I was patched up quickly, my only injuries on my knuckles, and carted back to my dorm with hardly any words from anyone. By carted, I just meant escorted by Kova and Mikhail.
"Guardian Kova, go back and check on the dhampir boy," Mikhail said after a few silent seconds of walking. His words surprised me – wasn't he afraid to be alone with me? Afraid I'd go crazy again?
Of course, he had brown eyes. Nothing would happen to me.
Kova looked apprehensive, but a look from Mikhail spun him around. I squinted through the sunlight at his incredibly perfect posture, waiting for him to disappear into the infirmary doors.
"I really don't know what happened," I told Mikhail quietly, staring at my Converse on the sidewalk. "Kova won't tell my dad, will he?"
"No one besides us will know this even occurred," he assured me. "Make sure your friend Alexandria doesn't speak of this, either."
"She would never," I replied. "She…understands."
"That's comforting. Good that you have someone." He didn't speak for a few minutes. "You should apologize to her, though."
"Did I hurt her?"
"Mildly. She has some burning where she was touching you. Singed through her sweatpants."
"Are you serious?" I asked, coming to a stop. "I hurt my best friend?"
"Fire is a volatile element to specialize in. You weren't in the right state of mind."
"You should let them lock me up," I said, feeling tears brimming in my eyes. "You should let them put me away."
"Should I let them tell your father?"
I froze. My fingers shook.
"Eleyn," he said quietly, stepping toward me. I jumped backward, ducking down into defensive position quickly. He stopped, holding his hands up. "Laynie. You're safe here, you know that, right?"
"I'm not safe anywhere."
"Does your family have a guardian?"
"We're Ozeras." That answered that question.
"Still, the queen should have supplied you with at least one. She's trying very hard, Lissa is."
"My dad – he doesn't want one." I straightened up slowly. "He has fire too. My mom has air. They surprisingly agree with the defensive magic stance, so they have instructors teaching them. But my dad doesn't like dhampirs."
"Why not?"
"Because he's…he doesn't like them. He doesn't like anyone."
There was understanding in Mikhail's eyes, like he could see right into my brain and read my thoughts. See the nightmares I was seeing, always reliving. "You're safe here, Laynie. Do you see what you did to that boy? You have to admit, you're a badass."
I laughed, but I sounded hysterical. My muddled thoughts were getting even more exhausted by the sunlight, and he seemed to realize it in that moment, moving toward me quickly and putting his arm around my waist. "Let's get you inside," he said. "I promise, I promise you that you will be okay."
"Thanks," I murmured; it was all I could say. I could keep denying it. I could keep saying I wasn't safe anywhere. But that wouldn't change Mikhail's mind. It would only make him understand me more. I didn't like that – I didn't like people trying to see inside my head. It made me feel naked.
"He wrote me a letter," I said as we climbed the stairs of the dorm building. The matron had given us a weird look, but anyone could see that Mikhail was a guardian; she didn't ask any questions. "He put it in my trunk."
"What did it say?"
"I didn't read it." Why was I telling him this? I didn't know him. I'd never even met him before.
We made it to my dorm, and he sighed, taking time to think over his words before he spoke. "I can take it, if you don't want it."
"I—" Why was he offering this? It was in his nature, I realized. In everything he'd been taught. Protect the Moroi. They come first. "You don't have to. I specialize in fire, remember?"
"Don't burn any buildings down," he said, smiling at me. "Everything will be okay, Eleyn. Get some sleep."
"Thanks," I said. He couldn't know for sure whether I would be safe or not, but it was a bit comforting all the same – that is, until I walked into my dorm room. Alex had passed out on top of her covers, burned sweatpants still covering her long, pale legs. She had a bandage on her right forearm, but she otherwise looked mostly unharmed. Just tired.
She was too at peace for me to bother her. I grabbed a towel and some pajamas to change into, taking my time under the hot water of the shower to ease my sore muscles. I changed the bandages on my knuckles the way Dr. Olendzki had shown me, and I brushed the knots out of my wet hair without looking in the mirror. Everything will be okay, Eleyn, I reminded myself.
—
"I heard she beat up Guardian Kova."
"Melanie told me she beat up four dhampirs at once."
"Mars Zeklos said she set them on fire."
The whispers were all around me at breakfast, hundreds of pairs of eyes following me and Alex as we crossed the cafeteria towards the feeders. I ignored them, very used to gossip about me or my family. Alex, however, wasn't so used to it.
"They're all looking at us," she said, grimacing at the line of students waiting for breakfast. They were serving sausage omelets, and Alex was a vegan. That is, except for the blood she drank. "Why?"
"Because they're nosey bitches," I replied immediately. "Not a big deal."
But to her, it was, and my stomach sunk in guilt; she had the eyes on her because of me. As a royal, she was relatively used to the spotlight. Not this kind, however.
"Hey Conta, is it true that you and Ozera set Larkin and those other dhampir boys on fire at practice last night?"
I turned and saw Mars Zeklos standing behind us in the feeder line, crossing his arms smugly. His friends were around him, as if they afforded him some kind of protection.
Not from me.
I focused on the sleeve of his shirt, keeping a smile on my face. I felt the magic well up in me, and as I blinked his arm lit up. He screamed like a girl, swatting at the fire that began to cover his whole shirt. Alex's hand on my arm shook my focus, and I glanced away, knowing the fire would disappear from his totally unharmed Henley.
"Stop, Laynie," she pleaded. She didn't like the attention at all. That was why we got along so well. And here I was, calling a thousand more eyes to us like I wanted them.
"See, told you she was a crazy bitch," Mars told one of his friends, and a bunch of them laughed. I turned and ignored them for Alex's sake, letting her go ahead of me in the feeder line.
After our feeders, we found our friends at their table; three dhampirs whom we'd known since elementary school. There was Crystal Conta, Alex's like fourth cousin or something; Jeremy Rodriguez, whose mom had told no one the identity of his allegedly royal father; and Matt Cadet, the only person who hated the spotlight more than me and Alex. He liked to stay in the median of things, the top of the bell curve: Bs and Cs in his classes, probably the tenth best in his guardian classes, very quiet in general. I admired him. I wished it was that easy for me to keep out of things. Not with a last name like Ozera, though.
"Back to another year of hell," Jeremy said, downing half a water bottle. His eyes were tired, dark brown and lined with long black eyelashes. "You know what I did this summer? Not shit."
"Lucky," Alex said. "My family dragged me to Court with them."
Crystal groaned. "I want to see Court. I want to work there when we graduate."
"Are you kidding? Talk about boring as shit," Jeremy laughed. "You wanna follow around royals with sticks up their asses all the time?"
"You know those royals are the reason you're alive," Crystal snapped. "Shut your mouth."
A finger on my shoulder made me jump, and I whipped around, my magic brimming in my stomach. But instead of Mars or another of his friends, it was a guardian, one I didn't recognize. He was in all black, looking perfectly respectable; still, I couldn't shake the fear that followed the magic into my nerves.
The whispers around us grew. "Can you come with me, Miss Ozera?" the guardian asked, politeness for the royal he was speaking to emanating from his words. I nodded and stood, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
"See you in first period, Alex," I said, and she nodded, her eyes wide.
We left the cafeteria with everyone staring, and outside wasn't any different; every student that passed us was silently questioning this strange guardian, or wondering if I'd really set Larkin Keim on fire. I didn't care, and neither did my escort. He was obviously on a mission.
We turned toward the building where the headmistress's office was, but instead of going there we went into a conference room, which I saw was filled with more guardians. Someone turned around, and I noticed his eyes immediately, then his black hair. I stopped short, clenching my fists to hide my shaking fingers.
"Hello, Eleyn," he said, smiling at me. The eyes, the eyes. My father's eyes.
"H-Hello, Your Highness," I stuttered, feeling like I was going to puke.
He laughed. "Call me Christian."
I didn't speak.
"So I heard about what happened yesterday. Mikhail told me when he got back, late last night."
"Why did he tell you?" I asked, trying to remember how to breathe. I wished my mom was with me. In, out, Laynie. In, out, just like the waves.
"Because he saw some of me in you, I suppose," Christian said, laughing again. "Setting Zeklos on fire this morning, too. Again, something I actually did when I was in school."
"I…" Was I in trouble? What was going on?
"No, you're not getting expelled," he said, smiling. He would be so beautiful, if not for the eyes. I couldn't look at them. "Quite the opposite, in fact."
"What does that mean?" The opposite of expelled? By Christian Ozera, the queen's husband?
"We're going to put you in some different defense classes. You'll still be with the other Moroi when you're learning the book stuff, and of course the magic. But instead of the Moroi physical defense class you have and your other elective, we'll be putting you in two of the dhampir defense trainings."
"Why?" I asked, wrinkling my brow. "Am I going to be a guardian?"
"No," he said, laughing again. "Mikhail was simply impressed by your abilities, that's all. So was Rose. She wanted to come meet you."
I didn't know what to say again.
"Don't worry, I promise this is a good thing," he said. More promises. "You will just get more in-depth physical training. You're outpacing the students in your current classes, so we're helping with that."
"Why, though?" I asked. Why me? Why now? Why, right after I beat the crap out of some kid in during a psychotic episode?
"Because you need to protect yourself," he said, his terrifying eyes sparking with some secret knowledge he had. I remembered Mikhail's perfect understanding of me, how he had seemed to know what I was so afraid of without me saying it specifically. Perhaps he had relayed this information to Christian.
"Well – thank you, I think," I said. "My father won't be happy to know that I'm in a class with dhampirs, though. He doesn't like them."
"Your father knows nothing except that you've been moved to classes which support your exceptional abilities," Christian said, a calm smile on his face. "In fact, he seemed rather proud on the phone."
"Did you ever meet him?" I asked, swallowing the knot in my throat. Christian was family, after all. "I remember…" How could I say I remembered his mom?
"Your father is my uncle," Christian said. I had a feeling he was telling me this so I could know for sure how closely related we were. "He's my dad's half-brother. That makes us what, first cousins? I even remember meeting you once. I think you were a toddler."
"I only remember Aunt Moira," I said slowly. He nodded. Thankfully, he didn't look upset.
"Well, sorry to cut this so short, but I can't stay long. I just wanted to deliver the news to you myself. Since we're family and all." Something flashed in Christian's smile that reminded me of some of the things I'd heard about him, like how he was supposedly super sarcastic. I knew I should have felt close to him, grateful that he'd come all this way – but I saw pale blue eyes in the mirror every day. In fact, I vigorously avoided seeing any eyes like that. And here they were, looking right at me in a face I couldn't just turn away from.
"Thank you very much," I said automatically, swallowing another nervous knot in my throat. "Will I get my new schedule?"
"It should be waiting for you at the front desk," he said, still smiling. He stepped forward and shook my hand. "Great to see you again, Laynie."
"You too, Christian," I said, finding myself smiling. "Did you really set someone on fire?"
"Oh, definitely," he said, grinning. "Lots of Strigoi, too."
"Wow," I breathed. I'd never even seen a Strigoi. Setting one on fire? I couldn't imagine that.
Then again, Strigoi eyes were red-rimmed. I could probably take on any eyes that weren't pale, icy blue.
—
Since our school had started integrating defense into the curriculum for Moroi, a lot of the classes which had been separate for the novices and Moroi were now mixed. Except for the magic – that and the bodyguard defense, of course; my first class was the same as my original schedule, Defensive Magic for Fire Specialists. Alex specialized in earth, so she wasn't in this class with me. In fact, none of my friends were. I was with a lot of annoying royals.
Second, still the same. As were my third and fourth classes; I was with Moroi or both Moroi and the novice guardians for all of them. After lunch, however, came the differences.
My first class after lunch was simple enough. It was supposed to be Weight Training and Conditioning, but that class was only Moroi. The novice guardians could handle a lot more than Moroi could, weight-wise and combat-wise. Plus, they were taught different fighting techniques; the dhampirs needed to learn how to fight and protect someone else. We were learning to fight simply to protect ourselves.
This new class was one of the basic defense classes that all the novices, but none of the Moroi, had to take. The dhampirs were all very confused to see me in there with them – that is, except for my friends. Jeremy and Matt were in this class with me, and I was grateful for the familiar faces.
When I walked in the gym doors, all eyes were on me. I was used to it. I walked up to the instructor, Guardian Avilov, and showed him my schedule. He nodded, welcoming me with a smile and assigning Jeremy to be my partner for the day. Someone had apparently warned him that I was coming.
The other students hadn't had the same warning. "Why is there a Moroi in here?" "Did someone mess up her schedule? She should go to the headmistress and find out what went wrong." "I'll give her five minutes before she's out."
Of course, I had to prove myself to them. Jeremy was a lot stronger than me, but I was lighter, and used that to my advantage. We were about the same height, and he was a tough match. He pinned me first.
I began to feel the difference in our abilities very quickly; his hits hurt. I couldn't say that, of course, but I was sure that I would have more bruises than I'd had before I came in. I knew people would be watching us, but I ignored them, focusing on trying to actually beat Jeremy. Part of me knew I wouldn't. Part of me knew this was all a mistake, something that would probably get switched back to normal in no time. There was no way Christian freaking Ozera had come all the way to Montana from Pennsylvania just to tell me that I was getting thrown in with novices. All of this, my whole life, was just a big mistake. I was about to wake up in an insane asylum.
And that was even more obvious when, after about five minutes, I knocked Jeremy Rodriguez to the mat.
There was a chorus of gasps as we wrestled, each of us trying to gain hold on the other, but finally I pictured the eyes, the eyes in my own face and my father's face and Christian's face. The Ozera eyes. And with that spark of fear to lead me, I had my elbow on Jeremy's neck and my fist thumped loudly on his heart.
"Staked," I said, grinning. "I win, bitch."
He laughed, both of us breathless, and I dropped my hold on him, surprised when his arms reached around me and gave me a hug. It was awkward, since my face was basically in the blue mat above his shoulder, but I didn't care. Finally, something good had happened.
"Welcome to the club, Ozera," he said, and then he let me go, both of us standing. Avilov clapped a couple times, and a few of the other novices clapped too. Dhampirs were altogether more accepting than Moroi, and I felt confident that they would all clap for me eventually.
