“Who are you?” I step forward, shielding her with my body.
“I’m Rupert Fage.” He announces his name like I should know it.
“And that matters because…?”
“I’m herfiancé.” He drags the last word out, emphasizing each syllable.
“My step-cousin,” Lareina clarifies. “The one I was drugged and dragged to Vegas to marry. Remember what I told you before?”
“Yes. The penniless loser who wants your inheritance,” I say.
His face turns interesting shades of red and purple. “Stay out from this!”
“Can’t. She’s my wife now.”
“Yourwife? Is this a fucking joke?” His eyes drop to my finger and hers. “That’s some cheap shit! It can’t be legit.”
“Take it up with the state of Nevada.” My head is growing increasingly fuzzy. Rupert is right about the rings, though. They aren’t just cheap shit. They look like it too. “But if you don’t know, no state in the U.S.A. has a law specifying the price of a wedding band.”
“You can’t get married!” he screams, his chest heaving.
“But she already did. And there’s no room for another ring on her finger.” I link my hand with hers, bring it to my mouth and kiss the fake-gold ring—the best five hundred bucks I’ve ever spent—giving him a stare full of challenge. Veins bulge in his forehead, and little blood vessels turn the whites of his eyes red. His nostrils flare. Pop a couple of horns on his forehead, and he’d look like a mad-cow-diseased bull ready to charge. I smile over Lareina’s wedding band, hoping my silent provocation pops one of those bulging veins.
“You can’t do that! You stupid bitch, you’ll ruin everything!” He jumps forward to grab Lareina.
I step right in front of him. “Back off.”
“Youfucking back off!” He shoves at me, then swings fast and hits me unexpectedly hard in the gut.
My equilibrium is off from the drugs, and the sudden attack makes me stumble, then step on something jutting out of the sidewalk and land on my ass. The fall doesn’t hurt, but the abruptness of it leaves me frozen in shock for a moment. Talk about no dignity.Shit.
“Are you okay?” Lareina says, bending down to peer at me, her heterochromatic eyes wide with concern. With the blinding yellow and red lights glowing behind her, she looks like a haloed angel watching over me.
Like the girl who came to rescue me out of the shed in the burning woods.
I run my fingers along her soft cheek, brushing the pad of my thumb across her trembling lips. “Queen.”
“Ares?”
Rupert grabs her arm and yanks her up. “You whore, I’m going to make you pay for what you’ve done.”
She tries to pull away from him, swinging her arm to loosen his grip. “Stop it! Let me go!”
“You’re going to annul this fucking marriage!” he says, and shakes her, spittle hitting her face.
Asshole. Although my vision and balance are still a little off, and the drugs are still gumming up the gears in my head, everything starts to crystalize. My day has been leading me to this.
I push myself up. “Let her go.”
“Fuck you,” he sneers with the confidence of a man who feels strong and powerful over others. Delusion springs eternal. “Get lost before I kick your face in.”
I roll my shoulders. “I’m sure you’ll try.”
He scoffs, his grip on her tightening. “Whatcha gonna do, loser?”
“Be her knight and protect her.” The words slip out as naturally as breathing.
“Knight?” He laughs. “Your armor looks a little rusty, bud—”
