Chapter 31

I flinched at the fury that was in Maria's voice. The woman was usually very calm and very rarely raised her voice but she sure was terrifying when she was genuinely angry about something. This occasion was certainly one of them and I knew exactly why she was so angry. Someone had spilled the beans and told her the truth.

'Skylar' had been a very secretive name that only Maria had ever used. Kalani meant 'sky' and I wasn't entirely sure how it had happened but instead of calling me 'Kalani', 'Little Sky' or 'Kai', Maria had become adapted in calling me 'Skylar'. It was a very individual name between Maria and I so I wasn't all that concerned about anyone else being able to work out who she was talking about from that shout. What I was concerned about was getting out of this room alive if Maria found out that I was in here.

I could hear Aunty Jules bolting out of her chair and warned Maria to keep her voice down. The main door shut firmly and I could hear shuffling in the other room so I presumed that Maria and Aunty Jules were getting comfortable for the complicated conversation that they were about to have. No doubt, Aunty Jules was probably debating in her mind of whether to let Maria know that I was in here or not. There was a high chance that Maria would do what she could to inflict some kind of harm on me if she found me now in her state of rage.

"Maria, start from the beginning and please remember to keep your voice down." Aunty Jules cautioned the other woman.

"Joseph has just told me that she is back, Juliet. Now I want to know why I am only finding out about this now. Where is she? How long has she been here? How has she managed to hide for so long since arriving at the Academy? Who found her? Is she -"

"Maria!" Aunty Jules cut in with an exasperated voice.

"Sorry…"

"Kai is fine."

"Is she? Is she really?"

"Yes, she is perfectly fine and she is safe."

"So where is she?"

"In capable hands."

"Who found her?"

"Martin and Joseph."

"How long has she been here?"

"Give or take about a week."

There was silence for several moments and with each answer I could see the realisation and shock setting in Crispin's eyes as he stared at me in disbelief. I could only rub the back of my neck sheepishly since I definitely did not want to walk out there to face Maria and I gave him a guilty smile.

"No way…" he whispered. "Kai… and… Kai. They sound exactly the same… but how was it spelt? How do you spell your nickname, Valentine?" he asked me with a hushed tone.

"Um… are you sure you want the answer to that?" I whispered.

"Just tell me."

"K. A. I." I told him honestly. He had already worked everything out so there was absolutely no point in trying to lie anymore. I had thought that I might be able to get away with such a lie for a while longer with Crispin, but apparently my game was up.

I had deliberately never told anyone how I spelled my name in its shortened form because if it was simply said verbally, it could be spelt in a number of different ways and it wasn't a wholly uncommon name either so I could get away with such a name. Not to mention, since it was such an obvious and logical shortened version of the name 'Kylie', I didn't think that anyone would suspect. And I was clearly right about that since I had managed to keep it a secret from so many people for a week without anyone suspecting anything at all. But with the name spelt out, I knew that the cat was out of the bag for Crispin.

"I don't believe it…" he gasped. "You're THE runaway kid from six years ago!" he shouted, jumping up and pointing at me. "Now everything makes much more sense, especially with how close you seem to be with Maxwell."

At that precise moment, the door leading to the main room slammed open and I turned my head to face an incredibly unamused and fuming Guardian.

"Um… busted?" I laughed nervously and squealed as I dove out of the way from Maria's attack.

"You wretched little child!" she screamed and lunged for me again which I dodged, again.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but don't you think you should calm down a little?"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Skylar! You are in serious trouble! You hear me? Serious trouble!"

"I know, I know, but seriously, this is a really cramped room so this isn't a good idea. Guardian Jenson might get hurt."

"Guardian Jenson will be just fine," she told me curtly as she casually dove past him towards me.

I jumped out of the smaller room into Aunty Jules' office and held my hands out in defence. "Stunned looking Guardian over there that needs a lot of explanations! I think he needs more attention than me!" I tried to reason in my feeble attempt to direct her attention from me.

Eventually, she managed to get a hit in, mainly because I knew that if I didn't let her hit me just once; this vicious cycle of her lunging and me dodging would never ever end. I winced as her fist came in contact with the back of my head and the force of her blow was so strong that my head snapped forwards slightly from the strength of it. I had forgotten just how strong Maria could be when she wanted to be.

As soon as she got that one hit, I was suddenly crushed against her chest by her arms as she caught me in a tight embrace. "You foolish, foolish child!"

"Yes, I've been told that quite a few times in the past week or so."

"Why am I the last to find out?" she demanded.

"Because it went in the order of slip-ups?" I smiled nervously.

"Slip-ups?"

"Well, Joey found out because of his gut instinct and from rummaging through my bag and finding Mum's stake there, then he told Martin and it was quiet for a couple of days but then Ali found out and then there was Aunty Jules who saw me at the Elementary Division. Then as a punishment for breaking out of the school, Martin told Rosette who confronted me this morning and now you know."

"Oh Skylar, you have changed so much and yet you are still so familiar…" she trailed off and held me at arm's length to inspect me better. "I cannot believe that even after a full week of teaching you, I still didn't notice who you really were. I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, Maria." I smiled at her then hastily corrected myself. "I mean, Guardian Valiere."

"Just go back to calling me Maria when we are in suitable company," she smiled fondly down at me. "I really should have noticed. I thought I saw the Skylar that I knew back at the chapel on that first day, but when you spoke and from the way that you behaved… it was all just so different that I had blamed my gut feeling on wishful thinking and that you weren't actually back, that I was simply wishing it so much that I was desperate to find resemblances in people."

"Well, I can be pleased to say that I am the same person." I beamed childishly up at her and she cupped my face with her hands.

"You have grown so well out there… I wish I could have seen it happen."

"So do we all, Maria. Her growth has been kept a secret from us all." Aunty Jules scoffed.

"But you will see new growth from me." I argued. "I haven't stopped growing yet. No one ever stops growing."

"Quite a profound statement there, Skylar."

"Maria, I'm sorry to say this but you are going to have to remember to call me by my false name when we are in public."

"I know, Skylar. But for now, just for now while we are here in Juliet's office, let me call you Skylar. It has been such a long time."

"Yes, do you hear that, Kai?" Aunty Jules glared at me and I knew that she still hadn't forgiven me for running away all those years ago. "Six years, it's been. Six long anxious years."

"Yes, yes I get it! I'm feeling guilty enough as it is!" I complained. "But seriously, we need to save this reunion feeling for a later time because Guardian Jenson is still looking somewhat shell-shocked."

"Guardian – Ah yes, I apologise for my behaviour just now Guardian Jenson, but this girl has a tendency of making me behave my worst." Maria smiled charmingly at him.

Crispin still seemed somewhat shocked for a several moments before he seemed to finally shake it off and he stared at me. "Now everything makes sense."

"It does, doesn't it?" I smiled sheepishly. "Perhaps we should go pay a visit to Martin if he's not too busy."

"You mean Guardian Hunt." Crispin stared at me.

"No, I meant Martin." I grinned.

"If it isn't too much to ask, I want a full explanation from you, Valentine. Or should I say, Princess Ivashkov."

"And I warn you now, if you even think about calling me that one more time, I will beat you till you can't get up."

"You've already done that once."

"I know, and I won't hesitate to do it again if you call me that."

"But it's the right title."

"No, it's not. That girl died and she will remain that way."

"You're right in front of me." Crispin blinked in confusion.

I simply smiled grimly at him and left the office without another word knowing that the Guardians would follow me. They all knew where I was headed anyway and it probably would be best for Martin to know that someone outside of the old group knew about my secret. As I walked ahead of them, I could feel Crispin staring at me back the whole time. He was probably trying to work out what I had meant about the death of the Ivashkov heir when I was still kicking and screaming. I didn't blame him for being confused, if I had been him, I would be too.

But it was the honest truth. I didn't feel alive. At least, not as the Ivashkov heir anyway. The way that I was living now was as 'Kylie Valentine' was not the way that I would have had to live as 'Kalani Ivashkov'. I was essentially two different people at the moment and I had absolutely no intention of reviving the Ivashkov princess anytime soon, if ever. I really didn't want to face a situation where I will need to expose the truth, I really didn't.

The chaos that would undoubtedly ensue would probably be too much for most people to handle, especially the students of the school. How were my newfound friends going to react if they ever found out? Would they hate me for hiding such a truth from them? Would it be wishful thinking for me to hope that they would treat me the same way they do now if they found out the truth?

I didn't want to consider the idea of them treating me differently just because of my title. Even if I was from a royal family, I was still the same person inside. My title didn't define who I was, I wasn't going to let it. I'd already managed to come this far without being confined by what it meant to be a royal, I really didn't want to have to return to the way of life from six years ago. I didn't want to have to face people with false expressions and false kindness. And most of all, I didn't want to have to face the dull obligations of having to attend parties just because I was a royal.

I could still remember the way other royal families used to look at me. The way they stared at me with such disgust as though I was some sort of a monster was something that I was in no haste to have to face again. I could understand their distaste of me though. I was a dhampir who had abilities that were strictly restricted to the capabilities of Moroi and Moroi only. No dhampir in the whole of vampire history had ever had elemental abilities before. There should be absolutely no exception, and yet by some freak chance, I was.

I was an existence that should have been impossible.

"Ah!" I heard a familiar voice call out and looking up ahead I saw Joe running up to us with a frantic expression on his face. "Sorry, I see that Maria managed to find you before I did."

"Yeah… I was in Aunty Jules' office at the time." I smiled grimly. "I am definitely going to kick your ass later for this."

"I'm sorry, but it was a mistake, she caught something in my voice and words and worked everything out herself and then pretty much threatened to expose every secret I had unless I told her the truth."

"Well, the truth might as well have come out now. Better late than never, if it had been any later I might really have killed her." Maria glanced at me with a glare.

"Hey, I like who I am right now so I'm not sorry about the secret." I protested.

I ducked at the last moment before Maria managed to get another hit in and I glared up at her.

"Maria, stop that." Aunty Jules reprimanded her with a stern stare. "Remember who you are, she might be back but that doesn't change anything."

"This changes everything, Juliet."

"No, Maria, this doesn't change anything." Aunty Jules stared levelly at her and I watched as the pair of them had a long stare down with each other.

"Uh… you two are attracting a crowd so how about you two talk it out or something while I wait for you in the office?" I laughed nervously and left that situation as quickly as I could.

I could still remember the types of stare downs and conversations that Maria and Aunty Jules could get into and I knew that things could get out of hand really easily. It probably had something to do with the fact that the pair of them were so similar that they just got on each other's nerves too easily. The best thing to do whenever they got into that situation was just to leave them to it, not even my parents would try and get between them when they looked like they were about to get into a fight.

I hastily made my way to Martin's office with Joe walking beside me and Crispin lingering ever so slightly behind. I tapped politely on the headmaster's door and heard the same holler as always coming from the other side of the door to grant our entrance into his office. I opened the door and I could tell that he was surprised to see me there and the surprise merely increased when he saw who else was with me.

"Valentine, what can I do for you?" he asked curiously as he rested his chin on the bridge formed by his hands. He had instantly discarded whatever document he had been reading and I had to smile slightly at that. Pride kicked in when I saw that he prioritised me over the documents.

I waited for a few seconds for the door to shut properly before I whirled on Joe and without any warning I smacked the back of his head. "That's for letting Maria know!" I glared up at him as he clutched his head with a sheepish expression.

"I told you, it wasn't my fault!" he protested indignantly.

"The hell it's not! What the heck did you say that made her catch on? I nearly got slaughtered in that cramped office! I honestly thought that I was going to die."

"We were just talking…"

"About what?"

"About how you were probably the youngest undergraduate to receive the molnija marks."

"And?"

"And I might have accidentally called you 'Kai' instead of 'Valentine'."

"And of course that would have made her suspicious because all teachers at this school address the students here by their surnames or by their titles if they are royals. You idiot!"

"I said I was sorry! Maria already hit me twice for having kept quiet about your return for so long. She was not impressed that I didn't tell her straight away."

"So the cat is now out of the bag for everyone of importance?" Martin smiled in amusement as he watched the interaction between Joe and me. Crispin, I noticed, looked a little surprised at how informal I was behaving but he didn't say anything because he now knew the reason behind it. Because he hadn't been here since the beginning of my life here, he had no idea how close I was with certain teachers here so he probably felt that it wasn't in his place to interrupt.

"Yes, the cat is now out of the bag for the old family and now Guardian Jenson."

"Yes, I can see that." Martin shifted his gaze to stare at Crispin levelly. "So how did you find out? I highly doubt that Kai would have been the one to have made the slip up and there is no way that you could have recognised her having never met her before. Was it the mark?"

"Mark?" Crispin frowned in surprise and I was impressed that he seemed completely unfazed by Martin's interrogation.

"No, he hasn't seen it. No one has since I keep it under wraps, quite literally." I replied for Crispin. "And he meant the mark that I got as a baby to show who and what I was as the last heir to the Ivashkov bloodline."

"Ah, that makes more sense." Crispin nodded slowly.

"So if it wasn't the mark then how did you find out?" Martin narrowed his eyes at the Guardian and before Crispin could answer, the door swung open and Maria and Aunty Jules walked in casually without a care in the world. They made sure to close the door behind them and they both simply took a seat on the sofas.

"How come there is an uncomfortable silence in here?" Maria asked innocently.

"I was just trying to find out how Guardian Jenson knows of Kai's secret." Martin explained simply to her.

"Ah, I can answer that. It was probably my fault. I charged into Juliet's office, not realising that there were people already there in the next room, and started asking her all about who and when Skylar had returned." Maria waved dismissively.

"And because the wall was so thin between the small office and the main one, Guardian Jenson and I heard every word and as a result, he managed to piece everything together." I finished off.

"Well this is certainly interesting. It has taken just over a week for the family to get back together and know of your return. Nicely done, Kai. I would have thought that everyone would have blundered sooner but it seems that Joe has held out for longer than I had expected." Martin smirked at Joe.

"Hey! I can keep my mouth shut for matters that really count," he protested indignantly.

"Yes, Joey, we know." I laughed and patted his back sympathetically.

We all knew that Joe had an incapability to lie well which was both a good and a bad thing. It just meant that he always had to be careful and make sure that he never got into a situation where he might need to lie.

"Rosette is on her way with Alistair. I thought that it would be best if we had everyone here considering the situation." Aunty Jules stated bluntly.

"Well, if Rosette is on her way then perhaps we should wait a little before we move on with the discussion." Martin sighed and leaned back into his chair.

"Sorry about causing trouble yet again, Martin. I honestly thought that I would be able to give you at least a little breathing space before I caused mayhem again." I smiled sheepishly at him and rubbed the back of my neck.

"That's alright, Kai. I knew that this day would occur eventually. It was only a matter of time. I do have to say that I didn't expect for a stranger to have found out so soon."

"Neither did I. I'm damn glad that it's Guardian Jenson who found out though." I scoffed.

"Oh?"

"He seems reliable and good friends with Joey. Not to mention, I already know that I can kick his ass to kingdom come if he ever thinks about exposing the secret." I smiled innocently at Crispin despite the slight threat that I just made.

"I don't plan on telling anyone about what I found out today, but if it's not too much to ask, I would like to have some explanations." Crispin asked politely and I did a double take.

And then I knew.

Crispin was speaking formally now because he was mindful of my status…

I knew that this would happen, I just knew it, and the more that I thought about it, the angrier I got and before I even realised it, I had lashed out at him.