Striding down the hall, the anticipation of what was to come filled the pit of my stomach.
I thought things would settle down like they've been for the past view years, but no. I should have known having your best friend be the queen of an ancient race was never going to be a simple lifestyle, especially when your job is to make sure nothing happens to her.
After being shot, then all that jazz with Adrian and Sydney, I finally thought the universe would be like, "Hey Rose, it's been a tough time, life should be easy for a while." But no!
My happiness doesn't mean jack-shit to the universe anymore.
I guess I can't ask for much considering I died, was brought back, then shot and miraculously recovered, and through all that still ended up with the man I love.
All of that plus more was bouncing around my brain when I pushed through the doors to one of the countless meeting rooms placed here at the royal court.
Sitting around the table was the wonderful Guardian Janine Hathaway, Vasalisa Dragomir, Christian Ozera and unfortunately Abe Mazur. The first question I wanted to ask was about Dimitri's whereabouts, but from observing the facial expressions of my companions I could tell, now wasn't the time for that.
"So. Is there some special button placed around here to get some information about this particular meeting?"
"Always a joy Rosemarie," said Abe. The first and what seemed to be the only to speak.
Lissa's face was partially blank, but I could see one of her eyes twitching. This no bond thing sometimes really pissed me off. Christian held a straight face like always and my mother had her guardian face. (Not that she had any other expressions.) What worried me the most, as always, was Lissa. She was forcing herself not to give me anything. I know becoming the ruler of an entire race changes a person and makes them stronger, and Lissa has definitely come a long way, but what ever Abe was about to tell me was really bothering Lissa.
"It seems we have a situation at St. Vladimirs. Some students have gone missing over the past several months. Investigations have been conducted searching the area and nothing has been discovered," Abe continued.
"Moroi or Dhampir?" The most sensible first question I could ask.
"Two Dhampir and five Moroi." What? One of the most highly secure places in our society and suddenly seven students fall off the radar. Then again, I did get Lissa out and managed to keep in hiding for a whole year, but come on, what other bad-ass guardian could do that?
"How the hell did this happen?"
"According to one of the most recent reports, the majority of the kidnappings occurred during a student gathering in the early morning."
"We're not children anymore Abe, I think we all know what snarky teenagers do at 'gatherings'." My mother gave me a glare speaking volumes of a private chat later. Lissa rolled her eyes, showing an improvement from fighting facial expressions. Christian continued to show a blank stare similar to the five other guardians present.
"So a bunch of students were having a party and somehow seven students disappeared? Has the guardian quality really dropped that much in my absence?"
Ignoring my comment he continued. "Well, at the end of the gathering only three students were reported missing. The other four occurred slowly over time," Abe had all the answers, and how he got in on the situation I have no clue. "The gathering took place in the woods a good mile from the dorms expressing enough vulnerability for an attack."
"And how, exactly, did you get involved? I didn't think the kidnapping of a few spoiled teenagers screamed 'mob'." I remarked, giving daddy dearest the skeptic eye.
"Well, Rosemarie, one of my oldest and dearest clients has a personal connection to this chaos and asked me to personally involve myself."
Abe was involved in a sketchy business with plenty of sketchy people. So, to simply get the answer of who he was helping, would not be simple at all.
"Okay. So now that the basics of the situation are covered, does anyone want to tell me where Mr. Ozera's guardian is?" Everyone avoided eye contact, which made my stomach drop.
Dimitri and I had been doing a decent job of communicating when we weren't together, but this was the first time I was utterly clueless to his departure.
"Rose, um." Lissa was the first to speak, then she gave everyone in the room the signal to leave. Everyone filed out, even the guardians. (Glad I could finally be trusted.)
"Rose," she stood and walked toward me while talking. "Dimitri had to return home, quite suddenly. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it seems his grandmother has gone missing."
This didn't make any logical sense. First, I would have thought Dimitri would have called, sent me a text or even a smoke signal before hopping on a plane to Russia. Second, how on Earth could that woman have been kidnapped? She was the toughest oldest person I knew. Lastly, how was it that I was the last person to come by this information?
Dimitri's grandmother was a hard-ass when I found myself in Russia, but she did start to grow on me. And she was probably one of the most important people to Dimitri.
"When do I leave for Russia?" Lissa tried to avoid my gaze. "Oh no. I am not staying here to search for some dumb-ass teenagers while Dimitri is in Russia solving the mystery of his missing grandmother. Lissa, she is one of the most important people in his life. He needs me..."
"It wasn't my decision Rose. A group of guardians involved in the investigation thought your talents would be more useful there."
The past few years Dimitri and I have seen a lot of each other because of Christian and Lissa like to see a lot of each other. But, remarkably we have never been placed on the same assignment. Why? I have no clue. Why wouldn't you put the two most bad-ass and (mostly) efficient guardians on the same project? Sometimes the system made me feel like I was still a novice.
"This is such crap! Why do they insist on treating me like a child? How many lives do I have to save to get some respect around here?"
"Rose, they feel that you're still too impulsive . And, to be honest, they think if they sent you and Dimitri on an assignment together you wont come back..." The room became deathly silent. My anger grew, but then I thought, this is what they want me to do. They want me to freak out so they can be right about my impulsive nature.
But how could they think I would just leave Lissa...
I guess I already did...and for Dimitri...
I never thought that decision would bite me in the ass this hard but also end up saving the happiness of my future.
"So what exactly do they need me for in this investigation?" Lissa smiled sadly at me.
"They said, you'd be the best one to figure out how to get off the property without guardian knowledge." I rolled my eyes.
"Don't they remember my speech on how Ms. Karp helped/took us off the property? Now O'm some expert in escaping a highly secure location?" I knew I was being snarky and impulsive with my emotions but I felt like I was being controlled... Which was really my job description, heck our saying was "they come first". But this felt different, just because it involved Dimitri's personal life and I wasn't involved.
"Rose, they're sending you to Montana tomorrow afternoon, so you have enough time to get the details of the kidnappings before school starts." Lissa looked pitifully at me, wishing she could help but knowing that even the queen couldn't help my dreadful return to high school.
Packing my bags later, I decided it was time to address the elephant in my room. My cell phone was sitting on my nightstand, taunting me with the fact Dimitri had not tried to contact me at all.
I did understand that what he was dealing with was harder then...well a lot of things, but he stil could have let me know he was alive...
After pacing the room for ten minutes I decided to attempt to contact my comrade.
With shaky fingers I found his number and hit send. The continuous ringing didn't help the shaking, stomach dropping or the puke waiting at the back of my throat.
"Roza." The simplest phrase, that gave me the most relief.
"I'm so sorry about what happened and I hope everyone is okay, but even a simple text message could have helped a girl out." It probably wasn't the right thing to say, but it was what I needed to say.
"I'm sorry, but that wasn't the biggest item on my to-do list," it hurt, but maybe not as much if he would have lied. "My family isn't stable, and right now I'm the only support they have." He paused giving me time to swallow everything I was feeling. "I do miss you though and so does my mother and Viktoria." That was shocking since the last time I saw Viktoria she was mad at me for taking her away from her one-night-stand with some douche moroi boy.
"I miss them too, but I'm worried about this separation thing. What if you need me, or something happens..." The end of my sentence drifted off, making me wonder what I was truly worried about.
"Roza, I'm not going to let anything happen to anyone. What happened to the statement, 'you really are a god.'" I blushed at the memory of Dimitri telling me he beat up his dad leading to me revealing his nick-name among the novices. "I know you'll be fine in Montana. Maybe you'll finish the investigation briskly and be able to join me." That was a nice thought, but after talking with Lissa, it didn't look like that would happen.
I didn't want Dimitri to know what the guardians thought of sending us on an assignment together so I simply stated, "Maybe."
"Roza, what's wrong?"
"I'm tired of being treated like a child. If they wont let me go to you, they could at least let me stay in the luxury of court. The dorms at Saint Vladamir's are nothing compared to my current room situation." Dimitri made a soft chuckle that made my heart skip. Little things like smiles and chuckles didn't come frequently with Dimitri, which made every one more special then if he were to do them constantly.
"What's really bothering you?" Dimitri had somehow developed a sixth sense when it came to me trying to cover up something.
"Nothing you need to worry about right now. Just, help your family and find Yeva."
"Okay. Good luck in Montana, I love you." I could tell Dimitri still wanted to press my issue further but could tell now wasn't the time. We both had other mysteries to solve before we could come back together for support.
"I love you too. Tell everyone I say 'hi'. Be careful."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Hanging up with him did not bring me the relief I thought it would. I could tell this time we were apart a new compication would develop into our relationship, and I hoped we could work through it faster then what has happened in the past.