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Chapter 17

Rose.

She was the reason that I had been given that second chance.

I finally understood what she had been trying to tell me all of this time.

Thinking of her reminded me that she was still a little injured. Sonya was still asleep so I quietly left the room.

I walked down the hall and out into the living room. I saw that both Victor and Robert were asleep. Looking around, I spotted Rose who was asleep, curled up in a ball on the floor.

"She was tired so I told her to sleep," Sydney's voice told me.

"Good. She needs it."

Sydney got up to go to the bathroom and I took her place on the couch. I watched Rose sleeping peacefully on the floor, matching my breathing pattern to hers. The deep calming breaths immediately began to soothe the tightness in my muscles. I hadn't realised how tense I'd become in the last couple of hours waiting for Sonya to wake.

Sydney returned and I went back to Sonya. She was still asleep but was stirring slightly.

"Sonya?" I said quietly.

Her eyes shot open. Her head turned and her eyes focussed on my face, before tears filled them.

"Ssh…it's okay," I moved from the chair to the bed. "It's ok…I know."

Sonya's head snapped up to mine in confusion. I gently explained to her that I was completely aware to how she was feeling.

We talked for a long time about everything; how she was feeling, how I had felt, how I felt now, what I had learned about life giving us another chance.

As a soft knock tapped on the door, I almost wished someone had been there to explain all of this to me. Sonya and I both looked up as the door opened gently. Rose popped her head in.

The first thought that crossed my mind was how beautiful she really was.

How had I missed that?

After the attack the last night, I had realised how beautiful her hair was. And I was not wrong.

But how on earth had I missed the whole picture?

I just watched her and her eyes swept over Sonya.

"Rose?" Sonya asked, speaking as though she couldn't believe her eyes.

Over the events of the last couple of days, I had forgotten that Rose had known Sonya, and vice versa.

"It's good to see you again," Rose replied smiling, but I could how forced it was.

Rose's gaze moved from Sonya to me.

"Sydney went for groceries," she said. "She also stayed up so that I could sleep last night."

"I know," I told her. "I got up once to check on you."

"You can rest too," she continued after a moment. "Get some breakfast, and then I'll keep an eye on everything. I have it on good authority that Victor's going to have car trouble." Of course she did.

"Also that Robert really likes Cheerios, so if you want some, you're out of luck. He doesn't seem like the sharing type." She said.

I felt myself smiling. I had missed this side of Rose; the joking, witty side. Everything had been so busy and serious that we'd had no chance to.

Sonya's head snapped up.

"There's another spirit user here," she said, panicked. "I can feel it. I remember him." Her head shot between myself and Rose. "It's not safe. We're not safe. You shouldn't have us around."

"Everything's fine," I soothed her. "Don't worry."

Sonya shook her head vigorously. "No. You don't understand. We…We're capable of terrible things. To ourselves, to others. It's why I changed, to stop the madness. And it did, except…it was worse. In its way. The things I did…"

"It wasn't you," Rose said gently. "You were controlled by something else."

"But I chose it. Me. I made it happen."

"That was spirit," Rose said, less gently but more confidently. I understood why she sounded so confident; this was something she had dealt with first-hand. "It's hard to fight. Like you said, it can make you do terrible things. You weren't thinking clearly. Lissa battles with the same thing all the time."

"Vasilisa?" Sonya repeated her name vaguely, looking deep in thought. "Yes, of course. Vasilisa has it too."

She looked at Rose in a panic. "Did you help her? Did you get her out of there?"

"I did," Rose answered her.

So it had been Sonya Karp who had told Rose to get Lissa out of the school. Rose had always said that she had done it to protect her, and after everyone found out about Victor Dashkov, I understood why. But I had had no idea that Sonya Karp had put the idea in her head.

"And you can help Lissa too. We need to know if – " I realised what she was about to do.

"No," I said firmly. "Not yet."

"But-" Rose argued.

"Not yet," I repeated.

She sent me one of her famous glares but didn't try and argue further.

"Can I see my flowers?" Sonya asked suddenly. "Can I go outside and see my flowers?"

I realised that flowers to Sonya, was like the sun to me, when I had been turned back.

"Of course," I answered her. There was no reason to deny her this.

Sonya and I got up off the bed and walked towards the door behind Rose. But she didn't move.

"Why did you grow flowers when you were…like you were?" She asked Sonya out of the blue.

"I've always grown flowers." She answered.

"I know. I remember. They were gorgeous. The ones here are gorgeous too. Is that why…I mean, did you just want a pretty garden, even as a Strigoi?" I realised what she was doing.

After thinking about it for a moment, Sonya answered.

"No. I never thought about pretty. They were…I don't know. Something to do. I'd always grown flowers. I had to see if I still could. It was like…a test of my skills, I guess."

Rose looked at me right in my eyes and they conveyed her point.

Sonya Karp hadn't grown flowers for beauty when she was a Strigoi because she couldn't see their beauty.

We continued walking out to the living room and found Victor and his brother in conversation. Sonya tensed up upon seeing them, as did Robert.

"Up and around," Victor said. "Have we found out what we need yet?"

I shot him a warning glare not to start anything. "Not yet."

Suddenly Sonya moved her gaze from Robert to her patio. "You broke my door."

"Collateral damage," Rose replied nonchalantly and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her attitude.

I followed Sonya to the door, as did Rose. She gasped when we reached outside. The sky was a gorgeous blue, no clouds to be seen. The sun illuminating everything in gold, it's rays heating my already tanned skin.

I realised Victor and Robert had also followed us out.

"It's so beautiful." Sonya said and turned to Rose. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

"Beautiful." Rose repeated, looking lost in her own thoughts.

Sonya walked around, touching every flower petal and every green leave, basking in the beauty of the sun. "So different. So different in the sun…These don't open at night! Do you see it? Do you see the colours? Can you smell that?"

She wasn't speaking to anyone in particular. We all just watched her incredulous and even happy face as she tended to her loving flowers.

After a while, she settled in one of the patio chairs, looking around her bright garden happily. I felt a sense of peace just watching her. It seemed like her recovery would be a lot easier than mine had been. I was glad. Glad that my talk with her when she had woken up seemed to have really helped her. She still had a long way to go however.

"I think you should go get some sleep." Rose turned and said to me, her dark hair shining in the sun. "You need it. Sydney said we should take turns."

She was right. I did need it. I felt like I hadn't slept in days…which, in all honesty, was completely possible.

"That's smart," I told her. "Once Sonya's able to talk, we'll need to move." I smiled at her.

"Sydney's turning into a battle mastermind."

"Hey, she's not in charge here," Rose teased. "She's just a soldier."

"Right." My hand moved on its own account to brush her beautiful skin. Her cheek was warm and soft. "Sorry Captain."

"General," Roza corrected me

I said goodbye to Sonya and walked back to the empty bedroom.

I lay down under the covers and started thinking.

What was going on with me?

I had been so sure that my feelings for Rose were gone. After being turned back, there really wasn't any room in my heart for anything but hurt.

But now, the hurt and pain was lessening…and my heart was accepting other emotions.

Was it love? Could it be possible that I still loved Rose?

I exhaled a loud breath and realised my eyes were drooping. Pushing these thoughts away for the time being, I closed my eyes and let sleep take over my body.

I woke suddenly, feeling as though I had just had freezing water poured over me. I looked around me, trying to figure out why I had woken so suddenly and panicked.

"Dimitri!" Rose's strained voice called and I realised that that was what had woken me in the first place.

I tore off the covers and sprinted out the door and down the hall. I reached the patio less than ten seconds later.

My guardian instincts kicked in as I saw Rose trying to pin Sonya to the ground and Robert picking up a wooden chair and firing it in their direction. It hit Rose smack in the back. I ran at Robert and attempted to do the same as Rose. I tackled him and tried to pin him. It wasn't hard to do so, seen as though he was a lot older than me and still weak from the spirit he'd used last night.

I felt hands trying to pry me away from him and I realised it was Victor. I ignored him.

Vines suddenly sprang to life and went straight for Robert, and by default, myself.

"Get him inside!" Rose yelled to me. "Get him away from her!"

I realised it was Sonya controlling the vines and attacking Robert. Robert would, no doubt, retaliate.

I started to drag him towards the patio door.

Victor was still at me but I managed to get through the door. Robert sagged in exhaustion from using even more spirit and I let him go. Victor immediately went to help him up and over to the couch.

"No." I said to them and took a hold of Robert's arm. I lead him to the bedroom I had been in and let Victor stay with him as I shut the door behind me. I didn't want them both to be in the living room when Sonya came back inside.

I went outside and helped Rose bring Sonya inside, where she sat on the couch. She calmed down a little as Sydney held her hand and I turned to Rose.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"I told you it wasn't time!" I exclaimed after she had told me. "What were you thinking? She's too weak!"

"You call that weak?" Rose retaliated. "And hey, I was doing fine! It wasn't until Victor and Robert got involved that things went to hell."

"They should never have gotten involved." I said angrily. "This is you, acting irrational again, jumping in foolishly with no thought of the consequences."

Anger shot through her features.

"Hey, I was trying to make progress here. If being rational is sitting around and doing therapy, then I'm happy to jump over the edge. I'm not afraid to get in the game."

"You have no idea what you're saying," I growled at her. "This may have set us back"

"This set us forward. We found out she knows about Eric Dragomir. The problem is she promised not to tell anyone about this baby."

"Yes, I promised," Sonya said before I could reply. Rose and I turned to look at her at the same time. "I promised." She said quietly, and almost pleading tone in her voice.

"We know," Sydney said, squeezing her hand. "It's okay. It's okay to keep promises. I understand."

"Thank you," Sonya said to her. "Thank you."

"But," Sydney said very carefully. "I heard that you care about Lissa Dragomir."

"I can't," Sonya said, panicking again.

"I know, I know. But what if there was a way to help her without breaking your promise?"

I looked at Rose to see if she knew what Sydney was talking about. She looked as lost as I was as she shrugged her shoulders.

"W-what do you mean?" Sonya asked Sydney, confused.

"Well…what did you promise exactly? Not to tell anyone that Eric Dragomir had a mistress and baby?"

Sonya nodded to her.

"And not to tell who they were?"

Sonya nodded again.

Sydney smiled warmly at her.

"Did you promise not to tell anyone where they are?

"No." Sonya replied after a minute and shook her head.

"So…you could lead us to them. But not tell us where they actually are. You wouldn't be breaking the promise that way."

It almost sounded like Rose-logic. Sydney had spent too much time with her.

"Maybe…" Sonya replied uncertainly.

"You wouldn't break the promise," Sydney said. "And it would really, really help Lissa."

"It would help Mikhail too." Rose said, stepping closer to the couch.

Sonya looked at Rose in shock at the mention of his name.

"Mikhail? You know him?"

"He's my friend. He's Lissa's friend too. And he wants to help Lissa. But he can't. None of us can. We don't have enough information."

"Mikhail…" Sonya said quietly. I could see tears glistening on her cheeks.

"You won't break you promise." Sydney repeated once again. "Just lead us. It's what Mikhail and Lissa would want. It's the right thing to do."

Sonya looked at her hands before finally looking up.

"I'll lead you there," she whispered.

"We're going on a road trip," Sydney said. "Get ready."

Sydney busied herself soothing Sonya and wiping her tears.

I looked down at Rose, feeling a little guilty for getting so mad at her. She had only been trying to help. She was a lot closer than I expected her to be and she was looking straight back into my eyes.

I gulped and changed the subject.

"You were wrong. She really is the new general in town."

Rose smiled back at her. "Maybe. But, it's okay. You can still be colonal."

"Oh?" I teased her. "Did you demote yourself? Colonal's right below general. What's that make you?"

She grinned victoriously at me and held up the car keys.

"The driver." She said.

Over my dead body.