With or Without You - Complete

Chapter 5

"Rose would have known what to pack," Lissa said with a sad sigh as she looked around her bedroom at Court, clothes littering almost every surface. It had been a little over three months since Rose's funeral, yet she was never far from Lissa's thoughts. Today, Lissa was packing for college, and choosing what to take was proving difficult.

After Tatiana's funeral, the Royal Council started the arduous task of investing a new monarch. A complicated process involving each Royal family council deciding on a nominee, then each applicant being subjected to a variety of speeches, votes, and tests, last week they had coronated Ariana Szelsky as their new Queen.

Lissa had been on tenterhooks throughout the process. As the only remaining Dragomir, she didn't have a family council, hence could not run. Not that she'd wanted to. But since permission to attend a human university had been granted by their former Queen, it wasn't certain their new monarch would still allow it. As it turned out, Queen Ariana had no issue with Lissa and Christian attending Lehigh, which is what found Lissa standing in her bedroom, trying to work out what to take with her.

"You'll want some cute outfits for parties, plus stuff to wear to your classes," Tasha Ozera suggested, gathering up tops and jeans and holding them up for inspection before folding them and placing them in one of the several suitcases open on Lissa and Christian's bed. A frequent visitor at the Dragomir townhouse these days, Tasha was happy to help pack, even if it disappointed her that Christian and Lissa would soon be leaving Court. "Did they end up deciding who Christian's Guardian will be?"

"We're due to find out today. Christian requested Eddie Castile, but nothing has been confirmed," Lissa replied while trying to decide whether she needed two pairs of espadrilles, or whether one would suffice.

"Do you think they'd give him an active Guardian role?" Tasha asked, sounding mildly disapproving.

"Well, he's wasted guarding at Court. Besides, Christian likes him and he'd rather Eddie than a stranger," Lissa replied. She knew Christian was only getting a Guardian because he would be on an unwarded campus, and since they'd be living together, his Guardian would boost her protection. Still, it would take Christian some getting used to a Guardian after so many years without, so it made sense to have someone he already knew.

Her Guardians were a given; Celeste had followed her to Court from St. Vladimir's and now would continue with her to Lehigh, her other Guardian being the newly re-instated Guardian Belikov. It had taken time for the Guardian Council to acknowledge that Dimitri was again Dhampir, then even longer to create the paperwork necessary to re-establish his Guardian status. However, for the last month, Dimitri had once again served as Lissa's primary Guardian.

"How's he going?" Tasha asked, her thoughts going in a similar direction to Lissa's. "Any change?"

"Not really," Lissa replied, meaning not at all. No one expected Belikov would be the same man after his restoration, but it was hard to accept the man he had become. Never particularly social, except with Rose, now Dimitri was solely focused on his duty. His life routinized to the minute, he spent twelve hours a day guarding, three hours working out, and one hour at church, waking each day to repeat the same process. Once a fortnight he'd take a day off to do his washing and phone his family, the rest of his day off spent in one of the Guardian gyms.

The workouts were certainly paying off. If Dimitri's body had been good before, it was absolutely smokin' now, Tasha thought to herself. She hadn't believed Dimitri could get any more buff, but she'd been wrong. Not that it did her any good.

"Are you nearly finished packing?" Christian asked, wandering into the room where Lissa was still sorting what to take and what to leave behind. He refrained from rolling his eyes when he noticed his aunt sitting on the bed next to Lissa's suitcases. She seemed to be here all the time, these days. He knew she was trying to be a friend to Liss since she'd so recently lost Rose, but he suspected the six-foot-seven-inch Guardian downstairs held at least as much appeal to Tasha as his girlfriend. Every time she was here, Tasha would try to coax Dimitri into conversation, only to be met with monosyllabic answers. He wasn't rude, just not interested in engaging in any conversation with her that was not work-related. He was a little more relaxed when it was just him and Lissa, but it was a far cry from the way he'd been when Rose was alive.