King of the Underworld (RJ Kane)

Chapter 427

427

Sephle

“Please explain. Don’t worry about the pancakes, either. We’ll figure the logistics out later,” I said,

grinning at him.

“Yeah, I’m still not even completely clear on exactly what happened with Ilya, so if you could enlighten

me a little more on that, that’d be great. But, Seph, I’ve got ideas for mass production of pancakes.

We’ll talk later,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced and putting his hand up to the side of his face

like a phone indicating he’d call me.

Once Ivan finished laughing, he said, “you’ve always said Boss is your sword arul I’m your shield. I

don’t think getting hit with Ilya’s memories and thoughts were what was too much. I think it was the cold

that came with it. Eximbined with Viktor’s sadness, that was more than you could handle. I think there’s

a way that I can keep that from happening again.”

Adrik walked to me, sliding his arm around my waist. “That’s why it’s always felt like Ivan’s anger is

facing outward from you. So something like that can’t get to you,” he said, understanding where Ivan

was going.

“Also why he puts me in a bubble, I bet,” I said. I looked to Stephen. “I’m still trying to figure out how

you shared everything with me when I touched your arm. But at least I know you were trying to share

everything with me. I’m not sure Ilya was trying to share everything with me. If it just randomly All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

happened because I touched him, that’s going to make me never wht to touch anyone outside this

room ever again.”

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world,” Adrik said, smirking at me.

“Did you get everything from Ilya like you did with me?” Stephen asked.

“No, it was specific to the breakup he just went through and the relationship he had with that chick. She

was really abusive to him the entire time, but it started out subtle. She wore him down over time with

little manipulationis, but then it just turned into outright abuse at the end. He loved her. He started to

believe all the horrible things she was saying to him and about him,” I said, thinking back to everything

I’d seen and felt when I touched Ilya. I suddenly felt both Adrik and Ivan get angry. I looked up at both

of them seeing their black eyes. “What was that for?” I asked, surprised.

“The sadness and darkness from those two that you couldn’t get rid of was creeping back. You said we

burned it off last time, but apparently we didn’t get rid of it completely,” Ivan said.

“You guys noticed it before I did,” I said, quietly.

“Are you sure, princess? Your eyes went black when we felt it,” Ivan said.

“They did?”

“I saw your eyes go black, then Boss’s eyes changed without even needing to see yours,” Misha, who

was across from us, said.

“It’s your demon trying to save you, spider monkey. It did it the other night, too,” Andrei said. “I can’t tell

if it just knows that getting angry is the cure or if it’s asking Boss and Ivan for help, though.”

“How do you know that?” Ivan asked.

Andrei shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I just know. But I think that’s what happened the other

night. She started to struggle with everything she got from Ilya, her demon took over, and you two

immediately went on offense without really knowing why.”

I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to come up with answers when I wasn’t even really sure of the

question.

“Well, we do know that Sephie can handle insane amounts of anger. In fact, I think it makes her thrive.

It would somewhat make sense that the opposite of that would be more crippling for her,” Stephen said.

“I don’t know. She’s so adept at handling her own emotions that I’m still surprised she struggled to get

rid of Viktor’s sadness. I think it was the combination of both. It still feels like it’s the combination,” Adrik

said.

1/3

“You can still feel it?” I asked.

“Not right now, but when you were talking about Ilya, I could. It’s very cold. It has something to do with

the cold, which is why I think Ivan’s idea of him being able to stop it next time makes so much sense for

you. If his anger is facing outward, it’s burning whatever is coming toward you,” he said.

“And Boss is there for anything that gets past me,” Ivan said.

“Did you notice anything on Ilya, Ivan?” Stephen asked. I could see him starting to try to connect things

in his mind. Ivan shook his head no. Stephen looked to Andrei, asking him the same question.

“He was hurting, but I couldn’t see anything. When they came back, I could see his aura, but it was still

dim,” Andrei said.

“What are you thinking, Yoden? Does it have to do with red pandas or pancakes?” I asked, trying to

keep a straight face.

“Still pancakes, but now I’m also wondering if red pandas even like pancakes We should really find that

out before we move forward with pancake production.”

I couldn’t hold my laugh in any longer. “I f uck ing love you,” I said.

“I’m still working on my theory. What do you know about the girl Ilya just broke up with? Other than her

abuse toward him? Anything?” Stephen

asked.

1

“Not much, other than I’d happily kick her a ss,” I said. I was thinking back over what I’d gotten from

Ilya, chewing on my lip again. When I looked up, they were all looking at me, slightly amused. I could

see Ivan’s black eyes, but this time I didn’t feel his anger, nor did I feel Adrik’s. I turned to look at Adrik,

whose eyes were also black.

“Did I do that again?” I asked, confused.

“Yours went black when you were thinking about the chick Ilya broke up with! You told him that she

wasn’t entirely human. Your demon confirms it,”

Adrik said.

“When did you tell him that?” Misha asked.

“The morning after they got back. She was trying to make Viktor see how serious the situation was.

She said it would’ve killed Ilya if he hadn’t fixed him. Ilya was apologetic, but Sephie offered to kick her

as s, then told him she wasn’t exactly human and that he was lucky to get away from her.”

Adrik said.

“I was trying to be somewhat overdramatic at that moment, to be fair,” I said..

“Okay, dramatics aside, what if there was like a lingering effect from that chick still on Ilya. Like

whatever demon that chick had was trying to break Ilya down enough that it could either jump to him or

another demon could get into him. Ivan can’t see it because it’s not actually a demon, but we all felt the

oppressive sadness from Viktor that Sephie couldn’t shake. What if it was the same sort of thing on

Ilya? It just follows him around, wearing him down little by little until he’s finally weak enough that

another demon con get in?” Stephen said.

“If I’ve learned anything from all this, it’s that there’s a reason for literally everything. Even knowing

whether red pandas do, in fact, like pancakes. There’s a reason that Sephie got that cloud from Viktor

and it looks like it was so we could figure out what happened to Ilya since neither Ivan nor 1 could see

anything on him,” Andrei said, grinning at me.

“Do we know what happens when someone’s demon takes over completely and their soul either gets

ejected or it dies? Does the demon stick with that body or does it jump to another one? Does it need a

soul to work the body?” Stephen asked, looking at me.

“Why are you looking at me when you ask those difficult questions? I’m still working on the simple math

problem of red pandas and pancakes. You jumped all the way to quantum physics,” I said.

“If one soul on one side of the universe gets ejected, does that mean a red panila on the other side of

the universe also eats pancakes at the same time?” Misha asked, thoughtfully.

Adrik turned me to face him, trying to hide his smile. “You did this,” he said, pointing to Stephen and

Misha.