Ch. 30
RPOV
Songs: I Know Places by Lykke Li, Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes, These Stones Will Shout by Raconteurs
He had finally woken up.
The doctors told me he would eventually, it would just take time. Time. Time was completely relative. It could mean minutes, hours, days and no one could give me a straight answer. How much time it would take for me to see my love's chocolate eyes gazing into mine again. How much time for his body and mind to fully heal. How much time until Lissa would let me come near her. Or how much time we all had together until this all fell apart again.
It was ironic really. I was normally the one waking up in hospital beds with worried faces hovering above me. I wondered how many times I had left my friends feeling this way until I managed to croak out a sarcastic word at Dr. Olendzki. How many times had Dimitri had to suffer at my bedside as he waited for my recovery? I had never really thought about how those various injuries affected anyone else before, and I felt a twinge of guilt for ever making him feel this way. I squeezed his hand a little harder and promised him I would try my best to stay out of these situations again if he would just wake up for me now.
He didn't. And after several hours of staring at him—silently pleading for him to open his eyes—I fell asleep.
I dreamt of him. Of a time back at St. Vlad's.
It wasn't long after Mason passed when I had finally convinced Dimitri to resume our practices. It was early Moroi morning and the sun was still out. It had been gloomy and cloudy for days now, almost as if even the skies were mourning Mason's loss. I was on my way to practice to meet Dimitri. Naturally, I was already running late and should have booked it straight to the gym, but something delayed me. I felt it before I saw it. I was mid-jog, high-tailing it through the courtyards when something cold and wet hit my cheek.
It stopped me in my tracks, I could practically feel the grass roll-up beneath my heels. I moved my hand up to my face, eerily expecting it to be blood from the sword I used to strike down Isaiah. The memories of that day were still haunting my dreams and would sometimes leach their way into my reality. But instead of warm, thick red was a cool white substance. A snowflake, I realized.
I looked up to the sky to see a mass of them fluttering down into the space I was currently occupying. Snow most certainly was not a rare occurrence in Montana and I had seen it dozens of times before, but this particular fall drew me in. I stood still with my face to the sky, letting the white, fluffy specs melt on my skin. The sensation somehow made me feel warmer. A strange comfort to know that my skin could melt away those small bits of frost.
A throat cleared behind me and my face shot in the direction it had come from. I tried to hide my alarm, but my initial reaction gave it away. We had been working on stealth techniques and I was slightly embarrassed that he had managed to sneak up on me once again when I had yet to get the jump on him even once.
"What are you doing out here," his Russian accent sang.
Still refusing to admit he had caught me completely off-guard, I shrugged my shoulders noncommittedly and looked back up to the sky. "Oh you know, just taking in the sights."
He walked over to me, the icy grass crunching under his boots. His steps stopped as he took position next to me and we stood side by side for a moment, watching the snow trickle in around us. "It's unusually late for snow," Dimitri inferred. "It will probably be the last fall of the season."
I hummed in response, keeping my gaze up to the sky. After a few lingering moments I turned my sights over to Dimitri and watched as the light flurry whirled around him. His usual serious facade was worn down and he looked remarkably at peace. "Back home, my sisters and I had a tradition during the first snow of the year," his deep voice reminisced. "I remember one year, it came in the middle of the night. My younger sister sprang into my room and shook me awake. I had half a mind to shoo her away and bury my face in my pillow, but she gave me that pitying look she had mastered and knew there was no way I could turn her down." He let out a short, soft laugh and my heart jumped at the sound.
"She drug me out of bed, only giving me enough time to grab a pair of boots and a summer jacket before we darted out of the house. My other two sisters were already outside with blankets waiting for us. We all huddled together underneath them on the porch as we watched the first snow of the season fall from the sky. We stayed out there for hours, just as we did every year, and observed as the neighborhood slowly turned white with snow," Dimitri had this faraway look as he spoke, as if he was reliving that day on his porch with his family. "Sometimes we would chat about the first thing we would do when the snow settled, other times we would just sit there quietly, enjoying each other's company."
My mood had been relatively solemn the past couple of weeks since Mason had died, but hearing Dimitri recount a time from his childhood and share a personal story with me caused me to feel cheerful for the first time in a while.
When he looked over to me I couldn't help but smile as I pictured him with three dark-haired girls cuddled up under a blanket as a snowfall, similar to this one, floated down around them. His eyes slightly widened at my smile and looked down to it for a moment. When his eyes met mine again, there was a hint of playfulness behind them. He turned his face upwards and opened his mouth wide, with his tongue slightly sticking out.
"What are you doing," I exclaimed, shocked to see the serious Guardian Belikov do anything remotely silly.
"What," he looked at me like what he was doing was completely normal. "You've never caught snowflakes on your tongue?"
"Well, yeah," I replied with a scoff. "But I didn't think you had."
"Why? Because there is no room for fun and games in Russia?" He turned his head back up as a couple white flakes melted on his tongue.
I laughed at his lighthearted mood. "Not exactly. But I assumed most of your games consisted of vodka-drinking and dog sledding."
He smiled at my taunting response and replied with a challenge. "Well that may be true in some cases, but I bet I can still catch more snowflakes than you."
"Oh really," I responded as he rose an eyebrow at me, silently asking if I was game. I met his gaze for a moment then shot my face up to the sky, letting the snowflakes trickle into my wide-open mouth. The game started with us jutting our head around, trying to catch as many flakes as we could, but after catching glimpses of one another from the corner of our eyes we began laughing uncontrollably. I still had my face up to the sky, refusing to lose as my laughs reverberated off my throat. Dimitri finally conceded and through breaths, he said, "Alright, alright you win. I bow down to the snowflake master."
The new title he gave me caused my laughs to increase to the point I was gripping my stomach. Eventually, they died down to soft giggles and I managed to stand up straight to face my opponent head-on. There was a soft look on his face that could have melted every inch of fallen snow on the ground.
I realized that when he found me, he could have scolded me for being late and hurried me back to the gym for practice, but instead he went out of his way to lighten my mood, even if only for a little while. My eyes darted across his face, admiring his serene look that I rarely got to see. He reached his hand out to mine, enveloping it in his natural warmth as he gave me a small squeeze. "Come on Roza. We should get inside before you freeze."
I nodded in agreeance, my heart swelling at the endearing nickname that he only used when he was feeling particularly sentimental, and he dropped my hand as we both moved towards the gym. I spared one last glance behind me at the open courtyard to see that the snow had stopped falling. There were small traces of it clinging to the trees and benches that would probably melt within the hour. It was as if the snow had fallen just for us and that short moment would soon become a memory, kept secret amongst the two of us and the melted snow.
Suddenly, something pulled me from my dream and back to consciousness. I felt a small twinge in my hand where it still rested in Dimitri's, almost like an echo from a previous movement. I looked down at my hand—where just a moment ago Dimitri had been standing in the snow squeezing it—hoping that he had woken up, but the harsh realization smacked me in the face as the last moments of my dream washed away. It started to appear that my desperation had accelerated into hallucinations, when all of a sudden a small noise escaped from Dimitri's lips.
I scurried out of my seat and squeezed his hand harder as I hovered above him. When I spoke, his brown eyes finally opened and if it weren't for the bed frame supporting me, I would have collapsed.
He had finally woken up.
/
There was a small, timid knock at the door before it creaked open. "Rose," Eddie whispered. I looked over to him, my head still resting on Dimitri's chest as it moved evenly in his sleep. "Rose, I'm sorry to bother you but you need to come out here. There's someone here to see you." I looked up to see that Dimitri's sleep hadn't been disturbed and gently pressed myself off of him. I brushed a piece of his hair back and lightly kissed him on the forehead, whispering against his skin, "I'll be right back."
I didn't waste time wondering who it was or why they were here. The only thoughts as I stood to leave were how quickly I could make them go away so I could return to Dimitri's side.
I hurriedly pushed past the door and followed Eddie into the waiting area. Without even needing to look around the room for the intruding visitor, I spotted her. Her auburn curls bounced loosely above her shoulders as my mother quickly walked towards me. She stopped a few feet away, hesitant to fully approach me. I looked at her, shocked for a moment, then without warning, I launched myself into her arms and pulled her into a tight hug. I'm not sure what compelled me to do it, we weren't normally the affectionate type, but so much had happened in the span of a few weeks and at that moment I just needed my mother.
"Rosemarie, I'm so glad you're safe," she whispered into my hair. I felt her grip around me tighten slightly and I let out a relieved breath. After another moment, we released our hold and awkwardly stood facing one another, unsure where to go from here.
"I'm sorry I left without telling you, but I had to do it. I had to save Lissa." My mother understood our duty more than most. She was a seasoned Guardian and always upheld to the highest of standards. But somehow, the understanding look in her eyes was stemmed from something else.
"I know, Rose," she said as she stroked a piece of my hair. "I'm proud of you."
My throat tightened at her words and I could feel tears start to prick my eyes. I never realized how much I had needed to hear that from her before, and the feeling was almost overwhelming. But before I could have another emotional breakdown, she cut in again.
"But that's not the only reason I'm here." Her look turned serious and I straightened up a bit. "The Guardians caught word of you and Guardian Belikov's whereabouts. They are on their way here and we have to leave now."
I shook my head in disbelief. How could they have found out so soon? "Dimitri is in no condition to leave. He's still badly injured."
The bleak look on her face spoke legions.
"You want me to leave him," I bit down. "No! Absolutely not. He's finally woken up. I can't just abandon him and let the Guardians take him away." I took a couple of steps away from her, my scowl growing by the second.
"Ibrahim has told me that the Princess is in no shape to be hauled off to court and needs to stay within your protection until she is ready," she argued. "If any of you stay here, you will be taken with them as well. How can you expect to protect the Princess from a jail cell?"
Her words ignited my anger. I knew she was only trying to get me to see reason, but my emotions were running hot and I felt like she was throwing my duty to Lissa in my face. Just another person asking me to choose again.
"Ibrahim? Why are you putting so much trust in Abe," I spat back. "Who's to say he won't rat us out as soon as we get Lissa to him?"
"He won't," Janine gritted through her teeth. "Now come on, Rose. We have to go." She moved towards me and grabbed my arm.
"No," I pulled it free from her grasp. I was acting like a stubborn child, but I didn't care. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on with you two. Why is he so concerned with what happens to us? Why should I trust someone who has the reputation of a snake? What aren't you telling me?!" My voice rose with each sentence I spoke and my mother looked around nervously, avoiding my stern glare.
"We're not going anywhere until you—" my repeating argument was cut off by my mother's outburst.
"Because he's your father!"
My boiling blood instantly turned to ice, frozen still in my veins. I just stared at her dumbfounded. Unable to speak. "Because he's your father," she repeated more calmly.
I stood there as a million thoughts raced through my mind. It was all coming together in a flash of lightning. His protective nature around Dimitri, his insistence on helping us, his weird innuendo's about me and my mother. "Oh. My. God."
"Rosemarie, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. It was all very complicated and I—"
"I'm Zmey's daughter," I interrupted as my far-off stare glued to the wall. "Zmey junior. Zmeyette even!"
"Rose," my mother admonished.
"Oh god. This can't be happening." I dropped my head into my hands and let out a groan.
"Sorry to interrupt," Eva's cheeky voice cut in. "But if the Guardians really are on their way, she's right. We have to get out of here now."
I peeked through my hands to see her and Adrian standing beside me with worried looks on their faces. "I know you don't want to leave him, Rose," Adrian placed a hand on my shoulder as my arms fell to my side. "But there's still work that needs to be done with taking down the Mână and it would all be for nothing to let everyone else go down now. Not when we've come this far," his pitying look caused my gut to churn. "It's what Dimitri would want."
That last sentence was the final blow to my resistance. I knew he was right. If Dimitri were here, he would be practically yelling at me to get out and get Lissa to safety. As much as it killed me to leave him behind, especially now that I had just gotten him back, I knew what I had to do. What he had trained me to do.
"Alright," I sighed out, "let's go. Wouldn't want to keep dear old dad waiting."
A/N: What? Two updates in one week? If you think I'm trying to kiss up for being on vacation for so long...then you're probably right ;). Well, the cat's out of the bag and Rose finally knows.
Insert meme: * Keep calm. Dimitri's catching snowflakes. * hehe
As always, thanks for reading!