Chapter 6

Worried

I made it to chapter ten before a knock on the door interrupted me. I glanced up at the clock. It was just after one.

Marking my page, I laid my book aside and crossed to the door. Behind it stood Mia Rinaldi. Mia had grown up a lot in the last year. She was several inches taller, though still a bit short for a moroi, and she had lost the baby-fat on her cheeks. With her wide, deep blue eyes and blonde curls, she still looked like she belonged in an advert for lollipops, but the sharpening of her face at least made her look sixteen rather than eleven. I knew that her growth had been internal as well as external. Gone was the petulant child who had cruelly taunted Lissa and spread vicious rumours about Rose. This Mia had talked guardians into teaching her to fight and even helped Rose steal documents from the guardian archives, according to Lissa. I also knew that before that, she had been one of the students who had gone to spookane on a reckless and misguided strigoi hunt, one that had caused a student's death and forced Rose to make her first kills. Looking at her, I saw her placing a blanket over Rose's shaking shoulders on the plane. I also saw the determination that had blazed in her eyes when she had broken away from Tasha.

Problem was, I also saw another image. Rose, standing in the doorway of her dorm room at Saint Vladimir's, eyes red and cheeks streaked with trails of salt. My Rose, the strongest person I knew, who so rarely cried, had been broken by this little girl's viciousness. I wasn't sure if I could forgive her for it.

"Miss Rinaldi." I greeted her. Polite and neutral. When in doubt, fall back on protocol.

"Guardian Belikov." She replied in the same tone. She eyed me warily. I wondered if she sensed my hostility. It was hard to tell. Almost everyone still eyed me warily. "I'm looking for Christian. Is he here?"

Before I could speak, I heard the bedroom door open behind me. I turned to see Christian walking towards us. His eyes were alert, hair neat, black cotton shirt crisp. He clearly hadn't just woken up. How long had he been sitting in that room, avoiding me?

"Hey Mia, come on in."

I stood back to allow the girl to walk past me. She wandered into the open space, eyes taking in the lavish decor. She whistled.

"Well, you certainly did well for yourself, Ozera."

Christian chuckled. "This is nothing. Have you seen Lissa's rooms?"

Mia shook her head. "Not all of us are regular visitors to the queen's bed." She teased.

"She doesn't actually sleep in the bed." He told her. "She says it would be way too weird, sleeping where Queen Tatiana was murdered. It's not actually the same bed, of course. They apparently changed all the furniture. But it's still weird."

"It would be" Mia shuddered delicately. "So what's she doing, sleeping on a sofa?"

"It's a chaise lounge, actually."

Mia laughed.

"So what's up? I'm sure you didn't drop by to discuss Lissa's sleeping arrangements."

"Nope. I dropped by to invite you to a party" she reached into a jeans pocket and pulled out a stiff white card. "It's in an hour at the Ivashkov's. Lady Ivashkov's throwing it. Sort of a 'my husband is the new prince of the family, so bow down and worship me' thing, according to Adrian. She's making him go, and he needs us there for moral support."

Christian took the invite and studied it. "I don't know. The last party Adrian invited us to kinda sucked. We don't have to wear masks to this thing too, do we?"

Masks? When had they been to a party wearing masks? I suddenly remembered the time Rose had visited me in my cell. It had been the first time I had seen her since the change. Her mere presence had been so overwhelming, so intoxicating, that my dazed mind hadn't been able to truly comprehend her appearance. Merely looking at her face had been almost more than I could handle. I had barely been able to drink in the sight of her and file it away for later. I saw her now, standing on the other side of the bars in an elegant maroon dress with cap sleeves and a pair of black satin heels, her hair hanging soft and lovely around her. A glittering golden mask hung from one hand. Had she just come from a masquerade? Had she gone with Adrian?

It's none of your business! She wasn't with you then. You refused to see her. They were both free to do whatever they wanted. What she did with Adrian was between them and had nothing to do with you!

I dragged my mind back to the present. Mia was talking

"...going through a really hard time at the moment. I'm worried about him. Come on, Eddie's going to be there, and Jill. If she can face that bunch of snobs, you can.

"You, calling other people snobs. Hypocritical much?"

"Yeah, yeah, I was the snobbiest snob in all of snobville and I'm sorry for everything. Will you come to the party now?"

That caused Christian to crack a smile. "All right, but I won't be staying late. Lissa's calling at six."

"Won't she be on a plane leaving Martris by then?" I had no idea how Mia knew the queen's itinerary, but I wasn't that surprised. She seemed to me to be the kind of person who could get her hands on all kinds of information.

"Yeah, she's calling from the plane. It's the only time she has to make personal calls."

Lissa was spending today in Martris, and then boarding a plane to New York before dawn to be at a meeting with the alchemists at midday. The airport that served Martris was several miles away from the city proper, outside the wards. The drive to the airport was one of the few times Lissa would be unwarded at night. Regardless of the fact that the new queen would be surrounded at all times by an army of guardians, Christian had made her promise she would contact him once she was safely in the air.

Mia left, happy with Christian's agreement. I was changing my mind about her. Sarcastic apology aside, she clearly wasn't the nasty little brat she used to be. Her crimes against Rose where nothing compared to the horrors I had committed. If I could forgive myself, surely I could forgive this girl of her petty cruelty. With an internal sigh, I committed myself to being nicer to her next time I saw her.

While Christian showered and readied himself for the party, I went back to my book. It was one of my favourites, a classic, one I'd read several times before. I'd made it through another chapter by the time Christian appeared in neat black slacks and a black silk shirt. I was beginning to wonder if he owned any clothes that weren't black.

The party was in full swing when we arrived. Royals and other important moroi stood around in tailored suits and cocktail dresses, mingling and laughing. A string quartet was set up in one corner, and servants circled with silver trays of champagne and delicate canapés. The walls were lined with the party guest's guardians, all in their best black and white. They stood straight and ready, eyes staring straight ahead without looking at anything in particular. It had never occurred to me how ridiculously unnecessary we all looked when moroi got together in large numbers. Out in the world, lower class moroi lived their entire lives unprotected, and here we were, standing around like a troupe of well trained penguins.

Working to keep my irritation off my face, I found an empty space on the wall. It made me feel a tiny bit better that I wore my old duster rather than the neat black guardian jacket.

Or maybe not. Being dressed differently from the guardians around me meant I kept being noticed. The guests were bad enough. Many moroi didn't actually understand much about strigoi. Although they knew enough to be afraid, most of them had never seen one. They couldn't comprehend the cold, ruthless menace that a strigoi was. Without that, they weren't as afraid as they should have been. They stared at me with nothing more than open curiosity and awe. I was a novelty, the man who was once a monster.

With the other guardians, though, it was so much worse. Because they did understand. The guardian world was one of strict discipline and constant vigilance, with a strong, clearly defined sense of good and evil. They all knew exactly what a strigoi was, and most of us don't believe in miracles. Most eyed me with suspicion, even hostility. Only a few offered me nods of acceptance. The few who truly believed.

I stood, staring blankly into space. I was slowly getting used to this, but the distrust I saw in the eyes of those I considered brothers still hurt.

"Hey Dimitri." Said a familiar voice.

I focused my eyes on the person greeting me. Young Eddie. His appearance surprised me. Eddie had always struck me as a focused young novice, totally dedicated to his beliefs in duty, loyalty and honour. I would have expected him to be dressed in his uniform, neatly groomed, standing against the wall like the rest of us. A model guardian. Instead, he was in dress jeans and a shirt, with a full glass in one hand, looking noticeably out of his depth and out of place.

He noticed me eyeing the drink and shrugged, seeming slightly embarrassed.

"I'm not on duty. I'm a guest, actually. Got one of the fancy little invites and everything. I kind of wish I hadn't come, though." He glanced around. "I'm fairly sure I'm the only dhampir who got an invite. Everyone keeps looking at me like I'm the computer nerd who crashed the cool kid's party."

I laughed. I liked Eddie.

He leaned against the wall next to me. It seemed that on duty or off duty, a guardian was always a wall-flower.

"Rose was always really good at this. It didn't matter if the party was all moroi or all dhampir, or a mix up. She just walks around like she has every right to be there and is somehow the life of the party, every single time. I have no idea how she does it."

I smiled. "Rose somehow manages something impossible every second day. It's second nature to her. No one has any idea how she does it."

A movement across the room caught my eye. Several guardians were engaged in a tense conversation near the door. Another stood by them, on a cell phone, his face anxious. As I watched, he lowered the phone, spoke to the others quickly, and the group of them left the room.

"You really love her, don't you?"

I looked at him again. He was eyeing me closely.

"Yes. I love her."

He nodded. "Good. I wasn't sure, at first. You were her mentor, and you're older than us.

Ever since Spokane, when we lost maze..."

"You worry about her"

"She's saved my arse so many times now I kinda owe it to her to look out for her. And she's so completely devoted to you. When she asked me to help her out with her thing in Vegas, I agreed because I knew no matter how crazy the plan was, she had to have a good reason. Even Rose wouldn't sacrifice her whole future just for thrills." I recognised the vague reference. Neither Rose nor Lissa had ever explained just how they had managed to break into a high security prison and spring a maximum security inmate, but I had known Eddie had helped. "When I found out exactly what she was after, I was actually a bit pissed off. I thought she was chasing a pipe dream. And when she didn't kill you in the casino, when I realised why she was risking everything, and what she was prepared to sacrifice, that was the first time I ever really questioned her sanity. Yet here you stand. She did it."

The door opened and a young dhampir entered, a girl several years younger than Eddie. A novice. They were sometimes used as messengers around court when they weren't at their respective schools. This girl's face was pale and frightened, but she moved with purpose. She circled the room quickly, speaking to several senior guardians, all of whom immediately left the room. She followed them out. What was going on?

"I just wanted to make sure you knew what she did for you. And that you weren't, you know, just taking advantage of her." Eddies face was pink by the end.

I smiled. I was immensely glad that Rose had Eddie in her life. He was like a brother to her. Someone who would always look out for her. "You don't need to worry, Eddie." I told him.

"Excuse me, guardian Belikov?"

I turned from Eddie to see the messenger girl standing before me.

"You're needed in the guardian building." She said quickly, before she turned away and walked quickly over to speak to another guardian, standing by the musicians.

"I'm on duty..." I said, looking over at Christian. He was immersed in conversation with Jillian and Mia.

"Don't worry." Said Eddie. "I won't let anything happen to him"

That was enough for me. I thanked him and left.

I could see the barest hint of light on the horizon as I hurried towards the guardian building. All around me I could see signs that something was wrong. A large moroi apartment block that usually had a permanent guardian posted at the door was unguarded. One of the royal guards passed me, going in the other direction, talking rapidly into the mike attached to his earpiece. Almost every guardian I saw was fully armed, something almost unheard of at court. My blood ran cold, the pit of my stomach twisting. Something, somewhere, was very very wrong.

I arrived at the guardian building just as someone else was leaving it. Someone I was immensely glad to see.

"Hans, what's happened?"

Hans looked at me. His face was tense.

"We got word ten minutes ago. The queen's convoy was attacked by a legion of strigoi. Were not even sure how many. At least twenty."

I froze. My heart contracted in my chest. No no no...

"The queen?"

"Safe. Being heli-lifted here as we speak."

"What about Rose?" Let her be with Lissa. Please god, let her be safe.

Hans shook his head.

"We don't know. We lost at least five. I have no idea who."

No. Not my Roza. No no no no...