A Love Unspoken - Complete

A Love Unspoken

So it had taken a while, but once I was cleared of Tatiana's murder, and assigned to be Lissa's Guardian, life finally seemed to be back on track. That's not to say life was suddenly easy...

Dimitri and I were now (mostly) out as a couple – with rather mixed reactions. Our friends were already across the idea of us as an item, so our couple 'coming out' caused minimal fuss with them. Everyone was happy for us, although a few of the guys like to try and get under Dimitri's famous self-control by making lewd jokes or comments.

For example, early on during an off-duty night out to a tavern with guardian friends, Eddie interrupted a private moment between Dimitri and I to ask "Guardian Belikov? Guardian Hathaway seems to be indisposed? I see you're administering mouth-to-mouth. You must be tiring – shall I take over?!" Dimitri was not amused. However everyone else, myself included, found it uproariously funny!

However, not everyone was so kindly disposed. While, for the most part, Moroi at Court either ignored us, considering any Guardian beneath their attention - or at the worst made us the subject of titillating gossip - several court Royals were outraged that two Dhampir were openly seeing one another. In her capacity as Queen, Lissa had endured a number of visits to her office by scandalized members of the Moroi elite, loudly voicing their disapproval. After murmuring platitudes through three or four such visits, Lissa finally snapped – telling the most recent visitor that she "Didn't see what the big deal was," and that if morality was such an issue, perhaps she needed to "look into everyone's youthful dalliances a little more closely."

While that did relegate my relationship with Dimitri to a mere 'youthful dally,' given the Moroi Royal in question had an illegitimate Dhampir child in almost every grade at St. Vladimir's, once word got around about Lissa's stance, the open opposition to our relationship diminished substantially.

That said, a lot of opposition was more subtle. While Dimitri was assigned to guard Christian, and I Lissa, Guardian Hans Croft was still in charge of arranging our shifts. Along with making numerous sardonic comments, he seemed to take inordinate pleasure in appointing Dimitri and me to work opposing shifts. Even when we did have a shift off together, there was always a special assignment or extra training which required one or the other of us. For a while, it was like we were in a relationship in name only, as we barely ever saw one another! After a pointed word from a couple of the other senior guardians, he did ease off a little. But we were still on his shit list, and he spared no opportunity to let both of us know it.

Even though the rest of the guardians were largely supportive (or just hated Hans more than they disliked the idea of two Guardians together), it made for some tense times. Eventually, Lissa stepped in – deciding that a fortnight's visit to St. Vladamir's was in order; putting us temporarily out of Hans' domain.

If I'd thought Hans' reaction to our relationship was over the top, it was nothing compared to the reaction we encountered at St. Vladamir's. Alberta was nothing short of delighted! She was publically and privately very supportive of Dimitri and I. In fact, for the first forty-eight hours we were there, she'd rostered us to review the school's 'Summer operational plan.' Citing our need for absolute concentration in doing so, she'd allocated us to stay in one of the most secluded outer cabins on campus, stocking it with wine and delicious foods, banning anyone from visiting us for the duration.

An in-joke amongst senior Guardians, the 'summer operational plan' was a 3-line document outlining the approved activities for any Moroi student staying at the academy over the long summer break. Since Moroi students never remained over summer, reviewing the plan was a sneaky admin technique to give a break for any guardian deemed deserving of an extra day or two off. Everyone knew this, and so when we rejoined the rest of the team on day three, we endured questions like "Are we adequately prepared for summer, Guardian Hathaway? I hope you were thorough in going over the plan?!" While I found the funny side of these comments, in truth, the most amusing aspect was watching Dimitri squirm and try to maintain his impassive guardian façade as people openly teased about our amorous time together.