Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy.
Well done to Destinee-Rose-Belikov for guessing correctly who cleared their throat :) you guys are getting good at this lol xx
Also a huge thank you to my amazing beta reader lilmissryry - thank you, thank you, thank you!
I want to say a quick thank you to all that have either; read, reviewed, added my story to their faves/alerts or added me to their faves/alerts; gracefish21, Ri-nocemoose, Destinee-Rose-Belikov, shyshy1016, jeaniemaea, snowgoose, MaggieChauvin, rivereq, LittleDhampir123, CaRiNeSs, IloveCeci, Hanane, Zonexi, Katherine-Rose-Rulz, Readheadtress, , DimkasRoza, lovedimitri, readsalot, soccaplayer, Tiwilightfan023, RosemarieBelikov, VampireEva, 1234Rose, missa27, and rhegan.
Chapter 12:
'To speak your mind takes courage, to hold your tongue takes a different kind of courage. Wisdom is knowing when to do either, strength is seeing it through.' –Unknown.
'How helpless we are, like netted birds, when we are caught by desire.' –Belva Plain.
Both of our heads whipped to the side at the sound to find Alberta and Stan watching us, a mixture of confusion, suspicion and amusement on their faces.
"Well Rose, you have exactly two minutes to explain why you are sitting on your mentors lap while stroking his face. And you, Guardian Belikov, have 2 minutes to explain why you were allowing her to do it."
Both Dimitri and I had frozen when Alberta had coughed, and now he rested his head against my back, cursing under his breath in Russian, while I gaped at Alberta.
"I'm waiting Miss Hathaway."
Oh crap. The amusement was gone and her tone of voice had become deadly serious; I wouldn't be able to lie my way out of this one.
"I, er… well." Alberta's face looked like stone and it was making me nervous. I had no idea how to tell her. How could I explain in a way that would make her understand? Oh God, this was going to be terrible, I was gonna be expelled. Dimitri would be fired and Lissa would be unprotected… my mind was whirling and I started to shake.
"Look Rose, clam down." She sounded weary now, and concerned. "Just explain it to me, ok? I won't judge you or yell, or anything like that but I have to know."
By this point Celeste and Yuri had woken up, but I didn't focus on them. Instead I took a deep breath, looked Alberta in the eye and told her "I love him."
To say that the guardians were shocked would be an understatement. A few of their jaws dropped open, and even Stan, who always had a comment for something I did, was speechless. Finally Alberta spluttered "What?" Before staring at me in shock again.
Hearing this Dimitri lifted his head. "Alberta, please don't punish Rose. I'll take the punishment, but please, don't take away her future too."
There were a few more minutes of silence as she composed herself and, I guess, thought through everything she'd seen and heard. "Okay, before we come to any kind of disciplinary actions, I want you to tell me everything."
So we did. We told her about; first arriving at the academy, the lust spell, Spookane, the night of the attack minus the cabin, and everything that had happened afterwards while she and the others listened in silence. When we finished talking, no one said anything for a long time. I began to bite my lip anxiously and the feel of Dimitri's arms tightening round my waist, was the only indicator of his nervousness.
At last, Alberta focused back on us and began to speak. "I've known you for long enough now Rose, to be able to tell when you're lying and when you're telling the truth. And it appears to me, that you've both just told me the truth. I must admit, I'm shocked that you both share such strong feelings, but I had noticed a change in your personalities, especially in you Rose, and I had hoped that it was due to Dimitri's influence. However, regardless of my acceptance, there's still the fact that Dimitri is your mentor, and was in a position of trust, which has been jeopardized. So, this is what will happen, and I expect neither you two, no any of the present guardians to go against my decision."
Everyone in the room nodded, their gazes fixed on Alberta. "This will not be spoken of amongst the other guardians, if we manage to escape and get back to the Academy. They will only be informed if either myself, Rose or Dimitri, think it appropriate and necessary. Your training sessions are to be strictly professional, there is only a week left, but we can't afford for a member of the student body to find out and cause a scandal so close to your graduation. I also suggest that when you move to court, you keep your relationship as low profile as possible for the first few months, to avoid speculation about your mentoring role before she had graduated. This is what will happen. Do you all understand?"
Again, everyone nodded before gawking at me and Dimitri.
Sighing, I leant back against Dimitri's chest, worn out from the adrenaline that had been flooding through my system. His arms snaked around my waist, and I felt his lips at my ear as he whispered "Do you need more sleep?"
I snuggled up to him a bit more before replying "No, my body just aches from earlier. Plus, I was so nervous about what Alberta said that I'm all worn out. I was thinking of everything I'd ever said or done in my life that was a heck of a lot stupider than this, yet I was practically hyperventilating at what she was gonna say."
He laughed with me before moving me so that I was cradled in his lap, covered by his duster to keep me warm. "But you do need to sleep. You've been through much more than the rest of us these past two days and your body needs time to heal." I looked up at him and smiled, before feeling like I was being watched.
Confused, I turned to see the four guardians sitting there, blatantly gawking at our little exchange. Sarcastically I commented on their behaviour "Did you want some popcorn to go with the show?"
Stan looked embarrassed, while Yuri and Celeste had suddenly found the patch of wall that was opposite them very interesting. Alberta and Dimitri laughed though, and again I felt his lips at my ear, except this time he was gently murmuring to me in Russian and sent me to sleep.
Don't worry, things start getting a lot more interesting from now on :) xx
