Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Academy.

Ch. 18 Headed to Court

It's been almost a month since I've returned from Russia with Dimitri. Life is pretty much returned to the same old thing from before I left. Classes, training sessions with Dimitri…and the field experience.

The field experience was a novice's biggest test before she graduated. If a novice didn't pass it, she wouldn't graduate and become a guardian. I was determined to have one of the best field experiences in my class.

Of course…I hadn't expected to be assigned to Christian. We were both snarky and sarcastic, so despite our similar personalities, we didn't always get along. I'd wanted to be paired with Lissa, but Eddie had ended up with her. I hadn't taken it so well when I'd received my assignment…

Flashback

When everyone had finished receiving their Moroi assignments for the field experience, I stalked up to Alberta, ready to start screaming about the unfairness of my assignment. I almost stopped in my tracks when I saw her talking to Dimitri. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. From that look, I knew he had been anticipating that I would be going over to yell. I hesitated, but stormed over to them.

"Are you out of your mind?" I yelled, throwing my packet onto the floor. "Why did you assign me to Christian, of all people? I'm supposed to be with Lissa!" It was a true miracle that I hadn't started cussing with all the bad words I could think of.

"Rose!" Dimitri's voice was harsh, and I flinched as he glared at me. There was absolutely no hint that we were secretly in love with each other. This was my battle ready instructor, chastising a rude student. "You do not talk to your instructors this way. Don't be so disrespectful."

I took a deep breath, and tried to control myself and my trigger-happy temper. When I looked back up, Alberta's face looked like stone. There was a slight hint of sympathy in Dimitri's eyes, which deeply surprised me.

"No one gets to choose who their assignments are, in the field experience or otherwise," Alberta said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked down at me. She was strict but fair, and I respected her for that. "There are no rules saying someone gets to be assigned to another for whatever reason."

"But I'm supposed to be assigned to Lissa after graduation!"

"We don't know that right now," Dimitri cut in. I felt a pang, but he had to play his role of a scolding mentor or our cover would be blown faster than I could pack up. "It's true, you're the best choice for Vasilisa when you graduate, but it's not given."

I took in a deep breath, and tried to calm myself. "Sorry," I said to Alberta with some difficulty. I turned back to Dimitri, fighting to keep a guardian face. "But don't you think because of the bond, I should be the one who gets assigned to Lissa for the field experience?"

"Your bond with her is useful, but it could be a handicap," Dimitri said.

"How?" I asked. How the hell could anyone think that my bond with Lissa could be a handicap?

"If the princess constantly relies on you to protect her, she could be put at risk. Having a guardian who doesn't share a bond with her makes her more prepared if something happens to her."

I bit my lip, keeping silent. Damn it. He had me, and he knew it.

"This will also prepare you for if you ever become assigned to another Moroi," Alberta added. "If you want to become an excellent guardian, you'll do this. And, if you don't accept your assignment, you won't do the field experience at all."

As I'd noted before…the field experience was one of the biggest factors in determining if a novice graduated or not. I looked at Alberta and Dimitri coolly and picked up my packet.

"Fine. I'll do this," I said, my voice icy. "But I want it noted that I'm doing this against my will."

"I think we already know that, Miss Hathaway," Alberta said dryly, exchanging a look with Dimitri.

"Whatever. I think this is a horrible idea, and you'll see it too," I said, stomping out of the gym.

End of flashback

To my surprise, Christian wasn't too bad to put up with. And as an added bonus, since he was going out with Lissa, I still had a chance to see her even if it wasn't as often as I would like. So far, I'd also protected Christian from the guardians playing Strigoi pretty well.

"Rose, hurry up and get ready," Christian grumbled, snatching my blankets off my sleeping bag.

I shot up and peered outside. The sun was still pretty high above the horizon, and I guessed it was around 5 or so. My training sessions with Dimitri had been put on hold while I was on the field experience. "It's still early! Why the hell do I have to get up?" I grumbled, flopping back down onto my sleeping bag.

"I want to go to the library and see Lissa," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Hurry up, and don't pretend you don't want to see her."

I rolled my eyes and threw my pillow at him as I got up. "If you weren't such a pain in the ass, Sparky, I think I'd like you."

"Funny, I think the same thing," he shot back at me.

I got ready in about five minutes, which was a new record for me. I waited for Christian to get ready, and we headed over to the library.

I reached out with the bond. Lissa was walking to the library as well, with Eddie in tow.

"She's on her way," I said to Christian, keeping an eye out for potential threat. The only answer Christian gave was a grunt of acknowledgement.

I stayed with Lissa and Christian as the near guard. Eddie stayed back and watched our surroundings so he was the far guard.

To my surprise, Dimitri came to us. I looked him over. He wasn't dressed in all-black, so he wasn't playing Strigoi. "Headmistress Kirova wants to see you."

Astonishment flooded the bond and Lissa hastily stood up. "What happened?"

"She wants to talk to you both," Dimitri said. His gaze fell on me. "And you, Rose."

I felt unease twinge through me. I'd been careful to keep my record as clean as possible ever since returning to the Academy in October. What on earth could she want to talk to me about?

"Let's go, then," I said, standing up.

Eddie came closer. "I'm still watching over Lissa," he said.

Dimitri nodded to him, and we started out of the library and across the quad towards Kirova's office.

I felt really nervous, although I hadn't done anything wrong in the past few months.

It's probably nothing, I tried to tell myself, but I wasn't buying it.

We arrived in Kirova's office. I'd spent plenty of time here before, and she gave long (but admittedly good) lectures, which was probably the only reason she'd become the headmistress.

She was waiting for us at her desk, looking more like a vulture than ever. She nodded to us as we both walked in, trailed by Dimitri and Eddie.

"Miss Dragomir, Miss Hathaway. Please, have a seat."

We both sat down in front of her, and I could feel the anxiety pulsating from Lissa. It started to leak over into me until I felt as anxious as she did.

Ugh. The one thing I didn't like about the bond – how Lissa's feelings could leak into me sometimes, and affected my own moods. Whenever Lissa got angry, I got angry too but she calmed down.

"It's nice to see you," Lissa said, feeling uneasy even as she spoke.

Headmistress Kirova laced her fingers together. A moment passed and she spoke, not bothering with pleasantries.

"As you recall, Victor Dashkov was put into prison a few months ago, for attacking you, Miss Dragomir, and for putting a compulsion spell on Miss Hathaway that made her attack Guardian Belikov."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dimitri briefly tense up before he wiped all the emotions off his face. The story we'd given officials was that Victor had put a compulsion charm into a necklace that had me attack Dimitri. Of course, no one (except me, Dimitri, and Victor) had known that in reality, he'd put a lust charm on the necklace to make me and Dimitri give in to our most basic instincts.

Fear flooded Lissa at the mention of Victor. He'd once been like an uncle to her, and he had lied to her and used her for his own means. "Yes, of course I remember. But what does he have anything to do with me now?"

Headmistress Kirova hesitated again. "Well…I've recently had word that he's only now going to trial at Court."

"What?" Lissa shouted, springing to her feet. I flinched at her sudden movement but didn't move. "I thought he was put away in jail!" My thoughts exactly, I thought wryly.

"Yes, but he hasn't actually been sent to trial for what he did," Headmistress Kirova said. "Remember, he is – was – a very powerful royal. Her Majesty wanted to name him her successor until they discovered his illness. And these things take time, Miss Dragomir."

"Why did you tell us this?" I broke in. I got the feeling students weren't privy to this type of information. Why would she be telling us?

I was also furious that Victor Dashkov still hadn't been sentenced to…well, at least a lifetime in prison. After how he'd tortured Lissa and what he did to me and Dimitri…the guy was a gigantic asshole, to put it mildly. He should be locked up for the rest of his life, living with what he did.

And one of the worst things he did….he'd convinced his own daughter, our friend Natalie, to turn into a Strigoi to break him out when he was temporarily being held at the Academy. She'd been staked by Dimitri after she'd attacked me. I still saw it as one of the worst things Victor had ever done – convincing his daughter to turn into a Strigoi.

Headmistress Kirova shot me a look. "I was getting to that, Miss Hathaway." I quieted down, and let her continue.

"I was informed of this today. I have spoken with Guardian Petrov and Guardian Belikov, and we have decided to let you both go to Court to testify at Victor Dashkov's trial."

I exchanged an astonished look with Lissa. A chance to testify against Victor Dashkov, and to give more evidence that he should be put away in prison for the rest of his life? We didn't hesitate. "I accept," Lissa said.

"As do I," I said, rising from my seat and moving to stand beside Lissa.

"Very well. Pack and be at the runway within an hour," Headmistress Kirova said. "You're dismissed."

We exited her office, and something occurred to me. "What about Christian?"

"Crap," Lissa grumbled. "We're leaving him here?"

"I'm sure we can get him to come along," Dimitri said lightly.

Lissa looked at him, and then me. This was one of the few times she'd seen him after I'd told her about him, and she was seeing him with different eyes now.

Her fear sang through the bond, and a hint of anger. I hesitantly reached out through the bond to get a feel of how she felt. She was still terrified of Victor after all this time, even though he was supposedly locked away. Was there a chance that he could walk free, despite his crimes?

I hugged her, trying to calm her down. "It's okay, Liss," I whispered. "There should be enough evidence to lock him up for a very long time. Unless the justice system is completely fucked up, I don't think it's possible for him to just be able to free. I'll always protect you, and I won't let anything happen to you."

Lissa gave me a very wane smile. She was still afraid, and even more scared now that she wondered if there was a possibility of him walking free. "I know. Let's pack up for Court now."

"I'll just meet you at the runway," I said, heading off for my own dorm.

"I'll talk to her, and see if I can get Christian to come," Dimitri said, turning back in the direction we'd come from. "Besides, he was attacked that night too."

I packed in half an hour and was waiting at the runway before Lissa got there.

Dimitri walked over to me. I wasn't surprised to see that he was wearing his duster (which always reminded me of a cowboy). "I got Kirova to let Christian go with us."

"That should make Lissa happy," I murmured half to myself.

"And Eddie's coming because…well, because of the field experience," Dimitri added. "And apparently Adrian wormed his way in too." His voice was a tad sour on his last sentence, which made me laugh.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he won't hit on me," I teased. "I'll just slug him in the eye if he tries."

Dimitri smiled at me, and kissed my forehead.

Lissa showed up with Christian and Eddie in tow. Adrian was behind them, and I rolled my eyes when I saw him light up a cigarette.

Alberta was also behind them, which surprised me.

"Guardian Petrov is coming with us," Dimitri told me, following my eyes. "I won't be enough to watch over you guys, so Kirova decided to have her come with us."

After ten more minutes of waiting on the runway, we boarded one of the Academy's private jets. We were soon in the air – and headed for Court.

Author's note: So I'm sort of writing within Shadow Kiss's time frame now...so there'll definitely be some events from Shadow Kiss in the next few chapters. In the flashback, it's basically the part in Shadow Kiss where Rose gets mad she didn't get assigned to Lissa (I tried to make it as close as possible). Enjoy reading :)