Page 59 of Unveiled

"I love superheroes. Spider-Man is my favorite."

Of course she would love Spider-Man with his self-deprecating ways and nerdy teenage awkwardness. I love that. I give Zoya a little smile. "Superman's mine."

If Semyon understands the reference, he doesn’t let on.

I don't like being separated from Stefan. We've been through so much in a short amount of time, and I worry about what it's going to do to him. But then I watch him with Zoya, and I see him smiling. When I look at Semyon, there's something about the steadfast way he watches all of us that brings me a small measure of comfort.

"Where are you going?" Stefan asks, his eyes darting between Semyon and me. "With my sister?"

My heart. My fierce little protector. Semyon gives him a little smirk, almost a smile. "We have some information to find, and we believe some of what we need is back at your home. Is there anything you want us to get for you while we're there?"

"You're going back home with her? I’m coming.”

Oh, Stefan.

I shake my head. "You can't. It isn't safe right now. You need to stay here where you're protected."

"If it's not safe for me, why is it safe foryou?"

Stefan gets that glint in his eyes, the one he always has when he wants to fight and gets himself into trouble. Semyon steps forward and bends down so that he and my brother are at eye level.

"Your sister is safe because she's with me.”

And I feel it in my bones, carved into my heart. He means it. He means every word. A lump rises in my throat, and I'm not sure if it's because of my brother's protection or… my husband.

I used to feel safe with him. But then he changed. Or did he?

And for the first time, I wonder… MaybeIwas the one who changed.

Maybe our circumstances did. Because right now, standing in the kitchen with the boy I loved by my side, I wonder if there's a small part of my heart that doesn't love him still. After all these years.

"Let's go,” Semyon says, reaching for my hand and lacing my fingers through his. Our palms meet. I have to draw in a breath.

"Semyon, if Eli was taken?—”

"Yeah, I know,” Semyon says wryly. "If he survives this, he’ll fucking kill me.”

I can’t help but smile.

"Remember that time?"

"The time he found us soaked to the skin in the shed. All I was trying to do was keep you warm." He shakes his head. "Yeah, I remember that."

I thought Eli was going tomurderSemyon. I'd never seen him hit anybody before, but he landed a right hook squarely to Semyon's jaw.

And I knew Semyon could fight—I'd seen him in action, and the vicious, calculating way he moved gave me nightmares. But with Eli, he didn't even raise a hand to defend himself.

My brother didn't believe him. I screamed at him to stop and dragged him offof Semyon.

“Did he hurt you?” Eli asked.

Hurt me? Hell, yes, he hurt me. But not in any way that my brother would understand.

“We talked about that on more than one occasion,” Semyon says with a wry half smile as we head outside. He never really smiles in a way that reaches his eyes. Always guarded. Always distant.

“Did you?” I ask him curiously.

"Yeah.”

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