Ten minutes later, Dimitri and I met outside the showers. We shared a nervous look and a quick kiss, and then headed off to meet Alberta.

She opened her door just as Dimitri raised his hand to knock.

"Right on time!" she said, glancing at the clock. "Belikov, I'm impressed."

My stomach growled, and she laughed.

"Get her some food when we're done here, Belikov. I know you two have missed dinner, and I know how Rose gets when she's hungry. You're a good guardian - I wouldn't want to lose you."

"Hey!"

Dimitri grinned. Traitor. Alberta looked mildly shocked. She'd probably never seen him without his guardian's mask on, I realized. I wondered if he'd be able to summon it again after today. Probably. This was Dimitri, after all. Known to the novices as the 'Russian Battle God.' I smirked. Of course, I now knew he was a god in more than just battle…

"Rose!" Alberta dragged my attention back to our meeting.

"Sorry, Alberta. Guess I'm more tired than I realized." I said sheepishly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why am I not surprised?"

I felt a blush rise to my traitorous cheeks. For all my bravado, I wasn't used to the innuendo directed at me to be true.

Alberta chuckled, then covered it with a cough. "Anyway, Rose, as I was saying, we need to discuss your relationship with Belikov."

"Please don't fire him!" I begged.

"Rose." Alberta cut me off with a small smile. "I'm not going to fire him. But, we do need to talk about this."

I groaned. "Are you 'talking about this' as surrogate mother Alberta or Campus Head Guardian Petrov?"

She paused for a moment, then said "both."

Well. This could get interesting.

"Before we start, though," she said, "I spoke with Kirova while you guys were getting cleaned up, Belikov. She said that's fine, so long as you keep up your current training hours and Rose keeps her grades up."

"Spoke to her about what?" I was still confused.

"I asked if I could drop my status as your mentor." Dimitri explained. "Don't worry," he added, at my horrified expression, "it won't change how we train. It will just remove the mentor/student labels – we'll train as guarding partners."

"So… what will be different?" I asked suspiciously. If he was trying to weasel out of training with me….

"To us? Nothing." he said matter-of-factly. "To the outside world, we'll be partners – equals – instead of mentor/teacher and student." He smiled at me. "It removes one of the main barriers to our relationship."

"So, it's a good thing."

He grinned. "It's a very good thing."

"Wait – does that mean Kirova knows about us?" I was mildly horrified.

"No. Well, not explicitly." Alberta looked thoughtful. "Though I'm not sure she'll be too surprised – she's sharper than she lets on."

After a moment of contemplative silence, she continued. "Now, as to your relationship – I have a few ground rules."

"First of all, Rose, you're almost 18. Please keep it under wraps until then. It would be even better if you could keep it quiet until after graduation, but I'm not holding out hope."

I opened my mouth to protest – after all, we'd kept it quiet this long – but she held up a hand to stop me.

"Second, when you do go public, be prepared – you're going to make a lot of Moroi very unhappy. I'll do what I can to shield you from it while you're in school here, but there's only so much I can do."

I nodded. I knew firsthand how cruel teenagers could be – adults were undoubtedly worse. I caught Dimitri's eye. He looked nervous, but resolute. He took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. The silent message cheered me: we'd get through this together. Alberta eyed us as if she was going to say something, then shrugged and continued.

"Third, I'll look the other way until you make it public if you do a few things for me."

Uh-oh. Here it comes, I thought. Alberta was famous for driving a hard bargain, and she'd been laughably easy on us until now. I didn't realize that I was tensing and bracing myself until Dimitri ran his thumb over the back of my hand. The breath I'd been unconsciously holding left me in a whoosh, and I nodded. We didn't really have a choice, after all, no matter what she was going to ask. Well, we could run. But that wasn't really an option for us. Dimitri and I were meant to be guardians – being together wouldn't change that.

I focused back on Alberta just as she began to speak.

"I want you to agree to three things," she began, "and I know you probably won't like them. But they are my conditions."

We nodded. What else could we do?

"First: I want you two to give a demonstration of sparring – like I saw you doing in the gym this afternoon – to visiting Moroi dignitaries when I ask it. It won't be often, but there are occasions where we need to give an example of what our dhampir training program can offer."

That wasn't too bad. Dimitri and I shared a look, and I knew he felt the same.

"We agree." he said formally.

Alberta looked at me. "You're letting him speak for you?" she asked incredulously.

I was puzzled. "We discussed it."

"When?" Now it was her turn to be confused.

"Just now."

"You didn't say anything."

I shrugged. "We didn't need to."

She shook her head. "You two are scary. Anyway… the second thing I'll ask of you is actually just a continuation of the first. The Queen is visiting our campus next week, and I would like the two of you to give your first sparring demo to her and her entourage."

"Seriously? The Queen?" I was so not expecting this. Lissa is going to kill me.

"Actually, it might improve your (and therefore Lissa's) standing with her." And now she's a mind reader too? But she knows that's the one argument I'd listen to.

"Alright." I sighed. "Why not?"

Alberta smiled. "Then, the last thing I'll ask is that you two compete as St. Vlad's team in the all school guardian tournament this year."

I was confused again, but Dimitri looked impressed, and a little intimidated.

"Wait – as St. Vlad's team? As in, just us?" No wonder he looked intimidated.

She grinned. "That was quick. Yes. Each school sends the best male and female – guardian or novice, though it's often guardian – to compete individually and as a team. The competition is held every five years, and the winners typically get their pick of the best guarding jobs. As well as a trophy and cash prize. The school also gets a surge in novice admissions and wealthy Moroi donors. St. Vlad's hasn't won since I was in school." She got a faraway look in her eye.

"Did you compete, Alberta?" I was excited. She didn't often share anything from her past. I'd spent nearly 14 years looking up to her as a surrogate mother, and I'd only gleaned the bare minimum of information from her.

"Yes." Her smile was bigger than it usually was. "Art and I were a killer team that year."

"Art Shoenberg?!"

She grinned. "He was my mentor."

She let the sentence hang. Oh, he was more than that, Alberta. But I could tell from the way her expression had closed off that I wasn't getting anything else out of her now.

"You've been awfully quiet, Belikov." She said. "What are you thinking?"

I'd been so focused on drawing out Alberta, I hadn't even noticed Dimitri growing pensive beside me. Oops. Some girlfriend I was.

"Hey, Comrade. You OK?"

He smiled at me. It was only a little forced. "Sorry, Rose. It's a lot to take in."

"Did you know about this tournament?"

"It's being held at the school I attended. My little sister Vika just told me yesterday that she's been chosen to represent our school."

He'd be competing against his little sister. I'd be competing against his little sister. I swallowed.

"They'll love you." He tried to reassure me. Of course, this just reminded me that his whole family would be there to see his sister compete. And now us. Eek.

Alberta gave us a knowing grin. "Since the tournament is the week before our Winter Break, you two have permission to stay in Russia until classes resume here. That gives you a week for the tournament and three weeks of whatever you want to do."

Dimitri beamed. "I'll call Mama tonight – I'm sure we can stay with her."

Three weeks in Russia – with my ex-mentor / boyfriend's family. After competing against his sister. Gulp.

"Wait – did you compete in this tournament at your old school?"

"No. I was guarding Ivan, the last time in happened." He looked pained. "And the time before that I was a freshman." Now he smiled. "No matter how 'badass' you think I am, you must admit that a freshman novice is unlikely to be chosen over all other male novices and guardians at their school."

He had a point.

"OK you two," Alberta made a shooing motion, "it's high time I got out of here. Go find Rose some food, Belikov."

He mock saluted. "Yes, sir."

Alberta's shocked laughter followed us out of her office.