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.

with her again in the morning if you want to come too,” Misha said. “Hopefully this time

Misha. It’s terrifying for all of us when that happens,” I said. Watching her struggle to breathe was still one of the most horrifying things I’d ever seen. It’s the biggest reason that I was able to turn off my bloodlust so

with Viktor. I thought back to how shy

do anything I wouldn’t do while we’re gone,” she said as they walked out the back doors. She slid her arm through Viktor’s as they walked around the pool toward the gardens, then stopped to look at a few of the rose bushes, noticing that there were the tiniest little buds starting to appear. I could feel the warmth from her smile

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

laughed. Mostly 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

for all of us, but not to the same level as her. It’s obvious to us that his connection is the

arguably 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,

back from living your own lives,

what now?” Ivan asked,

Stephen will have an easier time, but only just barely. She brought up the conversation we had about it in Italy, when Ivan pointed out how difficult it was going to be to

her and see what we have. It doesn’t seem to matter how

a ‘moment,’ when she broke down you were downstairs talking to him. I could feel her worry about Viktor, but then something else came up. I asked her about

she can feel, especially when the falls apart like the did that night. She doesn’t know how to turn it off to spare you from

mulling over what I’d just told them. I could actually feel their own inner turmoil, trying to find a way to

sometimes, especially when she can’t turn it off or struggles to get her emotions under control. She doesn’t realize she’s giving us a gift to be able to feel that along with her,” Stephen said. “Especially for me. I spent so many years just completely numb to feeling anything, just trying to survive. Being