Rumor Has It

I really hadn’t seen Dimitri’s family since before the field experience began. And I’m not going to lie; it felt weird saying goodbye. Weird, yet heartbreaking. They had insisted that they needed to get back so that pregnancy hormones didn’t go wild, but I had a feeling that they were also leaving because of the breach in the wards.

Viktoria dragged me along saying things like “you’re like family,” “they’ll be devastated if you don’t show…” Oh and my personal favorite: “Paul’s keeping molnija count on you and Dimka.”

So, like Dimitri and Viktoria, I nearly had the life squeezed out of me by Olena and my face was covered with traces of the lipstick she wore. Yet, she had pulled me to the side, out of hearing range from those around the private jet (the academy at least insisted on making sure they at least got back safely, if they weren’t going to extend their stay).

Her eyes rested on me. “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“Rose, you’ve made my son happy.”

I gaped at her. “What?”

“Have you really not noticed?” She chuckled.

“Well…” I couldn’t help but revel in the memories of Dimitri and my stolen moments throughout the campus. It’s then that I realized that, even though I’m the person he’s closest to, he’s more open than I’d ever known him to be now. He definitely smiled more. A lot more. I think that’s all that Olena wanted. “I have, come to think of it.”

Olena smiled as she placed her hands on either of my shoulders. “You have no idea what that means to me.” Her face fell for the slightest second, but she composed herself. “I won’t lie to you; I truly thought that Dimka would become more than friends with Natasha Ozera.” When I grimaced, she let out a sigh. “I know all about her offer. His refusal did surprise me, with my knowledge of their friendship. When he told me about it, I knew that it had to take someone rather important for my son to not agree to something Tasha offered. I had to meet you. We all had to meet you. Believe me, if Karolina and Sonya could be here, they would be.” There was now a glint in her eye, one that showed undeniable approval. “As it turns out, I was right. No matter your age difference and being guardians, what you two have is, well, special. Honestly, Rose, you’re part of the family now.”

I’m not a fan of becoming all emotional when told something so sincere; in fact, I was the one laughing during movies when that happened. But I couldn’t hold back a smile and even try to avoid the stinging in my eyes. Damn. “I think you may be crediting me more than I deserve.”

She chuckled. “No, I don’t think that I am, дочь.”

At my, no doubt, confused expression she laughed and opened her mouth to reply, but a deep voice, one with a not-so-thick Russian accent sounded. “It means daughter.”

Olena and I turned to see Dimitri, smiling brightly.

“How much did you hear?” I asked.

“From our relationship being special on after,” he said with a shrug. His smile then fell into a frown. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the plane leaves in ten minutes.”

Olena let out an exasperated sigh and began walking in the direction of the plane. Dimitri and I followed.

A few minutes, hugs, kisses, and goodbyes had passed and Olena had stopped halfway up the steps to board the plane. She swiftly turned around, once again smiling. “I’d love to see you all soon.” She turned to me. “Make sure that these two write and call regularly. You should too, Rose.”

I nodded. At least she was asking me to do something possible. Yeva had cornered me just before leaving the guest housing and suggested that I learn the Russian language. I had hard enough time calling her ‘babushka,’ like she had asked; I had no idea how I’d achieve the entire language. Well, and she also suggested that grass green would be a lovely color for Lissa. I just had no idea why she’d tell me that. Nevertheless, Olena was a lot less complicated, for I was grateful. “Of course.”

She blinked back a few tears, muttered a goodbye, and finally boarded the plane.

Another few minutes passed and the plane was beginning to take off and we, meaning Dimitri, Viktoria, and I, had to clear the area. We all did…with great reluctance.

“I’m going to miss them,” Viktoria sighed as we made our way to the cafeteria, once the plane was in the air and out of sight.

“Me too,” said Dimitri.

I felt like I was intruding a sibling bonding moment. Therefore, I started picking up my pace, only to be pulled back by Dimitri.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

“You two need to spend time together. Bond,” I answered.

“No,” Viktoria mused, “you’re like my sister. You can be a part of these conversations. Plus, Babushka said that you and Dimka—”

“Viktoria,” Dimitri scolded.

“What?” she asked innocently. “You know it’s true. I’ve seen the—”

He growled something in Russian; she quickly fell silent.

However, I was curious. “Why are evading—?”

“Rose,” he warned.

Viktoria grumbled something. I only caught ‘scared,’ ‘uncertain,’ and ‘idiot.’

I sighed. “Fine.”

…

“You don’t have the faintest idea what topic they’ve been talking about?” Lissa asked, crossing her legs from her sitting stance on top of a desk in an unused classroom. “Guardian Belikov doesn’t seem like the type of person to avoid something.”

“He usually doesn’t,” I said bitterly, thinking of our constant bickering around Christmastime, and shifted in my seat. I shook my head and propped my legs on the desktop of a desk in front of me. “That’s what makes this so…weird.”

“What makes what so weird?” Adrian asked as he entered the room.

“Guardian Belikov—”

“Dimitri,” I corrected her.

“—isn’t telling Rose something,” she continued as if I hadn’t said anything, “and she can’t leave it alone.”

Adrian raised his eyebrows curiously at me, gaze amused. “Maybe he’s planning something?” he suggested. “After all, your birthday is what…next week?”

“Nine days,” I said, without much thought. “I doubt that’s what he’s doing, unless Viktoria’s forcing him.”

“You never know.”

“No, but—” A thought occurred to me then. “You know something about this!”

“Possibly.” He ran a hand through his stylishly messy hair. “Not that you’ll get anything out of me. Not even,” he mused, eyebrows waggling, “for a kiss, little dhampir.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want to know, if that’s the price.”

“Are you sure?” His lazy smile plastered on his face.

“Positive.”

Lissa let out an exasperated sigh. “Be nice, Rose.”

“Fine,” I grumbled. “Just get on with your practice.”

And so they did. While Adrian was getting dead plants to blossom, Lissa was having trouble with dreamwalking. Well, at least I think she was. Once I had fallen asleep to be their guinea pig, she never even flickered in my dreams, though Adrian had a few times. Lissa was starting to feel a little frustrated that he had learned one of her tricks and she couldn’t learn one of his…well, the one she wanted to learn. She mastered seeing auras rather quickly.

Afterward, Lissa scurried off to find Christian. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky to get away from Adrian.

He decided to walk me to my dorm, despite my protests.

“Really, I can walk upstairs and unlock my room without any help,” I said as he opened the dhampir dorm building’s door open.

“I’m only being the gentleman,” he breathed.

“Yeah, yeah.” I stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned around to see him right behind me. “Really, I’ll be fine.”

“I know.” He tilted his head to the side, as if deep in thought.

“Well,” I said, “then go.”

He smiled lazily again. “Sure thing, little dhampir.”

Adrian left, but not before pulling me into a hug and kissing my cheek.

Any other day, I probably would have yelled at and slapped him, but I was too preoccupied with the possible intentions of my mentor. I’d just have to deal with Adrian some time later.

I ran up the stairs, suddenly remembering that Viktoria was my roommate. Maybe I could get some answers out of her.

Only I couldn’t speak when I stepped through the door.

And I guess I couldn’t hear anything either.

I was brought back to reality by a familiar hand placed on my shoulder. “Rose,” he sighed, “I’ve been calling after you for—” He must have noticed that I was staring ahead. I expected him to follow my gaze…and I know he had when his grip on my shoulder tightened considerably.

It took a moment, but his hand disappeared from my shoulder completely and he was storming across the room.

After a few seconds of registering everything, I ran after him and hopped on his back, my arms locked around his neck and my legs locked around his abdomen. My action made him stop walking, but he was prying me off himself.

I tightened my hold around his neck. “Dimitri, stop.”

“Get off me,” he growled in response.

“Dimka!” Viktoria shouted. She had gotten up from her compromising position on her bed. “Please. It’s not what it looks like.”

All he did was grunt, but I think that was partially because of my position.

“Dimka,” Viktoria cried, “please.”

He relaxed considerably over the next few minutes. It’s not that I didn’t trust him—I did—but I couldn’t be so sure he wouldn’t lose his self-control again. I muttered, “Я тебя люблю.” It surprised me at how I hadn’t struggled saying it, but with a few days of constant practice, I at least could easily say that Russian phrase easily. I heard Viktoria gasp, but I was focused on what I could see of Dimitri’s face. “Promise me that you’ll stay calm.”

He briefly closed his eyes. “I promise.”

I hesitated, but released my holds on him, nonetheless, and hopped to the floor. I then turned to the Moroi that made this all worse than it ever should have been. “It’d probably be best if you leave, Zeklos.”

One look at me and then one at Dimitri allowed Jesse to agree and flee the room.

There then was a long, awkward silence between the three of us.

“Do you want me to stay or…” I began.

“I’d feel a lot better if you’d stay,” Dimitri replied bluntly.

Within another few minutes, Viktoria was sitting on her bed, I was laying down on mine, and Dimitri, surprisingly, was sprawled out next to me. I didn’t question him; I just figured it was his way of trying to calm down without hitting something.

“What were you thinking?” Dimitri asked.

Viktoria just stared at him. “I’ve gotten to know him.”

“I don’t want you around him anymore.”

“Why?”

“He’s only taking advantage of you, Viktoria.”

“How do you know that?”

The question may have been aimed at her brother, but I felt obligated to answer. “Because that’s how Jesse Zeklos is. He’s made a few rounds with the dhampir girls here.” I grimaced. “Unfortunately, I can say that I have a past with him. Once…once…” I spared a look at Dimitri. I had a feeling he was thinking back to the day he caught Jesse and I in a similar situation…Though, I was beginning to push him away, instead of encouraging him. I was going to refer to the day he told me that he had beaten up their father, but I didn’t know how that’d work out. “Needless to say, your brother walked in on Jesse and me one day—No, ‘walking in’ is too subtle a term. More like ‘barged in.’ Anyway…My point is that it’s best not to spend any time with Jesse Zeklos. He’s been trying to make my life hell ever since and he’s on the verge of succeeding.”

“I see…” Viktoria said absently.

The bed shifted a little and I glanced over to see Dimitri now sitting up. “Promise me, V.”

Viktoria pushed her hair back, eyeing her brother closely. Her face softened from a scowl to a small smile. “Okay.”

Dimitri grinned. “Great, well—”

“Just as long as the both of you promise not to be all over each other when I’m around.”

I laughed. “I think that’s fair.”