Rhea answers under pressure
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In court, Ibrahim created a plan to find both girls and told Eric, to trust him in that. He called to court the three suitors chosen by the Queen to be contenders for the hand of Vasilissa in marriage. They were offered a formal courtship in exchange for their collaboration in the search for the young woman.
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Lady Natasha Ozera - tutor of Christian Ozera since he was eleven years old - withdrew from the convocatory because she didn't have anything to negotiate with. The young Lord Dashkov didn't have to offer either - he depended on his father's money, now that he had no work - leaving only the young Lord Ivan Zeklos.
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"I am 22 years old, Milord... I am not interested in wooing a girl so young... besides... I am not considered a good... prospect, for past situations", defended himself Lord Ivan, como gato de espaldas*.
"We could reach an agreement," Ibrahim suggested, smiling ominously, "your best guardian, to trace our dear Vasilissa and, once you find her, we will not touch the subject of courtship again, I'll personally speak to our Queen and she will not consider you as an option for Lady Vasilissa... besides, it's true, 22 years is too much difference with her, she's just a girl and you, a whole man", dragged the words, making him feel more than uncomfortable.
"Dimitri?", He turned to his young guardian, a dhampir of his own age, as tall as a tower and full of muscles, "you will stay to help His Highness, Prince Eric, and Lord Mazur, the Regent Dragomir, in the search of Lady Vasilissa... and do it fast!... I do not want to marry her! "He whined.
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As the young Lord and his guardian withdrew, the prince turned to Ibrahim. "What was that circus, Abe?".
"Exactly what I planned, Eric, get a good tracking guard and show no favoritism in doing so."
"The Guardian of Lord Ivan Zeklos? Why him?".
"St Basil, the best of its alumni, Blood Master 7, believe it or not... and is our Queen's nephew".
"Is... Adrian's brother?".
"Cousin, his father is Lord Randall."
"I guess that information is useful, huh? I say, because you mention it."
"Everything always is useful, Eric, have you not heard of recycling, or reuse or reinvention?, I'm a miner, Eric, I dig and dynamite and make data mining my profession... among other things, of course" .
"If you say so..." he mumbled.
"A dhampir son is not so well looked at, but if they're a real quorum, the statuo quo of the Council would be falling apart... and will pain them... Your daughter, Randy's son...".
"And your possible daughter, right?".
"Yes, my friend. I was young, more than you were when you fathered the other girl, I was crazy in love to her, but, obviously, we could not get married, I stupidly believed that she would accept to be... my lover, okay? But my Janie chose another way, that and knowing of her pregnancy filled me with rage, with uncontained anger, and I accepted the proposal to marry Reneé, the rest is public history".
"A Lady Dhampir in the Senescalato... wow! I did not see that coming!".
"Not even me, my friend" he acknowledged.
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Janine stayed in Montana - she had many accumulated vacations - to take care of both girls. There was very little left for them to graduate and she wanted to get Rose out of the reach of him. She could not take Lissa, her place was with her family, but she was not yet 17 years old. But she could take Rose. She was her mother and only family. And they would leave just after high school. That... was already talked. Rose would enter St. Andrew or Cambridge or wherever she was not close to Him. There was the matter that Lissa would not turn 18 until after that date. But they would solve it on their way.
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Lord Adrian managed to awaken Rhea Dragomir after long attempts combined with science. Rhea was obviously baffled by the long sleep of unconsciousness. Lord Adrian worked intensely with her until her balance was restored.
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"Lady Dragomir," Adrián began, "who is Janine Hathaway?".
"A guardian I met in England."
"Where does the guard Janine Hathaway live?".
" I do not know".
"How did you relate to the Guardian Janine Hathaway?".
"Her daughter was in preschool with my daughter Lissa."
"What is the name of Guardian Janine Hathaway's daughter?".
"RoseMarie Hathaway."
"Where does RoseMarie Hathaway live?.
"In Missoula."
"Describe Janine and RoseMarie Hathaway."
"Janine is of short height, with red hair and tight curls, her eyes are brown, but in the light they look green... RoseMarie has a long and beautiful dark hair, almond skin and big dark eyes, she's as beautiful as her mother", she sighed.
"How do you know where RoseMarie Hathaway lives?".
"Lissa was always going to visit her in Montana," she confirmed.
"Where did she visit RoseMarie Hathaway?".
"My guardian left Lissa in some mall in Montana, but in the last visits it was in a mall in Missoula, always".
"How old are Janine and RoseMarie Hathaway?", Adrián was tying all the ends.
"RoseMarie is months older than Lissa, Janine was 21 years old in England." That was in the information previously received by Captain Croft, who was following the interview very closely.
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Rhea was almost avoid of energy after the interrogation under compulsion, but all the pieces fit, at last. Janine was the Guardian whose daughter was Lissa's friend, from preschool in England. And she lived, more than surely, in Missoula, or Montana. There were, practically, at the gates of the St. Vladimir Academy in Montana. As an intelligent child, Lissa had erased her clues, allowing herself to be invisible before their very nose. Since the students of the academy did not live, normally, in Montana, none would see her in the vicinity of the Mall. And the few guardians who went there would not be looking for her. Intelligent, yes, very intelligent.
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Captain Croft assembled a reliable team and gave them clues to start the hunt. The selected ones were the Guardians Dimitri Belikov, Celeste Higgins of the St. Vladimir Academy of Montana; Pavel Prokofiev - Ibrahim's main guardian, who knew Janine by sight - Emil Croft, nephew of the captain and his man of trust - and Yury Glazunov, the new guardian assigned to Prince Eric. They met with the Captain - behind closed doors, only with Eric and Ibrahim as assistants - to receive the dossier of information pertinent to the search. Ibrahim's jet would take them directly to the hangar of the St. Vladimir Academy, from where they would take the vehicles, to start the search in Montana. At least it was not all over the country... or the continent, right? And there were not so many malls.
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Dimitri appeared! What will happen? Will they love each other? Will they hate each other?.
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In the next chapter:
"Why should I? What have they done for me? My mother was abandoned at 18, without money, without help and with me in her womb ... she went ahead alone, without Moroi help, without anything, despised for not aborting me. "
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*gato de espaldas: a typical chilean expression, means someone defending themself in a desperate way
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