Page 112 of Rise of the Queen

Once again, his boyish giggle filled the space. “You need to love your demon a little extra until they’re convinced Viktor isn’t rejecting them.”

“Okay, I understand why you laughed at that. This is not a conversation I ever thought I’d be having. Will Viktor feel left out though? Because his connection isn’t as strong as the others?”

“I don’t think so. I think he prefers it. It’s less he has to think about or feel. He has so much on his mind already that even just the little bit he’s gotten from you feels very overwhelming to him.”

“Can I make it less for just him? I don’t want to overwhelm him. He doesn’t need another reason to avoid me,” I said.

Kostya surprised me by walking to me, grabbing my hand. “He still loves you, Sephie. He loves you very much. It’s going to take his soul longer to get to the point the rest of you are at. That’s all it is. You can stop worrying about him leaving.” I tried to blink back the tears, but I couldn’t keep them in. Kostya grabbed my other hand. As he did, everything got brighter for a moment and suddenly I felt better. Lighter.

“You just fixed me, didn’t you?”

He nodded, smiling sweetly up at me. “You had to endure abandonment to get you here, but you don’t ever have to worry about that again.” He raised my left hand, looking at my ring. “You still don’t know the significance of this, but they will always be with you and they will always protect you.”

“Let me guess, you’re not allowed to tell me either, are you?”

“Not that one, Sephie. You have to figure it out for yourself. But I’m sure you can connect the dots. You always do,” he said, winking at me.

I knelt down, so I was eye-level with him. “In another life, Viktor is very proud of the man you’re going to grow up to be,” I said.

His face lit up as his smile beamed at me. It was the last thing I saw as everything faded back to black and I could once again only see my body. I could feel Adrik’s hand lightly running up and down my back as he talked softly to me, trying to wake me up. He felt me stir and pulled me closer.

“Good morning, solnishko. Were you dreaming? You were all over the place for a few minutes there,” he said as I picked my head up to rest my chin on his chest.

I smiled at him. “Kostya,” I said, laughing at his shocked expression.

“What? How?”

“Same as my dad and your mom. Just a different location. Not gonna lie, it was creepy as fuck to turn around and see a little kid in front of me. Was not expecting that,” I said.

Adrik’s eyes went wide. “Kids are scary. I completely agree. What did he need to tell you?”

“I know why Viktor feels different to us now.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Adrik

“Why?” I asked Sephie, completelycaptivated by her out of control hair that was everywhere all at once.

“When Misha said we unlocked a new life goal for him and both Andrei and Stephen agreed, they strengthened the connection. They’ll eventually be like us. They’ll be able to walk between Heaven and Hell,” she said.

I inhaled. “Viktor wants no part of that,” I said.

She nodded her head, saying, “Our demons still freak him the fuck out.” She grinned at me, as she got up, straddling me. “Are you ready for this next part, because it might actually be my favorite,” she said, giggling.

I sat up a little more, my hands running over her thighs. “I can’t wait,” I said, smiling at her amusement.

“The irritation we all feel around Viktor now isn’t us. It’s our demons. They’re hurt because they feel like he rejected them when he asked for his demon to be taken away,” she said. “I can’t help it. I might love my demon a little more for that. Poor thing. That’s a hard pill to swallow.”

I had to admit to feeling a pang of sympathy for my demon as well. “He asked for his to be taken away? How does that work?” I asked.

“I assume Kostya did it, but I didn’t think to ask for specifics. I had too many other questions for him,” she said, as she placed her hands on my chest. She looked down at her ring, which she almost never took off. I might’ve loved that about her. She looked back up at me, saying, “Both my dad and Kostya have said this ring has more significance than I realize and I can’t figure out what they mean by that.”

“Did they say anything else about it? Or just that it’s significant?”

“My dad said it was significant. Kostya said I didn’t understand yet, but that you and the guys would always be with me and would always protect me as he was looking at it. I asked him if he could tell me and he said no, but he said I would connect the dots.”

I laughed. “He meant that literally, solnishko. Connect the five rubies.”

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