Dimitri POV

I sat quietly in front of Alberta's desk. She sat across from me, not saying anything. A few minutes later, she was joined by Emil and Celeste. They generally dealt with novice disciplinary issues, but I wasn't surprised to see them here. They were the guardian disciplinary council here, the ones in charge, short of facing the guardian council at Court.

Yet, despite having the rest of the council, Alberta still didn't say anything. I simply stared at her. I wasn't going to be the first one to crack, wasn't going to be the first to speak, not until I knew her tactic.

My confusion in the delay of starting was cleared up less than ten minutes later when the office door opened, and Janine Hathaway walked in. She had no kind looks for me as she joined Alberta, Emil, and Celeste on the other side of the desk.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Alberta finally asked.

"As to what?" I responded calmly, ensuring that my face betrayed no emotion.

"You know why you're here."

I didn't respond. We stared at each other, waiting for the opposite to make a move. I knew better than to say anything unprompted. I may be the youngest guardian in the room, but I wasn't stupid.

I expected Alberta to say something, but Janine beat her to it.

"Damn it, Belikov," she snapped. "Just admit it. Everybody in this room knows that you've been engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a novice, one who happens to be my daughter."

I stared at her calmly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She slammed her hand down on the desk, and Alberta flinched. "Don't play fucking dumb. How long has it been going on? How long have you been grooming my daughter?"

I had to bite my tongue.

Alberta spoke up. "I just found you with her."

My eyes met her. "She snuck out of her dorm. I caught her and was escorting her back. Last time I checked, that was a part of my job."

"Dimitri," Emil said quietly. "Just give it up. I saw the way you looked at Rose on the way back from Missoula when she was sleeping on your shoulder."

I hid my shock. I hadn't been aware that I had looked at Rose in any way on the way back from Missoula, but yet something had tipped Emil off.

"I told you to stay away from her," Alberta said, speaking up. "I warned you what would happen."

Janine shot her a look. "You knew?"

"I knew that there was affection there, a kindling of something. When I spoke to him, I was under the impression that not much had happened. Was I correct?"

I still didn't answer. Details of my relationship with Rose were for us to know.

On and on it went, the four of them throwing questions at me, hoping one would stick.

"Dimitri," Celeste said eventually. The questioning had been going for at least a couple of hours, if not longer. "You were seen leaving Rose's room. In the middle of the night."

I glanced at her. "She was having a nightmare, screaming at the top of her lungs. I went into her room to make sure that she was okay."

That part was at least true. As much as it pained me to lie earlier, I knew that I would do anything to protect Rose, even if that meant lying.

"And you knew that how?" Alberta prodded.

"I was finishing my last set of rounds. It was hard to miss. If her hall wasn't so empty, everybody would have heard her."

"Why didn't you get someone?" Janine said.

"And leave her there, screaming for help?" I scoffed. "I'm not a monster. She was clearly in trouble, and I wasn't going to leave her suffering. I wouldn't have left any novice suffering."

Janine glared. "She would have woken up eventually."

I stared at her, unbelieving that she could be so cold about her own daughter. The haunted look in Rose's eyes when I woke her up that night still haunted me. She looked so lost, so alone. I was powerless to not have helped her. The fact that she found comfort in my arms after the fact wasn't relevant here.

"The novice that reported seeing you leaving her room shared that you were back the rest of the week. They didn't report hearing Novice Hathaway screaming at all."

"I was checking up on her," I said. "You didn't see her. She's seventeen and has already killed two Strigoi after watching her best friend be killed in front of her. That's more than most guardians kill in their first five years in the field. She's traumatized beyond belief. As her mentor, I felt a sense of duty to help her."

"Help her by fucking her?" Janine interjected. Alberta shot her a look.

"No. I felt a sense of duty to help Rose because she would have never gone to Spokane if I hadn't told her the information. None of them would have."

The statement hung in the silent room. It wasn't hidden knowledge that Rose had gotten the Spokane lead from me, but it was the first time I had spoken the words out loud to anyone; the first time I had shared the bit of guilt that I carried around for having, inadvertently, put Rose in that situation. I had told her after the fact that she couldn't blame herself for telling Mason about Spokane, that Mason had made his own decisions. But underneath that, I couldn't help but blame myself for enabling Rose to tell him. Regret and blame were different, but very much intertwined in me.

Janine sighed. "This is getting nowhere."

The door opened again, and I turned, surprised. I wasn't expecting any other guardians to be joining us. As the newcomer walked through the door, I saw that he wasn't a guardian. He was Moroi. One I knew all too well.

Rose POV

I paced along the side of the quad, across from the guardian building, waiting for Dimitri to reappear. I wasn't allowed any closer. It had been hours since they had brought him in there, and I couldn't think of what they were saying, of what was happening in there.

The door opened, and my breath caught. But it wasn't Dimitri who walked out of the building. Instead, it was my mother.

"Rosemarie!"

She walked over to me, and I could tell before she even got close that she was angry. I stared at her in shock. I hadn't known that Alberta had called her, hadn't known that she was here.

"Mom?"

"Did he take advantage of you?" There was no preamble, just direct questions. "Did he hurt you?"

"What? No! It wasn't like that."

She put her hands on her hips, somehow managing to make me feel small even though I had seven inches on her.

"It wasn't like that?" she questioned. "Then pray tell, what was it like? What were you thinking? He was your teacher, your mentor. Not to mention seven years older than you!"

"We're in love," I said, defending Dimitri, defending our relationship. "We have been for months."

"You're seventeen!"

"Almost eighteen," I said. "I'm not a kid."

She sighed. "No, you're not a kid. But you're also not an adult. You should have known better. He should have known better."

"We didn't mean to fall in love," I whispered. "It just happened."

She sighed again. "Your age helps you here. It's not technically illegal. You're above the age of consent—" I opened my mouth, and she quickly continued, not letting me get a word in. "Don't pretend that you haven't slept with him."

I met her eyes. "I don't regret it. I love him."

She ignored me. "Like I was saying, your age helps you. You can be overlooked for being young, and impressionable. But Belikov? He has no excuse."

"There is no excuse!" I shouted. "We love each other. Throw me out of the Academy, I couldn't give two shits. I'd still be able to protect Lissa, she has the money to hire private guardians if she wanted."

"Rose—"

"Mom, I'm serious. I love him."

She smiled sadly. "It doesn't matter. Loving him isn't going to change the guardian council's decision, whatever it may be."

"You don't believe me."

She didn't verbally deny it, but I could tell from the look on her face.

"Go away," I said. When she didn't move, I shouted. "Go away!"

She finally left, and I took up my place on the quad across from the guardian building again.

I didn't know how much time had passed when the doors finally opened again. This time, Dimitri was the one walking out of the building. I jumped to my feet, having finally resigned to sitting down.

"Dimitri!"

I hurried towards him, desperate to see him, to make sure he was okay. As I got closer, I saw the love in his eyes and the concern. Suddenly, he paled, as if remembering something, and I watched as a thousand emotions flitted across his face. I was still a couple of steps away when I saw the look on his face turn to something akin to determination. With what I thought was pain in his eyes, Dimitri turned and walked away.