King of the Underworld (RJ Kane)

Chapter 424

424

Sephie

My experiment helped me channel some 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 geting over it than this. It was like a cloud was following me everywhere 1 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 (in 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 isn’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 his 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, 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 Andre 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.”

Ivan chuckled, but looked at me curiously. “Yours change when you see ours change, but did you feel

anything different when it happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did it give you relief from the overwhelming sadness you’ve been carrying around?” he asked.

“Um, I don’t exactly remember. I might have. I get moments of relief, but they’re just moments right

now. I don’t remember ever feeling this way before,” I said. “And I don’t know how to get rid of it.

Nothing I’ve tried has worked for very long.”

Ivan was always good for solutions. He thought for a minute, then looked to drei. “You haven’t seen

anything weird around her, have you?”

“No, but she’s dimmer than she normally is,” he said.

I set about starting to make dinner as they discussed possible solutions to our latest unexplainable

problem. The fact that Viktor kept himself constantly occupied for so many years was starting to make

more sense. Distractions definitely helped, but it was only a temporary solution.

Adrik and Stephen eventually came upstairs, along with Vitaliy and Aleksei. W were all waiting on

Viktor to come back with his brother. When they finally walked in, both of them looked like they’d had

the world’s toughest conversation on the way back from the airport.

Even though things were awkward with Viktor, I was still relieved to see him and greeted him like

normal. “Papa Bear!” I said as I went to hug his neck. His brother was somewhat surprised when Viktor

wrapped his giant arms around me and picked me up like normal.

1/3

“Sestrichka, this is Iva,” Viktor sakt, motioning to his younger brother. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

He smiled warmly at me, finally putting it together. “You must be Sephie,” he said, extending his hand

to me. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

“It it was good, then he was just being modest. It it was bad, then he was lying” I said, taking his hand.

As soon as my palm came into contact with his, much like with Stephen, I was hit with very specific

memories from Ilya all at once. These memories revolved around a woman. I could see the evolution of

their relationship, I could also see the subtle manipulations that Liter turned into all-out me ntal abuse,

along with the heartbreak and trauma during the breakup. To say she did a number on him was an

understatement. But more than that, I could feel he was struggling against his own darkness. And he

was losing. I suddenly felt like someone had thrown into a wall and I was gasping for air.

I must’ve done something weird, or zoned out, because I suddenly had Adrik and Ivan beside me. I’d

put my contacts in before he got there, hoping to not completely scare the poor kid, so I knew it wasn’t

that. I could feel Andrei, Misha, and Stephen on guard behind me, as well.

liya took a step back from me, his eyes the size of saucers, and Viktor steppet in front of him, like he

was protecting his little brother from us.

“Viktor, calm down. I can explain what just happened to her and why they rected that way,” Andrei said,

quickly rushing to my side as well.

I was having a hard time focusing, between the overwhelming sadness from Vitor and now the

darkness from Ilya. It felt a little like I was drowning. I reached for whoever was beside me and felt

Adrik’s arm go around my waist hral Ivan’s hand caught mine.

“You’re freezing, Sephie,” Adrik thought.

“I can 7…Ft…anger,” was all I could manage to get out. My body was starting to shake, but I think this

time it was legitimate shivering instead of my weird response to trauma. I was getting colder by the

second..

“Nun, she needs our anger,” I heard Adrik say in my head. As soon as he said that, I could feel them

both sending me their anger. They were both holding back. It wasn’t enough.

“More. All of it.”I told them.

1 got hit with a wave of fire. It was so intense that it almost took my breath away, but it helped clear my

mind and it pushed the darkness completely back. I could feel my own body again. I realized Adrik was

basically holding me up. I stood up on my own, looking between him and Ivan.

“Better,” I said.

While Andrei had told Viktor he could explain, he was distracted by feeling yah and Adrik’s anger

through me. He was somewhat stunned into silence. Everyone knew something was happening, they

just didn’t know what yet.

“Somebody better explain something in the next 30 seconds or we’re out of here,” Viktor said, his deep

voice booming. I’d never heard Viktor angry, but he was clearly angry right now. It almost surprised me

to hear him angry

“She got hit with all your brother’s pain and darkness that he’s been carrying around since his breakup

when she shook his hand. She’s also been carrying around your years of sadness that you never dealt

with all weekend long. It was too much for her. When Boss and Ivan felt her start to falter, they got

protective,” Andrei said. He paused for a moment, looking at Ilya. “You know there’s more to it, but I

don’t know how detailed you want me to get right now.”

“He knows enough. You can speak freely,” Viktor said. Anger was still prevalent in his tone..

“Her demon tried to save her when she got hit with Ilya’s darkness. She’s just wearing her contacts, so

you couldn’t see her eyes go black. Anytime her demon steps forward, it makes theirs do the same.

Oh, by the way, they can do it too,” Andrei said, sharply. It was almost like Andrei was angry that Viktor

was angry.

Viktor cursed under his breath. “When were you going to tell me that you can do that now too?” he

asked, looking between Ivan and Adrik. He was clearly frustrated with both of them.

“Check your tone, Viktor. We just found out this weekend. You were already dealing with enough

without one more thing on top of it,” Andrei said. When Viktor first spoke, Misha and Stephen had

quietly stepped behind me. Ajdrei put himself in between Viktor and me as they were talking.

424

I squeezed Ivan’s hand, letting it go so I could put my hand on Andrei’s back. I didn’t have to say

anything, he just moved enough to the side so that I could see Viktor, who was still trying to get a

handle on everything and was still more angry than anything. I glanced past him at Ilya, who was

simply

a rollercoaster of emotion.

“Viktor, none of this really matters right now. What does matter is that Ilya is struggling even more than

you know and you have the tools to fix that,” I said, flatly. “Both Andrei and Ivan can see it. I can feel it.

But you can fix it with that, I turned to walk back to the kitchen. Everyone but Viktor and Ilya followed

me.