Page 160 of Rise of the Queen

“Don’t love me. Love him. It was his idea,” she said, pointing to me.

Misha turned to look at me, then very seriously said, “I love you so much right now.”

“Awww. See Ivan? We’re not the only ones who are disgusting right now. It’s spreading,” she said.

“Gross,” Ivan said, smiling at her. “Now that everyone is here, I want to know what happened.”

“You’re very impatient,” she said, still enjoying teasing him. She looked at him for a minute, much the same way she was looking at me earlier before we came downstairs. She grinned at him. “It’s not you who’s impatient right now. Your demon is all itchy.”

He looked at her, clearly surprised. “Is that what this is?” He looked at me, saying, “Now I understand why you needed to go to the gym yesterday.”

I looked at Ivan, noticing what Sephie was seeing. “Yeah, she’s right. I think your demon might already know what happened. It’s excited.”

“You can see it now too?” Andrei asked.

“Not in the way you might think. I can tell the difference between Sephie and her demon. It’s becoming clearer for Ivan now too. It’s very clear with mine. He apparently has his own thoughts and feelings,” I said, unable to hide my smile as I looked at Sephie. She giggled as I walked to her, standing in between her legs while still facing everyone else. She slid her arms and legs around me, resting her chin on my shoulder.

“Have you had a conversation with it yet?” Misha asked, curious.

“No. I don’t know if that will happen or not, but I can feel what he feels now. I don’t know if it’s the same for him or not,” I said.

“Is this the new level?” Stephen asked.

I could feel Sephie shaking her head no. “Nope. You are especially going to love the new level, Yoden. But don’t be jealous. I’m still impressed you gave us the clue first. That’s normally my job,” she said.

Stephen’s mind was racing, trying to piece together what she’d just told him. His eyes went wide once he landed on the answer. “Seriously?” he asked, completely astonished.

“Well, no. Not exactly like you said. No crushing is involved,” I said, trying to see if everyone else could figure it out as well.

“Disappointing,” Stephen said.

“Okay, you’re going to have to enlighten the rest of us because we have no clue what you’re talking about,” Misha said.

“I can remove souls and demons and condemn them to Hell,” I said, matter-of-factly.

“No longer disappointing,” Stephen said quietly, a look of awe on his face.

“You can do what now?” Ivan asked, completely dumbfounded.

“There will be times when even Stephen will be ineffectual. Like with Ricardo and Martin. The two of them made deals that are eternal, meaning even if Stephen breaks them in this lifetime, their souls will still belong to the demons in the next lifetime. I’m what will break that cycle,” I said. Sephie tightened her hold on me.

“Everybody gather ‘round for what I’m about to say, because apparently my eyes are choosing a new color but it’s fleeting right now,” she said. They all looked at her like she was playing a joke on them.

“No, she’s really serious. It’s happened twice, but they don’t stay like that for very long,” I said.

They all moved closer so they could see her eyes clearly as she said, “He really is the King of the Underworld now.”

I watched as everyone’s eyes went wide and their mouths fell open. They stood in stunned silence for a few moments, before Stephen finally composed himself enough to say, “You know, I never considered that this might create new issues with Vlad. He might think Seph is a kindred spirit now that she can do this. This might cause jealousy issues.”

Finally, everyone relaxed and laughed. Andrei looked again at Sephie, then looked at me. “I think they’ve decided on the color though, Boss.” He pointed to her. “They’re still red.”

I quickly turned to look at her, surprised they hadn’t changed again already. “I wonder why it was so quick to change earlier but now they’re staying red.”

“Because it’s not me doing it this time. I didn’t realize it before, but I do now,” Sephie said.

“Really? What about the black though?” I asked. If it was Sephie’s demon switching her eyes to red, then did that take the place of the black now? I watched as her eyes slowly changedfrom red to black.Okay, new favorite transition.“Huh. What’s the difference if it’s your demon doing both then?”

She was quiet for a moment, then she looked at me and said, “The black is a warning to everyone else of who I am. The red is homage to you.”

---