Page 157 of Rise of the Queen

“Easier said than done,” I said, chewing on my lip. “Now I understand why it freaks all of you out so much when this happens to me. I don’t like it.”

“At least he’s asleep and not sitting up at the end of the bed with his eyes wide open going apeshit,” Ivan said, grinning at me.

“That’s fair. That’s totally fair. This is much easier to deal with. I will concede that, 100 percent,” I said.

“Have you tried looking in his head? Is he dreaming?” Andrei asked.

“I tried. All I can see is black,” I said.

“But can you feel him? Is that why you freaked out earlier?” he asked.

“That wasn’t me. That was him. I can still feel him like normal. I just can’t see anything right now. He feels happy, at least. He’s just never not responded before,” I said.

“That was him?” Andrei asked, surprised.

“Yeah. He lit up like Viktor and Kostya were fixing him, too. But brighter. I’m surprised you guys didn’t see it from downstairs. It was so bright.”

“Maybe it is Kostya talking to him then?” Andrei said, trying to come up with plausible explanations.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Apparently, he’ll explain when he wakes up. I should tell Misha that our run likely isn’t going to happen now. I don’t want to leave him,” I said, putting my hand on Adrik’s stomach.

“Maybe he’ll torture Stephen anyway. You’ve successfully passed the torch of torture onto him now,” Ivan said.

I laughed. “I’m going to have to apologize to Stephen for that one. Maybe … nah. I’m not really that sorry.”

They both left shortly after, telling me to call them if I needed anything and they would be downstairs if something were to happen. Ivan offered to bring me breakfast, but I told him I was likely going to go back to sleep. I suddenly felt very tired. I was pretty sure it was from Adrik. Whatever had happened to him was zapping him and I could feel it too.

When I woke for the second time, I felt Adrik’s fingers lightly running through my hair and over my back. I snuggled into him more, mostly out of habit, before remembering what had happened that morning. I sat up, looking at him to see if he really was awake. His handsome smile stretched across his face, making me forget everything but him.

“I’m sorry I worried you, solnishko. I needed some extra sleep,” he said, placing his hand against my cheek.

“What happened? You were glowing at one point, so don’t even try to tell me that nothing happened,” I said, holding his hand against my face to keep it there.

He chuckled. “I saw your father,” he said. “I did get new level zapped. I literally got zapped this time. I assume that’s when you saw the glowing.”

“Um, was it a good zap? Are you in trouble zap? Why am I nervous that you were talking to my dad without me there?”

He pulled me on top of him, sitting up more so he could see me better. “Not in trouble. Your dad is a very nice man. You have his smile,” he said, his finger running lightly over my cheek and down my neck.

“He is kind of great. What did he tell you?”

“It seems that Stephen called my new level instead of his,” he said, smirking at me.

“You can crush souls now?” I asked, barely above a whisper. I know my eyes were as wide as they could possibly go.

He laughed. “Not crush them literally, no. But I can condemn them to Hell now.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t worry, it was difficult for me to comprehend as well. Your dad told me that my demon is getting more powerful, which means so am I. When I helped Stephen break Armando and I went full nuclear but was able to just switch it off, apparently that proved that I could handle more. I’m still in complete control of my demon. There are going to be times when even Stephen will be ineffectual, like with Ricardo and Martin. Their deals really are eternal, apparently. Even if Stephen breaks them, those souls still belong to those two demons. They would come back and still make the same mistakes each time because they’re always going to be tied to their demons. The opposite of us, I guess. Instead of that happening, I break the cycle by sending them all back to Hell.”

“What happens then? They stay there forever?” I asked. I could feel the goosebumps coming up over my entire body. I sawthe look on Adrik’s face that meant my eyes had changed. I was guessing purple, but I was too curious about what he was telling me to ask.

“Your dad said I’m the only one who can grant them reprieve once I’ve condemned them to Hell. I’m still not sure what that means,” he said, reaching up to twirl one of my curls around his fingers.

“It means you really are the King of the Underworld,” I said, watching his reaction. I knew I had goosebumps, but I could actually feel his spreading over his body when I said it. He was completely focused on my eyes though.

“Sephie, say that again,” he said as he watched my eyes.

---