Only Him

Chapter 19

*Dimitri*

Dimitri couldn't look away from the photo. He hated it and everything about it save for one detail: it was proof that Rose was alive. He'd burst into Lissa's office like a bat out of hell only moments after talking with his mother and announced that he'd received an email from Rose''s captors. They'd immediately pulled it up on the large projector that Lissa had in her office for meetings. Now, an hour later, it was still there as everyone in the room, including a newly retrieved Hans, studied the picture and the message for any hints as to where Rose was.

"She's in a concrete room," Eddie observed. "And those chains look industrial strength."

"So it could be a construction site, a storage facility, a warehouse, a factory. In Pennsylvania—assuming she's still in the state—that's like finding a needle in a haystack," Sydney criticized, squinting at the screen. "The image is too dark to see much of the architecture but based off of the bolts they used on those fastenings," she pointed to the metal attachment that connected the chain leash around Rose's ankle to the floor, "the building was built after the nineteen-thirties. Unless it was added later." Nobody questioned how she knew that; the ex-Alchemist was full of random facts and information.

Dimitri studied the picture even though he could close his eyes and see it in perfect detail. The room was dark with concrete walls on at least three sides and a concrete floor. There was a chain that led from the back of the room to a fetter around Rose's ankle. Rose herself was sprawled in the middle of the floor, as if she'd just been pushed there, which, Dimitri was willing to bet she had been. One leg was fully extended in order to let her bonds reach so far but the other was pulled tightly against her, blocking her stomach. Dimitri recognized the protective stance. Maybe he wouldn't have picked up on it if he hadn't known what Rose was trying to protect, but knowing that she was pregnant Dimitri was clearly able to see how she was both protecting the child and hiding it from the photographer. His heart swelled with pride at her determination to protect their baby as well as the defiant look on her face.

Rose looked a bit the worse for wear. There was a shallow gash on her right temple where she'd likely hit the window during the accident, blood long since dried from crimson red to a duller rust color. She also hosted a few assorted bruises she'd picked up since then. She was stilling wearing her guardian uniform from the conference, the red button symbolizing her allegiance to the royal guard clearly visible on her collar. The uniform was torn and dirty but did a good job of hiding her growing belly, particularly the blazer which remained mostly intact, torn remains of the left sleeve notwithstanding. They'd gagged her, a strip of dark fabric indicating where the sleeve had gone, the improvised gag. Her dark hair was coming loose from a tight bun and her hands had been cuffed behind her back.

Dimitri felt his anger rise the longer he looked at the image.

"We can't give them what they want," Hans said in a clipped tone. While everyone else in the room soaked in each detail of the photo Hans was more concerned with the small paragraph that had accompanied it.

'We will trade Rosemarie Hathaway for the queen. You have a week to decide, or we kill her. We will be in touch.'

"They can't honestly think that we'd trade the queen of the Moroi for a guardian—no offense to Hathaway," Hans continued. "It doesn't make sense, close relationship to Her Majesty aside."

"It makes perfect sense," Lissa countered. "They know I'd be willing to sacrifice everything for Rose. I say we do it."

"No!" Christian objected.

"Absolutely not!" Hans snapped at the same time.

"But I have to!" Lissa protested. "Its Rose! I'm the reason she's there to begin with. And we can't risk the baby over this."