Rose's POV

Shit. Shit, shit, shit!

This wasn't something I had anticipated. I'd thought we'd have to worry about people here finding out who she was; not people in her dreams, for fuck's sake! This changed everything. Especially now that she'd apparently given them the information they had wanted. Why, why, hadn't she just kept quiet?

No. No, I couldn't blame her for this. She'd followed my orders almost perfectly, and why would she have thought her dreams were anything other than just, well, dreams? Even I hadn't thought of that!

At least this situation gave us a modicum of information about our opponents, too – they had a Spirit user at their disposal. For a brief second, I entertained the notion that it might have been someone we knew – specifically those who held a grudge against us for one reason or another – but I quickly discarded the thought. I knew that, as of two weeks ago, Avery Lazar was still on meds and securely locked away in Lotaryov, and I doubted that Robert Doru had any interest in getting involved with royal Moroi society. If he was even still alive. No, there must have been another Spirit user out there somewhere, and whoever they were, they were not on our side. That was a problem.

The other piece of information we gained was maybe even more worrying, though. Our adversaries knew more than we thought they did – they knew of Sunshine's existence. And, thanks to their clever little trick of contacting her through her dreams, they also knew where she was. That, of course, was the biggest problem of all. The solution was clear as day, and I knew Dimitri wouldn't like it.

"Sunshine, pack your things. We need to get out of here," I told her abruptly. I knew she didn't understand, not yet, but there was no time to explain. We had no idea where they were or when they could get here. We didn't even know who to look out for! We needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

Sunshine knew my tone well, and she knew this wasn't the time to ask questions. She nodded and went over to her closet. Meanwhile, Dimitri grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.

"What do you think you are doing?" he asked me once he'd closed the door. His voice was quiet, but I could hear the barely suppressed anger, anyway.

I frowned at him. "What I have to do. It was a horrible idea to bring her here in the first place, and now—"

"You can't just leave," Dimitri interrupted. "You're still a guardian here."

I sighed exasperatedly. "My duty to Lissa and Sunshine is more important than what people think of me. If this means I'll be stripped of my guardian status, then so be it."

Dimitri shook his head, his anger rising. "It's not about that. You took this job, Rose, and maybe you only did that for your own reasons, but there's a responsibility that comes with it. You can't just abandon these kids. I thought you understood that."

"I…" I didn't know what to say. He was right, of course he fucking was, but didn't he understand? This was about Sunshine! "Please, I promised. I need to keep her safe."

Dimitri groaned as he ran a hand through his hair. He did understand, but he was conflicted, and I understood that, too. His head shot up when he seemingly had an idea. "Look, this might not be the best idea, but… what if we brought her to Christian?"

I stopped in my tracks. I knew his suggestion did not include me staying with her, and that was a problem. I couldn't leave her alone. But it wasn't a bad idea. Dimitri and Viktoria had managed to keep Christian safe and hidden. I fully believed that Viktoria was a capable guardian, and once Christian was back to being fully well again, he would be able to offer some protection, too. Not to mention that he was Sunshine's father.

Maybe I should have brought her to him as soon as I knew of his location. Or, hell, maybe I should have at least told him about her! He didn't even know he had a daughter, for Christ's sake! How would he react when we showed up with her at his doorstep? Well, I supposed we would find out sooner rather than later. It was the only viable idea for now.

"Fine, but I don't think that's a permanent solution," I told Dimitri.

He nodded in agreement. "We'll figure it out. Together."

I shouldn't have been surprised to hear that, not after tonight, but it felt good to have confirmation. No more fighting each other about this kind of thing. We were in this together. On the same side.

"Yes," I said, feeling confident that he was right. "We will."

Sunshine, by design, didn't own a lot of stuff, and it was less than half an hour between finding out our location had been compromised and us sitting in a car on our way to Missoula. Dimitri was driving this time while I was in the backseat next to Sunshine. She was scared and didn't understand what was happening so I tried my best to explain it to her. She knew little about Spirit, though I had told her some on the off-chance that she might eventually specialise in it, and dream-walking had never come up.

"So that's why I wake up with bruises? Because what happens in the dreams is real?" she asked after contemplating my explanation for a moment.

Bruises, plural. I had seen that bruise on her hand and now those on her wrists, but this sounded like it was a regular occurrence. I narrowed my eyes at her. "Sunshine, have you been lying to me? Did this happen more often than I know?"

She had the decency to look ashamed, at least, and she nodded. "Y… yes, but tonight was the first time they tied me up, and they were really mean, and… I'm sorry, Auntie Rose."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know," I told her, meaning it. I was sure they did all sorts of horrible things to my sweet girl to make her talk. "Do you want to talk about what happened in the dreams?"

Sunshine shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Okay," I said even though I felt that I needed to know. Maybe she would feel comfortable sharing more with me at a later point. This was a lot to take in, after all, and realising that whatever they had done to her wasn't merely something she had dreamed couldn't have been easy. "Will you answer if I ask you a direct question, though?"

She hesitated for a moment, then gave me another nod. "It's important, isn't it?"

"It is," I confirmed. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to give us some information about who we were dealing with. "Did you ever see any of them?"

"No."

Disappointing but not unexpected. She had said that it was dark and I assumed they would have done all they could to conceal their identities. "How many people were there?"

"Usually three or four people, but not always the same," she replied, then thought about something for a moment. "But there was a man that was always there. He never talked, though, but I knew he was there."

The Spirit user. It must have been. A powerful one, too, if he could bring more than one person into a dream. "Did you recognise any voices or something like that?"

"No, but one of them said I met her before," she said.

I froze. Of course. That would have been the only way someone could have known she existed, but when could anyone have met her? I'd done my best not to be seen with her, and I didn't think Sunshine would ever be recognised by herself since everyone thought she didn't even exist, but there was one near-giveaway about her identity. I knew it even before Sunshine told me. I should have made her wear contacts.

"She said she recognised me by my eyes."

Dashkov or Dragomir, those were the only two lines that produced these jade green eyes, and if the woman who had recognised her happened to be a Dashkov lady, she might have known. God damn it, when did I become so useless as a guardian? So careless?

"It's not your fault," Dimitri said, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror, and I knew he meant it. That didn't mean I had to agree. "You did the best you could, I know you did."

I huffed. "Yeah, right. And I still failed."

"Roza. You didn't. She's alive and well, isn't she?"

Well? Not so much. But alive, yes, and that was what mattered, wasn't it? At least for now.

"Can I ask a question now?" Sunshine asked, and I returned my attention to her. "Where are we going?"

That was the question I had expected, but the answer wasn't so simple. What – and how much – could I tell her now? Would it be better to wait until we were there or should she be prepared? I didn't have to make the decision as Dimitri answered in my place.

"We're going to see your father."

Author's Note

Still alive! Just stressed and a little depressed, ya know? But I am trying my best to get one or two chapters per week uploaded.