Dimitri looked at Rose, and all he could see was guilt and remorse on her face. She didn't have to tell him what this meant. His whole life as he knew it was over. But as he stared at the beautiful brunette who'd given him her heart, body, and soul he couldn't bring himself to regret it. Oh, he was sure he'd have time to repent in the future – but right now the only anger he felt was for a cruel society that treated Dhampir like slaves whose only value was to train, fight and eventually die in defense of Moroi. A society that had no place for two Dhampir who dared to fall in love.
"Don't panic, Roza," he said calmly, pushing down his own rising dismay. "First we need to get out of here. We need to get somewhere private before the change of classes."
Not knowing where else to take her, Dimitri walked back to the suite he shared with Adrian. He knew it would be one of the first places anyone would look, but they needed somewhere to regroup.
Adrian looked up in surprise when Dimitri let himself into the suite, Rose following close on his heels. One look at their faces told him disaster had struck.
"The video Tasha took is making its way around campus," Rose said in a wooden voice, responding to his unspoken question.
"How bad is it?" Adrian asked, immediately appreciating the enormity of the situation.
Rose reached into her bag, fishing out her phone. She had to scroll past half a dozen worried texts from Lissa, Christian, and Eddie before she got to the video that Lissa had forwarded. She pressed play; she, Dimitri and Adrian crowding together to look at the screen.
Rose was pressed up against the gym wall, her crop top wantonly lifted. Dimitri was mouthing one breast, his large hand covering the other, his thigh pressed against her core. He leaned in, and she snaked her arms around his neck as he lifted her higher up. She wrapped her legs around his hips before he pressed her back into the wall again, pushing his hips against hers while he kissed her neck. Rose's eyes were closed, but she was facing the camera, and there was no doubt that she was enjoying what he was doing to her.
Time and date stamped, the video was damning. In fact, the only things to celebrate were that Tasha didn't seem to have recorded the part where Rose had begged Dimitri to make love to her again and that Dimitri's head, hands, and back had obscured her breasts, so the entire high school population of St Vlad's hadn't seen her tits (even if they had witnessed Dimitri sucking them)!
"Fuck," Adrian said, walking over to the kitchen and pulling out a bottle of vodka from the freezer, pouring himself a generous serve before finding two glasses and doing likewise for Dimitri and Rose. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Rose whispered. "This is too far gone to cover up."
"Can you say it was after he was my guardian?"
"No," Dimitri said soberly. "It's date stamped. I'll certainly be removed from my allocation. In fact, I expect I'll be charged."
"Charged?!" Adrian asked, his eyes bulging.
"Rose isn't yet eighteen, and I was technically in a position of responsibility over her at the time of that video. I could be charged with sexual assault. Even statutory rape of a minor."
"But you didn't rape me! It was consensual! I wanted what happened between us!" Rose wailed, suddenly appreciating this horror was even worse than she'd initially comprehended.
Dimitri had no words of comfort or hope to offer, so he did the only thing he could; take Rose in his arms and hold her.
Rose was standing within Dimitri's embrace when there was a knock at the door. Adrian looked at the two of them, holding his finger up to his lips and pointing to his own bedroom. Looking around quickly, he hid Rose and Dimitri's glasses of vodka in a cupboard and checked the two of them were out of sight before going to answer the door. It was Lissa and Christian.
"Did anyone see you come here?" he asked urgently, ushering the two inside.
"I don't think so," Christian said in a low voice. "We came the long way around."
Rose and Dimitri came back out of Adrian's bedroom, Rose dissolving into tears and stepping into Lissa's outstretched arms.
"I'm so sorry," Christian said, looking devastated. "I should have deleted the video when we had the chance. It's my fault. Lissa was right – getting rid of it was the right thing to do."
"You can't blame yourself," Rose said sadly. "We were the ones who did what we did. The responsibility rests with us."
Dimitri sunk onto the sofa. He was running every scenario through his mind, but the fact was they needed more information.
"Lissa?" Dimitri asked, surprising them both by using her first name unprompted. "I hate to ask this, but with your connection with Rose, you're the obvious person. Could you go find Alberta and see what she's heard, and what she suggests?"
"Of course. Christian? Will you come with me?" Lissa requested.
Christian nodded, looking like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. It was his aunt who had done this – for no reason other than to be cruel. While no one blamed him, the same couldn't be said for himself.
"If anyone asks, you haven't seen us…" Rose stated needlessly.
"I've got it," Lissa said, still in shock that this had happened.
After they left, Rose sunk onto the sofa next to Dimitri. He opened his arms up to her, gently kissing her forehead as she cuddled in shock against him.
"Try not to worry, milaya. We'll get through this," he said lovingly, reassuring her everything was going to be alright, even though he was far from certain of it.
"But they might try and arrest you," Rose moaned, tightening her grip on him.
"Don't worry about me. I can look after myself," Dimitri said grimly.
The three of them were sitting silently when Lissa spoke to Rose through their bond.
We're with Alberta. She's coming back to the suite with us now.
Rose relayed this information to Adrian and Dimitri, Adrian rising ready to open the door.
"How bad?" Dimitri asked as soon as the captain of the guard stepped into the room.
"Bad," Alberta confirmed. "The video has already reached parents, and there's been a flood of outraged phone calls," Alberta said bitterly. "Headmistress Kirova is convening a panel of the Governors, but Rose is going to be expelled."
"Expelled," gasped Lissa. "But they can't do that!"
"Liss, they can and they will," Rose said looking at her hands.
Alberta was about to say something when she looked around.
"I think your mother should be involved in this discussion. Also, your father may be of assistance here."
"Your father?" Lissa asked looking at Rose, shock all over her face. Rose hadn't told anyone that her father had come to campus. Adrian was the only one to know, having seen her just after their first meeting.
"I didn't tell you because I only met him Monday for like three minutes and we had a fight," Rose said wearily. "He's staying on campus with my Mom. It turns out they've been an item all these years."
"Wow," Lissa said, lost for words. It was as though, with everything else that had happened, she'd reached saturation point; that she'd exceeded her capacity to take in any more startling information.
Alberta had her phone out and rang Janine, quickly explaining the situation. A couple of minutes later there was a knock at the door, and Janine stepped in followed by Abe. Both of them looked to where Rose was curled up on the sofa in Dimitri's arms.
Christian, Lissa, and Adrian were looking at Abe curiously. In an uncharacteristic show of good manners, Christian stepped forward and held his hand out.
"I'm Christian Ozera," he introduced himself, before pointing to Lissa and Adrian in turn, introducing them as well.
"Abe Mazur," he replied, shaking Christian's hand. "Rose's father."
Sitting on the sofa, Adrian exploded in laughter, looking incredulously at Dimitri and then Rose.
"Abe Mazur is your father?! Oh, little Dhampir, that explains so much! I'd start running now, Dimitri!"
Abe smirked, lifting an eyebrow sardonically. He seemed to quite appreciate Adrian's response to his reputation. Lissa and Christian looked at Adrian in confusion. Abe's name meant nothing to them.
"So let me get this straight; a video of Belikov making out with my daughter while he was still employed here and her mentor has made its way all over campus? My daughter is to be expelled, and there's a good chance he will be arrested, is that right?" He didn't sound angry, more that he wanted all the information. "Does anyone have a copy of the video?"
Lissa nodded, handing him her phone. Abe, Janine, and Alberta huddled together watching the video, much in the same way Dimitri, Rose, and Adrian had done earlier. Rose closed her eyes not wanting to see their reactions, but Dimitri manfully watched. Janine looked furious, Alberta troubled and Abe slightly amused.
"That's not the whole video," Alberta said at the end. "It's an excerpt."
"Do I even want to know what the rest of it shows?" Janine snapped, looking more incensed by the second.
"It was what was said," Alberta said, flicking her eyes apologetically to where Rose and Dimitri sat together. "In the video Tasha Ozera showed me, Rose said something about 'making love together again.'"
Abe hissed. "That makes it a lot harder. That confirms a sexual relationship, in which case Belikov is looking at statutory rape."
"As far as I've seen, only this version of the video is getting around," Lissa said hopefully.
Abe shook his head. "We can't risk a longer version turning up at some stage. We have to assume that whoever released this has or might broadcast the complete version sometime in the future."
Christian looked like he was about to cry. Lissa held his hand firmly, but the raven-haired Moroi looked at the ground, refusing to meet her eyes.
"How would something like this usually be handled?" Abe asked Janine and Alberta. As two senior guardians, they'd have an idea of how this would probably play out.
Janine looked at Alberta, seeking confirmation as she spoke.
"Initially they'll issue a warrant for Belikov. He'll be detained pending charges. The Guardian Council will meet and look at the evidence and then formal charges will be laid. Then he'd be detained in custody pending the outcome of the trial. The most likely outcome is stripped of his guardian status and five to ten years jail time."
"And Rose?" Abe asked.
"Expelled. They may or may not issue an order preventing her from enrolling elsewhere. Even if she can graduate and make her promise, her career is over. The chances of her getting an active role are negligible. Her best hope is an admin role at Court, in time."
Rose sat shell-shocked on the sofa, openly weeping against Dimitri's chest as he rocked her in his arms. Their lives were over.
"What if I say I forced her?" Dimitri asked, prepared to absolutely ruin himself if it would save the woman he loved.
"It won't help," Alberta said sadly. "Even if somehow they believed it and let Rose stay on to graduate, she'll never get a decent allocation now. You know how it works, Dimitri. One black mark is all it takes. Not to mention every unscrupulous Moroi will make unsavory assumptions about her. Any allocation requests she might get will come with expectations."
Janine shuddered. Sexual harassment of female guardians was hardly a new thing, but Alberta was right. A video like this would take a long time to be forgotten.
"It doesn't matter. She doesn't have to be a guardian," Abe said consolingly. "There's plenty of other options for her."
Rose listened to them talk, wondering how they could be so calm.
"What about Dimitri? What options are there for him?" she asked despairingly. She didn't care what happened to her. Not when things were so dire for her love.
"I hate to say this, Belikov, but I think your only option is to run. You'll be stripped of your title either way, but if you run at least you'll avoid jail time," Adrian said, serious as cancer.
Dimitri looked at him and nodded. "I think you're right. No matter what happens from here, there's no future for me in the Moroi world."
"What about private guarding? That's outside the control of the Guardian Council?" Rose asked, grasping at straws.
"If he's going to run, he needs to leave the Moroi world altogether," Janine explained, looking at her daughter with sad eyes. "If he runs and is captured, the jail time will be even greater."
"Then his choices are jail or the human world?" Rose asked, coming down to brass tacks.
"Pretty much," Dimitri said heavily. "And once I leave there will be no coming back. I'll have to sever all ties."
He was looking at her intently, his beautiful brown eyes trying to impress some meaning that she wasn't comprehending. And then realization dawned. He meant he'd have to leave her.
"No! No, no, no!" she moaned, her eyes wide with horror. "You mean leaving me?"
"Roza if I stay it's jail, and at the end of it, my career will be finished anyway. If I run, I have a shot at making a life for myself in the human world. My family in Russia relies on the money I send. If I go to jail, I can't support them."
"Randall doesn't send anything?" Adrian asked angrily.
Dimitri shook his head. "No. Never has."
Abe looked at Dimitri curiously, but it was Adrian who spoke.
"Dimitri's Moroi father is my uncle, Randall. Dimitri and I are first cousins. What sort of money are we talking about?" Adrian asked, not noticing Dimitri tense as the question was asked. Guardians didn't earn a lot, which was criminal given the poor working conditions, risk and everything they had to give up.
"I send them one and a half thousand US a month, more when I can," Dimitri said quietly. Alberta and Janine looked at the young man with respect. They knew a guardian of his rank and experience would earn around twenty thousand a year; so he was sending the vast majority of his earnings home.
"Give me their bank account details, and I'll transfer a hundred thousand into the account," Adrian said decisively. "That will give you some breathing space."
"I can't ask you to do that," Dimitri said with a quiet dignity.
"You're not asking. You and your sisters are blood relatives, which means you're eligible to lay claim to part of the family fortune. Trust me, Dimitri, a hundred thousand won't even be noticed, but it will give you some time to set yourself up in the human world without worrying that your family won't be provided for," Adrian said with determination. "This whole situation is fucked up and unfair; let me do what I can to make it that tiny bit easier."
Dimitri just nodded and said a quiet thanks, cradling Rose in his arms.
"You're not going to leave me," she said with determination.
"Roza? You've heard what will happen. I can't stay," he said, his voice cracking as he held her tight.
"I know, but you're not going to leave me because I'm going to come with you."
"No way!" Janine snapped, looking at Rose as though she'd grown a second head. "You're seventeen years old, Rosemarie! You haven't even finished high school! You can't leave your whole life behind for a man you've been with for less than a fortnight!"
"What life, Mom? You said yourself I'll never work as a guardian. Not in any role worth having. And you know there's not a lot out there in the way of work for young Dhampir women. What would you have me do?"
"Your father has so many businesses – you could work in any one of them," Janine said, as though that settled the matter.
"It's true," Abe said, looking at Rose. "I know we didn't get off to the best start, and you don't know much about me, but I'm a wealthy man, Rose. A very wealthy man. With my influence and money I could set you up in any field you wanted, or if you didn't want to work, you wouldn't have to. You'd have a very comfortable life," he promised.
"The only life I want is one with Dimitri in it. You know that, Mom. When you were all talking with me when I was unconscious, you relied on Dimitri to bring me back – because you knew he was the one I couldn't leave behind."
There was silence as everyone took in what she said. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but they understood what Rose was saying. She'd been prepared to say goodbye to everyone. Everyone, that is, except Dimitri.
"Rose? Think about it? How do you know this is the real deal? How can you be sure that in a month or a year you won't change your mind and wish you'd stayed?" It was Abe, and while Rose hated to say it, he was looking as though he actually cared.
"Then if that's the case I can come back. Unless they're going to issue a warrant for me, it's no business of anyone's where I go."
She turned to Dimitri taking his hands.
"Comrade? A couple of days ago, you told me that if I came back to you, you'd do whatever I wanted, whatever it took for us to be together. I know this wasn't what we thought was going to happen, but maybe it's for the best? In the human world, I won't have to worry about you every time you go on a shift. We wouldn't have to hide how we felt or endure snide comments every time we go out somewhere together. We could be just a young couple in love making our way in the world."
She looked at him beseechingly.
"I don't care where we end up living, or what we do for work. But I want to be with you, Dimitri. Do you want me to come with you? To share our lives together?"
"You know I do, milaya," he said looking into eyes. "But I can't let you do that for me."
"I won't just be doing it for you - I want to do this for me too. While it's scary as hell, the idea of being able to do or be anything is exciting, Dimitri! Imagine being able to live and love as we wish? No 'they come first.' No continual sacrifice and duty just because one of our parents was Dhampir, not Moroi! You can't tell me you don't want that?"
"Of course I want that," he whispered, looking at her with fear, love, and hope.
"That's what I want, too," she whispered, leaning in to kiss him lovingly, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"Then let's work out what we need to do to make this happen," Abe said grimly.