"Kansas!" I wailed. "But St. Michael's is the ass end of the universe. It has the worst reputation! I don't want to graduate from there!"

"I'm sorry, Rose. I understand it's disappointing, but nowhere else had room. Every Academy has already taken as many as they could. All four of you St. Vladimir's Novices will be going to Kansas." Alberta was using her 'tough love' voice, so I knew the decision was final.

"That's bullshit!" I exclaimed. "Everyone will assume we don't know one end of a stake from another if we do our trials there!" I burst into bitter tears, looking at Abe and Eddie in horror. I pointed at Eddie to let him know him too. "Surely there is another option?" I moaned.

"Short of a fairy godmother whisking you away and training you privately for six weeks, no!"

"But Alberta! We worked our asses off on the mission. We've fought Strigoi, and I had to live with my mother for almost two months! I have nine fucking molnija and a zvezda. It's not fair!"

"I'm sorry, Rose, but that's the way it is. There simply isn't room anywhere else. The dorms are all full. There's a plane leaving for St. Michael's from Court the day after tomorrow, and you, Eddie, Meredith, and Blake will be on it."

"Thanks for nothing," I said furiously, hanging up the phone in a fit of pique.

I was too angry to say anything for a minute, but Eddie's sober expression said it all.

"So. St. Michael's, eh? All of us?"

I nodded.

"We all worked so fucking hard! We're top of our year! I can't believe they'd send us there! It's so unfair! People who can barely fight will be graduating from The Glen, St. Christopher's or St. Basil's, and for the rest of our lives we'll be branded as losers from St. Michael's!"

"Did she say why?" Eddie asked reasonably, wanting to know all the details.

"She said all the other Academies are full. There's nowhere for us to sleep."

"What's the problem with St. Michael's?" Abe asked although I could tell by Pavel's face he knew why I was so upset.

"Every Academy has its own particular strength in their Dhampir training program," Eddie explained. "The Glen turn out Guardians who are amazing strategists. St. Basil's always produce the best fighters and St. Vlad's Guardians are generally the best connected with Royal Moroi."

"And St. Michael's?"

"St. Michael's is literally in the middle of nowhere. No one wants to be there, so anyone who can leaves. Their teaching staff are hopeless, very few Moroi attend, and I've heard half the day they spend working the fields rather than training as Guardians," I wailed. Ok – I wasn't 100% sure on that last part, but that's what I'd heard!

"Surely there must be another option?" Abe asked.

"Not unless there's a fairy godmother who wants to whisk me away to train for six weeks," I groaned. "Alberta's words, not mine!"

"Alberta?"

"Guardian Alberta Petrov – Captain of the Guard at St. Vladimir's."

I was still crying – mostly out of anger. Abe opened his arms to me, and I stepped into them. He hugged me for a moment before we both got a little embarrassed and I stepped back. But it had felt good.

"So what's involved in graduating?" Abe asked. "You train and then…?"

Pavel stepped in, looking at Abe shrewdly.

"It depends on which Academy. At St. Basil's, where I trained, the trials take place over two or three days. They are private, and each Novice is given an individual time and location for theirs. Each trial takes an hour or so and it from this that a Novice's training score is calculated. The Novices then graduate, and over the next few days, there are elimination fights. Not everyone takes part, but these are done on a house against house basis, and are open for observation. The idea being Moroi will know the training scores, and can observe the fighting style of the newly graduated Guardians, and make allocation requests accordingly. But it's not just for positions. The best fighters earn a huge amount of kudos, and it can also help boost their ranking and commencing pay rate."

Abe was listening, taking it all in.

"And it's done differently elsewhere?"

"Yes. Every Academy handles things in their own way," I supplied gloomily. "St. Michael's probably has a line dancing competition!"

"It can't be that bad?" Abe asked with a smirk.

"Honestly, Mr. Mazur, I think it might be worse," Eddie said dismally.

"And the problem is accommodation?" he clarified.

"I think so. Alberta said the dorms were full, but I suppose the classes probably are too? She said the only other way was private training for six weeks."

"So where would you go if you could choose?" he asked thoughtfully.

I considered it. Once I would have said St. Christopher's – but after hearing Dimitri and then the twins sing the praises of St. Basil's, if I could, I'd go there.

"St. Basil's," I declared. "It has the best fighters. Artyom and Elizaveta are meant to be the top of their year. Eddie and I owned them almost every time we fought while on our mission. I think I'd have a real chance of topping the leaderboard, there."

I didn't want to say it, but I knew I could best Eddie most of the time – so I wasn't being fanciful when I said I thought I had a shot at being the overall winner.

Pavel and Abe were staring at one another and then slipped into what sounded like Russian for a couple of minutes.

"Is there a curriculum? For training?"

"Um? I think so," I said. "Dimitri would know for sure. He's mentored me since September last year…"

Almost as soon as I said his name, my phone lit up with his number.

"Hey," I said distractedly.

"Hey. I'm done with lunch. Where are you?"

"At Abe's with Eddie. Can you come on over?"

"Sure. Is everything ok?"

"Not really," I said softly. "I'll tell you when you get here."

I rattled off the address and basic instructions on how to get here. It wasn't that far from Guardian Headquarters, so he shouldn't be too long. In fact, it was only ten minutes later when we heard a knock at the door and Dimitri came in, his eyes locking with my own.

"Roza… What's wrong?"

"They want to send me to Kansas, Comrade!" I wailed, throwing myself into his arms.

"You'd need approval for Rose to do her trials there, and it would be beneficial if she could take part in the elimination fights, but beyond that training could really be done anywhere," Dimitri said as I was tucked beneath his arm on the sofa.

I'd explained to Abe that Eddie knew about Dimitri and I so we didn't hide in front of him.

"And the curriculum?" Pavel asked.

"I've got a copy along with my training notes for Rose," he replied.

"You have training notes for me? What do they say?! 'Rose looked cute in her sports bra today'" I said doing a poor imitation of Dimitri's deep voice and accent.

Eddie spluttered and nearly sprayed the water he was drinking across the room, and Dimitri glared at me.

"Nothing like that," he said frostily. "It's a record of your weights, reps, running times, sparring form, injuries, and other training statistics."

"So I didn't look cute in any of my sports bras?" I teased, enjoying my lover's face going beetroot red. Dimitri was private at the best of times, and talking about him noticing me in a bra in front of my father was too much for him.

"Leave the poor man alone," Abe laughed, coming to my Russian God's rescue. "How do you recommend going about this?" he asked Dimitri.

"If you can get approval from St. Basil's, then I can't see Alberta disagreeing," Dimitri mused. "She cares for Rose a great deal, and provided the training was genuine and robust, I am sure she'd approve it."

"I wish you could continue to train me," I sighed, nuzzling against my lover's side.

"So do I, ангел. But it isn't possible."

"Why not?" Abe challenged.

"Well because if I drop everything to train Rose, there's bound to be questions about our relationship! Besides which, I am a Guardian. I have to go where I'm sent."

"Who decides that? Where you go I mean?"

"Well, technically I am employed by St. Vladimir's and allocated to Vasilisa Dragomir. So I suppose it's up to Alberta."

"So if she allocated you to train Rose you could?" he pressed.

"I suppose so, but I can't see her doing it."

"What if it wasn't just Rose? What if it were Eddie here, too? That would make it more respectable. And it would make sense that St. Vladimir's top male and female fighters were sent to St. Basil's for their trials," he mused.

Dimitri considered the matter while Eddie and I looked at each other with cautious excitement.

My love shook his head.

"I can't see it working. Ideally, I'd need to train them in Russia, so they're acclimatized and already there for their trials. There's accommodation, gym, and food – not to mention the flights and other expenses. Even if I could get Alberta to agree to it in principle, she'd never have the resources to fund it."

"Don't worry about that part. I'll bankroll the whole thing," Abe immediately offered. "So where in Russia?"

I looked into my love's eyes and saw longing.

"What about Baia?" I suggested, taking Dimitri's hand and kissing it. "I know you've been missing home, Comrade, and it's close enough to St. Basil's isn't it?"

His face lit up.

"That's not such a bad idea! We could stay at Mama's house. She's used to cooking for an army, and she'd love having me home and meeting you. There's a Dhampir gym in town, so we could use that. In fact, it would be handy to have you spar against those who work out there."

"I can rent a house in Baia and base myself there for the duration with my Guardians," Abe added. "They could help with the training, and Rose and I can continue getting to know each other," he said positively.

"Do you think we could pull it off?" I asked looking between my love and my father.

"Rose if you want it, I'll do whatever I can to make it happen," Abe said seriously.

"So how do we organize this?" Dimitri asked, starting to look cautiously excited.

"I'll call Demyan and ask about that aspect," Pavel volunteered. "We went to school together, and he owes me some favors."

"Demyan?" I asked Dimitri.

"Guardian Demyan Sokolov. He is Alberta's equivalent at St. Basil's," he explained.

Pavel had his phone out and was soon engaged in a genial conversation in Russian. After a few minutes he appeared to be talking turkey, and I heard my name mentioned as well as Abe's and finally Dimitri's. I kept watching Dimitri's face as he listened to Pavel's side of the conversation.

He nodded and gave a huge smile. It looks like we had a go ahead from St. Basil's!

Pavel rang off and laughed.

"Demyan was surprised to hear from me, but not when I said your names. Guardian Petrov from your Academy had begged him to find space for you. Provided you train and stay off-campus until a couple of days before, he can accommodate you in the trials, graduation and the elimination fights."

Eddie and I high-fived in excitement. It looked like this was going to happen!

"I'll call Mama and ask her if we can stay," Dimitri announced, pulling out his phone.

"It's alright if you can't. You're all welcome to stay with me," Abe said.

"Thank you, but I think Mama will want us with her. It's been a long time since I've been home, and she'll want to get to know Roza," he said, his eyes caressing me fondly.

Eddie and I listened to another conversation in Russian while Abe and Pavel left the room to discuss other logistics. I couldn't understand pretty much anything Dimitri was saying, but I knew he'd told his mother he would be coming home when I heard excited shrieking from his cell. Dimitri was laughing; his face lit up with a gorgeous, happy smile. He spoke only a little longer before ringing off.

"As I expected, Mama is happy for you both to stay," he announced, leaning over and kissing my temple affectionately.

"Hey, Eddie – I didn't actually ask – I just assumed you'd want to come to…" I said.

"I'm good," he grinned. "If someone wants to help me graduate from the best Academy in the world, I'm not going to object!"

"Two down, one to go," I announced with a smile when Abe came back into the room. "Now to get Alberta to agree! I'll do that one," I offered.

I dialed Alberta's number, giggling when she picked up.

"Well… he doesn't have wings or a wand, but my father has organized a private training program for me," I announced triumphantly.

"Your… what? Back up the truck and start from the beginning," Alberta said before lapsing into stunned silence.

"Well… I didn't say anything when I was there, but I've met my father. His name is Abe Mazur, and he's Turkish, but lives in Russia."

I heard Alberta's sharp hiss, so I guess she knew who Abe was.

"Anyway, Eddie and I are at his place at Court, and when he found out we'd got Kansas and the only way out of it was to get private training, he offered to fund a private program for us. He's got approval from Guardian Sokolov at St. Basil's for us to do our trials, graduate and do the elimination fights there."

"And who will train you?" she asked cautiously.

"Well… Guardian Belikov really wants to see his family, and Lissa is well guarded at Court so doesn't need him right now. He said he'd train us in his hometown of Baia. My father's going to be there, and he has lots of private Guardians who can help train us. And after the mission, Eddie and I are already used to training with Guardian Belikov…"

"You have it all worked out, don't you?" she laughed. "Let me guess – you just need me to agree to it and give Belikov permission?"

"Pretty much," I said smugly.

"Is Belikov there with you?" she asked.

"Yep."

"Well put him on then," she said, not without a hint of a smile in her voice.

Dimitri spoke with Alberta for a few minutes before handing the phone back to me.

"So…?" I asked expectantly.

"You and Castile can go. Edwards and Ayett will go to St. Michael's," Alberta said.

"Shit! I forgot about Meredith," I groaned looking at Eddie with guilty eyes.

Abe nudged Dimitri who shrugged.

"One more won't hurt," he said. Meredith knew about him and ,me and hadn't said a word. It would be a nice way of repaying her.

"Alberta? We'll take Meredith too if she wants to come. I'll ask her."

"That's very generous," Alberta said a little suspiciously.

"She's a decent fighter and a nice person. She doesn't deserve St. Michael's," I said a little disdainfully.

"No. None of you three do," she admitted. "I'll ring the allocations office and let them know Dimitri will be temporarily deployed to Russia to train the three of you. So… how is your mother handling you knowing your father?" she asked.

"Oh, Alberta – don't even go there!" I laughed.

The three of us left Abe's around 4 am. I'd promised to visit Lissa, and Dimitri and Eddie decided to tag along. Abe was organizing the logistics of getting us to Russia. I was over the moon until I suddenly remembered I didn't have a passport. I rang Abe in a panic, outlining the cause of my distress. Abe assured me it wouldn't be an issue. We'd be traveling on a private plane, so trivialities like visas and passports wouldn't apply to us. I had to say – this rich mobster thing was starting to grow on me!

I rang Meredith on the way to Lissa's, and she'd been speechless when I offered her the chance of graduating from St. Basil's and training with Eddie and me in Baia instead of St. Michael's.

"And we'd be staying at Guardian Belikov's house with his family?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah. With his mom, sisters, and grandmother. He hasn't been home in almost three years. He misses his family, and this way he can see them and help us train. My father is going to pay for our food, expenses, flights and all that."

"It's a generous offer, and I'd like to accept, but why would your father spend his money on me?" she pondered.

"Well… part of it is because if Dimitri and I take off overseas alone, it will raise questions. If he's training a few of us, it's more respectable. But also Abe feels for us. We've all worked hard, and it's not fair we get sent to St. Michael's just because no one else can fit us in!"

She was silent for a moment.

"You don't have to buy my silence about you and Guardian Belikov if that's what this is about," she finally said. "I won't tell anyone even if I do go to St. Michael's."

"I know that," I reassured her. "And it's not that. But you've been kind to us, and now we're in a position to repay the favor. It's really no bother – Eddie and I are going anyway…"

"Then I'm in!" she said with a nervous laugh.

I was in fine spirits when we arrived at the Ozera house. Between the briefing, the news about our deployments and then organizing an alternative, I'd barely had time to draw breath, and now the fact I was going to Russia with Dimitri was sinking in.

"You look happy!" Lissa said opening the door.

"I am happy!" I said, surprising her by grabbing her and giving her a huge hug.

"Come in and tell me all about it," Lissa said, motioning us all inside.

"Dimka!" Tasha greeted as we walked into the living room. "What a pleasant surprise!"

Her eyes sparkled, and there was a pretty blush forming on her cheeks. Whatever Dimitri had told her at lunch, it obviously hadn't been clear enough.

"So what's your big news?" Lissa asked once we were all seated.

"Well… We got our allocations for the next six weeks, and we got… Kansas!" I said with a huge grin.

"I thought you didn't want Kansas?" Lissa asked in confusion.

"Well, I didn't. In fact, I was a bit upset about it."

"She pitched a fit, hung up on Alberta and burst into tears," Eddie butted in, also with a huge grin.

I shot him a warning look.

"Anyway, I was explaining to Abe that St. Michael's sucks, but we had to go there as there was nowhere else with the room because they'd taken Novices across all year levels. The only alternative was private training for six weeks."

"And?" Christian asked impatiently.

"And, fire boy," I said, too happy to even let his rudeness annoy me, "Abe is paying for Eddie, Meredith and me to go to Baia in Russia. He's going to stay there for six weeks, and Dimitri is going to come too and train us!"

Lissa's eyes flicked quickly to Tasha, and I could see her sympathetic look before she composed herself.

"That's very kind of you, Guardian Belikov," Lissa murmured.

"Not really," Dimitri replied with a small chuckle. "My family are in Baia, and I haven't seen them in close to three years. When Mr. Mazur mentioned training Rose and the others in Russia, and asked if I was interested, it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Abe has a contact at St. Basil's, and we can graduate and do our trials there, so we rang Alberta, and she approved Eddie, Meredith and me for private training and allocated Dimitri to do the training. We're off to Russia!"

I was almost bouncing out of my seat with excitement, and I could tell through the bond Lissa was thrilled for us, although disappointed for Tasha.

"I'm going to miss you," she said with a sad smile, "but I understand it's the best outcome for you. When are you going?"

"Abe's still figuring it out, but probably late tonight or early tomorrow. I thought we could go see Mom together and then I'll go pack?"

"You don't want to see your mother alone?" Lissa asked naively.

"And tell her Abe is flying me, two classmates and a trainer overseas, and I'll be spending six weeks getting to know him? No. Funnily enough, I think I'd prefer a witness when she murders me…"