It’s her.
It’s fucking Christiana.
No.
It’s Sienna.
It’s Sienna DefuckingAngelo.
I turn away from her, facing the priest now walking across the altar for the ceremony.
Like a band aid being ripped from an open wound, I want this over with.
“Dmitri?” Her gentle voice hits me.
The priest looks to me with some confusion.
“No. Kaz.” I don’t look at her as she makes her way up the step to stand beside me, my vision is completely focused on the priest. “Get it over with.”
Aflutter consumes my stomach.
Dmitri— no, Kaz Volkov, my husband-to-be stands beside me, stoic as a marble statue while Father Steven drones on about the meaning of marriage.
I can barely breathe.
How is this possible?
Kara attempted to alert me as I made my death march down the aisle, but when I paused to understand what she was trying to stay to me, my uncle yanked me forward. By the time I was a few more pews closer, I saw him more clearly.
I had to get the veil out of my eyes so I could make sure it wasn’t my brain playing tricks with me. That the man I’d spentan amazing evening with, being brought to life with his tongue and his presence, wasn’t a mirage.
“I don’t understand how you’re here,” I whisper softly, taking a chance to look up at him from the side.
His jaw ticks. He’s annoyed.
“The same way you’re here,” he mutters. “Now pay attention.”
Father Steven is still rambling.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Me?” He huffs a laugh, then looks up at Father Steven. “Forget all the pomp and circumstance, just get this damn thing over with.”
A chill runs through me at his tone. This isn’t the man I playfully teased last night about being dangerous.
This is the monster who killed my brothers. One of them, anyway. The others are seated in the first pew behind us.
“Um…” Father Steven looks to me.
“Yes, Father. Please, let’s make this quick and painless,” I whisper.
“But your uncle?—”
“I don’t give a damn what her uncle said. I’m telling you get to the vows.” Kaz orders.
“You can’t curse at a priest.” I admonish him, but the look he shoots at me shuts me up. Ice has frozen his stare.
“Do you have the rings?” Father Steven questions while flipping through his little book to get to the part of the ceremony where we make promises Kaz probably has no intention of keeping.
