𝐈 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ▸ After Spokane Rose is perilously close to breaking. Discovered in her bed, Dimitri is forced to leave the Academy. Let down by almost everyone she knows and cares for, pulled between duty and love...
"So the Queen is heading to Moscow until Monday, and I won't be going with her," Eddie started.
"Hmm?" Rose replied distractedly.
"So I was wondering, what's there to do around here on a weekend?"
Rose looked up from her vast breakfast. It was 5.30 am, and she was loading up on food before her 6am training session with Dimitri. As he was at a loose end, they'd invited Eddie to join them. Never usually one for early morning training sessions, Vika had decided to join them today, too.
"Well there's the Spring Dance tonight," Vika said excitedly. "You should come to that!"
"I don't know," Eddie said. "Are you guys going?"
"Yeah. Vika's going with Nikolai, I'm going solo, and Dimitri volunteered to be one of the Guardian chaperones. Can't you just see him lurking around making sure no one's getting too 'friendly?'" Rose giggled.
"You're such a hypocrite, Belikov," Eddie sniggered. "Didn't you want to go with Rose?"
Dimitri grinned. "Of course I did. But we're keeping our relationship quiet from the students. I figured if I went as chaperone I could steal a couple of dances," he said, looking across the table at Rose with a loving expression.
"You should go with Rose, Eddie," Vika suggested, sounding a little deflated. Rose heard the tone of Viktoria's voice and looked up curiously. Hmm. Now Eddie was here, Vika seemed a lot less excited to be attending with Nikolai, Rose noticed.
"Yeah come on, Castile. We'll show them how to cut up the dance floor St. Vlad's style," Rose laughed. "Besides, some of the guys here are a little too interested. If you come as my date, it might deter them a little."
Eddie looked to Dimitri who shrugged and nodded. "Just save me a couple of slow dances," he said, winking at Rose. "Eddie - we're headed to our family house in Baia Saturday morning – did you want to come for the weekend? We return early Monday ready for my 8 am combat class," Dimitri explained.
"Nah dude, it's ok. I don't want to be any bother."
"You won't be a bother, seriously," Viktoria responded right away. "Mama loves it when the house is full – and she'd like to meet a friend of Rose and Dimka's from St. Vlad's, I promise!"
Dimitri agreed. "She's right. Mama would be upset if she knew we'd left you here alone for a weekend while we came home. There's plenty of room at the house, and we can show you a bit of real life in Siberia."
"If you're sure? It sounds a lot more fun than hanging out here where I don't know anyone," Eddie agreed.
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"So how long have you known Rose?" Inna was asking Eddie as they stood with the other Novices in the morning combat class, watching Dimitri demonstrate different chokeholds, and how best to do them on taller and shorter opponents.
