"My… my house?" I choked out."Yes, little sky, your house." Ali nodded hesitantly and I could tell that he was watching me as my expression faltered and crumbled to complete distress.Memories of six years ago flooded my mind instantly and I knew exactly what he had meant. He had meant that we could use the house that I used to live in. The house that I used to live in with my now deceased parents. If I went back there, I knew that memories of how life used to be back then would consume me and I would probably break down into a total mess the same way that I had done on the first day that I was back at the Academy after having had the talk with Martin in his office.I wasn't sure if I could handle another break down again so soon. I hadn't even considered the idea, the possibility, that they had kept my parents' house empty. I would have thought that after such a long time they would have remodelled it to cater for other visitors or royals in this school. I hadn't once thought about

"What do you mean by that?" I nearly screamed."It is almost impossible to keep someone like you a secret, Kai. It was only a matter of time before talk about you reached the ears of the court.""But why?" I ran my hands through my hair. "Why would they care?""If you were merely a student who excelled in combat, usually it wouldn't stir up this much interest, but you are much more than that, especially after today when talk of how many marks you have received reaches court.""Again, why does it matter?""Because you are the dhampir that was found by chance in the city having had no real training as a guardian-to-be and yet you have taken down more Strigoi than many fully fledged guardians twice your age. Within days you had built up a powerful reputation for yourself here at the Academy, but by now, you have a reputation amongst the royal court, Kai. The number of calls that I've received asking about you has been rising like the tide ever since this morning when you guys got back."

The house looked just as I had remembered it. Calling it a house wasn't quite right. It was more of a cottage than anything else. Faded red bricks; dark tiled roof; white framed windows; bright yellow door that looked as out of place as ever; and the white picket fence made up the home that I remembered.Leaning closer to the fence, I could still make out the scribbles that I'd etched onto the painted wood as a child to make my mark on the place. The wooden post that I used to train with still stood proudly just past the fence. I could still see the parts of the post that lost a little of its shape because I had hit it so many times. Then there were the monkey bars. Now those were pure evil. I remembered falling and injuring myself so many times. This irritating contraption sent me to Rosette far more times than anything else did because every time I fell, I always managed to land on something at an odd angle.A smile spread across my face when my eyes landed on the wood stump we used

"Kai!" Martin snapped, clapping his hands together in front of my face to drag me out of my panicking.I blinked at him. "What?""What are you panicking about this time?""Everything?" I replied meekly."Go through one thing at a time."I stared at them for a moment and realised that I was being surrounded by grownups. Even Ali wasn't a kid anymore like I was back then. I felt a little isolated, but knew that I was in good hands so I wasn't too worried."Well, I just didn't quite think about the severity of what would happen once the truth got out. I mean, I might say that I prefer to have people know me for who I am rather than me as a royal, but I guess I never really took into account how such a secret might affect them after it gets out. My friends are going to be seriously shocked, I know that much, but it's impossible to tell how they'll react. And well… hearing that Ozera thought so highly of the Ivashkov princess six years ago, it makes me think that I want him to be the last

Throughout the rest of the time until my extra lesson ended, we discussed how we were going to help the twins change their relationship with little Trace and guide it towards a more friendly direction. I noticed how ever now and then, Drew would sneak a look at me and it was that same strange gleam of recognition. I did my best not to let it get to me and just pretended that I didn't notice. There was no way that I was going to confront him about it because chances were, he would manage to force the truth from my mouth and I definitely did not was him finding out any time soon.Once the two hours were up, which passed a lot faster than usual since it wasn't actually a lesson, the others suggested that the sooner we got started on the work the better. Knowing us, we would take forever since we were all rather easily distracted. I agreed with the idea and left my books with the twins while I headed off back to the dorms to find the three dhampir girls. It didn't really matter if they ha