Rose's POV

Dimitri's bed was decidedly too small for us both to sleep comfortably in, but it didn't matter. I slept better in his arms than I ever had in the past eight and a half years by myself, no matter the size of my bed.

So many things had changed, but even more had remained the same. I had never stopped loving Dimitri, and I had clung to the hope that he hadn't, either. Knowing nowinstead of just hoping was the best feeling in the world, especially after the many times I'd doubted over the past few weeks. I knew very well they could have been avoided had I not stormed into his office the way that I had two weeks ago. I knew now, too, that if I'd got over my initial shock of his position as captain and ran into his arms then, he would have welcomed me. He might have even been more open with me from the get-go, which certainly would have helped with our mission here, but that wasn't what bothered me the most. Yes, I wanted to help Sunshine and Lissa and even Christian, but I was also selfish – I could have had this all along. But I have him back now, I reminded myself. It wasn't like I could change the past and, really, what was another two weeks after almost a decade apart?

I snuggled up against him, trying to fall back asleep. From the light streaming into the room through the curtains, I gathered that it must have been sometime shortly after noon, which meant plenty of time left to sleep. In his bed, in his arms. My inner peace and happiness were disturbed when a phone rang. Dimitri was awake immediately, on high alert as always, and reached over me to grab his phone from the nightstand.

"Belikov," he answered. He didn't need to tell me to be quiet – I knew if someone called at this time, it would have to be something important. My first guess was Christian, but then Dimitri looked at me in shock, and I knew instantly that it wasn't.

Sunshine. Something had happened to Sunshine. Maybe just another dream, maybe something worse. I had half a mind to just take the phone from Dimitri and demand to know what was going on, but I knew it was smarter to just wait until he told me, even if it killed me inside. Dimitri motioned for me to get dressed while he was listening to the person on the other end of the line, and I did just that. I threw him his clothes, too, and we were out the door with him still on the phone.

He hadn't said much apart from things such as "stay calm" and "I'm on my way" and, to my surprise, even "Yes, I'll bring Guardian Hathaway". Unfortunately, that didn't tell me much about the situation, and I was getting more and more worried with every second. Halfway on our way to the elementary campus, Dimitri finally hung up. I turned to him before he could even put his phone away, but I didn't even need to ask the question for him to answer it.

"Sunshine had a nightmare again, but that's not why we're going. When the matron went in to check on her, she discovered marks on her wrists, and Sunshine has refused to explain. She thinks something horrible is going on, and she's worried for her safety."

And rightly so. This sounded immensely alarming. Marks on her wrists? What kind? Burns? Bruises? …Cuts? Oh God, I hoped not. "What else did she say? What's going on?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know more than that," Dimitri said, his expression concerned. "You have no idea what could be happening?"

I thought on that for a second, then remembered the bruise I had seen on Sunshine's hand when I'd visited her. Shit. Had she lied to me? Had I let it go too easily? "I don't, but… something is up. I think maybe someone here is a danger to her."

We increased our pace and arrived at Sunshine's dorm within minutes. Mrs Hoffman came running towards us as soon as she saw us enter the building. "Oh, thank God you're here. I… I've dealt with a lot of things, but something about this girl's situation is so unnerving."

"Where is she?" I asked, not happy to see that the matron had apparently left her alone. "Is she safe?"

Mrs Hoffman nodded. "Yes, yes, I believe so. She is in her room with her roommate."

"And you're sure it's not the roommate that is hurting her?" Dimitri asked, voicing my own question, but I was already on my way to Sunshine's room the moment the matron had stopped talking.

I needed to know she was okay, at least in this moment, and I needed to find out what the hell was happening to her. My heart broke when I opened the door and saw her sitting on her bed, sobbing. At least the Badica girl was sitting right next to her, comforting her. I was pretty sure she could be counted out as a suspect. The poor girl seemed terrified and unsure of what to do, but she was there for Sunshine nonetheless.

But I was here now, too. When Sunshine looked up, she relaxed at the sight of me, then tensed for a moment when Dimitri and the matron came up behind me.

"Miss Badica, will you give them some privacy?" Mrs Hoffman asked the roommate, who thankfully agreed to go with her. I was glad the matron trusted me because having this conversation with anyone but Dimitri present would not be so easy.

I took the girl's place next to Sunshine, gently rubbing her back as I asked her, "Will you tell me what happened?"

She eyed Dimitri sceptically, and I cursed myself once again for telling her not to trust him. I'd also told her I was wrong, but I supposed that the fact he had taken her only reliable means to get in contact with me whenever she wanted didn't help.

"Guardian Belikov is here to help, too," I told her. "But if you don't want to talk with him here, I can tell him to leave."

Dimitri very clearly did not like that, but I knew he wouldn't protest if that was what she wanted. Fortunately, she shook her head. "If you trust him, I trust him, too, Auntie Rose."

"Good. That's good. Now, please, tell me what's going on."

Sunshine shrugged her shoulders. "I had a bad dream again."

"I know. That's not what I was asking about, and you know it," I scolded her, hoping I didn't sound too harsh.

Slowly, she lifted her hands out of her lap, showing me her wrists. I recognised what was in front of me immediately, and so did Dimitri if the gasp he let out was anything to go by. They were the telltale marks of someone having been restrained with zip ties. This went above and beyond a school bully. For a moment, I wondered if it might have been a Mână thing, but nobody here knew that she was royal. Or at least I hoped so.

"Please, Sunshine, you need to tell us what happened," I begged. Whatever this was, it was horrible, and I had the dreadful feeling it did have something to do with who she really was.

Sunshine moved her hands back into her lap and looked down at them. "I don't know. I don't know where they came from, and I really can't—"

"Something like this doesn't happen without you noticing," Dimitri interrupted her. I agreed with him but shot him a glare nevertheless. Sunshine had said she trusted him, but that didn't mean he had to push it.

"I swear it! I have no idea where they came from!" she exclaimed in frustration. "I fell asleep, and I had that dream, and then they were just… there."

She wasn't lying. Not this time.

It was dark, and I couldn't move, and there were people that I couldn't see. They were asking me questions.

That's what she had told me when she'd talked about her dreams. A cold shiver ran down my spine when the realisation hit. Things that happened in dreams could, indeed, leave marks. I'd once woken up alone in my bed with a hickey I hadn't had before going to sleep, and that had been after I'd spent my dreams with Adrian. What Sunshine was dealing with weren't just regular nightmares. They were spirit dreams. And whoever was weaving them was conducting an interrogation. Shit.

"Did you tell them?" I asked hesitantly. "Did you tell the people in your dreams where you are?"

It felt like an eternity before she answered. It wasn't the answer I had hoped for. "Yes."