Page 120 of Midnight Sanctuary

Away from safety.

Off to God knows where.

53

URI

I burst through the chapel doors, trying to channel all my rage and hurt into something purposeful.

Like killing my fucking brother.

He’s standing just a few feet from the cake that I was supposed to cut with my new bride, chatting it up with the officiant who was supposed to marry us. He’s laughing about something, his face creasing with smile lines.

Dimiv is standing off in the corner with Lev, who’s still tuning out the world with his noise-canceling headphones. There’s no one else in the chapel. But even if there was, I wouldn’t care. An audience isn’t going to stop me from what’s about to happen.

“Uri?” Nikolai says, breaking off his conversation with the officiant. “We were wondering where…”

He trails off when he sees the look on my face. I start striding forward. An executioner’s walk. The officiant is smart enough to back away as I approach.

Nikolai’s brow furrows. His laugh lines disappear and are replaced with furrows of fear across his forehead. “Uri…?”

I slam my fist into his face before he can get out another word. One hit and he’s on the floor, blood pouring from his nose. He touches the blood on his face with disbelief and looks up at me. “What thefuck?”

“You bastard,” I hiss as I continue my assault on him.

He backs away, refusing to fight back. Even when he manages to get back on his feet, he blocks me instead of returning fire. “For God’s sake, Uri,” he pants. “Stop!”

But I don’t stop. I’m not above finishing a one-sided fight. At least not while this black rage has its hold on me. I grab Niko by his lapels and start sinking my fist into his stomach again and again. In the corner of my eye, I see the officiant flee the chapel in pure terror, his priest’s garb flapping in the wind.

“Enough!”

It’s not Nikolai who spoke this time; it’s Polina. Only at the sound of her voice do I let go.

Nikolai spits out more blood and the fragment of a tooth as Polly jumps in between the two of us. “I can’t believe you just did that!” she shrieks, turning accusing eyes on me. “Why are you being such anasshole?”

I’ve never seen Polly look so angry. Or, worse, so disappointed. It sobers me up enough that I’m willing to unfurl my fists.

But not enough to make me forget how my own brother betrayed me.

Nikolai glares at me, fresh red blood coating the bottom half of his face. “What the hell is your problem?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “You think you can fuck my fiancée, get her pregnant, and thenlieto me about it?”

Nikolai’s jaw drops. I can’t even take in Polly or Dimiv’s reactions because my eyes are trained on him.

“Don’t lie to me, Nikolai. Iknow. I know the truth now.”

“Jesus,” he gasps. “You’re serious.”

“I just found out.”

“Fromwho?” he demands incredulously. The flinging of his hands sends blood droplets spraying all across the room. The white roses shudder as crimson blood rains down on them. “Because whoever told you that shit is aliar.”

There’s so much outrage, so much shock, so much indignation in his eyes and in his voice that it plants just the tiniest seed of doubt in my head. Looking at him now, it seems impossible. This isNikolai. We may have done battle a few times in the past, but we are brothers. It’s part of the deal.

And yet… I think about all those fights I won because I was thepahkan. I think about all the times Nikolai was forced to bite his tongue becauseIwas the head of the family. Becausemyhead bore the crown. I think about how, when shit hit the fan and someone needed to take the reins, he was pushed to the side while I took over.

“Is this payback?” I scowl.

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