"What do you mean, charged?!" Janine snapped at Abe, struggling to take in what her daughter's father was saying. When Abe had called her at Lord Szelsky's rural Pennsylvanian house and asked her to come to Court urgently, this wasn't what she expected to hear. "For killing Tatiana? You can't be serious?"
"I'm afraid so," Abe replied, his voice dark and ominous. "There's more to it, Janine," he admitted, loathe to admit what he'd heard from Croft after the initial interview with Rose, and what witnesses had reported. "Yesterday Belikov told her he no longer loved her, and by all accounts Rose was distraught. She went to Adrian and broke up with him, then hours later they found Tatiana dead, with Rose's stake in her chest. It's regicide, Janine. Unless they can prove her innocent, Rose will hang."
Janine covered her mouth with her hand, a faint bleat of horror escaping her lips. "You don't think she's guilty?" she checked, her hazel eyes meeting his brown.
"Of course not!" Abe barked. "Of course not," he repeated, more softly. "But it isn't looking good. They took Ambrose in for questioning, along with two of Tatiana's ladies' maids who had keys to the Royal apartment, however with Rose's outspoken comments about the age decree, and the murder weapon being a very distinctive stake from Russia, I doubt anyone will look for other suspects."
"Can't we do something? We can't let our daughter be put to death for a crime she didn't commit!" Janine was becoming more distressed by the second.
"It won't come to that," Abe vowed, his dark eyes glimmering in a manner that brought to mind his eponym. "I don't care if I have to break her out of Tarasov itself, I won't let anything happen to our little girl."
Tasking Janine with gathering as much information as she could from her Guardian colleagues, including those working the case, before sending her on her way, Abe poured himself a large glass of Glenfiddich before regarding his long time Guardian and confidant, Pavel.
"Since it was with her stake, it's personal. It's likely to be someone she knows," Pavel said, voicing what Abe had already concluded. "Someone she trusts."
"Hathaway? Your lawyer, Abe Mazur, is here to see you." The sneer with which the guard said her name, then Abe's, made it clear his opinion of them both. "You have fifteen minutes."
"Baba!" Rose said in a shaky voice as she stood to greet her father as he stepped inside her cell. That she was calling him father and not 'old man' showed just how worried she was.
"Rose, we don't have much time," Abe cautioned quietly, leading Rose to sit beside him on the vinyl-padded, concrete based bed, which was the only furniture in the room other than a metal toilet and handbasin. "Did you do it?"
"No!" Rose shouted, getting ready to give it to her father with both barrels.
"I believe you—I just had to ask," Abe said, moving his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "If it wasn't you, then it's likely to be someone who knows you. Someone who knows you well. Are you currently on good terms with your friends?"
Rose snorted in derision. "Let's see… Eddie is angry at me for ruining his life by involving him in the whole Las Vegas debacle. Adrian hates me because I broke up with him without ever really giving him a chance. Christian is pissed off with me because Lissa is, and she's annoyed because she thinks I'm making Dimitri look bad and that I should leave him alone."
"And Dimitri?" Abe probed, noticing the way his daughter's eyes dropped to the floor painfully when she said his name. He'd already had an account from one of Belikov's Guardians who'd been within earshot at the Church when Rose and Belikov spoke, as well as a witness from the café when she'd been arrested, but he wanted to hear Rose's take on things.
"Dimitri asked me to stay away from him. He wants nothing to do with me now. He told me he's given up on me—that love fades, and his has."
If he wasn't certain his daughter still loved the oversized Russian Guardian, Abe would have had no compunction sending a team of his own Guardians to avenge such heartbreaking words. After everything Rose had done for him, she didn't deserve this from the man she loved. However, with a twenty-four-seven guard, Belikov was perhaps the only one who could reasonably be ruled out when it came to Tatiana's untimely demise and the subsequent framing of Rose. Because she had been framed, of that Abe was certain. Forty years relying on his wits gave him a wealth of experience when it came to people's true natures. Someone had a beef with his little girl, and it was serious enough for them to frame her for murder.
"What am I going to do?" Rose moaned after Abe explained all the evidence that had so far been gathered against her.
"Nothing. You leave this to me. I'll visit again soon. If not me, then Pavel. Whatever happens, do not trust anyone else. Do you understand? Talk to no one, confide in no one. The only directions you follow come from me or Pavel."
"Trust you and Pavel, no one else," Rose muttered, throwing her arms around her father's neck when the guard returned to announce their fifteen minutes were up.
"Don't worry, kiz," Abe murmured into her hair as he returned Rose's hug. "Everything is going to be ok. As your father, I'll make sure of it."
"She didn't do it," Adrian said, his voice shaking as he sat with Rose's friends in Lissa's living room. He looked like hell, but then his girlfriend had broken up with him, then his aunt had been brutally murdered, so it was understandable.
"Obviously she didn't," Lissa agreed, refusing to even entertain the idea that Rose had killed any Moroi, let alone their Queen.
"How could someone get her spare stake?" Christian asked.
"The locks on the Guardian rooms are pretty flimsy. It isn't hard to pick one. I've done it on my door a few times when I've locked my keys inside," Eddie stated.
"That's not very secure," Christian muttered in surprise.
"Guardians don't have a lot," Eddie replied, with a shrug of his shoulders, wordlessly implying that security for Guardian rooms was largely unnecessary as most had little that would be worth stealing. "Do they have any other suspects?" he asked Adrian. Like the others, he was certain of Rose's innocence.
"Not that they've said," Adrian replied wearily. "They questioned Belikov because of the whole restored Strigoi thing, but his Guardians confirmed at least two people were with him the whole time through to when Rose was arrested. The Guardians on duty in the palace have also been questioned, but no one saw anything. The camera in the hallway outside Tatiana's bedroom malfunctioned. It was about fifteen minutes before anyone noticed, and when two Guardians went to investigate, they found the door to her room open…"
"And Her Majesty murdered," Eddie finished for him, already knowing that part of the story thanks to Guardian Headquarters gossip. "You said you saw Rose last night—can't you give her an alibi?"
"Only for half an hour," Adrian said. "She only stopped by to break up with me."
"Oh?" Lissa said, regarding her cousin with surprise. Rose had promised to give Adrian a chance when she returned from Russia in return for him financing her ill-fated mission to kill her former mentor, and she'd kept her word. "What happened?"
"She told me she spoke to Belikov in church, and he asked her to stay away from him. That he was giving up on her and that love fades and his had. I've never seen Rose so devastated—not even when he was first turned. She was beside herself and said she couldn't be with me when her heart still belonged to another." Adrian tried to keep the bitterness from his voice. He'd known his chance to make Rose his was slim and what Belikov and Rose had shared was no ordinary love. Truth be told, he'd been expecting this ever since Dimitri returned. However, it didn't make it hurt any less. To add insult to injury, Rose had deserted him for a man who didn't want her!
Lissa frowned. She'd warned Rose repeatedly not to push Dimitri. He was still so raw after his restoration; he needed time to re-acclimatize to life as a Dhampir and come to terms with everything he'd done while he was Strigoi before he engaged with Rose. They'd had long discussions about it, and Lissa knew Dimitri carried a lot of guilt, particularly regarding how he'd treated Rose during the time he was undead. That said, Rose had literally risked everything for Dimitri. Lissa could understand why her best friend wanted to be there for the man she loved as he recovered.
"Poor Rose. She's already been through so much, and now this." Whether 'this' was Dimitri's words or her arrest for murder Lissa did not clarify—not that it mattered. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. Opening it, Lissa was surprised to see Dimitri flanked, as usual, by several Guardians. He looked like absolute hell.
"They've only just let me out," Dimitri explained. After fighting the Guardians sent to arrest Rose, he'd been taken back to his room by his guard and locked in until he calmed down. Now, hours later, he'd finally been allowed out to see Vasilisa.
"Please come in, Guardian Belikov," Lissa said, noting the man's panicked expression and obvious distress.
"That's Mr. Belikov, Princess," one Guardian corrected, earning himself a lifted eyebrow from Lissa and rolled eyes from Dimitri's other Guardians. For the most part, the team guarding with Dimitri had realized he was indeed Dhampir again, and that he could be trusted. Although admittedly, his credibility had been tested earlier when he fought alongside Rose before she was arrested.
"Well, Mr. Belikov is welcome here. You can wait outside." Lissa pulled Dimitri through the door, closing it firmly behind him.
"Is it true?" Dimitri asked, his eyes meeting Lissa's.
"I'm afraid so," Lissa replied as she led him through to the living room where Christian, Adrian, and Eddie sat. "Her Majesty was murdered with Rose's stake."
Dimitri sunk onto a sofa, his head in his hands. Guardian stakes were usually plain and unadorned. For them to identify the stake as Rose's, it had to be distinctive—such as the one she'd used to stake him in Russia. He'd posted it back to her with one of his 'love' notes while he was still Strigoi. If he'd not sent it to Rose, there'd be no link between her and the murder, he thought bitterly. Just one more way he'd brought ruination to her.
"We all know she didn't do it," Eddie volunteered, breaking the awkward silence. Adrian reached for a half-empty bottle of Vodka, pouring a generous serve into a glass, and gulping it neat, despite a reproving glance from Lissa. The movement roused Dimitri, who looked up at the Moroi Lord.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Dimitri mumbled, appreciating Adrian was Tatiana's great-nephew and that he'd lost a close family member.
"She was your aunt, too," Adrian retorted, although they all knew Tatiana would have never deigned to claim kinship with the Dhampirs of her family.
"When is the funeral?" Lissa asked Adrian.
"Prince Rufus, the senior Council members, and her ladies-in-waiting have started organizing it. It will be early next week, so people from overseas can fly in." The death of a reigning monarch required a state funeral, which would quickly be followed by the trials to determine the next Moroi monarch.
"And Rose's prosecution?"
"The Royal Council, headed by the new King or Queen will oversee Rose's trial, so she'll be detained until a new monarch is invested. Realistically, it could be months," Adrian explained.
"You're going to break Rose out of jail?" Christian asked, his eyes bulging as he regarded Rose's mob boss father. He hadn't wanted to come to this meeting to begin with, and now he was regretting his presence even more.
"That's the plan," Abe said smugly. "During Tatiana's funeral is the ideal time. Almost everyone will be lining the procession or at the service, and the church is on the other side of Court from the prison. By the time anyone realizes what's happened, Rose will be long gone."
"Won't running just make her look more guilty?" Lissa asked.
"The Guardian Council already thinks she's guilty," Janine explained. "They're not even considering other suspects. If we don't break her out, she'll be convicted and sentenced to death. Rose is better off leaving the Moroi world altogether than hanging for a crime she didn't commit."
Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Dimitri, and Adrian sat in Abe Mazur's office, listening as he outlined his plan to save Rose. It was simple enough—he planned to blast the outer wall of the jail, then remove her from Court by car. From there, he had the resources to make her disappear.
"Why are you telling us this?" Dimitri asked. It had been three days since Rose's arrest in the café at Court, and he looked like he hadn't slept since.
"As Rose's closest friends, you'll all be under suspicion when she escapes. You need to be seen at the funeral, so you have a clear alibi—especially you, Belikov and Castile." As prominent Moroi, Adrian, Lissa - and by extension Christian - would be present during the service, so there would be numerous people witnessing their attendance.
"But won't everyone know it's you?" Eddie asked, daring to say what the others were thinking. No one would suspect upstanding Guardian Janine Hathaway of breaking her daughter out of jail, but the same could not be said of Abe Mazur. His reputation was sketchy at best.
"Knowing it is one thing, proving it is entirely another," Abe drawled, looking decidedly self-satisfied despite the circumstances. "Janine and I will also be at the funeral. Lots of people will be able to vouch for us—and even I can't be in two places at once."
"Once Rosemarie leaves, she'll never be able to return. Unless another person is identified and convicted of Tatiana's murder, Rosemarie will have to hide in the human world for the rest of her life. With the funeral the day after tomorrow, we thought you might like to visit her and say your goodbyes," Janine explained.
Hearing the truth in Janine's words, Lissa burst into tears. Innocent or not, while the Royal and Guardian Council believed Rose was responsible for Tatiana's murder, she could never be part of this world. Somehow, Lissa would have to say goodbye to her best friend. If her heart was breaking, it was nothing compared to how Dimitri was feeling. While he'd asked Rose for time and space, he struggled to imagine living his life without her somewhere in it. Strong-willed, feisty, and passionately loyal, Rose had shown him her love repeatedly only to have him enslave and feed from her, then reject her after his restoration. There weren't sufficient words to articulate his guilt and shame. He wasn't sure he'd even be able to face her.
"We could go tomorrow," Lissa suggested to Dimitri, seeing his stricken face. "Together?"
"Thank you, Princess, but if I go, it is something I need to do alone," Dimitri replied, unable to meet anyone's eyes.