"Roza, it's time to go", Dimitri whispers the forlorn words as I gaze towards the airstrip. Dimitri is gentle with his urging. He knows I am anxious, hoping to see the vehicle of my best friend appear but as the seconds of silence turn into minutes and the tension radiating off Dimitri begins to grow I am met with disappointment and a deep ache in my chest that further emphasizes this is real.
We're leaving.
It has been 2 years since I felt another, similar pain in my chest. The kind of pain that felt like a kiss from death himself. A pain that I wanted to never experience again. For the last 2 years, I remained the perfect guardian. I nearly lost my life when I took a bullet on behalf of Lissa, my best friend, my sister, my former bond mate whose every thought, dream, fear, and memory I was privy to. But no longer.
When I awoke with Dimitri by my side and bandages around my chest I remember the vivid relief of being alive, awake, and in love. Seeing the devoted and profound look of love in Dimitri's eyes when I woke should have been enough to urge me toward the realization that I now have. I can't lose this again. I can't risk it again. But I did anyways.
For 2 years we balanced our love, our recovery, our guardianship, and a myriad of other ailments, situations, and discoveries along the way. The tiniest and most unexpected discovery is currently nestled safely in my womb as we get ready to depart on the journey to our new life.
"It will take us about 15 hours to get to Istanbul. Abe texted. There will be a team of his guardians there waiting for our arrival" I nod my acknowledgment of his words but my eyes are glued to the window as I continue to stare at the airstrip until it's whirling past me and we take off into the sky. Away from Court, away from Lissa, and even further away from everything I have ever known.
*Flashback 12 hours ago*
"What do you mean "No" Rose? I brought Dimitri back, hell I even brought YOU back. And now you're saying you won't do this for me? For the good of the future of our entire kind?" Lissa sneers at me. She's incensed and I can feel the darkness swirling around her, the air thick and suffocating with it. It's tantalizing and familiar, almost alluring with its profound evil and sinister manipulation. I resist rising to her taunt and her words I know are being spoken out of her control but the veracity of them I cannot deny.
"No Liss. I will not do this for you. I am not a guinea pig. I am not a rat. I am not your tool to be used in Moroi wars. I want nothing to do with this. And if that is how you truly feel then I want nothing to do with being your guardian either."
"So be it." It's a command, a severance, and a threat.
I felt my heart race then suddenly slow with sinking realization. We need to leave. Now.