Chapter 5: Talk

Dimitri came thru the door into our dorm and we all said goodbye to Guardian Andrews. Dimitri went to his room and when he came back his duster was off and he went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water and then sat down on the couch opposite from me. He gave Celeste a look and then Celeste stood up and stated "Well, I am going to take a shower".

"Rose, we need to talk?"

"Ok" I said softly "But Dimitri, I don't understand why I need to be guarded. I'm supposed to graduate and start guarding Lissa in a few months. It doesn't make sense that I need my own guardians, where does that leave Lissa?"

"The Princess has two new guardians at this point, she is safe, so don't worry about her for right now. And you having guardians is not meant to be a punishment or anything against you" Dimitri stated.

He paused and looked down at his hands and then he looked back up at me. He let his guardian mask down and then had this look of love on his face and said "I meant what I said earlier. I am going to protect you and love you with all that I am."

I could feel the stinging in my eyes and was trying my hardest not to cry, but those traitorous tears, started falling down my face. Dimitri stood up and sat down next to me and used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away the tears. He lovingly said "Don't cry Roza, it's going to be alright, we are going to figure this out together."

"Comrade, you kept saying that we can't be together, so what has changed?"

Dimitri grabbed my hand in both of his and stated "I'm sorry for confusing you Roza, after this morning's episode, when I couldn't find you it brought back my fears from Spokane. When I walked into that house and saw you lying over Mason, I thought that you were dead and I couldn't imagine a world without you. Last night, I finally allowed myself to be honest and admit my feelings for you. In all honesty, I probably started falling in love with you when I found you in Portland".

More tears fell down my face as I used my other hand to wipe the tears away. Dimitri pulled me into his chest and kissed the top of my head. He stated "Milaya, don't cry, we are going to figure this out".

"Comrade, its okay some of the tears are happy tears" I half cried and half laughed.

He pulled back and took my hand in both of his hands and was rubbing smooth circles with his thumb on my hand. Celeste came out of the bathroom and asked "Dimitri is the plan still to workout at 5pm?"

Dimitri responded "No, we are skipping tomorrow morning's practice. Alberta is going to come by at 7:30pm to check on Rose and then we will go from there".

"Okay, sounds good. I don't know how you two get up at that hour six days a week" Celeste said shaking her head.

"Alright, goodnight".

After Celeste went into our shared bedroom and closed the door, I turned back to Dimitri "Celeste said that she thought Alberta and you were discussing what my schedule is going to be and what the plan is."

"Yes, we wanted a plan in place to help you if needed. With all the changes occurring in your life right now, we wanted you to have the ability to not attend some classes if you are getting overwhelmed. But we don't want you to fall behind."

"Why is Alberta coming tomorrow to see how I am? And why are we canceling our practice tomorrow morning it helps me focus, well at least it used to".

Dimitri took a deep breath and said "I have a lot of things to tell you, some of which I only found out 48 hours ago and I told Alberta I wasn't comfortable keeping this information from you."

"What? What information?" I interrupted.

Dimitri tucked some hair behind my ear and said "We are going to go through everything that I know. Hopefully together you and I can figure out why you have been so distracted and why you were hiding under your bed with a black eye and a split lip". He carefully traced my lip with the pad of thumb where my split lip used to be.

I looked down to my hand that Dimitri was holding, embarrassed about my behavior and that other people knew. Dimitri put a finger under my chin and raised it up. "Roza, look at me. I know that this is not your normal behavior and it's not your fault, so don't be embarrassed."

I gave him a quick half smile, how does he always know what I am thinking. Dimitri kissed my forehead and then got up and went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and gave it to me. Then he walked into the bathroom and came back out with a box of tissues and set them on the table in front of me. He sat down and grabbed my hands again.

"Roza, we need to talk about last night and today. I know I told you that I would wait until you were ready, but we have some new information that indicates you are being targeted. Please trust me and let me help you to keep you safe." I nodded yes as more tears fell down my face as I hurriedly wiped them away.

"Good' he wiped away my tears that kept falling and said "what do you remember about what happened last night after the Princess and I left?"

"Lissa and you left around 9am and I did anything to procrastinate from doing Stan's assignment" that received a little smirk from Dimitri. "I packed my gym bag, straightened up my room and took a shower before I sat down to work on my assignment and I worked on it for about an hour and half."

"How did that go?" Dimitri asked.

"Not too bad, I got thru the majority of it."

"Good and how did you feel afterwards? Did you feel distracted?" Dimitri questioned.

I thought back to it "No, but Lissa and I had gotten thru a lot of the Moroi Studies homework, so I kind of felt like I was on a roll to get it done. Plus a scary Russian was going to read it the morning, so that was also an incentive to get a good amount done" I said as I smirked at him.

"Roza, I am so happy you can still keep your feisty side at this point, it is one of the many things I love about you" Dimitri laughed as he kissed my forehead.

"Wait, Dimitri, how is this going to work between us? Do we have to hide our relationship?"

"We will talk about it in the next few days about what we want, I just don't want to overwhelm you with everything else that is going on. But Alberta is aware and she is okay with it, but we will need to be discreet. But first we need to get thru what happened last night and today, okay?"

"Okay" I responded "I can't believe Alberta knows and is okay with it"

"Well she did threaten my life if I broke your heart, and she wished me luck with telling your parents."

I started giggling with that and Dimitri said "Thanks, I'm glad you like my pain", which only made me laugh more. "Roza, I love the sound of your laugh" he said as he gave me a big hug and kissed the top of my head.

"Okay, now what do you remember after you stopped working on Guardian Alto's assignment? Do you remember what time it was when you finished?" Dimitri asked as he was drawing soothing circles on my hand with his thumb.

"It was 11am" why did that time stick in my head but not the action immediately following after I opened the door, I thought to myself. There must have been a look on my face as Dimitri asked "What is it?"

"I just was wondering why I could remember the time but not who knocked on my door." I continued "If I am going to tell you what I remember, will you promise not to get mad at me or go crazy on someone else?"

"Roza, I promise you I will not get mad at you for anything you tell me. None of this is your fault, someone attacked you and we need to figure out who it is. And I can only promise you that I won't go crazy on the individual or individuals responsible for this until we have more information."

I took a deep breath and said "I remember finishing at 11am when there was a knock on the door. The next thing I knew was that it was 12pm and I could not remember what had happened in that hour".

I looked down at my hands and I realized I was holding both of Dimitri's hands or he was technically holding mine because his was so much larger. Dimitri sensed my hesitation and let go of one of my hands and put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. He said "It's okay, just take your time".

I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and I looked towards the ceiling trying to prevent them from falling. However, they started falling anyway. After a few minutes, I started again "It was like waking up from a dream. I felt someone on top of me kissing me and when I opened my eyes Jesse was on top of me". As I started crying, Dimitri just pulled me closer to him. I was surprised at him being so calm especially after the last encounter with Jesse.

I took a minute or two to calm myself down and looked at my hands and told Dimitri "As soon as I realized what was happening, I tried to push him off of me and I told him to get off. And he just had this look in his eye and he punched me in the face. I finally was able to push him off me and off the bed. He jumped up from the floor and I jumped off the bed and Jesse said something about wanting to party. Then he got that look in his eyes again and he punched me in the face. Finally, I was able to push him out of my room. I don't understand, he's a moroi, he shouldn't be able to get the upper hand on me like that".

I was full on crying at this point. I have no idea how Celeste couldn't have heard me, she must have thought we would get her if we needed her. I also couldn't believe how calm Dimitri was being.

Dimitri lifted me onto his lap and had one arm around my shoulder and the other arm was rubbing my back as he enveloped me in a big bear hug. His face was in my hair and he was whispering "Shh, Roza, you're okay; you're safe, I am right here". We stayed like that for about five minutes, when he finally spoke again "Are you doing okay?" I nodded into chest.

"What made you go under your bed?"

"I don't know, it just felt like it was the best idea."

"When did you go under the bed?" he asked trepidaciously.

"Right after I threw Jesse out. I pulled out your sweatshirt from the night of the lust charm and put it on and grabbed my stuffed dog and went under the bed."

"Were you there when I went into your room this morning?"

I quietly responded "Yes".

Dimitri pulled me into his chest more and asked "Why didn't you let me know you were there?"

"I wanted to but it was like my head was thinking one thing but my body would not do what I wanted to it do."

Dimitri lifted me back up and placed me next to him so he could look directly into my eyes, but still kept me close to him with his arm around my shoulder. As Dimitri held me tight to his side, he said "Thank you Roza for having the courage to tell me this. For reasons that we will discuss in a little bit, but first I need you to know that Alberta had a hidden camera placed outside your door."

I pulled away from Dimitri so I could look him in the eye "What the hell?"

"It was for your safety, not because she was worried about you misbehaving. She looked at the footage and that was the reason she called me to come to her office."

"What did it show? I mean obviously Jesse was on there but I can't believe that I would just let him in."

"Yes, it shows Jesse at your door at 11am" Dimitri paused and I looked up at him, he finished "and Tasha was with him." My eyes were bugging out of my head.

"There was no audio so we don't know what Tasha or Jesse said, but Alberta and I both believe that Tasha was using compulsion on you. Alberta is going to look back at previous nights to see if she has done it before. It might explain why you have been so distracted."

"Oh my God, why would she do that?" I paused "oh, because she is in love with you."

"That's what we believe. I'm so sorry that you had to go thru this with Tasha. I thought I made it clear when we spoke at the ski lodge she understood that I didn't have any romantic feelings toward her because my heart belongs to someone else."

I smirked and said "Who does your heart belong to?"

"A beautiful, strong, smart, feisty woman named Roza". Dimitri placed the lightest and softest kiss on my lips. His hands were in my hair and my hands were on his chest. Dimitri deepened the kiss by swiping his tongue against my bottom lip and I eagerly allowed him in. We finally broke apart due the need to breath, but our foreheads continued to touch.

"What are they going to do about Tasha and Jesse" I asked.

Dimitri pulled back to look me in the eyes and said "As far as Jesse is concerned, he was seen on camera outside your door after curfew and since you remembering him forcing himself on you and hitting you, he will be disciplined by Headmistress Kirova and Guardian Petrov. But they may delay punishing him in order to find out why he was with Tasha. Right now Alberta doesn't want either of them to know what we know or that you moved into a different room. If you are comfortable, I was thinking of asking Adrian and Lisa over tomorrow to see if they have any information about spirit reversing compulsion."

"I think right now I would prefer just Adrian, I don't want to put Lissa in a position where she may have to keep something from Christian."

"Okay, that seems like a good idea, we could have him come by tomorrow while Lissa and Christian are still in class."

"But this can't be the only reason I need Guardians?"

"No" Dimitri paused "but you have been thru a lot in the last 24 hours, do you want to continue or take a break and we can talk in the morning?"

I looked at the clock and it was almost 12pm. "No, I want to keep going, might as well get it all out there."

"The reason your mother is coming is because she is bringing your father with her."

For the first time tonight, I started to feel angry. "When did you find this out?"

"Alberta told me two days ago and I told her I was not comfortable keeping this from you. I don't know all the details, but apparently he has been keeping eyes on you since you started at St. Vlad's". Dimitri continued "He is involved in some questionable dealings and apparently you were sent here to keep you hidden due to threats against your life."

"Do you know who he is?"

"I've heard of him, he does a lot of business in Russia where he is known as Zmey, which means snake. Basically he is kind of like a mafia boss. His real name is Ibrahim Mazur, but I think he goes by Abe."

I just stared at Dimitri while trying to process all the information. I didn't know what to feel, angry that he hid me away, sad because all thru my childhood I thought he was just like most Moroi fathers and that he didn't care about me. And a little bit excited and happy because I was going to meet him. Dimitri started rubbing my back and gave me time for the information to sink in. "Why is he coming now? I asked.

"Apparently there is a credible threat against your life do to his business dealings. He is coming with your mother to explain everything and he has his own army of private guardians. But like I said, I only have limited information." I nodded at Dimitri at this point I was numb.

"Originally, the plan was for your mother and father to explain everything about him and then to discuss what was the best way to keep you safe. The concern is that the threats are coming from Moroi and or humans, which unlike Strigoi it's harder to keep them off the academy grounds. But now with threats from both inside and outside and with you being so close to graduation and potentially guarding the Princess we need to figure out a plan to keep you safe but allow you to graduate."

Dimitri paused to give me some time to process what he said "Alberta was already planning to move you out of your dorm, it was going to be either guest quarters or here. I thought you might like here so it minimizes the disruption in your life. Plus, I thought you might feel ostracized in guest quarters. And she also assigned Celeste and myself to guard you until your father's guardians arrived. "

"Thank you for not putting me in guest quarters, that would have been the worst, but why can't you stay on my guardian?"

"Hopefully I can, but we will discuss that when your parents get here."

"Am I going to get a say in what happens to me?"

"Yes, Alberta fought for you to be involved in the discussions along with your parents, the head guardian from your father's guardians, Alberta and me" Dimitri paused. "How are you feeling with all this information?"

"A little bit of everything, tired, confused, mad and maybe a little excited that I am going to meet my father."

The events of the day were starting to take a toll on me, I asked Dimitri "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Of course Roza".

"I know we still need to figure out our relationship, but do you …..do you think you could hold me for a few minutes?"

"Absolutely, nothing would me happier."

Dimitri took my face in both his hands and again placed the sweetest kiss on my lips. He pulled back and he turned me around so he could pull my back to his chest and his arms wrapped around me. He started whispering to me in Russian and I thought to myself I would need to ask him tomorrow what he was saying. But between his scent, the warmth coming from him, the whispering in Russian and all the drama of the last 24 hours, I fell asleep in no time.