Chapter 9

Head guardian Hans Croft sat at his desk and sighed. It was midday and he had been up all night working on the Queen's murder.

He was exhausted and annoyed. The Royal council was breathing down his neck and he felt that he should check his behind for hands because he felt like their puppet.

They had pushed him so hard for a murder suspect and had jumped on the suspect in the preliminary stage investigation, they had arrested Hathaway after a few short hours. They organised the hearing and took over the investigation, without properly investigating Hathaway for an alibi.

The hearing was a nightmare and the moroi council tried to point fingers at him.

Rose was a talented, female guardian and he almost liked her if she wasn't so argumentative, rash and impulsive. She made the ideal choice to guard the Dragomir princess with her age, skills and their bond, but she had a lot of enemies at court.

Guardian Hathaway had shocked everyone when she revealed her romantic tryst with her former mentor and former strigoi Dimitri Belikov. Her reaction at his restoration made more sense, as was the reason that he took two royal moroi to bait a dhampir as a strigoi. He had been obsessed with her as a strigoi.

Her file showed that one week after he turned, she left St Vladimirs for a few weeks on her 18th birthday and Alchemist reports showed evidence of her killing strigoi in Russia. Clearly she had hunted him, which lead him to deduce that their relationship started when she was 17 and he was her mentor.

Belikov was another curiosity. From all reports that I had received, he was known for being level-headed and rational. He had been known as a serious guardian, who took his role most seriously. He had glowing recommendations from the legend Art Schoenberg, his mentor Galina Kuznetsov and St Basil's head guardian Nikita Obolensky. After the death of his first charge, he had thrown himself into training, gaining the level of Bloodmaster 7 before the age of 25, one of the youngest in history.

This led to him being assigned to Princess Vasilissa and meeting Guardian Hathaway.

Most would state that he was polite and dedicated but mostly kept to himself. He didn't seem like a predatory creep that made a habit of preying on multiple young girls. Hathaway didn't seem like the person to let anyone take liberties with her.

Setting that issue aside, he moved on to the big question. Why was Hathaway framed? Her public condemnation of Tatiana gave her a motive and she certainly had the skill set to achieve this. But she was too hot-headed to plan a cold-blooded murder.

Hans started interviewing her friends and school teachers, particularly Stan Alto. Apparently there was no love lost between either of them and he would be the most likely to give his opinions freely

"Guardian Alto, from everyone that I have interviewed, everyone has pegged you as her least favourite teacher and her a frequent source of aggravation for you. I wanted your opinion on Hathaway's character."

"She is a pain in the ass, but since she graduated she is now your pain the ass and not mine." He smirked at me.

"That may be true, but do you think she is capable of murdering the queen?" I asked

"As someone who was frequently the target of Rose's pranks, I know she had nothing to do with the Queen's death. I can't tell you how many things that she has done to me with zero evidence to prove it. But I knew it was her."

I could see the frustration in his face as he was clearly thinking about her last prank on him. "She's too crafty to be this obvious and too emotional to plan something carefully. She wears her feelings on her face, she is as subtle as a sledgehammer. If she had killed someone in murderous rage, you would find a body beaten to a pulp, not a single stake mark."

He continued on, this seemed to be a favourite topic for him. "She has a short fuse temper, but she lets it go pretty quickly. Apparently, she said her piece at the council meeting regarding the age decree, but ask any guardian about it, they would have the same opinion."

"Do you think someone like Dimitri Belikov could be the mastermind behind the plot?"

He crossed his arms and snorted. "That guy is a boy scout, with the exception of his dalliance with Hathaway, he will always do the right thing if he can help it"

"Did you notice any relationship between the two of them while at St Vladimir's?"

"When Rose returned to the school I gave her hell for running away with her moroi. As Dimitri worked with her, she became more focused and a more dedicated student. He defrosted a little and overall they made each other better and she caught up with her peers. The day that he was turned, I saw how she reacted and I could tell that she had serious emotions for him. I never saw them do anything inappropriate and we thought he was gone forever. "

Guardian Petrov gave me very little.

"She is a force of nature, but during the murder her focus was towards Guardian Belikov, not the Queen. Clearly she was not the one to commit the crime."

She evaded my questions about Rose and Dimitri's relationship, particularly her knowledge of the relationship.

"I think we have more important things to worry about right now than some romance that may or may not have happened."

"Does this mean you were aware of an inappropriate relationship that occurred right under your nose?

Alberta crossed her arms "I thought you were here to figure out why Miss Hathaway was implicated with this murder. Not dredge up the past."

Clearly she was loyal to both Hathaway and Belikov.

"Ok, could you tell me of people who might have an issue with Hathaway or Belikov"

"The two people who mean most to Rose is Vasilisa and Dimitri. Victor Dashkov exploited them to take Vasilisa. In this case, I would suggest focusing on people who have a problem with the couple".

Hans pulled out the stack of requests for guardian Belikov and started to look for suspects.

Hans looked up to see Guardian Rose Hathaway at the entrance to his office.

"Enter"

"I wanted to know what the likelihood of getting a guardian assignment"

"While there is still a murderer and you are a person of suspicion, you will not be getting an assignment".

"Do you think that I murdered the queen?" She asked me, looking at me straight in the eye.

"No, I don't"

"I would like to request for some personal leave."

"You are currently tied to a regicide investigation-"

"Which is why I am speaking directly to you. I'm currently the subject of ridicule at court and I need some time away from court".

"I can perform a daily check in and provide you with an itinerary."

"That could be possible."

"I want to trust you guardian Croft, can you trust me?"

"Yes"

"Do you think I killed the queen"

I paused, thinking about my observations of Hathaway and the opinions of her teachers.

"No, even taking aside you embarrassingly air-tight alibi, if you were to kill someone either it would be perfectly planned and you wouldn't be suspected or they would be beaten to death. You are a person of passion, this was too cold blooded for you."

I could see her brows relax a little.

"Can you tell me what you think about the age law?"

"I'm furious, all I can do is try to match these kids with seasoned guardians, to give them a chance to survive." Hans being a history buff, the continual decrement of dhampir rights and powers over the centuries was depressing. We went from equals who fought battles together to subservients, almost inhuman.

"That's something I hope to change. The queen sent me a message, i'm tasked to find someone". She passes me a small note.

As I reads the tiny message she says to me "I know Lissa can help make our world better."

Knowing that Princess Vasilisa had a quorum opened so many possibilities. Hathaway had so much faith in her friend. I found it difficult to believe that there was such devotion and mutual respect between an moroi and a dhampir.

"What makes you say that?"

"Lissa is the best person I know, she has been my best friend since we were five. There is no depth to her compassion, she is the best of us."

I looked at Hathaway's face, her conviction was obvious. She could not hide her emotions from her face, which is what made her such a terrible liar to Han's BS detector.

Hans formed a plan in his mind. We could get Vasilissa more than just her council seat.

"The time will be tight, but you might be able to pull it off. How well do you know Moroi law"

"He sighed in frustration. "We're going to need time then, aren't we? Both for Vasilisa to investigate Court and you to start tracking this child."

RPOV

I went to see Lissa, knowing through the bond that she was anxious to see me. When I arrived, I realised that Dimitri was also present. My stomach lurched in response to seeing him.

He was watching security footage on a laptop and he had a list of names:

Daniela Ivashkov
Camile conta
Abby badica
Nathan Ivashkov
Jesse Zeklos

I could tell that he was still annoyed at me and I couldn't help but feel a little satisfied. And a little sad.

I turned to Lissa, still debating whether to tell her about a possible sibling. I didn't want to give her false hopes, but if she was going to agree to my Rose plan, then I needed her to understand why.

"What have you guys been doing?"

"I'm going through the official investigations notes and visitor logs that I got from Ariana Szelsky. Dimitri is reviewing footage from the palace. We are convinced that we must know the murderer and its personal. So this is between you, me, Dimitri and Christian. No-one else."

"What about Eddie and Mia? we discussed this with them too?"

"Ok, them, but no-one else."

I was perfectly happy to leave my mum and father, either of them would be capable of murder. But I suspected that would be in defence of me.

"Sure. Look Lissa, I need to get away from court. Yesterday, I had Jesse, Camille and Tasha take swipes at me. I'm over court, they won't give me an allocation so I've decided to leave for a little while." I started.

I could feel Lissa stir through the bond, she wanted to come with me. I remembered promising never to leave her again, but we all had a role to play here.

"You need to stay here, I need you to be a diversion"

"Why?"

"You need to continue the investigation of the murder and you need to get your council seat, to repeal the Dhampir age law."

"But I don't have a Quorum, you know that"

I held my breath, knowing I just had to rip off the proverbial bandaid.

"Well, you could. You have a half-sibling somewhere in the world. Your father had another child."

Lissa stared at me in shock. Through the bond I could feel her emotions, she was spiralling and in turmoil. Darkness was swirling around her and I tried to pull some from her to calm her down.

"My father would never…" She started and burst into tears.

I pulled her into a hug as she sobbed on my shoulder. Dimitri had paused the video and muscles tense, ready to respond. I stroked her hair until her tears stopped, Dimitri got her a glass of water to compose herself.

I handed her the note from the queen to read, she read it multiple times. I checked the bond and I could tell that she had processed this information so I continued.

"I want to find your sibling to give you a voice on the council. You are also not going to like the next part."

"What's the next part of your crazy Rose plan?" She asked and braced herself.

"You should run for Queen, as a diversion and to delay proceedings. It should help you get your seat before the vote."

"What? You're crazy" Lissa remarked.

I grinned at her. We went back and forth, discussing the pros and cons of the plan. It would give Lissa unique access, others on the council are more likely to curry favours and assist with our investigation. We didn't plan for Lissa to become queen, but it would cause a lot of controversy.

Finally Lissa looked at me with a resigned face. "Ok Rose, we will do it. But no more hair-brained plans for the next six months… I need a break".

I smiled at her "Fair enough Liss."

As I was leaving Lissa's I heard footsteps following to catch me. I knew the footsteps and I could smell Dimitri's distinctive aftershave scent.

"When do we leave?" He asked me.

I stopped suddenly and turned at him. "I didn't think you would want to be away from Lissa?"

"I'm your guardian, where you go, I go. Lissa is in wards and she has Eddie and christian to look after her. Besides, I seem to be beating up a lot of people at court. It might be a good idea for me to leave too."

I nodded at him. We stood there looking at each other. I was trying to figure what he was thinking. I used to know him so well, I practically didn't need to ask him anything, I just understood him.

"We leave at 10am tonight, you might want to notify guardian headquarters."

"I will"

We stood standing there for another few minutes until he spoke "Want to spar?"

All eyes were on us in the gym, but being with Dimitri meant no-one made comments to us. We circled each other and I planned on taking him down by fighting dirty. I picked a crop top with a cut out in the cleavage and tight leggings with rouging in the back, leaving little to the imagination.

As usual, we were drawing quite the crowd. As usual, we were well matched due to our ability to predict each other's moves. I tried to be patient and wait for him to make the first move. We kept circling each other, then I got impatient.

I sprang towards him and tried to sweep him with my leg. He blocked me and stuck me on the side of my head. I pushed on, ignoring the pain and kept attacking. We traded blows with move and counter-move.

After about 5 minutes, I found my opportunity. He punched me in the solar plexus and I pretended to be winded. When he dropped his guard to check on me I gave him a knee to the side of the thigh. I saw him grunt and I finished off with a flying scissor leg manoeuvre, flipping him to the floor.

I straddled him and pinned his arms, and my hand went down over his chest. "Dead" I said with a huge grin.

We stared into each others eyes, I could feel the heat between us and I felt him harden beneath me. A few claps from the spectators took us out of the moment and I quickly climbed off him.

Meredith came up to me and gave me a hug. For the first time in a while, I could see a glimmer of respect in some of the eyes of the male guardians, and lust but what else is new.

I deliberately avoiding locking eyes with Dimitri while in the gym. I knew he lusted after me, but could he still love me?

I'm trying to stay 2 chapters ahead and it was a long work week. Do you guys want a lemon next chapter? Because I can, or I can avoid it entirely. Please read and review, It keeps me motivated!