Hideaway (Devil's Night 2)

“You wore a dress,” he said under his breath. “Color me surprised.”

Ass.

But I gave the tall man in front of us a sweet smile, taking in his fancy white robe with gold embroidery.

“I’ve never worn one,” I replied quietly. “A gown, I mean. And since I’m only getting married once…”

“Oh, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to wear gowns, married to me,” he assured. “I plan on making this marriage as torturous as possible for you.”

But I shot back, tipping my chin up. “Go for it while you can. I’ll be a widow soon, I’m sure.”

I heard his quiet laugh at my side, but he dropped the banter as the priest looked beyond us to our pathetic guest list.

“Be attentive to our prayers, O Lord,” he rang out, opening his arms to everyone, “and in your kindness, pour out your grace on these, your servants, Kai and Nikova, who, coming together before your altar, they may be confirmed in love for one anoth—.

“Skip to the vows,” Kai gritted out.

The priest halted his script, looking flustered. I almost snorted. Poor guy. It was weird, though, hearing my name like that. No one used it, except my mom and Damon, and they called me Nik.

My father didn’t like Nikova, though, so I got used to using Banks. That’s who I was now.

The priest cleared his throat, taking a deep breath. “Kai and Nikova, have you come here to enter into Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?

“I have,” Kai answered.

I hesitated but finally nodded, feeling the weight of my father in the room. “I have.”

“And are you prepared, as you fol

low the path of Marriage, to love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?

“Yes,” Kai hissed, sounding in a hurry. “I am.”

My heart jumped. God, was this really happening? “Yes,” I replied.

I couldn’t detect Will behind me, and Michael was as still as stone, but I could hear Rika’s constant fidgeting on my left.

“Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”

What? I shot my eyes to Kai, who simply stared at the priest with his eyebrow arched.

No fucking way. We might be here under false pretenses, but this was horse shit. I wasn’t even going to pretend to agree to that.

“Keep going,” Kai told him, and I realized he wasn’t having it, either.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

The priest looked down at his book, seeming flustered before stuttering on. “Since…since it is your intention to enter the covenant of Holy Matrimony,” he said, finding his voice again, “join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church.

Kai turned toward me, and all I could do was lock my jaw, so no bad words slipped out. I faced him, and he took my hands, but I refused to close my fingers around his. Even despite the tingling that was shooting up my arms.

“Kai Genato Mori,” the priest began, “do you take Nikova for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?

Until death…

He stared at me, his gaze faltering, and I saw a glimpse of the man sitting at his father’s table, telling me the story about steak.

And then he smirked. “Until death,” he specified. “I do.”