King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

372

Sephie

“I’m not sure, princess. This has never happened before so I don’t know how to handle it. Your hand on me helps keep me grounded,” Ivan said.

“I can do that. Adrik knows something is happening. He’ll be able to get most of this conversation when we get back to the table without me saying anything. I’m hoping he can make the meeting shorter. I don’t want to have to look at her make bedroom eyes at my future husband any longer than I have to anyway,” I said.

Andrei laughed. “She’s worse than Giana about making it obvious.”

“Right? Is there no subtlety left in this world?” I asked. Before we walked back to the table, I pulled Ivan toward me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, knowing he was struggling to keep it together. “We’ll get out of here as soon as we can. You’re doing great and I’m proud of you,” I said. He held onto me tightly for a few moments before I felt his arms relax around me.

mostly lost in my own head, thinking about Ivan and how to help him when I felt his grip on my

without falling off his chair. He was forced to look at her, but would only glance at her before looking away, I said to Ivan and Andrei, “get behind me. hand on

Ivan put your

had some distance before we were back at the table, so they moved instantly behind me and I felt Ivan’s hand on the small of my back. I crossed my arms over my chest as we walked the last few steps to the table.

move to get up. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, but I was so angry at

women, or you brought her special for us? If you did, I’d like to thank you. It’s been quite some time since I’ve

looked amused. The woman stopped talking to Adrik, noticing everyone looking at her. She finally made a move to stand up. When she turned around to look at me, I felt Ivan’s hand press into my back

I felt the panic start, but I pushed my anger to the surface as much as possible, trying to override the panic. Ivan and Andrei both caught on to what I was doing and I felt their anger feed into mine. The

could hear, “try to touch him again and you will no longer

but she walked very quickly to her original seat. I graciously sat back down with as pleasant of a smile on my face as I could muster. Adrik moved his chair closer to me, so I could still keep a hand on Ivan. He stretched his arm across my lap, leaning over to kiss me in front of everyone. I had to admit to feeling ecstatic when I looked at her and saw her red face at seeing him

this was happening. Vitally caught my eye, winking at me. The woman was much quieter for the rest of the meeting, but would still interject occasionally. Her little stunt seemed to irritate Battista, as he was much colder to her for the rest of the meeting.