Ivan sank onto the couch of his apartment and gave a contented sigh. The silence was wonderful after weeks living with his parents. The apartment was only leased on a monthly basis for temporary Court residents, but that was all Ivan planned on being. He was ready to figure out his own path somewhere else, wherever that might be.
A knock on his door brought a faint smile to Ivan's lips. He expected the visit, and was unsurprised by Dimitri on the other side of his door. It felt nice, normal, to see Dimitri at his door. Albeit a new normal, different than what they had known before.
"Welcome to my temporary home," Ivan said, ushering Dimitri inside.
Dimitri looked around, scoping out their surroundings. He was, as ever, a trained guardian. "Temporary? Do you have plans to leave?"
Ivan gave a noncommittal shrug. "The lease is for a month. After that I plan to visit my properties and try to make myself have some semblance of a normal life again." They walked toward the small kitchen. Ivan offered Dimitri a drink and both men chose sodas. "How did visiting the Dragomirs go?"
Dimitri took a sip of his soda before setting it down on the counter. "It went well. It was very hard for all of them."
"I can imagine."
"Rose told me to come see you while she waits to talk with the family guardians. She's trying to be strong."
Ivan gave him a rueful look. "She's not weak."
"I know that, but I also know that she has a long way to go." Dimitri considered Ivan carefully. "How are you doing?"
"It must be strange for you, not seeing into my mind when I'm here." Ivan tilted his head slightly as he looked back at Dimitri. "I'm getting better. The guardians are nearing the end of what they need from me right now. I'm ready to open the next chapter of my life."
Picking up their cans, Ivan and Dimitri moved to the nearby living area. Ivan sprawled on the couch. Dimitri took a seat on one of the armchairs.
Ivan took a few swallows of his soda before setting the can down on the coffee table. "What about you, Dimka? What do you want to do next? I swear, if you say you're going to stay a guardian and leave Rose behind, I'll hit you."
Dimitri snorted a laugh. "I don't doubt that you would." He sighed deeply. "I'm going to resign. I don't have plans for what I want to do. All I know is that I don't want to waste my life anymore."
"It only took you losing everyone you love who isn't family to get that through your head," Ivan muttered.
Dimitri gave a soft sound of annoyed agreement. "I'm aware."
Ivan shifted, sitting straight, focusing intently on Dimitri. "I think you should wait to resign, at least for a few weeks."
"Oh?" Dimitri arched an eyebrow.
"The guardian council has confirmed plans to eliminate Sofia."
Dimitri's focus on Ivan grew just as intent. "How do you know that?"
"I was involved in the planning. You'd think that eliminating a threat would be a higher priority to our people, but somewhere in the past year, I apparently forgot how idiotically averse to self-preservation our people are."
"You think I should remain a guardian so that I can volunteer to kill Sofia."
Ivan picked up his can and took a long sip. He put down the can before looking at Dimitri again. A faint, sad smile touched his lips. "You're one of the best. They'll need you."
Dimitri nodded, determined fire sparking in his eyes. "I wouldn't miss the chance."
"I also have a crazy proposition for you, if you want to hear it." Ivan shifted again, now looking down as he tapped his fingers on his knees.
Seeing the tension in Ivan's body, Dimitri also shifted, ready for anything. "What's your proposition?"
"Do you remember the reports Rose and I made that mentioned immortals?" He glanced toward Dimitri, who nodded. "I made a lot of contacts in that world … We didn't really cover them in the debriefings I did. I told them that immortals aren't really interested in the Moroi, but we know there are other non-human people in the world. I'm not just talking about the immortals, though the immortals concern me."
Ivan stood and began to slowly pace the room. Dimitri tracked Ivan's movements but remained attentively seated.
"Sofia took me to this … bar, in Bucharest," Ivan continued. "I think it was the end of April."
"What?" Dimitri shot up.
Ivan stopped in his tracks, startled. "Sofia and I were at a bar in Bucharest at the end of April … Are you okay?"
Dimitri looked stricken. "We were there, in Bucharest, at the end of April. Tasha, Sveta, and me."
They stared at one another in stunned silence for several long moments. Each lost in memory and wondering what could have happened.
"What were you doing in Bucharest," Dimitri finally asked.
Ivan sank onto the couch again. "Sofia had business with something in this immortal bar. I don't know what her business was and still have no wish to know. She left me at the counter while she went and talked to whomever she had come to meet. The being at the bar was this beautiful, terrifying blue woman. She's a water spirit. I don't know or understand what that even means, but she wasn't good or bad. She was neutral. She had a general dislike of Strigoi, but that's normal. There isn't a single species on the planet who likes the Strigoi."
Dimitri stood, arms crossed over his chest, trying to absorb everything. "Was this … water spirit the only being you met there?"
"Lethe was the only one in Bucharest I talked to other than the bouncer. Rose and I met and talked to more in Las Vegas."
"Lethe?" Dimitri arched an eyebrow.
Ivan shrugged. "That was her name. She tried to kill me." Ivan looked into the distance, trying to remember something elusive. "I don't know what happened. She gave me a drink filled with enchanted silver, then she took it back and dumped it. We talked for a while before Sofia returned."
"Why didn't she kill you?"
Ivan shook his head. "I don't know. I think something or someone else was there that convinced her to keep me alive." He grimaced. "Whatever it was seems to have been powerful enough to make me forget any details of its existence. Which brings me to my crazy proposition. I want to build bridges between our people and the other communities of peoples in the world. We're too insular. The immortals and mortal non-humans know one another. They have contact with each other. We've isolated ourselves so much that we forgot we're not alone."
Dimitri was lost on how those thoughts all connected. It made him miss being in Ivan's head so that he could grasp it all. "How do you want to go about that?"
"I want to contact Lethe. I think that I figured out how to summon her."
"You want to summon an immortal water spirit who tried to kill you?" Dimitri deadpanned.
"She didn't kill me, and I was a Strigoi at the time. I don't think she'd harm a Moroi. No matter what, I plan to try it. However, I'd rather have you with me."
Shaking his head, Dimitri gave Ivan a wry look. "I'll go with you. To protect you from yourself."
"I know what I'm doing." Ivan straightened himself, holding Dimitri's eyes with cool confidence. "Besides which, no one can do this but me. I brought the Moroi to the attention of a lot of immortals. I think I can arrange a way for us to be protected. At least then I can correct one thing I did wrong. Afterward, I want to work on bridging the gap between our people and the rest of what humans call the supernatural world."
"I'm with you, my friend." Dimitri gave a long-suffering sigh. "When do you plan on trying to summon her?"
Smiling, Ivan told Dimitri more.
Rose swallowed the fear in her throat. Fear and guilt had a strangely familiar taste now. She was so tired of the guilt, but she still didn't fully believe in forgiveness for herself. She had met with nearly all the Dragomir guardians again. She still had to meet with Lauren and her guardians, but they were in England at present. She still needed to talk with David, and that would be the hardest reunion. Rose knew it with every fiber of her being. She was terrified that he would hate her. It didn't matter how many times everyone said she was forgiven, she didn't believe it.
David had been the one she had hurt the most. Rose had tasted his blood, and for an agonizingly long time, she had considered turning him. If anyone living had the right to never forgive Rose, it was David.
So, sitting patiently in the Dragomir's library, Rose prepared herself for the worst. She expected rejection. She expected hate.
Andre opened the door and stepped aside for David to enter. David stared at her in shock, even as Andre shut the door, leaving David and Rose alone. He didn't move. Neither did she. For the longest time they simply looked at one another in silence.
"It's really you," David finally said.
Rose's lips twitched briefly. "Yeah."
"How are you doing?"
She let out a bitter laugh. "I've been worse."
That cracked something in him, and he also laughed, though tears slipped down his cheeks. "I missed you. When you were turned was one of the worst days of my life. Then I saw you in that alley… and that was the worst day of my life."
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
He shook his head. "I survived. I'm just glad that you didn't turn me."
A sob wracked her body. "I couldn't live with myself if I had turned you."
"Why didn't you?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. I was trying to screw with everyone's heads. It was such a close thing."
David drew a deep breath, calming himself. "Thank you, for not turning me. I … I've forgiven you for it all, but I don't know that things will ever be the same between us."
Rose bit her lip hard, trying to focus on the pain in her lip instead of the pain in her heart. "I understand." She stood. "Thanks for talking to me."
He nodded. For a long moment he stood, obviously vacillating between moving toward her or not. Drawing a deep breath, he held out a hand to her, which she accepted. It was a foreign gesture after all the hugs they had shared since childhood. It was more than she felt was deserved.
"I'll see you around," he said before leaving the library.
Dimitri, Rose, Ivan, Janine, and many others were gathered in the Guardians' main building, listening to plans that had been approved by the council. Most were guardians, but there were also Moroi fighters in the group. Tasha sat near the back of the room, while Ivan, Rose, and Dimitri were near the front. There was an eager anticipation in the room, guardians and fighters waiting to take part in something new. Waiting to be proactive and take on a challenge.
"Make no mistake," Hans Croft was saying, "this single Strigoi is one of the most dangerous threats out there. It's taken a lot of preparation to get this operation approved. We will be sending a volunteer team to take her down. Let us know by noon if you want to be considered for the assignment. At this time, I will have Rose Hathaway debrief you on the target."
Rose stood and walked to the front of the large conference room. She felt the gaze of everyone on her. Being back at Court for a week and restored for over a month hadn't made her less an object of curiosity. She had agreed to this meeting. She had prepared for it. She could face anything.
Drawing a deep breath, Rose found Dimitri's eyes and held them as she talked. He was her anchor. "Sofia is a powerful Strigoi. She is smart and ruthless." Her eyes strayed to Ivan. "Even two Strigoi couldn't compete with her." Rose began to look around the room, seeing all the guardians and fighting Moroi. "But everyone here has something she doesn't — life. Life is precious and worth fighting for. Killing Sofia will save lives. But don't sign up if you just want to hunt an old Strigoi. That's a good way to die. So, what do you want to know about her?"
The crowd asked questions, and Rose answered. Eventually, Ivan joined Rose at the front to add more information to some questions. At the end, Rose felt pleasantly drained. She had been useful. It felt good to be useful.
Several people loitered in the room to ask Rose and Ivan more questions, which they both politely answered. Their unique insights were sought after, even though they ended up feeling like sideshow freaks. It was Tasha who waited the longest, until nearly everyone else had filed from the room.
"You look well, Rose," Tasha said, though she only glanced at Rose before looking at Ivan. "So do you."
Rose smiled at Tasha. "It's good to see you again. We haven't talked in forever."
Tasha's eyes returned to Rose. "I'm sorry about that. I would have talked to you sooner, but I needed some time to myself. How are you?"
"Every day is a little better." It was the most honest answer Rose had. "How have you been?"
Soft weariness was etched into Tasha's pretty, scarred face. "About the same." She looked at Ivan again. "I was wondering if you had time to talk with me?"
He tensed but nodded. "Of course. Did you want to talk now or later?"
Rose took a step back, away from them. She didn't miss the way Tasha fidgeted with her hands, reaching for an absent ring to twist on her finger.
"Whatever works best for you," Tasha replied. "I don't want to be an imposition."
The smile Ivan gave Tasha was affectionate and cautious. "You're never an imposition." He looked at Rose and the scattered few people remaining in the room. "Are you good to answer anything else, Rose?"
Rose nodded. "Yeah, I don't think there's anyone left, anyway. Go. Good to see you again, Tasha."
"You too," Tasha said before turning and walking toward the exit. Ivan followed a few steps after her.
Dimitri moved to Rose from where he had been standing with a couple senior guardians. "That was unexpected," he said quietly to her.
"Yeah."
Dimitri squeezed her hand. "It'll be okay."
She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I hope so. You'd think after an hour talking about Sofia I'd worry more about that. Instead, I'm still worried about Ivan and hoping things can be fixed between him and Tasha."
He pressed a kiss to her temple. "It's good to care. Do you want to get something to eat?"
Rose closed her eyes and sighed, leaning into Dimitri. "Fries."
"Just fries?" He chuckled.
She looked up at him, grinning. "Yeah, Rhea keeps feeding us, and I don't want to miss a day of home cooked meals … but I want fries." Rose straightened and looked to Guardian Croft, who stood nearby. "Guardian Croft, if you don't need anything else, I think we're going to head out."
"You're good to go. Thank you for your insight on this mission."
"It's the least I could do. I'll be there next week when we carry it out, too. One last mission with the guardians."
Croft gave her a formal nod of the head, acknowledging her with a respect she wasn't used to. Rose reciprocated the gesture before turning away, Dimitri at her side. It would be Dimitri's final mission with the guardians, as well. For both of them, it was a strange step forward.
Rose slipped her hand into Dimitri's as they walked through the hallways toward the exit. Their fingers laced together. There was so much to decide. So much to say. Dimitri had only told Rose about his decision to resign shortly before the meeting. It hadn't been a surprise, but what they would do next was still up in the air.
"How are you feeling?" he asked when they finally got outside into the brisk cold of late November.
She grinned up at him. "I was going to ask you that. I'm fine. I'm trying not to think about the mission right now. What about you?"
"I'm figuring out how to tell you what Ivan and I are planning."
Rose stopped, tugging on his hand as he continued for a step. "I know you two have been meeting a lot, but you're planning something?"
"I'll tell you when we get home. I thought you wanted fries?"
Glaring, she met his sheepish gaze. "Fine, but you're telling me everything."
Dimitri pressed a soft kiss to her lips, melting her frustration. "I promise," he said with all sincerity. She bumped her shoulder against his and tugged on his arm to continue walking.
"Ok, so, when did you decide to resign? I know it wasn't this morning."
"No," he chuckled. "I think that part of me knew all along that I wasn't going to return to being a regular guardian after you were restored. Once, all I wanted was to be the best guardian I could be. I still believe that it's an honorable life and calling. If Ivan had simply been killed last March, I might have stayed a guardian. I would have been separated from you." He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. "But I had accepted that as part of my life long ago."
"You did break up with me," she mumbled softly.
He kissed the top of her head, lips lingering long enough so that he could breathe in the scent of her hair. "I know."
"Don't get sappy on me," she chided with some forced amusement, bumping into him. "I'm tired of crying, and if you get emotional, then I'll get emotional." She sighed in exasperation.
"No more getting sappy," he laughed, agreeing.
She stuck her tongue out at him, and he again captured her lips with his. She let out a soft sound of pleasure at the kiss. They pulled back a few moments later, remembering that they were in public, even though where they stood was relatively free of others.
"As I was saying," Dimitri said, picking back up on the topic. "After you were restored, I knew that I didn't want to continue being a guardian. It wasn't easy to resign, but I think the guardian council expected it. It's what I planned to do my entire life. Leaving, picking a new direction for my life, is strange."
"I understand."
He stopped, turning so that he could face her. He caught both of her hands in his. "I don't regret resigning. We'll go with them to fight Sofia next week, and then we'll take a vacation to anywhere in the world you want."
Rose blinked back the sudden tears in her eyes. She was grinning while trying not to cry from happiness. "Anywhere with you is perfect, but I think I want to meet your family."
"Then that's what we'll do. Do you really want to visit Russia in December?"
"Keep me warm, and I'll be fine," she laughed.
"I promise."
She tugged on his hands again. "Fries, then tell me everything. You're distracting me."
"Not intentionally, Roza."
They eventually made their way to French fries, which they ate on the way back to the Dragomirs. When they were finally in Rose's room, which they currently shared, Dimitri began to tell Rose more.
"Ivan asked me to work with him on a new venture. The Queen even tentatively approves."
"You talked with Tatiana?"
"A few days ago." He shrugged, as if meeting with his great-aunt was nothing at all to him. "We kept to business talk. I know that she is interested in getting to know me, but I don't know that I'm interested in knowing her."
Rose nodded. "I get that. I know mom has family out there, but I don't know that I care to know more either. You and Adrian are good though, right?"
"Yes," he assured her. "I am glad to know him and call him family. Anyway, Ivan wants to create paths of communication between the Moroi and the greater community of 'supernaturals' in the world."
"Oh." She sat stunned for a moment. "And Tatiana approves?"
"Tentatively. There are a lot of uncertainties in this matter, but she does believe it's for the best. With plans for Eric to take the throne if he remains uncontested, he also agrees. Ivan plans to reach out to contacts he made and see what response he finds."
"You do realize that most of our contacts were scary immortals who eat people? Not the mortal non-humans that are less scary?"
"I know, however Ivan is convinced that he knows a way. We plan to start reaching out after the mission to kill Sofia."
Rose made a face. "Didn't you promise vacation?"
"I did. Ivan's plan should only take a few hours, initially. Then we can take a vacation and plan the next steps when we get back."
Rose laid back on the bed. Dimitri, sitting beside her, looked down and watched her face.
"I'm ready for next week to be over," she said softly.
Dimitri took one of her hands in his, lacing their fingers together. "Soon," he promised.
Notes:
Hello again! Again, I genuinely hope that you're all doing well and are safe, healthy, and able to get what you need during this time.
Thank you all for reading. I love reading your comments. I miss responding to all of you like I used to do, but I've been very mentally drained the last couple years. I finish my grad program this spring and I'm so ready.
Two chapters left O_O, I can't believe it. Thank you to my wonderful beta, you're such a treasure!
