King of the Underworld by RJ Kane

470

Adrik

That afternoon, once we’d arrived at the house, Viktor surprised the rest of in by asking if he could take Sephie for a walk, just the two of them, while she was upstairs for a minute.

“I still have making up to do with her from everything that’s happened,” Viktor said.

“You do,” Ivan agreed. “But that’s the best place to do it. Make sure you tell her everything, though. She already knows anyway, but she needs to hear you say it.”

Viktor chuckled. “You’re not the only one that’s told me that recently,” he said. Apparently, he and Kostya spoke quite often. Much more than the rest of us were aware of. If he was getting that kind of advice from him, I wasn’t going to be mad about it though.

Sephie walked into the back room, where the rest of us were. Her smile made the room brighter as her eyes landed on me. It didn’t seem to matter how long we spent together, she was always happy to see me after even the shortest time away from me. I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it..

“Sestrichka, I was hoping you’d like to take a walk with me?” Viktor asked. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so timid. He was nervous, but at least he was finally trying to make things truly right once again.

“I would love to, Papa Bear. But now I have to go get my coat. Shockingly, I’m cold,” she said, grinning at all of us before jogging back upstairs.

“Her lung is getting better and better. She’s acting more like her old self,” Stephen observed.

I was going to try the short distance with her again in the morning if you want to come too,” Misha said. “Hopefully this time she’ll be able

I’d ever seen. It’s the biggest reason that

walked back in, now with her coat on. She walked to me, leaning down to kiss me before leaving with Viktor. I thought back to how shy she used to be about any sort of affection in front of the guys. It made me smile

as they walked around the pool toward the gardens, then stopped to look at a few of the

is that she’s so forgiving. I would’ve made him suffer a lot longer,”

because I agreed. “I think we all would have. It’s been really hard on her, especially since she’s so connected to all of us now. She’s not with him and she feels that every time we’re all together. She said it’s a constant reminder of his rejection. She understands why he chose the decision he did, but she’s

us, but not to the same level as her. It’s obvious to us that his connection is the weakest, too,” Andrei said.

been the slowest out of all of us. Maybe his connection will keep slowly increasing. It seems like he’s talking to Kostya very regularly,” Stephen said, in his

right. As much as she worries that she’s holding you all back from living your own lives, she really enjoys the connection she has with all of you,” I

what now?” Ivan

barely. She brought up the conversation we had about it in Italy, when

her and see what we have. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I reassure her, she’s still worried she’s holding you

her worry about Viktor, but then something else came up. I asked

when the falls apart like the did that night. She doesn’t know how to turn it off to spare you from having to feel what she feels. She thinks she’s condemned all of

feel their own inner turmoil, trying to find a way to reassure Sephie that

to be able