Page 91 of Rise of the Queen

“Where’s the princess?” Ivan asked.

I could still hear her playing in my head. “She’s upstairs,” I said, as I shared her impromptu concert with Ivan.

“That’s impressive,” he said. “Did she just figure out she could do that?”

I glanced toward the open door, expecting Viktor to walk in at any point.“She’s worried about being around Viktor. She was looking for excuses to go upstairs to try and give him space.”

Ivan nodded in understanding.“He’s some better. I’m hoping seeing Ilya will help him. She’s still sad, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, it’s starting to worry me. She can’t get rid of it. Her eyes have stayed amber the entire time you two have been gone. The Wonder Twins and Stephen have tried their best to keep her distracted and find ways to make her laugh, but it’s always short-lived. The sadness is becoming oppressive. I don’t know how Viktor has handled it if he’s been walking around with that for this long.”

Before Ivan could respond, Viktor walked in. He did look better after his short time away, but it was obvious he was still struggling to come to terms with everything.

“Everything okay, man?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah, Sasha is worried about Ilya too. He talked to him before his flight. He said he hasn’t ever heard him like that. I guess thegirl he thought he was in love with really did a number on his head,” Viktor said.

“Hopefully some time away from it all can help him clear his head,” I said. “Give him a job, if he wants it. We could use the extra help.”

Viktor chuckled. “Ivan said the same thing. I’m waiting to see how bad he is before I offer him a job, to be honest.”

“Fair. Totally fair,” Ivan said.

“Where’s Sephie?” Viktor asked.

“She’s upstairs with the Wonder Twins. She wanted playing time while it was quiet,” I said.

I almost expected him to want to go upstairs then, but he stayed quiet.

“He’s totally still avoiding her,”Ivan thought.

“Agreed.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Sephie

My experiment helped me channelsome of the sadness I’d been feeling from Viktor, but it still didn’t get rid of it completely. I knew this kind of sadness. I’d felt it when my mom died, but even then, I had an easier time getting over it than this. It was like a cloud was following me everywhere I went. I’d have moments where I felt a little better, but the sadness would always return.

Along with the cold. I hadn’t been this cold since I was in the hospital after Ivan and I were taken. I was quickly becoming convinced I was incapable of feeling warm any longer. I doubled up on my warmest clothes, which helped, but not enough.

Andrei was happy to be on heater duty anytime I needed him, but even that wasn’t enough. They’d all tried their best over the weekend to help cheer me up as best they could and I loved them for it. The moments where I got a reprieve were great, but very short-lived.

Ivan walked into the penthouse after I was done playing. I was making yet another cup of coffee when I saw him. “Squish!” I said, immediately running to him.

He caught me mid-air and held me off the floor in a bear hug. “Princess. I missed you.”

“I missed you, Squish. Life isn’t the same without you here,” I said, hugging him a little tighter. His grip on me tightened as well, popping my back in the process. I groaned in relief. “Apparently you’re my chiropractor now, too,” I said, laughing.

When he set me down, Misha asked, “How’s Viktor?”

Ivan sighed. “Not as good as I’d like. He won’t talk very much about it either, so trying to figure out how best to help him is next to impossible. You guys have felt her sadness all weekend too?” he asked, looking between Andrei and Misha.

“Yeah. Stephen can feel it too. We’ve been trying to find ways to help cheer her up, but nothing lasts very long,” Andrei said.

“Her eyes have stayed amber almost the entire time too. I think I’ve only seen them change the one time when Boss showed us his demon eyes,” Misha said. Even Misha sounded more somber than usual. I think it was beginning to affect everyone.

“They know we can do this now too, by the way,”I thought.“Stephen actually figured it out before we told them. He’s wicked smart.”