Rumor Has It

“So what seems to be the problem?” Dr. Olendzki asked.

When I was going to answer, Dimitri’s voice interrupted me. I scowled. I really should have known that he wouldn’t let me speak much. If at all. He must have thought that I would try to say that I was fine and feign a decent state of mind. Maybe he was right about that.

“…and then, I kicked her. She must have been caught off guard because she flew back a few feet and her hand hit the ground with a loud thud.” His voice was level, but I detected his concern. “After a couple of minutes, she moved and could speak…”

The emphasis he used when he said ‘speak’ made me realize that he’d be lecturing me about my rudeness later. I frowned.

The Moroi doctor nodded, clicking the top of her pen repeatedly while Dimitri recited his tale of heroism. She eventually stood up straight from previously leaning against the counter. “It shouldn’t be too bad if she’s her normal self and can walk for the most part.” She crouched down a little to be at my eye level. “He eyes are glazed over and—” she straight up again to examine the back of my head “---where her head hit the ground is raised a little, but that should be gone by Tuesday.” She shrugged. “As far as breathing goes, it’s slightly irregular.” Olendzki glanced at me. “If that doesn’t improve in a few days, come back and see me.”

As soon as we left the doctor’s building, I threw my hands up in the air in exasperation. “Why did you take me there? I could have told you that much and I don’t even have one of those fancy pieces of paper telling people that I’ve done the training.”

“I told you it will help me sleep better,” Dimitri said as he tied his hair back. “Besides, you could have been seriously injured. You’d miss class and I couldn’t…” He shook his head. “You’d fall behind again.”

I smirked. “I’ve managed to catch up after two years. A week or two is nothing.”

Despite his mouth twitched, he frowned. “This is a different story, Rose.”

“Not entirely.”

“No, but—”

“But what?” I felt my eyebrows knit together.

Before I could do anything, he pulled me into the dark shadows of a Moroi dorm, almost trapping me between him and the outside wall of the dorm. From what I could see in the shadows, his eyes were wide. Alert.

I was about to say something, but all words were drowned by his lips on mine. Something I didn’t expect. He had only initiated one of our stolen kisses from what I could remember.

I eventually reacted though, tangling one hand in his hair and another crinkling the fabric of the back of his shirt. One of his hands was in my hair and the other having the nails practically dig into my hip. I gasped.

Dimitri immediately pulled away. “What’s wrong?”

“What has gotten into you?”

“I was worried…” He caressed my cheek. “If you were hurt more than you are, I don’t know what I’d do.”

I leaned into his hand, closing my eyes briefly. “You’re never so open—” I sighed. “Why lose control?”

“Because I…” He looked around frantically, no doubt looking to see who was around.

“You…?” I prompted.

He chuckled. “Always impatient.”

“Come on, Belikov! Quit stalling.” I should have figured that he’d avoid confessing.

“Rose,” he warned.

“What?” I stepped back, away from him.

“You know how I feel. As—”

“As wrong as it is for you to feel that way for multiple reasons. You’re my mentor and I’m your student. You’re twenty-four; I’m seventeen. We have to protect Lissa. I know,” I scoffed. “You always say the same thing, no matter what the situation. Stop playing with my emotions and actually tell me how you feel or stick to being my mentor and I’ll stick to being your student.”

Just thinking those words hurt. I knew how he felt, but I wanted to hear him say it. I was just tired of him implying his feelings. I was tired of being lectured on how wrong it is that we have a relationship.

His face read no emotion. Not even a hint. He was doing that cool seeing-without-actually-seeing thing.

Or at least he was deep in thought.

Dimitri exhaled deeply, after many moments of silence. And he smiled. “Fair enough.”

Confused, I, again, tried the one eyebrow trick. “What?”

“I can’t tell you here. Or now even.”

“Why’s that?”

He nodded to a group of Moroi students doing their best to sneak back into the dorms. “Duty calls. Excuse me for a moment.”

I watched as Dimitri walked towards the chattering Moroi. For once, I did my best to not eavesdrop…

Suffice to say, my best isn’t all that great.

“Oh, hello, Guardian Belikov,” one of the girls greeted him cheerfully.

One of the boys in the group did his best to stepping back appear inconspicuous. From what I could tell, he was also trying to mask his fear. “Guardian Belikov.”

Dimitri unnecessarily pulled himself to full height. “I hope you realize that curfew was twenty minutes ago.”

The girl who spoke up just before shrugged. “That’s why we were heading back to the dorms now. We lost track of time.”

“What…makes you…think…that we care…about curfew?” The words were clearly slurred and from a different guy in the group.

I scoffed when I realized that it was Jesse Zeklos. I glanced over the others with him. I saw Ralf Sarcozy, Camille Conta, and a few non-royals. Being the naïve dhampir that I am, I stepped out of the shadows. I wanted to catch more of the conversation and see the reactions more closely. A few of them were shocked; the others were amused.

Ralf spoke up then. Sort of “Why don’t you…complain to Hathaway? She’s out…after curfew…too!”

Dimitri glanced over his shoulder to see me standing in the vague light. He was frustrated with me. I didn’t expect any less. He just turned his attention back to the others. “Miss Hathaway had an accident and had to be taken to see the doctor on campus. I was escorting her back to dorm, which is excused around here.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What isn’t excused is alcohol. I don’t know how you managed to get your hands on any, but that isn’t what matters at the moment. I hope you all acknowledge that I’ll be reporting you to the headmistress.”

I laughed to myself. As much as I hated being on the receiving end of Dimitri’s lectures, I enjoyed watching him lecture others. Particularly those select few that I didn’t like.

“No one…ever goes… to…Kirova…for punishment,” Jesse hissed.

“I suppose that makes me ‘No one’ then, wouldn’t it?” Dimitri tilted his head to the side as if he was thinking of something. “Or I can deal with you myself.”

I took another step forward, not able to contain myself much longer. “If you don’t mind my interruption, Guardian Belikov,” I began, enjoying myself way too much for the given situation, “but I feel that taking them to Kirova would be a bit too much since they’re just out after curfew and drinking. Guardian Petrov may have a punishment in mind, though.”

Dimitri glanced at me again. I wasn’t winning brownie points with him, but it was too difficult to pass up. And it wasn’t that bad of an idea. Alberta was intimidating. “You may have a point, Ro—Miss Hathaway.”

I smiled. More that he had to correct himself than actually agreeing with me. Moments such as these are the ones where I’d take ‘bitch’ as a compliment.

For the rest of the encounter, I just watched in absolute amusement.

Dimitri eventually began walking down the paved path and I followed suit. He was wearing his guardian mask.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

“What for?”

“I don’t think I made that any easier. Jesse and Ralf really seemed to be—”

“They were trying to get through a punishment by name and family.” He glanced over at me. “It doesn’t matter whether or not they’re royalty when breaking the rules. And trying to take you down with them is disgusting.”

“It’s typical for them though. So, I wasn’t really surprised that they did.”

“You should have stayed hidden.”

“You never said that I had to hide.”

“Rose, do you always have to act on impulse?”

I laughed. “If I did, either you’d have a black eye by now or we’d be hiding in the shadows again.”

“I don’t think you’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

He opened the door to the dhampir dorm and ushered me in. “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.”

“Why?” I asked quickly and it suddenly seemed to be asking a lot of questions lately.

“You don’t let me finish,” he whispered, behind me on the stairs.

I stopped and turned around to face him. “By all means, do.”

Dimitri came to a halt. He was on the stair directly behind me—well, in front now—and extremely close. “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that,” he repeated. “At least in a public area.”

“If you haven’t noticed, this is a school, comrade. Everywhere is public.”

He shook his head. “No, not everywhere.”

“What do you mean?”

“Later. I’ll tell you later.”

I was half-tempted to stomp my foot and complain. I truly wanted to know what he was talking about. Instead, I glanced behind me. “I think that I can make it to my room by myself from here. It’s not that far.”

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue. He simply stepped down. “Fair enough. Goodnight Rose.”

“Night,” I smiled and made my way to the room for the night.
---

The next morning, I entered the cafeteria in a rather jubilant mood.

The smile on my face didn’t even falter when there were more stares and whispers. I simply swiped a doughnut from the line and plopped down in a seat next to Adrian.

I was nibbling on the dough, allowing my mind to wander. The kiss Dimitri and I shared the night before lingered for a while and I sighed dreamily.

Adrian lightly nudged me. I jumped.“Yeah?”

“Why are you in such a good mood today?” His eyes were squinted as he looked me over. No doubt he was trying to understand my aura. And his next words confirmed as much. “Pink…yellow…There are still shadows, but not as many today.”

“Can I not be happy?”

“Why are you happy?”

Damn. Even Adrian was answering questions with questions.

I sighed. “What do you mean?”

“There’s another rumor floating about the academy.” He frowned, leaning back in his chair. “It’s a little worse.”

What the hell was he talking about? “What the hell are you talking about, Adrian?”

“You haven’t heard?”

I shook my head. “I’ve been canceling out everyone for once. I kind of wanted a day to calm down. I don’t think that will happen now.”

“No, I don’t think it will.”

“You’re really not helping.” I glared at him.

“I don’t suppose I am.” He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“Better from you than someone that I want to punch in the face.”

He looked taken aback by that and exaggerated by putting a hand over his heart. “Did I hear you correctly?”

“Don’t push it. I just might want to punch you if you keep up the antics.”

“Fine.” Adrian clasped his hands together and twiddled his thumbs. “Well, the new gossip is—”

“Rose!”

Adrian and I both turned to see Lissa and Christian approaching the table. It was practically another sense of déjà vu.

Lissa looked angry. Christian looked amused.

Lissa just happened to slam her hands down on the table and draw even more attention to me. “What’s with everyone saying you’re pregnant?”