This is a continuation of Corinthians. While Corinthians has ended, as has the series, I will post as much as I have left. I hope you enjoy.
When Sasha opened his eyes, he was in the lavishly decorated sitting room of a house he'd never seen before. The walls were painted a deep red, paintings with thick gold frames hung around a set of bookcases, and on a jade green settee before the fireplace, sat a girl.
She was reading a battered paperback, a pencil stuck behind her ear, and when she turned a page, she spoke.
"Are you going to stand there all day?"
Sasha gulped. "I..." He glanced around the room slowly.
"I said," the girl sat up in the settee, turning to face him. She was tall even sitting down, with tan skin like his own and long, dark hair lying straight and sleek on either side of her face, like a pair of curtains. She was young, maybe sixteen. "Are you going to stand there all day?"
"No," Sasha blurted out. "I don't think- no."
She quirked an eyebrow, the memory of a smile tugging at the edge of her lips. "That's not really an answer, but I'll take it."
Sasha struggled to take control of his quickening breath. "Where are we?"
She tilted her head to the side, studying him with the careful comb of a scientist. "The manor. Dad likes to call it some stupid fancy Russian name or whatever, but basically it means thrush, like the songbird."
His mind tucked this information away for later use, his objective now was to see if he was in any danger and how to get back to Corinth. He had no memory of coming here, of even going topside since everyone arrived back from the mission. After a glance around the room, he realized there were no doors or windows.
"Yeah, don't try to escape or anything drastic," she said. "Dreamscapes are pretty much a one room only sort of deal." She stood and approached him. "You're taller than I thought you'd be. What's with the man bun?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Who are you?"
"Priya," she said as if it was obvious. She poked his bicep. "These are huge, by the way. Do you do CrossFit?"
Sasha recoiled. "I don't know what that is."
"It's okay, Vova, I'll teach you." Priya smiled like a snake and flopped unceremoniously onto the jade green settee. "I've been tasked with that when you arrive anyway."
"You..." The gears shifted in Sasha's mind. Suddenly, it clicked. "You're the other Drozdov kid. You're my... sister."
Priya pointed finger guns at him. "There you go, bucko. Sister extraordinaire. To be fair, it's nice having someone to fill the Vladimir-shaped hole that's been left since you mysteriously disappeared."
"They named me Vladimir?" he asked. "This keeps getting better and better."
"What, you didn't remember your name?" Priya snorted. "What do they call you, the prodigal son?"
"Sasha, usually," he answered. "Aleksandr if I'm in trouble."
"Are you in trouble a lot?" Priya thumbed through her book.
Sasha chuckled. "I try not to be." He looked around the room again, finally at ease. "So is this like royal video chat or something?"
Priya shrugged. "Nah, it's just how I do things. Dream walking is fun, but people tend to get freaked out if I drop in unannounced."
"And you thought it didn't matter with me?" Sasha raised an eyebrow.
"I figured after being out in the wild for a few decades, not much can scare you."
Sasha cast his gaze down to his shoes and noticed a coin near his feet. He picked it up and noticed for the first time he was wearing normal clothes and not his usual t-shirt and boxers. He figured the dream created clothes for him and was grateful. If Priya had decided to call on a day he was in bed with Valya, that would have been quite a show.
"Shit, you need to go," Priya said, suddenly appearing directly in front of his face. "Someone's waking you up."
"Is this goodbye then? I can't say I enjoyed our time together," Sasha said.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll be seeing you in a few days anyway, numbskull." She pulled his head down so he was forced to look her directly in the eye. "Remember this, Aleksandr Drozdov, Court is full of snakes, and our family is no different. You're the Drozdov heir now, and despite that face that Dad is like a lukewarm bowl of mayonnaise, there's a lot of enemies out there. Be careful who you align yourself with."
The edges of Sasha's vision began to blur. Priya began to slip in and out of reality. She went up on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the forehead.
"Wake up."
Sasha gasped for air as he startled awake in the backseat of an imposing SUV. Valya was beside him, shaking his shoulder. In his hand was the coin he'd picked up in the dream. He shoved it into his pocket before Valya could see it.
"Wake up, Sasha," she said. "We're here."
He sat up in his seat and rubbed at his eyes. He must have fallen asleep on the car ride from the airport, but his mind was struggling to put two and two together.
"You ready?" Valya grasped Sasha's hand as the car drove through the large gates and entered Court.
Sasha took in an unsteady breath and kept his eyes on the horizon, but turned at the last second to look at her. His demeanor immediately softened and he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"We're going to stay with the Castiles, since they're the sanest of the bunch and only Leigh is home right now. Apparently Bryn Mawr has some weird vacation times," Valya said, talking faster than her normal pace. She babbled on: "Leigh's really nice, you'll like her. I haven't met Aaron Drozdov, but I'm sure he's nice too. Court isn't that bad when you get to-"
"Valentina," Dimitri said from the front seat. "Be quiet."
Valya bit her lip and simmered down into a quiet bundle of nerves. To Sasha she seemed more nervous than he was and he reach out, smoothing her hair back behind her ear. It was little gestures that he'd found calmed Valya the best, especially when she got herself worked up for no reason. For Sasha, it was just looking internally and shutting himself off from the world for a while. It wasn't easy to isolate yourself at Corinth, but he found his ways.
Court wasn't at all like how Valya had described it to him. He thought it would look grander, more intricate; like the sitting room at the manor house Priya created in his dream. These buildings were just buildings, like the ones he saw in movies or on missions. But he could feel it, the pervasive tightness of the Guardians roaming the perimeter, armed with stakes. He knew they weren't there to defend Court from him, but it made him ill at ease already.
Dimitri parked the car in front of a modest town house. It was night and there were people walking up and down the streets, going to work. Sasha was unused to sunlight and appreciated that Court kept to a mostly Moroi timetable, but he wondered if it ever weighed on the dhampir. If they ever missed seeing the sun.
"We'll be here for today until Queen Vasilisa returns from a visit to St Vladimir's." Dimitri turned the car off and opened the trunk. "Take your things: Mr Castile is away with the queen and Mrs Castile is at work, so you'll have to entertain yourselves."
"Or I could do it."
Leigh Castile stood on the walkway to the house, her arms crossed over her chest. For someone Valya talked about non-stop, she didn't strike Sasha as someone that she'd be friends with at all. Leigh was dressed down to the extreme in a faded t-shirt and a pair of well-worn overalls; her nails were painted a chipped midnight blue and her curly hair was tugged back into a pair of twists that were slowly becoming undone, whether by force or by gravity. She didn't look dangerous, but from Sasha's experience, people who are rarely do.
"I'm Leigh." She stuck her hand out for Sasha to shake.
"Sasha," he replied.
They stood looking at each other for a few moments before Valya drew Leigh into a bone-crushing hug.
"I missed you!" Valya said.
"It's barely even been a month since I last saw you." Leigh rolled her eyes.
The exchange made Sasha smile. Valya had friends in Corinth- you couldn't live there and not become friendly with people- but she didn't have anyone that she hugged with such ferocity that wasn't family, and from Sasha's understanding, the Castile's were a bit like family.
Eddie Castile went to school with Stasla and so did his wife, Jill. Eddie was even the one who first stepped foot in Corinth, even though Adrian Ivashkov was the only person who recognized who Sasha actually was. He sometimes wondered what life would have been like if he'd never known, but brushed the thought away. It was better to live your life tormented and knowing, than blissful and ignorant.
"We need to go get some food. Pizza?" Valya asked Leigh. She grinned in response.
"No chance," Dimitri replied as he locked the car. "Aleksandr shouldn't be wandering about Court until the Queen arrives. We don't want anyone else figuring out who he is or where he's from until she decides how to release that information."
"Dominoes, then," Leigh said.
Dimitri smiled. "Yes, Dominoes is fine."
Over three pepperoni pizzas, two with pineapple (Valya) and one with mushrooms (Leigh), over mochas Leigh picked up from down the street and a metric tonne of popcorn, over croissants sent by Valya's stepfather that were so flaky Sasha was sure he'd be picking pieces of it out of his hair for days, they talked well into the morning. About Court, Strigoi, new fighting techniques, the merits of western cinema, Corinth initiation mishaps; everything.
It had been a while since Sasha felt at ease. Ever since the attack two years ago, he knew he wasn't welcome in Corinth anymore, but Stasla didn't have the heart to kick him out. What hurt him the most were looks, or lack thereof. People either decided he wasn't worth their time and refused to talk to him, or they stared at him openly, unashamedly surveying his face for signs of violence.
He did that sometimes, too.
It was late when Eddie arrived back at the Castile house. Leigh was sprawled out on the couch, with Sasha on the loveseat, Valya curled into his side. No matter how hard he willed himself to sleep, it wouldn't come, so he'd taken to changing the channels on the TV, aimlessly searching for something to hold his interest.
A knock sounded at the door.
Sasha glanced at Leigh to see if she was close to waking, but both her and Valya were deep in sleep. He carefully set Valya on the loveseat and covered her with a blanket, tip-toeing towards the door. It took him a moment to figure out the lock system, but eventually he opened the door.
"Hey Leigh, I forgot my-" Eddie paused mid-thought when he saw Sasha. "-keys. You're not my daughter."
"No, sir." Sasha reached out his hand. "Aleksandr Am- Drozdov. Aleksandr Drozdov."
A flicker of understanding crossed his face. He was taller than Sasha remembered, his dark blonde beard trimmed neatly and his hair pulled back into a plait. "Right, the Corinth kid. We met after the mission, didn't we?"
"Briefly," Sasha said. "Sorry for answering your door. Leigh and Valya are asleep."
Eddie nodded and pushed past Sasha into the house. He only had a small pack with him and was still wearing his Guardian uniform, albeit a bit more ruffled than normal. The way he moved was so elegant and calculated. This, Sasha thought, it how a truly skilled fighter should be. He'd heard stories of Edison Castile from Valya and Dimitri; he was someone to be reckoned with.
"Are you happy to be home?" Eddie asked.
Sasha put his hands in his back pockets. "Is it really home if I've never been there before?"
"People find home in the strangest of places," Eddie murmured. "Aaron Drozdov was an asshole when he was younger, but he's alright now. A little boring, if anything. Reva, though, she's a spitfire. You should be in good hands."
"I'm 25 years old, Mr Castile," Sasha said. "I don't need anyone to take care of me."
Eddie chuckled. "That's fair enough. When this is all over, are you going to go back to Corinth?"
Sasha paused. He knew people would be asking him that question, but he wasn't sure of the answer. Even after hours of pouring over what a life in Court might look like, he knew that Moroi were prized there, something to be kept on a shelf not put in the field. He wasn't sure he wanted a life where he had to hide himself. But then he thought of the stares, the whispers that hid around every corner of Corinth and faltered. He didn't want notoriety either.
"I'm not sure."
Eddie's expression changed, became softer, kinder. "You should check out what Christian's been doing lately. You know, Lord Ozera. If you don't want to go live in the Drozdov manor or return to Corinth, it might be a happy middle ground."
Sasha knew what he was talking about: the ambassador program. Valya was one, the only one at the moment. It was for Corinth residents to live at Court and vice-versa to build a "bridge" between the two communities. Sasha knew what it truly was: a way for Court to control Corinth.
"I'm not a spy," Sasha said bluntly.
"I didn't mean-"
"I'm not a spy."
Eddie let out a breath. "Alright. You're not a spy, fine. But he's doing other programs you might want to look into. University things. A scholarship would be pretty easy for a kid like you to earn."
Sasha pressed his lips together. "Is there a spare room for us to stay in? Valya would kill me if I left her on the couch. She gets this crick in her neck."
Eddie nodded, his eyes shining with the strangest feeling. "Upstairs. I guess Leigh got ahead of herself and didn't show you."
Sasha nodded. He went to the living room and picked Valya off the couch, cradling her in his arms. She stirred slightly, moving her arms so she clung to him, but didn't wake up.
"Goodnight, Mr Castile," Sasha said, inclining his head. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Aleksandr," Eddie said, an odd tone to his voice.