Rose's POV
Dimitri started making some calls right away – some in English, some in Russian – and I was glad that he hadn't refused to help. I'd almost expected him to accuse Adrian of having gone off the rails, but he'd said it before – despite their differences, he knew Adrian wasn't a bad person, and that he would do anything to help Lissa… and me.
Which, in this case, was exactly the problem. If only he hadn't wanted to aid us further. It was my fault for going to him in the first place and, right now, it looked a lot like it may have all been in vain. The search for the Mână was going horribly. I even had the feeling that Dimitri didn't believe it was something worth pursuing anymore.
Things would get even more complicated now with whoever had infiltrated the campus surely watching us. Dimitri was right – they would know who we were. There was no way to keep them from finding out we were at the academy, either. All we could do was not let them know that we knew of their presence. Dragging Alberta into this still didn't sit right with me but, technically, I had done that the moment I'd called her about the Badica girl.
God, this all was getting way out of control. Lissa and our people at Court hadn't found anything in eight years and now it was somehow up to me and Dimitri again to save the day. No pressure, of course.
"He definitely made it to Montana," Dimitri said after hanging up the phone for the final time. I jumped up from the bed, eager to learn more. "Someone saw him get off a plane down at Riddick on Wednesday."
Philipsburg wasn't far – even if you stayed away from the main roads. Wouldn't he have made straight for the academy? Shit. "So—"
"Every guardian in the area is on the lookout, I made sure of that," he said, his tone determined. "He will be found."
I was glad for this, of course, but it was strange. Before the calls, he had sounded worried for sure, but not excessively so. Now, though… this was different. "What aren't you telling me?"
"I told you all you need to know," he said with a calmness that read as entirely insincere. "You should get some more sleep, Rose. You'll need it if we are to get to the bottom of all this."
I narrowed my eyes. That was not how this was meant to go. "Tell me what you've found out right now or, I swear to God, I'll—"
"Go to bed," he said firmly. "That's an order."
Yeah, all right. That conversation we'd both been avoiding? That needed to happen. Right now. "Okay, I think we do need to talk about us now."
"No, we—"
This time, I interrupted him. "I want this, okay? I want us to be what we are meant to be. But that can't happen if you don't trust me and shut me out again. I thought we were over this. Talk to me, what is it that's keeping us in this… strange space?"
Dimitri contemplated my question for a moment, then crossed the room to close the distance between us. He was standing right before me now, barely an inch between our faces.
"I do trust you," he said quietly. He softly put his hand against my cheek but I refused to lean into it. "Trust me, too."
I closed my eyes, trying my best not to let his gaze distract me. "Dimitri, please."
Then his lips were on mine. The power to resist the kiss eluded me, and I let myself kiss him back. Softly, delicately. No doubt in my mind about his love, but his trust? That was another thing entirely. When he pulled back, his eyes betrayed him, but he clearly thought I was an idiot. "Isn't this enough?"
I didn't answer. It wasn't, and Dimitri knew it. He'd always been the one who wanted to talk. Something was up – someone must have said something to him on the phone, and now he was trying to shut me out again. What news did he learn? What was so bad that he didn't want me to know?
"Roza, believe me," he said quietly.
It was his eyes. He thought he had it all down so well. The guardian mask. There were times I truly couldn't look past it, but now? He had made himself vulnerable in this position, probably in hopes of making me less suspicious, and his eyes were screaming his deception right at me.
I shook my head and took a few steps back. The warmth he had provided had turned cold with the realisation, anyway. "No. This is your last chance, Dimitri. You tell me what is going on right now or we are done for good."
His mask was firmly in place now, and I knew before he even opened his mouth that he would rather lose me than give up whatever information he had. I thought I knew him; I really did. After our night together, I was so sure that he was still the same old Dimitri as he had always been. It seemed I was wrong. Eight years did change a person, and he was no exception.
"If you can't separate our professional from our personal relationship, then it never had any future to begin with."
Author's Note: I AM SO SORRY OKAY, THIS IS NECESSARY! I SWEAR I DIDN'T DO THIS JUST TO HURT YOU!
Ahem, anyway, short chapters today because it's a double-update. Hope you enjoyed.