Rumor Has It

If the interruptions kept up, Dimitri and I would be masters of making situations appear inconspicuous in no time.

…Or get caught.

I just hoped that this time wasn’t too obvious.

Judging by the look on my mother’s face, it wasn’t. Then again, I didn’t understand her all too well and I really never intend so.

I frowned. “What are you doing here?”

Janine Hathaway’s eyes narrowed. Other than that, she stayed composed. “Lord Szelsky wanted to come and visit again. Guardian Petrov asked if I could oversee some combat classes.” She nodded at Dimitri. “Guardian Belikov.”

Dimitri nodded in return. “Guardian Hathaway.”

Just as he was about to leave and unceremoniously end of training for the day, Janine spoke again. “I hope Rose is working well.”

He cleared his throat. “As usual. Her staking practices could rival the talent of Guardian Alto and Guardian Petrov.”

I scowled at being compared to Stan, my least favorite teacher.

My mother lost control for less than a second and frowned. However, to my dismay, she went back into guardian mode. “I may have to see that for myself. Seeing as how we’re already here, why don’t we do so now?”

“That seems reasonable enough.”

I loved how he was speaking for me now…but maybe that was a good thing whenever my mother is involved. Once she nodded at him again and walked over to the desk in a far corner of the gym, I began fidgeting with the hem of my shirt.

Dimitri sighed. “I’m staying here until you’re done. It’s best for the dummies so that they’re not destroyed with your fury. It’s also best so that we don’t have an incident similar to the last time you two were in the gym. Not to mention that I’d enjoy keeping my sanity.”

“Do you have any faith in me?”

“I have plenty of faith in you. I just don’t fully trust that you can control your emotions.”

“Wow, thanks,” I muttered as he handed me the silver stake.

“Just behave.”

“And you say I can’t control my emotions.” I laughed a little while later.

Dimitri groaned. He knew that he’d never hear the end of it. “I underestimated you. I’m sorry.”

I grinned, pleased that I had, for once, proven him wrong. “At least you know the truth now. I’m not who I was when you and those other guys brought Lissa and I back to the academy.”

He heaved one of the dummies onto his shoulder. “You aren’t the same. You’ve grown up a lot in a few months. A lot of what you’ve faced traumatizes some people. It’s obvious that—” he grunted as he set the dummy down in a store room “—you’ve been affected by them. If you weren’t, I’d say that there’s something off about you.”

“Well, it has taken its toll,” I said, ignoring his last statement.

“I’ve noticed. I wish you hadn’t gone through…that.”

I frowned, reaching over to touch his arm. As always, my hand burned at the physical contact. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

He glanced down to my hand on his arm. I knew that he was doing his best to control his own feelings, much like he warned me. “Rose, you’ll miss curfew.”

“Don’t I need you so that I don’t get in trouble?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

We walked in silence towards the dhampir dorms then. It was nice. Comfortable.

That was until he had become worried for my health. “Are you not going to eat?”

I blinked. “What?”

“You’ve been in the gym for a while and missed dinner. I figured that you might be hungry.”

Had it really been that long? I was hungry, but I was also exhausted.

I was surprised that Lissa wasn’t trying to get a hold of me through the bond. Maybe Christian was distracting her. I didn’t mind that unless they had one of their romantic escapades in the academy chapel’s attic. One night without being interrupted by them would be fantastic.

I shrugged. “One skipped meal—”

“Rose.”

“What?”

“You should eat.

“It’s late. I doubt that whoever cooks the food will be down there. Really, I’ll be fine.”

He eyed me warily, but would sigh in defeat. “More power to whoever faces you in the breakfast line tomorrow.”

I laughed. “Yeah, well, I’ll just try to get to the cafeteria early tomorrow. Right after our session. Less people will face my wrath if that works out.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Good luck with that, Sleeping Beauty.”

I was tempted to shove him away from me, but decided against it. He was basically right. It was a miracle that I woke up every day to get to the gym for the extra sessions with him. I was a heavy sleeper. Not that that was an unknown fact to the world.
---

The familiar sensation of one of Adrian’s dreams engulfed me from my, otherwise, dreamless sleep.

I found myself on some beach whilst sporting a red bikini top and jean shorts. The nazar my mother had given me for Christmas a few weeks previously was hanging around my neck and the chotki that Lissa had given me was on my wrist.

Typical Adrian.

Speaking of, he was approaching and immune to the sun. Something that wasn’t possible outside of his dreams. He was wearing green trunks that matched his eyes and his hair was perfectly messy as usual. Yeah, he was good looking, but stalking me in my sleep really put me off.

“Little dhampir,” he breathed. “How has your day been?”

“Hell.” I scoffed. “What with the rumors and my mother showing up. Your dream walking just puts the icing on the cake.”

Adrian smiled lazily. “You don’t really mean that.”

“I do.”

He just shrugged and stared out at the ocean.

After a few minutes of silence, I gave in. “Why are you here, Adrian?”

“Considering you don’t give me the time of day to speak, I thought I’d try night.” He shrugged again. “The rumor is getting to you.”

“No, it—”

“Don’t try to deny it, Rose.”

I blinked. He never addressed me with my actual name—or nickname, whatever—unless he was completely serious.

“Okay, fine.” I crossed my arms across my chest. “It is bothering me, but it’s difficult not to ignore it. Dimitri hasn’t done one thing that would lead anyone to make up a rumor about him.”

His eyebrows furrowed as if he were deep in thought. “I think it’s to push your buttons. Rumors like to resurface every few weeks about you, right? And you haven’t really gotten too worried about it all?”

“Well, yeah. But I don’t understand. Why would—How would they know?” I groaned and plopped down onto the sand. “We’re not that obvious.”

“No, you’re not.” He sat next to me, but avoided invading my personal space for once. He seemed to be hurt. “Well, to a degree, you are. When someone looks closely, they can see it in your eyes. Like a light is shining.”

I felt like I should blush at that observation, but, hearing the strain in his voice, I felt guilty. I always shoved Adrian away and never gave him the time of day, as he said. There just wasn’t that connection there that Dimitri and I shared.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Just for things in general. I don’t make it easy on you. I know you’re looking to be friends,” I said, knowing that he wanted more than just a friendship, “and I just push you away.”

“It’s not a problem.” He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “You love him don’t you?”

I bit my lip, making my best attempt at being hesitant. It’s not something that I could deny. “Yes.”

That answer brought back the Adrian I was fond of. He grinned. “Well, then, I’ll try harder. A little competition won’t hurt.”

I laughed. “There’s not much competition.”

His eyebrows rose curiously. “What? Do I have to lace my words with a Russian accent to even have a chance?”

“Definitely not.”

Adrian grimaced playfully and tapped his chin. “Well, I’ll try to come up with something.” He stood up, wiping off sand that had stuck to his trunks and the back of his legs. “For now, I’ll let you sleep.”

I scurried to my feet. “Hold up.”

“What?”

“Friends?” I asked, extending my hand.

“Friends.” Smiling, he took my hand and pulled me into a hug.