Page 45 of Rise of the Queen

“Did you feel it?” he asked.

I shook my head no. “I didn’t feel anything, but I saw you tense. It’s different. You don’t do that.”

Ivan chuckled. “Vitaliy is also a Game Master, it seems,” he said.

I remembered. Adrik was like Vitaliy. “That escalated quickly,” I said, raising my eyebrow at him.

“Did you feel it when he first came into the office?” Ivan asked.

Andrei spoke up, “Something changed while he was in here. He made some decision while he was here and something changed. I couldn’t figure out what it was, though.”

“It’s something to do with power. He wants it. He doesn’t like that Adrik has it. But we should wait for Stephen. Somehow I think he’s going to have insight into this,” I said.

It didn’t take long for Viktor and Stephen to return. We were all waiting for them at the elevator, so we could go to the penthouse, where we knew we could speak freely. When the doors opened and we were all standing there, Viktor and Stephen both looked surprised.

“Are you guys that hungry?” Stephen asked.

I laughed. “No, we just need to be in the penthouse to finish the discussion we started. And we needed your insight and Viktor’s sleuthing skills. We were saving time.”

“I just really feel like Vlad is going to make you his Director of Operations. Logistics, efficiency, systems, you’ve got it all handled. His army is going to run like a well-oiled machine because of you,” Stephen said.

“Dammit, I was really hoping for Supreme Leader, but Director of Operations does have a nice ring to it. I’m not opposed to working my way up through his organization.”

“Okay, somebody catch us up,” Stephen said as we started dinner.

“Boss felt something different when he shook Henry’s hand at the end. He didn’t feel it when he walked in. Andrei said something changed while Henry was in the office, like he made a decision while he was in there and things are different now,” Ivan said.

“I couldn’t get as many details as I wanted from him, but I think we can fill in more in a bit with Misha. What I did get, however, was that it was related to power. Henry wants it. He doesn’t like that Adrik already has it.” I looked to Adrik. “Do you remember when we first met him—how uncomfortable he got when you first told him you were getting rid of the other bosses?”

He nodded his head. “You made the comment he thought that was too much power for one man. He was worried I was going to become a tyrant.”

I started to speak, but Ivan said, “He wants to be the tyrant.”

“He got it in his head last time that he could replace the mayor and he would run the city. When Boss knew more than him this time, it pissed him off. I bet he made a decision to come after Boss now. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to try it right away, but if we keep the plan of trying to get him into the mayor’s seat, he’ll do it then,” Stephen said.

Adrik looked to Misha. “Do you think you can find out? We’ve never tried to find a specific answer before.”

“I’d be happy to try. Sephie and Andrei help make things clearer. It’s different almost every time it happens,” Misha said.

I looked at Andrei. “I could clearly see your thoughts the last time we did it. Did it happen for you too?”

“You could? What was I thinking about?” Andrei asked.

I started laughing and almost couldn’t stop myself. It took me a few moments to answer. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about this. “We were looking for Martin, so you were thinking about him. And a cheeseburger. Not necessarily in that order either,” I said, still trying to contain my laughter.

“That seems completely accurate,” Andrei said.

“He wasn’t holding back. He was just focusing on cheeseburgers instead,” Misha said, laughing. “That’s why it wasn’t as clear with just him.”

“To be fair, I spend a lot of time thinking about cheeseburgers too,” Viktor said, his deep belly laugh filling the penthouse.

“I mean, who doesn’t love a good cheeseburger?” Andrei said. His cheeks were flushed, but he was laughing just as much as everyone else.

“New rule: we can only look for peopleafterAndrei’s belly is full. For best results,” Adrik said, which caused another round of laughter from everyone.

Vitaliy and Aleksei walked into the penthouse as we were still laughing about Andrei’s random thoughts. Vitaliy was surprised to see us all laughing so heartily. “You guys must’ve gotten very good news today,” he said, a small smile on his face as he watched us all try to gain control of ourselves.

“The opposite, really. But one of Sephie’s many gifts is giving us a reason to laugh for a few minutes. It’s always perfect timing and it’s always much needed,” Adrik said, his wide smile stretching across his face as he looked at me. I felt the pull in my chest that meant he was thinking about how much he loved me. I answered by sending my warmth back to him, loving the wink he gave me when he felt it.