Rumor Has It

I ended up being stuck next to Adrian on the flight back to the academy.

On top of the events at St. Vladimir’s, I couldn’t help but feel awkward sitting next to him. It probably wouldn’t have been so uncomfortable if I had pulled away from the kiss rather than breaking it when Dimitri came by…and maybe if I hadn’t left with him. Not that I regret what happened. I more regret the fact that I pushed the boundaries of the classification as a harlot. Granted, I had yet to lose my virginity, but it still felt that way and, for some bizarre reason, I heard my mother’s voice in the back of my head saying how I need to focus on becoming a guardian. They come first. I silently cursed. Lately, I was really beginning to hate the saying with a passion. He comes first was what I wanted it to be at times, such as that morning. Waking up next to him seemed so natural that, for the briefest moment, it felt like I wasn’t meant to be the badass guardian I had been training my entire life to become. Just thinking that was practically treason, but I couldn’t help myself.

Despite my emotional and mental battles and the awkward tension, I tried to be comfortable at least until arriving back at the academy. And, honestly, it was difficult when sitting next an already drunken Ivashkov on a private jet…And my secret lover, Russian guardian sitting just across the aisle made it that much worse. Whatever I did to deserve this torture was beyond me. I groaned and slammed my head against the back of the seat, receiving a few confused glances that I tried to ignore.

Luck just wasn’t on my side that morning, however.

It was proven as soon as we were up in the air. The same headache—migraine, even—from the flight to Court had returned. It was unbearable. I groaned again, hiding my face in my hands so that I wouldn’t have to face the ‘aura’ and having no idea what to do. I could feel the eyes of everyone on me, but I refused to look at them…at least until I felt the familiar hand of my mentor rest on my shoulder and heard him murmur my name in attempt to, I believe, not worsen my headache any further.

I lowered my hands to my lap and turned my head to face Dimitri. His eyes, like earlier, were filled with worry. He knew something was going on and I knew that I’d have to face him when arriving back at the academy for some type of interrogation.

“Is it like when we were on the flight to Court?” Adrian asked, tearing my attention away from the silent conversation Dimitri and I seemed to be having.

I slid down in the seat with a sigh. I wanted to just yell at him, but for, the sake of my own stability and the newly found friendship between us, I didn’t. “Yes,” I muttered.

“Did you not eat again?” Alberta asked. She had been hovering nearby in the aisle. “It could be lack of vitamins or nutrients.”

I scoffed. “I just forgot to eat. It shouldn’t be this bad.”

She exhaled in frustration, but I unintentionally canceled her voice out when complete transparent figures appeared. I recognized the family and guardians from the Badica house. The few of Victor’s guardians that had been killed on the rescue mission. Lissa’s family… They all looked sad. Extremely sad. I averted my attention to behind Andre, only to see something that looked like a black hole. Andre pointed at me, and then to the black hole-thing. It took a moment to register, but the black hole was like the gateway to the world of death. Where I belonged.

And then I screamed, shouted for the ghosts to just go away. To leave me alone.

They just wouldn’t.

The effects of the migraine became overwhelming. The aura that Alberta had told me about seemed to have blinded me…

…

I woke up to seeing everything white. My eyes were slightly stinging and I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the bright surroundings. What surprised me was that the migraine was gone. I felt fine.

Dimitri suddenly came into sight. With him looking down at me, his face was hidden in shadows, but the concern for me was obviously there. He caressed my cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine now.” I tried sitting up, but he quickly had his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down.

He frowned and asked, “What happened on the plane?”

I figured he’d chastise me for saying ‘nothing,’ so I just told him the truth. The ghosts. The black hole. “I don’t understand why it happened only on the plane, though. I was perfectly fine at Court. I’m fine now…”

“Rose,” Dimitri breathed, lightly brushing his thumb across my cheek, “you should have told me about this sooner.”

“I know…” There really was no point in even trying to lie. He always saw through me anyway. “I didn’t tell anyone within good reason.”

“What would that reason be?”

“Do believe that I’m seeing ghosts?”

“I believe that you think—”

“Exactly.” I took a deep breath to try and remain calm. “You, of all people, won’t even believe me. Seeing ghosts isn’t exactly what someone would take lightly, unless I magically became a necromancer or something. If I told anyone else, they’d report it and I’d probably be in a straitjacket by morning…”

“I never said that I didn’t believe you.” He wasn’t trying to ridicule me over my rambling, but something about his tone threw me off.

“So, what do you mean by that?”

“I don’t believe in ghosts, Rose.”

For a brief moment, I wondered if he noticed the irony in his beliefs. What with his grandmother seeing things. I pushed that into the back of my mind, however.

I took advantage of our silence and decided to change the subject. “Am I clear to leave my second home now?”

At least I got a small chuckle out of him. “Yes. Dr. Olendzki said you could leave whenever you woke up. Though, she nearly had you withdrawn from the field experience. Nearly,” he added when he saw my mouth open to comment. He continued. “The solution was that you’ll be on half-time instead, meaning you’ll be guarding Christian three days a week and no night duty.”

“But—” I groaned. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. Dr. Olendzki just suggested you see a counselor, but she allowed me to talk to you about it first.” He lightly brushed some hair out of my face. “I think a counselor is a good idea, but it’s ultimately your decision, Rose.”

I had never liked the idea of revealing my personal problems to anyone. Let alone a complete stranger. “I’d rather not.”

“Think about it at least.”

I should have figured that I wouldn’t get away with it that easily. I sat up and climbed out of bed. “I’ll think about it, but no guaranteeing I’ll agree to it.”

We left the infirmary in silence.

Like usual, I spoke first. “Am I guarding Christian today?”

Dimitri shook his head. “No. Everyone has the day off today…to cope with the incident.”

That’s one thing I never understood. They give everyone time off when something that can be traumatic happens when we should keep our focus on something else so that we don’t think about it. “Well, that’s logical…”

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his duster, staring straight ahead. “It’s not the best idea, but guardians need to meet and discuss the situation at hand.”

“Shouldn’t you be at the meeting then?”

“Technically, yes, but,” he paused as he glanced over at me, “Guardian Petrov wanted to make sure you were all right, first of all. Then, since I’m Lissa’s sanctioned guardian, she wants me to keep an eye on her. The both of you, actually.”

“Damn, just when I thought I got rid of you,” I muttered playfully.

For the second time in a few minutes, he chuckled. “Not even close.”

I grinned. Not only did I get to stay with Dimitri, but I also got to spend some time with Lissa. Though, I wasn’t too happy about her constant questions coming through the bond. I knew I couldn’t get out of explaining myself when I got to the Moroi dorms, where Lissa was. Because of this, I decided to slow down my pace considerably.

Dimitri stopped a foot ahead and turned around to face me. I decided to stop as well.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.

I shrugged. “As okay as anyone seeing ghosts can be.”

“Rose.”

“What? I’m about to be bombarded with questions from Lissa and I’m not exactly looking forward to telling the story all over again.” I started to glare at him, but then an idea hit me and I flashed him my best smile. “Dimitri, could you—?”

He frowned. “It’s not my story to tell.”

“Please.” After glancing around, I stepped forward and wrapped one arm around his neck, beginning to run my fingers through his small ponytail. It was completely new for me to even try flirting my way out of something with him, but I was praying that it’d work. “Please,” I repeated.

He tried to fight back a moan, but he failed. “Rose…”

“Hmm?”

He quickly pulled me into the shadows of the infirmary and pressed me up against the wall. I was a little surprised by his sudden animosity, but happily welcomed it.

Dimitri lightly pressed his lips to mine, but didn’t actually kiss me. He just decided to finally answer in a husky whisper that was heavily laced with his Russian accent. “If it bothers you that much, I’ll tell them what happened.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

And just like that, he finally kissed me.

The kiss started out slow and gentle, like they usually did. But, something snapped inside of the both of us. He pressed himself against me to the point where I couldn’t move any of my limbs.

Not that I minded. Temporary immobility at his hand is a hell of a lot better than being pushed away all the time.

His fingers were playing at the hem of my shirt, occasionally brushing my skin and sending waves of electricity through my body. When I gasped, he was quick to lift me off my feet and make the height difference less of a problem. I responded with such enthusiasm that, with some effort, I wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Get a room, would you?”

I reluctantly broke the kiss and turned my head in the direction in which the voice came, only to see Viktoria with a look of mock-disgust. I then glanced down to see that she was with Paul, his expression mirroring his aunt’s.

I giggled. “If it we were anyone else, you wouldn’t pay any mind.”

“Yes,” she smirked. “But, he is my brother. I don’t want to see him getting it on, period. I don’t want to see anyone doing so, actually.” She glanced down at her nephew. “Poor Paul. He has to be scarred for life.”

At the sound of his name, Paul broke out of his trance and frowned. “I am not.”

“I think she’s being overdramatic,” I muttered.

Dimitri gave a small, soft laugh. “It seems that way.”

Viktoria rolled her eyes. “Could you two please untangle yourselves and get to the Moroi dorms? That Christian guy is getting my last nerve.”

Dimitri scowled, while I laughed; we both obliged and were walking toward the dorms within a few seconds.

“Now, how difficult is it for you not to go at it like rabbits?” Viktoria asked after a long stretch of silence.

“I’d put it right up there with rocket science,” I mused.

Despite his sister’s laugh, Dimitri grimaced. “It wouldn’t be so bad, had I not been interrupted by my perverted sister and everything ended properly.”

I snorted with laughter.

Viktoria, on the other hand, harrumphed. “You two are disgusting.”

“Don’t interrupt next time,” I suggested. “Just ignore it and keep walking.”

“Believe me; I would have, if the princess hadn’t wanted to see you right away.” She glared at us. “And for goodness sake, you two look a mess.”

Dimitri and I exchanged glances before looking over ourselves. Lo and behold, we both looked disheveled. I’m sure it’d look like we’d just had a fight, on most days. With the rumors going around, however, it’d looked like we’d…well, what we just did.

I stopped and began running my fingers through my hair, then straightened my clothes the best I could. Dimitri did the same. Once we looked presentable, we continued walking.

“It’s a real shame that your relationship has to be a secret,” Viktoria rambled on. “You two make a great couple.”

“This coming from the girl who was complaining about us just a few minutes ago?” I teased.

“Hey, I’d prefer not to walk outside and see anyone making out. Do all of that behind closed doors.” Her face fell into a scowl. “And don’t tell me about it. My brother’s love life is best kept a secret from me.”

I couldn’t help myself. “Oh, no offense or anything, but does bipolar disorder happen to run in your family?” Dimitri shot me a look that clearly said ‘shut up.’

“Possibly. I’ve always questioned it myself.” Viktoria shrugged. “Why?”

I smiled smugly. “Oh, nothing. I was just curious.”

Our walk ended in silence, other than Paul’s occasional ‘Look at that’ or ‘wow’ when looking over the buildings.

When we entered the Moroi dorms, I was almost immediately pulled down to sit between Lissa and Adrian on a sofa and attacked with questions by the two of them—and Eddie. I shot a desperate look at Dimitri, who stuck to his word and explained everything that I had told him earlier in the infirmary.