Chapter#9
(Debpreato, great minds thing alike. Thanks for your review, and to everyone who reviewed this story.) :)
I rose, and watched as the eyes of Moroi and dhampir alike followed me to the front.
After I was sworn in I was faced by Eddie's lawyer. She didn't bother with a casual greeting, instead she got right into the questioning, and I was glad. I hated faking being polite.
"So, Guardian Hathaway, let me first ask you. Who is the father of your baby?"
I didn't know my mother was here. Not until her twisted stare plummeted into me.
I turned away, keeping my focus on the lawyer, who had a smug look on her face. I arched forward into the microphone.
"Guardian Dimitri Belikov."
"But he's a dhampir." She said non chalantly. "And you were too at conception? Isn't that right?"
"Yes." I shot beneath my fangs. "That's correct."
"So, tell me, how can a dhampir and another dhampir make a baby?"
"Just like anyone else. We made love." I retorted. "Would you like the details?" There were a few muttered laughs from the crowd, but mostly silence.
Dimitri's cheeks flushed in red blotches. He was typically very private in general, and with our sex life.
The images replayed seductively in my head and dinged into my cortex, making me shiver in delight.
"No, that's quite all right Guardian Hathaway." She sneered, appalled.
She changed the subject.
"So, after you and your baby were healed and you were turned into Moroi you chased down Mr. Castile?"
"Yes, that's correct."
She fuddled through her paperwork and then looked back up at me.
"And why would you do that?"
"Because I wanted to talk to him."
"Talk to him?" She huffed. "Not try to kill him?"
"No." I said, clenching my fists to keep from screaming. "My plan was to reason with him, and tell him that our baby was no longer strigoi."
She nodded and shifted her body to the crowd then back to me.
"And that's why you used compulsion on the strigoi? To reason with him?"
"I did do that, but."
"Yes or no answers Miss Hathaway." The official spat.
I nodded and sighed into the microphone. "Yes." I said. "But I had good reason." I finished despite the official's clenched jaw.
"Please." The lawyer said, ushering her arms out to the crowd. "Tell us please, what was that reason? Was it so you could make your assignation against Mr. Castile look like an accident?"
"No, because Mr. Castile threw that Strigoi on top of me. In the process, I lost my stake. I was defending myself, and my baby."
"I had meant it as a distraction so I could find my stake."
That was a detail I hadn't told Dimtri. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him angling a deadly glare to Eddie.
I would have felt bad for him, or anyone on the receiving end of that. Except he tried to kill me and my baby. So instead I smiled internally, keeping it from public eye.
"Very well Miss Hathaway. You may step down."
I smiled, and skipped of the front.
"The court now calls Guardian Dimitri Belikov."
Dimitri walked forward as I was walking back. We met for a moment, our eyes touching each other in soft sinful caresses.
Then in a flash his eyes were gone, leaving me empty as I sat back on the bench.
"Guardian Belikov." She said, twisting with delight. "I would like to know your recollection of that night."
He nodded and gave her the details, leading up to the fight between him and Eddie.
"So, you attacked Mr. Castile?"
"Yes." He gruffed.
"Why?"
"Because he was going to kill my baby, and my lover. I wasn't going to let that happen."
"Even if it meant the lives of the Moroi? The ones that you have been sworn to protect."
He said nothing, but kept his teeth clenched.
"Answer the question Guardian Belikov." The official presiding said.
"There was no other immediate threat." He said, looking at Eddie. "Mr. Castile was the only one showing any kind of aggression or posing any danger."
"But." She said, forcing Dimitri's eyes back to her. "Say Miss Hathaway hadn't survived, and say that the baby had not been turned. Would you have killed your baby to save the Moroi?"
He closed his eyes clenching tight as if trying to fight off any emotion from plastering on his face.
"I would have done anything necessary, and if that meant killing my child then I would have."
I gulped, Dimitri looking at me apologetically.
I wasn't angry though. I had once gone to Russia to kill him when he was Strigoi. I knew that for him it would have been a mercy killing. Like it had been for me.
"But Rose and the baby had survived, and were no threat to any Moroi present."
"As I said. Mr. Castile was the only one posing a threat." He said shifting uncomfortably.
"Was Mr. Castile informed of the baby's state before he left the house?"
"Yes." Dimitri replied. "He was informed several times that the baby was no longer strigoi."
"Is that why you tried to run away the other night? Because the baby isn't Strigoi?" She finished dragging out her last word with a sarcastic tone.
"That's speculation." Abe cluttered. "We don't know Mr. Belikov and Miss Hathaway were running away."
The official nodded and turned back to the lawyer.
"Please rephrase your question Miss Trendel."
She nodded, but glared.
"Why did you and Miss Hathaway leave court yesterday? And where did you go?"
"To Maine." He replied with a lift to his voice. "To get married. We were going to come back once we had officially done so."
"I have the marriage license as proof to that effect." Abe said, reaching in the folds of his jacket and pulling out a manila envelope.
This earned several shocked calls from the crowd in the form of deep sighs and gasps, and one deadly hot glare to me from my mother.
"And did you and Miss Hathaway get married?"
"Not yet. We were just about to, but through the bond Miss Hathaway was pulled into the queen's mind. She knew that she was being questioned to our whereabouts, so we came back."
"Thank you Guardian Belikov." She said dismissing him.
He rose from his seat and came to sit back next to me.
I squeezed his hand, but he wouldn't look at me. His guardian mask set firmly in place.
"We would now like to call Dr. Flemont."
We all pivoted our eyes to the back, and from it the good doctor sauntered to the front.
He was sworn in and the questions began.
"Dr. Flemont, please tell the room what is your specialty?"
"Obstetrics." He said. "But I also specialize in Strigoi studies."
"You examined Miss Hathaway when she returned to court?"
"That's right." He said with a straight nod. "I gave her an ultrasound."
"And what were your findings doctor?"
"To tell you the truth I was alarmed. I hadn't expected to find a fetus, since both alleged parents were dhampir at time of conception."
"I did however, find a fetus." He continued.
"And what is your conclusion Doctor?" She said. "Is the baby Strigoi?"
He smiled and turned to us with a nod.
"I can't tell you how it's possible, but I can tell you that it's a miracle."
"It's too early to identify the gender, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that the baby is dhampir."
"And how can you tell that doctor?"
He shifted, adjusting his already straight glasses.
"The heart rate." He said. "It's faster than a Moroi fetus, and certainly faster than a Strigoi, who have extremely low heart rates due to their undead status."
Dimitri clenched tight to my hand and drew in a deep humming sigh.
The court called a break and everyone was asked to leave.
"What?" Lissa frowned. "You're engaged, and you went to get married? Without us?"
Dimitri, Christian, and I were all sitting in Lissa's common room trying to calm her down.
"Lissa, the elopement was a last-minute decision." I consoled her. "We didn't do it because we didn't want you there. We just wanted to get married."
This seemed to work. Her stare lightened, and visibly her stiff frame softened.
"I saw the government official questioning you about our whereabouts. I didn't want you to have to cover for us."
"And about the baby."
"So, I stopped you from getting married?" Her gaze dropped and through the bond I could feel guilt piling around her. It was like heavy bricks, circling and trapping her.
"No, Lissa. No."
"No, I did." She said with a huff and standing. "Stop trying to protect me Rose. Please, I'm not fragile. I can take it."
"Your majesty." Dimitri said with raised hands.
"Don't call me that." She spat. "Not here Dimitri, please. Not among friends."
Well, other than the guardians that were piled up along the corners of the rooms.
He took a deep breath to speak, but Christian held his hand up.
Dimitri nodded, giving him the clearance to comfort his fiancé.
Christian crossed the room where Lissa was standing in front of a large window. He then moved his arms, angling them around her waist. He then whispered soft sentiments into her ear. We couldn't hear though, because his voice was too low.
"Can you believe it?" I said, turning to Dimitri. "A little dhampir you will be running around in just a few months."
"A little dhampir us." He finished, taking a seat beside me and looking down on my stomach.
I reached out to kiss him, but the doors opened with a large crash.
Dimitri reached for his stake, but stilled when he saw my mother.
She ignored him, or just hadn't noticed that he had his weapon out.
"You little traitor whore." She spat, just before reaching her hand out to swing at me.
Dimitri intervened and gripped her tightly by the wrist.
"Just what do you think you're doing Belikov?" She said, struggling in his grip.
He released her hand, but shifted his body in front of mine.
"I want to talk to Rose." She said, shifting her gaze around Dimitri, who swayed with her, blocking her gaze from me. It was funny to watch. With my mom being so short compared to Dimitri's 6'7 structure.
Well, everyone was short compared to Dimitri, but still I took joy in watching her struggle.
"Anything you wish to say to Rose you can say to me." He bit.
"How dare you guardian Belikov? You are out of line."
"No, you are out of line." He snapped, arching forward.
The two stared at each other for a moment. My mother was wide-eyed. Dimitri's stare was ice cold. He reached his arms out to pull me beneath the folds of his duster, but did not move his feet from the spot.
"This doesn't concern you Belikov." She spat beneath clenched teeth.
"Oh no, you're wrong Guardian Hathaway. It concerns me greatly."
"It concerns me." He continued. "That my fiancé's mother has the audacity not only to throw around insults so carelessly to her daughter but to physically attack her."
"How dare you look at her? How dare you judge her? You left her at the hands of the academy when she was just a baby."
"You don't understand..." She said with a laugh.
"I don't have to." He said, raising his voice. "Because my child, our child will never know what that's like."
He was shaking now, not out of sadness, but out of pure raw anger. Normally he was more subdued, but I expected that stress had been hard on him.
"Your business is done here now Guardian Hathaway. You can leave."
"Clearly, you know what that looks like." He said motioning towards the door.
She turned to leave with a huff, and that's when we heard a distinct glass shatter cling onto the marble floor.
She turned back, and dove straight into guardian mode.
I turned. The window farthest away from Lissa and Christian had been broken, by a rock.
Written on it in blood were the words 'Strigoi whore.'
Dimitri and I both reacted, grabbing Lissa and Christian and throwing them into the safety of a small closet, designed for such situations when safety was compromised.
I was about to climb out after getting them in, but Dimitri shut the door behind me.
"What? What are you doing?" I said pulling my arm out to stop it. "Let me out. I have to help."
"No Roza." He breathed. "Stay here."
Before I could react, he pushed me in the rest of the way and locked the door behind me.
