Page 99 of Rise of the Queen

I felt Adrik’s arm around my waist, pulling me gently, but firmly, against him. I saw Ivan catch his eye too. “And how are you, Ilya? You look better than the last time I saw you,” he said.

Ilya smiled, but we could all see the struggle still present behind his eyes. I felt Adrik’s grip on me get tighter and felt Ivan’s bubble go up immediately before Ilya even had a chance to answer.

“I’ll be your interpreter for the duration of this visit,”Ivan said to both me and Adrik. We could hear him laughing in hishead, but his face was completely serious and he kept his focus on Ilya.

Ilya looked at Adrik, surprise evident on his face. He took a step back, which let me know that our eyes had likely changed.

Andrei glanced at us, noticing it too. “Don’t be worried, Ilya. You still have something hanging around you. They can feel it. That’s going to keep happening until you finally get rid of it. It’s not directed at you. It’s directed at whatever is trying to break you down,” he said.

“It’s still alarming,” Ilya said, fear evident in his voice.

“Alarming is a nice way to put it, yes,” Stephen said, stepping closer to Ilya. “But if you consider that they’re trying to help you by figuring out what the hell it is that’s hanging around you, then it’s much easier to stomach. They just have unique methods.” We all laughed at Stephen’s explanation, but it was Andrei who looked between Stephen and Ilya, with wide eyes.

“Is this the first time you’ve spoken in front of Ilya?” he asked Stephen.

“I think so, yes,” Stephen said, looking very confused.

Andrei looked back to me and Adrik, then to Ivan. “Boss, I think Stephen just literally made whatever it was leave. Ivan,” he said, indicating for Ivan to lower his bubble. “You both are really quick at catching it, so she’ll be fine if it comes back, but I want to see if she can feel the difference now.”

I felt Ivan’s bubble slowly retracting. Adrik kept a firm hold on my waist. I could feel both of them smoldering, just in case. I looked at Andrei, nodding once to let him know Ivan had removed his bubble. He then looked at Ilya and said, “Ilya, tell us again how you are since the last time Boss saw you.”

This time, it was still evident that he was carrying things he was going to have to continue to work on, but the darkness was gone. Ilya hadn’t even spoken yet, but I could tell he felt it too.“You can tell too, can’t you? That heavy darkness that has been following you is gone now?” I asked him.

His eyes were as wide as they could possibly be as he looked at all of us. He stood up a little straighter, like he felt lighter. “I feel … better,” he said, like he still wasn’t quite sure. We watched as he took internal inventory of his body, then a wide smile stretched across his face. “Yeah. Definitely better.”

“Your mind didn’t immediately jump to your breakup this time. You thought about you for the first time since anyone has asked you that question,” Andrei said.

“Keep it that way, man. Whatever it was that was on you can still come back, but you have to let it. You’re in charge again. Which means you’re in charge of your own thoughts too. Thinking about what just happened to you in any other context than trying to learn from it and heal from it will roll out the red carpet for it to come back,” Misha said.

Ilya’s wide smile spread across his face as he thanked all of us. We all watched as his light grew even brighter in front of us.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Adrik

As we walked back intothe penthouse, Vitaliy and Aleksei greeted us. With each day that passed, I grew more surprised that my father was still in the city. He’d never stayed more than three days since handing everything over to me. It was close to two months that he’d been here this time.

“You all look like something just happened,” Vitaliy said as we walked in.

Sephie glanced at him, then at me. “I see where your observation skills come from,” she said, her sweet smile across her face. “We just went to check on Viktor again. As it turns out, Stephen’s mere presence was enough to make whatever has been on Ilya leave.”

“Not his presence, spider monkey. He was here the other night. It was when he spoke,” Andrei corrected her.

“I know. But it sounds way more dramatic my way, so I’m sticking with that,” she said, grinning at him.

“You had the same thing happen again that happened the other night, malishka?” Vitaliy asked.

She shook her head no. “Nope. Ivan puts up a bubble around me. It couldn’t get in again. Both he and Adrik also feel it faster than I do now, so they burn it off right away.”

“But Stephen made it leave?” he asked.

“Yeah, apparently I’m not warm and fuzzy enough for whatever was on him. I was just trying to be helpful, but it was not appreciated,” Stephen said, trying to come across as offended. We could all see his sly smile turning up one corner of his mouth though.

Vitaliy chuckled. I said, “We have been told that now that Stephen has his gift, the fear is going to increase from any demons we encounter. I’m still not convinced it was actually a demon that was on him, because Ivan couldn’t see anything, but whatever it was, it clearly knew who Stephen was. As soon as he spoke to Ilya, it left.”

“How do you know?” Vitaliy asked.

“I could feel it,” Andrei said. “I can’t feel it the same way Sephie does, but I knew it was there. As soon as Stephen started talking, it changed. It was like it got scared and then it was suddenly not there anymore.”