Page 186 of The Harbinger

“Bullshit, Katya. This isn’t about religion. This is revenge.”

“Revenge is human nature, linked to beliefs and values. Even gods seek revenge.”

She shrugged my grip off and walked towards Dmitri.

He raised his palm and curled his fingers. “You too.”

I shook my head and stepped back. “I’m not going with you. You’re crazy. You’re all fucking nuts.”

Dmitri rushed me, scooped me up, and tossed me over his shoulder. I screamed, beating his back and cursing his name as he took me down the stairs and through the woods with Katya by his side.

“Katya, don’t listen to them. You’re acting like a mind-controlled drone.”

“I have the power of free will,” she said as I stared at her upside-down face.

“Then use it, and leave. He can’t control both of us.”

I slammed my fist into Dmitri’s spine, and he grunted, but he did nothing to retaliate. “Let. Me. Go.” I punched his spine with each word, yet he continued walking.

“Mia, calm yourself, or I’ll have to restrain you,” Sacha said as Dmitri placed my feet on the ground.

The world righted itself, and my stomach tipped. The blood that’d been pounding in my ears fell away at the site of his three large dogs, sitting silently in a row, their jowls dripping with saliva as they stared at the blood.

Catherine’s long moan of anguish echoed throughout the forest at the sight of her daughter.

“Mama.” My gaze tore away from the dogs as Katya rushed to her and dropped to her knees, her hands twisting in her mother’s blood.

“Stand, Katya,” Sacha commanded.

She listened, and her mother sobbed, grabbing at Katya’s arms, leaving crimson streaks of gore down her pale flesh.

Sacha pulled her into a hug and pressed his lips to the crown of her head before pulling her back, his gaze casting my way, then back to her.

“Your mama has betrayed us for your sake.”

Katya turned back to her mother with drawn brows and turned down lips. “What do you mean?”

Sacha’s dark eyes hit mine, and I glared, crossing my arms over my chest, my legs shivering as my breath clouded in my face.

“She claims to poison Mia with Hemlock for the church. But really, she needed her gone so you could be at my side.”

“Mama?”

I gasped, and Catherine looked at me for the first time with such malice flooding her glazed-over eyes.

“Do you stand with her? Or with me, your leader?”

Katya stared up at Sacha, and I marched forward, but Dmitri stopped me, his arm wrapped around my waist. “Don’t do this, Sacha. Don’t make her choose.”

“Hush, Mia.” He focused on Katya. “Make your choice.”

A tear trickled down her cheek. Her brows furrowed, deepening the lines on her forehead.

She shifted and nodded. “I choose you, Sacha.”

Catherine wailed, and Sacha shook his head with a frown, then pulled her into a hug.

“All you women are the same.” He reached behind him, his hand wrapping around the knife.

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