Page 37 of Rise of the Queen
Vitaliy looked at Ivan. “You can see the face of evil?”
Ivan shrugged his shoulders. “It hasn’t happened in so long that I’d convinced myself I was imagining it when it happened before. I was a kid when it happened before.”
“When you were at the facility?” he asked. Ivan looked surprised, then turned to look between me and Sephie. Vitaliy quickly added, “I figured it out. They told me nothing other than you were incapable of feeling pain and you had a hatred for doctors. I’d heard stories of the facility for years. Your inability to feel pain was highly sought after in Russia years ago. You shut the program down the night you escaped, for the record. You scared them.”
Ivan looked stunned. Sephie went to him, sliding her arm around his waist. He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. He kissed the top of her head, saying, “Thank you. I needed to know that.” He looked back to Vitaliy. “When I was at the facility, I never saw the doctor’s faces. It was always their demons. It’s why I’m so haunted by it, even still. It hasn’t happened since I got out, so I just convinced myself I was a traumatized kid. But then as soon as that woman turned toward me today, I could clearly see it on her. Sephie saw it later.” He still had his arm around Sephie as he talked. She quietly stood next to him, happy to be his anchor.
Vitaliy thought for a few minutes, then looked at Andrei and Misha before looking at me. “Did you three get anything from her today?”
“I was nauseous every time I looked at her. That’s how I know something is going to go very badly,” Misha said.
“I didn’t get anything good from her. I didn’t like her, but she didn’t talk enough for me to be able to figure out why I didn’t like her,” Andrei said.
“She made me sick when she tried to touch me,” I said.
Vitaliy looked at me, both eyebrows now raised. “Does that happen often?”
I shook my head no. “Only twice that I can think of and only since I met Sephie. Both times were other women trying to touch me. There was one time a woman at a bar touched me but it was not as extreme of a reaction. I didn’t like it, but she didn’t make me sick. The other two made me sick. Almost to the point of anger both times.”
For once, Vitaliy smiled at someone other than Sephie. “That’s how it started for me. I was about your age when it started too,” he said. “It started with women other than your mother. I couldn’t stand for them to touch me. It was very intermittent when it first started, but it started to get more prevalent. Then it started happening with everyone. The more I paid attention to it, the more precise it got. You, though. You’ve always felt different to me. I could always feel something from you, even before I could from other people. From the first time I held you as a newborn, I could feel you were special. I’d never found anyone else who felt like you until you brought Sephie to me.”
“And then you found out he brought you five more. You have a very generous son, Vitaliy,” Sephie said, grinning at him.
Vitaliy nodded his head, agreeing with her and unable to hide his smile.
“I think your math is off slightly, Seph,” Stephen said.
Vitaliy looked at him seriously. “She speaks no lies. You feel the same as the rest of them. I don’t randomly put my handon your shoulder because I’m a warm and fuzzy guy, Stephen. I didn’t believe her at first either, so I checked. All of you. You’re all the same.”
Stephen and Viktor looked at Sephie, the surprise visible on their faces. She couldn’t help but laugh. “You both have something special about you, but you’re very timid about believing it. We don’t know what it is until you start to believe it for yourselves. It’s also not an absolute guarantee that you’ll figure it out in this lifetime, which is just fine. You’ll figure it out in your own time, on your own terms. This is a lot to take in for all of us. You’re both dealing with your own things on top of everything else. There’s no time limit on any of this. It will happen when you’re ready,” she said.
They were both quiet for a few minutes, mulling over what she’d just said. Stephen’s phone beeped, to indicate dinner had arrived. He finally looked up at Sephie. “Vlad is going to be so pissed that I kept this from him for this long,” he said, as he stood up to go downstairs.
We all laughed as once again Vitaliy and Aleksei were left confused at just who this Vlad person was and why he would be pissed at Stephen. I found myself loving Sephie a little more for her random silliness that gave us so many of these moments now. I never wanted her to stop.
I woke up the next morning before Sephie. I fully expected her to stay asleep. She was so tired last night, even after she slept most of the afternoon, that she fell asleep in under two minutes. She was lying across my chest in her favorite spot, her fingers lightly playing on my chest. I ran my hand through her curls, causingher to snuggle into me more. I continued to run my hand over her body, loving the quiet moments I got with her.
“Good morning,” she said quietly, without moving.
“I didn’t expect you to wake up with me this morning. You can go back to sleep, love. I know you’re exhausted,” I said, my fingers playing with her curls.
“I feel bad sleeping when your father is here. Feels rude,” she said, finally picking her head up and looking at me.
“He won’t care, Sephie. He’s not the boss of you,” I said, grinning at her.
Her smile stretched across her face. “Somehow I don’t think he’s going to stay in the city for too long. He’s very grumpy about having to meet with people he hasn’t seen in years. I think there’s a reason he hasn’t seen them in years, but they clearly can’t take the hint.”
“He’s still considerably less grumpy than I’ve ever seen him before, since he met you,” I said.
“It’s because I know he’s a cheeseball and he’s trying to be extra nice so I don’t tell everyone else he’s a cheeseball,” she said, climbing over me to get out of bed.
“Have you called him that yet?”
“No, not yet. I haven’t found the right moment, but I will. I’m looking forward to it,” she said, looking back at me grinning ear-to-ear as she walked in the bathroom. “What’s your schedule like today?” she called from the bathroom.
“Light. I have a few meetings, but they should be short. Neal is the last meeting. We’re finishing up removing Armando and Ricardo from the building project. He’ll be happy to see you, if you want to stop by,” I said.
“That might work out. I forgot to tell you that Mr. Turner wants me to come see him. He whispered it to me yesterdaywhen I hugged him. He very rarely asks me to come see him, so I know he has something he needs to tell me. He always works the early shift, so he’ll be home by early afternoon,” she said, walking out of the bathroom as she was putting her hair up on top of her head. My breath caught as I watched her walking around in nothing but my shirt, her hair messy from the night before. She caught me staring at her, still in bed. She walked back to me, climbing on top of me. She hadn’t put her contacts in yet, so her eyes changed to blue right away, making me smile.