Page 156 of Rise of the Queen

He laughed. “I don’t envy you in that situation. Even as a child, she had an impressive temper. We rarely saw it, but she moved the Heavens when it appeared.”

“That sounds right,” I said, smiling at the thought of tiny Sephie throwing a tantrum.

“The three of you are a shining example of the subtleties of good and evil. You can use good for evil and you can use evil for good. At the end of the day, it’s about the choices you make and what you choose to give your energy to. You’ve all seen unspeakable horrors in your short lives, but the darker your shadow, the brighter your light. You can’t have one without the other. You three, and eventually six, are the balance between good and evil.” He took a step closer to me, placing his hand on my shoulder. “In order for this to work, I’m going to have to zap you, so to speak. You’re going to worry Sephie because you’re not going to wake up for a few more hours. She’s already been trying to wake you for half an hour or so. She can feel that you’re happy, so she’s not freaking out. But she will when this happens, because she’s going to see it. I can get word to Kostya, and Viktor will tell her that everything will be fine.”

I looked at him, somewhat worried. He laughed. “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt,” he said. As soon as he got the words out, all I could see was blinding light around me. I could still feel his hand on my shoulder, but I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see the room we were in. I couldn’t see the piano. I couldn’t see anything. Itfelt like I was staring into the sun, even though I know I shut my eyes when I first saw the light.

What I feel is comparable to feeling Sephie’s emotions, but amplified even more than what she normally feels. There’s an intensity to each wave of emotion that hits me that I’ve never felt in my life and I’m not sure I could handle again. My entire body feels electric, but it’s a burning electricity. My fire has a different feel to it now. It’s both a raging inferno and so cold it could burn you, all at the same time.

The light slowly starts to fade and I’m left once again in my darkness.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Sephie

I woke up before Adrikthe next morning. We had planned on getting up and working out this morning, so I was somewhat surprised that he didn’t wake up when I started to stir. Even the few times he’d wanted to stay in bed longer, he was always awake for at least a few minutes once he felt me stir.Guess he really did get new level zapped.

I decided to let him sleep a little longer, thinking he definitely needed it. I laid my head back on his chest, lazily tracing random patterns across his chest and stomach. I could feel him like normal; he felt quite happy. There was a moment or two of worry, but it was short-lived.

I started to worry when I felt his emotions start to increase. I suddenly felt massive waves of every emotion hit me, one right after the other. I sat up to look at him. When I did, he looked like Viktor was touching him. He was completely lit up. I could clearly see his aura, like I was looking through Andrei’s eyes. It was plain as day. It was so bright, it illuminated the entire room, forcing me to shield my eyes from the brightness.

I reached out and timidly put my hand on him, trying to wake him. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but something wasdefinitely happening. He started to return to normal, the light around him fading gradually. He still wasn’t responding to me trying to wake him up. Not even in the slightest. I tried talking out loud to him. I tried talking telepathically to him. I tried to look inside his head, but I could see nothing. I could still feel him. He still felt happy, at least.

“Princess? Everything okay?”I heard Ivan ask. He must’ve felt everything that just happened through me.

“I don’t know. Can you come up here?”

“Be right there,”he responded.

He walked into the room not a minute later, a worried look on his face. “I can’t get him to wake up. Did you feel what just happened?” I asked.

“Yeah, it felt like you were all over the place. It’s why I checked on you.”

“That wasn’t me. That was him.”

“That’s never happened before,” he said.

“He also lit up like Viktor and Kostya were fixing him. Only brighter. It lit up the entire room. Now I can’t get him to respond at all. I can’t see anything when I look in his head either. It’s just black.”

“Can you feel him?”

“Yeah. He still feels happy, at least. He feels like he does when he’s sleeping,” I said.

Ivan thought for a few minutes. “I bet something happened. Like his mom came to him or Kostya or maybe even your dad. He might still be talking to them, which is why we can’t wake him up. The few times you can’t be woken up, when you’re not hurt, it’s been because you were talking to one of them.”

I was still worried, but his explanation made sense. It was just very unlike Adrik to not be able to wake up at all. “Maybe. Whatif it’s not though? What if something is really wrong? I’d be able to tell, right?”

He laughed. “You’d be able to tell if something was really wrong, princess. You’d be the first to know.”

We both heard a soft knock on the bedroom door. “You can come in, Bubba,” I said.

Andrei peeked around the door, still unsure he should come all the way in the room. I smiled at him. “It’s okay, Bubba. Really. You can come in,” I said.

“Viktor told me to tell you that Boss is fine. Kostya said he needs a few more hours of sleep and that he’ll explain when he wakes up,” Andrei said.

“Is Kostya the one who’s been talking to him?” Ivan asked.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything else other than Boss was fine and you shouldn’t worry,” he said, looking at me.

---