I looked at Eddie's eyes closed in pleasure, a satisfied moan escaping his lips before he opened his eyes and then returned them to look at mine.
"Go on. Again," he begged. "I'm just imagining the look on Zeklos' face!"
Eddie, Lissa, Christian, Dimitri, Mom and I were in the cafeteria eating lunch. Dimitri was sitting beside me eating, pretending not to be joining in the conversation while I told them about yesterday's visit from Grigor and Jesse.
"I wish I'd been there" Eddie moaned again. "I would have given anything to see Jesse apologize to you and then Dimitri," he said, grinning.
Mom was standing just behind us guarding, but I could see a twitch at the corner of her mouth revealing she, too, was appreciating the retelling.
By now, the story of Rose pinning Jesse against a wall and putting a stake to his back at the party was on everyone's lips. Jesse's pulverized face furthered the conjecture about what happened. Some people thought I'd beaten him up; others thought it was Dimitri. Either way, Jesse was refusing to talk – even outright lying in Moroi Studies, telling the teacher he'd tripped down some stairs when she enquired about his injuries.
Of course, me being me I wasn't prepared to completely let things go. So after a gruelling training session with Dimitri this morning, my outfit of choice for the day was a pair of super tight black jeans, the tight Badass Bitch TShirt, both my stakes (one at my knee, the other in a hip holster I'd borrowed from Mom) a pair of lace-up Dr Martens, and my hair up in a high ponytail to show off my new molnija.
"Really Roza?" Dimitri had said with a raised eyebrow as Mom and I came out of the ladies change rooms ready to head to breakfast.
"I kind of like it Belikov," Mom said with a wicked smile at me.
However, the party was not the only topic of gossip. Eddie and I getting molnija was a pretty big deal, too – especially amongst the Novices and Guardians. The Novices were excited to see two of their own coming up with the goods. The Guardians were a lot more circumspect, those who were on shift and unable to attend the ceremony seeking out Eddie or myself individually to shake our hand or give us an understanding nod or comment.
After the third or fourth such encounter, Eddie sought me out in the back of a noisy combat class to talk about it.
"It's hard to believe in a couple of months that's going to be our lives," he said. I nodded, not wanting to tell him it might not quite be mine.
"So what are you hoping to do after graduation?" I asked him, keeping in the back of my mind Lissa's thoughts about having him as her Guardian.
"Not sure, really," Eddie replied. "Ideally I'd like to get a position as a second Guardian somewhere? Maybe in a bigger household? I mean, I know we're meant to be good to go as soon as we graduate, but I think I could use some on the job training with an experienced field Guardian before I take on solo guarding."
And there, again, is why Eddie will be wonderful at his job. He knew enough to know not to overestimate his skills and abilities.
"Of course, if they assign me to someone like Zeklos, I'm going to be hitting your Dad and Pavel up for a job," he said, absolutely seriously.
"I'm sure that won't happen, but if it does I'm sure they'd take you," I said, equally as serious. "In fact, I'll have a word with Baba tonight and mention it."
"Thanks, Rose I'd appreciate it. I'm sure I'll get someone ok, but it would be nice to have a backup plan all the same" Eddie said, looking relieved.
That was the problem with the way the allocations worked. You basically got very little say in where, and to whom, you were sent. A lot of the time Royals and Novices put in joint requests, like Ivan and Dimitri had, and the allocations board were happy to go with it, but just as often Guardians were allocated to complete strangers. And sometimes a Guardian got allocated to someone they despised or grew to despise.
Theoretically, a Guardian could go to the allocations board and request a transfer or reallocation, but unless you had an established name, most often it earned you a one-way ticket to a desk job or somewhere even worse. So your only other option was to take a leave of absence and work for a Moroi privately. Of course, in a typical Moroi/Dhampir double standard, a Moroi could change their Guardian at will with no explanation required.
With Lissa, it had always been assumed I'd be her Guardian. Our age, our friendship, the fewer available female Guardians, and then later our bond all tipped the scales in our favor. But there were never any guarantees, and I gave a little shiver as I imagined how stuck I could have been had I been forced into an allocation with someone like Zeklos instead of Lissa. My trust fund meant that was not going to happen. If I did promise, and one day got allocated to someone I didn't like, I'd just take a leave of absence. However that wasn't an option for most Guardians, so it was a genuine concern for them - especially Novices waiting to find out their first posting.
Not every Moroi got a Guardian. Guardian numbers were falling and there simply weren't enough of us go around. So the Royal Moroi always got first pick. With a molnija already awarded prior to his promise, Eddie might well be courted by Royals seeking out his skills. When multiple Royals requested the same Guardian, the Guardian's preference was usually taken into consideration – so that boded well for him.
The bell rang sounding the end of the practical lesson, Dimitri and Mom were standing beside me as I packed up. Walking towards us Stan called out "Belikov? A moment please?"
Keeping his face impassive, Dimitri walked over to Stan. Mom shrugged at my inquiring look, and the two of us stood there watching while Stan appeared to be appealing for Dimitri's help with something. Walking back to us, Dimitri had a huge grin on his face.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
"Stan wants me on the Guardian basketball team for the Novice/Guardian grudge match!" he laughed.
"Can you do that?" I asked, slightly annoyed on behalf of the Novices that my six foot seven inch tall lover might be on Guardian's side. "You're not a school Guardian anymore."
"Well, that's what Stan is going to find out. It's always been Guardians against Novices – but as far as we know there's no rule saying they need to be school Guardians. He's hoping me and a couple of the Mazur Guardians might play."
I laughed. The Novice/Guardian basketball grudge match was a yearly event played out between the graduating Novice class and the Guardians. It was scheduled about a month before the end of school as a way to blow off some steam at a particularly stressful time for the Novices. Even though it was essentially a Dhampir event, the entire campus came to watch. Parents and friends of Moroi and Dhampir alike flocked to campus to see it and to wish their seniors good luck for their last month of school - which is when they took their finals.
I'd seen Dimitri play basketball and he was good. If he was allowed to play then the Novices could be in real trouble.
"You're not allowed to tell anyone about this, Rose," he said, suddenly serious. "Apparently I'm going to be a surprise weapon against the Novices!"
"So you're going to do it then, if it's allowed?"
"Hell yeah!" he said, with a grin that made him look every bit the young man that he was.
The rest of the week passed quickly and without incident. Baba was staying on campus supervising the modifications to the nearby farmhouse, and Mom would stay over with him in the guest accommodation each night. We'd all eat dinner together and sometimes watch a bit of TV and then they'd depart - leaving an alternate Guardian stationed outside the unit door overnight. I had to say the nights we had the unit to ourselves were bliss! We'd already christened both sofas, one of the dining chairs, 'my' bed in Mom's room, the dining table and the bathtub. Had anyone on campus thought too hard about it, they might have understood there was a female student alone in a secluded unit with her twenty-five-year-old Guardian as her only company, but thankfully no one seemed too interested in where my mother was sleeping, and since there was always a guard outside the unit door that didn't raise any red flags either.
By the time Friday rolled around, excitement was rife. True to his word, Abe's farmhouse was ready and he'd extended an invitation to visit to my friends. Adrian had headed to court for a visit, so he wasn't coming, and Eddie had homework to catch up on, so in the end it was Baba, Mom, Lissa, Christian, Dimitri and I with a large complement of Guardians. Setting out on Friday afternoon as soon as classes ended, we were at the farmhouse in a matter of minutes. Even though it wasn't far from campus, it felt like a great weight lifted off my shoulders as soon as we arrived.
Despite Baba's claims that it was 'barely livable' I loved the place as soon as I saw it. A timber home built on a slight hill with a big wrap around balcony, it was painted white with pretty blue trim. The house itself was huge – with a cellar, ground and main floors and then the sweetest attic with dormer windows. It had a huge country-style kitchen on the main floor along with living and dining rooms and the master bedroom, ensuite and a powder room. On the next level were more bedrooms and bathrooms, and then finally upstairs under the roofline were the sweetest two bedrooms you could imagine. With sloped ceilings towards the edges, the high pitch of the roof meant there was still plenty of room to stand – even for my tall Russian God. In fact, the roofline was higher in there than anywhere else in the house.
The larger room had the most gorgeous window built into the gable so you'd be able to lie in bed and see out over the roof, across the farmyard and to the trees in the distance. While it was dark right now, sunrise and sunset would be spectacular from up here. There was a huge cast iron bed covered in a blue and white toile patchwork quilt, a chest of drawers, a small armoire and two comfy armchairs. It was so pretty and restful, and I just knew it was perfect for Dimitri and me.
The second attic room was smaller and had a double bed. While it also had windows, they were higher and faced towards the sky. Decorated in dusky pinks, this room had wallpaper covered in roses. Yeah well; I'd avoid sleeping in that room just on principle.
The two rooms came off a small landing, off of which was also a bathroom with an enormous claw-foot tub. As soon as I saw it, I knew we'd be claiming the attic rooms.
"Bags up here!" I shouted, leaning over the railing and laughing. Lissa raced up the stairs to take a look.
"Oh it's so pretty!" she gushed, looking at our room; although I had to admit the effect was somewhat spoiled by Dimitri lying back on the bed in his uniform, hands behind his head, eyes closed with a smile upon his face. "Come on – check out the room we picked!"
Racing back down to the second floor, I discovered there were four guest rooms, one of which had already been claimed by Pavel. Lissa lead me into another that she and Christian would be sharing. It had a cast iron bed similar to the one in our room upstairs, and the whole suite was decorated in a pretty sunny lemon. Trust Lissa to pick a room that matched her complexion!
"Come on Dimitri!" I hollered when we were back near the stairs. "I want to explore!"
With a chuckle, Dimitri came down to the bedroom level. "Ok – your wish is my command" he joked, taking my hand and leading me back down to the ground floor followed by Lissa and Christian. The Guardians were there, busy unpacking supplies into the kitchen cabinets. Something already smelled amazing, and my stomach grumbled.
"Dimitri! Rose!" said a familiar voice, and I turned to see Suzanne coming up from the cellar.
"What are you doing here?!" I squealed, throwing myself at her in a hug.
"When your father told me about the farmhouse I knew he'd need someone to take care of the cooking on the weekends. With so many Guardians presently attending Mr. Mazur, and up at the school, there's next to no one for me to cook for back at the Santa Monica house. So here I am!"
"Pavel looks happy to see you" I whispered so only she could hear, seeing Pavel cast an admiring glance as he walked past, directing the Guardians where to deliver the luggage.
"That was an added inducement to visit," Suzanne whispered back with a giggle.
Pulling back from our hug, Suzanne leaned forward and hugged Dimitri, too. While he wasn't expecting it, he returned it with a smile. "She's looking happy, so you're doing a good job Belikov" she laughed.
"Now if you haven't already seen, there's a pair of porch swings out there which are just delightful. Can I suggest I'll mix you up a pitcher of drinks and you four might want to sit out there and enjoy the sun rising and then you can come in for dinner? I'll need to serve the Guardians their meals first, but dinner should be in a couple of hours. I've made roast pork. Lissa? Christian? Pavel has arranged for feeders to come just before dinner for yourselves and Mr. Mazur – he'll get you when they arrive."
Sending us out on to the wrap around porch with a pitcher of vodka martinis, we quickly found perpendicular porch swings at one end of the balcony with a sweet timber table positioned between them. Choosing the one closer to the end of the balcony, Dimitri sat down first, pulling me down beside him – my back to his front. He picked up one of two conveniently placed soft patchwork quilts and tossed it over me before cuddling me back into him.
Lissa and Christian were soon similarly placed next to us, and the four of us chatted. It was so relaxing! Looking out over the farmyard as the sun rose we could see an adorable red painted barn a hundred yards or so away. There was also what looked like a storage outbuilding that I believe had been converted into the Guardian sleeping quarters.
"Fancy a roll in the hay?" Dimitri whispered into my ear, looking meaningfully at the barn. A giggle was my only response!
It seemed like only a few minutes later, although our empty drinks pitcher suggested otherwise, when Pavel was collecting Lissa and Christian to visit the feeders. Dimitri and I sat cuddled on the porch a little longer, watching the beauty of the sunrise while gently rocking back and forth in the swing.
"This place is gorgeous, milaya. You're gorgeous! I can't remember ever being happier than right now."
"I feel the same way, Comrade. Everything feels perfect."
