Page 80 of Rise of the Queen

“And I thought your gift was heavy,” Ivan said, looking at Stephen.

“No shit, man. Mine was a breeze next to this,” he said.

“So how does that work? Did his child die on purpose to make this happen?” Ivan asked.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Apparently, a soul can clear a tremendous amount of Karma by signing up to die either tragically or before they’re born. His unborn child is nowhelping him as a way of thanking him for helping to clear the Karma,” I said. I looked to Ivan and Adrik. “I have no idea how you two are going to tell him about this. Or if he’ll even believe you when you do.”

“You’re not going to tell him, Seph?” Stephen asked.

“He knows I’m the one who’s helping everyone figure out their gifts. He’s been avoiding me and he’s careful about his thoughts around me, as well. Much like you, he does not appreciate me in his head,” I said. “I also think he’s the most freaked out about my eyes. He’s going to shit himself once he sees it’s not just me anymore.”

We were all quiet for a few moments, trying to figure out a way to help Viktor. We all came up empty for the moment.

“I’ve got nothing right now,” Ivan said. He looked at his watch. “They should be back soon though, so we should probably change the subject anyway.”

“Oh, they’re here. They’ll be walking in right about ... now,” I said as we all heard the penthouse door open.

“Okay, you’re going to have to tell me how you do that now, princess,” Ivan said.

“How she does what?” Misha asked as I walked to him. I would never get over feeling relieved when they came back safely. I hugged his neck before moving to Andrei and Viktor.

“She said you guys were back, right as you walked into the penthouse. Only she didn’t hear you first,” Ivan said.

“You have been doing that a lot lately, spider monkey. How do you do it? Like can you hear us coming?” Andrei asked.

“Do you get notifications that you have thoughts to read like normal people get email notifications?” Misha asked, laughing.

“No, it’s not like that. I’m not in any of your heads either, for the record. I keep telling you that I don’t go looking withoutpermission. It’s more of a feeling. You all feel different to me. You always have, so it’s easy for me to tell you apart, especially now that I’m hyper-sensitive to each of you,” I said.

“But you knew that Boss’s meeting was irritated the other day when it was just Viktor downstairs and you’re not as connected to him as the rest of us yet,” Andrei said.

“He’s not as connected as the rest of you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still feel him. Viktor is probably the most even of all of us, so when he’s amused about something, it comes through strongly. He was amused that the guy was irritated, so it was easy to feel,” I said.

“Nice save, princess,”Ivan thought. He flashed me a quick grin when no one was looking.

“Shut up. I’m not lying. I’ve always been able to feel you guys. It’s just next-level now.”

“What about when Andrei was looking in your head? How did you know that was happening?” Misha asked.

“She can feel it. Just like I can feel it when she does it to me,” Andrei said.

“I didn’t feel anything when she looked in my head. Am I brain-damaged? That’s a distinct possibility now that I think about it,” Misha said, trying to sound serious.

“No. Well, maybe. I’m guessing it’s unique to us. No one else seems to notice when we do it,” Andrei said.

“How did it go with Chen?” Adrik asked Viktor, thankfully changing the subject for now.

“Everything’s good. The mayor is interested in what we’ve got. He wasn’t surprised to hear that Henry has been framing him. He said he heard bits and pieces from the two police chiefs about it, but Henry is keeping his cards close to his chest. He hasn’t said too much to anyone else about what he’s got. So we just need to make sure that the mayor moves first on the informationon Ricardo,” Viktor said. “The mayor was surprised that Chen was bringing him information, but he said he appreciated the discretion and he agreed to use Chen for the duration. He said he had more work for Chen once this project was complete, just to keep anyone from getting too suspicious.”

“This works out well for Chen,” I said, smiling. It made me happy to see him doing well enough that he didn’t need to deal any longer.

“The mayor was going to take a look at what we have from the journalist about Henry and get back to us. Everything will come through Chen,” Viktor said.

“Did you two see the mayor today?” Adrik asked Misha and Andrei. They both nodded their heads. “Did you get anything from him? Good or bad?”

“I didn’t feel anything bad,” Misha said.

“I didn’t either. I couldn’t see him when he was talking to Chen, which always gives me more accuracy. I didn’t feel anything off,” Andrei said. He glanced at me, tapping his temple discreetly, indicating he wanted me to look in his head again. When I looked, he showed me what he could see when the mayor was leaving after meeting with Chen. I could see his aura, but he also had dark spots or holes.