Chapter 48 - To Be A Woman

Present day - Early May

Rose POV

The three oldest girls were standing in line. One by one they were called into the infirmary.

I wasn't sure what was going on, but Ronald Ozera was here again with the Headmistress. That never meant anything good. He shared some of the same features as our former Headmaster, only he was older and much, much more sinister.

Compared to him, the former Headmaster was a kind man.

Hannah, my favorite one of the older girls, was called in next. I watched her take slow but steady steps, moving in the same defeated manner she had been doing for weeks. I glanced to the side and watched Moore tense up as he followed her with his glare, and I swallowed hard. I didn't want to think what had happened to Hannah to change her so much all of the sudden.

After a while the door opened and the doctor stepped out.

"Lord, may I have a word?"

They moved over to the side, and it was clear that Lord Ozera was becoming more and more furious. They were whispering to each other, but I heard words here and there.

Used, broken, tainted.

Lord Ozera scanned the room and quickly found what he was looking for. He walked briskly over to Moore.

"Have I not been clear enough that most of their value lies in their innocence?" he asked through gritted teeth. The hairs on the back of my neck raised, the tone of his voice gave me shivers.

"Sir?" Moore asked, but I had observed him enough to know that he was nervous. He was guilty. Of what exactly, I couldn't bear myself to think.

"You know what I fucking mean," the Lord hissed after his restraints snapped. "Are you going to pay for her?"

Moore stood completely still. "With all due respect, it's not like she won't be able to fulfill her duty-"

"Have I not been clear enough, that they need to remain untouched?!" he roared.

"She was causing issues."

"And your job is to deal with those in an appropriate manner. Don't stand there and lie that it wasn't for your benefit."

Before Moore replied Hannah walked out of the Infirmary, tears rolling down her cheeks and her sad, blue eyes fixed on the ground. She moved to the side and stood there.

Quiet, obedient, subservient.

"Find another way to deal with unruly girls, Moore. This is your last warning."

Lord Ozera walked back to the Headmistress. "Is everything all set for tomorrow?" he asked her.

"Yes, sir. The auction will proceed as planned. I take it the gentlemen weren't too indisposed with the new arrangement?"

"There were some objections, but we can never be too careful. She was forced to give in and allow the half-breeds to form some kind of band of vigilantes to appeal to the public. Apparently, they were given the task to investigate the disappearances. Highly inconvenient, if you ask me. Not to mention unnecessary."

"Couldn't agree more. It's all so positively odious."

The lake and its surroundings were cold and gray. I kicked a pebble of stone, thinking about Hannah. The girl with blue eyes and mischief.

"You said almost all members of the Division are searching for someone?" I asked Dimitri. He was standing behind me like a shadow, allowing a moment to myself. That was one thing I appreciated with him so much, that we could share a silence and it still didn't feel empty or lacking. It would be just enough.

He hummed in agreement, and I turned around.

He was dressed in black. Black pants, black combat boots, a black jacket. I hadn't seen him use his duster in a while.

The gray weather somehow made his hair seem black too, even though I knew it was dark brown. He had tied it back, but a few strands framed his face. He was probably due for a haircut, and I wondered if he'd let me cut it, like I'd done to Mason and Eddie before they became guardians. His hands were tucked into his pockets to ward off the chill and damp air, his eyes quickly scanning the area before settling on me.

I didn't think I would ever tire of looking at him. In many ways he had the same appearance as my memories from that first time. Now it was hard to believe that I had been able to convince myself that they weren't the same Dimitri in the beginning of our new acquaintance. It made me think that I might be able to help in more ways.

"I think we've been quite short-minded," I said, and he raised one eyebrow. "We've been focusing only on the Moroi, but now I might be able to identify other taken ones. For example Yuri's sister, what's her name?"

"Lilya."

"Oh, I don't know her then." I looked down and toyed with a pebble.

"Yuri should have a register of the missing ones that we know of. You could take a look."

I nodded, hoping that memories I had of the other taken ones were good enough to be able to see the resemblance. My memories had come back but they were still hard to grasp, like my brain was so used to pushing them away that I needed to pull them from the back of my mind.

"I don't think the Institutions were used as brothels," I said quietly, voicing my thoughts after thinking about different hints picked up from different memories.

"Me neither. And despite what Spiridon blurted out yesterday, we both agree that it goes deeper than that. You and other sick girls were kept there for a reason, and sadly it's clear part of the motive was of a sexual nature. In addition to that it's clearly connected to the sickness. All this time Spiridon's been saying that trafficking you girls for purely sexual purposes isn't motive enough, not when you're kidnapped so young and kept for so long. But we do think each Royal line has an Institution, perhaps with a few exceptions," his voice went from clear and determined to more hushed and thoughtful.

"Exceptions?"

"The Dragomirs, for example, just because of the size of the line. Even before Vasilisa's family passed away they were so few in numbers I doubt they had the capacity to run an Institution."

We shared a silent moment to each think of it all. It was a dark thought that there had been and still were so many other places with children that I couldn't help. Not to be able to identify them or their perpetrators.

I took a few steps closer to the waterline and stared into the gray, mirrorlike surface. I toyed with the blank surface with the tip of my shoe and watched the water form rings. "Do you think we'll be here in the summer?" I asked and looked back at Dimitri.

He gave me a small smile. "Do you want to take a swim?"

"Well, not right now, obviously. But if it would be warmer outside then yeah," I said and smiled. It felt good to drop the heavier subjects for now. "If it ever gets warm."

"I think if we play our cards right, we can get Spiridon to take a swim."

"You mean now, when the water's freezing?" I asked and his only response was to give me a devilish smile, one that caused shivers to run all over my back. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Remember your birthday, when we'd finished our game of pool and afterwards Spiridon and I played against each other?"

Oh, I remembered that night.

It was a night of so many things, so many feelings. The late celebration of my birthday was the night I was finally able to admit to myself that he in fact was the same Dimitri I'd been dreaming of for so long. But not only that, it was the first time Dimitri slipped and revealed that he wasn't entirely immune to me or the pull between us. I'd caught him staring at me while I was precariously bent over the pool table, and since then there had been more of the small slips that made me feel more and more certain that the attraction, the pull, wasn't entirely one-sided.

But I knew him well enough by now that he'd never act on it. And I didn't know how to pursue it, whatever it was. So I let it be, settling on admiring him and seeking closeness and comfort for him. If that was all he was willing to give me, then I'd take it. No matter how I ached for more.

"You okay?"

I looked up and realized I hadn't answered his question. His warm eyes flicked between mine, a hint of concern in his expression. I forced a smile on my face and nodded.

"You look-" he started, but seemed to change his mind and didn't finish his question. I was fairly sure he was going to say that I looked sad.

I suddenly recalled that he'd asked me a question, so I blurted out, "I remember that you won."

He looked at me for a few more seconds before he turned his face towards the lake. "I did. Remember that we had a wager going on?"

"Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten about that."

"He was cocky enough to agree on 12 hours of silence if I won."

I turned towards him in shock. He glanced at me with a side eye and smiled so widely that his white, straight teeth were visible. Sometimes it felt like I lived for those rare smiles.

"So, like I said, if we play our cards right I'm sure we can make him agree to another solution. Like perhaps, taking a swim in the freezing water."

"Good luck with that, he's never going to agree to that."

He turned towards me and raised one eyebrow. "Want to bet?"

Lissa hadn't come out of her room, and Adrian was nowhere to be seen. I hadn't seen Christian either, assuming he was hiding with Lissa. Spiridon had managed to scare the living hell out of him, rightly so. If I had been in his shoes, I'd be terrified of Spiridon too.

The door to the guardian quarters opened silently, and I peeked in. I let out a deep breath when I noticed it was empty. Suddenly I felt Dimitri's presence behind me and he ushered me inside.

"I think it's unfair," I said over my shoulder, and placed my water bottle on the floor by the rowing machine.

"What's unfair?" Dimitri asked as he started to guide me through the warm-up.

"I just don't think you should have it all. Like you have the strength, the size. And in addition to that you somehow also have the talent of sneaking up on me, despite being so big. It's unfair to have it all."

"I don't have it all," he said quietly. "I have a lot to be thankful for, but at the end of the day I'm missing what I desire most." His gaze was heavy on me for a few seconds, until he turned away. When he looked back at me the walls were up and he was in his strict teaching mode.

I managed not to whine too much, and the training session passed quickly. Towards the end Celeste joined us, mostly ignoring us however. She started doing her warm-up routine while we were finishing up, and I focused on my stretches while she and Dimitri discussed something about her shoulder.

I zoned out and thought about how at ease they seemed to be with each other, and a small part of me felt worried that Spiridon wasn't the only one who had a past with her. I didn't really believe that to be true, and even if it was true it wasn't any of my business.

"Rose?"

I looked up at Dimitri when he said my name. But the look on his face told me I'd missed something. He must have seen my confusion as I didn't need to ask.

"Would you be comfortable with training with Celeste tomorrow?" he repeated. "I need to run errands."

An unreasonably big part of me was disappointed that I'd have to miss a training session with Dimitri, but felt too shy to voice that out loud. I nodded once and gave a tentative smile to Celeste. She looked happy and returned to her warm-up.

I quickly finished my stretches, ignoring Dimitri's pointed stare for doing them sloppily, and walked to the main area again, thinking of getting something small to eat.

The kitchen wasn't empty and had a funny smell to it. Yuri was standing in front of the microwave waiting for his food to finish. I hovered by the kitchen island and watched him take out a plastic cup of something after the microwave beeped.

It smelled metallic and disgusting.

I felt queasy when I realized he was warming up blood, but luckily he hurried downstairs with it. It must have been for Lissa, Adrian or Christian. Dimitri was busy making himself a cup of coffee and I didn't feel like getting something anymore so I headed to my room.

After a quick shower and a change of clothing I sat on my bed and thought about my memory of Hannah. I should seek out Yuri and ask him about the register of taken ones. I took a few deep breaths and steeled myself for the challenge. Yuri had always scared me, but I couldn't allow it to hinder me from helping others.

He was close by, sitting down at the downstairs tv area with Spiridon. Spiridon looked well-rested and relaxed. I glanced at the tv just in time for a big explosion happening and I realized they must be watching another action movie.

Yuri was so used to me ignoring him and limiting our interactions that he was genuinely surprised that I actually talked to him. Sure, it came out forced and my voice cracked a bit. But he understood what I wanted and immediately got up to retrieve his laptop.

Dimitri joined us at the same time as Yuri was back with his laptop.

"I don't have pictures of all of them, only their names. Most of you were taken between the ages five to nine, so the pictures we have are old," Yuri explained. He handed the laptop to Dimitri, which I was thankful for. I wasn't good with computers and it felt better with Dimitri holding it so that I wouldn't have to be close to Yuri. I wanted to ask him about his sister, but it felt too imposing considering the fact that we hadn't had a real conversation yet.

I looked at the list that was far longer than I had anticipated. While some of them had a picture included, most of them consisted of only a name with varied amounts of information. The quality of the picture varied a lot too.

Each row contained the name and birthday of the missing dhampir, some cases followed by information regarding the location and date they were last seen. Hundreds and hundreds of rows, and I realized the list contained cases from several decades.

"I don't recognize anyone," I said quietly.

"I think this confirms that the number of unreported cases are higher than we initially thought," Dimitri said to Yuri and Spiridon.

"Not all are taken ones. That list contains all dhampir children that have gone missing, and in a lot of cases it's most likely due to Strigoi," Yuri added.

I shuddered. My gaze stopped on the first familiar face. I looked at Dimitri and pointed towards the picture of Meredith.

"She's still with Arthur's unit."

"Is she okay?" I asked and thought about her sickness and how vulnerable she was.

"They were informed and took the necessary precautions," Spiridon said and turned his attention to the tv again. Yuri did too, probably to give me a little bit of space.

"Am I in this register?" I asked Dimitri.

"No."

I continued to scroll down until I met a familiar face. I looked at the girl smiling in the picture. The picture was taken several years before the time I knew her, but her bright blue eyes and mischievous smile revealed her.

My finger traced the name underneath the picture.

Hannah Schoenberg

"I think Moore raped her."

All three heads turned towards me, and then their attention turned towards the laptop screen.

"She was the one who cared for Eddie and I when we were younger. She was nice," I said quietly.

I was still met with silence, which gave me some time to put two and two together.

Schoenberg

"Is she the commander's daughter?" I asked.

"She's his niece," Spiridon answered. He looked like he was going to be sick. Yuri was rigid and kept staring at the screen.

"I'm sorry," I said as if it would help, feeling the dread settle in my stomach.

"We all are," Dimitri said in a composed voice. "So she was at the Lakeside Institution?"

I nodded. "She was like me I suppose, not really following the rules and sometimes causing a bit of commotion."

"Let me guess, Moore corrected her," Spiridon said with disdain in his voice. I didn't say anything else, feeling the air in the room weigh me down.

"Do you remember what happened to her or when was the last time you saw her?" Yuri asked. I glanced at Dimitri and Spiridon not wanting to say too much, and Dimitri gave me an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

"I'm not sure, she just disappeared," I said vaguely, hoping he wouldn't continue with his questions.

"I'll inform Arthur," Dimitri said, but Yuri got up instead.

"I'll do it, I need to check in with him anyways."

We watched him head up the stairs with heavy steps. The second he disappeared out of our sight Spiridon got up and walked briskly over to my room. I followed him, feeling Dimitri right behind me, who closed the door once we were inside.

"What do you remember?" Spiridon asked.

"Lord Ozera was visiting and-"

Spiridon interrupted me. "Lucas or Ronald?"

"If she says Lord Ozera she means Ronald Ozera, Lucas Ozera is the Headmaster," Dimitri offered. I looked at him with raised eyebrows. I hadn't realized he'd paid so much attention to me and how I described my time at the Institution. He gestured for me to continue, and I told them about the time when the doctor examined the girls and how Hannah was deemed used.

"Hold on, repeat that," Dimitri said all of the sudden while I was recalling the memory.

"That we needed to remain untouched and Moore got into trouble for that?"

"No, what did Moore say before that?"

"Oh, uh, something about Hannah being able to fulfill her duty."

"And he specifically said the word duty?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Think or know?" he demanded, and I shrugged back. He put up his hands as an indication he was sorry for pressing me.

"It was many years ago, I can't be sure. But I think so." I was in distress, wanting to distance myself from the topic. My heart pounded in my ears and my chest constricted. Dimitri's hands moved towards me, coaxing me out of my despair. But dissecting the memory was too much too soon.

It was surprisingly easy to work out with Celeste. Before Dimitri left they had talked about what we usually do so it was pretty much the same. Celeste did however opt for some kind of balancing exercises instead of stretches in the end, ones that seemed to be related to combat.

"You see how I balance my weight on both feet? It's to be able to go either direction depending on what my opponent does," she illustrated as if she had an invisible opponent. "I would guess that Dimitri hasn't shown you this since you're still focusing on basic conditioning, he's very old school. If you are in this position-" she said and I mimicked her movement, "you can target their crotch. I don't think Dimitri would opt for this, but in your case I'd recommend going for the most weak spots such as the groin, eyes, and nose. With his height and strength it's not the most useful tactic for him because he'll be able to subdue opponents more easily. But there are some advantages to being a woman. We are usually shorter than men and carry more of our weight around our hips which gives us a lower center of gravity. And that can be very helpful when you quickly want to shift your footing."

I stood a couple of meters away facing her and continued to mimic her movements. I quickly realized that it was much harder than she made it look.

"Try to widen your step just a tiny bit, and point your toes a tad outwards."

I tried again but still couldn't get a hang of it.

"Is it okay if I touch you?" I made an uncertain nod and she came closer. I briefly wondered if Dimitri had warned her off that I didn't like to be touched. With her hands she quickly corrected my stance and then made me do the small movements again, and this time it was a lot easier. I could feel a grin spreading across my face. "Good, very good Rose! Now try to find that balance point again." She made a slight correction of my left foot this time and after a while of repeating the same she didn't have to do anything.

Over an hour passed quickly with pleasant small talk, and I felt at ease with her.

"I've never known that women can be guardians. Are there many?" I asked during our stretches.

"There are some. But not as many as the men."

"Why?" I couldn't help the outburst of curiosity.

"Well. Oh I don't know how to explain it really. How much do you know of our society outside the Institution?"

"We had classes about Moroi history so I know some. Mostly the ways of the Royals though. But please don't feel like you need to explain, I was just curious. I don't want to bother you."

"No it's not like that. I'd like to help you understand our world. I just don't know where to start." She went silent and looked very thoughtful for a couple of minutes.

"I guess the easiest is to just tell you about my story. And I mean it, I want to help so feel free to ask any questions." Her warm, kind eyes met mine and I knew that I'd found another friend despite my initial hesitance. She took my silence as que and started to tell me about her life.

"I grew up in a house with my mother and two sisters. All three of us went to St Vladimir's Academy but it was just me who took the promise mark. My sisters chose a life more similar to our mother. I'm the youngest and when I grew up my sisters were always tentative to my needs. And since then they've both become great mothers."

"They have children?"

"Yes, my eldest sister has two girls and the other one has a boy."

"But," I started saying, but the words evaded me. How could I ask it from her?

"Go on," she prompted gently.

"Are they blood whores?" I whispered and was too ashamed to look her in the eyes. It was a foul word and I knew that the punishment for such activities was grave.

"Well it's a word that some would use about my family."

I couldn't imagine Celeste sharing blood with such leeches of the world. Immediately I started second guessing my new-found trust in her.

"I don't understand. How come they haven't been punished?"

"Punished? Why would they be punished?"

"Well, it's wrong." I didn't understand how she could ask such a question. I suddenly felt uncomfortable in her presence and scooted away from her.

"Rose. What does blood whore mean to you?" she asked calmly.

Without looking up from the floor I cited one of many sections in our textbooks that we were forced to memorize. "A blood whore is a dhampir woman who ensnares Moroi men by using her blood and appearances to her advantage. They prey on honorable Moroi, tempting them to fall into their trap by enhancing their looks with cosmetics and provocative clothing. A blood whore wants to weaken the Moroi race and therefore also jeopardize our way of living." I paused for a moment, taking a few breaths. The passage was long, but we had read it over and over again. "Despite extensive measures taken to prevent the manifestation of blood whores, they continue to permeate and poison our society. The true motive for the actions of a blood whore is derived from jealousy and desperation by someone who despises and fights the superiority of the Moroi race. Suitable punishment for such behavior is death for her and the whole family to not risk further derangement of our society."

The deafening silence made me uncertain if she had left so I looked up. I couldn't really read her facial expression. There were signs of anger, sadness and confusion. But as she seemed to be processing my words, the initial signs made way for acceptance and after a while there was nothing more than her warmth and kindness left.

"It seems that we have different understandings of the word. But even if some would use it to describe my family they would be wrong in every aspect and interpretation of the way you described that word. Yes, my sisters and I have different fathers and so do the children of my eldest sister. Where I grew up it's quite common that siblings have different fathers. But instead of the actions of the women, it's because of the fundamental structure and values of our society that a lot of women end up being single-mothers."

"What do you mean?" I asked in a small voice, still afraid that I had made her upset.

"Well, outside your Institution the term is mostly said about dhampir women who let Moroi men feed from them during intercourse. Your abrasiveness is not totally misguided. It's a derogatory term commonly used for women who live in such a community that I grew up in. However, to my knowledge it's not very common that there is feeding during those situations. A lot of the women from my hometown are proud to be mothers. They have made a free choice to not become guardians and live the tough and often short life that implies. And since they still contribute to our society they are mostly left to live their life. For dhampir men there are no other good choices than to become guardians."

What Celeste described wasn't at all what I've been taught. I couldn't wrap my head around it yet. But so much else at the Institution had been fucked up so why not this as well?

I thought back to who I now knew as Dimitri's mother. How she had been so nice and caring for me. When Dimitri had told me about his family, I hadn't thought of his mother as a blood whore. I wasn't sure why the similarities had evaded me, maybe because he and his sisters all have the same father.

If Dimitri grew up in such a community that Celeste described there was no way that those women were as foul as I've been taught. Celeste did seem genuinely nice and frankly I trusted her more than Igor or Moore, if not on her own account then from the fact that Dimitri trusted her.

"Why did you choose to become a guardian?" I broke the momentarily silence and seemed to disturb her thoughts.

"Hmm?" she looked into my eyes. "Oh, for me there was no other choice. I knew that I didn't want to have my own children."

"How come?"

"Most of us in the Division have been searching for someone. Several girls and one boy were taken from my small hometown. Some of the girls were closer to my family than others. But every time it happened the whole community grieved. I can still hear the mothers desperate cries for help when guardians arrived to tell them that their children had been abducted, presumed dead by Strigoi." She shuddered as if she heard the voices just now.

"The boy however. I remember it all very clearly. He's my nephew."

"What happened?"

"Both of my sisters are quite a bit older than me, twelve and ten years older. And my sister was very young when she fell pregnant, not even eighteen yet. She has never told us about the father but I suspect it was someone from school. I was eight years old when I became an aunt for the first time. The boy was so sweet, with his dark hair and brown eyes. His laugh was beautiful and we all swooned when he smiled. He became rather fond of me, following me around ever since he could crawl. He grew up so fast, granted I spent most of my time at the Academy, but everytime I came home so much had changed. Some of my friends at the Academy chose to stay there during the holidays to spend more time with friends but I went home at every chance I got. I was about fifteen when it happened. He had some difficulties with his speech during his first years and my sister was so afraid that he would be bullied that she planned to keep him at home for an additional year. I had gone home to attend a funeral in the middle of spring semester. A guardian cousin of mine had fought bravely against Strigoi, succeeding at protecting his charge but had lost his life in the process. During this time I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, stay back home or become a guardian. My mother knew this and tried to persuade me to come back home. She might have succeeded that weekend if not…" the strength in her voice disappeared.

It was clear that this subject was difficult for her and I didn't want to push her but my curiosity hindered me from saying such. Instead I scooted closer and put my hand on her knee, trying to bring her some solace to the situation. She placed her hand on mine and after a deep breath continued.

"The destiny of my cousin is quite common and my mother used my fear of an early death to try to convince me to come back home. I was devastated, my cousin had been like a brother to me, and what she was saying made sense. Why risk putting my own family through that? If my cousin hadn't been able to survive, why should I be any different? There were a lot of self doubts and questions in my mind that evening. To clear my mind I went for a run, there was a trail up one of the larger hills. There is nothing as cathartic to have your legs burn and feel your lungs and heart pounce. The sun was still up and the flowers had just started to open up for the season. I should have known that he would follow me." Her eyes stared at the opposite wall but I'm sure she didn't really see it. She took a couple of strengthening breaths and continued with an anger in her voice.

"When I heard the screech from the tires it was already too late. It stopped me in my tracks and when I turned around I saw how two large men carried him to the car. I screamed bloody murder and started to sprint faster than ever down the hill. But I lost my footing and fell, I tumbled around the whole way down to the gravel road. The dust had yet settled from the disappearing car. I stood up and tried to run after them but couldn't. The pain from my broken foot was nothing compared to the pain in my heart. Right then and there I made three promises to myself. The first that I would find him. The second that I would become the best woman guardian ever seen and third that I would never, ever, have children. If it could happen to my sister's son there was no way in hell that I'd ever subject my children to the risk of being taken. We didn't know why they, you, were taken but I sure as hell would never rest until I've found him."

"What was his name?" I asked the first question that popped into my mind. But I hadn't been prepared for the answer.

"Eddie."

I couldn't speak. I pictured him with his sandy blond hair and brown eyes. And tears started to form. I looked at Celeste and tried to find any resemblance between them, but then again it was her nephew so they might not be so alike. Her cheeks were already wet from her tears. We didn't say anything for quite a while. It was me who broke the silence.

"I knew Eddie. He came to the institution the same night as me."

I'll never forget the sadness in Celeste's eyes as she interrupted me by shaking her head.

"No, Rose. You didn't know my Eddie. I've seen the Eddie that you grew up with, they are not the same. They do not have the same hair color and even if they would have I'm sure. My Eddie is still somewhere out there. I haven't found him yet, but you bring me hope. If Dimitri could find you I'll find him," there was no mistaking the determination in her voice as she continued, "even if it'll be the last thing I do. I'll find him."

She patted my hand. I didn't know what to say. The woman before me seemed to have grown half a foot, she was a force. And I felt privileged to know her. She rose and told me she needed to go for a run. I didn't follow but sat still on the floor in the guardian quarters.

I didn't have time to finish a single thought before another one formed. I felt a tightness in my chest, my breathing became labored. I remembered what Dr. Olendzki had said about panic attacks. She had suggested a couple of different exercises and I decided to try one of them. Counting my breaths one by one, trying to slow them down. It kind of worked.

It was in this state that Dimitri found me.

When he came towards me with his eyes worried and hands outreached I couldn't help but feel the relief and joy spreading.

He had found me. He had fought Moore to save me. He had never given up on me. And in that second I managed for the first time ever to take him by surprise as I quickly rose and threw myself in his arms. Despite the surprise he caught me.

As always he caught me.

Author's note: massive, ginormous thanks again for your support. Two chapters left of part 2, then we'll take a well needed break. To be honest it's quite hard to manage a chapter every second week with everything that's going on in our lives, so for part 3 we'll make sure we stock up on those chapters before we start publishing.