Dimitri
Two things, it seemed, had alerted the Moroi world to our whereabouts.
Firstly, Amelia had remained worried for us even after we'd gone off to save Rose, and had alerted the local guardians, who had already been on alert thanks to Lissa informing the Council of the threat of the Grand Master. They'd come here and heard the sounds of fighting, eventually reaching 154 Riverdale Drive and breaking in. They'd soon finished off the fight and all of the Strigoi had been killed.
Secondly, when we'd called the Alchemists to destroy the dead Strigoi we'd killed, they'd found the area full of guardians and had contacted their superiors, who in turn had liaised with the Moroi Royal Court. By then, news of the guardians' attack was beginning to spread, and the guardians and Alchemists were now working together to cover up the scene from nosy human eyes.
We'd fulfilled one of our mission parameters: to save Rose. She was unconscious, but a hastily summoned Moroi doctor had confirmed that she was just unconscious from chloroform and the gas we'd smelled in the room, and given a few hours, she'd eventually come to. And that was almost everything that mattered to me – that she was in my arms again. I hugged her and kissed her, murmuring softly to her that it was going to be all right. Once Janine had been convinced that she could let down her guard, even for a moment, she flung aside her stake and hugged her unconscious daughter, beginning to cry with relief. I was touched by the motherly love that poured out of her – this wasn't the tough, emotionless guardian that Moroi society had come to expect. Even Christian had come to hug her, unconscious though she was, and relief and joy had shone in his eyes, even though we hadn't found the Grand Master.
The Grand Master. Squads of guardians had combed 154 Riverdale Drive and found nothing – none of the Strigoi killed seemed to be the Grand Master either. It was largely thought that the Grand Master had happened to be away when we attacked, luckily for him. Now that this debacle had happened, it was unlikely that he'd be coming back at all. We'd lost our lead on him – at least until Rose regained consciousness. She might know who he was.
I sat on a chair, guardians milling around me, with Rose in my lap. I refused to let anyone except Janine and Christian touch her. My arms were wrapped around her, and I stroked her hair. She was all right, she was safe, and she was never going to be parted from me again.
Eventually, an Alchemist approached me, prim and proper. "Guardian Belikov," she greeted me. "There is an Alchemist-chartered plane waiting to take you, Lord Ozera and the two Guardians Hathaway back to the Moroi Royal Court, if you'll just step this way."
A wheelchair was brought forward for me to wheel Rose in, but I refused, instead lifting her into my arms. Janine and Christian joined me, and we exchanged relieved looks. We were safe, and we were going to go back to Court, with Rose. Together, we followed the Alchemist.
~~Page Break~~
Rose didn't stir all the way back to Court. The Moroi doctor had assured us that whatever sedative the Strigoi had used on her was incredibly powerful, but I couldn't help worrying nevertheless. The touchdown at the private runway at Court jolted her awake, however, and she began to stir.
I was at her side in an instant. Christian started to go to her too but Janine motioned him backwards. "She'll be overwhelmed if we all go to her," she said, but I could see the longing in her eyes. She wanted to see, touch and hug her daughter.
"Rose," I said softly. "Roza. Roza. You're safe now."
Rose's eyes blinked open. That brownness, that bottomless chocolate brown eyes. My heart wanted to leap for joy. "D-Dimitri?" she muttered groggily. "This isn't – this isn't another dream? I'm going to be very pissed off if it is."
I huffed with laughter, and with relief. "No, Roza, it's me. You're safe now."
Her eyes opened properly, and she saw me. "Dimitri…" she breathed. "Dimitri! Lissa told me you were coming!"
She was going to say more, but I didn't hear any of it, because my lips were crushed against hers. She responded eagerly, kissing me back. The kiss started off hungry and heady, both of us needing reassurance that we were there for each other, but turned softer and more comforting.
Eventually, there was an uncomfortable little cough, and we broke away, panting. Rose grinned and touched the side of my unshaven face. "You need to shave, Comrade," she teased.
Then she turned and found Janine and Christian watching her. They'd been exposed to our very public display of affection, but all signs of discomfort vanished as Rose flung her arms out. Janine went to hug her at once, unshed tears shining in her eyes. "You're safe, Rose," she breathed. "You're safe."
Christian seemed reluctant, but joined in when Rose threw another arm around him. "All right, all right," he said gruffly, breaking away. "That's enough PDA for now."
"Oh, you guys!" Rose's eyes were shining. "You didn't have to come looking for me! I would've gotten out, even if Robert – " Her eyes suddenly widened in alarm. "Robert!"
"Robert who?" Christian asked.
"Robert Doru!"
Her frantic eyes met my puzzled ones. "We have to get to Lissa!" she exclaimed.
"We've just landed at Court," I said, gesturing outside the window. "But what's going on? And what does Robert Doru have to do with anything?"
Rose took a calming breath, then faced us. "He's the Strigoi Grand Master."
~~Page Break~~
"I can't believe it," said Lissa faintly.
Once we'd been cleared to disembark the plane, Rose had been off and sprinting towards the buildings of Court. It had been all the rest of us could do to keep her in sight. Once she'd been reunited with Lissa, there'd been more tears, and more hugs, with Lissa sobbing out apologies and Rose offering her reassurances. But the relieved atmosphere had turned sober very quickly when Rose had told us about Robert Doru being the Grand Master and his plans for an attack on Court. Now, we sat in shell-shocked silence.
"I can't believe it," Lissa said again. Neither could I. This was the Moroi world's worst nightmare come true: a veritable, coordinated Strigoi army, taking orders from a general (of sorts), who planned to strike at the stronghold of the Moroi race. It wasn't unheard of for Strigoi to occasionally band together and attack areas of Moroi concentration – but this? A de facto declaration of war on Moroi? This was unprecedented, and something we'd never faced before.
"It's my fault." I hung my head. "I shouldn't have left him in those bushes. He was unstable already from spirit use. I should've taken him with us…God, I could've prevented all of this…"
"It's not your fault," Rose said. "We all misjudged him, and we all underestimated him. And none of it matters now. What matters is that we've got an immediate threat which we need to face."
"The wards?" Janine said. Her motherly concern was gone now, and she was once again the cunning battle strategist she always had been. "You're sure the wards will be of no help?"
"I saw with my own eyes a human girl working for them," Rose responded. "She brought me food and drink. And I don't think she's the only human they've got working for them."
"No," Christian answered grimly. "She's not. We found more in Pittsburgh."
"Then they have a way to breach the wards," I said. "Humans can disable the wards with charmed stakes. Strengthening won't do much against them. We need to fortify our forces within Court right now."
Lissa nodded. Her expression hardened. This was Queen Vasilisa Dragomir of the Moroi, and she would not take this threat lying down. "I'll notify the Council right away, and we can commence battle preparations," she said. "Guardian Hathaway?"
She would never address Rose by anything so formal, and so Janine stepped forward. "Your Majesty?"
"Come with me. You're pretty good at offering logical explanations, right? And you've probably come up with a million battle tactics in your head."
"I don't know about a million, Your Majesty," Janine warned as she hurried after Lissa. Christian followed them, sparks flying from his fingers.
"He's going to want to fight," Rose remarked, turning to me. We were alone at last.
"We'll see what the Council says," I responded.
She bit her lip. "When Robert first talked to me about his plans, it sounded like they hadn't finished planning their attack yet. It sounded like they still needed some time to sort everything out. But now…"
"Now that you've escaped, they've lost their element of surprise," I finished. "They'll need to attack before we get too strong. Which means…"
Rose's face was grim. "We can expect an attack sometime very, very soon."