Page 193 of Rise of the Queen

“I did have help. Full disclosure,” she said, grinning at him. The rest of the guys joined us.

“What help?” Misha asked. He looked at me, thinking I was going to be the answer to his question.

“Her demon,” I said.

“Really??” Misha asked. He looked quickly to Andrei and then to Stephen. They both nodded at him. “New life goal,” they all said at once.

“Your eyes never changed though, sestrichka,” Viktor said.

“That’s the interesting part. She figured out how to let her demon help without her stepping completely forward,” I said.

“You’re going to have to teach me how to do that as well, princess,” Ivan said.

Vitaliy had overheard the conversation. He was always very curious about how everything worked. “Explain,” he said. He was a man of many words, if nothing else.

“When we use our demons, we relinquish a little bit of control, so to speak. That’s why our eyes turn black. It’s their power, but we’re still mostly in control. Just from behind the scenes, if you will. Sephie figured out how to use her demon’s power without her demon needing to step forward. It’s why her eyes didn’t change. She got a significant power boost and someone on the street would never know where it came from,” I said.

“Will you all be able to do that at some point?” Vitaly asked.

“Not sure. We only just found out she could do it,” I said.

“That’s how most everything works with us. She figures out she can do it and then shows the rest of us how to do it as well,” Ivan said.

“She gives us new life goals to aspire to,” Misha said, grinning at her.

“How do you know you can do these things, malishka?” Vitaliy asked Sephie.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Nobody told me I couldn’t, I guess,” she said, making everyone laugh. Vitaliy’s laugh might’ve been the loudest, even.

She was getting better about panicking when all the attention was on her, but she was very shy about it still. I felt her shrink against me slightly. I just wrapped my arms completely around her, holding her tightly against me.“I love you so much, Sephie.”I felt her relax and take a deep breath, content to have my arms around her.

“Um, Boss. I hate to break this up, but she needs to stretch again. It seems to help her ribs from getting tight,” Andrei said.

Sephie stood up straighter and kissed me quickly, saying, “I have to listen to him or he won’t let me play with Ivan again.” We were all laughing as she walked away, following Andrei.

Ivan looked at me, still amused but quite serious. “I’ve seriously never seen her look so good. I don’t get many challenges, but she was a legit challenge today.”

“I could tell. You rarely have to put in effort. It was hard to tell who was putting in more effort a few times there, her or you,” I said, still very proud that she’d made him work that hard.

He chuckled. “I know I was a few times. She’s quick.”

“Good. It’ll be good for both of you to do this regularly, then. Can’t have her shield getting soft,” I said, walking further into the gym to get my own workout in before we went back upstairs. I smiled to myself the entire workout, thinking about nothing but Sephie the whole time.

My mind was wandering to Sephie for most of my meetings throughout the day. Thankfully, I didn’t have many and the ones I did have weren’t very serious. She never failed to impress me with each new thing she came up with.

I felt her close to my office when my current meeting was wrapping up. Our connection was so strong now that it was getting easier to tell where she was and who she was with at all times. I did have a few moments of guilt that it took me so long to find her when she and Ivan were taken. If it happened now, I’d be able to find her immediately. I did take some solace in that.

I felt her warmth as she broke me free from my thoughts before my meeting had officially ended. She knew.

As soon as my associate walked out of my office, she walked in, her wide smile stretched across her face. She was carrying coffee. Our inability to satiate our sexual appetite was cutting into our sleep. We were both tired.

“I love you so much right now,” I said as she handed me the coffee.

“I know,” she said, grinning at me. “You need to be sharp. We’re leaving to meet with the mayor and DA after your next meeting is over.”

“Oh?” I asked, loving that she knew my schedule before I did. She knew I liked it when she got bossy, so she would be extra bratty sometimes just to drive me a little more crazy.

“Mmm hmm. We’re meeting in a parking garage, apparently, like some kind of clandestine secret meeting, so I get to check that off my bucket list. I’m gonna need everyone to be completely on point,” she said, trying to hide her smile that was threatening to show itself.

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