Never Too Late: A VA Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Three

I nodded and opened the door wide, stepping out of the way so he could walk in uninhibited. “What brings you here?” I questioned.

“Princess,” he began in a hesitant voice, “I understand that you are great friends with Adrian Ivashkov, but he is different. He hurt Rose.”

I snorted, cutting off his speech. “Not you too! I’m telling you, Adrian would never do that. Rose must be being compelled to think that. I’ve been hanging out with Adrian and he is completely normal. I saw his aura; he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t hurt Rose. You can’t hide that kind of thing from a spirit user,” I told him earnestly. I wasn’t mad at Rose; compulsion was a strong thing, and I was devising ways to break Rose of it.

Guardian Belikov opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off once more.

“I’m thinking about breaking the compulsion. Maybe if I use compulsion to make her tell the truth, it’ll break,” I mused out loud.

“What?!” Guardian Belikov spluttered, showing emotion on his face for the first time. “You want to use compulsion on your best friend?”

I felt myself blush. When he put it that way, it sound much worse than it was. “Well, no, it’s not gonna be that bad. It's just to help identify-”

“No.”

I looked at him in shock. I had never heard that tone of voice used on me. “Guardian Belikov-”

“You will not use compulsion on Rose, no matter the circumstances,” he snapped.   

I felt my brow furrow. What was going on with these two? They were always spending time together, cuddling, Rose talked to him like she would any friend...Were they together? I considered that for a moment, before deciding no. Guardian Belikov would never allow that, and Rose would have told me if they were together. She trusted me, and knew she wouldn’t be able to keep something this big away from me.

“I won’t use compulsion; I’m sorry. You’re right, it’s wrong.” I felt guilt seep into me as I realised what I had been considering doing. What kind of friend was I?

“Princess...I was wondering if maybe you could wait to practice magic until after Rose had the baby,” Guardian Belikov suddenly said.

“W-what?!” I cried out.

“It puts stress on you, which puts stress on Rose. She is always worried that you will do something to harm yourself because of the darker side to your magic, and she doesn’t need any more stress at the moment.” He sighed, sounding weary and, for the first time, I realised how tired he truly looked. I felt my concern spike.

“Don’t worry about it Guardian Belikov. I’ll be fine. Tell Rose  not to worry about me; I can take care of myself. Or better yet, I’ll tell her myself the next time I see her.” I smiled, proud of myself. Rose would be fine, I will be able to practice my magic and hang out with Adrian and Christian. I would be careful while handling the darkness so Rose wouldn’t have to worry. Now that I had Christian, there was no chance that I would cut myself. I relaxed.

“Is that all?” I asked.

Guardian Belikov looked frustrated. “Yes. That is all, Princess.” He turned stiffly and walked abruptly out the door, shutting it with controlled anger. I frowned. What was that about?

RPOV:

Despite avoiding Lissa and Adrian, the rest of the vacation was fun. I spent a lot of time with Dimitri, getting to know him even more. It was like we were living in our own little world for those two weeks. Too bad it was now coming to an end, I thought as I climbed the plane to leave.