Rose was making small talk with me as we walked from the hotel to a nearby building, but I was barely paying attention. It was a warm, dark night and it seemed like everyone was out and about. Dhampirs students, guardians… Moroi. Everywhere we walked, we were surrounded by them.
The most irrational part was that what had my heart hammering against my chest was the anticipation of who I might encounter when we entered that room for dinner.
"Are you okay?" Rose asked me.
I glanced at her and saw legitimate concern on her face. At that moment, I really appreciated having someone familiar with me. Especially Rose.
I tried my best to smile. "I'm fine. Just tired."
She didn't seem convinced. "I noticed you looking around at everyone. I know you think we're evil creatures of the night, but you're safe here. No one will harm you."
I nodded. "I know. No one would be stupid enough to try anything with you around."
She laughed. "I'd like to see them try."
She said as we approached the entrance to a small, modern-looking building.
"This building has the newest banquet halls at court. We'll be eating in one of the rooms." She explained as she opened the door.
She was still looking at me as we walked in so she wasn't aware that there was someone right on the other side of the door. She bumped into him and almost fell backwards into me. Dimitri caught her around the waist and their gazes locked. I felt like an intruder in this intimate moment. I even almost blushed.
Dimitri cleared his throat- was that a smirk?
"Sydney. Nice to see you again." he said as he removed his arm from around Rose's waist.
"You too." I answered with a smile. It really was nice to see Dimitri again. He was another friendly face that helped me feel welcome here. And safe.
Rose got on the tips of her feet to give Dimitri a kiss on his cheek before turning to me. "Let's go get some food."
She started walking away without a backward glance. I quickly followed but not before noticing that it was now Dimitri's turn to look a bit flustered. He followed behind me a few seconds later.
I took a steadying breath as we neared a room with open doors. I could hear voices spilling out from inside the room. Could I recognize any of them?
Calm down, Sydney. This is ridiculous. You'll be fine. You're here to do a job and leave as soon as possible.
With that last thought, I entered the room followed by Dimitri. We were definitely the last to arrive for dinner. Well, they were serving breakfast foods since it was technically the beginning of their day. Rose went straight to the end of the room to serve herself some food. Dimitri smiled, shook his head, and headed in the opposite direction to talk to one of the guardians standing against the wall.
I looked around the room, taking stock of who was in attendance. Seated at a long table in the middle of the room were queen Lissa, Christian Ozera, and Sonya speaking to a young dhampir and Moroi that I did not recognize and- Abe?
"Well, hello Sydney." He said as he approached. "I haven't seen you in a while, how are you doing?"
How did I not see him until it was too late?
"Fine." I responded, not looking in his direction.
"How's your new post? I heard you're in South Dakota."
My head snapped towards him. He was smirking.
Stupid. I shouldn't have reacted.
"It's fine."
"Good! Maybe I'll have to pay you a visit one of these days."
What?
Before I could respond, he walked away. I took a deep breath.
This is going to be a long day.
