(HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF MY WONDERFUL READERS. I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOY THE DAY & THAT IT IS FILLED WITH LOVE. HERE IS YOU AN EXTRA CHAPTER IN HONOR OF THIS LOVING HOLIDAY. THE PERFECT ROMITRI HOLIDAY !!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)
Roza looked at me and I knew that she didn't want to punish him anymore than I did because he had done a great thing and owned up to what he had done wrong. Instead of doing what a lot of children and even more than a few adults would have done and just lied and said, 'I don't know'.
Our children were just like their beautiful mother had been ever since we met, far to mature for their age. But I think that this time it was because they were purebred dhampir instead of it being because they had no choice but to grow up far to soon, like my Roza had had to.
"How about instead of an actual punishment we just remember to never use fire in the house unless your mother and I say so. And outside only if there is another responsible adult or two with you."
He nodded, "ok papa."
He leaned up and hugged Roza and I both at the same time. Once he sat back down in Roza's lap she wiped the remainder of his little tears away and kissed the top of his head.
"Now, jump back into your chair and finish your dinner." Lyubov' moya said to our son. He smiled nodded and quickly did as he had been told. (my love)
Once Roza and I had returned to our seats I felt the both of us sigh because our son was safe and unharmed. As the fear for him very slowly subsided, for the moment anyway. As we calmed I squeezed my soon to be wife's hand reassuringly.
For the next four days witness were called, questioned and cross examined. Cerci was released from the hospital with a clean bill of physical health. After resting for another day, she began her new job as Alberta's part time assistant and her therapy sessions.
On the afternoon of day six of the trial, Lord Rufus came to mine and Roza's office, in the old palace after court.
"You needed to see us Lord Rufus?" I asked.
"Yes, your majesties. I wanted to let you know that tomorrow I will be calling yourself, King Dimitri, to the stand. And if all goes well then either tomorrow afternoon or the next day I will be calling on you Queen Rosemarie."
Roza and I both sighed, "well we both knew that this was coming sooner or later. But we would like to thank you for the forewarning Lord Rufus."
"You are welcome your majesty. I know that testifying to the things that the former Lady Ozera tried to do to you as a child are going to be an extremely difficult task for you. But I want you to know that I will do my best to be a gentle as I can possibly be. I can't say the same for the defense, because I don't know what he is going to do."
"I understand Lord Rufus and thank you again."
"You are welcome your majesty. Well, I need to go prepare for court tomorrow." He bowed his head to Roza and I before he left.
And just as we had been warned, the next morning I was the first witness called by the prosecution.
"I call his majesty King Dimitri Tristen Colby Belikov to the stand." Rufus said.
"Your majesty, would you mind taking the witness stand?"
"Of course, Guardian Croft."
"No, don't make my Dimka spread her lies!!! He loves me!!! Don't make him have to lie for her!!!" Tasha screamed and started trying to make her way to the dais but the guardians stopped her cold and chained her to her chair.
I looked at her in complete disgust. "Unlike you, I don't lie Natasha. Not for any reason have I lied..." Except for when I told lyubov' moya that I didn't love her and when she and I had to lie on the stand about the lust charm. Those are the only times that I have ever lied, at least as far as my memory goes. (my love)
But, if I could go back in time, the only changes that I would make concerning lying. Would be lying to my Roza about the way that I have always felt about her.
"And my testimony will be nothing but the truth."
"Former Lady Ozera, don't make me have to have you gagged for the remainder of this trial." Hans warned her.
(RPOV)
I watched as a furious Dimitri took the stand and was sworn in by Hans Croft. And then the questions started.
"Your majesty, would you please tell us about the first time that you remember the defendant touching or trying to touch you in an inappropriate manner? And how old you were."
"I was eight years old."
"Can you recall what happened?"
"Very clearly unfortunately."
"Please tell us what happened."
"Well, as I said I was eight years old and the former Lady Natasha Ozera had started accompanying my oldest sister, Karolina, home from school each weekend."
"Why would Ms. Ozera accompany your sister to your home?"
"My sister thought that they were friends."
"Ahhh, I see. So, the former Lady Natasha Ozera, was using her relationship with your sister to gain access to you?"
"I don't know if that was her initial intent or not. But it soon became quite apparent to me that that had become her true motive for her continued visits."
"And how did this become apparent to you?"
"Ms. Ozera had been coming home with my sister for a few weeks before she first made inappropriate comments, innuendos and touching of me."
"Can you tell us what happened the first time?"
"It was the third weekend that she had accompanied my sister to our home. And we were all three; my sister Karolina, myself and the former Lady Natasha Ozera. Were all sitting out on the back porch of my childhood home watching the birds flit around. My sister got up to go back into the house to get something to drink and when she did Ms. Ozera got in the porch swing with me. She sat down close enough to me to where her leg was pressing very tightly up against my own. The longer my sister stayed in the house the closer Ms. Ozera moved to me. She put her hand very high up on my thigh and started rubbing up and down my leg, she then stood up and moved to sit herself down in my lap. But before she could sit all the way down, well, thankfully that is when my big sister opened our back door. When that happened Ms. Ozera quickly got back to where she was sitting when my sister went into the house."
"Did you try to discourage Ms. Ozera's inappropriate actions in any way?"
"I most certainly did."
"May I ask how you tried to discourage her?"
"Every time that she would move closer to me I would move further and further away from her. I did this until I was uncomfortably pushed up against the side of the swing."
"I understand your majesty. Is that all that happened that weekend?"
"Thankfully, yes."
"How long after that was it before she touched you in a sexual way?"
"The very next weekend... she didn't just touch me but everything that she did was entirely inappropriate."
"Can you tell us what she did do to you?"
"I had just finished my bath before going to bed on Friday night. When Ms. Ozera slipped into my private bathroom just as I was about to get dressed."
The room filled with gasps, and as this was going on I looked at Karo just to find her sitting there with tears running down her face. I could tell that she felt at fault even though she never knew what was going on.
I found Ben standing by the wall a few feet away from me, so I caught his eye and nodded towards Karo, telling him to go to her. He looked at me and tapped his watch, telling me that he was still on the clock.
I narrowed my eyes at him and jerked my head towards Karo again. He held up his hands, nodded, smiled and made his way over to his girlfriend. Where he sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.
"Thanks mladenets." Dimitri said to me through our bond. (babe)
"You're welcome."
"When you say, 'private bathroom,' what do you mean exactly?" Mr. Smythe asked.
"Is that really an important question to the case your majesty?" Rufus asked. I didn't understand why that would be important either, but then I wasn't the attorney.
"Mr. Smythe, is this question essential to your case in some way?"
"Yes, your majesty."
"Very well then. Please answer the question King Dimitri."
"Yes, your majesty. Well, as you no doubt know, my sorry and pathetic excuse for a father was a royal. And in the beginning, before he became a drunk abusive swine, he insisted that we lived in a home that was somewhat close to his station. So, he had us a house built, and in that house there were three bathrooms. One downstairs, a second upstairs that all the females in the house used. And a third that was connected to my bedroom, which as the only male in the family, only I used."
"Thank you for clarifying that for us."
Dimitri just nodded.
"How exactly was that question essential to your case Mr. Smythe?"
"I wanted to give the jury a look into the witnesses life at the time."
"Why?"
"So they could see that he does indeed have royal blood."
"What difference does that make?" Rufus asked.
"So everyone could see that their majesties did not make someone with the blood of a commoner our king."
"Are you trying to find out if I lied to my people Mr. Smythe?"
"Uhhh... no your majesty, I am just trying to prove that the witness does have royal blood. So he is eligible to be a royal."
"So you are trying to find out if either of us lied about his blood line."
"I..." He sighed.
"Yes, I guess so."
"From now on, keep your questions on the case that we are trying. Do you understand me Mr. Smythe."
He bowed his head, "yes, your majesty."
"If either mine or Dimitri's blood lines are called into question, then a DNA test can be done. Otherwise, don't go poking into things that don't concern this case. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, your majesty. Again, I am so sorry."
"As I said, don't repeat your mistake. Now, carry on."
"Yes, your majesty. King Dimitri, can you please tell us what happened when Ms. Ozera came into your private bathroom?"
"She stood there staring at me for a while as I continued to try to tell her to leave. But she didn't listen to me, instead she told me how sexy she thought that I was..."
"Again, just to clarify, you were an eight year old little boy the first time that she called you sexy?"
"Yes, I was." My poor love nodded sadly.
"And she was fifteen, is that also true?"
"Yes, it is."
"Thank you, please continue."
"As I was saying, she told me how sexy she thought that I was. Then she proceeded to tell me that she wanted me to be her boyfriend and when I graduated from St. Basil's she wanted me to become her guardian. Then after I had been her guardian for a while we would get married and have a family of our own. Then she did something that still to this day makes my skin crawl."
"What did she do your majesty?"
"She reached out and grabbed the towel, that I had wrapped around me, jerked it away from my body and dropped it on the floor at her feet."
There was a clear and loud reaction to this information all throughout the trial room.
"And since you had just gotten out of the bath you were still naked under that towel, correct?"
"Correct."
"What happened then?"
"She tried to reach out and touch a particular part of my body but my sister called her from downstairs before she could. Thank God."
"What part of your body did she try to touch?"
Dimitri sighed, "she reached her hand out and tried to take hold of my penis."
Looking at Christian I could see the tears in his eyes. And his and Karo's eyes weren't the only eyes in that room that were filled with tears.
"Is that all that happened that weekend?"
"No, unfortunately it was not."
"Please tell us what else happened."
"Saturday night she snuck into my bedroom I was awoken when she slid under my sheets and sat down on my hips."
Again, the room filled with gasps.
"What happened then?"
"She started to grind herself against me telling me that she couldn't wait to have me inside her. That she just knew that I would be a fantastic lover, much better than anyone that she had ever been with before..."
"Please let me ask you a question here."
Dimitri nodded.
"So, going by what the former Lady Natasha Ozera said to you. Even at the age of fifteen she was not a virgin anymore?"
"No. She said that she had been with three different grown men, two royal moroi students and one novice. All by the time that she was just fifteen, but she did not tell me that then. It was a few weeks later that she whispered that in my ear, she told me that after she, my sisters and I all boarded the train to go back to St. Basil's on Sunday afternoon."
"And why do you think that she told you that?"
"She said that she wanted me to know what a fantastic lover she would be for me. How much care that she would take when she took my virginity."
"And did she take your virginity?"
"No, she most certainly did not I gave my fiancée that gift years ago. Just as, contrary to popular belief, she gifted me with her virginity."
"All right, please continue with what you were saying."
"As I was saying, I told her to get out of my room before I called for my mother."
"What did she say and do?"
"She laughed in my face and said that she could fuck me right then and there, in front of my mother, my sisters and my babushka. And that there wouldn't be any damn thing that anyone could do to stop her, because she was a royal and I was a dhampir. And because no one that mattered gave a flying fu... fig what happened to dhampirs. She could chain me to her bed, even at the age of eight, and fu... have sex with me constantly and no one would care." (grandmother)
"Disgraceful, disgusting and deplorable." Were just a few words that came for those watching, and that was just from the moroi. And the guardians stationed around the room kept their faces all passive but in their eyes I could see hatred, revulsion and disgust.
"What happened next?"
"She eventually left my room after telling me that no matter what happened she would have me in her bed and in her..."
"In her what your majesty?"
"I really don't think that I should use that word here."
"It's fine your majesty we are all adults here."
Dimitri sighed in frustration.
"That she would have me in her bed and in her pussy."
Louder gasps were heard this time, and there were even more than a few hands that flew to cover just as many mouths.