Page 211 of Rise of the Queen

“No, not at that title. The red seems to be the most finicky of all her colors,” he said.

“Challenge accepted. Her demon loves me almost as much as she does. I don’t think it will be an issue.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt her demon loves you. I think this might be the one time they can’t completely agree. I think we’re going tosee her struggle between green and red when she calls you that,” Andrei said.

“Nope. Green’s my color. Leave it out of this disagreement,” Misha said, with as much authority as he could muster.

“Ten bucks says she comes up with a completely new color just to make all of you happy,” Viktor said, his deep laugh echoing off the walls.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Viktor might be on to something.

Eventually, I searched for her to see if they were on their way back yet or not. They’d been gone for a few hours already, so I was expecting them to head back soon. I found her hitching a ride on Ivan’s back as they were walking back to the house. I could easily feel her happiness after her time at the lake. Whatever had caused the earlier pain was now a thing of the past. All I could feel was the love and joy that she was feeling for both of them.

“They’re on their way back, so we won’t have to wait very long for the answer to the quandary,” I said. I was anxious for her to get back. Not just because I wanted to see if we could see her and her demon disagree on something, either. It had always been this way since the first time I touched her, but lately, I would get restless when I couldn’t touch her for any length of time. I needed her with me.

What is wrong with me.

I had gotten up to get some water when Ivan walked in with Sephie still on his back. He deposited her on the counter, her smile making the room brighter. Her cheeks were rosy from being outside. She caught me looking at her as she settled in on the counter.

“Squish is almost as warm as Bubba, but he’s got the secret to keeping me warm. Don’t tell the others,” she said, not so quietly.

“The others already know, gazelle!” Misha called from the other room. It made her giggle. Just for emphasis, we felt Misha’s anger come through Sephie. It made her giggle more.

“I have to agree with Misha. It is quite amusing that you think getting hit with all of our anger so often just tickles a little,” Ivan said.

“We’re going to need to work on your game face, love,” I said. “We are criminals, after all. Can’t have you giggling when we’re trying to intimidate someone. It’ll ruin the mood.”

The other four guys started to file into the kitchen to hear the conversation better.

“But will it though?” she asked. “Having someone laughing at you has to be really unsettling when you know you’re about to die. It’s still intimidation. Just with flair.”

Misha just gave her a high-five while laughing and shaking his head. “The fuckery in me recognizes and reveres the fuckery in you,” he said.

“Since we’re all here now, we need you to settle a dispute, spider monkey,” Andrei said, glancing toward me with a smirk on his face.

“Oh? What dispute?” she asked, looking between me and Andrei.

“Boss has a new title,” Misha said, trying to hold in his laughter.

“We’re trying to see what colors your eyes turn when you hear it,” Andrei said.

“Andrei doesn’t think it’ll be authoritative enough to invoke your red eyes. I happen to disagree,” I said.

Sephie’s mischievous grin spread across her face. She likely already knew what the new title was. I let her search my eyes to get a recap of the earlier conversation we had while she wasgone. Her wide smile and laughter made it difficult to see her eyes, but we could see them swirling. She worked to gain control of herself and to give us a better view.

One red, one green. We were both right. Technically, Viktor called it.

“Viktor was right! She came up with something completely new to make everyone happy,” Misha said, laughing. We all got a good look at her one green eye and her one red eye before they switched back to normal.

“I still think it’s authoritative. My demon, while amused, doesn’t feel it delivers the proper level of respect,” she said. “We compromised.”

She caused another round of laughter from everyone. I looked at Misha. “This might be as close to a disagreement as we ever get, kid.”

“Disappointing,” he said, while still laughing.

Before going to meet with Trino, Sephie and I had a few moments to ourselves. We were planning to return to the penthouse after we met with Trino. We didn’t want Henry to start looking for us or to think that something was amiss if we stayed away from the penthouse for too long. The people of the city were so successful in stopping Niko, Vito, and the underbosses that, so far, police didn’t suspect our involvement.

We were in the bedroom, so she could change into warmer clothes. A storm was blowing in and the air was colder. Ivan had offered to keep his anger up the whole meeting for her, but shedecided to put on warmer clothes anyway. I think she wanted a few minutes alone before we left more than anything.

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