AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Despite the differences, one look at us tells you we’re related.
“Fucking let me go,” Viktor snarls.
“Calm your damn self,” Zakh chides, tightening his grip on Viktor’s arm.
“This asshole is no brother of mine.” Viktor glares at me.
“I don’t like it either, but it is what it is.” I smirk.
“We’re going to need more of an explanation to stop this wedding,” Aleksander interrupts us.
On his word, Uncle Leif—the real underdog of this siege—steps forward, fulfilling his final part inourplan. More shock registers on my brothers’ faces when he walks up to Aleksander and whispers into his ear, telling him truths the others will eventually hear. For the moment, they know that Leif knew something they didn’t.
If not for him, I’d be dead. He’s my father’s younger brother and the only ally Mom and I had. It was him who rescued me.
When we were being hunted, Mom called him for help.
Leif was too late to save her, but he didn’t stop looking until he found me. It was nothing short of some miracle that he got to me before the monster burned me alive. I didn’t, however, escape unharmed.
Everyone watches his exchange with Aleksander with curiosity, taking note of Aleksander’s reactions. The widening of his eyes, the displeasure intensifying on his haggard face, and finally a nod.
He looks at everyone else, including the guests in the congregation. “This wedding will be postponed until further notice,” he announces, causing audible gasps to ripple across the room like a Mexican wave making its way through a crowded stadium. Aleksander then flicks his gaze back to me. “I expect a report once this matter is resolved.”
The order is another stab in Viktor’s heart because he knows it will be me who gets the Sovientrik—second-in-command—position in the Komarovski. Not him.
Just. Like. Everything. Else.
“Yes, Pakhan.” I bow my head with reverence, and Aleksander’s eyes drift down to the tattoo on my wrist, where his gaze lingers.
All the men in the Knights who pass The Reaping at the age of sixteen receive the Viking Futhark rune for defense tattooed on the underside of their wrist. They then receive the Greek Sigma symbol once they’re initiated into the Brotherhood. I have neither because not only should no one know of my existence and lineage, but I was supposed to die that night seventeen years ago.
The tattoo I have on my wrist is of Odin’s rune, which means the training I received and rites I have undertaken surpass all others, even Aleksander’s. My mark tells him he just barely has power over me because if I wanted to, I could challenge his position and take everything from him, too. Since I haven’t, I’m sure he knows it’s better to be on my right hand than my left.
Aleksander gives me a curt nod then disappears through the exit behind him.
With his departure, the tension increases. Good. It’s showtime, and all the key players are here. There’s the princess, who is still glaring at me, Viktor, who looks like he’s about to summon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Zakh and Malik, who wear the same questioning expressions, Mira—thewife—who has gone ghostly white, and last but never least, Uther.
Uther Sidorov, Anastasia’s father. The monster.
The fucking monster who killed my mother. He thought he killed me too when he set the barn on fire that night so long ago in Russia.
He’s staring at me. Afraid ofmenow, because he knows what I could do to him with just one word.
Since death is too good for people like him, I planned a special punishment.
A specialgame, like the ones he used to play with me that made me fear for my life. The game begun today as he walked his daughter down the aisle, knowing from our little encounter days ago what was going to happen to her next.
“You, Leif. You knew about this. Didn’t you?” Viktor spits, glaring at Leif. “You planned this.”
“I did.” Leif sets his shoulders back. Unfazed by Viktor’s rage, he stares at him as if he’s ready to charge like a wild bull. He might be sixty, with a head and beard full of gray hair, but he can still snap any motherfucker in half no matter their age.
“How the fuck could you do this to me?”
Leif gives him a hard stare. “I suggest you stand down and remember I still hold the authority here, until it passes.”
That tones Viktor right down because he knows what’s at stake for his defiance. Under the Rites of Inheritance, Leif will never inherit the empire or the position of Sovientrik to the Pakhan. But he acts as an executor would, holding all the authority and decision-making power while the inheritance is being transferred.
“I’m aware of that,Uncle.”
