Hi everyone, thank you so much for you patience and I'm so very sorry that it's taken me such a long time to make an update but things have been super busy for a long time and I just haven't had the right amount of time to dedicate to this story. But I will be continuing so I hope you'll be patient with my inconsistent updates...
I hope you all like this new chapter and hopefully the next update won't be too long!
Lyn x
~x~Chapter 61~x~
Eventually, he spoke first to break the silence and I had certainly not expected him to say what he did.
"How are you feeling about what happened with Cooper?" he asked cautiously, as though expecting me to lash out and hit him.
Under any other circumstances, I might actually have done. I had told him countless times to drop the subject after all. But I was too shocked to since I hadn't expected such a change of topic.
"Excuse me?" I gaped.
"How are you feeling? I doubt you've ever come so close to being bitten before."
"Damn right. I tended to stay well away from Moroi while I was out there." I scoffed.
"Are you going to answer my question?"
I sighed and stared solemnly at him. "You're not going to drop it, are you?"
"I'm just concerned. Am I not allowed to be?" His tone dropped to one of those ridiculously intense ones and I just sighed again. Knowing how stubborn he was, I knew that he wasn't going to drop the subject any time soon.
"Of course you're allowed to be concerned." I grinned. "Thank you for that. As for how I feel about it… Well, for the most part I'm just glad that he's not around anymore. I really don't know what would happen if he was around."
"No doubt your family would find some way of violently punishing him."
"You should've seen how angry they were." I grimaced. "It took a lot of effort to stop Ali from going on a rampage and hunting him down."
"Out of curiosity, why didn't you take him out sooner? Or did you actually enjoy his company?"
"There wasn't much company to enjoy. We never talked much. He was very hands on which sometimes can be good but he was just too much. As for why I didn't beat the crap out of him as soon as I realised he wouldn't back off… well it's the same reason as why all those girls couldn't remember being bitten by him."
"His compulsion made you stay with him and you didn't realise?"
"Oh I realised alright." I scoffed indignantly. "I realised too soon and the bastard must've caught on straight away because he somehow made me forget that I'd worked it out. He's basically flawless with his compulsion, Ozera, and his talent with it is pretty terrifying. He could make himself invisible with it by forcing people not to notice his presence."
Drew's eyes widened in shock and he muttered a curse. "I'd realised that his level of compulsion was high but I didn't realise it was to that extent…"
"If it wasn't for his compulsion, I would've beaten the crap out of him for trying anything on me a whole lot earlier on." I sighed. "I knew in the back of my mind that something wasn't right, but whenever I tried to break away from him, he amped up his compulsion and made me stay. It was getting pretty ridiculous."
"Why didn't you say anything to your family? To us? You weren't under his influence when you weren't with him, right?"
"No, I wasn't. But I genuinely didn't think that it would get so out of hand." I admitted honestly. "I mean… I really did think that his intrigue with blood taking was normal. It is what some Moroi do, Ozera. I know that. That's why I really didn't think too much of it until it did start getting out of hand and by that point that was when Martin stepped in."
"By Martin… do you mean Headmaster Hunt?"
"That's the one and only Martin that I know." I grinned cheekily.
"Do you have any idea how bizarre it is to have you call such respected guardians by their first names like its normal?" he scoffed. "Well, I suppose for you that is normal."
I looked away from him then, turning my head up to stare at the sky. "I never really thought that I would get brought back…" I told him breathlessly. "The first few years? Yeah, I had that fear. Even after a few years I hadn't quite built up my confidence properly yet and I knew that I wouldn't be ready to face this place again. To face the royals. But when I started believing in myself and my appearance started growing naturally and when I still hadn't been recognised or caught, I just stopped thinking about the possibility of living in this world again and simply focused on the life I had out there."
"Considering how sweet your life seemed out there, I don't blame you. You had and still have one great career."
"Thanks." I glanced back down briefly to give him a small smile. "That isn't to say that I ever forgot about the people I love here though. I did find myself thinking if they were alright or not. Whether any of them had gotten into any Strigoi trouble and the list could go on. It really is incredible to see everyone again, to be with them again. I had genuinely thought for a little while that I might never be with my family again but now I don't have to worry about that loneliness anymore."
"Because now you're back. And you also have us. You have us to look after you no matter what happens, Valentine, and I'm not just talking about your family unit at the Academy. I'm not really sure how the girls will react to the truth but they will stay by your side no matter what. They won't just look at you as just a royal and forget about the things that you guys have been through together already."
"And what about the other three of the royal quartet?" I mused.
"Well, they'll be shocked. There's no doubt about that," he chuckled. "Not to mention, Rhiannon's enthusiasm to turn you into some kind of a doll will skyrocket when she finds out. That girl is terrifying once she gets properly intrigued in someone whether it's for work or romantically."
"So you don't think that our friends will feel betrayed that I haven't told them the truth?" I asked cautiously.
"I don't think so," he told me honestly. "I don't know about the girls since I haven't gotten to know them as well as you just yet. But Jackson, Quinn, and Dan will understand why you hid your identity like this being royals themselves. I didn't feel any sense of betrayal about you not telling us you are the Ivashkov princess."
"You didn't? Even though you'd spoken to me oh-so enthusiastically about her before and I just kept my mouth shut and pretty much lied to you?" I teased first before the sentence trailed off into a scoff as I remembered that I had directly lied to him.
"I was the last person you wanted to find out, right?"
"Of course you were." I grumbled. "You seemed so keen to meet her again I just didn't know what to do. You seemed to have all these anticipations about how she might have turned out and I didn't want to be compared to your imagination."
"You're nothing compared to how I thought you might have turned out to be."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"A very good thing. I've already told you, you've well exceeded how I thought you would be. If you had grown up according to how I thought you would, there is no way you could've beaten any of us in class."
"So you thought that I would still be a child hiding away behind my hair?"
"Well… not quite that badly. I'd hoped that your confidence might have grown by living with the humans but I certainly didn't expect you."
"And I think of that as a damn good thing too." I grinned. "There is no way I would've survived after being brought back if I was still a spineless little idiot."
"An idiot you were not if the pranks you used to get involved in were anything to go by. You sure did help Castile terrorise a fair number of people. Teachers and students."
"Hey, I didn't have any friends apart from Ali so I had to find entertainment somewhere right?"
"You do have a point."
"I usually do."
"There will be chaos when the secret is out."
"Oh don't I know it." I drawled dryly. "I'm not looking forward to the day when it happens. Hopefully it'll be near graduation so I can have a relatively peaceful time at the academy for as long as possible."
"Someone else will catch on a lot sooner than that." Drew told me solemnly. "If you think about it. Jenson found out in just over a week and so did I. I reckon you could get through to the end of this year without anyone else finding out. But after summer? That I can't say."
"There's something else that the almighty Andrew Ozera can't figure out after all!" I teased, earning me a smack in the arm.
"Are you looking forward to the trip?"
"You bet I am. I haven't gone on holiday for so long! I can't wait to find out where we'll be going. Are you sure you can't give us any clues at all?"
"Not if I want to stay alive. The four of us have been sworn to secrecy."
"So it's at one of your royal houses or near it or something?"
"Can't you just wait for the surprise just like everyone else?" he mused.
"I can be rather impatient, what can I say? It's one of my many faults." I shrugged. "Not to mention, I'm not too great with surprises."
"Really? You seem like the type to get excited about surprises," he mused.
"I haven't had many good surprises." I scoffed. "I hope you don't mind me asking you this but what aspect of Spirit does your mum specialise in?"
He stared at me in shock. "How did you know my mum was a Spirit user?"
"She told me." I replied vaguely for now.
"I think she specializes in auras just like Doctor Salvatore."
"Well, that explains it."
"What happened?"
"Your mum kindly offered her condolences for the death of my parents because she never did get to tell me in person." I told him solemnly. "I reckon she knew pretty much as soon as she saw me and confirmed it when we were talking in the garden earlier."
"She wouldn't tell a soul about it. Not even to Dad unless he really needed to know which at the moment he doesn't. There's no reason for him to know unless something happens."
"She's a lovely woman, Ozera. I can see how you've grown up to be as well-mannered as you are. Funnily enough, even your mum pointed out your borderline creepy persistence to solve my mystery as a bad habit of yours."
Drew gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand through that soft looking hair of his. Once again something tingled down my spine and I resisted the urge to wriggle to chase the sensation away.
"She has given me various warnings to tone it down. I just can't help it though. When something doesn't make sense and catches my attention, I naturally want to make sense of it and since you're so interesting it made me want to find out even more."
"Thanks." I laughed. "You're not so boring yourself. Also, I hope you've got some spare time because apparently I'm going to need more of your choreography skills."
"Really?" he drawled, blatantly amused by my comment.
"I sent a video of what you came up with the other day and both my usual choreographer and Ms. Manager absolutely loved it. Looks like you're going to be joining our team."
"I'm glad I can put my dance knowledge to good use." He chuckled, tucking a strand of my hair away from my face. "You might not know a lot of moves and combinations but you sure do know how to follow well."
"You're a pretty easy leader to follow and it helps that I'm a rather badass martial artist."
"Let's strike a deal. I'll help you with your choreography if you'll teach me a few martial arts' moves."
"Deal." My grin spread from ear to ear. He really was doing me a massive favour even if he didn't know it. I may be good at martial arts but for some reason following dance moves from a video clip was never my forte. I could learn the routine eventually but it took more time than necessary for some reason. But having an actual person there to guide me made things a whole lot easier not to mention more enjoyable.
"Hey, Drew, it's not fair that you're keeping her all to yourself." James drawled, striding past the French windows towards us. "Rhiannon is wondering where you are, Kylie."
"And I suppose you've been sent to find me." I smirked.
"Anything to keep my fiancée happy." He shrugged with a soft smile gracing his lips.
"You're engaged?" I blinked in surprise. "You two are so young."
"We've been together for a long time," he explained patiently. "Since we were six years old, actually."
I gave a whistle. "That is a long time. Do you two have a date yet?"
"We were thinking of having an autumn wedding in November here in the large courtyard. With the fountain as the backdrop was my main request. It seemed appropriate to have our wedding 6 months away from our anniversary."
"Tactical thinking. That makes for two wonderful anniversaries perfectly spaced from one another." I agreed.
"They're going to have it at the weekend as well so that we could attend. A lot of the guests on the list for the immediate family are either students or work a job where they work on weekdays so it made sense." Drew explained.
"We'll be sure to add you to our guest list. Rhiannon would probably raise hell if you didn't attend."
"Thank you. I'd be honoured to attend your wedding." I smiled in delight. "We should probably head inside before your fiancée decides to come search for me herself." I teased.
"She might throw me off the balcony if she sees me hogging you." Drew scoffed.
"Isn't that a little dramatic?"
"You'll think the same once you get to know her more."
"Cut her some slack, Drew. She's let you two disappear for quite a while already." James reprimanded, sending the pair of us a teasing glance. His gaze seemed to suggest something mischievous and it didn't take a genius to guess what he was thinking. The idea of Drew and I secretly hitting it off at a royal informal dinner made me blush. I knew that Drew and I got on well but did we really appear that way to others around us?
"Let's go before anyone gets any funny ideas, shall we?" I coughed awkwardly, making my way back to the library where the others were.
I was surprised to hear a familiar crying voice as the three of us approached the library door. As soon as the door was opened, Trace came crashing into me and feeling puzzled I picked him up so that we were eye level.
"Trace? What's wrong?"
"Don't worry about him, he's being silly." Jacks grumbled.
"He doesn't want to go back to the dorm." Quinn sighed in exasperation. "He wants us all to have a sleepover tonight so that he can stay with you past his bed time."
"That's why he's crying?" I blinked in surprise as I swayed the little boy in my arms from side to side in an attempt to calm him. His sobs calmed down and he nuzzled his face against the crook of my neck.
"This actually isn't the first time he's wanted you to stick around until he's fallen asleep, right? Well this time he wants you to be there when he wakes up as well."
"I do have my own room back at the dorms, maybe we could get a special permission for him or something for him to stay over one night?"
"Would the guardians allow that?" James blinked in surprise.
"I'm sure I could find a way to convince them to bend the rules just once in a while. It's painful to watch this little guy cry." I nuzzled my face against the top of Trace's head.
"Perhaps we could put in a special request." Lord Dragomir suggested.
"That might not be a good idea." Jacks cut in shaking his head. "It'll put her in an awkward position at school I imagine once news travel around about her being in a royal family's favour."
"It's a little too late for that already don't you think?" Dan scoffed. "Her being invited to this dinner I message enough."
"Jacks' got a point. There's a logical reason for this dinner. We could say that our parents wanted to meet the dhampir who snuck their kids out of the Academy. If word gets out that an influential royal Moroi directly contacted the school to bend the rules for her, that sends out a different message all together." Drew argued.
"It's okay, I reckon I could work something out. Guardian Belikov is trying to get me to part time as a teacher for the little ones during their training sessions. She seems to have a pretty big say in what goes on in the Elementary division so if I ask her nicely enough she'd probably bend the rules a couple of times for me."
"It'll work out better for them to appease him rather than have him go on some tantrum. I've heard that Trace can be quite a handful sometimes. Not even Guardian Castile who's known as the god of the Elementary division could calm him down when that happens." Rhiannon commented.
"God of the Elementary division?" I giggled.
"Apparently there isn't a single kid he can't handle in the Elementary division."
"That's because Al is our leader. He's one of us and he keeps the mean guys away." Trace piped up suddenly.
I could certainly imagine Ali being regarded like that. He was teasing and playful enough to make the kids feel comfortable around him. I settled into an empty armchair while the young Dragomir made himself comfortable on my lap, his head resting against my chest and I gently nuzzled the top of his head with my chin. Within seconds he was asleep in my arms.
When I finally dragged my attention away from the adorable little boy and looked back up at everyone else, I noticed them all staring at me with warm expressions on their faces. Lord Dragomir looked like he wanted to cry out of happiness. His eyes shone with delight and love for the boy currently in my arms and when his eyes met mine the multitude of gratefulness was there. I realised that I initiated a change in their family by helping to fix the relationship between Trace and the twins but I didn't know that it would make Lord Dragomir THAT grateful. Was there maybe something else and I just didn't know it?
I couldn't hold his gaze for much longer. The gratitude gleaming in his eyes was beginning to make me feel shy and so I subtly returned my attention to Trace, casually and lightly combing my hand through his hair.
We stayed in the library for a couple of hours longer until Crispin entered the room with another guardian, both with apologetic expressions.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but it's time for them to return to the Academy." Crispin apologised.
"My how time flies!" Lady Zeklos gasped. "Thank you for a wonderful evening as always," she directed to the other royal Moroi before turning to me, "and thank you very much for joining us tonight. I see that you are certainly worthy of the praises we have heard."
"I'm honoured to receive such an invitation and praise." I inclined my head politely in show of respect.
"Ah before you guys leave, can I have your phone number, Kylie?" Rhiannon asked, stretching her hand out in anticipation.
"Sure, how about I get Ozera to give me your number later and I'll send you a message?" I suggested. "I don't think I could move my hands at the moment." Gesturing at Trace with my eyes.
"Right, that'd be great. Are you staying at the Academy during the holidays?"
"For a little while but not for the whole of it." I told her. "Considering the schedule my manager has already managed to compile for me, I have no hope for staying at the Academy for more than a couple of weeks after school's over. I'm flying back to San Francisco to make up for the lost rehearsing time with my band and I think she's crammed in a few promotional or side jobs for me as well."
"We have a house in San Francisco." Jacks piped up. "If you're not too busy maybe you could come over. I reckon we'll be there around early August."
"You have a house in San Francisco? Why's that?"
"Our family has a few company headquarters there." Quinn explained.
I whistled at the news. So these people weren't just royals. They were most likely rich in their own rights too. Boy just how did I manage to impress such powerful people?
"Mum, Dad, are the two of you having an early night tonight?" Drew asked his parents.
"No, why?" the pair chimed.
"I'll call you when we get back to the dorms." Drew told them simply as he hugged his parents goodnight.
The other kids of the family did the same with the exception of Trace since he was still fast asleep in my arms. Despite having Trace in my arms, Rhiannon didn't hesitate to give me as firm a hug as she could and her eyes gleamed with excitement and anticipation.
"The next time we'll get to see you would likely be the charity event. I do hope that you can make it, Kylie." Lady Badica commented as she gave me a light embrace to avoid disturbing little Trace.
"It would be beautiful to have your voice grace the event." Lord Badica agreed, holding his hand for me to shake.
"Later tonight, can you send me your measurements before you go to bed?" Rhiannon asked.
"Um… sure I don't see why not."
"Delightful, that way we could make your dress in time regardless of whether you can or cannot attend the charity event." Lady Dragomir, Trace's dad's twin sister, beamed.
"You have a dress design in mind already?" I blinked in shock. "The creativity of a designer never fails to stun me."
After a few more farewells, us students followed Crispin through the halls back to the front door where our van was waiting just outside.
The journey back to the Academy was calm and as my mind drifted I realised that the earlier anxiety I had faced regarding encountering royals had completely dissipated. I wasn't anxious anymore. The darkness was completely gone and I found myself feeling very lucky to have been able to be on such great terms with four important royal families already. Such a thing was pretty miraculous for me.
Before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep to the gentle swaying of the van and I woke to find myself leaning against Drew while Trace was seated safely on my lap with my arms wrapped securely around him. I blinked sleepily as Crispin gently shook me awake.
"Are you going to be okay walking back to the dorm?" Drew asked me part in amusement part with concern.
"I'll walk her back." Joe decided. "Jenson, could you carry Prince Dragomir back? I've already informed Castile he should be at the gate waiting for you."
"I can walk myself back just fine." I yawned. "I'm just a little tired not delirious."
"We're going to the same place anyway." Joe scoffed. "Besides you look like you might trip along the way."
"Careful Guardian Maxwell, I just might drop kick you before you even knew what hit you." I teased as I lifted Trace into Crispin's waiting arms. I gave the small boy a soft kiss on the forehead to say goodnight and watched as he was carried away. "Now that my hands are free, Ozera, can you send me your sister's number please? Since I promised I'll send her my measurements tonight."
"Don't let her keep you up too late. As soon as she gets your number, she'll probably text you endlessly."
"If that happens, I'll just sleep regardless and tell her I'll message her back tomorrow." I scoffed. "Royal or not, I need my sleep especially since we have class tomorrow morning."
"See you in class, Valentine."
"Try not to burn anyone in the morning during wake up call, Ozera." I teased.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
"Nope." I smirked with a wink. "Goodnight."
"Sleep well."
We went our separate way, him to the Moroi dorm and Joe and I to the dhampir dorm. "You look a lot better than when you'd arrived earlier in the evening, little sky."
"I feel a lot better. By the way, Lady Ozera knows."
"Knows what." I shot him a look and he blinked in shock. "She knows?" he nearly shouted. "How?"
"She's a spirit user just like Rosette and she recognised my aura." I explained simply. "They're all very lovely people, Joey. I can't believe I grew up believing that all royals were scheming and conniving monsters. I actually feel kind of bad now."
"Considering what happened, I'm not surprised you made that stereotype. But you're older now and you're bound to see things differently. We were sure that you'd have a positive reaction to meeting those royal Moroi."
"They really are lovely. I guess they would be considering whose parents they are. The guys can be a little jerkish sometimes but they are great nonetheless."
"I see your opinion of royal Moroi has changed drastically since you first came back," he mused.
"Considering who I hang out with it's impossible for it to not have changed." I scoffed, giving him a playful punch to the shoulder. "I'm really lucky to have things turn out the way they did. I'm starting to have a little hope for the future regardless of what happens."
"You really mean that?"
"I do. I know I have good support. I won't be torn apart by schemers anymore. Not with the people I know now to help me if I needed it. Things are really different now compared to back then."
"Not to mention the fact that you'd probably beat anyone who tried to control you like a puppet."
"Damn straight. Give me three good reasons why I shouldn't. It's not like they could make my life hell. If they tried, I could easily leave and return to my human life and still be in contact with you guys of course. They can't do anything to me anymore. Before I didn't think that I had a choice. Now I know that I have many."
Joe stared at me for several long moments before he suddenly drew me into a tight hug. "You sound so strong and positive, little sky. I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks, I'm happy with the way I've turned out too." I grinned. "See you tomorrow, Joey."
"Sleep well, don't stay up too late otherwise you'll never wake up in time for breakfast."
"I'll try." I chuckled as I left him to lock up the front door and headed upstairs to my room.
I checked the measurements taken from the last photoshoot I'd done before sending them to Rhiannon. Drew hadn't been kidding when he said that his sister might keep texting me once she got her hands on my number. While it was fun talking to her, I eventually apologised and told her that I really needed to go to sleep since I had class the next day.
The three girls really grilled me on what happened during the dinner with the royal families over breakfast and I could only give them half-hearted responses since I was so tired. I kept dozing off in class since they were so boring and I just couldn't find the energy to pay proper attention to what the teachers were saying.
The days leading up to the week's trip for us Sophomores was hectic to say the least. The teachers seemed to be trying to cram as much information as they could into our minds and during training they made us run through so many different drills in case anything were to happen whilst we were away from the Academy. We weren't likely to need to put those drills into use but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Then there was Trace throwing a tantrum since he wouldn't be able to see me at all for a week. I didn't want to think how he was going to react when it was time to go home. It was clear that he hadn't quite realised that the school year would be finished just a couple of days after our trip and he would be going back to his home wherever that might be.
Even Ali who was supposed to be invincible against the little ones couldn't placate him. Eventually, they agreed that Trace would stay with me on Saturday night. That way he would get his wish of having a sleepover with me.
In the blink of an eye it was time to leave for the annual 5 day 4 night trip for the sophomores!