Rose's POV

I went to bed immediately after I'd left Dimitri's office, and before long I felt the telltale signs of a spirit dream materialising around me. Oh, thank God.

"Long time no see, little dhampir," I heard Adrian's voice from behind me.

We were in his room at Court, and I saw him lounging on his couch when I turned around. He looked eager to talk to me but, much like the last time I'd contacted him, it wasn't for pleasure. I'd needed information about feeders back then, and I needed something now. "Wish it were under better circumstances, but I'm afraid I've got to ask you a favour."

"Always with the favours. Why don't you ever just call on me to catch up?" he asked, getting up from the sofa. "We miss you, you know."

I sighed. "I know. But you know I can't tell you anything."

"Of course, of course. Queen's orders."

"How is she?" I asked tentatively. I wasn't supposed to know anything about what was going on with her, either, but I couldn't stop myself.

Adrian shrugged. "She's… dealing. She misses you, and she wants things to go back to the way they were, but we're not getting anywhere. Whoever is behind this is good at covering their tracks."

"Seems like it," I said, though I knew now that someone, somewhere had slipped up. Strigoi weren't trustworthy business partners, after all. "Have there been more attacks?"

He nodded. "A few years ago, one of her guardians was assaulted. Apparently, someone identified him as the weakest link and tried to get him to lead them to Lissa. He refused, and he paid with his life."

God damn it. "That's horrible."

"Life of a guardian, I'm afraid," he said then remembered who he was speaking to. "Sorry."

At least that sounded like she was well protected, which was a relief. "Anything else?"

"Yes and no. Things are happening, but she's under surveillance wherever she goes. She hates it, of course, but acknowledges the necessity. No one can get to her."

Good. That was good. I had more questions, but Adrian stopped me before I could ask any of them.

"I've already said too much." He shook his head. "I can't help but wonder, though, if we might have made more progress here if you hadn't left."

I had wondered that, too, but now I was confident that I could help from afar. "That's why I wanted to talk to you, actually."

"You're not coming back," Adrian stated, though it sounded more like a question.

"No," I confirmed. "But I came across something out here, and it might lead to some answers."

Adrian shot me a puzzled look, then something seemed to click in his mind. "Is that why you're with Belikov? To go on some reckless mission, hoping you can save the day yet again?"

"Yes. No. It's complicated." I didn't need to ask how he knew. It had been stupid of me to use his phone, but I wouldn't have had the time to find myself a burner phone if I hoped to get the message out to Adrian tonight.

"Isn't it always?" he mused, and he had that look about him that told me he wasn't going to be of sound mind for much longer.

I stepped closer, standing right in front of him now. "It's beside the point. I need you to do something for me."

"Hm?" He snapped back to reality. Or, well, this dream-reality. "Oh. Yes. You need something from me, as always. What can I help you with this time?"

"How would you feel about a little breaking-and-entering?"

Adrian looked at me levelly for a second as if to assess whether I was joking. "Oh, God, you're serious."

"Deadly."

"You're going to make a criminal out of me, little dhampir."

I grinned. "That's not a no."

"No," he said. "No, it's not. Where would this hypothetical break-in be exactly?"

Despite the spirit dream, I woke up feeling more refreshed than I had in a while. I was due for another shift at the gate, which put a bit of a damper on my good mood, but at least I knew it would be another shift with Emil. His suspicions about my presence at the academy had worried me, but it appeared he had not shared them with anyone else. Once, many years ago, he had trusted me despite my reputation. Maybe I should have had more trust in him and his ability to keep his thoughts to himself. In any case, he was decent company, and he didn't sneakily watch me the entire time like some of the younger guardians did. He'd been right about that, too – my reputation hadn't suffered nearly as much as I had thought. The newly graduated guardians appeared to hold me in much higher esteem than I deserved. I much preferred not having to think about all the ways I would let them down once classes started. Word of my subpar abilities in combat would get out soon enough.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say Belikov's still trying to keep you out of trouble," Emil remarked once we were sat in the booth at the gate again.

I let out a laugh. "Yeah, well. He's never been too good at that."

"Oh, don't I know it."

This was as good a chance as any to try to get some intel. From what I gathered, Emil had remained at the academy these past ten years, and he would know all about the goings-on here.

"Speaking of troublemakers," I ventured. "Are there any I should be aware of before the school year is in full swing again?"

Emil didn't appear to find this question suspicious. Why should he have? It was a perfectly fine question to ask. "None like you, but there's the usual. Last year, we've had a bit of trouble with some of the older royals."

"What kind of trouble?" I asked, hoping this was exactly what I was looking for. Until Adrian got me what I needed, my best chance at finding out more was if a chapter of the Mână had popped up here again. Granted, I had no idea how I'd get them to talk just yet, but it would have been a start. My short-lived time at the royal court had provided a bit more insight into how these groups operated, and I was confident enough that any political schemes would have gone through them. More importantly, I'd found out that they tended to have some sort of secret archive where they kept their records and held their meetings. If there was anything to be found at the academy, it would be there.

Unfortunately, I soon realised that that wasn't what Emil was talking about. "Teenage drama, mostly. Had to break up quite a few cat fights, but I doubt it'll be a problem again. One of the girls that was involved transferred to Alder, which should calm the situation quite a bit."

"That's good," I said but didn't mean it. Back to waiting for Adrian then.

About a half hour into my shift, Emil got a call. He stepped outside to answer it, but I could still hear him.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I'll be right—"

He was interrupted then, but I couldn't hear the caller's words. Emil was taken aback by whatever had been said to him, but agreed nonetheless.

"Yes, I will."

He opened the door to the booth and motioned for me to join him outside.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Emil shrugged. "Hell if I know, but someone's going to come take your post here. You're needed on the elementary campus."

All the alarm bells started sounding in my head. Sunshine. Something had happened with Sunshine. I wanted to run off right away, but I knew I had to wait for my replacement. It must have only been a few minutes until someone finally came, but it felt like an eternity. As soon as I was allowed to leave, I took off running as fast as I possibly could.

Dimitri was standing by the door to the dorm building, and I charged at him immediately. "Where is she? What happened?"

"Quiet," he shushed me, looking around to see if anyone had heard. The sun had come up hours ago, and it was late enough for the campus to be all but empty. "She's fine, I'll explain everything, but you've got to calm down."

How was I supposed to calm down if I didn't know what was going on? I took a deep breath and tried to count to ten. It didn't help much, but it would have to do. "Where is she?" I asked again, but quietly this time.

Dimitri looked me over carefully again before seemingly deciding that I was calm enough. "Follow me."

He led me inside the dorm and upstairs to her floor. We walked past the door to her room and didn't stop until we'd reached the end of the hallway. The dorm matron was standing there, blocking our way.

"No," she said, but it wasn't directed at me. She was staring down Dimitri, refusing to move even an inch. "You can't go in there."

Dimitri gave me a weary look. "See? That's why I had to get you. She won't let me speak to her."

"It's a girls' bathroom," the woman stressed. "And she was running from you."

I groaned. That last part, I was fairly certain, must have been my fault. I hadn't had the time to tell her that Dimitri was not, in fact, a threat. "What happened here?"

"I was on patrol and heard her scream," Dimitri said, and my blood ran cold.

The matron intercepted. "As I've told Guardian Belikov, she's been having some nightmares these past few days. It would have been nothing to worry about had he not practically broken down the door and stormed into her room!"

Nightmares? Past few days? Why was this the first time I was hearing about this? Sunshine hadn't mentioned anything the last time we had spoken. I tried to appear calmer than I felt inside when I made my request to the dorm matron. "If it's all right with you, I'd like to see for myself that Miss Porter is okay."

"Of course," she agreed. "But you should be gentler with her than this brute here."

I saw Dimitri clench his fist at his side out of the corner of my eye, but he remained silent.

"I will," I promised, and she finally let me pass.

I found Sunshine in the stall that was the furthest away from the entrance. I knocked on the door a couple of times. "Hey, it's me. Can I come inside?"

Her sobs ceased for a moment when she quietly asked, "Rose?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm here."

The lock was turned and Sunshine opened the door for me. She looked so sad and scared and miserable, and I lowered myself to my knees to envelop her in a hug.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she said between sobs. "I didn't want to draw attention to me, but you said that… and I was scared… and…"

"Shhh, shhh, everything is all right," I told her while rubbing her back. It had always done wonders to calm her down, and it did the same now. "Can you tell me what happened?"

She nodded. "I had a nightmare."

"I hear you've had them before," I said. It sounded more like a reproach than I'd intended.

Sunshine buried her face deeper in the crook of my neck. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologise," I assured her. I'd been too strict with her, I realised. She was so worried that I might get angry at her for not following my orders that she kept apologising, and it broke my heart. "Will you tell me about the dream?"

She hesitated for a little while but, eventually, she did. "It was so scary. It was dark, and I couldn't move, and there were people that I couldn't see. They were asking me questions. So many questions. About you and… and…"

Oh no. Oh no, this was all my fault. I'd stressed the importance of keeping our secrets so many times that she was now having nightmares about it. I pulled her closer, not only to console her but also myself. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

"When I woke up, Guardian Belikov was there, and he was asking me questions, too, and you said I couldn't talk to him, so I ran away. Just like you said."

If my heart hadn't hurt from what she'd told me, I would have smiled to myself at that. "You did well, Sunny. You did. But you were right about Guardian Belikov. He is nice, and you can trust him."

"But—"

"No but. I make mistakes, too," I told her. "And I was wrong about him."

She pulled back, scowling at me. "He took my phone."

"He was right to do so." It was true. The phone could have been discovered by someone else, and we would have been in deep shit. Between Dimitri and me being here, she should be able to reach one of us without it if something went wrong. "I want you to trust him. If you need help, and I'm not here, you go to him."

Sunshine looked at me sceptically but then nodded. "Okay."

"Are you ready to go back to bed now?" I asked hesitantly.

At that, she shook her head vigorously and made her way back into my arms. I held her for several minutes longer, until I eventually managed to coax her into returning to her room. When she was finally safely tucked into her bed again, Dimitri and I made our way downstairs.

Once outside, he gave me a look that I knew could only mean he was about to start lecturing me. I held up a hand to stop him. "Don't. Just don't. I know I messed up, and it won't happen again."

"Good. Because there is something else we need to talk about," he said, and I groaned. I knew exactly what was coming next. "Why have you been talking to Adrian Ivashkov?"

I rolled my eyes, making sure Dimitri could see. He should see I was annoyed with him. "I am so not doing that with you again."

"That's not what this is about," he insisted. "What you do in your free time is not my business, but have you forgotten that he lives at the royal court?"

"Of course not," I returned. "But that is precisely why he can get me what I need."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. "And what is it that you need?"

The implication was loud and clear in my ears. Oh yeah, 'that's not what this is about' my ass! "Can you stop being a jealous prick for, like, five seconds and realise that he can help us?"

"Jealous?" Dimitri laughed. It was a cruel laugh that I hadn't heard in a long time. One I knew could only be followed by something that would shatter my heart entirely. Which was precisely what happened. "It's been years, and I've got no claim on you. Nor do I wish to, for that matter."

Despite the pain deep in my chest, I held my head high when I gave him a smile that was just as insincere as his laugh had been. "Good. I'm glad we're on the same page."