Dimitri

"Hey, Comrade."

I felt the smile turn up the corners of my lips before I even looked up from my phone. Rose was coming toward me from across Court.

My welcoming smile faltered when I saw the expression on her face. She too was smiling, but one side of her mouth quirked downward in the way it did only when she was nervous.

"Everything all right, Roza?" I asked as I enfolded her in my arms.

All around us, the reconstruction efforts were ongoing. Lissa had brought in human and dhampir teams to help with the rebuilding of the Moroi capital, which had sustained grievous damage under the ferocity of the Strigoi attack. The Strigoi armies that had brought the war to the heart of the Moroi world had melted away as quickly as they'd appeared: guardian and Alchemist networks were still vigilantly watching for increased Strigoi activity on the East Coast as an indicator as to their whereabouts, but so far there was no sign of them. Most likely, without their Grand Master, their unity had crumbled, and they had turned on each other as soon as they'd fled. Many of them would have survived the ensuing Strigoi wars, but my hope was that the Strigoi would have done most of the work for us and eliminated themselves as a threat – for now, at least.

Still, though, it had been a worrying precedent. No one had even dreamt that the Strigoi would be able to mobilise in that way. Lissa had chaired numerous security meetings with the most senior Moroi advisers and ministers in her government, and, to the chagrin of some of them, included some prominent guardians – myself and Rose included – in the discussions. She was living up to her pledge to include the dhampirs in decision-making, a pledge that had seen a great deal of backlash in Moroi society – and yet, a surprising level of support. Maybe there was hope yet for the Moroi.

Rose looked at me now with dark eyes that gave away nothing. "Everything's fine," she said, pasting on a smile that quickly melted away when I raised an eyebrow.

"You really think I don't know you well enough by now to tell a fake smile from a real one?" I asked. "Come now, Roza. Tell me the truth."

Rose sighed. "Okay. Well, Alberta's just contacted me…"

"Oh, Alberta!" I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. I'd always liked Alberta while working at St. Vladimir's, and hadn't seen her in a very long time. "How is she?" Then I remembered Rose was telling me something. "Sorry, never mind. What did she want?"

"Lissa's followed through on her promise to expand guardian training for Moroi students at the academies, and as St. Vladimir's is the leading Moroi academic institution in the United States, the programme there needs to be especially rigorous…"

I waited.

"Alberta's-asked-me-to-run-it," Rose blurted out really quickly.

I stared, then laughed. "Roza! I'm so proud of you! That's an amazing opportunity!"

"Yeah, but…" Rose bit her lip.

"But what?"

"It means I'd have to abandon Lissa," she said quietly. "And you'd have to stay here."

"Oh." The initial excitement drained away, and I realised what that meant.

No more waking up together in the morning. No more surprising each other with breakfast in bed. No more training together, no more lunch dates, no more passionate, heated stolen moments when we knew no one else was watching…

"Yeah," Rose said quietly. "Oh."

As I tried to come up with the words, she said quickly, "We don't have to decide what we do right now. We can –"

"There's no 'we' about it."

Rose blinked. "What?"

"Roza, I love you, and of course I want to wake up to you and come home to you every day. But if you think I'm going to try and influence your decision on a matter as important as this – a decision that must be yours entirely – then you don't know me as well as I thought you did." I brought Rose's hands to my mouth and kissed them. "I love you, Rose. And whatever you decide, we'll make it work."

"Montana's kinda far," Rose murmured, but her eyes were already glimmering.

"Further than Siberia?" I teased. She laughed, and our lips met in a kiss.

"I love you, Dimka."

We broke apart as we heard a throat being cleared. An awkward-looking Moroi messenger stood close by, clearly wondering how to attract our attention.

"Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Belikov," he greeted us. "Her Majesty wishes to speak to you both."

~~ Page Break ~~

"I already know what you're going to tell me, Rose," Lissa said as we walked into her bedroom. She and Christian were lying on her bed together. Lissa was dressed in a loose-fitting T-shirt I recognised as Christian's, and a pair of sweatpants, not looking at all very queenly. Christian, I was dismayed to see, was not wearing very much at all. He grinned sarcastically as he noticed me noticing, and shot me a wink.

"You do?" Rose was asking Lissa, clearly trying not to notice Christian.

Lissa scoffed. "I'm the queen, Rose. Did you really think Alberta would've made you her offer without first consulting me? Who do you think urged her to consider you to begin with?"

"You encouraged her?" Rose seemed shocked.

Lissa bounced off her bed, and came to take Rose's hands in hers, in a gesture remarkably similar to what I'd just done. "Rose," she said gently. "This is a massive opportunity. You cannot turn this down. I will not let you turn this down. Besides, this is bigger than you. This is about sending a message to the Moroi nation – their queen takes these training programmes so seriously, she's sending her own guardian to run the inaugural pilot scheme." She laughed, though I detected a hint of sadness in it. "There's no one better I can imagine to help train young Moroi. You were the most badass student at St. Vladimir's, and you're going to help turn the next generation of Moroi into badasses too. I know it."

"Liss, I don't know what to say…"

"Say yes." Lissa eyeballed her best friend. "That's an order."

Rose turned to look at me, and I nodded at her encouragingly. She swallowed, then turned back to face Lissa and nodded. "Okay."

Lissa squealed and clapped her hands, but Rose held up one finger. "Hold up! I will not be starting until I have thoroughly vetted and examined every single candidate who puts himself or herself forward to replace me as your guardian. Your security will not be jeopardised by this."

"No, I quite agree," Lissa nodded.

"And Dimitri." Rose turned back to me. "You're to help me. After all, we're looking for my replacement. You're going to be spending an awful lot of time with Lissa's guardian, after all."

"And so we come to the second reason we called you here today." Christian, too, got off Lissa's bed. I was gratified to see that he'd managed to pull on a pair of basketball shorts, though his chest remained bare.

"Dimitri," Christian announced, "you're officially fired as my guardian."

"What?!" Rose and I said at the same time.

"Oh, Guardian Belikov, I'm sorry to hear of your recent unemployment," Lissa continued smoothly. "However, I'd like to take this opportunity to present you with a position of high strategic importance." She looked at me and Janine. "Guardian Belikov, your queen invites you to take up a position as co-chair of the first Moroi Defence Council," she said proudly.

"What?!" I repeated.

"Alongside me," Christian piped in cheerfully.

I stared at Lissa and Christian. "You can't be serious. Won't there have to be elections for that kind of thing?"

"Actually, it's my prerogative to appoint ministers to the Moroi government," Lissa said sweetly. "As monarch – as elected monarch, if that quells any compunctions you have over the possible illiberalism at work here. I can't think of anyone better suited than you, one of the best-known guardians with a unique knowledge of the Strigoi threat, and Christian, a royal Moroi who's been advocating Moroi combatants since day one, to establish the Defence Council. Your job will be to explore and facilitate Moroi fighting programmes and expand the study of defensive magic. It's high time we turned the Moroi from a sheep people to one that actually stands up for itself when the wolves come for us." Lissa raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

I glanced at Rose: her eyes were shining. She nodded at me frantically.

"Lissa, I'd be honoured, but –" I began.

"Good! Then it's decided. Oh, this is going to be so important, you guys – a royal Moroi working with his former guardian," Lissa exclaimed. "This'll symbolise the new relationship between Moroi and dhampirs."

"Your Majesty?" We turned at the newcomer's voice. Janine Hathaway stood at the entrance. At Lissa's nod, she came in, her neutral guardian expression not even betraying the slightest indication of surprise at Christian's state of dress.

"Perfect timing, Guardian Hathaway," Lissa greeted her warmly. "You're just in time for me to offer you the leadership position in the first-ever Dhampir Interests Committee."

Janine's eyes bugged out. "What?"

"You'll have to tender your resignation with your employer, of course, but I think he'll be amenable," Lissa promised. "This is a great opportunity, Janine. To serve the dhampirs and to bring them up to an equal footing with the Moroi. We've subjugated the dhampirs for too long – they need representation in our government. Will you do that?"

Janine couldn't speak – for once, her guardian expression had fallen.

Christian cleared his throat. "Listen, Dimitri, Janine," he said. "These are historic times. We need people like you in government, helping to lead the people. The three of us will be working incredibly closely as we work to integrate the Moroi and dhampirs – and I'd say experience shows we make a pretty good time. Your queen is asking this of you, and so am I."

"And, for what it's worth, so am I," Rose chimed in.

"Yes, thank you, Rose," Christian said. "So? What do you say?"

Janine turned to face Lissa. "Your Majesty, it would be my honour," she breathed.

Lissa turned to face me, but I was already nodding. "You already know what the answer is," I told her.

Things passed in a blur after that: Lissa opened up some champagne, and we all got to drinking together. I toasted my former employer, my new co-worker and my friend Christian, without whom none of this would have been possible. I allowed myself to hope that things were changing, and for the better.

Afterwards, Rose and I found ourselves in the corridor, heading back to our room.

"Things are going to be different from now on," I said to Rose. "I'm going to be here in Pennsylvania, and you're going to be in Montana."

"I know."

"But we're going to make it work," I repeated, and I believed it. "I love you, Roza. I love you so much I went into a Strigoi nest for you. We're going to make this work, and we're going to –"

"Dimka."

"Hmmm?"

Rose's eyes were sparkling. "You talk too much," she breathed as she pressed her lips to mine.

So I did as suggested. I shut up.