On the day of her 18th Birthday, she woke up and suffered though a bad bout of morning sickness with Dimitri by her side holding her hair and comforting her.
Instead of training, he took her out for a walk as she’s still feeling nauseous.
He walked her back to her dorm and she showered and dressed in nice casual outfit. She got on iPad and saw there’s an email from Janine wishing her a happy birthday and hope she’ll have a great one.
Rose smiled at the message and left her room on a happy note.
Classes went on as usual as her classmates and teachers wished her a Happy Birthday. Guardians would stop her and wish her a good birthday.
During the time where she was supposed to be in Combat class, Alberta brought Mia in her office and both girls were so excited to see each other again. They jumped into each other’s arms. Mia said “Happy Birthday, Rose! I’m sorry I cannot stay long.” Rose said “that’s alright, Mia, thanks again for coming!” Alberta took both girls to Guardian meal room so they’d have something to eat and converse in privacy.
Rose asked Mia “how have you has been?”
Mia said “she has been good. I’m busy practicing offensive and defensive magic in secret. She slyly smiled at Rose and whispered “I have managed to get some Guardians to teach me some fighting moves.”
Rose said “whoa! Glad you’re learning ways of fighting. It’ll come in handy someday, trust me. If you need me to teach you someday, I’d be happy to. Are you coming back to St. Vlad’s?”
Mia smiled warmly at Rose and said “glad you approve. Thanks for the offer; I might take you upon it someday. No, I doubt I will enroll back at St. Vlad’s again. I am thinking of going to a new Academy but only if they will let me learn combat and self defense.”
Alberta overhearing that part chimed in “Mia, St Basil is the only Academy that will teach Moroi combat and self defense. However, the school is based in Siberia.”
A stunned Mia gaped at Alberta and said “Guardian Petrov that is what I needed to know! I’ll speak with dad and convince him to let me enroll in St Basil. Thanks so much for imparting this information.”
Alberta smiled and said “you’re welcome, Mia. If you and your dad approves, I could have you enrolled there before the week is out only if you like. If you decide to go to St Basil, you’d have to start next week.”
Mia excused herself for few minutes and took out her cellphone and rang her father. The conversation was intense by the look of it.
Alberta used that moment to inform Rose that “you and Eddie are now officially enrolled into St Basil.” She had faxed all the documents.
She said “Janine found me yesterday and informed me that she knew you’re transferring to St Basil, and she accepted your decision. I take it that she doesn’t know you’re not becoming a Guardian?”
“Awesome that we’re now enrolled into St Basil. That’s great mom accepted my decision. Nope, she doesn’t know and she will flip her lid at the graduation. Oh joy, something to look forward to.” replied Rose
Mia hung up the phone and went to join the Alberta and Rose. She said “dad has agreed to send me to St Basil. He doesn’t like the distance but he wants the best for me and most importantly, he wants me to be happy. Please, Guardian Petrov, will you get started on enrollment?”
Alberta stood up and said “Mia, I’ll get started on it immediately. Please excuse me. Remember you have two hours left, ladies” Exiting the room.
Rose looked at Mia and said “promise me that this stays between us for now.”
Mia nodded in promise
“Alright, I and Eddie are transferring to St Basil next week! Alberta has enrolled us. I feel that St Basil is a better fit for me. I just need a fresh start.”
Mia stared at Rose in surprised and squealed “Omg, I can’t believe it! Never thought I’d see the day a legend like you transfer. But I understand why you’d need a fresh start. I can’t wait to join St Basil with you and Eddie! Isn’t Lissa coming with you?”
Rose smiled at her before responding “no, Lissa is not joining me. She doesn’t know I’ll be transferring, and won’t know until after I’m gone. I’m leaving with Guardian Belikov on Friday. Lissa hasn’t been a friend in so long and I’ve had enough of making so many sacrifices for her and not being appreciated.”
Oh before I forget, promise me that you will stay in Siberia over the Easter Break?”
Mia said “I’m shocked that Lissa doesn’t know. Somehow, I’m not surprised that she has been self centered for some time. You have every right not to make any more sacrifices for someone who does not appreciate anymore. Ohh, Guardian Belikov, eh? He’s so hot! Is he transferring to St Basil? Okay, I will stay in Siberia over the Easter Break. Why?”
Chuckling, Rose replied “yes, he is transferring to St Basil. He resigned from being the Princess’s Guardian. Again, Lissa doesn’t know this piece of information. I’ll tell you why when we’re in Siberia.” She winked at her.
“Mia, this is going to sound freaky and unbelievable. You know that St Vlad was in a battle and rescue recently? Anyway, just before the battle, I saw the ghosts of Mason Ashford and Andre Dragomir. They warned me of incoming battle. I told Belikov and he called in ‘Buria’, which is why the school had so few losses. After the battle, I found out that Eddie has been captured by the Strigoi.
So I went outside the gates and again communicated with Mason and Andre. They were helpful and gave me the information we needed to vault a rescue mission. Andre gave me a message to give to you. Here is what he said: ‘please tell Mia Rinaldi that I’m truly sorry for the cruelty I have committed upon her, and tell her I hope she can forgive me someday.’ He meant every word he told me.” Rose concludes.
Mia sat there in absolute silence with a very shocked look on her face. She stuttered... “I don’t know what to say. I can’t believe Andre apologized! Heck, I find it unbelievable you could communicate with the ghosts, but I believe you. That’s amazing. Thank you, Rose, for giving me Andre’s message, and for trusting me with this confidential information.”
She looked at her watch and said “we don’t have much longer now. Here’s something sweet for you.”
Handed her a small box and Rose opened it to see a large chocolate delight cupcake with red velvet icing on the top.
Mia handing her a small gift. She said “I hope you will like it.”
Rose opened the present to find enclosed a packet of The Body Shop shower gel.
She exclaimed “This is great, Mia! I love it.” Grinning at her.
Mia grinned back and said “I’m glad you like your gift.”
We better get going. We need to go to Alberta’s office. They got rid of trash and cleaned the table before leaving the room. They walked to Alberta’s office in thoughtful silence.
Alberta looked up and looked at the clock, “ah, you’re here on time, good. Mia, I have informed St Basil of your wish to transfer there. They have accepted your enrollment. I just need you to look at this paper to see if all the details are correct before I fax it to St Basil.”
Handing Mia the paper and Mia scrutinized the paper and nodded “Petrov, it’s all correct. Thanks for enrolling me. I really appreciate it.”
The girls looked at each other and shrieked in joy!
Rose said to Mia “So glad you’re coming to St Basil with me. Thanks heaps for coming in today and spending few hours with me. Thanks again for the gift. Have a safe flight back and I’ll see you next week.” She hugged her tightly.
Mia hugged back and said “no problem, Rose. I’m pleased that Petrov was able to get me in to see you today. Have a great 18th Birthday! I’ll see you in Siberia next week! Take care.”
They said byes before Rose went back to her class. Alberta took Mia to the airstrip and the plane took off.
Unknown to her, Alberta and Dimitri sought permission from Kirova to take Rose and friends for surprise birthday dinner at Italian restaurant 45 minutes away; it was really lunch time on human time. Kirova reluctantly said yes and assigned 8 Guardians to accompany them with an order that they cannot stay out for longer than 4 hours.
Alberta told Rose to get dressed in something nice and meet her in the parking lot in an hour. Rose was puzzled but shrugged it off and did what Alberta directed. She went to her room and decided on wearing the Asian style red dress that Tasha gave her the previous Christmas with black sling back shoes. She put little makeup on and let her hair down before grabbing a long wool coat and arrived at the parking lot late as usual and was surprised to see Lissa, Eddie, Dimitri, Adrian and Christian waiting in the minivan.
Alberta said to her “we’re going out for your Birthday dinner.”
She got in and sat next to Eddie. Dimitri gulped when he saw her in that figure hugging dress.
Alberta, Dimitri, Rose, Adrian, Lissa, Eddie and Christian had an enjoyable meal. They spent the meal reminiscing about Rose and her antics over the years. There was laughter all around.
The wait staff brought over a chocolate cake and sang Happy Birthday to her. She made a wish and blew out the candles and everyone clapped.
Rose enjoyed the cake so much that she had 3 pieces.
Christian Ozera gave Rose a blue iPod Nano for her birthday also $100 iTunes gift card. “I chose blue because it matches my eyes.” Christian smirked. Rose fiddled around with the iPod Nano and discovered that Christian has downloaded several songs with fire in the song titles. She grinned at Christian and retorted “ever the smartass, Sparky! I love this gift, thanks so much. It’s thoughtful.” She went and hugged him.
Lissa said “I forgot about your birthday until yesterday. I’m terribly sorry. Due to rush delivery, I managed to get you this two Queen size Willoughby Siberian White Goose Down Comforter because I know how much you love to sleep. And I wanted you to have something to keep you cool during the warm months and something to keep you warm during the cold months. Here’s a dress I thought you might like to wear at your graduation.” Dress’s a sleeveless flowing shimmery purple dress that stops at the knees. It has pretty stones under the bust. “I am afraid it’s a size bigger as I couldn’t remember your correct size. Nevertheless, I hope you love these gifts.” Lissa said.
“Lissa, the comforters is unexpected but much appreciated. I can’t wait to test it out; you shouldn’t have bought both, but thanks. The dress is very pretty. Doesn’t matter about the size, I’m sure I can get it fixed by the time of Graduation. Thanks very much, Liss.” Replied Rose Went and hugged her tightly.
Alberta gave her a personalized stake with rose and leaves details on it and personalized message on the bottom of the hilt of the stake. She created a photo album of photos, she scoured for all over school as well her collection, and featuring Rose and her friends and classmates as well some with Guardians throughout the years minus the two missing years Rose went missing. Rose was overwhelmed with this precious gift that she’ll treasure forever. Gasped “Oh my god, I really love the photo album. The stake is simply beautiful, almost too beautiful to use.” She gave Alberta a big smile and a big hug.
Adrian gave her a beautiful and very expensive diamond necklace with a large ruby gem shaped like a rose at the bottom of the necklace that will nest above the cleavage with earrings to match. He also bought her a large bottle of her favorite perfume called Amor Amor. Also he bought her the latest iPhone in silver.
She looked at him in absolute shock and exclaimed “Adrian, I can’t believe this! You shouldn’t have spent so much money on me; you didn’t need to. I would have been happy with a perfume. Nevertheless, I love everything you gave me. I appreciate these gifts even more because you have put a lot of thoughts in the gifts. Now I know why you asked me what my favorite color was.”
She went to him and hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
He grinned at her and hugged her tightly and said “no worries, it was my pleasure to buy you those things. I bought you a phone so we can stay in touch; my number is in there, little dhampir.”
Dimitri gave her a box of her favorite lip gloss and hand moisturizer and a pair of warm gloves at the dinner party.
On Mason’s behalf, Eddie gave a beautiful simple Rose shaped pendant necklace in silver. Eddie said “Mason, before he died, bought this and told me he had planned on giving you this gift for your 18th birthday. I think he had an inkling that he wouldn’t be here because he put the gift in my possession.
Whereas, Eddie, gave her a pretty BelArno black leather rainbow combination wallet and a black long sleeved V necked top with silver lettering that said ‘I’m a badass’ and a black tank top with the same writing as the long sleeved one.
Rose looked around the table and said “it has been the best birthday ever! I love all the gifts! Thank you all for making this a special evening. I’ll never forget.”
They got back to campus before it got dark.
Rose and Dimitri decided not to do training that evening because it’s her birthday. So they snuck out to the cabin separately.
Rose went inside the cabin to find alit with small candles all over casting an air of romance in the room.
He even took the time to make her favorite food and introduced her to black bread. She loved everything he made and said as much.
He said “alright, it’s gift time and they moved to the bedroom where he gave her a couple of body lotions, one Japanese cherry blossom, and other raspberry scented that they both love. Organic berries scented shampoo and conditioner, ‘so your hair will stay healthy and look beautiful’. A short waist black Leather biker jacket.
Rose loved the gifts especially the black jacket as she said it’s ‘her’.
He then got down on his knee and pulled out a jeweler box saying “I have not gotten you an engagement ring before. So I have decided to do it properly” and opened the box revealing a beautiful art deco diamond ring, which was an heirloom. “Roza, my love, will you marry me?” smiling up at her. Rose gasped and said “yes! A million yes!” Dimitri beamed at her and took out the ring and slid it on her ring finger, which it fits perfectly.
She looked at the ring on her finger and admired it. She grinned at him and said “I love the ring!”
Also he presented her with the expensive lust charm necklace that Victor Dashkov gave her. He said “I got the clasp fixed after I threw it out of the window. I wanted to give you back this necklace because, thanks to Victor despite his evil intentions, he did bring us closer together and in a way, he brought us to this point in our relationship. I think it would have taken us longer, if ever, to get to this stage if it wasn’t for the charm.” She was shocked to see the necklace again and thanked him fervently for repairing the necklace and she put it on.
Dimitri looked at her with love and wonder and desire, “you look beautiful, more so now you’re mine and carrying our miracle child.”
Rose looked at him speechless also laden with love and desire.
They kissed and slowly unrobed each other’s clothes before moving over to the bed and began slow lovemaking.
Soon enough, they got dressed again and put the cabin to right before making their way to his room.
Olena just sent him a text message asking to meet on Skype now.
They picked up laptop and moved onto the couch and booted up the computer and opened Skype and found Olena waiting.
Olena said “здравствуйте, just wanted to see you both. Roza, you look gorgeous! Also I wanted to get online now so I can say Happy 18th Birthday from us!”
Rose said “здравствуйте! Aw, Olena, you shouldn’t have but thanks for the birthday wishes. I appreciate it. My birthday was great.” and grinned at her.
Olena said “that’s wonderful, I am glad you’ve had a good one. I just wanted to keep you in the loop regarding the wedding. We have booked the church, as you know, the reception has been sorted. Roza, the girls has found two possible dresses but they are waiting for you to come with them and help them choose as well suggest which color shoes to buy. Zoya’s dress and shoes has been arranged. Dimka, I need you to get suit measurement from Andrei, Yuri and Eddie soon.”
Rose suggested “you could get Eddie measured on the first weekend of April, we can bring him to stay with us for the weekend, if that’s alright with you, Olena?”
Dimitri replied “mama, I will get Yuri’s measurement tomorrow and I’ll text Andrei and have him come down to Baia on the first weekend of April as well, for measurement.”
Olena said “that’s a good idea, Dimka. Get back to me soon with Yuri’s size. Yes, Eddie’s welcome to come and stay with us on that weekend”
“Oh, we have booked the wedding photographer. Roza, do you have a wedding dress already?” Olena questioned
Rose said “yes, Alberta took me shopping few days ago and I bought wedding dress and wedding shoes along with some makeup. All I need is something blue and something old in keeping with tradition. I already have something new.”
Olena nodded and replied “she may have something old. She will look for a blue garter. I think we don’t have much more to do on the wedding. She counted down: flower girl outfit done, page boy, will be done soon, bridesmaids dresses nearly done, photographer booked, church booked, food already planned for wedding party. Oh, we just need to book chairs and tables. You got the wedding dress and shoes done. So all we need is Dimka, Andrei, Yuri, and Eddie and Paul’s outfit to be made soon; we have found a tailor. Yeva already made a ring cushion for page boy. Do you two want wedding service to be conducted in Russian or English?”
Rose and Dimitri looked at each other and looked at Olena saying in unison “both”.
Olena said “alright, she will let the Priest know. You want traditional vows or make up your own vows?”
Again Dimitri and Rose looked at each other and silently decided and informed Olena they have decided to make their own vows.
Olena said “that’s fine, will inform the Priest soon. Rose, which one do you want?” She showed her two pieces of silvery gray materials for the men’s wedding outfit
Rose said “hmm, pan the first one slowly and show it near the camera, please. Olena did as requested. Alright, show me the other one, please.”
Dimitri and Rose replied in unison “the second one, please”
Olena laughed at the synchronicity between the couple and said “great, now I’ll let the Tailor know. Well, I better go and get things arranged. Oh I forgot what about the guest list? What’s the estimated number?”
Rose said “she’s invited Alberta, Mia, and Eddie. Dimitri replied he invited Andrei, Yuri and plans on asking Emil. They prefer it to limited to family and close friends. The guest list should be finalized at least two weeks beforehand.”
Olena responded “Okay, that’s fine. Dimka, we plan on asking people from Baia to join us including Mark and Oksana. Dimitri nodded in acknowledgment. You need your sleep. I can’t wait to see you both in few days! люблю тебя как.”
Dimitri and Rose said “thanks for the call, Mama. We’re grateful you are organizing the wedding for us. Спокойной ночи, мы тебя любим.
Rose went into the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her teeth before changing into Dimitri’s t-shirt and said to him “it is the best day ever” and uttered “Я люблю тебя, Comrade” smiling softly at him as she got into bed.
He smiled at her and said “Я тоже тебя люблю, Roza.” Before going into bathroom to brush his teeth and stripped off his clothes before slipping into bed beside her.
They curled into each other and said “спокойной ночи.”
They slept soundly with small smiles on their faces.
Translation: здравствуйте means hello. Спокойной mama ночи, мы тебя любим means goodnight mama, we love you. Я люблю тебя, Comrade means I love you. Я тоже тебя люблю, Roza means I love you too, Roza.
It might be incorrect but I tried my best as the translation came from google translate. :)