny office. “My first time was when I was but a young man. War had just broken out…”

Rune listened as Micha told one story after another. She relaxed, pulling the light wool lap blanket he had given her over her knees. She still wasn’t comfortable with the shortness of her dress or the black stockings the women had made her put on. When she made a comment about what happened, Micha had calmly explained that women, both young and old, wore make-up and such clothing. It was no longer considered a mark of a lady of ill-repute.

Rune flushed as she realized that she had over-reacted. She touched her hair which did feel better with some of the weight cut off. She had never considered that hair could actually ‘feel’ heavy.

“So, they were not trying to make me be a…,” she blushed and looked up at Micha with searching eyes. “… a whore? They said I was Sergei and Dimitri’s mistress and I must dress accordingly.”

Micha patted Rune’s trembling hand. “Sergei Vasiliev and Dimitri Mihailov are two very, very powerful and wealthy men. To be considered their mistress is not a bad thing. It is common today,” he reassured her.

“But a mistress means a kept woman,” Rune said, sitting forward. “I would refuse to be one, even if it was possible.”

“And it is not?” Micha asked.

“No,” Rune replied quietly, looking out of the small window at the Christmas rose. Already, she could see the bottom littered with petals and the remains of where a blossom had been. “I came here to help someone. I don’t know who. I can’t imagine it being those two men,” she said looking back at Micha. “They are both so… strong.”

“Even the strongest need help sometimes,” Micha replied thoughtfully.

“Do you know if they are in trouble?” She asked earnestly. “I don’t have much time, Micha. Please, if you can, will you help me?”

Micha’s eyes darkened with worry. “What will happen if you do not finish what you have come for?”

“I don’t know,” Rune whispered looking back at the rose. “I’ve never failed before that I know of but this time, I’m not so sure I’ll have time. This is the first time that I’ve known that it is important that I not fail. It is also the first time that I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do,” she added.

Micha glanced up and stood when he saw the two dark figures heading toward his office. “I will do what I can to help you,” he promised as he moved slowly to open the door. “It would appear you have been found.”

Rune set her empty cup down and stood up with a sigh. “Thank you, Micha,” she whispered as he opened the door.

*.*.*

Sergei’s eyes flashed with fury as Rune’s slender figure appeared in the doorway of Micha’s small office. They had searched Dimitri’s apartment before heading to the atrium. There had been no sign of Rune or Micha the first time they had come down.

His heart had been heavy the closer they got. In the back of his mind, he thought she might have found her way back to wherever she came from. His stomach churned at the thought that Rune could somehow disappear as mysteriously as she had appeared in the first place.

He didn’t say a word when he reached her. Relief choked him. Pulling her into his arms, he turned her so that she would be trapped between his body and Dimitri. He captured her lips as she gasped, drinking from her with a ravishing thirst of relief.

He could feel Dimitri’s hands sliding between their bodies to cup her breasts as he pressed her against his friend’s broader form. He cupped her face, sliding his hands under her hair and twisting it between his fingers so that he could kiss her lips. Dimitri was pressing heated kisses against her neck. After several long seconds, he released her lips and glared down at her with glittering eyes filled with determination.

“You are not a whore,” he said, huskily. “You are our woman. Don’t you ever refer to yourself as a whore again.”

“He is right,
малышка
,” Dimitri whispered as he brushed his lips along her neck. “You are our woman.”

“I…,” Rune groaned as Dimitri turned her so she was facing him.

“You are ours,” he whispered before capturing her lips with his own.