"Thorn, are you ok? You have been out of it for well over an hour now." Spiridon asked me as he kneeled in front of me. Opening my eyes I saw that I was surrounded by everyone in my group.
"Yes Donnie I am fine, thank you thank you for asking. I was pulled to court, Dimitri and the pathetic little princess got into a fight."
"Want to tell us what it was about?" Mia asked.
Eddie had called her, after we left court, to see if she wanted to join us. And she did. Of course, she did it mostly because she wanted to be with her boyfriend, Eddie. Which was fine by me, I wanted them both to be happy, even if I wasn't. But she also did it to support me, one of her only friends. She said it hadn't been hard to choose between me and Lissa because she had seen the way that Lissa had been treated me and she'd hated it. And Lissa for it.
It had been a good move for them, they'd managed to not only get engaged, but also married. Their wedding had been at our compound here in Turkey, and it was absolutely beautiful. Now, they have their first baby on the way, and I was very very happy for both of them. They were both over the moon with joy, at the prospect of becoming parents and everyone else was thrilled for them as well.
"It seems as though Lissa and Tasha both have been trying to get Dimitri to be with them. And he doesn't want anything whatsoever to do with either one of them, but that has not stopped either of their attempts to persuade him. She told him I was dead, and he threw an absolute fit. He screamed at her and telling her that I wasn't dead and when he told her that I was Queen Thorn she wanted to have me arrested..."
"WHAT?!!! Why?! What the fuck for?!!!" Chris interrupted with angry questions.
"She said that I have gone rogue, and the guardians do not operate like we do. And she is right about that, because they don't work the way that we do. So, in light of that she thought that I should be arrested. All because we take the fight to the strigoi, because we go on the offensive instead of the defensive. That because, instead of waiting for them to come after us and then hiding like cowards from them, we go after them instead."
"What else happened?" Adrian asked.
"What makes you think that anything else happened?" I asked as I evaded the question and eye contact.
"Thorn, don't forget that both Adrian and I can see it in your aura. So, tell us what else happened."
I sighed. "Dimitri told her that if he knew where I was and if he thought for a moment that I would allow him to. That he would join me in less than half a heartbeat."
"How would you feel about that?" Mishka asked me.
"What?" I asked still evading.
"Dimitri coming here." Sonya replied.
"He is not joining us."
"Why not? We could really use him, remember he is the stoic antisocial Russian Battle God." Eddie said.
"He is a god period." I murmured and they laughed at me.
"Why would he come to us?" I asked still trying my absolute damnedest to avoid what I knew that they are all thinking.
"Because he still loves you." My father answered from his position near the door.
"Did you all just suddenly forget the words, love fades... mine has?"
"Kizim, no one else may not know, but I do. I KNOW that you have watched Dimitri from the day that you developed that power. And before that you watched him through the bond you have with that bitch Vasilisa. So, I know that you know that he still loves you." Unfortunately, no one looked at all shocked at this information, actually they all looked as though they expected it. (my daughter)
"How did you know that?" I asked him completely flabbergasted.
"Because when I saw him at court I would do or say something in front of him, a couple of times, just to see if you would show your hand. And you have, time and time again. Remember when my wallet was supposedly stolen?"
I nodded at him.
"It wasn't, but I mentioned it to Pavel in front of Dimitri. Do you remember asking me a few days later if I got my wallet back?"
Damn, my old man was as sneaky and conniving as I am. That must be where I get so many of my character traits because I sure as hell don't get them from Janine Hathaway. Well, not as far as I know anyway.
I sighed, "he can't come here. He is a guardian again and his job and title mean more to him than anything else in the world aside from his family."
"Again, I know that you know that that is simply not true." He informed me stubbornly.
"Can we please just talk about something else?" I asked.
"All right, for now anyway. Anyway, Tatiana wants all of us to come to court for a meeting."
"All of whom? And why?"
"The whole of team one."
"What does she know about our team?"
"Everything."
"Wait, so she knows that I am Queen Thorn?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure, that she doesn't just want us there so she can arrest me?"
"No kizim, that is not why she wants us there." (my daughter)
"How do you know?"
He sighed before answering, "o benim kardeşim olduğunu için."
"WHAT?!!!" I, of course, knew what he said. Because he had taught me to not only speak Turkish, but also Russian and Romanian.
All of our people were at the very least bilingual, most of us are multilingual. If they weren't when they joined us then they were soon after. If someone joined us and spoke a language that we didn't, they taught it to all of us. So, I now spoke a total of seven languages. And that comes in VERY handy when we are in mixed company.
"Because she is my sister."
"Rose! You are my cousin!"
"What have I told you about calling me that?!" I hissed at Adrian as my head whipped around to face him.
"Rose is dead, I am Thorn."
"Ok, but still you are my cousin." I just rolled my eyes at him. He had to know, that blood or not, we were already family.
"Baba, are you serious?" (daddy)
"Yes, kizim." (my daughter)
"Why did you not tell me this before?"
"Because, I wanted you to change your mind about her before you knew, and thankfully you have."
He was right, I had changed my mind about Tatiana, she was not the queen bitch that I had always accused her of being. She was just worried, scared and lonely.
At least twice a year, since we left court, Aunt Tati had come to visit us in whichever compound that we were staying in at that particular time. I guess now I knew why she had always insisted that I call her Aunt Tati.
Usually when she visited, it was at Christmas and Easter. But occasionally, if she could get away, she would also come once during the summer months.
And every time she came for a visit, she would bring Adrian's parents Uncle Nathan and Aunt Daniella as they insisted that I call them, with her.
"Then why does she want us there? And why in all of her visits did she not let on that she knew who and what we are?"
"One of the reasons that she wants you there is because she wants you to retrain the guardians, she wants you to train them to operate as we do. She thinks that it is time that the sanctioned guardians changed the way that they do things. She has seen how successful you have been, and how many strigoi that you have managed to wipe out. And she thinks..." I watched as he swallowed deeply.
"She thinks what baba?" (daddy)
"She thinks that if the moroi and dhampir world were under a new ruler, and the guardians were trained in a new way. That the strigoi could possibly be wiped out soon, rather than letting them grow stronger and stronger with every passing day."
He stopped and took a breath before continuing. "Kiz bebek, your teams have successfully cleared out most, if not all, of the strigoi from not only the United States, but also from Russia, Romania, the United Kingdom and Turkey in just two years. Now can you just imagine what could happen if we had several teams in every country where there is still even a medium strigoi presence? You could end this plague kizim." He pleaded. (baby girl, my daughter)
"Ok, I like and agree with that reason, it IS time for the moroi and dhampir world to come out of the freaking dark ages. Are there any other reasons that she wants us there?"
"Yes." He cautiously answered.
"And that reason is?"
"Like I said, she thinks that it is time that our world was under new rule."
"Annnddd?"
"Your aunt is a queen kizim. I am a prince... and my... my daughter... is a princess" he stuttered. (my daughter)
I had just taken a drink from my Mt. Dew when he said that and I got choked on it, and what I did not get choked on I spit across the room all over poor Adrian. Thankfully, just on his shirt and not his face. He just looked at me and rolled his eyes.
"Thanks so much, Thorn." He said sarcastically.
"I am so sorry Addie, but baba took me by surprise." (daddy)
"I can see that, since I am wearing the evidence."
I turned to my father. "Baba, I am a dhampir!" I exclaimed while ignoring Adrian. (daddy)
"You are a dhampir princess, the very first and only dhampir princess to be precise. If the moroi chose, any of their dhampir children could be royalty. But the rest are all too petty and jealous. Plus, you are already a queen."
"That is just a nickname baba." (daddy)
"Uh, no, actually it's not." Ben said.
"Excuse me?" I inquired.
"All of those that we have restored, have actually named you as their rightful queen. And they all refuse to go back to the moroi world just to be slaves to the royals and unappreciated for the sacrifices that they make for them." I saw all the guardians and former guardians in the room nodding their agreement, approval and understanding.
"When did all of this happen?"
"About six months after we started all of this."
"Why has no one told me?!"
He pointed at me, "that is why." He answered calmly.
"We were all worried about how you would react, Thorn. Sometimes, just in case you haven't noticed, you have a bit of a temper. Have you not noticed that all of our compounds are overflowing with the returned?"
"Well, yes I have, but I never knew why. I mean, of course I realized that they were not going back to the moroi world, I just didn't realize why they weren't going back. Damn it, I can't be an actual queen; I don't know how. Not to mention the fact that all of those snotty stuck up royal assholes will have a diarrhea shit fit about a dhampir royal."
"Let them, after everything that you have done and all the people that you have helped you have earned that title Thorn. And if they don't like it then they can always leave and go out into the human world. Or they can even try to establish their own society." Chris said.
"That is not all that's bothering you about this though is it?" Sonya asked.
"Damn, stupid aura seeing spirit users." I mumbled while looking down and my hands that were in my lap.
Everyone laughed at me.
"No. I can't go back there and stay."
"Why not?"
I looked at her like she was crazy. "I bet you can guess." I replied sarcastically.
"Belikov." Donnie answered.
I nodded at him, "I accused him of being like his father, even though I knew damn well that he wasn't. I also accused him of hurting me on purpose, when I knew damn well that he had never and would never hurt me on purpose. Then there was that stupid rape comment. Why in the hell can I never just keep my damn mouth shut and walk away?" I groaned that last part.
"Thorn, everyone says and does things they don't mean when they are hurt, angry and upset. Belikov knows that, he is not really a stupid man, although he does act like one sometimes." He grumbled the last part.
"But then everyone has their moments like that. Plus, if he actually took the things that you said to heart. Do you really think that he would still be taking up for you with Vasilisa? Or wanting to come and be with you again?" Mishka asked.
"But I would have to have guardians." I whined and pouted.