The Queens Protégée

Ch 3

Mommy dearest

"Hello Mother."

"Rosemarie, come with me we need to talk."

Just like that my day was completely ruined. I followed behind her as far away as possible. I had no idea where she was taking me or what in the world she wanted to talk about. She made it seem like it was something important. It wasn't like she had a whole year to talk to me.

We headed towards one of the conference rooms. I was beginning to worry that I had done something and she was taking me to Kirova! When we got to the room, she stopped at the door.

"Rosemarie, before I open this door. I need you to know this was not how I wanted to do this. We had planned on waiting till you turned eighteen." She was nervous, she was never nervous around me.

"Mom, what's going on?" I demanded. She didn't answer, took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Rosemarie I'd like you to meet your father."

MY WHAT!! Did she just say my father? I slowly stepped into the room and saw a middle aged Moroi stand up. I took a moment to look at him. He was wearing a bright purple suit, a god awful tie, and gold jewelry. He seriously looked like a mob boss. He even had the goatee and a gold hoop earring. I was going to ask how I really knew this was my father, but one look at his hair and I knew.

He slowly walked over to me.

"Stop right there old man! I'll deal with you in a minute."

He stopped with a smirk on his face and put his hands up. I turned back to my mom.

"Seriously! I can't believe you right now!"

"Rosemarie!"

"Don't Rosemarie me. I haven't seen you in over a year. When you do come this is what you have to tell me. The last time I saw or heard from you was at the Dragomir funeral. Speaking of. Would you have even come if they were still alive to check on me? No you wouldn't have. How do I know?? Because you never did! You do realize I was in the same car accident right and was in the hospital.

"I could be dead, then again you'd never notice. You would have to be around to even notice I was gone!"

I wasn't about to tell her that I technically did die in that accident.

"I had to find out from someone else that you were even here. That's another thing. Why are you even here? I know that Tatiana doesn't give two shits about those boys!"

I paused to catch my breath.

"I'm not even going to ask how you got involved with him. He looks like the leader of the vampire mafia." I pointed to my "dad".

"And you! I know why she's been missing in my life, but what about you? Why now?? Why decide now is the perfect time to make yourself known?"

"She's definitely your daughter." I looked around to find the source of the new voice. It came from the Dhampir standing in the corner. I'm guessing it was his guardian.

"I don't need any added commentary."

"Rosemarie, watch your mouth. You will not speak to me or anyone else like that."

"No. You're not going to tell me what to do. You don't get to decide now to try to be a parent. That goes for you too old man! I've done just fine without the two of you."

At this point I was breathing so hard I felt Like I was going to pass out. I was angry. Angry at her and angry at him. More so her than him. Moroi men weren't known to stick around to help raise their Dhampir kids. Like most of the other novices I didn't know who my dad was. I always wondered about him though. I figured my mom just had a one off so she could do her duty and produce more Dhampirs. I know she didn't have me because she wanted a child.

I needed to get out of here and fast.

"I'm done with this little family reunion. If you want to talk you can come find me later in my room. If you even know where that is."

I practically ran out of the room and straight to the Dhampir gym. I needed to punch something.

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I completely lost track of time and before I knew it the school day was over. I had missed the rest of my classes.

"If you keep hitting it like that I'm going to have to buy a new one"

I spun around fist raised ready to fight only to be met by Alberta's concerned face. I jumped back and put my hands up.

"Alberta you scared the crap out of me!"

"Obviously! You didn't hear me walk in or even see that Dimitri walked right by you."

I looked around and didn't see him. Crap, how did I miss him walking by me?

"I see you've talked to your mom?"

"Gee what would give you that idea?"

"Other than the fact that I'm going to need a new dummy. Your mom came to find me." She gave me the look she always did when bringing up my mom.

"Please don't give me another lecture about how my mom loves me or that I should make amends because I could lose her at any time."

"I wasn't."

"She hasn't seen me in over a year. A year! Not even a quick email, nothing! When she finally comes it isn't even to see me. I'm just an afterthought. Don't even get me started on my dad. Ugh it feels so weird to even say that." I stopped ranting to catch my breath.

"I'm not saying you should talk to her right now. You don't even have to forgive her."

"But… I know there's a but."

"There is." She looked to the doorway where my "dad" was standing with his Guardian. Son of a bitch, I couldn't catch a break today.

"But you should talk to him. Most of us don't know who our fathers are and never will. Yours is here wanting to get to know you. Just give him a chance." She was right and I hated that.

"Fine, I'll talk to him." I marched myself over to where he was standing.

"Alright old man. If you want to talk, here's how things are going to go. I'm going to go shower and change my clothes. Then you're going to feed me and none of that crap they serve in the cafeteria. Then and only when I'm satisfied we can have a talk. Deal?" His Guardian stood there and laughed.

"Sounds fair enough. I will come to your dorm room in an hour."

"Fine." I started walking away and then turned around.

"Oh and one more thing. Don't bring him." I pointed to his Guardian.

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An hour later there was a knock on my door. I opened it to find my dad standing there with a pizza in one hand, Dr. Pepper in the other. Ok so he did his homework. I invited him in and took the pizza and sat it down on my desk. I pulled out my desk chair for him to sit on. Wasting no time and went for the pizza box. I opened it and saw he got me pepperoni, my favourite.

I offered him a piece and he declined. Like every Moiri I knew he said he wasn't hungry. Good more for me. Once I finished stuffing my face, we sat there in silence. Staring at each other waiting for the other to say something. I took the time to really get a good look at him. We had the same eyes and the same hair. I could see where I got my naturally tan skin from, his was a bit lighter being Moiri.

He cleared his throat and finally broke the silence.

"So Rosemarie I'm sure you have a few questions?"

Of course I did, who wouldn't.

"First off, it's Rose not Rosemarie!"

"You know that Rose came from your great grandmother and Marie was my mother, your grandmother's name."

I was taken back by that.

"No! How would I know? It's not like you were around to tell me. My mother dropped me off here when I was four and never came back. The Dragomirs were my only family."

"You're right I haven't been around."

He reached in his jacket and pulled out a picture. He handed it to me and I took a look at it. It was a picture of me on the day I was born. My mom was holding me and he was sitting next to her and they were both smiling.

I just looked at him.

"I want you to know that I really wanted to be in your life."

It was having a hard time coming to terms with me actually having a conversation with my dad. I grew up never feeling wanted and here I had picture proof that at one point I was.

"I know it may be hard to believe, but me and your mother were very much in love."

I'm glad I didn't have anything in my mouth or I would have spit it out.

"Then what happened? Where have you been? Why was I dropped off here and forgotten?"

"You have to know something about me. I'm not exactly the most stand up person."

"Could have fooled me." I said sarcastically. He raised his eyebrow at me. Damn I wish I could do that.

"It's hard to explain why I do. "

"So you really are the leader of the Vampire mafia?"

He said nothing.

"I was just joking, old man. Please tell me you haven't had people killed?"

Again he said nothing. Well shit!

"It's not what you think. I'd like to consider myself a businessman. Most of what I do is legal. There are some aspects of what I do that are….. Put it this way, I'm more powerful than the Queen. Definitely have more money than she does."

Wow that was a lot to take in. I didn't know what to think. At some point when he was talking Lissa contacted me through the bond to see if I was ok. I texted her that I was fine and would come to her room later to talk.

"So can I at least get a name?"

"Ibraham Mazur, but most people call me Abe, but in some places it's Zmey."

"What the heck is a Zmey?"

"Loosely translated it means snake."

"How in the world did my mother get involved with you?" He chuckled.

"Your mother was fresh out of the academy. Her first charge was a frequent client of mine. I'm not going to say it was love at first sight. She actually couldn't stand me at first. Thought I was the devil reincarnated." Yep, that sounded like her.

"I definitely fell for her first. She wasn't afraid of me like most people. Put me in my place, when no one else would dare. It took a couple of years for her to admit her feelings for me. You were a surprise to both of us. I don't know who was more scared, me or your mom. We both led dangerous lives. I wanted her to quit the day she found out she was pregnant. You know your mother, she is all about duty. We compromised and she worked until she was six months along. I was by her side the whole pregnancy."

"So what happened?" I needed to know why he left.

"You were about six months old when there was an incident. We were living in Russia at the time.

You and your mother were at one of the markets and were attacked. It could have been random, but most likely it was because of me. Your mother was equally angry and scared. She wanted to leave and go somewhere safe with you. So she took you and went to Scotland. We agreed that I would stay away till you turned eighteen. I've always had eyes on you." He stopped for a second and grabbed my hand and looked me right in the eyes.

"I know what happened in the accident that killed the Dragomirs."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I know you died and Vasilissa brought you back. I know that she has spirit magic and that you two are bonded."

Shit he was right about being more powerful than the Queen. Us being shadow kissed was a highly guarded secret. I didn't know how to answer him. Me and Lissa being bonded is something we rarely talk about. We were told that no one could know our secret.

"I know it's a lot to take in right now. I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I'm not even expecting you to like me. I just want to get the chance to know you for myself."

"Ok"

"Ok?"

"This is all new for me and I need time to process everything. But yes I would like to get to know you too."

"That's all I can ask."

We decided that was enough for tonight. He got up to leave and was at my door when I stopped him. I'm not a hugger, but at that moment all I wanted was a hug from my dad. I reached out to hug him and he grabbed me in the biggest bear hug a Moiri could give.

"Have a good night Kiz."

THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT. I'M TRYING TO GET BACK TO A REGULAR SCHEDULE. IM NOT AURW WHOSE POV I WILL DO NEXT. LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS.