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

Her nose twitches as she winces before she quickly hides it. That’s weirdly adorable. “I’m not good at female bonding.”

“You’re doing just fine with Anastasia and—”

She places her palm on my mouth, shutting me up, and shakes her head discreetly. Right. She doesn’t want anyone in the Vory to know about the existence of her twin sister. I have my suspicions that Adrian has figured it out already, though.

I remove her hand but still hold it in my palm. I don’t know when the fuck touching her became so familiar to the point of turning into an addiction. “Have Anastasia help you and you’ll get through it.”

She narrows her eyes on me in that suspicious way. I wouldn’t blame her. All my actions have been red-alert-worthy.

“I don’t trust you,” she says point-blank.

“As you shouldn’t. The moment you trust me, you start digging your own grave, Princess.”

“Then how do you expect me to go along with this plan?”

“I don’t have to tell you which is the best option. That brain of yours already works in overdrive, so listen to what it tells you.”

She watches me for a second too long. I don’t attempt to cut off eye contact. There’s something addictive about a war of gazes with Rai—another thing that hasn’t changed.

A clearing of a throat causes her to look away first.

“If you’re done with your honeymoon…” Adrian trails off.

“Nah, the honeymoon starts tonight.” I give Rai a suggestive glance.

“As if!” She hits me on the shoulder and opens the car’s door.

“She’s kinky,” I whisper to Adrian.

She swings back toward me, glaring, and a red hue covers her cheeks. “I heard that, and I’m not.”

“Well, one of us is.”

Adrian’s lips twitch, but he doesn’t fully smile. Those are as rare as a passing unicorn over England’s sun.

If possible, Rai’s cheeks redden further, but she chooses to ignore me. “Can I count on Lia to come to the brunch?”

At the mention of his very sheltered wife, Adrian’s demeanor changes even though his expression remains the same. There’s a slight tightness in his muscles that a normal person wouldn’t notice. The reason I do is that we were trained to read body language, especially that of an opponent before an attack. That’s Adrian right now—he’s ready to pounce.

Well, isn’t that fucking interesting?

“You know her health isn’t well these days,” he tells Rai with a smile.

“Come on, it will be in the afternoon and I won’t keep her for long.” When he remains silent, she adds, “I insist. I’ll text you the day and time.” Before she slips out of the car, she pretends to be fixing the collar of my shirt, then leans in, her lips brushing against my ear. When she whispers, her stubborn voice makes my dick fucking hard. “This isn’t over.”

It sure as fuck isn’t.





18





Rai





“Absolutely nothing?” I stare up at Katia and Ruslan as we sit in my room’s lounge area.

Or more like, I sit. My two guards still refuse to rest in my presence, not even when I order them to.

“I went as far as asking underground, miss,” Ruslan says in his gruff voice. “And no one knows anything about Kyle Hunter prior to him joining the Bratva.”

“Not even before Dedushka’s time?”

He shakes his head.

“There’s another thing,” Katia chimes in, arms in front of her and legs apart as if she’s on standby.

“What?”

“The last name Hunter could be a fake or forged.”

Great. The man I took for my husband is the biggest mystery of all. When I asked my guards to look into him, I didn’t expect a detailed report, but I thought I would at least know something about his past. It could be anything as long as I get to use it against him.

My blood still boils from the way I was kicked out of Adrian’s car earlier. Kyle just came a few days ago, and now he gets to conduct important business on behalf of Sergei.

I figured out a long time ago that I’m living in an unfair world that depends on gender, but the sting is different this time. It feels like I lost more of my power to him, which will not happen again.

You can’t let it happen again, I chide myself.

“Miss?”

I stare up at Katia. “Yes?”

“With all due respect, may I ask why you married someone we can’t keep track of? We…” She shares a glance with Ruslan. “We are worried about you.”

“We’ve never seen you unwell before,” Ruslan adds.

They really shouldn’t have said those words. Now the ice I’ve been cultivating and hardening in sharp blades is melting at their concerned expressions.

I’ve never seen loyalty as deep as I see it in these two. I have no doubt they’d run into the line of fire just to save me—not that I would ever let them. They mean so much more to me than mere guards. I meant what I told Reina the other day: they’re family, and I protect my family even if I have to fight tooth and nail.

“You don’t have to worry. I’m a Sokolov, and we always win. Besides, just because he keeps his past under wraps, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”