Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 87 - Into the Fire

Oh crap. There is not one part of this that is good. I felt an almost imperceptible shift in Dimitri's stance beside me, and I knew he felt the same way. But I didn't need to look at him to know he'd have his Guardian mask plastered on.

"Queen Tatiana" I greeted her, doing my best job at a curtsey. I really needed to get Lissa to practice those with me again because I am pretty sure mine was only barely passable. "Tasha," I said nodding to her, scarcely civil. Beside me, Dimitri had obviously remembered his manners. He similarly greeted our Queen, doing the expected bow. He didn't acknowledge Tasha's presence at all.

Looking at the table, I saw there was a third tea setting waiting. Tatiana gestured me to sit in front of it. "Would you like tea?" she enquired.

Only if I can throw it in that skanky bitch's face, I thought, outwardly saying "Thank you – that would be lovely."

I used the moment when Tatiana was pouring the tea to ground myself. I was Rose Hathaway, daughter of Janine and Abe. I had a trust fund bigger than Vlad, and there was very little Tatiana, or Tasha could do to hurt me really – and I'd be darned if I'd let them hurt my Dimitri. I thought about how Abe would play a situation like this; listen as much as possible, give away nothing, lots of eye contact, try and work out what they wanted to play them the way I wanted, and a secret weapon. In my case Adrian.

'Lissa please please tell me the bond works this far away?! I've been called in to see Tatiana and Tasha is here. I have no idea what's going on, but can you get Adrian to head over to the palace ASAP?'

'FUCK! We're on our way out for dinner, but we'll come straight across' she shot back.

Fourteen years of friendship and it was one of only a handful of times I'd heard Lissa use the F-word outside of her amorous encounters with Christian where paradoxically my conservative little princess used the term a lot.

"So are you enjoying Court, Rose?" Tatiana started.

I looked towards her, holding her eyes for just a moment longer than typical before replying in the way I'd seen Abe do. "Yes, it's been... diverting" I said evasively.

"You're here with your mother?" she probed. Of course, she knew I was here with Mom, Baba, Pavel, Susanne, Dimitri and Lissa too, no doubt.

"Yes that's right," I said, giving nothing away, still holding her eye. Abe would be so proud of me. I'm sure with her age and position Tatiana was used to dealing with much better operators than an eighteen-year-old Dhampir, but if she thought she was going to find me a pushover she had another thing coming.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dimitri had assumed an at-ease guarding position beside me. Even in casual clothes, there was no mistaking he was a Guardian. God, I loved him.

"So I suppose you're wondering why I've asked you to join me this afternoon?" Tatiana asked. I just looked at her, eyes level with hers for several long moments before I raised my eyebrows and shrugged, taking a sip of tea. Again not what she'd expected. "I've asked you here to discuss some allegations Ms. Ozera has made about an inappropriate relationship between Guardian Belikov and yourself and concerns about you being the potential Guardian for Princess Vasilisa Dragomir. As you know, Ms. Ozera is the aunt of Vasilisa's boyfriend Christian, and she has come to me concerned that your relationship with Guardian Belikov might distract you from guarding Vasilisa and, in turn, put Christian at risk."

"Is that so?" was the only answer I deigned to give. I didn't confirm or deny anything. Baba had said more than once if you gave someone enough rope, eventually, they'd hang themselves.

"Yes," Tasha said, deciding to join the conversation. "While of course, I'm happy for you on a personal level that you've found romance together, it can't be overlooked that Dimitri is your teacher and such a relationship is entirely inappropriate. Such a gross crossing of boundaries can't be allowed to go unpunished. What would people say if they knew people in positions of power knew about this yet still allowed it to occur?"