Two days later, Jill was confirmed to be a Dragomir, giving Lissa the quorum she needed. Neither of us were surprised when Lissa was promptly elected queen. What we were both surprised about, however, was the revelation that Tasha was the one who killed Tatiana. I don't think anyone was more shocked than Christian, and if possible, he became more antisocial.

Sydney had been the one to put it together after reviewing footage from the Alchemist center where the documents about Eric had disappeared from. It turned out that Daniella Ivashkov had been behind that petty theft, and in uncovering that, Sydney had been able to find Tasha's trail linking her to Tatiana's murder. When confronted, she turned violent and was quickly subdued by the guardians. Last I knew, she was awaiting trial, where she would likely be found guilty and executed. Lissa shared that Christian was visiting her, but we didn't talk much about it.

I continued peeking in through the bond and was surprised to see that Dimitri was taking Tasha's betrayal hard too. A bitterness settled in me at the thought of them together, not forgetting what it was like at the ski lodge. I tried to push him out of my head, but I wasn't having much luck, especially not as I continued to build his scrapbook.

The next two months passed in relative monotony. My routine was the same every day and I cherished that with everything else in my life changing. I would work out in the morning, keeping myself fit, before training with the dhampirs, and sending weekly progress reports to Hans. I had convinced some of the female dhampirs to go on assignment, even if just for a year to see what it's like. When they were ready, I coordinated with Hans to get them sent to Court to get their promise marks and official assignments.

Throughout it all, I continued documenting my pregnancy and taking bump pictures. I would send them to Lissa weekly, knowing that she wanted the updates, but in most of the pictures, it was still hard to tell that I was pregnant. I was able to still hide it under loose-fitting clothes, and only in certain angles could a bump be made out. I tried to exaggerate those angles when sending pictures to Lissa, but I was grateful to still be able to hide my pregnancy since the dhampirs I was working with were still unaware. I couldn't risk them going to Court and accidentally let it be known that the American dhampir training them was pregnant.

I was quickly approaching the mark when I would be able to find out the gender, and I was eagerly counting down the days. At each doctor's appointment, I got three copies of the ultrasound: one for the baby's scrapbook, one for Dimitri's scrapbook, and one for Olena's fridge. All of my past ones were proudly displayed there, alongside ultrasounds from Karolina's and Sonya's pregnancies. Olena and the other Belikova women continued to fawn over me, and I even caught Yeva looking in my direction with fondness a few times.

I also continued checking in on Lissa, missing her the further I got into my pregnancy. She was thriving being queen and somehow was managing to do that while still attending Lehigh. She dedicated herself to getting to know Jill more, despite the awkwardness, and their relationship was starting to bloom. She was also intent on making a better impression than her first with Jill, when Avery was controlling her with spirit. Watching her and Jill interact though, I could tell that it was the furthest thing from Jill's mind. It was a learning curve for both of them, one I wished I was there to see in person.

The date of my anatomy scan quickly approached, and like the rest of my appointments, Karolina went with me. She was there more for moral support than translation skills now though, because I had started picking up the language, especially for words related to pregnancy. I wasn't anywhere close to being fluent, but I knew enough that I could manage a simple conversation, and I could mostly navigate some conversations based on context clues. The Belikova women had been working with me in their free time, and once they knew I knew a word in Russian, they would only say that word in Russian to continue building my skills. I wouldn't be surprised if I was fluent by the time I left Russia. I had heard that immersion was the best way to learn a language, and so far, that was proving true.

"Are you ready to find out the gender?" the doctor asked as she entered the room.

"Yes," I said, trying to calm my racing heart.

"No," Karolina said. She then spoke in rapid Russian that was too fast for me to follow. The doctor nodded, and Karolina turned to me. "I've asked the doctor to put the gender inside of an envelope, and we'll find out later."

"Why?"

"We want to do something special for you," she said. At my look of panic, she backtracked. "It'll just be the family."

I could tell that there was something that Karolina wasn't telling me, but I trusted her enough that I relaxed, and the doctor was able to perform the ultrasound. She kept the screen tilted away from us while she did the scan, but still gave me my copies of the ultrasound. I studied it, but I didn't know what I was looking for and was unable to tell if it was a boy or a girl.

On the way home from the appointment, Karolina directed us to the grocery store where we picked up some items. She also dropped the envelope off with the bakery department so that they could bake a cake to reveal the gender. When I met back up with Karolina, she seemed giddy.

"Did you peek?"

She shook her head with a laugh. "No, I didn't peek. I'm just excited to meet my new niece or nephew. The cake will be ready next weekend."

I frowned at that. "It's going to take nearly a week and a half to bake a cake?"

"They're really busy right now," Karolina said.

I glanced around at the nearly deserted store. It was almost the end of October, and if anything, I thought I was seeing fewer people in Baia in preparation for the coming winter. I didn't say anything though and followed Karolina home with our purchases.

I was putting things in the fridge when I heard Lissa through the bond.

Incoming!

It was the only warning that I had before I heard Olena's phone ringing.

"Dimka's calling!" Olena said in Russian.

I could tell that it would be a video call based on the ringtone, and I barely managed to slam the fridge shut and get out of view of the camera when Olena answered. She had forgotten that I was behind her in her excitement.

I heard Dimitri greet Olena in Russian and nearly melted. It had been so long since I had heard his voice through my own ears. Unbidden, tears sprang up, and I hastily wiped them away. Stupid hormones.

Olena's gaze shifted to me slightly and I could see the apology in her eyes. I waved her off, giving her and the rest of the Belikova family a moment as I slipped upstairs where I would be safe from accidentally being seen on camera.

In my bedroom, I pulled out my phone, dialing Lissa's number by heart. I almost did it as a video call but changed my mind at the last minute. With the way I was feeling right now, I wasn't sure I would be able to make it through a video call without crying.

"Hi, Rose," she said. "Was it enough?"

I knew she was talking about the warning. "Close enough," I said. "I was behind Olena but managed to get out of the way in time."

In the background, I could faintly hear Dimitri talking.

"Are you with him?"

"Yes," Lissa said. "We're on a break from the Council."

Through the bond, she added, Dimitri decided it was finally time to tell his family that he was restored.

"I told them when I got here," I said.

"I know," she answered. I could figure out what she wasn't saying, not wanting Dimitri to overhear too much of our conversation. "Oh no."

"What? What's wrong?"

Lissa didn't answer me verbally. Dimitri just asked about the ultrasounds on the fridge. They're yours, right?

"Mostly. A few belong to Karolina and Sonya," I said. I had forgotten that Lissa took Russian at St. Vladimir's and would be able to understand everything that Dimitri was saying. "What's he saying?"

Olena told them they were Karolina's and Sonya's. He seems to accept that, for now. He wants to visit. Probably for Christmas, he's saying.

I sighed, quickly counting the weeks until Christmas. I wasn't surprised by this, and I knew I would need to find somewhere to go or somewhere to hide because I knew that there would be no way I'd be able to hide the pregnancy for another eight weeks. I would be lucky if I managed to keep it hidden from the dhampirs I was training for another month.

"I'll let you go," Lissa said a moment later. "I'm sure you have some things that you need to sort out. I miss you."

"I miss you, too. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Our call ended a moment later, and less than five minutes after that, Lissa was giving me the all-clear that Dimitri was no longer on the phone with Olena. When I returned downstairs, Olena had resumed putting away the groceries, and she looked up when I entered.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"You don't have to apologize," I said. "I hope you had a good conversation."

She smiled fondly. "We did. He wants to visit for Christmas if he can get time off."

"I'm sure Lissa will give him the time off," I said. "I can find somewhere else to go."

I had learned from Lissa a month or so ago that he had had his guardian title restored and was placed on the queen's guard. He was one of her most trusted guardians, having known him for the longest out of the rest of the guardians assigned to her.

"What if you told him then?" Olena asked.

I froze. "I don't know. I'll think about it," I said, placating her. I had no intention of telling Dimitri at Christmas since I had no plans of being around the Belikova family at Christmas. I didn't want to ruin his time with his family. I had already ruined enough.