Chapter 7 Explanations
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All belongs to Richelle Mead.
DPOV
"How do you know? Who told you that?" she was starting to get worked up.
"Janine you are more than welcome to come with me and I will explain everything to you but I have to ask that if you do you do it as Rose's mother and not as a Guardian." I said glancing back at the plane which was about ready to take off.
"Can you do that?" I asked.
She nodded.
I allowed her to follow me onto the plane.
She gasped at the sight of Lissa, Christian and Adrian sitting in their seats.
"You're taking underage moroi to hunt strigoi?"
"Janine." I warned. "Rose's mother." I repeated to her sternly.
She nodded reluctantly and took a seat in the back of the plane.
"What is she doing here?" asked Lissa.
"She's here to help princess." I said.
"Lissa" she corrected.
"Sorry." Old habits die hard I guess.
As the plane prepared for take off I stowed my bag and went to sit down next to Janine.
She looked confused and distraught, but had not said anything else about the moroi on board,.
"Give it to me straight Belikov or I'll pound you." She growled as I sat down beside her.
This was not going to be easy. I knew she had known about Adrian being a spirit user, but she was skeptical the last time when he had helped us find Rose in Spokane. She also didn't know about Lissa's darkness or Rose being shadow kissed and I didn't really relish explaining to her how I had deflowered her underage daughter in a cabin a few days ago, but here it goes.
"Janine there are some things you need to know about Rose." I started.
She looked at me engaged in what I was saying.
"When Vasilissa and Rose were fifteen and they were in that car accident with the Dragomir's Rose was killed."
She looked at me as if I were crazy, but didn't say anything.
"As you know Lissa is a spirit user her gift is to heal. She did not know it at the time, but she healed Rose after the accident."
"Healed?"
"Well more specifically brought her back from the dead." I said inhaling sharply.
"Rose was dead and they didn't tell me?"
"No one knew that Rose had died. The princess was able to revive her almost immediately. You know about their bond?" I asked.
She nodded. " Like Anna and St. Vladimir?" she asked.
"Yes." I said glad that she had some clue of what I was about to say.
"There are other things that spirit users can do besides heal." I continued.
"Adrian can see Aura's and Lissa can to an extent, but he is far better at it than she is and she is far more talented in healing. Lissa's Aura gets blackness to it when she uses spirit and Adrian noticed that Rose's Aura is nearly all black. He has seen the blackness from Lissa's Aura be absorbed by Rose. Consequently Rose has fits of anger and cannot always control her actions."
"So she's not really as belligerent as everyone says?" she asked
"No she is." I laughed quietly. "She just gets extra juiced up and goes a little bit mad from time to time in addition to her usual outbursts." I explained.
"I see." She said. "Go on."
"Well the princess has been using a lot of spirit lately to heal those injured in the battles. She actually healed me earlier and when she did Adrian was able to see her aura go black. Then the blackness disappeared like it had been taken."
"Where did it go?" she asked.
"We believe Rose took it. That was our first clue that she was alive."
I didn't know how much of this was new information to Janine or if she'd buy into it, but she seemed to want to at least for the moment so I continued.
"Once we had the idea that Rose was still alive Lissa wanted to see if Adrian could dream walk her. You remember him doing that when they were held captive in Spokane?" I asked.
"Yes." She agreed.
"He was able to go in and talk with her and although she doesn't know where she is being held and she is severely injured she was able to give us enough information to draw a conclusion as to where to begin looking."
"She really is alive?" she jumped out of her seat.
"You saw her? You talked to her?" she asked walking over to Adrian.
"Yes, Guardian Hathaway. I was able to speak with Rose. She's alive for now, but she's in a lot of danger." He replied sadly.
Then Janine did something I thought I'd never see. She hugged Adrian tightly and began to cry. He looked as shocked as I was but hugged her back trying to comfort her.
I hated to admit this, but the guy wasn't all that bad. I still wanted to beat the hell out of him every time he made an inappropriate comment to Rose though.
"So you still haven't explained to me why you are going through all of this trouble to save her?" she asked looking at me and then at Adrian and Christian.
"Why risk your lives for a novice?" she asked.
"She's my best friend and I can't live without her. She's saved me so many times and given up everything to be my guardian that I can't leave her when she needs me the most." Said Lissa tearfully.
"She's saved my ass more than once and she's one of my dearest friends and I can let her die if there's a chance to save her. She'd do the same for any of us." Said Christian honestly.
"I love your daughter even though most people don't believe that my feelings are true sadly even Rose doesn't believe me." Said Adrian quietly.
Janine looked shocked that the three misfit royal moroi on board this plane had so much kindness and compassion for a dhampir. Most royals thought of dhampirs as slaves one was as good as the next and they were replacable. She seemed confused by the unique friendship they all shared. I was in awe of it myself sometimes.
"Those three are naïve and young and it is understandable that they would go on this suicide mission, but you Guardian Belikov are not young or naïve. What are your reasons?" she asked me as we reclaimed our seats.
This was the part I was dreading.
I took a deep breath and prepared for the wrath of Janine Hathaway. "I love Rose more than anything on earth. I know it is wrong and we have both been trying to fight it for a long time, but I can't and won't lose her now."
I looked up at her trying to gauge her reaction.
She looked stunned. "So when you say love you don't mean like a father loves his daughter or a brother loves his sister or a mentor loves his student do you?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No, I am IN love with Rose."
She didn't scream or yell or try to break my nose. I thought maybe she hadn't heard me correctly.
"And she feels the same?"
"Yes, she does."
"You know you could be fired and put in prison for this don't you?" she asked.
"Yes, however can no longer pretend that being without her is an option."
"But with you both guarding the princess next year you can't be together."
"I have decided to ask to be reassigned." I told her.
"You would give up being the guardian to the last Dragomir for her?" she asked surprised.
"I would give up anything to be with her." I responded. "It is important that she be the princess's guardian so I've asked to be assigned somewhere else at Court."
"Are you sleeping with her?" she asked gruffly
I can't believe she asked me that. What was with all these nosy people wanting to know the details of our sex life. First the princess and now here mother what's with women.
"Are you?" she repeated.
I exhaled the breath I'd been holding unconsciously "Yes." I admitted.
And then I felt her hand connect with my cheek. She slapped me hard clear across the face. I didn't flinch. I knew I deserved it and more.
She looked at me still angry, but it had begun to fade.
"Rose has grown up a lot this past year. She's seen far too much for someone her age." She said with a sigh.
"You better not hurt her Belikov or I will report you to the school and then hunt your ass down." She said menacingly.
"I would never hurt her." I said softly not quite believing that she's just given me her blessing to be with Rose.
I leaned my head against the back of the seat and the exhaustion from the past few days events took me over I fell into a fitful sleep.
How many of you thought Janine would beat the crap out of him???
Please Review!
