Page 57 of Rise of the Queen

I grinned. “You’re in for a treat, Yoden. The pinky swear is the holiest of holy swears there is. All the gods, goddesses, demi-gods, and holy men were polled on what the holiest swear is and seven out of ten agree that the pinky swear is where it’s at. The other three were promptly thrown into the pits of Hell for disagreeing, but that’s neither here nor there.”

He finally laughed. “Okay, so how does one go about making this holiest of holy swears?”

I put my pinky out in front of him. “Give me your pinky,” I said. I hooked my pinky around his once he put it out in front of him. “I pinky swear that you will never have to face the demons of your past, present, and future alone ever again.”

He smiled as he looked at our pinkies, still hooked together. “And I pinky swear you’ll never have to face your demons alone ever again too.”

I grinned at him, loving that he indulged me, but also knowing this was the first step to getting him to realize his full potential. I leaned my head over to his shoulder once more. “You’re my favorite. Don’t tell the others.”

Chapter Twenty

Adrik

I had talked Sephie intotaking a bath. She was stressed, but she wouldn’t tell me why in front of the other guys. I’d felt her anger briefly that afternoon, but she wouldn’t come clean on why that happened either. I knew she’d tell me once we were alone. Or I could fish it out of her head. The more I practiced, the better I got at reading her. There wasn’t much she could get by me now.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you, love?” I asked after she’d been quiet for a few minutes. She was enjoying my hands on her body. I could feel her relax more, the longer we stayed in the hot water.

She sighed. “I know Stephen’s past now. I had my suspicions after I got him to open up to me the other day, but he somehow managed to share all his memories with me when I touched his arm today. I saw everything. What’s worse is I felt everything he felt while it was happening. I don’t know how I managed to get through it without breaking down or why I haven’t broken down since,” she said. I heard her sniffle once, but she continued. “He’s so insanely private that I don’t want to tell you too much out of respect for him, but it’s bad. His sisters are evil. I legit asked if I could kill them today. Like, for real. I’d do it and not think twice about it.”

I could feel her anger starting to rise. It felt different from her normal anger. It almost felt more like mine. There was more chaos to her anger than usual.

“How did he share all his memories with you?” I asked. This seemed like it was different from how Sephie usually got information from people.

“I have no idea. He was frozen in terror because he’d just gotten a message that his sisters are coming to the city in two days. He’s terrified to see them. I went to comfort him and I saw everything. It went from him not wanting me in his head at all to him sharing literally every detail with me. He said he was trying to share it with me. That it’s easier than having to tell me what happened.”

“What do his sisters want when they come here? He knows he doesn’t have to see them, right?” I asked. I’d never once heard Stephen talk about his sisters. I didn’t even know he had sisters until Sephie told me.

“I told him the same thing, but I just have this feeling like he needs to see them. I think on some level he does too, but he’s understandably scared. I told him I’d be with him the entire time. He shouldn’t face them alone. I’d also love a reason to punch them, sooooo, I’m hoping that happens,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice when she said it.

“We will all be with him. If they’re as bad as you say they are, then we’ll all help him face them. I can throw them out of the city and make sure they never return as well. I can give shoot on sight orders,” I offered. She giggled, wrapping my arms around her. “I’m serious. I can feel your anger. It’s different with this. It feels more like mine, which means you’re having trouble controlling it. That never happens. I don’t need details to know this is very serious and that you’re feeling very protective of him.”

She sighed, hugging my arms that were tight around her. “I love you.”

I leaned down, kissing her neck. “I love you, solnishko. And I love that you love my men as much as you do too. It’s very endearing that you’re as protective of them as you are. You have no idea how adorable you are,” I said, not able to hide my smile as she giggled again, her body finally relaxing.

Sephie asked me to call Ivan to the penthouse before everyone else came up for breakfast. “I know he’ll be up. He’s a complete psycho who wakes up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 am like every day. I want to talk to him alone before everyone else comes up. I think he can help with Stephen’s situation.”

I sent a quick text to Ivan the night before, making sure he was in the kitchen before everyone else. Vitaliy and Aleksei were usually the last to come out, so we didn’t need to worry about them. He looked somewhat concerned when we came out of the bedroom, wondering why he’d been summoned. His face softened when Sephie smiled at him as she walked to him.

“Good morning, Squish,” she said, as he wrapped his arms around her, engulfing her completely as he hugged her.

“Princess. Wanna tell me why I’ve been summoned?” he asked, a small grin on his face.

She stepped back from him, already chewing on her bottom lip. We both felt her mood shift quickly. “Uh oh. That’s not good. What’s going on?” he asked, now visibly more worried. We could both feel her anger coming on once more.

“So, it was slightly different, but Stephen shared all of his memories with me yesterday. I know everything. I felt everything.” She paused, trying to maintain control of herself.“His sisters are completely evil. I don’t want to say much more than that, as he’s so insanely private. The issue is that his sisters are coming to the city. They’ll be here tomorrow. He’s terrified to see them. I told him he won’t have to face them alone, and I know all of you will agree with that. I think he needs to face them. I keep getting the feeling that it’s what’s holding him back. I really need your help to bring out their demons for everyone to see. It’s probably going to be horrific, but I think we need to help him face them. Can you—”

He put his hand up, stopping her. “Say no more. You never have to ask me if I’m willing to make bitchy girls uncomfortable. That answer is always going to be a yes,” he said.

She smiled at him, but it was short-lived. “These are more than just bitchy girls, Squish. I’m thinking what happened with Battista’s associate at the hotel might happen again. As much as I don’t want you to go through that again, I think it’ll be what Stephen needs to see happen to give him the strength to cut them out of his life for good.”

“If I know there’s a chance it’ll happen, I can at least be prepared. The surprise at the hotel didn’t help,” he said.

“You know I’ll be there for you, but I’m also very worried about Stephen. He went white when he got their message yesterday. He couldn’t speak for a few minutes.”

“If you keep your anger the way it feels right now, it’ll cancel out everything else. It feels different,” Ivan said.

I looked at him, agreeing. “It feels more chaotic, right? Like it feels like mine does, not hers.”