Chapter 386
Adrik
Once Sephie and I were alone that night, I asked her what had happened with Stephen, both while they
had disappeared during the afternoon and what happened when he looked like he was struggling
earlier.
She exhaled loudly. “Ugh. So, I want to ki ll his sisters now. I got him to open up a little bit this
afternoon. We were making Viktor’s favorite cookies by the way. He gets very grumpy when I haven’t
cooked in a few days and it shows,” she said,ughing quietly.
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“Why do you want to ki ll his sisters? I didn’t even know he had sisters. He never talks about them,” I
said.
“For good reason. His sisters were always mean to him growing up. Much more than normal sibling
bickering mean. He told me that’s why it took hi so long to warm up to me. He was waiting for me to
turn mean too,” she said. She’d taken her contacts out already and I watched her eyes change t the
amber brown that meant she was sad. She climbed on top of me, straddling myp. “There’s more to
the story, but I wasn’t going to make him t me. He really struggled even just with that. That’s what
happened in the kitchen earlier. When Misha questioned him, it made him insecure. Stepher doesn’t
like me in his head, but I asked him if I could look tonight. I told him I knew he’d made the connection
already, but he was frozen by his insecurities. I was right. It was easy to find, but he was over-analyzing
because he was worried he was wrong.”
She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes still golden amber. I could feel how upset she was, but it was
different. She was upset for him. She looked at me, her fingers tracing lightly over my facial hair. “I told
him this afternoon that he should always trust his first instinct. He’s so smart, but he doesn believe how
smart he is. He’s so fr eaking hrious too, I love him a little more each time he makes a joke about
d in front of Vitaliy,” she said, leaning her head on my shoulder in a fit of giggles. Iughed with her.
It was quickly bing one of my favorite things as well. My father was convinced that d was a
living person at this point. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him any different.
While we were stillughing, my phone beeped on the nightstand. Sephie sat up so I could check it. It
was a message from Viktor.
Tell Sephie thank you and I love her. She knows why.
I showed her the message. “The cookies?” I asked.
She nodded. “He told me his wife used to make these cookies for him when they first got married. He
said he couldn’t get enough of them. I almost didn’t try to make them, because they’re not going to be
the same. She was the secret ingredient. But he’s been so grumpy since I haven’t cooked the past few
days that I decided to give it a try. It gave me a reason to kidnap Stephen, so I think it worked out. I
think those two are slower about figuring out how they’re special because I don’t spend as much time
with them.”
“You can kidnap whoever you like, solnishko. They all know what to do. One of the other ones will step
in to take care of things,” I said, twirling one of her curls around my finger.
“I might start stealing Stephen a little more often. Viktor is going to be more difficult. I need your help
with him. He enjoys his job too much. He’s very good at it, don’t get me wrong, but he doesn’t like to
leave his regr duties.”
“He would if it meant spending time with you. They would all much rather spend time with you than
anything else they have to do.”
“Viktor always grabs one of the other guys when I try to steal him, though. He was also the most
unnerved about my eyes changing. I might scare him now,” she said.
Iughed. “You don’t scare him, love. You don’t scare any of them. Viktor loves you just as much as the
rest of them.”
She squinted her eyes at me like she didn’t believe me, but she didn’t argue further.
“What about Andrei? You said earlier that he had levels you didn’t even know about? What happened?”
I asked.
She husked at me, wide-eyed. “That kid can see auras and he never told anyone.”
Iughed at her response. “Exin.”
“He didn’t call it an aura. He said there’s a glow to certain people. He sees it on the acupuncturist. I
didn’t tell you, but she works with my dad. And probably your m om, now that I think about it. She told
me. Andrei and I were talking about my reaction to their shock at seeing my eyes when we woke up
today. He said I was the reason he can do what he can do now and that’s when I told him he was the
youngest and that nobody expected him to figure it out in this lifetime. He asked me how I knew. I didn’t
say anything about the acupuncturist and he said it was her. He can see a different “glow” about her
than the rest of us.” She moved to get off myp, stretching her back and lying down next to me. “Of
course, I was curious to know if he saw it on anyone else. He said he sees it now on Ivan, since the
first kidnapping attempt when he almost died. He didn’t notice it on him before that happened, but that
makes sense. He also sees it on you and me. But he doesn’t see it all the time on us, where he does
on the acupuncturist. He said he doesn’t walk around looking at glowing people all day, either. It must
onlye up sometimes for him, but he said he’s seen it since he was a
kid.”
I thought for a minute. “What if it’s the opposite of what Ivan can see? Ivan sees the evil, Andrei sees
the good. That might be why it’s not around us all the time. We’re both, but the acupuncturist is only
good.”
“That would make sense. I want to talk to him about it more. It’s best to ease into those conversations
with him right now. He’s still a little overwhelmed with everything. He’s handling it well, but it’s a lot for
him,” she said.
“It really cuts into his cheeseburger thoughts,” I said. Sephie’sughter was music to my ears,
effectively making me forget the stress of the day.