Page 87 of Rise of the Queen
“It does for me too. We should check Adrik later. I can feel you the same way I do when you’re in the room with me this morning.”
“Same, princess.”
“Now tell me why you’re still worried about him. Did something happen? I’ve never fished in anyone’s head from this distance, but I’ll give it a try if you make me.”
“No need. Nothing happened. I just caught myself thinking about him this morning when I was working out. He’s like the outlier of the group now. It used to be Stephen, but he seems like his connection has gotten much stronger with you. I think the Wonder Twins are building their own connection between the two of them, as well as having stronger connections with you. Viktor seems like he hasn’t wanted any of that. Like, he almost feels like Stephen, before Stephen told us all he was gay. Like Viktor is hiding something he doesn’t want the rest of us to know.”
“I think you’re right, Squish. He definitely hasn’t wanted to be a part of it. I don’t know about him hiding something though. He might just be spooked when he learned what Stephen had to go through for his gift. He probably suspected he would have a similar experience and was trying to avoid it. If Misha was right, though, Viktor will at least use it on his little brother, so maybe we have to wait until he comes before Viktor finally wraps his head around everything.”
“Great. He said he’s not coming for a few weeks. I don’t know if I can deal with grumpy Viktor for that long. He’s an ass when he’s grumpy.”
She laughed, her joy once again coming through the connection strongly.“I might pay to see that. I’m not convinced it’s possible.”
“Oh, it’s possible. You’ll be glad he’s avoiding you once you see it.”I was hit with her sadness once I mentioned him avoiding her, but she tried to quickly hide it with laughter. “Don’t be sad about it, princess. He still loves you. What’s happening with him is all him. It has nothing to do with you.”
She was quiet for a moment, then she sighed.“I know. Thanks for the reminder. You’re my favorite.”
Viktor protested going to the lake, so I told him I’d kick his ass if he didn’t. “You don’t have to talk, man. Just trust me. You need to go there. Get your damn coat already.”
He grumbled as he walked back to his room to get his coat, but he came out with it a few minutes later.
We walked in silence all the way to the lake. While I didn’t mind the silence, I did find myself wishing that Sephie was here. She always knew just what to say. I didn’t have the first clue on what to say to Viktor. This was going to be the quietest trip to the lake I’d ever had.
We sat by the lake for longer than I was expecting. Viktor was very much lost in his thoughts. He didn’t make a move to go back to the house for almost two hours. It was me who finally brokethe silence. “When does your brother come? Which one is it? Aleksander or Ilya?”
“Ilya. Sasha is still in Germany. Ilya is done with his service. He wants to come here, at least until he figures out what to do next. He didn’t sound so good when I talked to him last. I’m the one who talked him into coming here. He was going to go back home when he got out, but there’s nothing for him there. So I talked him into coming here,” he said.
“Give him a job. We could use the extra help,” I said.
“That’s what I was thinking. I’ll see what he’s like when he gets here. He’s still getting over some girl. I think she did a number on him. Young love, I think,” he said, shaking his head.
“When does he get here?”
“Next week. He said he had something to take care of before coming here, but he actually texted last night and said he’s coming here earlier. Whatever it was he was taking care of isn’t important anymore. I have a feeling he was trying to save whatever was left with the girl, but that must be off the table now.”
“It’ll be good to get him to a new place then. It’s been a long time since I saw him. He was just a little shit the last time I saw him.”
“He’s not anymore. He’s as tall as me now. He’s still a skinny shit, but he’s strong. Like Misha, it gives him a speed advantage. The last time I saw both of them, him and Sasha got into it. Aleksander did not fare well.”
I laughed. Viktor’s middle brother, Aleksander, was shorter than him but just as wide as he was tall. Nobody ever messed with Aleksander. “Sometimes it’s good to be humbled,” I said, still laughing at the thought of his brothers fighting.
“He might not agree with you, but Ilya definitely does,” he said. He finally laughed. I could see some of the tension he’dbeen carrying around since yesterday morning melt off him.Sephie was right. This place is magic.
I didn’t ask about anything serious while we were at the lake. I figured if he wanted to talk about it, he would talk about it. It took until we got back to the house for him to bring it up.
“Sephie’s mad at me for avoiding her, isn’t she?” he asked.
“Not mad. She’s hurt. Maybe worried you’re scared of her. But she also knows that you’ve been avoiding whatever it is you’re dealing with more than you’ve been avoiding her.”
He nodded, sighing. “It’s not her. I need to make sure she knows that. I’ve been suspecting whatever weird thing was going to happen to me would either involve my wife or child for a while now. I’ve been having dreams about them both very often lately.” He looked at me, his eyes were clearly troubled.
“What kind of dreams?”
“Some are good, some aren’t so good. Since they were killed, I’ve regularly had dreams where it’s like my life if they hadn’t died. Like they’re both still alive. Those are almost harder to take than the ones where I relive her death. Seeing the kid grow up is sometimes too much,” he said. He was struggling to keep the tears in his eyes from falling.
“It’s his kid trying to give Viktor back what he lost,”I heard Adrik say in my head. “Sorry, man. I was about to check on him and heard Viktor in your head.”
“I appreciate the assist,”I said, trying not to outwardly laugh.