Page 91 of The Last Hope

“Selina ?”

I opened my eyes and turned slightly, smiling softly at my sister.

“Sienna.”

She stepped closer and knelt beside me.

“Are you okay, Selina ?” she asked, her eyes scanning me from head to toe.

I didn’t know how to get her to stop seeing danger in everyone, to stop searching for the worst in every situation. Maybe it was impossible.

“Of course I’m okay, Sienna,” I reassured her, taking her hand gripping the edge of the bathtub.

“The boys ?” I asked, sitting up as she stood and perched on the edge of the tub.

“They’re fine. Elif and Sena are helping them clean up. I wanted to check on you—it’s been a tough day for you,” she said, leaning slightly to get a better look at my bruised cheek.

Her jaw tightened.

“If only I had arrived thirty minutes earlier, before Elif kicked her out—”

I laughed, cutting her off.

“Sienna, that woman is almost eighty years old. What would you have done ? Punched her ?”

She looked at me, her expression just as stern and closed off as ever.

“Oh my God ! You would have !” I exclaimed, my eyes wide, mouth agape.

She simply raised an eyebrow and I burst into laughter.

Unbelievable.

She smiled as she watched me, “Rafael laughs like that too. He seemed to have a great time with the boys. They told me a little about their adventure,” she said. “They went to pick flowers for you in the forest, but they couldn’t find any. So Mikhail had the brilliant idea to go to the family cemetery and take flowers from their grandmother’s grave—Nikolai’s mother.”

“Oh my God !” I gasped, covering my mouth.

“Calm down. According to them, they asked Elena—their grandmother—for permission, and she said yes,” Sienna added, smirking.

I grimaced, shaking my head, they had desecrated a grave. Not just any grave—the grave of Nikolai’s, Grigori’s, Sasha’s, and Roman’s mother.

“But they got lost on the way back, and Mikhail’s phone died. The men who went out searching earlier found them over thirty minutes from the house,” she continued.

My heart clenched at the thought of them wandering in the dark, in the rain, surrounded by towering trees.

“It’s over, Selina. They’re safe,” she reassured me, squeezing my hand, now fully healed. “They’re safe, but I think they’re going to get sick. They kept sneezing,” she sighed.

Just as I opened my mouth to ask if they had fevers, I sneezed. A shiver ran down my spine as Sienna raised an eyebrow, “and I have a feeling they won’t be the only ones,” she said, standing up. “Come on, I’ll help you.”

Nikolai

I pulled on my sweatshirt after my shower just as there was a knock at the door. It opened to reveal Roman, who had also showered and changed.

“So, should I get the cars ready? Are we paying our dear Agata a visit ?”

“By car ? You meant by tank,” Sasha added, suddenly appearing behind our younger brother, also fresh and changed.

“We don’t need to go anywhere to make her suffer,” I said, grabbing my phone before stepping out of the room, my brothers following closely behind.

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