Chapter Thirty-Four

Adrik

“Why?” I asked Sephie, completely captivated by her out of control hair that was everywhere all at once.

“When Misha said we unlocked a new life goal for him and both Andrei and Stephen agreed, they strengthened the connection. They’ll eventually be like us. They’ll be able to walk between Heaven and Hell,” she said.

I inhaled. “Viktor wants no part of that,” I said.

She nodded her head, saying, “Our demons still freak him the fuck out.” She grinned at me, as she got up, straddling me. “Are you ready for this next part, because it might actually be my favorite,” she said, giggling.

I sat up a little more, my hands running over her thighs. “I can’t wait,” I said, smiling at her amusement.

“The irritation we all feel around Viktor now isn’t us. It’s our demons. They’re hurt because they feel like he rejected them when he asked for his demon to be taken away,” she said. “I can’t help it. I might love my demon a little more for that. Poor thing. That’s a hard pill to swallow.”

I had to admit to feeling a pang of sympathy for my demon as well. “He asked for his to be taken away? How does that work?” I asked.

“I assume Kostya did it, but I didn’t think to ask for specifics. I had too many other questions for him,” she said, as she placed her hands on my chest. She looked down at her ring, which she almost never took off. I might’ve loved that about her. She looked back up at me, saying, “Both my dad and Kostya have said this ring has more significance than I realize and I can’t figure out what they mean by that.”

“Did they say anything else about it? Or just that it’s significant?”

“My dad said it was significant. Kostya said I didn’t understand yet, but that you and the guys would always be with me and would always protect me as he was looking at it. I asked him if he could tell me and he said no, but he said I would connect the dots.”

I laughed. “He meant that literally, solnishko. Connect the five rubies.”

She looked at her ring, trying to still figure out what I meant. She looked at me, still completely confused. I took her hand and drew the outline of a pentagram on the back of her hand. “Five points equal a pentagram, solnishko. It’s an ancient symbol of protection. That’s why the big diamond is square. It was the only way to arrange the rubies so they would form the pentagram the way I wanted it. I wanted one ruby to always be on top of the others. For Ivan. The big diamond is both of us, because you are my heart. The rubies are always protecting you,” I said, as I pointed it out on her ring. When I looked at her, her mouth was open in shock.

“You … how …” She closed her mouth, trying to formulate a complete thought. I tried not to, but I laughed at her. She was so adorable when she was confused. By the looks of her, she should’ve felt like she was all over the place, but all I felt from her was her warmth. Her eyes were the deepest depth of the ocean blue as well.

I smiled at her. “Ivan gave me the color scheme. I sketched out a few options. One day during a meeting, I found myself doodling with the sketch of this design and happened on the pentagram. Like many symbols, it’s been thought of as good and bad, but that’s kind of perfect. We’re both too. I didn’t expect that you would never take it off, but it makes me happy that you always have it on. It’s one more small way I can feel like you’re protected.”

“I can’t believe you put this much thought into it,” she said. She had tears falling down her cheeks, but her eyes were still blue. I looked at her, confused at the tears. “Nobody has ever put this much thought into something for me before,” she said. She wrapped her arms around my neck, holding onto me for dear life and pushing all her warmth to me. I held her just as tightly. I would never want to let her go.

We were all in the gym that morning. Vitaliy and all of his men were there as well. He was still trying to find a replacement for the two guys he hated. It was proving more difficult than he would’ve liked. I think it made him hate those guys a little more with each passing day.

Sephie had talked Andrei into letting her train harder now that her lung was better. She’d been slowly increasing the intensity. She was probably back to 90 percent now, which I was sure was 100 percent more than Vitaliy’s little flowers.

She was almost giddy to get into the ring with Ivan. Andrei had been working on her form while she’d been hurt. It had improved her technique, but it’d also made her stronger. Once she got her speed back, she was going to be deadly. I was actually looking forward to seeing how well she held up against Ivan. I knew he took it easy on her. He had to take it easy on everyone but me, but I had a feeling she’d force him to turn it up more than he expected today.

Vitaliy’s men’s eyes all went wide when they saw her step into the ring with Ivan. They all knew Ivan’s reputation. They were all scared of him, especially after seeing him spar with me. They quickly decided that he was going to be training her, not sparring with her, and they quickly lost interest. I laughed, knowing they’d be back.

“Don’t worry, princess. I’ll take it easy on you,” he said to her. Andrei actually looked relieved when he heard him say that.

“If it were anyone else, I’d be offended, but I do appreciate that from you,” she said. She still socked him in his shoulder when he wasn’t expecting it, grinning at him. “But maybe not as much as you planned,” she said.

I was basically counting down in my head for how long it took Vitaliy’s men to take notice. I was right. Ten seconds of Ivan and Sephie beginning their match and they quickly saw they’d been wrong. He was not training her the way they thought he was going to.

The seemingly endless weeks of slow, arduous training had made her technique next to perfect, but it had made her so much stronger. She still wasn’t as fast as she normally was, but nobody else outside our group would’ve known that.

Two minutes in and I saw Ivan grin at her. He had underestimated her when they first started. She was giving him more of a run for his money than he thought she would. He was actually having to work a little. I felt my heart swell watching her hold her own with him.

She was so adept at anticipating your next move that she managed to land a few kicks on Ivan. If he could feel pain, he might’ve been sore tomorrow. Because she knew that he wouldn’t feel it, she didn’t hold back one bit. I was very happy to see it.

Vitaliy walked up beside me. “I said it before, but that woman was made for you. She is perfect in every possible way,” he said, completely awe-struck.

“I think that at least a hundred times each day,” I said, not taking my eyes off Ivan and Sephie.

“She’s back to normal now?” he asked.

“No, this still isn’t everything she’s got. She’s maybe 90 percent now.”

Vitaliy cursed quietly. “Does she want a job? Can I hire her?” he asked, a mischievous grin sliding across his face.

I laughed. “No chance, old man.”

Sephie was starting to reach the end of her endurance. Her face was red and her breathing was heavy. I could feel her getting tired. This was the most she’d done in months. She still looked strong. It was her cardio that couldn’t keep up. Her lung was going to remain the weak link for a little longer.

Ivan saw it too. He ended the match by surprising her. He rushed her and threw her over his shoulder. “No fair!” she yelled, smacking his back.

He laughed, setting her down. “You’re breathing heavier than I’d like, princess. That’s enough for today,” he said. I expected her to argue with him, but she just grinned at him and threw her arms around his neck. He caught my eye. “ She’s happy she made me sweat,” he told me. I just laughed.

They climbed out of the ring while Misha and Ilya climbed in. I raised my eyebrow watching those two climb in the ring together. Sephie saw my surprise. She glanced at Vitaliy, saying, “You should watch this one too. Misha is almost as fast as Ivan.”

“You’re planning something, aren’t you?” I asked her as I watched Misha and Ilya’s match start.

“Yep.”

“Are you gonna tell me what that is?”

“Nope,” she said. I could hear her laughing, but she looked like she was watching Misha and Ilya. I laughed quietly, moving her in front of me, pulling her back against me.

“You caught your breath right away. That’s definite progress,” I said.

“It’s getting easier each time. I was starting to have issues with catching my breath at the end, but I didn’t panic about it this time.”

I wrapped my arms around her tighter. She held her arms on top of mine, leaning her head against my shoulder. She looked happy. Lighter. Everything that had happened lately seemed to be leaving and her light was brighter again.

I had expected Vitaliy to get tired of watching Misha and Ilya, but he stayed the entire time. They were well-matched. Ilya was fast, like Misha. They were similar in height and build. It made for a good match. As it ended, Vitaliy looked at me. “Viktor’s brother. What are his plans? Is he done with his service?”

I understood what Sephie had been planning at that moment. I nodded my head. “Yeah, he’s out. I’m not sure what his plans are though. I don’t think he has any yet. I think he’s trying to figure that out. Viktor was talking about giving him a job.”

“He knows everything about all of you?” he asked.

I nodded. “Most everything, I think.”

“He’s okay with it?”

“Yeah, he even did some research to find out what it was that was hanging on to him when he first got here that jumped to Sephie that first night,” I said.

Vitaliy looked impressed. He glanced back across the gym toward Ilya, then to his little flowers. He walked away, calling Aleksei to him. They walked away from everyone, deep in discussion.

I turned Sephie to face me, her wide smile across her face. “You set that up, didn’t you?”

“Ilya wants a job, much like what Viktor has. Vitaliy needs replacements for his little flowers. Ilya could replace both of them for the moment and they’d still be fine. But we both know it’ll go better if it’s Vitaliy’s idea versus Ilya asking him for a job. So I might’ve suggested this happen,” she said, grinning at me. Her eyes were sparkling in the bright lights of the gym.

“Your idea to put him in with Misha too?” I asked. She nodded. “How did you know they’d make a good match?”

“They’re built the same. Misha is the fastest, next to Ivan who shouldn’t count because he’s superhuman.”

I just looked at her in wonderment. “Perfect in every way,” I said quietly, leaning down to kiss her.

That night at dinner, Vitaliy looked at Ilya during a lull in the conversation. “Ilya, what are your plans now that you’re done with your service?” he asked.

I looked to Sephie, who was smiling at me.

“I’m looking for a job, sir. Something similar to what Viktor has, if I can find it,” Ilya said.

Vitaliy said, “I can give you a job. I need another guy who has actual training. You clearly have training.”

“Really?” he said, excited. He quickly cleared his throat, then said, “That would be great, sir.”

“We’ll talk more,” Vitaliy said, waving his hand in front of him. “But you’ll come work for me. You can stay close to Viktor for a while. I’ve decided to stay for a bit longer, now that I have a house here again.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ilya said. He looked to Sephie, smiling widely at her. She winked at him.

“How’s it going furnishing your house, Vitaliy?” she asked.

“I might hate shopping as much as you do, malishka. I hired someone to do it for me,” he said, his sly grin evident.

“Smart man,” she said.

While everyone else was talking, I made sure Ivan would stay in the penthouse after everyone else left. “Sephie had a conversation with Kostya last night. She knows why Viktor feels different to all of us now. If you can, stay when everyone else leaves. Or else come back. She wants to tell the other three too, but not when Viktor is around. She’s worried about singling him out.”

“Yeah, I would really like to know why I feel irritated around him now.”

“You’re going to love it,” I said, laughing.

Ivan came up with an excuse to pull me aside while everyone else was leaving, to make it look like he’d forgotten to tell me something important. Vitaliy and Aleksei both went to their rooms for the night, so it was just the three of us in the penthouse.

Ivan looked at Sephie expectantly. “Kostya came to you?” he asked.

“Yeah. Kind of creepy, not gonna lie. I mean, he’s adorable, but I was not expecting to turn around and have a little boy standing in front of me. Also? I let like four curse words fly out of my mouth, then promptly felt like a heathen for cursing in front of a child. I apologized to his parents before I figured out who he was,” she said.

Ivan and I both laughed. “That tracks,” we both said.

“What did he tell you about why Viktor is different?” Ivan asked.

“When the Wonder Twins found out that you and Adrik could also control your demons, Misha said you guys just unlocked a new life goal for him. Andrei and Stephen both readily agreed. They essentially strengthened our connection because they made the choice to learn how to do what we do. They’re going to be able to walk between Heaven and Hell eventually.”

Ivan took a deep breath. “Let me guess. Viktor wants no part of that,” he said.

“Exactly. He asked to have his demon removed because he wants no part of Hell. He’s still unnerved by our demons. When he was in that Syrian prison, the guy who would torture him was completely consumed by his demon. Viktor caught glimpses. Now, he’s essentially having PTSD when he sees ours. He wants nothing to do with it,” she said.

“He never told anyone,” Ivan said.

“Yeah. Are you surprised?” she said. We could both feel her irritation growing. She noticed it too. She grinned at Ivan. “That irritation we all feel? Yeah, that’s not really us. It’s our demons. They all feel like they’re being rejected by Viktor and it makes them itchy.”

“Shut up.”

“No, it’s true. You feel sympathy for yours, too. Don’t even try to lie about it,” I said.

Ivan laughed. “Yeah, 100 percent. Poor thing. That’s actually kind of sweet.”

“Right? It’s very endearing. They knew what happened before any of us did and they’ve all been restless because of it. He’s over there terrified of them and they’re pissy because he doesn’t want to come over and play,” she said, laughing.

“But it’s this way for the Wonder Twins and Stephen too. How?” he asked.

“The only thing I can think of is that their connection to their demons is already growing stronger since they made the choice. The connection that the three of us have is made stronger because of our demons. None of us will ever have the same connection with Viktor as a result, but Kostya thinks that Viktor prefers it that way. I have to agree. He said Viktor has so much on his mind on a normal day anyway that the extra baggage from me would be too much. He said the little bit he’s already gotten from me is somewhat overwhelming for him.”

“Can you make it less for him?” Ivan asked.

“Have you met me?” she said.

“Fair, totally fair. How can we help him cope with feeling you then?” he asked.

“That’s going to take time, Kostya said. But,” she said, grinning at him, “Stephen gets to help him get over the time in prison.”

“How? Are we going to get the guy that tortured Viktor?” he asked.

“Nope. No need. Well, maybe there’s a need. Doesn’t sound like he’s a very nice man, now that I think about it. Anyway, back to Yoden. He’s leveling up. He’s going to be able to get rid of Misha’s hatred for Giana and Viktor’s time in prison and everything that went with it. If Viktor can feel more comfortable around our demons, I think it will be easier for all of us,” she said.

“How is Stephen leveling up? Doesn’t he need to give it back to the person where it originated from?” Ivan asked.

“I asked the same thing. Kostya said that Stephen spent so much time trying to figure out how to transmute his own pain that now he’ll be able to do it for other people. That’s partly why he’s been so freaking happy since he broke Armando. He knows he helped me feel better and it’s made him ecstatic,” she said. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. “How fucking adorable is that?” she asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. I glanced at Ivan, who actually looked like he was fighting tears back too.

“This whole time, we thought he was a serial killer. Turns out that kid is a fucking saint.” Ivan said.

Sephie was awake before me for once the next morning. I could feel her fingers lightly tracing circles on my back as she tried to slowly wake me up. I pulled her even closer, burying my face in her neck. She laughed quietly as she moved her leg over my hips, pressing her body completely against mine.

“Let’s stay like this the whole day,” I said.

“Are you extra tired? Did you get zapped?” she asked. I could hear the concern in her voice, but I could also feel it.

“No. I just need a break.” I pulled back so I could look at her, finally opening my eyes. Her eyes were swirling, but they landed on blue as she looked at me. “Let’s go to the house this afternoon. I don’t have that many meetings. I might cancel them all.”

“You’ll hear no arguments from me. I think we could all use some time there. What about Ilya though?” she asked.

I thought for a moment. I’d actually forgotten about him. If he was going to work for Vitaliy, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world for him to know about the house, but I still didn’t like the idea of him knowing just yet. “I’ll give Viktor the weekend off completely. He can spend more time with Ilya before he starts working for Vitaliy. Viktor will protest, since he hates taking time off and I’ll suggest we go to the house so he won’t worry about us all weekend.”

“I learned how to plan things out from watching you,” she said, grinning at me.

“And I learned how to love you more than humanly possible from watching you,” I said, kissing her. I could feel her warmth spreading through my body as I buried my face in her neck again.

“Time away will be good for all of us, I think. It’ll give me a chance to catch the other three up on my conversation with Kostya. Maybe Stephen can experiment with helping Misha this weekend too. He’s been trying to let go of his hatred for Giana, but it’s still there. It still comes back now and then when he least expects it,” she said.

I laughed. “I still find it surprising that he got so angry with her. I didn’t know that kid had it in him, but he clearly loves you. There’s no doubt about that. They all do.”

I felt her mood shift and pulled back from her so I could see her once more. Her eyes were swirling, but they were mostly amber and white, surprisingly. She saw the look on my face and explained. “I sometimes worry that their connection with me is keeping them cut off from living their lives. We all joked about it in Italy, but I can clearly see now that I’ve made it exceptionally difficult for them to find a girlfriend. Stephen might have an easier time, but only slightly. I don’t want to keep them from making their own lives.”

“I don’t think you are, solnishko. They know that once I’m done for the day, they’re free to go. It’s always been that way. It will always be that way. If they wanted to find girlfriends right now, they could. They’re choosing to spend more time with you because you give them what they need right now. They wouldn’t be able to have the same conversations with a girlfriend that they have with you. At least not right away. What’s happening to all of us is strange and not everyone is going to be able to handle it. They need to be more secure in themselves and what they can do before they’re going to have a chance at finding a relationship that lasts. None of them are interested in just finding a woman to sleep with. They see what we have and they all want the same. They know it’s going to be worth the wait.”

She sighed, her eyes once again landing on the deepest depth of the ocean blue. Her fingers ran lightly through my facial hair as she smiled sweetly at me. “Sometimes I wonder what the hell I did to deserve you,” she said.

“I wonder the same thing every single day,” I said, burying my face in her neck once more. She wrapped her arms around me, holding onto me tightly as she let me have a few more minutes in bed with her before starting the day.

The guys were waiting on us when we came out of the bedroom. Viktor was there with Ilya, as well as Vitaliy and Aleksei. I wasted no time setting my plan in motion. “Viktor, why don’t you take the weekend and spend it with Ilya before he starts work. You guys slept through his first week here. At least you’ll have a couple more days to catch up,” I said.

Viktor started to protest, but Vitaliy surprised me by interjecting. “You can help me find more security for my house, if you really want to work. But after that, you should spend time with your brother.”

Viktor still looked unsure. He asked me, “You guys will be okay?”

Sephie smiled sweetly at him. “We can go away for the weekend. We’ll be fine and you won’t have to worry about us, Papa Bear.”

His entire demeanor melted as she smiled at him. He wasn’t going to argue any further.

“It’s settled then,” Vitaliy said, matter-of-factly.

“Were you trying to keep Viktor away or you just don’t want Ilya at the house?” Ivan asked me as everyone started conversing.

“Ilya. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for him to know about it, but not yet. I really need a break. Sephie does too, even though she’s pushing through like the boss she is. She needs time to tell the other three about Kostya, too.”

“We could all use the break. Except Stephen. He’s still on cloud nine.” Ivan said, laughing.

“ You were right last night. That kid is a saint. I’m happy to see it. Nobody deserves it more than he does.”

Ivan nodded his head discreetly in agreement and we both returned to the normal conversation going on around us. Stephen was asking Sephie to come up with a new name for Armando for when we take him to a nursing home.

“Richard. That way you can call him ‘dick’ the entire time and no one will know you’re saying it with a lowercase ‘d,’” she said flatly. The guys all laughed.

“Dickie had a drug problem that caused him to have a massive stroke and now he’s catatonic,” Stephen said, his smile that was showing itself more frequently lately across his face.

“That’s perfect,” Sephie said, grinning at him.

I decided to keep my meetings that day rather than reschedule them. I asked Sephie if she could come to the last one, which always surprised her. “Who is it?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” I said. I enjoyed tormenting her maybe a little too much sometimes.

She walked into my office with the Wonder Twins just before the meeting started. Stephen walked in right behind them. She turned to see who it was and her face immediately lit up. “Vinny!” she said as she walked quickly to him. He brought his wife, Anna, with him as well. “And Anna!” she said, hugging both of them. Neal walked in shortly after, a look of amusement on his face. “I’m so happy to see both of you!” Sephie said, as they walked in, each taking a seat.

“Bella, it’s always good to see you,” Vinny said. He shook my hand before sitting down. “You too, sir,” he said, taking a seat.

Sephie walked around my desk, stopping to kiss me quickly, then hopped on the cabinet behind my desk. Anna’s salon had been repaired and was reopened, as were all the other businesses in that part of town. Since Niko and Vito were still in Italy with Sal, all of the underbosses had backed off from enforcing the increased taxes. They had all heard what happened to Anthony, Lorenzo, and Massimo. They all knew that no one had seen Armando or Dario in months. They were scared.

I looked to Neal, asking if he’d brought the paperwork. We had one restaurant owner in the new building project back out for personal reasons, so we had one space empty. I decided to offer it to Vinny at a discounted price so he could expand and open a second location, should he choose to. Neal got up and set down everything in front of Vinny.

Vinny started to look at everything, curious as to why I’d asked him here. Neal explained the building project to him. As he did, Sephie silently asked, “You’re offering the vacant spot to Vinny so he can open a second location, aren’t you?” I just turned slightly so I could see her, but didn’t respond. “Just when I think I can’t love you anymore than I already do …”

Neal explained about the empty space and then offered it to Vinny, should he want to expand to a second location. Vinny looked shocked, as did Anna.

“There’s no pressure, Vinny. It’s only if you want to expand to a second location. I’m offering the space to you first before I make it known there’s a space available,” I said.

Vinny looked at Anna, then back to me. “We’ve been talking about a second location for years, sir. We just could never find the right spot. This spot is perfect. I can keep that place afloat just on the people in that building,” he said.

“Smart man, Vinny. You’d be surprised how not obvious that is to some people,” Sephie said sarcastically. Neal looked at her, unable to keep his laughter in.

Vinny looked through the paperwork. Anna leaned over, also glancing at the paperwork in front of them. They talked quietly with each other, discussing options.

“You can take it home and think about it, Vinny. I don’t need an answer today,” I said, trying to take some of the perceived pressure off of them. “Everything you need is there. Feel free to call Neal or me if you have questions.”

Vinny still looked too stunned to speak, but they both stood up. “I would appreciate just a little time to make sure this works for us,” he said. “But you’ll have your answer by Monday, at the latest.”

“That’s fine, Vinny. I know you have a lot going on. Take all the time you need. It’s yours until you decide you don’t want it,” I said, standing with them. Sephie jumped off the cabinet and came to stand next to me.

Vinny looked at her, smiling. “Somehow I think you had something to do with this, bella.”

“Nope. This was all him. He might’ve thought about it because my stomach is in a long-term relationship with you, but really that’s on you. You did this to yourself, Vinny,” she said. She’d put her contacts in before coming to the meeting, but I knew her eyes were green.

Vinny and Anna both laughed at her statement. They both thanked me and hugged Sephie once again before Stephen escorted them back downstairs. Neal stayed for a few more minutes, catching me up on other business. I noticed Sephie walk to Misha and Andrei, asking them both their thoughts on what Vinny would do. They quietly discussed everything while Neal and I talked about other matters.

I caught myself thinking back to the conversation we’d had that morning, where she was concerned she was keeping them from living their own lives. I watched as they readily discussed things with her that I knew for a fact they wouldn’t be able to discuss with anyone else. She gave them a space to be completely authentic. She just didn’t realize how important that was yet. She didn’t know they’d do whatever it took to keep it.

We got to the house early enough that Sephie wanted to take a walk first thing. She loved being able to go outside without fear of anything. It made me feel somewhat guilty that we hadn’t been to the house in a while.

“Don’t feel guilty,” she said, lacing her fingers through mine as we walked toward the woods. “We’re here now. That’s what matters.”

We walked in silence, enjoying the last bit of daylight. I could feel the stress melting away as we walked. I smiled to myself, thinking about how Sephie really was magic in her own way. She always knew just what I needed.

She felt the pull in my chest and glanced up at me. She smiled her sweet smile, that spark in her eyes that was reserved only for me. “I can say the same for you, you know,” she said as we headed back toward the house.

I stopped her before we got all the way out of the woods, pulling her against me. I loved the way the fading daylight made her hair look. There were at least ten different shades of red and orange in the last rays of sunlight. It made her hair look like it really was on fire. Her eyes were normal, which was becoming a rarity, but I found myself loving it just as much as when they changed. Those were the eyes that I fell in love with. Those were the eyes that first looked at my soul and loved every piece of me.

I smiled at her, turning away from her. “Get on. We both know you don’t walk back to the house,” I said. I heard her giggle as she jumped on my back. She wrapped her arms around my neck and shoulders as I bounced her higher and walked us back to the house. I could feel her happiness the entire way.

The guys were all in the back room when we got back. She ditched her coat and went to the kitchen to start dinner. We all happily followed her. Viktor still felt somewhat guilty about taking the weekend off, even though it was my idea, so he made sure there were plenty of groceries at the house when we arrived.

She started pulling things out of the refrigerator as the guys all moved to the chairs around the kitchen island. I caught her glancing at all of them. She had come up with a new signal for Andrei, since I caught their last one. I wasn’t going to tell her I’d caught this one as well. She found the answer to her silent question, a small smile on her face.

She stopped what she was doing, looking at all of them. “You’re all wondering why Viktor irritates you now, aren’t you?”

There was an audible exhale from all of them. “YES,” they all groaned.

“We’ve been trying to figure it out. We also think Ivan knows something he’s not telling us,” Misha said. He was clearly frustrated with not being able to solve the puzzle.

Sephie giggled. “Ivan does know something. He found out last night, but he’s being nice to me and letting me tell you,” she said, winking at Ivan.

“Why didn’t we find out last night?” Misha asked. He was somewhat indignant about the matter, which made it even funnier.

“Because I didn’t want Viktor to be around when I told you. It’s easier to ask one of you to stay behind than it is for me to ask Viktor to go away so we can obviously talk about him,” she said.

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” Stephen asked.

I nodded. “Well, not the only reason. I needed a break. She needed a way to tell you guys what happened without Viktor around. She’s worried about singling him out. She doesn’t want him to feel left out of anything,” I said.

“What happened, spider monkey? What do you know?” Andrei asked.

“Kostya came to me. Same way my dad and his mom come to me. Just slightly creepier because I wasn’t expecting a kid,” she said as they all laughed at her still obvious discomfort. She explained why they all felt different around Viktor now.

“But we don’t control our demons the same way you three do,” Andrei said.

“Not yet, you don’t. But you made the choice to learn how to. By doing so, I think your connection is already stronger. Your connections to me, as well as Adrik, are stronger now. If it’s not already, it will be to Ivan soon too. The connections between the three of us are stronger because of our demons. It should be that way with you three soon. As such, we’ll never have the same kind of connection with Viktor,” she said. “But that’s okay too. He has good reason to be afraid of our demons. It’s just going to take his soul a little longer to get to the point that we’re at. He’s still very much all in with what’s going on. He’s not going anywhere.” She looked at Stephen, her wide smile stretching across her face, as she added, “And Yoden gets to help him deal with his trauma so that he’s more comfortable around us.”