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Alberta aiting for uardians’ ad Alberta’s role as captain here was re the lower numbers of wohest woray, and years of working outdoors had weathered her skin

"Welco up atme, and her manner was businesslike, but the fact that she used esture for her That, and I thought I saw a so to my office"

I’d never been there Any disciplinary issues I had with the guardians were usually addressed in co arranged with military efficiency We sat on opposite sides of her desk, and I braced ation

"Rose," she said, leaning towardto give you lectures or demand any explanations Honestly, since you aren’t ht to ask or tell you anything"

It was like what Adrian had said "You can lecture," I told her "I’ve always respected you and want to hear what you have to say"

The ghost of a sht, here it is You screwed up"

"Wow You weren’t kidding about bluntness"

"The reasons don’t matter You shouldn’t have left You shouldn’t have dropped out Your education and training are too valuable-no matter how much you think you know-and you are too talented to risk throwing away your future"

I alhed "To tell you the truth? I’m not sure what my future is anyraduate"

"But I dropped out"

She snorted "Then drop back in!"

"I-what? How?"

"With paperwork Just like everything else in the world"

To be honest, I hadn’t knohat I’d do once I got back here My immediate concern was Lissa-to be with her and make sure she was okay I knew I couldn’t officially be her guardian anyether, no one could stop her frouard, so to speak, kind of like what Abe had And in the meantime, I’d buain? "I I missed a month Maybe more" My days were scattered It was the first week of May, and I’d left near the end of March, on my birthday

What was that? Five weeks? Aled to catch up I have faith in you And even if you have trouble, graduating with low grades is better than not graduating at all"

I tried to iine myself back in this world Had it really only been a little over a o back to that? How could I return to that life after seeing the way Di hiain

Would he have said he loved me? "I don’t knohat to say," I told Alberta "This is kind of a lot to take in"

"Well, you should decide quickly The sooner you’re back in class, the better"

"They’ll really let me?" That was the part I found a little unbelievable

"I’ll let you," she said "No way aone well, things are crazy around here No one’s going to givethe paperwork" Her wry sive us any trouble I’ve been made to understand that you have a benefactor who can pull a few favors to s over"

"A benefactor," I repeated flatly "A benefactor ears flashy scarves and gold jewelry?"

She shrugged "No one I know Don’t even know his name-only that he’ll threaten to withhold a considerable donation to the school if you aren’t let back in If you want in"

Yeah Deals and blackmail I was pretty sure I kneho my benefactor was "Give me some time to think about it I’ll decide soon-I proave a sharp nod "All right"

We both stood up, and she walked lanced over at her "Hey, if I do graduate do you think there’s ever any way I could be in line to be Lissa’s guardian officially again? I know they’ve already picked out people for her and that I’race"

We stopped by the outer doors, and Alberta rested a hand on her hip "I don’t know We can certainly try The situation’s gotten a lot more complicated"

"Yeah, I know," I said sadly, recalling Tatiana’s high-handed actions

"But, like I said, we’ll do e can What I said about graduating with low grades? You won’t Well, maybe in math and science-but that’s out of h I’ll ith youwhat a concession that was on her part "Thank you"

I had just stepped outside when she called lanced back "Yeah?"

Alberta’s face was gentle so I’d never seen before "I’ that happened And that none of us could do anything about it"

I saw in her eyes then that she knew about Dimitri and me I wasn’t sure how Maybe she’d heard it after the battle; ardless, there was no chastiseave her a brief nod of acknowledgment and went outside

I found Christian the next day, but our conversation was brief He was on his way tolate But he hugged enuinely happy to havethe antagonistic relationship we’d had e first et theabout you, but they’re not the only ones And someone needs to put Adrian in his place, you know I can’t do it all the time"

"Thanks It kills me to say this, but I missed you too No one’s sarcasm compares to yours in Russia" My amusement faded "But since you mentioned Lissa-"

"No, no" He held up his hand by way of protest, face hardening "I knew you were going to go there"

"Christian! She loves you You know that what happened wasn’t her fault-"

"I know that," he interrupted "But it doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt Rose, I know it’s in your nature to rush in and say what everyone else is afraid to, but please not this tis out"

I had to bite back a lot of comments Lissa had mentioned Christian in our talk yesterday What had happened between the she hated Avery the most for Lissa wanted to approach him and ht It wasn’t my place to rush in-yet But I did need them to fix this

So I respected his wishes and simply nodded "Okay For now"

My last words ot to head off If you ever want to show these kids how to kick ass the old-fashioned way, coain"

I told hi as I had places to be No as I finished with hih

I had a dinner date with Adrian and Lissa, up in one of the lounges in guest housing Talking to Christian had ’s lobby, barely taking note of s

"Always in a rush," a voice said "It’s a wonder anyone can get you to stop "

I came to a halt and turned, ainst the wall, arms crossed, with her cropped auburn hair as curly and messy as ever Her face, weathered like Alberta’s fro out in the eleer, no condemnation I had never been so happy to see her inh she was shorter than me

"Rose, Rose," she said into ain Please"

I pulled back and looked at her face, astonished to see tears spilling from her eyes I had seen my mother tear up in the wake of the attack on the school, but never, never had I seen her outright cry Certainly not over me It made me want to cry too, and I uselessly tried to dry her face with Abe’s scarf

"No, no, it’s okay Don’t cry," I said, taking on an odd role reversal "I’ain I missed you so much"

It was true I loved Olena Belikova I thought she was kind and wonderful and would cherish theout of her way to feed me In another life, she could have been ard her as a kind of foster mother

But she wasn’tthere with her, I was happy-so, so happy-that I was her daughter She wasn’t perfect, but no one was, as I was learning She was, however, good and brave and fierce and compassionate-and I think she understood me more than I realized sometimes If I could be half the woman she was, my life would be well spent

"I was so worried," she told o-I mean, I kno you were in Russia but why?"

"I thought" I sed and again saw Di I had to do I thought I had to do it on my own" I wasn’t sure about that last part now True, I had acco no many people loved ht have turned out if I’d asked for help? Maybe it would have been easier

"I have a lot of questions," she warned

Her voice had toughened, and I smiled in spite of myself Now she was back to the Janine Hathaway I knew And I loved her for it Her eyes flitted to my face and then to my neck, and I saw her stiffen For a panickedone of the bitewhat I’d lowered myself to in Siberia made my heart stop

Instead, she reached out and touched the bright colors of the cashmere scarf, her face filled onder as much as shock "This this is Ibrahim’s scarf it’s a fas to this uy named Abe"

I stopped as soon as the na them both out loud made me realize how silish Abrahaht variation in the vowels Abrahah name in the US, but I’d heard Ibrahim only once before, spoken in scorn by Queen Tatiana when referring to someone my mother had been involved with

"Moly "You know Abe"

She was still touching the scarf, eyes filled with emotion once more-but a different kind than she’d had for me "Yes, Rose I know him"

"Please don’t tell itimate half-royal like Robert Doru? Or even the hter? "Please don’t tell me Abe is my father"

She didn’t have to tell me It was all over her face, her expression drea some other time and place-some tih

"Oh God," I said "I’hter Zot her attention She looked up atabout?"

"Nothing," I said I was stunned, trying desperately to assimilate this new piece of data into my worldview I su to hunt down family resemblance Everyone said er but , the dark hair and eyes yes, that was the same as Abe’s I’d always known my father was Turkish That was Abe’s n to my ears Ibrahim must be the Turkish version of Abrahaet involved with someone like that?"

She looked offended "Ibrahim is a wonderful man You don’t know him like I do"

"Obviously" I hesitated "Mo?"

"He’s a businessman And he knows and does favors for a lot of people, which is why he has the influence he does"

"But what kind of business? I’ve heard it’s illegal It’s not oh God Please tell "

"What?" She looked shocked "No Of course not"

"But he is doing illegal things"

"Who’s to say? He’s never actually been caught for anything illegal"

"I swear, you al to make a joke" I never would have expected her to defend a criminal, but I knew better than most how love could drive us to crazy acts

"If he wants to tell you, he’ll tell you End of story, Rose Besides, you certainly keep your share of secrets too You two have a lot in coant, sarcastic, likes to intimidate people, and-oh" Okay Maybe she had a point

A small half-smile played upon her lips "I never really expected you to meet this way I never expected you to ht it’d be best if he wasn’t in your life"

A new thought occurred to me "It was you, wasn’t it? You hired him to findbut I certainly didn’t hire him"

"Then who did?" I wondered "He said he orking for someone"

Her lovestruck, reminiscent smile turned wry "Rose, Ibrahim Mazur doesn’t work for anyone He’s not the kind of person you can hire"

"But he said wait Why was he following ?"

"Well," she admitted, "it wouldn’t be the first ti you, it wasn’t because anyone washim He did it because he wanted to He wanted to find you and make sure you were okay He made sure all his contacts knew to look out for you"

I replayedBut he’d driven out into the night to get et ifted et cold on my way home He’s a wonderful man, my mother had said

I supposed there orse fathers to have

"Rose, there you are What’s taking so long?" Myup when she saw et cold And you won’t believe what Adrian got"

Myto speak We had a long conversation ahead of us, but it would have to wait

I have no idea how Adrian had arranged it, but e got to the lounge, there was Chinese food set up The Academy almost never served it, and even then, it just never tasted right But this was the good stuff Bowls and bowls of sweet-and-sour chicken and egg foo young In a corner garbage can, I saw some restaurant takeout cartons with an address in Missoula printed on the side

"How the hell did you get that here?" I demanded Not only that, it was still wars, Rose," said Adrian, loading up his plate with pork fried rice He seemed very pleased with hiets your paperwork settled, we’ll eat like this every day"

I stopped mid-bite "How do you know about that?"