Chapter Two
Once the princess and her poorly trained dhampir had surrendered we travelled with them by car to the academy's private jet. I allowed the girls to sit next to each other but as soon as I had sat down, at the front of the plane, they immediately started whispering to each other, probably trying to come up with an escape plan. I immediately decided they needed to be separated "Don't let them talk to each other" I warned Guardian Case "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan." The female dhampir- Rose her name was if I recalled right, certainly didn't like that idea, I could tell by the look she gave me as I ushered the princess into a seat next to mine. Vasilisa seemed intimidated by me and a bit on edge about being away from the "Safety" and "familiarity" her best friend offered, so we sat in silence.
Once we were in the air everyone relaxed a little, the princess was safe from any strigoi attacks whilst flying, so the other guardians and I didn't have to be on such high alert. I looked over at the princess who had both of her arms resting on the armrests with her fingers strained and her nails digging into the seat. "Everything's going to be okay, princess. Your safe now." I reassured her. She looked up at me with concern "I know. I'm just worried about Rose." Her brow furrowed and her lips creased in worry. Why would the princess be so concerned for her dhampir friend? There would be severe consequences for her no doubt maybe even expulsion but she could easily make other friends, ones of her kind, which would be better influences for her. Moroi and dhampir relationships were usually tight in high school but once the moroi were out in the real world things changed. They had certain responsibilities, especially royal moroi. Who would have to act accordingly and secure a good reputation; which meant they couldn't hang out with dhampir's.
The princess surely wouldn't want to continue the friendship and spend her time with an irresponsible, untrained novice. She had to be mature and make hard decisions and pursue a rewarding future. The dhampir would only hold her back from her true potential. I sighed. I hope Rose doesn't take it to hard when the time comes for her to leave the princess alone and follow a different path, possibly protecting another royal moroi if she trained hard enough. Her chances of protecting the princess were slim to none, since she wasn't capable of making mature decisions and she had a lot to prove to be even considered a possible guardian after she leaves school. I had to ask myself one thing though. Why did I care what happened to Rose? I didn't even know her. Why should I worry about her future? Sure she's made some stupid decisions and risked the princess's life for two years lacking both the skills and strength to actually make a strigoi kill. If she couldn't manage to take me down she had know hope with a strigoi because they were ten times as hard to take down, I should know, I've killed six of them.
Pushing all thoughts of Rose out of my head, I bent over in my seat to pick up an old western novel, that I had yet to read, from of my small carry on bag. I flickered to the first page, took one last glance at the princess to make sure she was all right then indulged myself in my book.
Near the end of the flight I traded places with Guardian Chase who was sitting next to Rose. She scowled as I sat beside her. Glaring, she looked away from me, to focus on nothing in particular out the window. Several heavy moments passed. She was trying to make a point of ignoring me, which was fine, until curiosity got the better of me. "Were you really going to attack all of us?" I asked. She didn't answer but her eyes flickered over to stare at me for a short moment. I continued "Doing that… protecting her like that- it was very brave." A hint of a smile played on her lips. "Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?" The hint of a smile vanished. Flicking her hair over her shoulder so she could look at me levelly in the eye, she spoke with utter seriousness "Because I'm her guardian." Then she turned her gaze back out the window nd continued ignoring me. After another quite moment I decided things weren't going to progress, so, I stood up and returned to the front of the jet and continued to read my book for the rest of the flight.
When we landed, we all got into groups of five and got in separate cars and drove back to the academy. The guardians and I stopped at the gates, notified the guards of our return with the princess and the female novice then continued up the long driveway to the academy's entrance. We then parked the cars, got out and unloaded the small amount of luggage we had taken on the rescue mission. I walked near the front of the group, as we walked into the main part of the upper school I heard heavy footsteps and the crunching of gravel as someone advanced towards me. "Hey, comrade." I stiffened but kept walking not looking at her, the untrained dhampir. "You want to talk now?" I said a little sarcastically. She ignored my comment and asked "Are you taking us to Kirova?" I shook my head in exasperation could she be anymore impolite? Didn't she have any respect for her old teachers and instructors? "Headmistress Kirova," I corrected her. "Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit-" she stopped suddenly as we went through a set of doors leading us into the commons. She sighed. It was breakfast time for the students. Everyone was sitting down eating and socialising. As soon as we entered the whole room went silent and everyone's attention focused on the girls.
Sensing she was in the spotlight Rose squared her shoulders and stood up straight not meeting their shocked gazes. She scanned the room with her confident expression but her eyes darted around the room assessing the different groups of students. She relaxed a little as we went through another set of doors, exiting the commons to enter headmistress Kirova's office. The girls both sat down on chairs in front of the headmistress's desk and most of the guardians left the room except for me and two other's. We took positions along the wall and I eyed Rose warily. The headmistress's angry eyes rested on the girls and she opened her mouth to speak but a gentle voice stopped her. Prince Victor Dashkov. "Vasilisa" He gave her a small smile. I hadn't been aware of his presence in the room and it startled me that he'd gotten much worse since the last time I saw him which was a day after we had been notified of the princess's whereabouts. With what seemed like great difficulty the prince rose from his chair and the princess sprang up from her seat and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his frail body. "Uncle" she whispered. Her face was filled with concern and she was visibly fighting back tears.
Victor gave her a small smile and patted her on the back. "You have know idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He looked over at Rose and said "And you to Rose." Rose nodded, her face filled with shock and sympathy, the change in Prince Victor obviously surprised her. Kirova let them have a few more moments reunion and then stiffly drew Vasilisa back to her seat. The headmistress then gave the girls a ten-minute lecture on responsibility, reckless behaviour, self-centredness and a couple other things. Rose seemed to tune out early on in the lecture. Then the headmistress turned her icy glare to Rose "You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here. The strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomir's; you nearly enabled them to do it." "Rose didn't kidnap me." Vasilisa pointed out wistfully. "I wanted to go. Don't blame her." She added quietly. Ms Kirova tsked at both of them and paced theoffice, hands folded behind her narrow back.
"Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the whole plan for all I know, but it was still her responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe." That was when Rose snapped. "I did do my duty!" she shouted furiously, jumping out of her chair, which made Alberta and I flinch. I didn't advance because it didn't seem like she would try and throw a punch, it was just her lack of self-control coming out. "I did keep her safe when none of you" she made a sweeping gesture around the room- "could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."
Vasilisa stared at Rose looking like she was mentally telling Rose to calm down and sit back in her seat before she caused more trouble. Rose looked at Vasilisa for a short moment then turned back to the headmistress glaring at her. The headmistress kept her face blank "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?" Rose bit her lip and I hid my smile, Kirova was right. Rose made a wrong decision about the princess's safety and wellbeing and did the opposite of protecting her. She put the princess in immortal danger, every moment of every day they were at risk of a strigoi attack and Rose had risked it all by wrongly assessing her friend's situation. "I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left- aside from the novelty of it, no doubt was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance." Kirova accused. "No, that's not-" "And that only makes my decision that much easier, as a moroi, the princess must continue here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no obligation to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible." Both of the girls gasped in shock and Rose stiffened "I… what?" Vasilisa hastily stood up "You can't do that! She's my guardian." She cried. "She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice." The headmistress retorted. "But my parents-" "I know what your parents wanted, god rest their souls but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."
Rose stared at the headmistress in disbelief. I knew there was a chance Rose could possibly be expelled but honestly I thought she had potential after all she had kept Vasilisa safe out in the real world even if it was pure luck they hadn't run into any strigoi. "Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my father?" Ms. Kirova's eyes narrowed at the bite in her last word. When Rose spoke again her voice was cold and venomous "Or maybe you're going to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day." "Miss Hathaway!" the headmistress hissed. "You are out of line." The conversation was getting dangerous and pretty soon Rose was going to get violent. I didn't know how I knew but I sensed it. I tried to think of something that would save them. Shifting from thought to thought I tried to think of anything that might help and that's when it hit me! "They have a bond." I blurted out and everyone looked at me in confusion except for Rose and Vasilisa.
I looked directly at Rose. She had my whole undivided attention just like I knew it would always be from this moment on. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?" Rose stared at me with her lips parted in amazement that I'd guessed their secret. The headmistress was caught off guard for a moment and she glanced over at me, then to the girls, and back again unsure of what to become of this news. "No… that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries." "It's obvious. I suspected it as soon as I started watching them." I lied. I wasn't going to admit I'd just figured it out and how Rose always was so aware of Vasilisa and silent messages seemed to pace between them and no words were needed just Vasilisa's thoughts. Neither Rose nor Vasilisa responded to my statement but Rose gave it away by looking away from me to look at Kirova.
"That is a gift." Murmured Prince Victor from his corner. "A rare and wonderful thing." "The best guardians always had that bond." I added. "In the stories" Kirova's earlier outrage returned "Stories that are centuries old," she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?" I shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential-" "Wild and disrespectful?" Rose interrupted me. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help." I rolled my eyes at her comment and immediately dismissed it. "Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said Kirova. "Her sanctioned guardian." "You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?" Rose spat. I pressed my lips together tightly and clenched my teeth, my fists in tight balls, I refrained from answering her back with a snide comment. I. Was. Furious. Couldn't Rose see I was only trying to help her? How dare she make such an insulting comment about me and what country I had come from. She had know idea how much I'd been through and how close I had come to declining the headmistresses offer to be the princess's guardian. I was doing Rose a favour by sticking up for her and this is how she treats me. Outrageous. I should've kept my mouth shut and just let her be sent away, then everyone could move on without having to put up with her rude behaviour and lack of respect.
Kirova through her hands up in exasperation and turned to me. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian." "So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again." "Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers." "No, I won't" Rose piped in. We both ignored her comment. "Then give her extra training sessions." We continued arguing and everyone watched us with growing interest. "Who's going to put in the extra time?" She demanded. "You?" I came to an abrupt stop. "Well, that's not what I-" Kirova crossed her arms in satisfaction. "Yes. That's what I thought." I frowned not knowing what to say. I looked over at Vasilisa and Rose both their faces were full of hope and they looked at me with pleading eyes. A minute passed. Vasilisa looked at me desperately and Rose looked sad. Her facial expression looked tortured as if she thought I'd say no since all she'd done was treat me with no respect whatsoever and speak to me rudely. I don't know why but the look on Rose's face made me feel slightly saddened and I knew I never wanted her to look that way again.
She needed to learn discipline, manners and most of all respect for others. It would be quite hard in her case but I had absolute faith in her ability to learn self-control. I just hoped she would be willing to learn. Finally I said, "Yes. I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones." Kirova frowned not expecting yes for an answer. "And then what?" Kirova retorted angrily. "She goes unpunished?" "Find some other way to punish her," I answered blearily. "Guardian numbers have gone down to much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular." I was referring to all the female dhampir's that chose to become blood whores rather then fight to protect moroi they'd chosen to have sex with them instead. I grimaced thinking back to when I was a boy, living back in Russia with my family. The community I lived in was a hot spot for blood whores who liked to hang out in clubs and bars waiting eagerly for the moroi men to arrive, then later on going home and sleeping with them. It was disgusting but not all blood whores were like that, some had no choice, like my mother.
Victor suddenly spoke up "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent." Ms. Kirova stared out the window. When she turned back around, Lissa met her eyes. "Please Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay." I watched Vasilisa wearily her tone of voice was identical to when she was back in the house with Rose the night we'd come to take them back to the Academy when she'd got the boys car keys by compelling him I realised. She was doing it now, to the headmistress. Awareness seeped into me and I looked over at Rose who was staring at the princess with wide eyes obviously knowing what she was doing through Vasilisa's thoughts. I glanced over at Kirova and saw her face was slightly slack under Vasilisa's heavy gaze. Moroi compelling students, teachers, human and/or dhampir's was highly against the rules and both Vasilisa and Rose knew it. I decided not to notify the others of the girls antics only because I didn't want to give them another reason to send Rose away well that and I was curious to see if it actually worked against the headmistress, a moroi had to be quite powerful to make it work on a dhampir or moroi especially an older one.
Kirova sighed, "If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be." She turned to stare at Rose. "Your continued enrolment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. You will train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have- before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent… away." Rose gave a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" she nodded towards Vasilisa. "Afraid we'll run away again?" "I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for." Her thin lips tightened into a straight line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it" Kirova finished. Rose looked like she was going to protest and I willed her to look at me.
I stared at her intently, sensing my gaze, she turned to look at me, eyes blazing. I tried to send a message to her saying Please don't make Kirova change her mind about you staying at the Academy, just take what she's given you and you'll get through it. It will all be worth it in the end. She assessed my expression for a long time and finally turned away to look at Kirova, her decision now made. She stared at the floor, Vasilisa sat beside her, pleading her to accept Kirova's offer no doubt. At long last she exhaled and looked up at Kirova "Fine. I accept." She said.