Guardian of the Gate (13 page)

“Drink this.” Dimitri holds a tin cup toward me and keeps me company while the others change out of their wet clothes.

I reach a hand out of the blanket wrapped around my shoulders to take the cup from him. “Thank you.”

It is bad tea, both leafy and weak. I have become used to it over the previous days, and after the cold of the river and the shock of the Hounds, I hardly notice its bitter heat. I hold the cup with both hands, sipping from it as I try to transfer its warmth to my still-cold hands.

Dimitri settles onto the log next to me, stretching his hands toward the fire Edmund built just after choosing this as our camp for the night.

“Are you all right, Lia?” My name sounds natural and right coming off his tongue.

“I think so. Just very cold.” I swallow hard, trying and failing to block from my mind my panic at the river. “I don’t know what happened back there. I just… I couldn’t move.”

“Lia.”

I do not want to turn at the sound of my name, but my eyes are drawn inexorably to his. His voice is a command I cannot ignore, though it is as gentle as the mist that hangs in the woods as night descends.

“I know what happened,” he continues, “and I don’t blame you.”

There is understanding in his eyes. It confuses and, yes, even
angers me. I put the cup in the dirt next to me. “What, exactly, do you know about me? And how have you come to know it?”

His expression softens. “I know about your brother. I know he died in the river, and I know you were there.”

Tears sting my eyes, and I jump to my feet, walking somewhat unsteadily to the edge of the campsite to compose myself. When I think I can speak without a shaking voice, I stalk back to Dimitri, letting all the anger and frustration of the past weeks, no, the past months, flow through every crevice of my body.

“What can
you
know of my brother? What can you know of his death and my place in it?” I am unable to keep the bitterness from pouring out of my mouth. I have lost track of my own questions, but getting answers is no longer the point. “You know nothing of me. Nothing! And you have no right! No right to speak of my brother.”

My own mention of Henry dissolves my anger in an instant, and I am suddenly back to fighting the sadness, the overwhelming, all-consuming despair that nearly caused me to fling myself from the cliff near Birchwood before coming to London. All at once, I can do little more than stand in front of Dimitri, still clutching the blanket around my shoulders as my breath comes hard and fast on the heels of my tirade.

He stands and walks over to me, stopping only when he is very close. Too close.

His words, when they come, are colored with tenderness. “I know more than you think. About the prophecy. About your life before London. About you, Lia.”

For a moment, I think I will become lost in his eyes. I think I will drown and drown in the sea of them until I no longer wish to find my way home. But then his words drift back to me:
I know more than you think. About the prophecy
…

The prophecy. He knows about the prophecy.

“Wait a minute.” I step back. I am breathing hard, though this time from something far more complex than anger. “How can you know about the prophecy? Who, exactly,
are
you?”

Dimitri runs his fingers through his dark hair, and for a moment, he looks almost a boy. His face is grim as he gestures to the log near our feet. “You should probably sit down.”

“I would like to know who you are before I sit down, if you don’t mind.” I fold my arms across my chest.

He chuckles, and I throw him a look meant to stop his laughter in its tracks. It does not quite do its job. Not at first.

He sighs. “If I assure you that I am on your side, that I am here only to protect you, will you sit and let me explain?”

I try to find malice or dishonesty in his face, his eyes, but there is only truth.

I nod and sit. He did, after all, save me from the Hounds. And although I have not had the opportunity to speak to Edmund, it’s clear that he and Dimitri are somehow acquainted.

Dimitri lowers himself next to me. He spends a moment
staring into the fire before speaking. “I am not supposed to be here at all,” he says. “I have… crossed boundaries to be here. Sacred boundaries that are not meant to be crossed.”

I am cold and tired, but I try to quell my frustration. “Why don’t you tell me everything?”

He looks up, meeting my eyes. “I am a member of the Grigori.”

“The Grigori? But I thought the Grigori’s purpose is to create and enforce the laws of the Otherworlds.”

“It is,” he says simply.

I shrug, not understanding. “Then why are you here?”

“I was sent to keep watch over you as you seek the missing pages and the other keys to the prophecy.”

“To keep watch over me? You mean to protect me?”

He takes a deep breath. “Not exactly.”

Now I am worried. “Why don’t you explain
exactly
what you were sent to do?”

“I was sent to ensure that you were not using prohibited magic in your quest to end the prophecy.” He says it all at once, and it only takes me a moment to realize why it took him so long to say such a simple thing.

“You were sent to
spy
on me?”

He does, at least, have the grace to look chagrined. “Lia, you must understand. The prophecy has been unfolding for centuries, but never has someone come so close to finding its end. Never have so many in the Otherworlds believed that the end may really be near. That Samael may finally end his rule in that world and, potentially, in this one.

“The Grigori wish more than anyone to see the prophecy brought to its end, to see peace in the Otherworlds. But things have gotten out of hand. And someone must try to keep them
in
hand as much as possible. That has always been the task of the Grigori.”

My fury boils over as I think of my sister. “And while I am under your supervision, what of Alice? Who is watching her while she runs roughshod over the laws of the Grigori?”

“We have tried watching Alice.” I hear the defeat in his voice. “It has done no good. Where even the Souls acknowledge the power of the Grigori, at least outwardly, Alice does not. She does not care for the laws of the Otherworlds, nor does she recognize our authority. Worse, she is powerful enough that she may travel the Plane at will while avoiding detection. Though I hate to admit it, she is beyond our control. I believe even the Souls are challenged to manage her.”

“Then why do they work in concert with her? Why do they ally themselves with her at all?”

He raises his palms in a gesture of resignation. “Because they cannot have you. Alice is their most powerful ally in the physical world, even more powerful than the many Souls who are waiting here for Samael’s arrival, because she is connected to you. Through her, they hold out hope of reaching you.”

I shake my head. “But… Alice holds no sway over me. We are, for all intents and purposes, enemies.”

He tips his head. “Yet isn’t it true that you come if she summons you? That
she
comes if you summon her? Isn’t it true that you see her spirit form in the night when she travels the
Plane? That she has seen you in the night as well, though you are thousands of miles apart?”

“Yes, but that was not my intention. I did not seek to show myself to Alice, to cross the boundaries of the Otherworlds. I was as surprised as anyone when she looked up from her ritual and saw me there.”

“I know. We all know. It is Alice who defies the laws of the Otherworlds by using her powers as a Spellcaster. But that is not the point, is it? At least not in this conversation?” He reaches out to take one of my hands. “The point is, you
are
connected, Lia. You share the inextricable bond of sisters, twins, and are further linked through the prophecy.

“The Souls know this. They cannot know for certain that Alice will give them any advantage in their quest to see Samael enter the physical world through the Gate. Through
you
, Lia. But neither can they afford to do away with her. She has been a great help to them so far. She has been their eyes and ears in the physical world. And then there is the matter of the missing pages.”

I have been lulled into a state of near tranquility through nothing more than the warmth of the fire and the gentle pressure of Dimitri’s hand over mine. But his mention of the missing pages causes me to shake the fog from my mind.

“The pages? What have they to do with Alice, beyond her not wanting me to find them, I mean?”

He looks surprised. “Well, I mean… No one knows for certain what they entail. They were hidden long ago for safe
keeping. We know they provide details about ending the prophecy, and one can only assume that whatever details they provide involve both the Guardian
and
the Gate. I assume the Souls would rather keep Alice, even in her current unbridled state, than risk relinquishing their hold and needing her later.”

I turn my gaze to the fire, mulling over Dimitri’s words in the ensuing silence. There are questions. I feel them gliding like wraiths through my consciousness, but the shock of the Hounds and the river, together with what Dimitri has said, makes everything difficult to grasp. There is only one thing that stands out in my mind. One thing that fights its way up from the depths of my twisted thoughts.

“You said you have crossed boundaries to be here.
Boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed
. What did you mean?”

He sighs. When I look over at him, his face is turned to the fire. I suppose it is his turn to try to find answers within its flames. He looks down at his hands as he begins talking.

“It is not the place of the Grigori to become involved in either side of the prophecy. I was only supposed to observe you from afar, and I was able to do that for some time using the Plane. Only…”

“Yes?” I prompt.

He looks up from his hands, turning his dark eyes on me. They glitter like polished ebony in the night. “I could not stop myself from intervening. From the first moment I saw you, I felt… something.”

I raise my eyebrows, finding a moment’s humor in his choice of words.
“Something?”

A smile touches the corners of his mouth. “I am drawn to you, Lia. I’m not sure why, but I could not leave you to face the Hounds without assistance.”

My heart beats giddily inside my chest. “That is very kind. But what consequences will you face for defying the laws of the Grigori? Or are your laws only for mortals and those of the Otherworlds?”

His face grows serious again. “The laws are for everyone, myself included. In fact, even more so for me.” I do not have time to question him on the point before he continues. “I
will
face consequences, but whatever they are, they will be less difficult for me to bear than the thought of leaving you to traverse this wood without safe escort.”

He offers the declaration simply, as if there is nothing unusual in feeling such concern after so short a time. But the oddest thing of all is my own acceptance, for even as he says it, it seems somehow natural that we should be together in the woods leading to Altus. As if, like Edmund, I was waiting for Dimitri to arrive all along.

The two hours before bed are spent eating, cleaning up, and caring for the horses, though I am not permitted to help in any way. As we eat, Dimitri provides the group with an abbreviated explanation of his presence. As far as Sonia and
Luisa know, Dimitri is a member of the Grigori sent to aid Edmund in escorting us to Altus. He does not expand upon his feelings for me or the possible consequences he will face for assisting us.

When I enter the tent after saying good night to Edmund and Dimitri, the air is unusually heavy with tension. I have become used to the strained silences between Luisa and Sonia — between all of us — but this time I can almost feel the weight of words that were either spoken in my absence or are weightier for having not been spoken at all.

Yet even our newfound awkwardness with one another cannot stifle the curiosity over Dimitri’s sudden appearance.

Sonia’s whisper is none too quiet. “That is the gentleman from the Society!”

“Yes.” My preparations for bed make it easy to avoid her eyes.

“Wait just a moment,” Luisa breaks in. “Do you mean to say that you were acquainted with Dimitri before today?”

There is an edge to her voice and I wonder whether she is jealous that Sonia and I have shared yet another experience. My heart softens, but it does not last long. There is no room for tenderness when Luisa is a traitor for the Souls, however unwilling her complicity.

I begin pulling the pins from my hair. “
Acquainted
is not really accurate. Sonia and I met him at a gathering in London, that is all.”

“Did you know who he was even then?” Sonia asks.

I drop my hands, my hair still half pinned, as I turn to look at her. The accusation in her voice is tinged with anger.

“Of course not! I would have told you had I known.”

“Would you, Lia? Would you really?” Her eyes are alight with a fury I do not understand.

I tip my head, unable to believe what I am hearing. “Sonia… Of course I would. How could you think otherwise?”