The Queen's Protégée

CH 7

Consequences of the dark side

Dimitri

We were sitting in the infirmary waiting to be checked out. I was ok, but was going to have a wicked black eye tomorrow. Eddie was waiting as well to be seen and Mason was in a room with a nurse. Shane was currently being checked out by Dr Oledenski to make sure he didn't have a concussion. The one person I was worried about the most wasn't with us, Rose. She was taken away by guardians and I had no idea if she was ok.

"You ok Belikov?" Eddie came over and sat next to me.

"I'm ok. Going to have a nice black eye tomorrow."

"Yeah, looks like you will. She got you good."

"She did. How are you?" I asked, looking at him.

"Going to be covered in bruises tomorrow, but ok. I think she may have broken Mason's arm, but you know being a Dhampir, it will heal quickly."

"Good thing for that." We sat there quietly not quite knowing what to say to each other. The whole thing that happened with Rose was very scary. One minute she was sparring with Shane, be it a bit rough, but nothing out of the ordinary for us Novices. Then it was like someone took over her body, her eyes were no longer brown they were completely black. I've never seen anything like it. She was on a blind rampage to kill Shane. It took the three of us to get her off him and me laying on top of her to get her back. When she came to, she had no memory of what she did.

"Can I ask you a question? I heard what you were saying to her and it seemed like this wasn't the first time something like this has happened. Is she going to be ok?" I asked Eddie. He looked around making sure no one was around.

"Yes it has and I don't know if she will be ok this time."

"What happened?"

"Look, I can't really say anything."

"If it's about her and Lissa having a bond I already know."

"She told you? Wow, she must really trust you because this is a tightly kept secret. I only know because I was with her in court the last time she lost control."

"No,she didn't outright tell me. She just confirmed my suspicions." Eddie looked at me confused.

"In the town I live in there is a bonded pair, they are married, and I've known them my whole life."

"Do you know about the side effects of being bonded?" I shook my head no.

"What happened to Rose is something they call darkness. It comes from the Spirit user when they use their magic. All Moiri magic comes from the elements, Spirit magic comes from within that person. When Lissa uses her magic little bits of herself are affected. Before her and Rose were bonded she used to cut herself to help with the side effects. Now Rose takes it from her, sometimes consciously sometimes not. What you saw today was a buildup of all that. She wasn't in control of her actions."

"Can I ask what happened the last time?"

"I went to court with her and Lissa for Christmas break. She has been getting extra training with the Queen's royal guard. I am being considered to be another Guardian for Lissa so I joined Rose with her training. One day we were in the gym with some of the Royal Guards and out of nowhere she lost it. It took about four of them to get her calmed down."

"Was it as bad as it was today?"

"No, no one got really hurt. It turns out that the Queen's great nephew Adrian is a spirit user. He and Lissa had been working on their magic together and it was too much for Rose. The Queen pulled me aside after and told me what had happened. She also told me it was a tightly kept secret and made me sign a document that I would keep this a secret. If I tell anyone I will be punished. "

"Do any of the Guardians here know about it?"

"Alberta and Kirova do, but that's it."

"So will she get in any trouble?"

"I honestly have no idea, she hurt Shane pretty bad." I didn't want anything to happen to her.

Mason walked out from the back with a blue cast on his arm.

"He doesn't know so we will talk about this later." I nodded my head in agreement.

"Looking good, Mase, blue suits you."

"Thanks, unfortunately I have to sit out of combat class for the next couple of days. Any news on Shane?"

"No, he's still with Dr. Olendenski."

"Novice Belikov." A moiri in scrubs and a clipboard came out from the exam rooms.I got up and walked towards her. I turned back to Eddie and mason.

"See you guys later."

ROSE

"Rosemarie, what were you thinking? You could have killed him. What do you think the Queen is going to do when she hears about this? You think she is going to let you guard Lisa's after what you did ?"

"Janine just stop."

"Don't Janine me. She was completely out of control."

"You're right she was out of control, but it wasn't her fault."

"How? Tell me how this is none of her fault? She could have killed him."

"Janine, there is a lot you don't know about Rose."

"That's a bold statement to make for someone that's not been around for almost eighteen years."

"Don't you dare throw that in my face. We both decided that it would be best for her if I stayed away. It's not like you've been there for her or you would know what's going on with our daughter."

"My daughter, she's my daughter not yours. She became my daughter the day we left because of you."

"Both of you stop. Neither one of you was there for me. I've been on my own since I was four. The only family I had were the Dragimors and they're gone. So no, we're not going to do this."

I took a second to compose myself. There was so much more I wanted to say, but now was not the time.

"Here's how this is going to go, mother you're going to sit there and listen for once. Old man, you're going to stop goading her. We're going to sit here as a "family" and talk about the day I died."

"You what?"

"I died, well sort of, in the car accident that killed the Dragomirs."

I don't think my mom's mouth closed the whole time I told her my story. Abe helped fill in things here and there when needed. When we were done we just sat there in silence. I let my mom absorb all the information and waited for her response.

Tears started to form in her eyes and she did something so unexpected. She got up and hugged me. I was caught so off guard at first that I just sat there with my hands at my side. Once the shock wore off I stood up, put my arms around her and hugged her back.

"I'm so sorry Rosemarie."

We stood there for what seemed like forever when we heard Abe clear his throat.

"As much as I love to see you two bonding, we have some things we need to discuss before the Queen gets here."

"The Queen is coming? Well shit."

"Watch your language and did you think she wasn't going to hear about this?" My mom asked.

"It's not that. She knows all about our bond. If she's coming here it means I really fucked up and Kirova and Alberta couldn't smooth things over." I started to panic and couldn't breathe. This was it, they were going to kick me out.

"Just breathe, everything will be ok." My dad said, trying to soothe me.

"I can't and it won't. I really messed up and there is nothing anyone can do to fix it."

"Listen to me. When I said I have more power than the Queen I meant it. Nothing is going to happen to you." My dad grabbed my arms and made me look him in the eyes.

"I promise you."

"Abe, please don't promise her things you can't deliver."

"Janine, I can and I will. Even if I have to take her away from this place I will protect her."

"I don't need protection, it's Lissa that needs it. I'm never going to leave her." And as if on cue Lissa came barreling through the door.

"Rose, Rose, I'm so sorry." Lissa pleaded running in and wrapping me in her arms.

"Me and Adrian had been working on…." She stopped what she was going to say when she realized we had an audience.

"It's ok Liss they know."

"Oh." She looked at Abe trying to figure out who he was.

"Liss, I'd like to formally introduce you to my dad, Abe Mazer." When I said his name I saw it click in her head who he was.

"Nice to meet you in person, princess." Abe grabbed Lissa's hand and kissed the top of it.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Mazer."

"Please just call me Abe."

"Abe, nice to see you again Guardian Hathaway."

"Princess." My mom bowed to her.

"Please just call me Lissa and you don't have to bow." She looked around the room at the three of us.

"Now what are we going to do?"