An awkward, tense moment passed between the two before Nikator motioned her to the back of the hall. “We’ll be taking our leave.”
“Ah, yes. It was nice to see you, Biyu.” Yat-sen lowered his head in respect while Nikator pulled her through the thicket of people, not even bothering with another glance at her brother.
Biyu struggled to keep up with him and his angry, long strides. “Nikator, what—what’s your problem?”
“My problem?” He glanced down at her sharply; his beautiful face, with all its glorious angular planes, was carved out of pure fury. So unadulterated that she grimaced. “You disappeared on me.”
“I’m sorry, but—” They finally pulled up in one of the darker sections of the hall behind a pillar. Banners of the Drakkon dynasty shrouded this area in shadows, so it was perfect to have such a heated conversation, but she didn’t want to argue withhim. Not when her chest was squeezing in on itself anxiously. “I’m sorry, but where were you? I had to leave to find someone safe because you weren’t around!”
It waspartlythe truth.
Nikator crossed his muscular arms over his chest and it took everything within her not to ogle at the way the material of his tunic pulled taut over his chest and bulging biceps. “I left for a few minutes to discuss something with my siblings?—”
“You don’t have siblings!”
“Who told you that? All the Peccata members are my siblings.” He gave her a weird look, like he hadn’t realized she didn’t know that.
And truthfully? She hadn’t known that. There was little information out there about the Peccata members, and she had just … never thought to ask. She also hadn’t thought he would indulge her with any information regarding the rest of the members. She had heard him refer to them as brothers or sisters, but she had thought he had meant it in a camaraderie way, not in a familial sense. Still, it deflated a bit of her argument.
“Well, the point is that you left me, and I had to go to someone safe, and that safe person is my brother. Just like howyouwant to talk toyoursiblings,Ilike to do the same withmine.”
“Why were you not safe?” His eyebrow lifted higher. Music filtered around them in a soft buzz. Something flickered in his gaze—akin to suspicion, guilt, and then rage all over again. His jaw tightened and he glanced over to the area she had been initially sitting at for most of the wedding ceremony. Jian had left her seating area, so it was vacant. “Was yourintendedwith you?” He snarled the word like it was poison, and his eyes lit up with a feral anger that made her inch back.
Her wince was all the confirmation he needed.
“Oh, that fucker—” Nikator turned as if he was going to seek him out—and she realized that wasexactlywhat he was going to do.
Her eyes widened and she latched onto his arm before he could make his move. “W-wait! Nikator, you can’t be serious? We’re at my sister’s wedding. You can’t—you can’t make a scene like that!”
“Did that bastard touch you?”
Her silence stretched. She could feel the tension of his muscles where she touched his forearm; he was like a beast ready to unfurl its rage and violence. She didn’t think it was possible for his expression to grow any darker.
“He did, didn’t he?” His chest rumbled with a growl, hands clenching together. His slitted gaze skated over to the sea of faces, searching.
“Nikator,please.”
“I already told you what I’d do to that leech. I—” Something glimmered in his eyes and she realized with mounting horror that he found his target. She followed his gaze to where Wu Jian was. He was standing amongst a group of nobles who were all ogling groups of noblewomen; he laughed and conversed like normal.
Fast as lightning, Nikator reached for his waist—where his dagger undoubtedly was tucked away.
She grabbed his hand. “Don’t cause a scene.”
“I’m not going to cause a scene,” he hissed; the promise of death hung over him so strongly she could practically feel it thrashing in her chest. So loud, so roaring, sopowerful. “I’ll just take him aside and?—”
“Nik!” Biyu grasped his face with her palms; she was on her tiptoes and she wanted to stare levelly at him, but he was so dang tall that even stretched as she was, she couldn’t. It was the first time she had called him by his nickname—a moniker she hadonly heard from the Peccata members. It had the desired effect; his attention finally ripped away from Jian to her.
She couldn’t stop the rapid racing of her heart; she could feel the blood rushing to her face, to her ears, and the pounding of her pulse seemed to deafen the music around them. She tightened her hold on his cheeks, her finger pads pressing against the rough, emerging stubble. He peered down at her with those deeply blue eyes; up close, she hadn’t realized how thick and long his lashes were, but they framed his eyes so perfectly. It was easy to get lost in those sapphire depths.
“I don’t want you to cause a scene,” she whispered so quietly that she didn’t think he’d be able to hear her. “I want you to stay by my side.”
She could see the hesitation clear as day. “Why?”
“Because … because I don’t want him to die.”
His nostrils flared, a darkness enveloping his gaze.
Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say.
