Chapter 25
"Oh, ah…we were just discussing what to do with Daniella when we land." Abe lied effortlessly.
Lissa looked at him for a few seconds and then nodded her head. She believed him. I was glad he took the wheel, because Lissa knew me too well and I am not sure she would believe my lies.
"So what are we going to do with her?" Lissa pressed.
"We cannot go back to the Royal Court." Abe motioned to include everyone in that statement except Lissa. "We need to get hotel rooms and plan our strategy for return. If we go back there now, we will all be arrested. We need you, Adrian, Eddie, Christian, Mia and Mikhail to go back and pave the way for our return."
"I think we should hold on to Daniella as an insurance policy as well. We are not sure how deep her secret group runs or which officials they have in their pockets." I added.
"We'll rent two cars and a few hotel rooms when we land. Then we'll gather everyone together to come up with the best game plan." Abe proposed.
"That sounds like a good plan. I was wondering if I could speak to you alone Rose?" Lissa looked at me with a hopeful expression.
"Sure Lis, um... are you guys done? I don't mean to kick you out, but this seems to be the only private area on the plane." I explained apologetically.
"No, by all means you two stay here. We were done anyway." My mom said soothingly as she reached out and stroked down Lissa's and my arms in a gesture of comfort.
"Thanks Mom." I smiled gratefully at her, glad that we were working out our differences. She had definitely been a source of strength for me these last few weeks.
The others moved quietly away to find their seats and give Lissa and me the privacy that we needed for this conversation. I knew what she wanted to talk about, Daniella's comment about the illegitimate Dragomir. We had successfully protected Lissa from that, until now.
I turned to face her. "So what's up Lis?"
"Rose, is what Daniella said true? Do I have a sister or brother out there somewhere?" Her face was a masque of confusion. I could feel her fear and her hope radiating through our bond.
"Lis." I said as I pulled her into a hug. I whispered quietly, my mouth right next to her ear. "You do have a sibling. I am not completely sure their identity, but I have a feeling we are going to find out sooner than you think who it is."
She pulled back from me and I could see the anger that I could feel through the bond mirrored on her face. "You knew. You knew and you didn't tell me." She spat at me. "How could you."
I grasped her hands in mine to offer comfort and to keep her in place so that I had a chance to explain. "We weren't sure and I didn't want to tell you until I was sure. It is no small thing to accuse your dad, whom you love and respect. I wasn't about to do that until I had concrete proof. I am sorry if you feel hurt that I didn't tell you, but what if I did tell you and we found out that it wasn't true?"
"I don't know Rose. I am just stunned right now. I don't know how to feel." A single tear belied her words and streamed down her porcelain cheek.
I reached up and wiped her tear away. "I know this is hard for you so just remember that I love you and I would never hurt you. I only did what I thought was best for you."
"I know." She wrapped me into a hug and squeezed tight. "I love you too."
We stayed holding each other for a long time. I felt as close to Lissa as I did when we had run away from the academy and we were everything to each other. It had been forever since she felt this way. The last year has been so complicated. So many things had changed and so many people had come into their lives.
"Hey I wanted to talk to you about Adrian. He looks fine, which worries me. He just saved me from his crazy mother and honestly that has to be affecting him, but if it is he is hiding it."
"He probably is blocking everything out and it will hit him when he's back at his room alone." I concluded based on just about everything I knew about Adrian. And considering that I had dated him for a few months, I think I knew him better than just about anyone.
"That is what I'm afraid of. After you left he locked himself in his room and drank for weeks straight. He had just started to pull out of it when we spied on the secret meeting and found out the faction was led by his mother." Lissa had been there to pick up the pieces after Rose left in search of Strigoi Dimitri and when she had broken out of jail.
"Thank you for taking care of him while I was gone. I didn't mean to break up with him that way and really it wasn't fair to you to have to clean up after my mistakes." I had almost slept with Adrian and then ran off with Dimitri within days. Although in my defense I was broken out of jail and didn't choose who ran away with me. Not that I wouldn't have chosen Dimitri.
"Listen. I am not playing the blame game here. We are all friends… no wait… you are all my family and I love you. I worry about all of you and will be there to support anyone who needs it no matter what. So I don't blame you for breaking out of jail and breaking up with Adrian." Her words filled me with love. "You and Dimitri are soul mates and you belong together. Adrian will find his true soul mate one day too."
"Thank you. And I love you too." I sighed. "What are we going to do for Adrian?"
"We'll think of something, but first I think we need to concentrate on clearing your name, and bringing Daniella to justice for what she did to my family." Lissa's voice broke with the weight of her emotion over her lost family.
She was right we had enough to do to just get back into the Royal Court. Helping Adrian would have to wait until then. "I think we should keep him busy until everything gets righted. Then we will all be able to support him when the realization of his mother's guilt starts to hit him."
"Okay. I think we should probably go take our seats before Christian and Dimitri sent out a search party for us. Besides we should be landing soon." She gave me one more hug. "I trust you Rose and although I wish you confided in me sooner about my sister or brother, I understand why you didn't. I just hope you can tell me soon." She broke the embrace, but held onto my hand as we made our way back to our seats.
The action reminded me of Kindergarten when we used to be line buddies and we held each other's hands wherever we went. Our lives had certainly changed a lot since then. Lissa had lost her entire family and I had gained mine. We both had gorgeous men that loved us and friends that we could trust with our lives.
I was feeling wistful when I took my seat next to Dimitri. He took in my appearance and gathered me into his arms for a fierce hug. "I love you Roza. Everything is going to work out for all of us. Just wait and see."
His words and actions coupled with the time I had just spent with Lissa made the dam holding my emotions break. Traitorous tears starting streaming down my cheeks. "It had better. We deserve to have nice quiet lives after this."
Dimitri smiled warmly at me as he wiped my tears away with his shirt. Feeling raw and uneasy I put my head on Dimitri's shoulder and closed my eyes. He wrapped his arm around to rub soothing circles on my back.
I must have drifted off for a minute, because the next thing I knew we were touching down on the runway in Pennsylvania. I looked up groggy and a little confused until I remembered what had happened to us and what lay before us. The weight of all that we needed to do snapped me into full consciousness.
I looked to my father and mother sitting a seat away from me. "Do we have cars and a hotel yet?"
"It is all taken care of Rose. I have also had our suitcases collected from Louisiana and they will be delivered to our hotel later today." He assured me with a tired smile.
The plane came to rest just outside the small hanger and office. Our pilot came out of the cockpit to open the door, revealing a set of stairs to the tarmac. As I descended from the plane I could see two vans idling next to the office. Peter and Arthur took care of loading Daniella into one of the vans.
"Adrian, would you drive one of the vans to the hotel. I rented a block of rooms. I thought we could order some lunch, get cleaned up and have a nice strategic planning meeting tonight. After a good night sleep you kids can head back to the Royal Court." Abe went in to the office to sign for the rental cars and the rest of us loaded inside.
Mikhail had left the Royal Court car here the day before, so a few of us jumped in with him for the convoy to the hotel.
Abe gave the other drivers the hotel name and address and instructed them to follow him. The hotel wasn't far from the remote air strip. After he got the keys to the block of rented rooms he instructed us to park the cars in front of a side entrance. Luckily our rooms were close to the entrance, so Daniella was able to be brought in without any witnesses.
Dimitri and I were given a room with Lissa and Christian, who were only staying tonight. Peter and Arthur were given guard duty over Daniella and their room was attached to the room that Eddie and Mikhail were sharing in case they needed guardian backup. Abe and Adrian were sharing just for tonight as were Tasha, Janine and Mia.
We were just settling in when there was a soft knock on our door. Dimitri checked through the peep hole and then opened it to let in Abe.
"I have a menu for the local pizza place. Write down your order on this paper and then pass it on. Lissa, I was wondering if you might come to my room after you have picked out your food."
"Can Rose come too?" Lissa asked hesitantly.
"Of course, whatever makes you comfortable?" Abe informed her.
Lissa thought for a few seconds and then said, "Well in that case I would rather you spoke to me here with Christian and Dimitri too."
Abe smiled at her request. Okay just pick your food and I will pass it on to the next room and then I will be right back.
The four of us decided on a large Hawaiian pizza and then Abe left for a minute to pass on the list and the menu.
Christian and I were sitting on either side of Lissa on one of the beds. Dimitri was sitting on the other bed and got up to let Abe back into our room when we heard his knock. Abe came in and dragged the chair from the desk closer to the bed where the three of us were sitting.
"Abe, do you know who my brother or sister is?" Lissa bravely asked him. After the words left her lips she reached over and grasped my hand in her left and held on for dear life. I looked over and saw that she had Christian's in her right hand.
"Yes, I do. I got the results tonight of a DNA test. We had collected some of your DNA and some from two other people that we suspected could be related to you as a half sibling. The results were 90% likely that you indeed have a half sibling. If you need more proof we could probably increase the percentage by sending in the DNA of this half sibling's mother." Abe explained.
"Just tell me who it is Abe. And do I know them?" Lissa exclaimed nervously.
"Okay. Lissa we are 90% sure that Jill Mastrano is you half sister." Abe told her calmly and slowly.
"What? Jill. Jill is my sister? I can't believe this. She isn't much younger than me. I was thinking you were going to tell me I had a 5 year old brother or sister." She laughed incredulously. That only lasted for an instant before her emotions fluctuated again. She sat quietly after that just thinking.
We all respected her need for a minute to process this information. We just sat quietly and waited until she spoke again.
"You were with Jill, is that why? Does she know what's going on? Is she safe right now?-" She babbled until Christian interrupted her.
"Sweetie, one question at a time." He lifted her hand, which was still entwined with his, to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles.
"We went to find Jill and Emily in Detroit and discovered that they had been taken from their apartment. We found out from the Alchemists that they were headed south and we found them in a small town in Louisiana south of New Orleans." I stopped to take a well deserved breath and then continued. "The only problem was that Victor Dashkov had them."
Lissa jumped up at my words and looked stricken. "What?" She yelled loudly.
I jumped up next to her and put my hand on her arm. "Calm down Lis. You need to listen to all of the information before you jump to conclusions."
"Victor saved them. He knew that Daniella's goons were watching us and trying to find out who the child was. He took her to protect her. He had a half dozen hired guardians watching them."
"Victor was helping? I don't believe this. What's in it for him?" Christian finally added his two cents.
"We have not figured that out yet, but so far he doesn't want anything." Abe said shaking his head with his obvious disbelief and confusion.
"To answer your question about Jill knowing, yes she does know. We found a diary that Eric, your father, had sent her at the academy a few years before he died. She had assumed it was from her mother. We found earlier this week that there was a note hidden in the cover from him to her. She also knew we were doing the DNA test."
Lissa was quiet once again while she processed this new information. "Why didn't you tell me earlier on the plane that Jill was my sister?"
"I hadn't found the results of the DNA test until just now. We had also tested Adrian's DNA and he was still a possibility. As you heard earlier Daniella was having relations with both Victor and Eric, so it was entirely possible that Adrian was your brother too."
"So Adrian's not my brother then?" She said it almost as a statement rather than a question.
I didn't know the answer to that question, so I looked over to Abe.
"I am only going to tell you that Adrian is not your brother. I will not tell you anything else without talking with Adrian first." Abe stated adamantly.
"Completely understood, Dad."
Lissa nodded her agreement.
"Victor is sending Emily, Jill and all his guardians on a private jet. It should be landing at the Royal Court airstrip shortly."
"He can't come here. He is a fugitive." Christian growled.
"Victor isn't coming here. He sent all his guardians to protect the Mastrano's, though, so I am not sure what he is going to do now." I stopped and reflected on the last week with Victor. He really wasn't too bad, but then again Victor had fooled me when he kidnapped Lissa and when he escaped from us in Las Vegas.
There was a knock at the door and then my mother's voice said muffled from the other side. The food is here.
Dimitri jumped off the bed and opened the door for Janine. "The food's in your room Abe, where we are having our strategic planning meeting."
Abe turned to Lissa. "I would like to tell the others about Jill during our planning meeting. I think that is information that needs to be included in our planning. Would that be okay, or would you rather keep it a secret?"
Lissa thought about it for a minute. Then she looked at each of us in the room. We were all watching her waiting for her decision. "I would actually like to tell everyone, if that would be okay."
Abe patted her on the shoulder. "Of course that is okay. I was wondering if I could use your room for a minute I need to talk with Adrian alone before the meeting."
"No problem old man." I teased as we walked out of our room and headed toward the food.
"Rose, send Adrian over please."
I went into Abe and Adrian's room and found Adrian already digging into his sandwich. "My dad wants to talk with you for a minute. He's in my room across the hall."
"That's weird. We were in here alone for a while, why didn't he talk with me then?"
I just shrugged. I didn't understand Abe's motives any more than Adrian did.
"Hey, will you come with me?" Adrian asked shyly.
"Me?" I pointed to myself to clarify that he was indeed talking about me, Rose.
"Yes you silly. Will you come with me?"
I looked over to Dimitri who was watching our exchange. He nodded his head subtly.
"Of course I will. Let's go." I looked back to Dimitri as we walked across the room. He smiled and winked at me. My heart fluttered.
The door to my room across the hall was ajar and Adrian pushed it open. Abe was peeking out the light blocking curtains that were pulled tightly across the window, blocking out the afternoon sun.
"You wanted to see me?" Adrian asked lifting one eyebrow.
"Rose, what are you doing back here?"
"Adrian asked me to come with." I explained.
"Okay. Adrian, would you like to take a seat." Adrian sat down on the edge of one of the queen beds.
"Listen, I am going to tell you something that is pretty important." Abe paused. "We did DNA testing to make sure you weren't Eric Dragomir's son." He paused to let Adrian absorb that information. When he looked like he could handle more Abe continued. "What we found is that you are probably not Nathan's son"
"That explains a lot." Adrian joked. "Then who is my father?"
"We are 99.9% sure that it is Victor Dashkov."