Throne of Vengeance (Throne Duet, #2)

by Rina Kent

It doesn’t matter if you start late. It matters that you start.

I only like Mammy ’cause she plays with me in secret and has even built a wee tent where she can teach me and tell me stories about wizards and magical ogres. I love ’em, ogres—they’re massive and no one can beat ’em. When I grow up, I’m gonna be an ogre to protect my mammy from them daft men in black suits.

“Now, I need ye to be silent, sweetheart.” “Why?” “Because we don’t want them to stop us.” “Are the men in black gonna tell Daddy and he’s gonna get mad and punish us?” “Aye. You’re such a smart boy, Kyle. I knew my baby boy would be this bright.”

and…” She trails off when loud bangs erupt in the house. Pop. Pop. Pop. I flinch in her arms and Mammy holds me close, tears streaming down her cheeks as she speaks to the bad man on the phone. “I trusted ye, a Russian, over my own countrymen—how can ye do this to me?”

She pushes my hair out of my face and smiles, but it’s filled with tears. “Ye’re such a good boy, sweetheart. Ye shouldn’t have been born into this world. I shouldn’t have brought ye into this chaos. Mammy is so sorry, but I’ll make it better.” Mammy starts to climb the wall while I’m wrapped around her. “Where do ye think ye’re going, Amy?” Mammy gasps. My head slowly follows the voice to stare at Daddy.

“Ye will truly tell me everything?” “Aye, but ye have to let me be with Kyle.” “Ye will never escape again?” He doesn’t seem mad anymore, just…sad. But why? Daddy is never sad. Mammy shakes her head once. “I won’t.” “How do I know ye’re not bluffing?” “I would never put Kyle in danger. Ye know that.” “Right. Go on.” She opens her mouth to speak, but it remains suspended with no sound coming out as a loud pop echoes in the air.

A liquid pours out from the center of her chest, soaking the black jacket as she staggers and falls in Patrick’s arms. “M-Mammy…?” My voice is small, hesitant. She’s not moving.

“Amy!” Daddy bellows, falling to his knees in front of her. “Get the fucker who did this!” Patrick drops Mammy and runs in the opposit...

“Amy…fuck…” Daddy holds her cheek tighter. “Stay with me…I’ll forgive anything if ye just…stay.” “K-Kyle…” she mumbles. Daddy motions at Luke, and he puts me on my feet beside her. Her eyes are half-closed as if she wants to go to sleep, but she smiles up at me. “S-so sorry, sweetheart. Mammy is so sorry.” “Why?” “B-because I couldn’t protect ye.” “I will.” Daddy places an arm around my shoulder. “So don’t go. Kyle is the reason ye went through all of this, so it’s useless if ye die now.”

She blinks once, then stops altogether, her eyes open wide but not looking at me. “Mammy!” I scream. “Mammy!” “Fuck,” Daddy murmurs under his breath, still grabbing her by the chest. “Fucking fuck!” “Why isn’t Mammy moving?” I shriek. “Help her! She’s hurt.” He squeezes my shoulder, and it’s like he’s about to crush my bones. “I’m sorry, lad. So sorry.” “I don’t want ye sorry. I want Mammy to move.” “Take him to his room, Luke.”

“Not so fast.” The familiar voice comes from behind us. Daddy turns around, but it’s already too late. A pop echoes in the air and a patch of red explodes on Daddy’s white shirt. His hand falls from my shoulder as he staggers and his face hits the grass. “D-Daddy…?”

I close my eyes for a second, then open them, and the view hits me as if it’s the first time. As if I’m that five-year-old boy who could only stop and stare as his life was stripped away from him. Rai lies at the bottom of the stairs, her head lolled to the side and her limbs sprawled at unnatural angles as if they’re broken, but that’s not what robs me of breath. It’s the fact that she’s not moving. “Rai…” I whisper, but that does nothing. “Rai!”

“Come on, Rai. We didn’t even start yet and now you’re bailing out? You’re not a coward, are you?” I stroke the ruffled hairs away from her face. She always ties it up outside of our bedroom, but now, the clip is loose, probably because of the fall. I hold her hand in mine, and her pulse keeps weakening by the second. This is bad. “Faster, Ruslan.”

“It’s just that I find it odd for Miss to fall down the stairs,” Katia says matter-of-factly. “Why would that give you the idea that she was pushed?” I stop my long walk and face her. “Because it feels like it.” “It feels like it?” “It’s an instinct.” An instinct. Fuck. It’s the same instinct I had when I came out of the room earlier.

Her head turns in my direction and she stares at me for a second too long. Unblinking but unfocused. Her blue eyes were once bright and expressive, but they’re now emotionless like a wax doll. The fuck? “Hey, Princess. Are you okay? Talk to me.” Her pale lips twist and she murmurs the words that cut me in half, “Who are you?”

“Let me go.” There’s a note of fear in her voice. My fingers dig into her shoulder, perhaps not too gently because of the current of emotions traveling through me right now, but I try to speak as calmly as possible. “Rai, you might be confused, but I’m really your husband.” “Let me go!” she screams. “Help! He wants to hurt me. Someone help me!”

The fuck? “I would never hurt you.”

“Stop asking for others to help you from me,” I snap, my temper getting the better of me. “It’s supposed to be the other way around.” She flinches, but her lips thin in a line. “You can’t talk to a patient like that,” the doctor scolds. “Fuck off. You don’t get to tell me how I speak to my wife.” “H-help me,” Rai whispers, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please help me, please.”

“Sir.” The doctor strains, but he’s smart enough not to fight me, so I let him go. If he tries something funny, I’ll break his fucking wrist. “It’s better if you leave.” “No.” “If you don’t, she might have a panic attack.” “Fuck that. She’s my wife and I’m not leaving her side.” “Sir, it’s not in her best interest for you to keep staying here.” “Out…out…” Her shaking has worsened and her lips are too pale.

“No, selective means she lost part of her memories.” “What part?” “From the initial questions we asked, she seems to have forgotten everything that happened for the past ten years.” “What?” “Mrs. Sokolov believes she’s eighteen years old. As a result, she doesn’t remember the events that happened in the past ten years. That applies to people she met in that period, too.”

don’t care if Rai won’t see me now. I’m not leaving this place until she does. Ever since I saw her lying at the bottom of the stairs, the thing beating in my chest has been burning and roaring like a volcano on the brink of eruption. And the only way to extinguish that fire is through her. My wife. My Rai.

“What are you doing here, Kirill?” Rai slowly peels the skin off her apple with a small knife. She’s sitting, the hospital table in front of her. Thankfully, she appears healthier despite the brace around her neck. “I didn’t know we were close enough for you to pay me a visit.” He readjusts his glasses with his middle finger. “We’re not. But you’re not close with Damien either.” “Hey, motherfucker.”

“Shut the fuck up and fuck the fuck off.” “He’s tolerable.” She points her thumb at Damien, then directs her attention to Kirill. “You’re not.” “Wise. Very wise, indeed.” Damien retrieves a cigarette and places it in his mouth. “No smoking in the hospital.” She scolds then frowns. “When did you get a haircut?” “Last week. You like it?” He lights the cigarette anyway. “It makes you look like an old man.” “If I’m an old man, you’re an old woman, Rai, and Kirill is…ancient.”

“Does that mean you don’t recall the time you came into my club, drank until you nearly passed out, and then danced alone like a lunatic?” “I would never do that!” She stares at Ruslan, who bows his head. Wait…she did that? My fist clenches at the thought that someone other than me saw Rai drunk. She becomes so loose and fucking adorable when drunk.

do you remember coming on to me?” She did that? I’m ready to punch Kirill in the nose when she laughs. “In your dreams. You’re far away from my type.” “How would you know when you think you’re just eighteen?” “I know I despise your guts and your face and your foxy nature and everything you do to get power. I would cut your dick off before letting you come near me.”

Kirill smirks. “Isn’t your husband similar to me?” She purses her lips. “I have no husband.” “But we all attended your wedding.” “I don’t remember it, so it didn’t happen,” she snaps. Damien takes her hand in his. “That’s the spirit, Rai. Truth is, you and I were always meant to be together.”

“Really?” she asks slowly. “Really. I’m the love of your life. It started when you saw me kill for the first time. You said it was hot.” He grins. “Then we had a lot of kinky sex.” That’s it. “You’ll have a kinky death if you don’t get the fuck out.” I barge inside, my fists clenched on either side of me. Rai stiffens and tightens her hold on the knife. Kirill stands up and offers her a fake smile. “I hope you never get better, you little devil.”

“Hey, Rai.” He grins at her. “The only reason you married this tool is due to being forced. Now, you can divorce him and come back to me. I don’t believe in the whole virgin kink so it’s a win for both of us. What do you think?” I swing my fist at him, but her voice cuts me off. “Get out. Both of you.”

“Do you feel better?” “Is he outside?” I murmur. “No. I convinced him to go change his clothes.” “Finally.”

He lowers himself into the chair opposite me, his frame dwarfing it. “Why were you so insistent on having him leave?” “I haven’t lost my memories.” “What?” He stares at me for a second, as if I’ve completely lost my mind. I slide to a sitting position and yank the IV needle from my arm, then throw it away.

“Why?” “Because. Why are you so insistent on bringing him in?” “Why don’t you tell me why you want him out? Unless…” “What?” “Are you suspecting him? Because if you are, I’ll torture that fucker to death.” Shit. Shit. This is exactly why Vlad shouldn’t know.

But not everything visible is beautiful. After all, the devil looks his best when luring in his victims.

“Who put their hands on you?” His voice is laced with a threatening energy. “Didn’t you hear the doctor? I don’t remember.” “Whether you remember or not, I promise to find whoever touched you and crush them before your eyes.” “I don’t need you to crush people for me. I can take care of myself.” I pause, unsure if that will give me away. But I hear the smile in his voice when he speaks. “Some things never change.”

“But as your husband, I will avenge you.” “I don’t need vengeance.” His voice drops. “But vengeance is my specialty, Princess.”

“Well, I feel molested.” “How so? I’m only helping you get dressed ever so casually.” “You’re not helping me get dressed. You’re feeling me up.” “That’s because I missed you, Princess.” His voice drops as his lips touch my ear. The shiver that breaks across my skin is too violent to ignore.

The irony. It seems games are the only things Kyle and I will ever agree on. He was always a step ahead, but this time, the ball is in my court. This time, it’s his world that will be flipped upside down.

Facing him, I speak in my sternest tone. “I want separate rooms.” He doesn’t even lift his head, and I’m not sure whether or not he heard me, so I repeat, “I said, I want separate rooms.” This time, he stares at me as he unbuttons his shirt, his fingers gliding on the buttons unhurriedly, almost like in some strip show. “And I want you to remember. Sadly, we don't always get what we want, Princess.” “If you expect me to share a room with you, you’re crazy.”

“What if I need space?” “I don’t believe in space. That’s a word invented by losers who couldn’t figure out their own minds.”

“So that’s the thing, Princess. I didn’t only see your strength, I also witnessed your weakness. It was bound to happen after Nikolai asked me to keep an eye on you when I wasn’t on a sniping mission. You were a proud thing and didn’t want to admit when you needed help, but you were a fast learner. You obviously enjoyed my company since you wouldn’t leave me alone, and that’s when you fell head over heels for me.”

Kyle has always had a distinctive taste and smell, but right now it feels like a mixture of longing, despair, and something else.

“If I want to fuck you, I will.” The darkness in his voice penetrates me to the bones. “I can and will use your body against you until you beg me for more. You’re my wife, Rai. You took vows, you said your ‘I do’, and guess what? I believe in till death do us fucking part.”

Kyle’s lips brush against my forehead and he releases me. I blink, but before I can form a proper reaction, he lies on his back and pulls me atop him so my head is nuzzled in his chest. “You’re tired, so sleep for now, Princess. I’ll deal with you when your strength is back.”

“I’m taking you out for lunch.” “I don’t want lunch. I have paperwork to finish.” “You can finish it after lunch.” “Or I can finish it now.” “Or you can go with me and eat. You didn’t have a proper breakfast this morning.” I hate that he notices the little things. He shouldn’t. That’s not how this is supposed to be.

Me Are you free? Vladimir Depends on the reason. What if I told you I can get you the one who knows about the Irish’s plans? Then I can carve out time. You might have to torture the answers out of him. You say that as if it’s a chore.

The vehicle doesn’t move and silence is the only other occupant in the car. I sneak a peek at him and pause at the overly concentrated expression. He’s watching too intently, as if it’s the first time he’s seeing my face. “What?” “Just watching how beautiful you are.”

“Is your godfather’s name Ghost?” I murmur. A rare grin I’ve never seen on Kyle’s face loosens his expression, making him appear younger, less guarded. “You know him.”

slip my hand in my bag and grab the small bottle of medicine. Drinking wine won’t be the same again for him. I’ve heard stories about the black widow spider who kills her mate after mating, and I always found it fascinating how she followed her instinct, even if it meant killing her own husband. I guess we’re the same that way.

As the world spins around, the pieces slowly come together. There’s only one person who could’ve poisoned me today: the one who poured me my second glass of wine. My wife stabbed me in the back and threw me to her pack of wolves.

“How did you get me, Vladimir? Because we both know it wasn’t strength.” “Do you want to feel my strength, Kyle? I’ve been taking it easy on you, but if you insist, I have no reason to refuse.” Easy? He disfigured my face and calls it easy?

“Where is she?” I murmur, staring at the door opposite me. “Is she there? Or are there cameras through which she can watch the show?” He grabs me by the collar, nearly lifting me and the chair off the ground. “You answer to me.” “I answer to no one.” “Then would you rather die?” “Come out, Princess!” I call, my voice straining. “Don’t you think you’ve watched enough?” “Shut the fuck up.” Vladimir hits me again.