Hiii guys! Another 2 weeks already passed? Damn.
Okayyy, so please don't throw rocks at me for what I'm about to do in this chapter :)
Just enjoy it (I hope), and we'll see each other in another 2 weeks. I promise things are going to start moving more in a favorable direction for these two - I think I stalled it long enough, haven't I? But I just like to take things painfully slow - hope you won't get too mad at me for that, and you'll keep on sticking by. I just had a lot of ideas concerning Rose's recklessness, and I guess I got lost in that instead of focusing more on the love plot and her growth, but it's coming, I promise :)
Jealousy will come too, I promise. I plan to use Tasha just right in this story, even if it didn't happen in this chapter
Have a lovely time ahead of you, and lots of love!
CHAPTER 24 - You're counting?
Rose's POV
In the morning, I am informed by a cranky Dimitri that at lunch there will be someone important coming by the Court.
"You know, maybe you could abstain today. It would be nice not to have any drama and make a good impression on someone for once."
Is this him or the King's words? The look on his face makes me fear it's the first option.
"Su- sure. I promised, didn't I?"
"If only I didn't hear too many of your promises."
I don't get to ask him what the fuck he meant with that, because he turns around and leaves.
What the hell did I do now? We were fine no more than eight hours ago! Did I piss him off in my sleep? I mean, it would be a far stretch to think I invaded his dream like Adrian can, but if I did, I would have remembered that, right? I have to make Adrian show me some of his tricks one of these days.
I decide to keep out of his way, but when lunch rolls around, he is the one coming for me. Ivan had another urgent thing to take care of, and I am the one who has to replace him. Yay! This means I get to see Dimitri's grumpy face for the entire duration of this meeting, because he is going to participate too, as he offered to be the representative of the guardians.
He doesn't even look at me as we walk to the King's chambers! He avoids me at all costs and I hate that. But I don't think I can do this ignoring game for too long.
When we enter, I see that the guest has already arrived. The King greets us with a nod, but this man gets off his armchair and comes toward me.
He is not a man you can easily ignore. Not that I find him hot or anything, but his demeanor demands respect.
As all Moroi, he's tall and slender, and I see we're sharing the same gene pool - the deep dark hair, brown eyes, and tanned complexion. Unlike the way my father liked to wear his facial hair, he opted for a full beard. To that, he added a pair of golden earrings, making him look like some kind of pirate. But his clothes don't resemble the ones a pirate would wear. His suit is obviously extremely expensive and I almost laugh when I see a silk scarf wrapped around his neck. I've only seen my father wear something like this once, and he hated it dearly. From what I know it was a gift and my mother convinced him to at least give it a try.
"It is my utmost pleasure to meet you, Princess Yilmaz."
I let him kiss my hand and do a nice bow in return. Fucking pleasantries. But hey, I need to behave. I promised.
"I'm afraid I didn't have the pleasure, Lord…"
"Aydin. But you can call me Cem. I don't mind," he ends with a smile.
Oh, so we've jumped to a first-name basis already?
"Cem," I smile too and hope he doesn't see it's a forced one. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
With the most awkward thing out of the way, we're ready to go take our places.
But not yet for me, as the King tells me to serve the tea. Even though we have servants for that. But no, I have to do it. The way Ivashkov looks at me when he requests that lets me know this is some kind of test. After all, I've been seeing Evette for a long while now, I should be good at at least one thing by now.
I agree with a wide smile on my face and I let Dimitri guide me toward an adjacent room.
When I find myself alone with him, I take my chance to address what bugs me.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I almost scold him as I arrange the teacups on the tray, hoping the noise hides our conversation.
"I beg your pardon?"
"We were fine yesterday. What happened? I thought we…"
"We what? We're best friends or something? Come on, I'm supposed to be with you at all times, but it doesn't involve me liking you. I'd honestly prefer to do so many other things than to have to take care of you. But since you're who you are and do the things you do, I see myself obliged to be your babysitter."
"But you said…" We agreed onto being friendly! How come he did a 180 so fast? "I see. I um… yeah, sure. You're right. I'm sorry to have thought… I'm sorry I'm such an inconvenience to you. I'll keep my interactions with you at a minimum from now on, I promise."
I grab the tray and walk away before I burst into tears. Now I have to pretend like nothing happened in there.
I fill the King's cup first, then Cem's, and it all went well so far. But when I turn around to do the same in front of Dimitri, someone's foot appears in my way and I stumble over it. Damned fucking Ivashkov, I should have seen this coming!
The tripping prompts me to spill the rest of the tea pot's content on Dimitri's lap, along with the entire thing falling and breaking on the floor.
"Oh, god, I'm so sorry."
I grab a towel and rush to wipe the hot liquid off him, but by getting a hold of my wrist, he stops me. He then gets up, excuses himself and leaves the room, promising to come back soon.
I know I'll get a hell of a scolding from the King anyway after this, but for now, he acts like the most forgiving human being and proposes we change rooms as the maids will take care of the mess I made.
My fuckup doesn't seem to make Cem look at me with different eyes than before. On the contrary. I seem to be the only one he wants to talk to, but Randall keeps on inserting himself into our conversation.
After expressing his admiration for my initiative to host the wounded guardians at the Court and applauding my idea to go after the Strigoi, Cem tries to encourage me to continue on the same path and wants to know what I think should be done next. But then again, the King won't let that happen.
"Come on, Randall. For once we have someone who actually did something about those monsters and it worked out well, and you want to shut it down?"
"And what do you want me to do? Send all my guardians to fight Strigoi now?"
"Of course not. That's why I'm here."
"Why are you here?" I cannot help but voice my curiosity.
"To offer my services as a private-"
"No," the King intervenes and he's adamant about not letting him answer to me when I ask what services he's talking about.
Seeing that things aren't going his way, Randall takes the chance to send me away. He doesn't think I should be involved further in such matters.
"Why not? She will rule soon, won't she?" Cem says the exact thing I wanted to say, but didn't bother to because I already know the answer.
"No, Ivan will. She is too easily stirred up into things she doesn't understand, hence all this let's-attack-Strigoi mess. But it ends here. We're not sending our men to die anymore. That was a singular event and it will remain that way. She just was lucky once," Randall decides, then pins his eyes on me. "We don't need your presence anymore, Princess. You can go."
Being dismissed, I do what I've been asked and leave. The men need to talk now, and my little brain could not understand the complexity of their discourse, I'm sure.
And speaking of men, the third one is returning. I meet him just as I close the door of the suite behind me, and he feels the need to give me a piece of his mind.
"Really nice, Rose. That was very mature of you. You couldn't help yourself, not even for once, even if I asked you to."
"Oh, fuck you. I told you I didn't mean to. I just tripped."
If I'd tell him about Randall he'll think I'm trying to put the blame on someone else and that won't help my cause. My explanation doesn't help me either.
"Sure."
"Dimitri… come on."
"Grow up. Honestly, it will do you good."
Without adding anything else, he gets past me and enters the room.
He dared tell me I act like a kid, even when I wasn't doing any of that! Fine! I can play this game!
Half an hour later, I find myself facing Cem again. From the look on his face, I might dare say he was looking for me.
"You're Abe's kid, aren't you?" he asks without any warning, catching me unprepared.
"I beg your pardon? Who are you talking about?" and how the hell does he know about that? This is my family's best-kept secret, after all.
"Your father, of course."
"My father is-"
"Not that bastard, I'm sure. He didn't even bother to raise you, right?"
"What… How…"
"You remember this, kid?"
Pulling the sleeve of his suit and shirt up, he snows me his forearm, that's covered with a tattoo and at that moment Pandora's Box opens.
The ink on his skin reveals a dragon-like creature, with three heads and emerald scales. One of the heads has its mouth open, revealing sharp teeth. The creature looks ready to jump into an attack, having its claws out, and if I focus hard enough, I can sense the same fear I felt the first time I ever saw this tattoo.
"I do." I remember talking to this man, trying to figure out what that drawing on his arm was. "You… you were into our house when I was… I don't know, seven? Cem…" I now say with a genuine smile. I heard my parents say that name before.
He nods. "So you do remember me."
"But how… I mean, who are you?"
"You see, your father and I share the same father." his smile grows as he takes me in, from head to toe. "Look how much you grew. You took after Janine so much, it's unreal."
"Yeah…"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pour salt over that wound." He sighs. "I know that what I am about to say might look like it comes out of nowhere, and that it may be late, but… if you need anything, and I do mean anything, reach out to me."
"I… why?" it's the only thing I can think of. "And why now?"
"You see, I could never have a proper relationship with your father. We tried, but we were always too different." I remember them fighting about something when he came around that day, but I don't remember what it was. "Maybe this is an old man's hope that I can set things right with him by taking care of you if you need it. And I know I should have contacted you earlier, after their death, but I didn't want you to have to deal with me, at that time. You seemed to have enough on your plate, then Yilmaz came around and… well, here you are, in this arrangement. But I mean it. Whatever you need." He smiles. "The more illegal, the better. I won't ask questions. Nor for anything in return." He thinks for a second, then adds: "Okay, I'm lying, I might ask for a family dinner from time to time, if you want to."
"Thank you. And I'd love to."
To have a little piece of my family, my real family, back, feels good.
He nods. "Then it's settled. Anything you need, whenever you need it. You can count on me. And when you become Queen, look for me for that Strigoi business." He winks. "We'll take care of whooping their asses."
He gives me his number, at last, then leaves.
I stay behind with a stupid smile on my face, feeling, for once in a long while that I'm not alone on this earth anymore. I know it's a far stretch and that I just met the man, but he's still a piece of my parents' life. We might not share a single drop of blood, but in my heart, I know we're family. And I'll do my best to keep him close.
My reverie of a happy family gets interrupted by Lissa, who scolds me the very second we make eye contact.
"Rose, what in the hell are you doing around that man?"
"What do you mean?"
Her tone tells me she's not glad about it, but I'd disagree, considering our pleasant conversation.
"Oh, I keep on forgetting you don't know all the things that are going around in our world. You were talking to the most feared Moroi ever!"
"Was I?"
"Yeah. I heard he is conducting some shady business. No one actually knows what he's doing, but he's like one of the richest Moroi and like… he doesn't shy away from anything."
"Impressive."
"No, that's not impressive, that's dangerous! His nickname around here is The Zmey. And why are you smiling?"
"Nothing much." I was just wondering if his tattoo came before or after the nickname.
When the evening rolls around, I find myself entering the gym, hoping I'd meet him here. But unlike the last time he was upset with me, he isn't in there. I really hoped he would be. Maybe we could have fought this conflict out of us. But he made a clear point, once again. He wants nothing to do with me from now on. So I comply.
I spend the next few days not speaking to him. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we do it in complete silence and it is killing me. But if he wanted it like this, he will have it like this. I can be way better at this than him and I'll prove it to him.
Dimitri's POV
Rose comes to me one day and hands me a little note.
Can you please come with me?
"What for?"
From a stack of papers, she gets out another note.
I need you to do something for me. One more note. Please.
"And why aren't you speaking?"
Is this another game of hers? Why am I even asking?
She looks through her papers once more. It seems like she came prepared.
The least interaction possible, remember? I promised. Plus, I thought my talking would be loud and obnoxious, so I will not be doing that anymore around you.
"Rose-"
She shoves the next piece of paper in my face.
Will you come or not?
"Fine."
She takes me to her room, and on the bed, is Millie. She looks at me and points toward the cat.
"I don't understand. What are we doing here?" I don't think she wants to show me a new trick that she taught Millie, even though I really wanted to know if she managed to teach her to shake the paw.
The notes come with explanations.
I think she's sick.
You have your way with animals, I thought you could help me. Should I take her to the vet or wait?
"What happened to her?"
She extends me another piece of paper, with the symptoms in a bulleted list.
She sleeps a lot, she puked two times today, but she's eaten more than usual this morning, so I don't get it.
She then shows me her wrist, along with a note.
She did this earlier too.
She prepared well enough for this conversation, so that must have taken her a lot of time. It seems she is determined not to speak to me, and I find myself having to indulge her.
"Have you fed her something different than usual?" she shakes her head. "Do you think she could have eaten something when you weren't around?" a nod. Millie has always had a thing for tasting everything around her. "Did you touch her somewhere in particular when she scratched you?"
That is a bad scratch and I'm thinking Millie was hurting so she fought back. Rose points to her own belly.
She wants to add something more, but looking through her papers, she doesn't have a note for that.
"Talk, Rose." she shakes her head. "You're still so stubborn. You're willing to be petty over your cat's wellbeing?"
"Why is it still my fault?! I don't fucking get you, Dimitri!" her eyes fill with tears, and she fights not to let them fall.
I don't get myself either. I don't know why I agreed to that thing the other day, but I realized it will get too far if I don't go back on my decision. And by acting like this, she'll dislike me more, and that's what I need. What we both need.
"We were fine that day, weren't we?"
"We were fine because you wanted us to be fine."
Her lips curl into a sad smile. "Yeah… and it's your duty to do as I say, right?"
"Yes."
"Then go fuck yourself, what about that?"
At this point, I'm more inclined to throw myself off a cliff for the things I'm doing to her.
"I sure will, Princess. Anything you desire." she despises hearing this from me, and before she bursts out in tears, I divert her attention from our argument. "Take Millie to the vet. I think she has swollen something she shouldn't have and it's hurting her stomach."
Her trip to the vet is made without me, of course. I have managed to make myself insufferable enough, and I don't know if I am glad about that or not. I know I should be, but I don't feel that way because I know she's as miserable as I am. Maybe worse, and I hate myself for it.
When Mikhail brings her back, I find out that I was right. Millie swallowed a piece of plastic, and she was left overnight to get surgery.
I know Rose will spend the entire night worrying for her little friend, and I wish I could offer her some comfort, but I know I shouldn't. If only Ivan was around tonight so that I could tell him about it and for him to comfort her. He is the one who she should get closer to, not me.
Rose's POV
Since Dimitri is trying to pass me on to Mikhail more and more throughout the day, I decided I could pass something on to him too, and it doesn't take me long to convince him to train me. At least he likes to hang out with me and he doesn't have a stick up his ass. He's more enjoyable to be around than the Russian.
The only bad thing is that I fail to deflect Mikhail's punch in the right direction, and he ends up punching me in the jaw with a lot of force, sending me to the mat in a split second. I don't mind that, as I asked him not to go easy on me. What I mind is that Dimitri was entering the room at the same moment that I got hit.
"Rose!" he shouts, then hurries toward me.
But Mikhail is already all over me, trying to assess the gravity of the situation.
Despite being a little dizzy, and feeling blood flooding my mouth, I assure him I'm alright. I've bitten my tongue a lot of times along the years.
Dimitri offers his help too at getting me off the ground, but I'm determined to be as petty as he accused me of being, and I accept only Mikhail's help.
Even though I was the one who started all this and I want to defend my other guardian, Dimitri will have none of that and scolds Mikhail despite my protests, then sends him away. This leaves me only with him and the preaching he's about to do.
Just like I predicted, after he provides me with a pack of ice to put over my jaw, he starts telling me how irresponsible this all was, how Mikhail should have known better, and how he should have been more careful, but I'm not willing to listen to more.
"Stop dramatizing this. You could have as well hit me anytime we trained."
"No, I wouldn't have because I-"
"Because you still go easy on me despite me asking you not to, that's why. But I'd rather have him break my jaw than have you treat me like a flimsy thing."
"That's why you asked him to train you?" oh, do I sense some bitterness in his voice?
I shrug, pretending it didn't fucking hurt me when he left me hanging the other day. But it did. It hurt like hell when I came here and he was nowhere to be found. I felt so stupid to wait for him, still hoping he'll finally come. The last time he at least had the decency to tell me our training sessions are off, but not this time.
"Well, if you refuse to train me, then-"
"No, no, no. You stopped showing up, don't blame me for that."
"What? You didn't show up! I came and you were nowhere to be found! I stood here like an idiot for fifteen minutes!"
"I was late! Something held me back!"
"You're never late! What was I supposed to think?! Ugh!" I throw the pack of ice at him. "Why the fuck does it even matter to you it's not you who I train with?!"
"It doesn't!" Liar!
"Fucking great! I'm glad we solved that problem!"
"It hurts more than I thought."
"Yeah, that's because you got punched by a two meters tall guy, that's all muscle."
"He's not that tall." the way she eyes me, I think she wants to punch me. "Oh, Liss, please don't take this to a whole other level, okay?"
"Shouldn't I? You're fighting with guardians, Rose! Shouldn't I find that concerning?"
"Not at all." she sighs, knowing there's no chance for her to win this argument. "What would your uncle say about this when he sees you?"
I might regret telling her about Cem and my family if she decides to use it against me like this.
"Well, I hope he doesn't see it. That's why I came to you to put some makeup on me before I go have dinner with him."
"You're unbelievable, you know that?"
"Thank you?"
She is shaking her head in exasperation, but I see a smile creeping on her lips.
I wanted to honor Cem's invitation for lunch that I got yesterday because I'm really curious about him. And I decide to show up with no expectations. Lissa's suspicions about him kind of crept onto me too, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. And if he proves out to be a shitty man, then hey, it wouldn't be the first time I meet someone like this.
But he doesn't disappoint me in any way. Sure, he still keeps on being evasive about what he's doing as a job, but he compensates with stories from the time he was having a better relationship with my father, aka, from before he got into this shady business that my father didn't approve of. The only thing he regrets is that it happened around the time I became part of the family and he didn't have the chance to be part of my life in any way.
"Truth is, I don't think I would have been a great influence on you, so your parents were right to keep me at a safe distance," he explains their reasons when he sees I want to ask why. "I still don't think I can be one, but I really wanted to meet you."
"Don't worry, I can do stupid things without any help."
"So I heard."
I share stories with my folks, we share some laughs too when I tell him about those stupid things I've done, and at the end of it, I feel like I have acquired a new friend. You know, you lose someone, you win someone.
At dinner, Dimitri comes to me, and he seems to want to tell me something. I decide to continue to be a bitch. He hasn't treated me any better either.
"I'm eating this amazing pasta, so there must be a very good reason for you to disturb me."
"I just came to tell you that I'll see you in the morning." when I frown, he explains. "For your exposition's location viewing?"
"I was supposed to go with Ivan."
"He didn't tell you yet, didn't he?"
"Tell me what?" but I already guess his answer. "Something intervened, right?"
"Yes."
"I see."
"He just… he needs to be somewhere else and he asked me to cover for him," he tries once again to fight for his friend's cause. "It's important for him to be there. He wouldn't have bailed on you for anything in the world if it weren't for that."
I don't have the energy to question it anymore. I only wonder if our marriage will be like this too.
"Fine. I'll see you in the morning."
We don't talk on the way there, but I know we will have to eventually, even if for the sake of courtesy.
Ivan told me he has found some, let me use his words "expressive buildings" for my future exposition to be potentially hosted into, but I am wondering what he wanted to express through this one building we're visiting last.
Dimitri takes in the structure in front of us and pulls a face.
"I don't know how come Ivan came up with this idea, but I don't like it."
I am glad he voices it instead of me. I wouldn't have wanted to sound pretentious or ungrateful, but truth is, the outside is not promising at all. And don't get me started about the surrounding area. That's not great either. Compared to the other places we've seen today, this one is disastrous and since we stepped out of the car, I've been holding on to my bag, fearing that someone would come out of nowhere and try to steal it from me, that bad of vibes I'm getting.
"Maybe it looks good on the inside." Ivan sounded excited about it on the phone and told me I should leave this one at last because he knew I'd love it. "We should at least give it a try."
"But who would want to come here, in this area? Not to speak about entering the building? It looks abandoned. It wouldn't surprise me if there were some people were living illegally inside."
"I don't know. Maybe it's a statement he's trying to make."
"There's a statement I'll have to make in front of him. It's a bad place, no matter how edgy or outrageous he wants to be. I wonder if there was a mix with the addresses."
"We could still take a look around. It wouldn't hurt anyone. Or we could call him. I'm sure he can explain." I reach for my phone, but it's not there. "Shoot. I left my phone in the car. Let's just get inside."
"No."
"Look, I respect Ivan's-"
"Not happening."
I shrug. "I think it suits my art just perfectly, though. They'd go hand in hand." he looks at me questioningly. "The shittiness, I mean."
Oh, the look he gives me. "You shouldn't talk like that about your art. Don't."
"It's not like I'm wrong."
"But you are."
"Let's agree to disagree."
"Then why do you keep on doing it? If you think that about what you do, why do you still do it?"
I shrug once more. "I didn't say I didn't like doing it. It's just that… I don't know, there are so many talented artists out there. I don't even know why I accepted Ivan's proposal to put my paintings on an exposition."
"But you are one of them."
"Can we please not argue about this? I don't want to talk about it."
After not talking for so long, the last thing I want to hear from him is a nice thing. God knows if he means it or feels obliged to say it.
On our way back to the car, Dimitri tells me that wanting to make it up for not being here, Ivan arranged a meeting for me with one established Moroi artist.
"He did?" Dimitri nods. "Wow."
We get to his studio in a short time, and as I wait for him to get out of a painting spree, I look around at the paintings on the wall. I soon find myself transported to another world. This man is amazing! And the details he puts in everything are incredible. This portrait I'm looking at looks just like a photo!
"I've never seen anyone look at my paintings like that," Victor says coming next to me.
"Oh, Mister Dashkov, I find it to be so beautiful. I think you hear this all the time, but… I don't have much experience with art and I can't express myself with fancy terms, but this is just so beautiful."
"But you paint too, right?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't say I am very educated on the matter. I can only describe it as beautiful."
"It works for me, Princess. Art is for everyone, educated on the matter or not. What matters is what you feel when you look at it."
"And I'll be damned, I did feel a lot while looking at these."
"Do you really like them that much?"
"I do."
"Then here is my offer. As an engagement gift, I am going to make you and your husband a portrait."
"That would be so kind of you, thank you."
When I agreed to that, I didn't know it would happen so soon, but Ivan agreed to it and he was excited about it.
Only that…
Dimitri bursts into my room as Lissa is dressing me up. Good thing I wasn't naked from the waist up, like thirty seconds ago.
This time I was the one who had to inform him of Ivan's unexpected duties and I guess him having to replace my future husband gave him one more reason not to like me.
Knowing already it will end up with us screaming at each other, I send Lissa away and try to deal with the dress myself.
And we do fight. He is upset as this interferes with his day off, and he had something planned that is important to him, and now he has to cancel it for a stupid painting. I'm not citing him word for word, I'm just saying what he really thinks about it. He's mad about me informing him through a note too, but I just got Ivan's call and I needed to get ready, so I didn't have the time to have that conversation with him. I still need to get dressed, but my dress won't cooperate with me.
"It isn't that funny when you're not the one delivering the news, huh? But you know, maybe you'll get a piece of how it is to get bossed around 24/7!"
He laughs. "You think I have no idea how that is?"
I struck a chord and it is a painful one, and I know I need to temper myself down before this ends way worse.
"I know you are looking for more reasons not to like me, but I didn't plan it. I didn't know Ivan would be suddenly summoned, okay? Ugh!"
I've been fighting with the bows at the back of my dress since Lissa left, and all I managed to do was to entangle them beyond repair.
"Fuck!" I try to pull harder on them, praying the knot comes undone. "I was supposed to go with him. Do you think I enjoy being around you and having this passive-aggressive shitty fight with you?"
"It seems to me like you do."
"Well, I fucking don't! I only do it because it's what you wanted! I wanted us to be friends…" my voice breaks and I give up on the bows too.
I put my hands on the table in front of me and closing my eyes, I take deep breaths in, trying to stop my urge to cry.
I soon feel his fingers on my back, starting to untangle the bows.
"Dimitri…"
"Let me do it." the anger in his voice is gone and it only makes me want to cry harder.
As he puts the bows in order, his fingers touching my skin ever so slightly, he continues to speak.
"I'm sorry. I'm just so stressed lately and… I shouldn't have let it out on you. I know you have no fault in this."
"I could go with another guardian. You don't have to come with me. It's only that Ivan said your name because he's used to you stepping up to all this. But it can be anyone else, I don't mind."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I don't want to take you away from your business. You have more important things to do. You have a life of your own and I don't want to take that from you."
"I'll come pick you up when it's done."
He finishes my bows and I turn around to him, forcing a smile.
"Great. I'll see you then."
I end up having Nikolai and Mikhail as my companions, but my mind is still fixated on my other guardian. I can't understand him, I swear I don't. And I don't know how to respond to any of that! How come he spoke so kindly out of a sudden, after so many days of being shitty toward me?
But what bothers me most is that I am thinking obsessively of how gentle his hands were moving earlier, of how his skin felt against my back, and I just…
"Put your hand on her shoulder," Victor instructs Nikolai and rips me out of my reverie. "And get closer. You're playing the role of her husband, after all."
We had to make this arrangement work, and use Nikolai as Ivan's replacement. Victor assured me he will be able to plaster Ivan's face on the painting later. For now, he mostly wanted to work on our placement. And he has been making us switch positions all afternoon.
I'm not a good model either. Nikolai, being the great guardian he is, doesn't encounter any problem with standing straight next to me, or keeping any pose he has been given, but I keep on shifting and I want to talk, as I'm getting very bored with watching the back of Victor's canvas.
When our session is close to being over, Victor tells me he doesn't actually like the dress I have on, and asks me to get changed into the one I brought as a second option, just so that he could see how that would work for the next time we meet.
Thinking that I haven't been helpful at all today, I leave the men and go change. I mean, the least I could do is give him this dress preview.
While I'm zipping up my other dress, I hear some movement at the door. Then I hear a click, like someone has locked it.
I go check and I get my confirmation that it happened. I'm locked in here.
I bet it's a mistake.
"Nikolai!"
But the only answer I get is a thud.
"Victor? I'm locked in here!" I even bang on the door, trying to attract someone's attention.
But once again, I get nothing, even though there is now movement outside the door.
If this is not something entirely fucked up going on, then I don't know what else to think.
I quickly give up on trying my chances with the door, and go to the window. Mikhail is still in the car outside. Maybe if I could make him look up…
But I soon find out that the window isn't an option either. It's locked too and no amount of hitting it with a chair would be able to pierce through three layers of glass.
I hoped it would at least be loud enough for Mikhail to hear me, but he doesn't move a muscle. Is he fucking having a nap right now?!
God, what do I do now? And why didn't I take my fucking phone?! Even calling Dimitri right now-
Dimitri! He's supposed to come pick me up and our session is nearly over!
Taking one more look out the window, I thank all the saints I ever heard of when I see him pulling up the car in front of the building.
I start banging on the glass, and it gets his attention when he gets out of the car.
His eyebrows furrow, and I continue to bang my fists against the window.
When he realizes something is wrong, he rushes inside.
In less than a minute, a stampede begins outside, all of it beginning with the front door banging against the wall. I can only guess Dimitri started throwing fists left and right.
"Rose! Where are you?!" the fight seemed rather short, but I am grateful for that.
"In here!" I slam my fists onto the door and I soon see the doorknob moving.
"Move away from the door, I'm going to break it!"
That happens in no time, and when I see him standing in the doorway, I forget about all our differences and put my arms around him.
"I cannot put into words how glad I am to see you!"
He soon pulls away and pushes the hair out of my face.
"Hey. Hey, look at me. Are you hurt?"
"No. I just…" all of a sudden, I feel dizzy. "Something's off."
"What happened?"
"What's with the smoke?" it irritates my nose to breathe it in.
"What smoke?"
Turning around, he finally allows me to see what's behind him: a little device on the floor, right next to Viktor, who is passed out. And that thing is emitting the smoke!
"When did that get here?"
"Cover your mouth and nose right now!" he instructs me, but it's a little too late.
"I think I'm going to faint."
And just as I feel his arms wrapping around me and preventing my fall, I hear new pairs of footsteps coming from outside.
"Are those the good guys?" I ask him before the lights go out.
I get my answer when I wake up, god knows how much more time later, my wrists and feet tied up with zip ties and in the back of a little van. Definitely not the good guys.
But I'm not alone in here.
At first, I thought it would be Victor next to me, as I thought there was someone wanting to kidnap the Moroi in the house, but no.
Dimitri is with me, too preoccupied with hyperventilating to observe I came out of my slumber.
"Hey, what's the matter? Did something happen?"
"Nothing. It's nothing."
"Dimitri… you can tell me."
"I just…" for the spawn of the next breath, he keeps his eyes tightly shut, then looks away as he responds. "I don't like little dark spaces. But I'll be fine, don't worry."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Come on, look at me. You see me well enough?" it's quite dark in here, but thank god we have superhuman vision, huh? "Look at me," I try the same trick with the Ferris wheel. "I can make silly faces too if it helps."
He looks me in the eyes and we both smile. But the smiles soon fade away.
"It's going to be alright," he already tries to assure me.
"But… why did that happen? Why are we here?"
"You know a lot of people want you dead."
"But who? I mean, is Victor in on all this?" he seemed nice, and I will be extremely pissed if he took advantage of my admiration for him.
"He attacked me when I came, so I think he has something to do with this. But I think these people here are humans. At least from what I saw before the fumes got to me too."
"Humans? It's the second time we get attacked by them."
"Yes, it is."
"And the last time, they were working with the Strigoi," I try not to panic too much when I think about this, but I cannot. "Do you think they're taking us to them?"
"I don't know. But it's going to be alright."
He can repeat that to me how many times he wants, I know what meeting a Strigoi supposes.
"Why would they do this?"
"The promise of eternal life. Who doesn't want that?"
"What's going to happen to us when the car stops?" I barely dare voice my fear.
"I don't know yet. But I'll do my best to keep you safe, Rose. I promise. Everything it takes."
During the rest of the ride, we try to get out of the zip ties and look around for things that could help us, but it's useless. And we try to come up with strategies on what to do when the doors open, but no one can truly know what will happen.
When the car finally stops, it feels like we've been on the road for entire days.
The people in the front get off the car and I hear their steps coming closer.
"I'm scared."
"I know. But it will be alright. I won't let anything happen to you."
I'd dare ask him how he plans to do that since we're both still tied up, but I keep my mouth shut. It's not his fault, after all, and I know he'll keep his promise as best as he can.
When the doors finally open, the light from one of their flashlights almost blinds me after spending so much time in the darkness.
But I soon go back to it as they put cloths to our mouths, no matter how much we try to fight back.
I hate drugs.
The urge to spill my guts wakes me up.
On instinct, I try to get up and rush to the bathroom, but the drowsiness I feel makes me think twice about it. Of course, the fact that I'm bound to the chair I'm sitting on is preventing me too.
And don't get me started on the horrible headache I have.
I don't know what they used on us to knock us out the second time, but it feels awful afterward.
I bend at the middle and turn myself into a little ball of misery, praying the nausea goes away.
"The room is spinning, huh?"
I do not recognize the voice of this woman, so I snap my eyes open to see who that is and where she came from, because one second ago there was just me and a still sleeping Dimitri in here.
Coming out from behind me, I finally see the Strigoi responsible for this ordeal. I don't recognize her. Maybe I should be grateful it's not someone I once knew. That makes the killing easier, I heard. I wonder if Dimitri knows her, but he's still out of it.
"Who are you?"
"My name doesn't really matter, but it is Galina."
"And?" I bet she is going to tell me the important thing now.
And she tells it to me, with a sick smile on her face.
"And Princess, I'll be your greatest nightmare."
I try to ignore the fact that I'm close to shitting my pants right now. I need to show her she doesn't scare me.
"Get a number and stay in line, darling."
She laughs, so I guess I didn't appear as badass as I thought I would.
She comes closer to me, trying to intimidate me, and let me tell you it's working.
"For the trick you pulled with my people, Princess…" her fingers under my chin, she makes me look into her dead eyes. "I'll make you pay. I'll make an example out of you so that others like you will never ever think to pull the shit you did. Your kind will tremble with fear when they'll hear my name."
"So this is payback."
"What else do you think it is? You came after my people!"
"But what I did, couldn't it be payback too? You attacked us first."
She doesn't like my smart mouth, so she leaves for now.
And the next days are rather… hard.
I expected them to starve me, as it is their favorite practice with Moroi, and with being used to it, I thought I could stick it out. But we're two days in, and my mind is doing silly stuff out of hunger. I guess Dimitri putting me on a regular feeding schedule is taking its toll on me.
Galina has even made me a proposal. She told me that she could set me free to feed. Off Dimitri. And with the only condition that I kill him and become one of them. I bet she even hopes I will help her with her further twisted plans.
"I'd rather die."
She gives me her already annoying all-too-knowing smile.
"Give yourself another day or two, Princess. You'll beg us to set you free soon."
And we decide to give that a try. We've been trying to get ourselves untied or to find a way, any way, to get help or get out, but they're keeping a close eye on us and they're checking our ties every time they come in, so we're pretty desperate.
When Galina comes by again, I tell her I accept her deal. That will get me untied and I hope I will be able to do something with that opportunity.
But I guess they have to make it happen in their own shitty way.
They cut my zip ties and urge me to stand up, but I'm feeling weak and it takes me a while to be steady on my legs. And when I do, Nathan, her favorite sidekick, extends his leg in front of me as I want to take some steps toward Dimitri.
They both laugh as I fall to my butt, and their amusement only increases when Dimitri is tirelessly fidgeting and cursing them in Russian.
His anger sparks something in me too, and I decide to take advantage of the fact that they think I'm a helpless, silly Moroi that doesn't know how to fight.
Fuck the weakness and the pain in my joints. My adrenaline kicks in and I get up to my feet. I don't think twice before jumping on Galina.
Not that I succeed to do anything without a stake or with so little energy against two powerful pieces of shit.
She throws me off her like I'd be a ragdoll, and the force I hit the wall with robs me of my breath for a whole minute.
Through their laughter, I hear Dimitri calling my name, sounding panicked.
"I'm sorry," I can only mouth to him.
Nathan comes and jolts me up to my feet, pushing me toward my chair, where he starts tying me up again. I let him. I don't have the energy to fight back and my back hurts badly.
Galina gets closer to Dimitri and from the look in her eyes, I fear her intentions aren't too kind.
"Well, as you refused my generous offer, you can understand I cannot waste such a good meal."
Getting a hold of Dimitri's hair, she tilts his head to one side, revealing his neck.
"Feed off me."
"What?" all the other people in the room say in unison.
"What an offer, Princess," Galina gets interested right away and lets go of Dimitri.
"No!" he struggles against his chair, trying to make her stop coming my way.
"I've never seen a Moroi so defensive over their guardian. You dig him, Princess?"
"Why do you care? Just drink from me and be done with it."
"Well, if you insist…"
There is a little silent power fight between her and Nathan concerning who should go first, and as that goes on, I do my best to ignore Dimitri's pleas for them not to do this.
I squeeze my eyes shut when she reveals her fangs and comes closer to my neck.
I gasp as I feel the initial pain, but that soon gets numbed by the influx of endorphins, and my life is just so happy all of a sudden.
But it doesn't last too long because Galina pulls away and spits my blood on the floor.
"What the fuck is wrong with your blood?!" she freaks out and soon drags Nathan out of the room.
I watch the redness spread on the floor and get mesmerized by its contrast with the white tiles.
"Rose. Rose, look at me," I hear someone speak and when I look up, I remember it's Dimitri I'm trapped in here with.
"Hey," I smile at him. "How are you?"
"How am I? You made her bite you and you ask me how I am?"
"I'm fine," I try to soothe his worry. "It didn't hurt."
"Rose…"
"Don't you dare lecture me, comrade. I'm already miserable enough."
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Rose," this time his tone is scolding. "Does your back feel alright?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore."
"But-"
"No lecture, remember?"
I close my eyes for a second, but he doesn't let me enjoy my happy state much.
"Why did you tell her to do that?"
"You can fight them if we get rid of the ties on us. I couldn't have, you saw me. It was the smart choice. You're stronger than me."
"Oh, Roza…"
I smile. "You'll pretend you didn't call me Roza a third time now?"
He smiles too. "You're counting?"
I mostly hoped he'll say it again. But no matter how dazed with happy chemicals I am, I will let him know that.
"Why do you think she didn't like my blood?"
"I don't know. But we'll figure that out when we get out of here."
I can barely keep my eyes open, but the last thing I do is answer him.
"Thanks for trying to keep my hope up."
But when I wake up, I see that my last hope is shattered. They fed off him. He's now the one out of it and the smears of blood from his neck look tasty and I hate myself for thinking that.
With both of us in this state, we know our end is coming soon, so there's nothing else to lose but our lives. And we decide we need to do something before it's too late.
We've concluded that out of the two, Nathan is the easiest to influence, but he never comes here by himself so that we could talk him into doing some stupid thing.
"In fact, it could happen. He's the one who fed off me and he came here alone," Dimitri brings some sunshine on our street. "Maybe Galina is gone for whatever reason."
"Then we need to bring that fucker in here now."
I don't wait for anything than his nod, then I start screaming. I call them all names, I yell for help, and eventually, Nathan bursts into the room.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? You know no one can hear you, right?"
"But you can."
"And how do you think that can help you?"
"In no way. But at least I can be a huge inconvenience for you before you kill me."
I start screaming again and he storms at me, his hands around my neck, squeezing.
"Let go of her, you piece of shit!"
Dimitri struggles against his restraints, which makes Nathan smile. Good. Let him feel in control.
"And what are you going to do about it, guardian? You're going to defend your precious charge just as you did until now?"
"Oh, just get me untied and I'll show you."
"Is that a challenge?"
"You bet it is."
Nathan laughs. "You think you can defeat me in that state?"
"Why don't you try and see?" Dimitri teases him further, and I pray that his words are more than a tease. I know I still feel sappy after my bite, and my back hurts like a bitch. He got bit after me, but I do hope he can kill Nathan and anyone who is outside this room, otherwise we're fucked.
"Dimitri, don't," I don't even try to sound frightened when I play my part in making Nathan untie Dimitri.
He bites the bait. He gets out a little knife and goes behind Dimitri to cut the zip tie at his hands. And just because he can, he whispers something in Dimitri's ear, too hushed even for our superhuman senses, so I don't hear it. But whatever he said, it made Dimitri fill with anger. I see it in his eyes.
When Nathan cuts the ties at Dimitri's legs, he wastes no time and slams his knee into Nathan's jaw, sending him crumbling down.
"Oh, guardian, that's not playing it fairly."
"I never said I will play fairly."
Getting a hold of the chair, Dimitri slams it against Nathan's body multiple times, until it finally breaks.
"My turn," Nathan says amused and jumps up to his feet.
I don't know if he already thought about it or it just happened, but while breaking the chair, Dimitri now finds himself with one of its legs in his hand, and that my friends, makes it a good impromptu stake. He just needs to put it through Nathan's chest. Easy, right?
Not really. Because as I feared, his agility is still affected by the bite, and he misses some chances to dodge a hit during the fight, and one of those missed chances gets him lying on the floor, with Nathan over him.
Did I mention he lost the stake too? No? Because he did.
"Oh, guardian, don't worry. I'll take care of your charge. Top quality services," Nathan mocks him as he chokes him. "Her blood might be spoiled, but that body isn't."
I haven't done a single useful thing since Dimitri got untied, and the only thing I can think of is to throw myself at them and pray for the best. Maybe I can surprise or inconvenience Nathan and give Dimitri a chance.
When I fall off Nathan and hit the ground, the pain in my back increases. Now I definitely broke something.
But at least the noise around us ceases with the stake piercing Nathan's chest, and soon Dimitri picks me up after he cuts my ties.
He then holds my face in his hands and inspects it.
"Are you alright?"
"I am now."
And I would have even started to cry out of relief, but there's no time for that. Not yet. We have no idea what awaits for us out that door, and the truth is, we need to face it head-on.
Only that it comes too soon. They don't even wait for us to exit the room. They barge in. Five Strigoi, along with their leader, Galina.
I doubt they felt Nathan was killed, so I wonder what this is about. Maybe she felt his betrayal? After all, I don't think she approved of him coming here to pretend to be a badass Strigoi.
Does it even matter? We'll die. We're way in over our heads in this.
Dimitri pushes me behind him and lifts the chair leg. A piece of wood. That's what's standing between us and five fucking Strigoi.
And I think, the least I can do is give a hand. I get a hold of the chair and break a leg for myself.
"Isn't that endearing?" Galina says and the ones behind her laugh at us.
Yeah, they might think we're rather pathetic, but I still think we can do some damage as a duo. Having each other's back, we try to keep them at bay and away from our necks.
Only that they obviously outnumber us and they soon separate us. One of the men throws my stake away and grabs me, putting his arm around my neck.
"Move an inch and I break your neck, Princess," he whispers in my ear, and I'm tempted to do it, rather than let them kill me a little later, with their fangs.
"Let go of her!" Dimitri lunges our way, but Galina intercepts him.
"Let's stop playing, guardian."
With one hand around his neck, she pierces his chest with the other, like wanting to rip his heart out.
"No! I hear my strangled voice covering the other's laughter.
When she lets go of him, he crumbles to the ground.
As I rip out of my captor's grip, the door of the room slams open and a bunch of guardians take over the room. But it's too late.
I was on my way, lunging toward Dimitri, but someone gets a hold of me and starts dragging me out. I struggle to get out of their grip.
"Princess, we must take you to safety."
"No! Please, no!"
One more pair of hands joins in and the two of them finally get me in the hallway, despite me trying to fight my way out of their grip.
To stop my struggle, they pin me against the wall to try to talk some sense into me, but I get a hold of their collar and make them look at me.
"Let go of me! Now! Get away from me!"
After blinking twice, with a nod, they release me and take a step back. Then, they turn their backs on me and walk away.
I don't sit around questioning their reasons. I hurry back inside the room and no one seems to care I am in there. They're too preoccupied with fighting.
Assessing the room, the situation isn't great, but despite lacking two men, the guardians are managing the Strigoi.
I spot Dimitri, and I kneel next to his body, putting his head on my thighs. I know he has a literal hole in his chest and I have o idea what to do about it. I cover it with my hands, but there's so much blood and when I try to press on it, it hurts him so much. I know it's not much consolation, but at least he's still alive.
"Oh my god, Dimitri… Dimitri, please…"
He tries to rip my hands off him, but in the state he's in, I win this battle.
"Roza… go. Leave. You need to… be safe."
"No. I am not leaving anywhere." we're not exactly sheltered by the danger, but everyone is too preoccupied to kill the other to pay attention to us.
"Please."
"No. I'm not leaving."
I feel the hot blood going through my fingers as I press on his chest, and this brings back bad memories.
"Oh, God, I think I'm sick."
"Hey, easy. Don't… faint on me. Listen to me… you-"
"Oh, gods, what was I supposed to do? Um… tell me your name."
"You know… my name. You said it… a couple of times… already."
"I know that I know your name! But maybe you don't! You're losing blood and I don't know where! Your whole shirt is soaked! I don't know where to press! I don't know what to do!" and he's dying!
He moves my hand a little up, guiding me to where the blood is the hottest, and he presses lightly on it.
"Take it easy. It's Dim…" he gulps, but blood gets out of his mouth anyway. "My name is Dimitri."
"Um… oh, just talk to me. Keep on talking. And don't you dare fall asleep, okay? Help will come soon. We'll take care of you."
"Give me… your hand."
"What? Why?" I ask, even though I do as he said.
"If this is the last thing I can do, I want to hold it." he takes it and presses his lips against it.
"Oh, gods, Dimitri." I was keeping my tears in until now, but I cannot anymore. "Please don't. Don't say that. I don't want you to die. Don't die on me, please. Not you too, please. I won't forgive you if you die. Don't leave me. Please don't leave me too. Please don't leave me…"
"I'm sorry." it's the last thing he says before closing his eyes.
