Page 179 of Rise of the Queen

“Yeah. I just don’t know what,” he said.

I sighed. It was never easy. I looked to Viktor. “When can Battista meet again?”

“He’s got time tomorrow. So do you,” he said. “He even said he’d come here, to make it easier.”

“That’s new, but I’ll take it,” I said.

As we finished our conversation, Ivan looked to Stephen with his sly grin on his face. “How many times did you make your eyes go black after we all left the penthouse last night?”

Stephen laughed. “At least twenty. I stood in front of the mirror and watched it for like half an hour. I couldn’t help myself. It’s so disturbing and fascinating at the same time.” Stephen looked at me, adding, “I understand completely why you wanted to keep Sephie’s eyes changing from us initially. It’s such a unique phenomenon. I would’ve wanted to keep a lid on that as long as possible too.”

“I put in an order for contacts for you three. Andrei’s going to need them soon too,” Ivan said, chuckling.

“That’s partly why he’s upstairs with Sephie. She thinks she can get him to connect with his demon if it’s just the two of them,” I said.

“Anybody felt his anger yet?” Misha asked. We all shook our heads no. I’d felt nothing from either of them so far.

“He’s worried about losing complete control,” I said. “He’s probably going to fight getting angry enough for it to work.”

“Or she surprises all of us with a new ingenious way to get him to connect without him getting angry. That wouldn’t surprise me either,” Ivan said.

Viktor stood up. While he was definitely more comfortable around all of us, the demons still made him a little nervous from time to time. It didn’t surprise me that he used work to get out of this conversation. “I’m going to start looking for all the boss progeny,” he said, smirking as he left the office.

Once he had left, Stephen said, “He’s better than he’s ever been, but the demons still make him a little nervous. He still needs time to get completely comfortable. He’s also basically surrounded by them now. Especially if Andrei figures it out this afternoon.”

“It’s understandable. He’s handling it better than I thought he would,” I said.

As we were talking, we all felt a wave of anger from Sephie. It was very strong and very clear. We all looked at each other, smiling, knowing what was happening upstairs.

“This is almost the same level she had to get to when yours first changed,” Ivan said. “Apparently, Andrei had reason to be worried he’d be able to contain it.”

“Our little Andrei is growing up,” Misha said, laughing.

“You can easily tell the difference between our demons now, can’t you?” Stephen asked me.

“Yeah. I would think you’ll be able to do the same soon too. If you can sense other demons, it would make sense you’d be able to differentiate between ours,” I said. “But don’t hold me to that. I think at this point, nobody is quite sure of just what we’re capable of. Your latest level-up was never mentioned before. You might’ve surprised everyone with it.”

“I’m still working toward crushing demons at some point, not gonna lie,” he said, completely straight-faced.

“I think it’s time we have a conversation about just why it is you’re looking forward to seeing Vlad again. Feels like you haveulterior motives sometimes, Stephen,” Ivan said, running his hand over his goatee thoughtfully.

It caught Stephen off-guard, making him laugh loudly. “We buried that hatchet hundreds of years ago. Don’t worry,” he said, still laughing.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Sephie

I knew Adrik wanted tokeep me busy. I knew he was trying to decide what to do with the families of all the bosses and I loved him for trying to protect me from that. It did, however, give me a chance to have Andrei to myself. I’d been thinking about how to help him connect with his demon and I was pretty sure I’d come up with a solution for it.

He was nervous that he’d be able to control his anger once he finally let it take over. Andrei was so calm and controlled all the time that he’d only rarely seen the extent of his anger himself. He was so in control that he always knew the exact amount to let out to get the job done. No more, no less. The idea of having to let it all out at once worried him.

“Bubba, I’ve been thinking,” I said as I was making him help me in the kitchen. I’d told him I was going to make him shortbread that afternoon. At least he had something to look forward to after he discovered my secret plan. Poor kid was a pawn from all directions today.

“Still about red pandas or have you moved on to the quandary of why lions are called the king of the jungle when they live on the savanna and nowhere near a jungle?” he asked.

My mouth fell open. That answer was completely unexpected from Andrei. I just started laughing and couldn’t stop for a few minutes. “I love you so much right now, Bubba,” I said. He was laughing with me, enjoying a chance to be just the two of us. Out of all of them, Andrei appreciated one-on-one time the most. He loved that I got closer to him first in the beginning. He loved that he got put on heater duty when Adrik wasn’t around. He just liked having a few things that no one else did. It was a confidence boost for him. He was so handsome and so capable, but he still didn’t see it in himself all the time. He still hadn’t figured out that even if we did the same things as the other guys, it was still different because it was him. He was the secret ingredient. They all were. Every experience was different when viewed through their eyes and experienced with them.

“Okay, spider monkey, what have you been thinking about? Besides endangered wildlife, I mean,” he said, still trying to control his laughter.

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