Alberta was waiting for me just outside the hall. I should have known that I wouldn't be able to avoid her. The moment I stepped out of the room, her eyes locked on to me.
"My office. Now."
I dutifully followed her, not even bothering with a protest. I had expected to speak to her at some point in the day, so I would have been surprised if she'd let me leave now without explaining things.
I took my seat and waited as she poured herself a glass of water before offering me one. I accepted, and her hands shook with repressed frustration as the water filled the cup. By the time she handed it to me, both the cup and her tolerance had overflowed.
"What happened out there?"
"Just what Rose said. She froze. It was an accident and I'll work with her to make sure it doesn't happen again in the future." I knew what I was saying was a lie, because Rose was lying to me about what had actually happened, but it was the best explanation I could offer.
Alberta shook her head, nursing her cup as if it held something a bit stronger. "Even if that was the whole truth – which I'm not saying I fully believe – there's something else wrong. Rose has always been a bit of a trouble maker, but she had been making progress with your influence. Now, with these outbursts and acts of defiance lately, it's like she's back to the old Rose. Worse, even. The old Rose was had her fair share of detentions, but it was always for some crazy stunt like drinking on campus or sneaking out of her dorm after curfew. Nothing that could completely ruin her chance of graduation. But now...between that catastrophe during assignments and the issue with Stan earlier...I don't know what's happening to her, Dimitri."
Her eyes met mine as her tirade billowed out and the strong, level headed captain of the School Guard had completely vanished, replaced with a nearly terrified mother-figure on the verge of losing her daughter. Her terror made mine swell and I didn't know what to say to make it better.
"She's...stressed." The excuse seemed less and less comforting each time I used it, to the point where I wasn't sure I was anything even akin to convincing when I said it any more. "She's been through a lot. She's still going through quite a bit. Give her time. I'm sure she'll be back to her normal self soon."
Alberta gave a weak nod, perhaps wanting to believe my words more than actually believing them. "Yeah, You're probably right. Rose is strong. She bounces back. She'll get over her nerves, and her anger about Christian and the trial..."
I winced, knowing exactly what was coming next.
"Speaking of the Dashkov Trial, how could you let something like that slip?" The captain was rapidly returning.
"I assure you, I didn't tell Rose about the trial." I couldn't help but notice the irony of defending myself against the person who unknowingly did let that particular cat out of the bag. "I did give her more information when she asked about it though."
"Why didn't you just deny the whole thing?"
"I try not to make it a habit of lying to my partner...or my student." It was a quick enough recovery that I didn't think she had caught my slip. "I need Rose to trust me and she deserves my honesty. Not telling her something is one matter, outright lying to her about it is something completely different."
Alberta pondered my statement for a moment or two before apparently conceding to my logic. "What did you tell her?"
"Essentially, the same information you told me. Only the guardians would be going and that should be more than enough to find him guilty. She wasn't happy, but there's little that she or anyone else can do about it."
"Unfortunately, you're right. I guess I should have known Rose would figure it out sooner or later. She had a habit of knowing things that she shouldn't."
Alberta dismissed me, leaving me safe from her wrath over the Dashkov trial getting out, but making me more nervous every time I recalled the look on Alberta's face as she worried about Rose. Alberta had known Rose longer than pretty much anyone else on the face of God's good Earth, and if she was worried about her, I couldn't help but think that there was something to be worried about.
Those conversations circled in my mind over and over through the day, specifically the words that Rose and I had shared. Every single time it replayed, I couldn't help but think of what I should have said here, or what I should have done there. My fixation on the issue was messing with me to the point of distraction and I was glad that I wasn't doing any more attacks this evening. I would have been practically useless.
Thankfully, the rest of the day promised to be fairly low key. I was able to finish my daily reports after finding them neatly set aside in the lounge by Dustin, and I even opted to have a late dinner with a few other guardians coming off their shift. It might have been unusual for me to willingly socialize with some of the other guardians, but I was hoping to keep my mind off of the events of this afternoon as much as possible.
It didn't work so well.
Trust her, I reminded myself. She knows you're there. She'll come to when she needs you, when she ready.
Eventually, without anything else to do, I made the long walk back to the Guardian Housing complex. Curfew had been a few hours ago, early because it was a school night, so it was a quiet walk and I only saw one other soul as Guardian Chase waved across the quad while doing his rounds. However, as I came closer to my apartment, I saw someone entirely unexpected waiting just outside the entrance to the building.
"Lord Ivashkov, it's well past curfew. May I ask who are you waiting for?"
Adrian pushed off from the brick wall, dropping the half-spent cigarette into the snow despite one of the few campus ash bins being less than ten feet away. While students weren't given designated smoking areas, there were quite a few staff members who had picked up the habit and accommodations had been made for them.
He strode over to me and the closer he got, the more aware I became of the fact that his smoking wasn't the only vice he had participated in today. He actually maintained himself fairly well, no stumbling or slurring, but you could still pick up the faint smell of liquor on his breath.
"Believe it or not, I'm looking for you, Belikov."
I gave him a questioning look, but otherwise waited silently for him to continue. After a moment or two, he did.
"Something's wrong with Rose."
Instantly, my body was tensed and ready for battle. "What do you mean? Where is she?"
"Down boy," he remarked, putting out a hand to stop me from taking off towards the Moroi dorms where I knew she should be with Christian. "I'm sure she's all tucked away and dreaming peacefully about pushups or roundhouse kicks or whatever it is you two do for romance. What I mean to say is that she seems like she's been on edge lately."
I let out a huff, both in response to his jibe and the fact that I knew he had purposefully set me on edge with his earlier declaration. I automatically readied my practiced response. "She's been through a lot recently. Between Spokane and the stress of the trials, it's quite a bit to deal with. Plus she hasn't been sleeping very well recently..."
Adrian interrupted me, "Wait. She told you about that?" Between the shock and confusion, I could almost detect a bit of nervousness in his voice.
I eyed him cautiously, not quite willing to reveal that Rose had been waking several nights a week plagued by terrifying dreams and memories, but I curious as to what he knew as well. It was obvious that he felt I was in the dark about something he was privy to. "The nightmares?"
"Nightmares?" His face screwed a little before returning to its natural state of laissez-faire arrogance. "Well, damn. Anyways, I wasn't talking about her 'nightmares' or whatever she wants to call them. I'm more worried about the darkness."
I was beginning to wonder if maybe he had a little more to drink than I had originally thought, especially since nocturnal creatures weren't known to be afraid of the dark, but I humored him regardless. "Darkness?"
"Yeah. Her aura keeps getting darker and darker. I think it has something to do with her short temper and personality change recently."
Now I knew he was drunk. "Her...aura. Lord Ivashkov, why don't I escort you back to guest housing and we can talk in the morning after you sleep it off?"
I placed a hand on his arm, ready to guide him across campus, but was surprised when he shrugged me off. He even went as far as to step closer, closing the gap in an almost intimidating fashion had I not had several inches on him and years of training.
"Don't give me that shit. You didn't question me when Rose was being held in that basement but now you want to brush me aside?"
He's right. I never did question where or how Adrian had gotten his information about Rose and the others in Spokane. I had also been desperate though. I would have taken any lead I could get, no matter the source or how crazy it seemed. "I'm sorry. You're right. And I owe you my thanks for helping us find her." I may not like the man, but I knew that Adrian had been instrumental in locating the students and he deserved recognition for it. "However, I never did hear how you knew where to find her."
"She never told you? I'm a Spirit User."
"She mentioned that you were staying on campus to study with Princess Vasilisa, but I'm still not sure how your healing abilities were able ascertain Rose's location."
"Wow. She didn't tell you anything about me, did she?" He almost looked amused at my confusion.
"We don't talk about you."
And like that, his amusement vanished. I tried not to let my satisfaction show, but it wasn't a lie. The most Rose ever mentioned about Adrian was usually a quick comment about how annoying he was or how she wished that he would just leave her alone. A few minutes at the heavy bag or sparring ring, and she would usually forget all about the pompous royal.
"Fair enough. I don't specialize in healing like Lissa. I tend to work on a more mental than physical level. I can read auras and emotions, and I can dream walk." His words all sounded fairly nonsensical to me, but he didn't pause long enough for me to ask for clarification. "Rose has an aura like I've never seen before. Aura's change and shift colors, but hers has been rimmed in black since the moment I met her and it only seems to be getting darker."
Even though I didn't understand what he was saying exactly, I could feel a sense of dread come over me. There wasn't a situation I could think of where a dark aura meant anything pleasant. "What does that mean?"
He shook his head. "I wish I knew. It doesn't make sense to me and I've never seen anything like it before. All I can tell you is that the darker it gets, the more unbalanced Rose seems to act."
"Like I said, she's just stressed. I'm sure she'll be okay. She just needs time." I couldn't quite tell if I was trying to sooth his worries or mine.
"Yeah? Is that why I had to pull her off the Conta girl before she strangled her today?"
"What?"
"Yeah. I found her near the academic building with her hand around the girl's throat while some cocky novice tried to talk her down. She looked almost crazed. She only let the poor thing go when I compelled her to do so."
My shock quickly morphed into anger. The thought of Adrian being able to control Rose, to influence her to do something she otherwise wouldn't, infuriated me. "You compelled her?"
"I did what I had to." He bit back, firm, commanding, and nothing like his usual self. "It was for her own good."
We stared each other down, both on edge and both stubborn about the fact. I was the one that finally broke, realizing that had a guardian or teacher found her in that position, especially after the hearing this afternoon, Rose would be in more trouble than I could ever save her from. I couldn't say I was grateful for Adrian's intervention, but I was grateful that he had found her rather than someone else.
"What do you want me to do? You came here for a reason. Why?"
"Honestly, I don't know." His shoulders dipped in defeat as he looked away. "Aren't you supposed to be the hero of the story? Save the day, get the girl, ride off into the sunset and all that happily ever after..."
I rolled my eyes, knowing that happily ever after was about as realistic as anything else in those silly faerie tales. Even if it was something worth hoping for, it was too far out of reach for me or any other guardian.
The silence dragged on, until Adrian spoke it once more. "I don't know what I was hoping you'd do, but something's going on with her. The darkness is growing more and more and it's scaring me. I think it's starting to scare her too."
"Wait. What are you talking about? How do you know?" The pure concern on his face grabbed at my attention almost as much as his actual words.
"She..." he eyed me hesitantly. "She just said some things to me." Adrian offered nothing else and my anxiety mingled with annoyance. Apparently she felt comfortable enough to talk to Adrian...what did she need me for?
"Like I said, she's been through a lot. She's probably just -"
"Stressed. I know." He finished, obviously getting tired with the circular nature our conversation was heading. "I'm sure finding out about Dashkov trial didn't make things any easier on her or the others either."
"The others? Christian and Lissa know about it too now?" Great, something tells me that Alberta wasn't going to let me off so easy.
"Yeah. She thought it was worth telling them, unlike other people." The accusation was clear. "You knew the whole time, didn't you?"
My silence was answer enough.
"She's pissed you know? About being left behind? They all are. Their voices deserve to be heard, too."
"I tried. I think they should testify, but not everyone agrees. My request was denied."
"And what? That's it? You give up?"
"What do you expect me to do?" I answered, my aggravation – more at myself and my own inability than him – growing.
"Fight for her!" He shouted, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "She's worth fighting for. That's what I would do. In fact, that's what I will do. If you won't fight for Rose, I will, and let the better man win."
As he turned to leave, I saw a glint of something dangerous in his eyes. A man with a determined goal is usually something to be admired and applauded. These men move mountains and become legends. However, when that man's goal is to sweep the woman you cherish off her feet, especially when he has the means to do so, then it was something to be greatly feared.
Author's Note
Uh-oh. Looks like Adrian is ready to jump into the ring again. I know we haven't seen much of him recently, but this is where we really start seeing Adrian start pursuing Rose again.
It was so fun to get to know you guys more and learn about what you like to do in your free time, though it seems like there is never quite as much of that as we'd like. This week's Question of the Week is: What do you think is most important in a story and why; characters, setting, or genre?
Just so you guys know, I will be traveling for the next two weeks with my family. I do have the updates for this and Meet Me in the Memory prepped and ready to go so new chapters will go up as scheduled (a big thanks for Raissa for helping with this) However, if your comment or PM and I don't back to you right away, you know why.
Thank you to all my readers, reviews, and followers. You guys make me SO happy. I hope you enjoyed the latest update and have a great week!
