Dimitri's POV

With the new school year starting in just a few short weeks, there should not have been anything unusual about a Moroi bringing her daughter to the academy – and, yet, something about the woman and her child walking ahead of me was not quite right. With their backs turned to me, there was no way I could say so for certain, but I didn't think I had ever met them before. Upon closer inspection, the young girl – around seven or eight years old, I believed – seemed perfectly normal so I shifted my attention back to the mother. A Moroi woman in a dress that was just elegant enough to make her look sophisticated but plain enough to indicate that she was not of royal blood. Or, if she was, she wouldn't have had a particularly high standing. It wasn't her choice of clothing that made her unusual per se, but something about the way she walked did not match it. She also appeared to be rather tense. Then again, that could have been for any number of reasons, but it seemed strange to me. Dropping off a child at an academy wasn't exactly something to be feared, even if leaving one's child behind must have not been so easy.

I would have to leave the path they were on soon, so I didn't have too much time to dwell on it, but I looked her up and down once more. Nothing unusual. It must have been my mind playing tricks on me again. Or so I thought until I turned left and saw something glint in the moonlight. Something I believed to be made of silver. I couldn't well turn back around to confirm what I now thought was the reason for my confusion without raising suspicion. Spirit. She must have been wearing a charm to disguise herself, but who could have any reason to do such a thing?

There were three – no, five – Spirit users that we were aware of. Vasilisa Dragomir was the first that came to mind, but I didn't believe she would have any reason to send someone into the academy in a disguise. Adrian Ivashkov was unpredictable and could never be disregarded. I was quite certain Oksana had no reason to leave Baia, and that Lazar girl Vasilisa had once met here was locked away safely. That would have left Robert Doru, whom I hadn't heard anything about in several years. That didn't mean he wasn't alive, but I could not think of any reason he would have had to send someone here. Certainly not with a child. I supposed it must have been another Spirit user that we had not yet heard of. Worrying, but was it worrying enough for me to turn around and go after them?

No, I decided. I would just have to keep a close eye on the little girl for a while and see if I can find out more.

That, as it turned out over the following days, was going to be much easier than I'd thought. The young Moroi – Sunshine Porter, as I was told – was quite curious and didn't appear to have the usual qualms of other Moroi when it came to speaking to guardians. She didn't seem afraid, and never treated any of my colleagues with anything less than the utmost respect. It was almost strange, but then again, she might have grown up in a household where guardians were treated as part of the family. Four days after her arrival at the academy, I got my first chance to speak to her myself.

Or, perhaps it was her first chance to speak to me. It was shortly before curfew for the elementary students, and I had a shift patrolling the Moroi dorm there, when she suddenly stood right in front of me. She was blocking my way, looking at me curiously. I had only seen her from a distance until now so the colour I found in her eyes was a shock. Jade-green, as I had only ever seen it in two royal Moroi families. Dashkov or Dragomir. The latter could be entirely counted out, of course, but there were still quite a few Dashkovs left. She could have been an illegitimate child, but it caught me off guard nonetheless. Perhaps I had been wrong about Doru not being involved in this?

For a few seconds, this realisation was distracting enough for me not to hear the question the child had just posed.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

She looked at me with irritation in her eyes. "No one ever wants to answer my questions. All I want to know is why you have these crosses on your neck. You have a lot of them so you must know!"

"They're called molnija marks," I told her before I could stop myself. There was a reason people wouldn't answer these kinds of question, especially not when asked by a child that hadn't even started school yet. What more could I tell her? "They're a sign that we protected many Moroi."

There, that should have been safe. Most of the time, it would even be the truth. Not for one particular person whose name I did not even want to think at this time, but the rest of us? We didn't tend to go off on Strigoi-hunting missions unless it was a rescue. Even still, any Strigoi that no longer walked the Earth was one more threat to Moroi eliminated. After all, protection comes in many forms. Yes, I was content with my answer.

The young girl in front of me, however, was clearly not. She huffed. "Okay. Why do you and—" She stopped abruptly. "Why do you have so many?"

Now, I was truly curious. Who could she possibly know that – from the sound of it – had as many molnija marks as I did? By now, I was certain that her family must have had guardians, but I doubted they would have run into Strigoi all too often. Otherwise, she would already know. This was becoming stranger and stranger by the minute. None of my questions about her and her family were being answered here, and I certainly was not comfortable having a conversation about killing Strigoi with this child.

"I've protected many Moroi," I simply told her. "It's almost curfew. You should go back to your room."