Author's Note
Hey guys! Huge shoutout to lovesmesomedanilalol for letting me know there were some issues with my previous version of this chapter! I also didn't get much feedback on Chapter 3, so I'm just going to go ahead and keep up with the shorter, weekly updates. I had a lot of fun with this update, and I'm personally definitely looking forward to next week's!
I'm not really sure what I was expecting. There was an audible silence, like everyone was waiting to see my reaction. I simply stared ahead at Croft, waiting for him to explain further. He wasn't serious, I had to go back to the academy. It sucked, but wasn't that why Belikov and his team were sent to capture us? They were supposed to drag us back to the academy we ran away from, back to the threat I saved Lissa from.
"You're joking." Croft didn't seem like the man to joke, but he couldn't be serious about me not going back. "No, I have to go back. If Lissa's going back, I'm going, too. I'm her guardian. I have to be with her."
"Quite frankly, Miss Hathaway, you're not her guardian. You're not even a guardian. Better guardians get fired for putting their charge in less danger." He spoke harshly, and for a moment I wanted to pull the age card. Maybe speaking like this to a promised guardian would be acceptable, but I was seventeen.
"Better guardians get fired for doing what they have to do to protect their charge?" I challenged. "God, you make it sound like it's a warzone out there. It's not as bad as you think. We were gone for two years, and we hadn't encountered a single Strigoi."
"It is a warzone," Hans insisted. "Just because you didn't encounter Strigoi, just because you got lucky, doesn't mean anything, Miss Hathaway. What would have happened if you would have come across one?"
"I would have fought it." I answered it like it was the easiest question in the world, and honestly, it was. If there was ever a fight between something and Lissa's life, I would try my damnedest to make sure that my best friend escaped the scenario alive. If we would have come across Strigoi in Portland, or in Chicago, or anywhere else we were, I would have died if it meant that Lissa would live. I could die knowing that I did everything I could to keep her safe.
"And lost." For the first time in a while, Belikov spoke up from the back of the room. Disappointment was evident in his voice, and I frowned. What did he have to be disappointed over? Just before I turned to look back at him, Croft spoke again.
"Be that as it may, there is no way that you can return to St. Vladimir's. I'm sorry, Miss Hathaway, but Headmistress Kirova made it abundantly clear that you do not have the respect or dedication to graduate." His tone implied that he was anything but sorry, but something about his eyes gave him away that he was not the heartless man he put up to be.
"There has to be some other way," I pressed. My gaze was still locked on Croft, but out of the corner of my eye, I could see others finally stirring. Lissa was just as shocked as I was, her back ramrod straight as she schooled her features to remain impassive. She was trying to keep up her royal front, to not appear weak in front of all these people. When I finally looked away from the head guardian, I saw Victor staring down, his mouth a hard line. Three of the other guardians in the room looked properly detached, with only Belikov's eyes sparking some reaction.
"They have the bond," he said suddenly. The hush that had fallen over everyone in the room was suddenly replaced with a rush of energy that accompanied the news. "In my brief observation period, Miss Hathaway could tell what Vasilisa was thinking or feeling, sometimes without being in the same place." I silently begged him to shut up.
"A rare and wondrous gift." Victor's voice was reverent, and for the first time in a while, he almost seemed his age. He suddenly didn't seem quite as tried and exhausted, but truly alive. We had worked so hard to keep the bond a secret, unaware of how it worked, it was strange for the knowledge to be out in the open.
"It hasn't happened in centuries," Hans said. "Are you sure? They're very close. It's entirely possible that Rosemarie just guessed what Vasilisa was feeling. They were in a lot of similar situations, it's not unrealistic that they would be feeling similar emotions."
"All the best guardians had the bond, in the stories." While what Victor was saying might have been true, I'd never heard of a pair bond the way that Lissa and I had. I missed out on a bunch of classes, but I'd never once heard of a guardian being bonded to their charge. They stayed through a sense of duty, just like they did now. As far as I was concerned, nobody had a relationship like Lissa and me.
"It would be a shame to let that go to waste." Belikov spoke this time, and it seemed like he was trying to convince Croft into reversing the decision. "There is no doubt that Vasilisa needs the best guardians available to her. Rosemarie would be an ideal candidate."
"Be that as it may," Croft growled. "She has been expelled from the academy. Even if that were reversed, she's missed a full two years of training. How is she supposed to catch up on that?"
"Perhaps one of the guardians on campus would be willing to put in the extra time." It was a valid suggestion, but it sounded like he was grasping at straws.
"And which guardian would that be? You?" Belikov opened his mouth as if to speak again, but promptly shut it. "I didn't think so."
"When we apprehended them, Rosemarie was willing to take on a team of six fully trained guardians to protect her Moroi. That sort of dedication is rare, in novices just as much as trained guardians. Most would turn and run against better odds. Instead, she stood her ground. She lost, but she fought. That dedication, paired with the bond, would make her unstoppable if trained properly. Besides, with dhampir numbers so low, we can't risk forcing a guardian out who truly wants the role. Especially a girl."
The end of his impassioned speech seemed to have struck a cord and sent the entire office spiraling into silence once again. Female dhampirs didn't normally spend their lives being guardians; a good deal of them split off to raise their own families, furthering the race and bringing forth a new generation of guardians. Some of them even earned reputations giving blood during the act, earning all dhampir women the title of blood whore unless they were guardians. When nobody spoke against him, Belikov went on. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential – "
"Wild and disrespectful?" I interrupted. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"
"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now." Croft answered sharply. "Her sanctioned guardian."
"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. Most Moroi had either Russian or Romanian lineage, and using his nationality against him was a low blow. If my words had any impact on him, he hid it behind a perfectly emotionless mask.
"Rose!" Lissa hissed. I crossed my arms and stared straight ahead.
"She might be wild and disrespectful," Belikov repeated firmly. "If she has potential, then it should not be wasted."
"Even if there was a loophole – which I'm not saying there is – she would be ages behind the other novices." Croft sat back down behind his desk, opening the file he had on the surface. His eyes scanned the pages a few times before he looked up again. "Destruction of property. Running away. Breaking curfew. Acting out in class. Cutting class. With as much as she's missed, there's no way she'll be up to graduate on time."
"Then give her extra training sessions." He made it seem like the most logical solution in the world, and maybe it was. It was the only way to make up for lost time – time that was lost because the guardians at the academy didn't do their jobs – and I needed to graduate on time in order to protect Lissa the way I needed to.
"Who's going to put in the extra time? You?" Croft's sudden question shut Belikov up, and for the first time in our brief knowing of each other, he seemed to stammer.
"Well, that's not what I – "
"Yes, that's what I thought." Croft cut him off with simply crossing his arms across his broad chest and a hard gaze across the desk. Belikov's posture got impossibly straighter as he clasped one of his hands behind his back.
"Yes." The word was tight and I almost didn't believe I heard it. "I will take put in the extra time. I am Vasilisa's guardian, and Rosemarie will be an ideal candidate to guard her after graduation. I can put in the time now to see that she is trained correctly."