AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He doesn’t find that funny at all.
His grip tightens, pulling a pained whimper from my lips. “But then your boyfriends,” Liam hisses, “had to make it personal.”
I jerk my head away when he tries to touch my cheek. He’s not amused, gripping my face tight enough that his fingers dig into my skin, slicing jagged cuts across my cheek. He licks his lips and lowers his mouth to my new wounds, licking them too, tasting my blood on his tongue. A shiver rolls down his spine.
I think I might be sick again.
“Now I’ll take you,” he promises, his words a slow, deliberate rasp, “and then I’ll take their city, and their throne, and all their fucking money.”
The man is crazy. No one can take on my men and survive. Hell, he nearly got his face smashed in the last time he ran into them. “If you touch me, they’re going to hunt you down. They’ll tear you to pieces. They’ll kill you.”
My heart sings at the thought, but I’m too far gone to question it. I’m too far gone to care.
“This time, I won’t stop them,” I vow solemnly. “Not after this. Not after what you’ve done.”
Liam shakes his head, a smile playing on his lips. “Oh, zhena, I won’t be caught off guard twice. I’ve learned my lesson.” His iron grip on my wrist keeps me locked by his side as he drags me to the door. “It’s time you learned yours.”
The door opens to a small chapel. I recognize it as one of the venues Andrei listed as a possibility for our wedding. The room is packed just as full as the real church, only this time, I don’t recognize as many faces. A few of them, I do, but not enough for them to matter.
“What is this?”
Liam drags me down the aisle as the Wedding March plays, his grin wickedly confident as we make it to the end. “It’s our wedding, zhena. Now, smile for all our friends and family.”
He dips me without warning, and his kiss is fierce. I have to cling to his shoulders for fear I might faint, and he takes that as encouragement to swipe his tongue against my lips.
The crowd cheers and claps, and all I want to do is scream.
This is a nightmare. And I’m scared I won’t wake up anytime soon.
Chapter 32
Andrei
Something is wrong.
I can’t explain how I know. A sense of foreboding déjà vu washes over me as I stare out at the crowd, all of us awaiting my bride’s march down the aisle.
A pang in my gut makes my stomach clench.
Ezra stands still as a stone to my right, Mikhail fidgeting to my left. All three of us await our bride, but something’s wrong.
We haven’t left her side for long. She insisted, saying that it was bad luck for the grooms to see her before the ceremony. Otherwise, we’d be right there with her in the dressing room.
We can’t give her an inch of space, or we’ll forget how to breathe. She’s become our oxygen—essential for life.
Without her, I . . .
“She is late.” Ezra’s scowl cuts deep.
“She’ll be here in a moment.” Mikhail breathes easily, his voice lilting on the lie he tells himself.
Anxiety curls in my chest, foreign and unwelcome.
I take the three quick steps off the platform and down the aisle, ignoring the hushed whispers of the crowd. Mikhail and Ezra flank me, moving just as quickly.
By the time we reach the double doors at the back of the church, Celia’s panicked face peeks through the crack between them.
Mikhail stops to question or soothe her, whichever is necessary, but I don’t stop moving.
