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Chapter 1
I was worried.
Dimitri was supposed to meet me, Lissa and Christian for dinner over ten minutes ago, he wasn’t one to be late.
“Where’s Dimitri?” I asked Lissa, anxiously. What if someone had attacked him? I was soooo not in the mood – or attire- to find him right now.
“Don’t worry, he’ll turn up soon” Said Lissa, laying her hand on my arm. And then added, guessing my thoughts “I’m sure he’s just running late. Besides, you can’t hunt him down in that dress”.
I grimaced, thinking of how she had had to almost wrestle me into the dress I wore. It had a similar feel to the one I’d worn when Dimitri, Sydney and I had tracked down Jill, Lissa’s sister who gave Lissa the rights she deserved. “It’s so impractical! What if someone tried to attack you? Or Christian?” I whined, set on edge from Dimitri’s lateness.
“I’m sure the other 6 guardians can take care of us.” She pointed out, reminding me of her recent coronation as queen.
I sighed, suddenly wondering how she was feeling about it all. Since we no longer had the bond, well, I had to find out the old fashion way. “How are you copping?”
“Fine, I guess.” She replied with that tone that made me think her mind was elsewhere.
“What about you, Christian?” I asked Christian, noting the uncharacteristic lack of his snark and sarcasm. He was taking it hard, finding out his aunt killed Queen Tatiana, who was murdered by Tasha. I was originally blamed of course, seeing as she had made all of the evidence point at me.
“I…” Started Christian, then suddenly turned on his sarcastic, snarky side like a switch. “Well, I didn’t think it was possible to be part of an even more outcast family, apparently I was wrong.”
Christian was having a hard time. That much was obvious. He was all out of close relatives to rely on, seeing has both his parents had purposely become strigoi and were killed, his aunt had murdered the queen and he had no siblings.
“Christian…” Lissa spoke softly, but there was emotion behind those words, that said
Don’t worry, I’m here for you and always will be.
To ruin the perfect moment for Lissa and Christian, Dimitri rocked up to us then, his face thoughtful. He wore classic guardian black and white, although he had a bit of dirt on his face.
“Hey, comrade” I said keeping my voice light and happy, although I was really curious where he’d been all day. “Where’ve you been all day?”
“I’m not sure you’d want to know” Dimitri replied, leaning down to kiss me.
“I’m sorry I’m late, you’re no too hungry are you?” he asked when we finally broke apart, this time addressing all of us.
“You’re lucky you have Rose to protect you” Christian replied, a smirk crossing his face.
“Let’s eat,” Said a new voice. Adrian.
I froze, not sure what to say to him, but he ignored me and moved inside.
We all sat down at a table hidden from the view of any other diners. Lissa and I attracted a lot of attention, which was understandable, considering I had been accused of murder, then escaped, then returned bring Jill, Lissa’s sister and clearing my name. Lissa because well, she was an 18 year old queen.
I sat next to Dimitri while Lissa sat in the middle of Adrian and Christian. We sat there awkwardly until the waitress came in and handed us our menus. Looking at it reminded me of my company and their sophisticated tastes, so I took appropriate action and sheepishly asked for a kid’s menu. I was relieved to find had an ordinary sounding burger and chips. I placed my menu on the table and found Dimitri’s hand, only to have him release my hand.
I looked up as the waitress walked to take our orders and say Adrian sigh and avert his eyes.
We all ordered and the waitress left, promising that it wouldn’t be long with our drinks. When she returned I found that Adrian had order some strong liquor.
“Adrian…” I started to say, when he interrupted.
“I don’t think you have any say, Rose” He said, standing.
“Adrian, don’t go” said Lissa, adding a little compulsion that wouldn’t work on Adrian.
“I’ll go, I’m really tired” I yawned.
“I’ll go too, if that’s ok,” Dimitri looked at Christian for approval, who nodded.
Once we left, I was dying to know what Lissa said to Adrian, but since there was no bond anymore, I was going to have to do it the old fashion way and ask her on the way to Lehigh in the morning.
Chapter 2
In the morning, I woke up lying next to Dimitri, he was already awake and had one of his not-so-rare-anymore smiles on his face.
I sat up in bed and smiled at him, wishing we could stay like this for hours, like I always wished. We had sat there for a while together before his smile began to fade a little, and he finally spoke.
“I was with Abe”
“WHAT!” I nearly yelled, trying to lower my voice I spoke again “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew you would react like this.”
“What’d he say?”
“Do you have to ask?”
“Don’t tell me my mum was there too.”
Dimitri didn’t reply.
“I have one weird family…” I said, then remembered “Oh my God, we have to go to Siberia”
“Why?” He asked, but I could see his mind spinning.
“When I stayed with your family in Siberia, I may have told then about you being turned strigoi. They had a funeral and made me tell the story of the battle at St. Vladimir’s. And they guess about us.”
He swore in russian, those words he refused to teach me.
“I didn’t leave things well with Viktoria” I said, sighing.
“What happened?” he asked, so I explained it to him, that night, up to leaving with Kolya, Nikoli’s brother and his strigoi hunting friends.
He was silent for a while, so I kissed him, and he kissed me back, but then he stopped. “You have to go find Lissa, it her first day of Lehigh, remember.”
****
“Are you ok?” Lissa asked me, as we got into the car to head off to Lehigh. It was a nice sunny day for me, but for Lissa, it was exhausting.
“Yeah, but umm… feel like a trip to Siberia?” I asked, hesitantly
“Why…?” She asked me back “Isn’t that where you hunted Dimitri?”
“Yeah, but I may have told Dimitri’s family about him being a strigoi.”
“Oh my God, Rose!”
“I can’t go without you, Liss. And you can meet that bonded pair I found. Or well, found me.”
Lissa’s expression showed wonder, and interest, but in the mix there was something else, a loyalty to the moroi. She was after all, their queen.
When we were about halfway to Lehigh, I asked her the question that had been on my mind since, well, a long time. “Does Adrian hate me?” I asked her.
“No, he loves you” She replied, but did she mean it?
“I wish we still had the bond. I really hurt him, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, I think what hurt him the most was that you didn’t tell him about Dimitri. That he believed you were over him. I don’t think spirits helping much, but he’s taming it with his drinking, even if it is excessive.”
I sighed and asked “So, where are we headed this morning? And what classes are we taking? And does it matter if I fail them?”
“Woohh! Slow down.” She said, and answer my questions. Apparently if I failed the first half of the course, I would have to do it again, and be separated from Lissa, or not continue the second half of the course. So, pretty much I had to “study” up!
