“Yeah. He lit up like Viktor and Kostya were fixing him, too. But brighter. I’m surprised you guys didn’t see it from downstairs. It was so bright.”
“Maybe it is Kostya that’s talking to him, then?” Andrei said, trying to come up with plausible explanations.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Apparently, he’ll explain when he wakes up. I should tell Misha that our run likely isn’t going to happen now. I don’t want to leave him,” I said, putting my hand on Adrik’s stomach.
“Maybe he’ll torture Stephen anyway. You’ve successfully passed the torch of torture onto him now,” Ivan said.
I laughed. “I’m going to have to apologize to Stephen for that one. Maybe… Nah. I’m not really that sorry.”
They both left shortly after, telling me to call them if I needed anything and they would be downstairs if something were to happen. Ivan offered to bring me breakfast, but I told him I was likely going to go back to sleep. I suddenly felt very tired. I was pretty sure it was from Adrik. Whatever had happened to him was zapping him and I could feel it too.
When I woke for the second time, I felt Adrik’s fingers lightly running through my hair and over my back. I snuggled into him more, mostly out of habit, before remembering what had happened that morning. I sat up, looking at him to see if he really was awake. His handsome smile stretched across his face, making me forget everything but him.
“I’m sorry I worried you, solnishko. I needed some extra sleep,” he said, placing his hand against my cheek.
“What happened? You were glowing at one point, so don’t even try to tell me that nothing happened.” I said, holding his hand against my face to keep it there.
He chuckled. “I saw your father,” he said. “I did get new level zapped. I literally got zapped this time. I assume that’s when you saw the glowing.”
“Um, was it a good zap? Are you in trouble zap? Why am I nervous that you were talking to my dad without me there?”
He pulled me on top of him, sitting up more so he could see me better. “Not in trouble. Your dad is a very nice man. You have his smile,” he said, his finger running lightly over my cheek and down my neck.
“He is kind of great. What did he tell you?”
“It seems that Stephen called my new level instead of his,” he said, smirking at me.
King of the UnderworldSephie
“You can crush souls now?” I asked, barely above a whisper. I know my eyes were as wide as they could possibly go.
He laughed. “Not crush them literally, no. But I can condemn them to H ell now.” “I’m sorry, what?”
“Don’t worry, it was difficult for me to comprehend as well. Your dad told me that my demon is getting more powerful, which means so am 1. When I helped Stephen break Armando and I went full nuclear but was able to just switch it off, apparently that proved that I could handle more. I’m still in complete control of my demon. There are going to be times when even Stephen will be ineffectual, like with Ricardo and Martin. Their deals really are eternal, apparently. Even if Stephen breaks them, those souls still belong to those two demons. They would come back and still make the same mistakes each time because they’re always going to be tied to their demons. The opposite of us, I guess. Instead of that happening, I break the cycle by sending them all back to H ell.”
“What happens then? They stay there forever?” I asked. I could feel the goosebumps coming up over my entire body. I saw the look on Adrik’s face that meant my eyes had changed. I was guessing purple, but I was too curious about what he was telling me to ask.
“Your dad said I’m the only one that can grant them reprieve once I’ve condemned them to H ell. I’m still not sure what that means,” up to twirl one of my curls around his fingers. he said, reaching
“It means you really are the King of the Underworld,” I said, watching his reaction. I knew I had goosebumps, but I could actually feel his spreading over his body when I said it. He was completely focused on my eyes, though.
“Sephie, say that again,” he said as he watched my eyes.
I repeated the phrase, then asked, “why? What are they doing?”
“They were purple as I was telling you everything, but when you said I really was the King of the Underworld, they started to change to a new color. It didn’t last very long, but I swear it was red,” he said.
I giggled. “Shut up.”
“No, it’s true. It happened when you said it the second time, too.”
“Stephen is going to be so happy,” I said, hiding my face in his shoulder. I was just happy he was awake and responsive again. I sighed. “I understand why it fre aks you out so much when you can’t wake me up now.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it’s not ideal. I understand why it needs to happen, but I never like it when it happens. How much did you get rapped when I got zapped?”
“I don’t know. I called Ivan up here when it first happened. The glowing part kind of freaked me out. I could also feel your emotions, one by one, incredibly strongly. They all did too, Ivan thought it was me, so he checked on me and that’s when I asked him to come up here because I still couldn’t get you to respond. I tried looking in your head, but all I saw was black. It worried me.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.