This was quite hard for me to write, but it is a necessary, vital chapter, similar to in the book. The next one will be much more humorous and enjoyable.
I'm trying to take things at a slow pace, speeding up my story and rushing is something I don't want to do.
Thank you for the lovely reviews 3
There were voices all around me like a dull buzzing of swarming bees. They became louder and louder and I scrunched my nose in annoyance. What can a girl do to get some sleep around here? I groaned. Bad idea. I felt someone take my hand and say my name, not to softy I might add. Why did Lissa have to be so loud? Didn't she know I wasn't a morning person? I groaned again and let my eyes flutter open. Only I didn't see Lissa's face. What the… I bit back a scream as I realized it was Headmistress Kirova of St Vladimir's Academy. I swore as I groggily wiped my eyes so I could take in my surroundings. I was in the infirmary, and a bunch of guardians were standing around the room, staring at me. Then it hit me, everything that had happened came back.
"Shit." I said softer this time letting my head fall back on my pillow. I was in deep trouble.
"Miss Hathaway, you better watch your mouth for the second time. Being vulgar will not help the situation you're in at the moment." Kirova was an annoying bitch, to put it bluntly. She had hated me before I ran away, and after all this time she still gave me a look loathing and annoyance. I grinned, more to myself then her.
"Something funny?" She asked, eyes narrowing. Same old lady; she reminded me of a vulture with her long nose and sharp eyes. I gave her my biggest dazzling smile.
"No, nothing, just thinking about how much you must have missed me." That set her off. She went into a long speech about respect and responsibility all the while scowling at me. One of the guardians took her out of the room when the doctor came in to check on me. I laughed out right.
"Hello Rose, how are you feeling?" Dr. Olenski, I think her name was, checked me over looking at my bruises telling me my condition. I panicked, remembering the bite wound I had on my neck, and consciously brought my hand to it. A band aid was wrapped on top, concealing it. I was surprised that she didn't even mention or glance at it. Did she know? I looked around the room, and saw the guy that had brought me back. He was in the far corner, staring darkly at me. He gave a slight shake of his head which I returned with the most sincere look I could muster. He had covered it for me.
"I'm a little sore, and tired. When can I get out of here?"
"Get out of this room or get out the academy?" She joked, and then noticing the awkward silence after, cleared her throat. "In about an hour."
She and the rest of the guardians filed out, except for the tall one. He sat on the seat next to my bed and said, "My name is Dimitri Belikov, I was chosen to bring the princess and you back to the academy, Rose."
I kept quiet, while he studied me. Through the bond, I knew for a fact she wasn't captured. In fact, she was sleeping soundly. Dimitri sat back and nodded at my reaction. He then signaled for another guardian to come in, I recognized her as Alberta, she was a sweet lady besides being a total badass.
It was all business now though, her face was set, and no emotion showed in her eyes. She walked over and said, "When you leave the infirmary, you will report directly to Headmistress Kirova's office for your punishment, then after, you will report to us. The princess is still out there and we need you to help us find her."
I nodded and pretended to agree with what was happening.
-;-;-
Kirova's office looked exactly the same as the last time I saw it, so I quickly seated myself in the usual chair, and Kirova started her rant. Dimitri and Alberta leaned against the wall looking impassive. I was dazing out, until she got to the part about Lissa.
"Do you realize she's out there right now, all by herself? She could be dead right now, and it would be your entire fault, and—" I cut her off and tried to put on a look of horror and shock.
"You mean to tell me, that you didn't find and capture her?" I looked over to the two guardians. I dug my nail into my wrist. Tears were brought to my eyes from the pain. "Dimitri, you had so much back up… Are you saying that you couldn't find her?"
His eyes flashed to mine and I averted my gaze to the floor. "We have guardians still down there, we're not done searching." Alberta said quietly.
"I'm sure Vasilissa is fine! She has a good head on her shoulders," A new voice inquired. I realized Prince Victor Dashkov sat in a chair at the corner of the room. "Hello Rose, it's good to see you back." He stated with a small smile. I waved a hello to him, glad I had someone generally happy to see me. He had a disease called Sandovsky's Syndrome that made him sick, age, in a slow painful process. Moroi you see, rarely got sick, but they did have their own diseases that were especially deadly. This one in particular kept him from becoming the King he deserved to be. I felt bad for him.
"She's lying." Dimitri gazed at me. My eyes turned to shock, and I let my tears fall down my face. "I… I… What? I thought you got us both back and you just weren't allowing me to see her. I didn't realize…" I should have been an actress.
"You know where she is, because you have a bond." I almost choked on my saliva. Everyone seemed shocked at the accusation, including me. "It wasn't hard to tell, watching them running away from us, the way Rose knew how she was feeling without even glancing at her, and the fierce protectiveness they have for each other. After doing background checks on them also, it became obvious."
"Remarkable." Victor whispered, staring at me. I kept quiet and leaned back in my chair looking defeated.
"That's... That's impossible; a bond hasn't been formed in centuries!" Kirova crowed. She seemed to be taking it all in. Thinking it over, and no doubt recalling past times of me and Lissa. I stared at her doubtful face. Her eyes snapped to mine.
"I don't care if you have a bond or not. You are the reason the princess is god knows where, and for that, expulsion is the only adequate punishment."
My mouth dried. "NO! You can't do that! I'm the only connection to Lissa you have at this point, you can't tear us away! Where would I go? My mother? Or maybe my father?" I seethed. My mom, world renowned Janine Hathaway guardian-badass-extraordinaire, dumped me at the academy when I was young to be raised by the school. My dad is practically non-existent. All I know is he probably had wicked hair and was Turkish.
"Rose, you have broken the most sacred rule a guardian has: keep your moroi safe. Taking her out of a high security warded area into the human world where strigoi lurk was not safe, unless you aren't telling us something. Now she is all by herself. What do you expect me to do? You are two years behind your fellow novices and it would be impossible for you to catch up before graduation anyway."
My control was hanging by one thread at this point. I gritted my teeth, about to say I was not two years behind my training and tell her what she could do with her logic, but Alberta beat me to it. "Headmistress, it would be a waste to expel Rose, when guardian numbers are so low, especially females. She could very well help us find the princess." Kirova huffed. Dimitri also added, "Give her extra training sessions, if she's so behind."
They all started to banter back and forth about what to do with me. Prince Victor seemed to be the only calm one in the room. "Well who's going to put in the time to give her extra training sessions?" All of them stopped talking. Silence filled the room, along with Kirova satisfaction. "Exactly what I thought, Guardian Petrov, Guardian Belikov?" She looked pointedly at both of them
"I don't need extra training sessions!" I exclaimed, but no one would listen to me. Alberta looked at me and gave a slight shake of her head. I guess she could only defend me so much. I turned my eyes toward Dimitri. I wonder what he saw, when he looked at me. "I will train Rose." He muttered, looking unhappy about the whole set-up.
It ended up being that I would be on house arrest except for my training sessions with Dimitri, lunch, and school. Kirova also said she only agreed because I could help bring Lissa back, and I would most likely be expelled when we got her back. I almost got out of my chair and strangled her, but Dimitri's gaze told me to take what I could get. Who knows? Things may change, and I'll be allowed to stay.
Thank you for reading 3
