Throne of Power (Throne Duet #1) by Rina Kent

“Rai.”

“What?” I force myself out of my haze at Vlad’s strong voice. He rarely calls me by my given name, and when he does, it’s serious.

“I was asking if you’re going to marry the bastard.”

“I don’t have a choice. Either I do it or he’ll go after Ana.”

Vlad sucks in a breath but refrains from commenting. He’s the type who doesn’t like to meddle in others’ business unless he’s ordered to. “He’s not a tool you can play with as we planned.”

“I know that more than anyone. Dedushka put him as my guard at one point, remember?”

“Yes, I do. I also remember that you told me not to say his name again after he disappeared.”

“I’d still rather we didn’t talk about him.”

“That doesn’t make him disappear.”

“I can pretend to.”

“I don’t know what happened back then that you hold a grudge against him, but it’s different now that he’s Igor’s son.”

“Do you really believe that he’s Igor’s son?”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t know. It just feels fishy that he’s coming all in, to the extent of claiming familial ties. Why now, of all times?”

“If anyone can find out, it’s you.”

“Oh, you bet I will. He thinks he’ll get the all-access card by marrying me, but he doesn’t know that he’ll be poisoned in the process.”

“Keep your cards close.”

“You don’t have to remind the snake to be poisonous, my dear Vlad.”

“My name is not Vlad.”

“Whatever.”

He grunts out a response. “The Pakhan ordered me to get you all the financial reports from the four brigades.”

“Hello, Mikhail’s trouble.” I stare over my shoulder at Ruslan. “How much do you bet we will find something fishy in there?”

“A hundred,” he says in his somewhat sophisticated accent.

“That’s so little,” I tease him.

“Five hundred.” Katia places a tray of coffee in front of us and steps back to stand beside Ruslan.

I grin. “Now we’re talking. I will call you on that.”

Vlad takes a sip of his coffee. “You need to submit V Corp’s reports too.”

“To who?”

“To everyone. Sergei wants everything to be out in the open with this one.”

“Why now?”

“Adrian might have something to do with it. He stayed with him last.”

I lean my elbow on my knee and tap my chin with my forefinger. “You think he’s plotting something behind our backs?”

“Most likely. Remember, he only pushed Sergei up when he knew Ivan was dead and couldn’t be Pakhan. You need to be extra careful with that one.”

“Why? Did you hear something?”

He pauses with his cup halfway to his mouth. “Maybe.”

“What is it?”

“My spies tell me he had a meeting with Igor and Kyle prior to coming to today’s meeting.”

“Motherfucker.” I ball my hands into fists. If Kyle has Adrian by his side, I’m most definitely screwed. “If you knew that, why the hell did you vote for him to stay? Why did everyone? I just don’t understand why Dedushka favored him so much, and now even Sergei does.”

“Simple. He’s efficient. You can’t deny that during the times he was with us, no one dared to come near the brotherhood. They knew they would be sniped in their sleep by him.”

“He’s still a killer.”

“We all are.”

“We kill for necessity, to protect our honor and our own. He kills for sport and profit. People like him who follow no codes of honor and have no loyalty are the most untrustworthy.”

“No one trusts him. We’re all just using his skills.”

I pause at Vlad’s words, the meaning behind them sitting badly with me for some reason.

“Do you know why I’m a shadow, Princess? It’s because no one notices when I’m gone.”

I shake Kyle’s words away, refusing to allow them weight.

They do remain in my head, though.

They grow and magnify until they’re the only thing I can think of, because I did notice when he was gone.

I did more than notice.

It ripped me apart from the inside out, and I’m still not sure if the wound will ever heal.

Now, I have to marry him and dig the knife deeper with my own hands.





8





Rai





Today is my wedding day.

It might as well be my funeral.

I don’t know why it feels like something inside me is struggling for breath, smothering in nothingness and slowly dying. Maybe it’s been dead for a long time, but I’m only noticing it now.

During my entire life, I’ve never been the type who dreamed about fairy tales and weddings. I preferred stories about monsters and demons. I thought they were more realistic than the cheesy Prince Charming ones.

Reina believed in her white knight and her fairy tale. She secretly loved Asher since they were children, and those feelings only got stronger as they grew up. She painted her own fairy tale and didn’t stop until it finally came to its happy ending.