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The acupuncturist took the opportunity to motion us back into the spare bedroom. “I can offer some insight into that. Please,” she said, motioning us to the room.
Adrik grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine as we followed her into the bedroom. Adrik was curious once she closed the door. He looked from me to her, a sly grin on his face. “You offered valuable insight last time. I can’t deny I’m very curious to hear what you have to offer this time.”
She smiled at him. “You two are very special. A bond like yours comes around very rarely.” She looked at both of us, a serious look on her face. “You realize this isn’t the first lifetime you’ve spent together, right?” I smiled, nodding my head. Adrik just put his arm around me, pulling me to him. She smiled at both of us. “I told you last time that you each find balance within the other. In Chinese medicine we call it the yin and the yang. There are parts of each in the other, but one is more masculine while the other is feminine. Together, you find balance.” She looked directly at Adrik, even more serious than before. “Right now, you’re fighting your masculine, which is causing it to show up more in Sephie. She’s very strong, so she’s been able to handle it, but it won’t always be this way. It will eventually cause problems.” She held her hand out, asking for his hand. He placed his hand in hers. She pressed on the same spot between his thumb and forefinger that she had pressed on me while she closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, she looked more determined and slightly surprised. “She’s stronger than I thought. You’re very strong, but she’s able to handle it.”
“What do you mean? Are you talking about my anger?” Adrik asked.
“Yes, that’s part of it. Anger can be very useful when used correctly. Your anger is only a piece of it though. That part of you that wants to protect her is very strong, but you’re fighting the very thing that will resolve your problems. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t need to know what’s going on, but it’s big. It’s only going to get bigger the longer you keep trying to suppress the side of you that can take care of it. Sephie told me earlier that you’re worried you’re a monster because of it. I will tell you the same thing I told her. The same thing I’ve told Ivan too, for the record. There is a difference between being a monster and being dangerous. A dangerous man knows how capable of evil acts he truly is, but he accepts that part of himself and chooses good. A monster will give in to the evil side of himself every time. You’re incredibly strong. You’ve already faced more evil in your short life than most will in their entire lives. Your hesitancy to use that side of you, even though you’re using it for good, will continue to upset the balance you two find in each other.”
He looked at me, his eyes were now wide with worry. She laughed. “You’re not hurting her. She can handle it. Have you ever tried to ignore an emotion before?” she asked. He nodded his head. “Have you noticed how that emotion never really goes away? It just gets bigger. Or sometimes it will appear to have gone away, but it always comes back as something else and ten times worse. This is what’s happening now. But because of the bond you two share, she’s showing you what you’re ignoring.” She looked at me. “You’ve had more anger lately, haven’t you?” I nodded my head. “But you’ve also been getting cold more?” I nodded again. She thought for a moment. “Can you calm his anger when it happens?”
“Like no one else has ever been able to,” Adrik answered.
She inhaled, thinking more before she responded. “Sephie, you’re meant to help him control his anger, but not take it on as your own. The increased cold is a sign from your body that you’re taking too much of his fire, if you will. Your body is trying to rebalance itself.” She then looked to Adrik. “You’re meant to be her fire, but to also let her soothe the flames when needed. The more you fight against your fire, the bigger the inferno will get. She’s trying to help you control it, but subconsciously, she knows you’re fighting against it so she’s taking more of it than she needs to. True power lies in surrender. You are who you are and she loves you for that, just as you love her for who she is. The more you fight against accepting that for a universal truth, the bigger this problem you’re facing will get. By surrendering to who you are, who you’ve always been, but consciously choosing good, you’ll realize your true power.”
Adrik was somewhat stunned, as was I. She smiled at both of us, moving to get her bag that was sitting close to the window. As she stepped into the sunlight streaming through the window, I could clearly see the outline of a pair of wings behind her. My breath caught, but the vision was gone just as quickly as it appeared. I looked to Adrik to see if he had seen it, but he was curious about my surprise. I decided to keep my mouth shut for the time being about what I’d just seen.
She turned back to us. “It would help if I worked on both of you next time, if you’re up for it?” she asked, looking at Adrik. He glanced down at me, a flash of nervousness on his face, but agreed to it.
“It doesn’t hurt,” I said, smiling sweetly at him. He looked like he wanted to believe me, but he was still very unsure about it. I extended my hand to her. “Thank you, once again, for helping me feel better. You’re an angel.” She took my hand and winked at me.
We walked out to find all the guys in the penthouse, waiting for us. Ivan got up to take the acupuncturist back downstairs. He smiled at me when he saw me. “Lighter,” he said, following the acupuncturist to the door.
“Sestrichka, you look much better. I didn’t know it would be such an obvious difference,” Viktor said. He looked at Andrei. “You should try it, Andrei. It might make you prettier too. You could use the help.”
“Shots fired, Viktor,” I said laughing. “Don’t listen to him, Bubba. You’re very pretty. You’re a pretty, pretty princess.” I grinned at him as he laughed at us both.
“Shut your mouth, Viktor. She said I was a pretty, pretty princess,” Andrei said, pouting like a kid.
Adrik pulled me closer, his broad smile across his face as he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. “I fucking love you,” he said, smiling against my lips.
“And I fucking love you. Are you done for the day now?” I asked. He nodded his head, kissing my forehead. “Who wants to help me with dinner?” I asked everyone. They all stood at once and started filing toward the kitchen. I looked at Adrik. “They’re all so eager,” I said laughing.
“You had them wrapped around your finger even before you started feeding them, but now that you’re feeding them, you’ll never get rid of them.”
As we fell into the routine of cooking dinner and talking about the day’s events, Viktor told me that my presence had been missed during one of Adrik’s afternoon meetings.
“Oh yeah? Did you meet with Mando?” I asked, curious.
Adrik laughed. “No, it was one of the businessmen that’s in on the project I have with Mando. Neal is his name. He’s still laughing about your wet dream comment. We’re all meeting with a few restaurants on Monday to gauge interest and to see if we can secure occupancy even before the project begins. He requested your presence on Monday,” he said, smirking at me.
“Shut up.”
Viktor laughed. “It’s true. He was disappointed you weren’t around today. He said he hasn’t laughed that hard in a business meeting in a very long time.”
“What did you say, gazelle?” Misha asked.
“They were worried that restaurants wouldn’t want to lease space in their building. I told them it was basically a restaurant’s wet dream because they didn’t even have to do outside marketing. Their customer base was the building,” I said.
“But then she said, ‘oh shit I just said that out loud, didn’t I’ as she covered her mouth,” Adrik said, laughing. He stepped closer to me, but I pushed him back, playfully.
“In my defense, I wasn’t supposed to be in that meeting,” I said, laughing.
“Your inability to control your mouth is one of the best things about you, sestrichka. You did warn us about it that first day. I don’t know why you’re surprised by it,” Viktor said. His deep laugh filled the penthouse. I got caught up in the pure joy that was laughing and joking with the guys. I knew our strange family dynamic was misunderstood by just about everyone else, but I loved it.
We spent the weekend at the penthouse, so that I could keep getting acupuncture. She felt it would be helpful for a few days in a row. She also worked on Adrik while she was there. He was somewhat terrified at the thought of it the first time, so he watched while she worked on me first.
“This isn’t helping me feel better about this process, solnishko,” he said as he watched her putting the needles where they needed to go. She asked for him to put his hand out in front of him. He reluctantly did so. She flipped his hand over and placed one needle in his wrist, then she did the same on his other wrist. Without a word, she continued placing needles on me where they needed to go. I could feel the anxiety disappear from Adrik as it happened. I picked my head up and looked at him, to see his reaction. His eyes were wide. “What kind of black magic is this?” he said, laughing. She laughed, but continued working.
