I was lying on my bed at 6 am, still running the whole Dimitri and Tasha thing through my mind. I wish there were someone I could ask about it, but there just wasn't. Eventually, I decided to believe what Dimitri had told me, although it was with reservations. I knew from the lust charm that he wasn't above lying to me if he thought it was for my own good. I just hoped this wasn't one of those occasions. Still – I'd told him Tasha was planning to visit, so he knew we'd be talking. If there'd once been something between them, surely he'd have told me then I mentally soothed myself.

That reminded me – I'd promised Dimitri I'd call his family and let them know I'd spoken with him. I wasn't looking forward to it – but I know if they'd had the opportunity to speak with him and had a message for me, I'd be very eager to know it.

I pulled out my phone, using the world time app to check the time in Baia. About 7 pm, so a respectable time to call. Thank God they spoke English because I knew basically no Russian. Pressing dial before I could get too nervous, there were odd clicks and an electronic tone before the phone started to ring. It was picked up quickly.

"Алло." It was a younger female's voice.

"Um hello? This is Rose. Rose Hathaway. Is Olena there?"

"Rose! It's Karolina, Dimka's older sister. Is there news?" she asked urgently.

"Yes. I spoke with him yesterday. They're still waiting to be sent on their mission."

"I'll get Mama," she said. I could hear rapid talking in Russian in the background.

"Rose?" I recognized Olena's voice from last time. "We're all here, and I've put you on speaker. Karolina said you've spoken with Dimka?"

"Yes. I had a school exam yesterday with Guardian Schoenberg at the house with the family he guards. We arrived in the middle of a Strigoi attack but were able to assist. Guardian Schoenberg thought it might be a targeted attack against him or his family, so he rang the Guardian in charge of Dimitri's mission to let him know because he thought it might be related. He had an idea that Dimitri and I are… close… so he asked the Guardian in charge where Dimitri is to give us five minutes to talk to each other." My tears were already starting to flow, and I knew Olena could hear it in my voice.

"Did he say where he is?"

"No. He wasn't allowed to say anything about where he is or what he's doing. He asked me to tell you all he is ok and that he loves you."

"He's a good boy," Olena said, and I could hear her voice shaking, too. "Is there anything else he said you can share?"

"Well, we mostly talked about how much we've missed each other," I admitted guiltily. "He said he likes sleeping because he has pleasant dreams, he said he felt the same when I told him I was feeling lonely and he thinks of us a lot," I said trying to recall what he'd said.

"How did he sound?"

"Honestly, he sounded like himself. A little sad, but happy for us to have the chance to talk. He was very loving on the phone," I added, hoping it wasn't too much information for his family to hear. "He also asked me to warn you that Tasha Ozera might call to try and talk with him. She's visiting her nephew at my school and was hoping to surprise Dimitri with her visit. I've told her he's visiting you guys in Baia which is the story everyone else here has been told. I met her today, and she said she'd probably call."

"That is good to know. We might put the phone recorder on and use that to avoid speaking with her."

I had no idea what she meant until a younger voice said, "She means the answering machine, Rose."

"Ahh ok. It won't need to be for too long. After I got off the phone from Dimitri, Guardian Schoenberg said that they'll be sent on their mission within a week and that once that's happened, others can know the truth."

"A week," Olena said, her voice pained.

"I know," I whispered back. "Guardian Schoenberg was in the room when I was speaking with Dimitri, so he knows about us for sure now. I think he'll let me know if there's any news. But I'll give you my number in case you hear anything first."

I rattled off my phone number, one of Dimitri's sisters carefully repeating it back to me as she jotted it down.

"Olena?" I said nervously, "About Tasha Ozera… Her nephew Christian is going out with my best friend, Lissa. We all had lunch together today and, well, I got the impression Tasha's interested in Dimitri."

"Interested?" Olena asked.

"That she wants to be in a relationship with him," I clarified. "Christian told me after lunch that Tasha intends to ask Dimitri to be her Guardian and start a family with her. There was a photo in Dimitri's album where Tasha was standing with him and Ivan, and she was looking at Dimitri so lovingly. I asked him at the time, and he said they'd never been anything but friends, but then today Tasha was basically saying there was something going on between them, but the timing had never been right?"

There was rapid chatter in the background, all of it in Russian and some of it sounding angry. I swear – I'd never wanted to understand the language as much as I did right then. When someone finally spoke, it wasn't Olena.

"Rose? It's Karolina. I know Tasha as well, and you're right. She is interested in Dimka and has been for ages. Dimka isn't interested in her in that way, and as far as I know, nothing has ever happened between them."

"Are you sure…?"

Olena spoke then. "Rose, my son is very open with me. He's only once told me he is in love, and that was when we spoke to him with you. I already had a thought he might be in love with you from the way he spoke so fondly of you during our phone calls over the last few months, so I was not too surprised when he told us about his feelings. He has never spoken about Tasha in a loving way."

"What do you know about how he and Tasha met?" a younger female voice asked me. I think it was Karolina again.

"Dimitri told me Tasha dated Ivan for a little while, but she wanted more than he did, so when Ivan broke it off with her Dimitri was the one she spoke to about her disappointment."

"That's a polite way of putting it," the woman scoffed. Definitely Karolina, I could now tell. "Tasha became obsessed with Ivan. She was a little unstable. Dimka didn't hang out with her by choice. She wouldn't leave Ivan alone and would turn up at his house or places she knew he would be. As Ivan's Guardian, Dimka kept her away from him until she got over it. I think she started to form an attraction to Dimka then, but he never saw it. I would tell him over and over again to be careful because Tasha liked him, but he said she just wanted to be friends."

"Well, she wants to be more than friends with him now," I muttered.

"Do not doubt the young man's love," an older voice intoned. It was Yeva, Dimitri's grandmother. "He loves you and only you. There is nothing between him and the Ozera woman. But if she knows you have his heart she will do everything she can to destroy you."

"Babushka is right, Rose. Tasha is nice, but she can also be a little crazy. Don't tell her about you and Dimka. Wait until he gets back." Karolina sounded sad when she said the last part – but it was nice to know I wasn't the only one who chose to speak as though this was at least a possibility.

"Thank you," I said sincerely. "We only had those few days together, so we didn't have a chance to talk about all this sort of stuff. It was such a shock when I heard she thought he would want to be with her romantically and start a family."

"He wouldn't do that, Rose. Dimitri was very clear to us about how deeply he feels about you. Mama is right, be sure in his love," Olena said kindly.

"Rose?" a different voice asked. "It's Viktoria, Dimka's youngest sister. What was it like meeting Guardian Schoenberg? Were you nervous?"

"Very!" I laughed. "He's really nice, though."

"Did you get to see him fight?" she asked.

"Yep. When Celeste and I got there, he was facing off against ten Strigoi alone. The guy is a fighting God. The only person I've seen even close to being as good is Dimitri."

"How many did Schoenberg kill?"

"Well, there were eleven, all up. One was already upstairs looking for the Moroi. Schoenberg killed five and Celeste and I each killed three."

"You killed three Strigoi?" Viktoria gasped. "That's huge!"

"They were my first kills, but it's all thanks to Dimitri's training," I said honestly.

"He must be very proud," Olena observed.

"Yeah, he was," I admitted.

We chatted a little longer before I started to wrap it up.

"Rose?" It was Olena again, and she sounded nervous. "We haven't met yet, but you're important to Dimka which makes you important to us. Don't be strange."

I was trying to figure out if she meant she hoped I wasn't a weirdo, when one of the girls, I think Viktoria, snort-laughed loudly.

"She means don't be a stranger…"

I laughed. That made more sense. "Ok. I'll call again," I promised.

"Make sure you do dochka," Olena said, and they rang off.

I lay back in bed smiling. I was so relieved there'd been nothing between my Russian God and Tasha even though it was concerning she was crazy enough to believe she had a future with him. But then I guess given the circumstances with his reallocation, I was probably equally as nuts. At least I knew he loved me, I thought wryly – ashamed of myself for doubting him even a little.