"Dimitri's family?" Lissa repeated.

I nodded. "Just because Dimitri doesn't want anything to do with me or the baby doesn't mean that his family does too." I sensed Lissa silently correcting me through the bond, and I gave her a look as I kept talking. "Plus, Baia is so far off the beaten path that one doesn't just end up there accidentally. The baby would be safe there."

Lissa looked like she wanted to argue for a moment but bit her lip, nodding. "If that's what you think is best."

"I do," I said. "I can't be around here, and while I know Abe would help me, I don't even want to know what his reaction would be to finding out that I got pregnant at eighteen."

Lissa's lips lifted in a small smile. "He'd probably have a few choice words for Dimitri."

"Probably more than a few words," I mumbled, and Lissa's smile grew.

"Do you want me to come with you to talk to Hans?"

I nodded. "It's probably best since you're my charge. And it might not hurt to have you available to throw around a bit of royal power if needed.

Lissa nodded and followed me across Court. When we entered his office, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he wasn't entirely surprised to see me.

"Princess, Hathaway," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to be reassigned," I said, not beating around the bush. "I want to go to the dhampir communes. I'll put in time training them, and I can try to recruit them to join the guardians, even for a short period. It might help fight against the age law, too."

I remembered what Dimitri had said about his grandmother's beliefs: every dhampir should put in time as a guardian before the women returned home to have children. I might be able to help with that.

Hans narrowed his eyes at me. "Which communes? You've fought so long to be assigned to the Princess, and now you want to leave?"

"Russia," I said, not being as specific as I knew he wanted me to be. "I can't be here right now. I've already talked to Lissa about this, and she supports it. She'll have plenty of guardians to protect her at Lehigh. I just need a year."

I thought I saw something akin to sympathy in Hans' eyes. Most people didn't know explicitly about my relationship with Dimitri, but it wasn't hard to miss, especially with the events of the past couple of months.

"You were just in Russia a few months ago," Hans said. "What do you think you could do now that you couldn't do then?"

I frowned. "I wasn't in Russia to recruit dhampirs. I went to hunt Dimitri." My true reason for going to Russia in March was still a secret among most of Moroi society, but there was no point in lying to Hans. "There were a lot of female dhampirs living there that could potentially be recruited."

I didn't actually believe that, but I was willing to say whatever to have official approval to leave.

"Guardian Belikov was my guardian before. He can be assigned to me again," Lissa said, jumping into the conversation for the first time.

I nearly flinched at Lissa's words, but I knew that Dimitri was still the next best option to protect her, especially with the way he worshipped her of late.

"Belikov hasn't been cleared to be a guardian again," Hans answered.

"Then two other guardians can be assigned. I'm sure Queen Tatiana has a list she's already approved to be assigned to me."

"She does," Hans admitted reluctantly. He looked at me. "I'll give you your year. But I expect regular check-ins and progress reports."

Something in his eyes told me that he didn't truly believe what I was saying, but I didn't push it, and I nodded. "Deal."

Hans signed off on a few pieces of paperwork and handed them to me. "When do you want to leave?"

"Immediately," I said.

I knew Hans wasn't surprised by this, and he signed one more piece of paper and handed it to me. "That'll get you the approval you need to leave Court."

As Lissa and I walked back across Court, she fiddled around with her phone, arranging my travel plans. I would be leaving in an hour. Lissa and I returned to my room, hastily packing my belongings. It didn't take long; I hadn't finished settling in since I was still in a guest apartment, and most of my belongings fit in two suitcases.

"Let me help you," she said once I was packed. "I can set up a bank account for you so that you have funds."

"Lissa—"

"Rose, please. I want to help. Consider it an early baby gift if you have to."

"Fine," I finally agreed, knowing that Lissa would set it up whether I agreed or not. "But please don't overdo it."

She grinned at me. "Your kid is going to be my niece or nephew; we both know they're going to be spoiled. Might as well get used to it early."

I laughed. "They might end up being one of the most spoiled dhampirs in the world with you as their aunt."

"Gotta start early," she said, fiddling with her phone again. "Okay, it's set up. Send me the address where you'll be, and I'll get a debit card sent your way. Something tells me Baia doesn't quite have virtual pay set up yet."

"Probably not," I mused. "I'll text it to you when I get there. I'm not sure what it is off the top of my head."

My hour was soon up, and Lissa walked me back across Court. She had chartered a flight to take me to Philadelphia, where I would catch a flight to Russia. I gave the pilot the paper Hans had given me, approving my leaving Court. Before I could board the plane, Lissa pulled me into a hug.

"I'll miss you," she said. "Take care of yourself and the baby."

"I'll miss you too," I said. "I'll take care of myself, but promise me you'll take care of you. No repeats of Avery."

Lissa laughed despite herself. "I promise there won't be any repeats of Avery. We know what to watch for, and besides, I don't think anyone would try that at Court."

I nodded. "See you soon."

Lissa gave me one more hug before I boarded the small plane. She stayed a short distance away and watched as the plane took off. I stared out the window until I couldn't see her figure anymore.

Even though I told her not to overdo it, Lissa still paid for me to be in first class on my direct flight from Philadelphia to Moscow. I had access to the first-class lounge while I waited, and on the plane, I was able to stretch out and sleep comfortably. I would be catching another chartered flight from Moscow and would finish the trip to Baia in a rented car. Lissa had tried to get me a chartered flight directly to the outskirts of Baia via a helicopter or a small plane, but I had convinced her not to, not wanting to draw more attention than necessary.

As the plane was landing in Moscow, I slipped into Lissa's head, trying to pretend that I was still with her. Instead of calmness, though, I found disaster waiting. In the hours since I had left, Tatiana had been found dead in her bed, staked to death. Lissa was being questioned by Hans as I watched.

"When was the last time you saw Hathaway?" he demanded.

"Yesterday," Lissa said truthfully. "She left Court hours ago after you signed off on her transfer paperwork. She couldn't have done this."

I probed at Lissa's thoughts to find out what she was talking about and found that my stake from Russia had been the one used to kill Tatiana. I had been issued a new one by Hans after Dimitri's restoration weeks ago, having misplaced the one I used in Russia during the raid. I hadn't thought twice about the old one.

"What time did Rose leave?"

"An hour after we talked to you. I organized a charter plane to take her from Court to Philadelphia, where she took a plane to Moscow," Lissa said.

She pulled out her phone and pulled up the ticket information, holding it out to Hans. He read over the information; his lips pursed.

The plane landing jerked me from Lissa's head, and I immediately pulled out my phone to look at return flights. I couldn't let Lissa go through this alone, regardless of wanting to hide my pregnancy. A text message came across my screen before I could finish searching for flights, almost as if she knew I was looking.

Lissa: Stay there, Rose. I'll be fine.

As soon as I was off the plane, I called her.

"Rose, please," she answered. "It's better if you stay away."

"I can't protect you from here," I said. "What if someone is targeting royals?"

"I'll be fine," she said. "I doubt anyone is targeting royals. I think this was personal. And you're the main suspect because of your stake being the weapon. Your flight leaving Court before Tatiana was dead is your alibi right now, and it's the only thing keeping Hans from sending guardians after you."

"What else?" I said. "It sounds like there's something else you're not saying."

I read it through the bond as she voiced it.

"Dimitri hasn't left my side since the news broke this morning. He might not have his guardian title, but he's still trained, and nothing says he can't be around me. Trust me when I say I'll be fine," she said. "He can't hear me, though. I had him take a step back when I saw you were calling."

"Does he know that I'm gone yet?"

"Yes," she said after a moment, not elaborating. I frowned, catching what she wasn't saying. Before I could say anything, she changed the topic. "How much further do you have to go?"

"I just landed in Moscow," I said. "My flight to Omsk leaves in an hour, and then I have a seven-hour drive into Baia itself once I land."

I could hear Lissa's frown over the phone. "Are you driving straight through?"

"Yes," I said. "But I'm staying the night in Omsk first. It'll already be dark when I land there, so I'll leave as soon as the sun is up in the morning."

I hadn't forgotten how dangerous the road to Baia was from my trip to Russia earlier this year. I also hadn't forgotten encountering the two Strigoi after Sydney and I had stopped for the night. I wasn't entirely sure Omsk would be safer, considering the reputation that I left the last time I was in Russia, but I didn't want to risk being alone on the road at night.

"Be safe," she said. "Text me when you arrive?"

"I will," I said. "And don't do anything stupid, Lissa. Let the guardians handle Tatiana's murder."

I landed in Omsk without issue and booked a hotel room at the first place I found. It wasn't fancy like some of the hotels I had stayed at in St. Petersburg months ago, but it also wasn't a hostel. I slept through the night easily, exhausted from the long day of travel and the time change. When I woke in the morning, the sun was already well into the sky. I had forgotten how early the sun rose in this part of the world, and it only seemed to happen earlier the further into summer it got.

I made quick work of checking out of the hotel and returned to the airport to find a car rental. It took longer than I would have liked to rent a car, but I was on the road to Baia by noon and would get there with an hour or so to spare before sunset. I texted Lissa that I was on the way and started the long drive.

The drive had felt excruciatingly long when Sydney and I had done half of it months prior, and doing it alone felt worse. It was just me and my thoughts for the drive this time, and I was tempted to call Lissa, but I held off. It would have been mid-afternoon for her since she was still on the nocturnal Court schedule, but I couldn't bring myself to ask her to stay on the phone with me for seven hours just to avoid being alone. As I continued driving, I also realized that Lissa might actually be asleep on account of today being her first day at Lehigh. I was thankful then that I didn't call her because I knew she would have stayed up all night to keep me talking, and I couldn't do that to her. She needed to be well rested.

The sun was low on the horizon when I finally arrived at Baia, and I contemplated getting a room at the small bed and breakfast in town before I turned towards the Belikova house. I wasn't sure how they'd react to me being there again, and I wasn't sure they would be happy to see me, especially with how I left things with Viktoria.

Olena answered the door when I knocked. "Rose?"

She was surprised to see me, and I smiled at her. "Hi, Olena. May I come in?"

"Of course," she said, opening the door wider and stepping to the side so that I could enter.

I could hear voices coming from the living room.

"Mama?" Karolina called. "Who's here?"

Karolina appeared from the living room a moment later, shock also coloring her face.

"Rose!"

She quickly pulled me into a hug, and I returned it eagerly. I followed her into the living room a moment later and saw Sonya on the floor with Zoya and another small baby, who I realized was Sonya's daughter. Viktoria was sitting on the couch, and she looked up in surprise when I walked in. Yeva was sitting in a rocking chair, knitting, and she was the only one who didn't seem surprised to see me.

"Rose?" Viktoria's voice was confused, and I smiled weakly at her.

"Yeva told us you'd be coming," Olena said softly, "but we weren't sure when. Is everything okay?"

As I looked around at them, I could see that they truly cared for me, and I knew that I had made the right decision in coming here. Even Viktoria cared, despite how angry she was when I saw her in April.

"I need help," I said finally, starting to choke up.

I had been hoping to get this posted yesterday, but things have been a bit hectic post Hurricane Helene. I wasn't in the direct path, but my town still got hit pretty hard, and most of the town is still without power. I should be able to get regular updates out as power is slowly coming back, but please bear with me and enjoy this chapter!