Dimitri's POV

Rose did not say goodbye to Sunshine when we left shortly before sunset and although I didn't necessarily agree with that, I decided not to voice my thoughts on the matter. She was already hurting, I could tell, and I wasn't looking to add to that. We did say goodbye to Christian and my sister, however, and it didn't escape my notice that Rose whispered something to Viktoria when she hugged her. From the expression on my sister's face, I could only assume it was some sort of violent threat should anything happen to the child. Whatever it was, Viktoria nodded gravely, and I felt a bit of pride at how seriously she took her role as a guardian, albeit not an official one.

Neither of us was particularly looking forward to returning to the academy right now, but we eventually got into the car and made our way back. Rose didn't even try to argue about who would get to drive, which only confirmed my suspicions about her mental state. We drove quietly for a few minutes, but it wasn't the comfortable silence that we had often sat in. This time, it was horrible and oppressing and, after a little while, I couldn't take it anymore.

"How are you feeling?"

Rose didn't look at me when she answered. "Fine."

"Well, we both know that's a lie," I said. "And you don't have to be. No one could blame you for hurting after—"

"I said I'm fine, okay?" she snapped. Then she sighed. "I'm sorry, I just... I think our time is better spent coming up with a game plan, right?"

I didn't exactly agree with that. Sure, we did need a plan, but I also worried about her, and I truly wanted to know what she was feeling now that being without Sunshine wasn't merely a possibility but a reality. Then again, maybe she needed some time to come to terms with it herself. As much as I wanted to, it was perhaps better if I didn't push her and instead waited until she was ready to talk. And when she was, I would be there for her.

"All right. What were you thinking?"

Rose didn't have an answer right away. "I think the Mână is still our best bet," she said eventually.

She had a point, of course, but I was growing frustrated with this avenue. We hadn't found any indication that there even was a chapter of the Hand at the academy at this time, and even if there was, they wouldn't know anything about the goings-on at Court, would they? They'd be children, after all. There was the matter of the secret archives but, in truth, I doubted their existence at this point. Things didn't tend to remain hidden for long at the academy, and it must have been many decades since the first chapter of the Mână had been founded at St. Vladimir's. Surely, someone would have stumbled across them since. Surely, there would have been records of it somewhere.

"I don't know," I admitted. I contemplated whether I should tell her of my suspicion that we were entirely on the wrong path but eventually decided against it. "Maybe we shouldn't just focus on one thing."

Rose nodded. "You're right, but where else would we start?"

"I don't know," I said again. I hated not knowing what to do, but I'd already looked all over the place for clues and had never found any. "Fair enough. Let's give ourselves a week to find out if there is a chapter of the Mână at the academy, and if we can't find any indication of one, we'll regroup."

She contemplated that for a moment, then nodded. "Good call. We might have to do some rescheduling of our shifts, though."

"Rose, you know—"

"No, listen – nothing too bad. We just need to be standing guard in as many senior Moroi classes as possible," she argued.

That really wasn't too difficult. Since she taught classes, too, I'd already opted to schedule her shifts on school days to almost exclusively be class guarding. For me, too, but that was mostly because they were the easiest to get out of if an emergency happened. Switching around which classes we were stationed in wasn't going to be too much of a hassle, and she was right. If anyone was in the Mână, it was going to be the seniors.

"Might be difficult for today, but I'll get to work on the schedule as soon as we're back," I agreed.

Rose was quiet for a short moment, then said, "There's something else we should talk about." I was terrified for a moment. Did she regret last night? Was she going to tell me that it could never happen again? She eased my worries for the time being when she said, "Sunshine is still vulnerable to Spirit dreams."

"Unfortunately, I don't know what to do about that," I told her honestly.

She bit her lip nervously. "Me neither... but I know someone who might."

"We need a Spirit user." That much was clear, but how would we – oh. It dawned on me that she meant to contact Adrian again, and I immediately felt an ugly ball of jealousy flare up within my chest. "No."

"God damn it, this isn't about you!" Rose exclaimed. "We need to help Sunshine. And Lissa."

Logically, I knew she was right. Emotionally, the thought of another man visiting her dreams really, really didn't please me. I groaned, then retrieved my phone from my pocket and held it out to her. "I can't wait for the day Vasilisa can be our Spirit advisor again."

"Trust me, I feel the same way," Rose said. She quickly typed a message to Adrian, then handed me the phone back. This time, I didn't read the text.

Author's Note:

Okay, so I'm aware that this chapter is super super short again and that's because, well, it's not technically a completed chapter. It's about the first half (maybe a bit less) of one, but real life has been a giant shit show lately, and I've been unable to do much of anything, really. So I figured it was time for me to upload what I've got and hope things will get better soon. I promise this fic is not abandoned or anything, and I'm already working on the second part of the chapter, but like I said - stuff is hard right now and I'm just trying to do the best I can. Thank you all for your support. I've been reading all your lovely reviews and they've been motivating me to keep going.