•Rose Hathaway•
Dimitri helps me to stand up and his hands feel warm and my body tingles where he holds me. Why do I still feel like this? Is it always gonna be like this? "How...? Viktoria! That little sneak! Excuse me Guardian Belikov. I have to go." I mumble and remove myself from his arms. No matter how much my body begs me not to. Stupid traitorous body.
"Roza, wait please!" Dimitri pleads but I shut his voice out and keep walking. I walk in the opposite direction and speed walk to the bathroom. I walk through the door and slam it shut and lock it behind me. I let out a shaky breath and close my eyes. I refuse to cry. I refuse to cry. I will not cry, I mentally tell myself over and over until I feel the tears leave. I breathe deeply and calm my breathing and attempt to smile before unlatching the lock.
I pull open the door and walk out the bathroom only to nearly run into someone. "Rosie there you are! I've been looking for you." I snap my head up and l see Christian grinning down at me.
"Have you been here the whole time Fire Crotch?! And I've told you not to call me Rosie." I smack his arm before pulling him into a fierce bear hug.
"Woah I didn't think you'd miss me this much. But I missed you too Rose. Things haven't been the same without you around. " Christian smiles and hugs me back. "So tell me what you majored in? I'm sure you followed a different major with a different charge?" Christian asks offering me his arm and leading me back toward the party.
"Yup, Vika was her near guard so they have the same major. But I'm the classes that didn't interest me Yelena let me take stuff that actually interested me. So I have a major in animal biology with a minor in psychology. Vika and Lena have majors in Psychology and minors in Business Administration." I explain as we walk back in the room. Christian leads me over to a familiar face. "Eddie, I didn't know you were here too. I've missed you, how are you doing?" I smile and hug him.
"Rose, I'm so proud of you! Congrats on graduating. It's really good to see you again." Eddie smiles and hugs me back. "Have you met my charge, Jill?" Eddie asks and gestures to a familiar face next to him.
"Jill oh it's nice to see you! I don't think I've seen you since right before I graduated from St. Vlads? You look gorgeous, how are you doing? I heard about the revelation of you and Liss being sisters. How has that been going?" I ask hugging Jill.
Jill shoots me an enormous smile. "Hi Rose, I'm happy to see you again. You look really great! I've been doing alright, I'm in college now too. I'm going for fitness so I can teach other Moroi to fight. And as for me finding out I have a sister... it's really hard at times. I think it hurts her to have this image of her dad shattered, so it doesn't always go smoothly. It's gotten better though, we can be in the same room and not argue most of the time now." Jill sadly explains.
That doesn't sound like Liss, I frown. Hmm, maybe I'll have to do damage control. "Huh that doesn't sound like Liss. I can talk to her if you'd like? I talk to her on occasion but I'll call her tomorrow and try and figure out what's wrong?" I offer with frown. Jill smiles and shakes her head in agreement.
"Rose there you are, I've been all over looking for you. My parents want to see you." Yelena huffs dragging Vika along behind her. She points her parents out talking to Baba. I huff and allow them to lead me over there. They drop me off and then head back over to Lina and Sonya.
"Hi Baba, Mr and Mrs. Zeklos. Are you having a nice time? Has Baba brought Eris and Hades to see you yet? They had a ball with you last time you visited." I snicker at the memory of they being trampled with kisses and dog cuddles when they visited right after we got Eris and Hades.
"Ah Rose, how many times must we tell you, call us Darya and Andrei? And yes we've seen them, they've gotten quite big. I've been told Hades is eating everything in sight." Darya smiles and winks at me. My eye twitches and I roll my eyes at her. She thinks she's funny, must be where Lena gets it from.
"Ah you know I do it to mess with you Darya. It's nice to see you two again. And yes Hades is quite the troublemaker." I scoff. All of a sudden I hear a whining and I look down and see Eris pouting at me. "Oh fine you troublemaker, come here." I huff and pick her up.
I cradle her to my chest and pet her head soothingly. "Ah Rose now the reason we wanted to talk to you is now that our Yelena has graduated she won't really need two guardians and we hardly see anyone being able to separate her from Viktoria. Unless she has decided to go back to college and not informed us. So we'd like to ask what would you like to do? Would you like to go back to court to guard Queen Vasilisa? Or would you like to return to St. Basils? Or do something else? You have time to decide so you don't have to choose right now. Andrei and I, along with your father have decided to send you on a vacation for all of your hard work these past five years. So Viktoria and Yelena have decided to let you pick where you go, let us know where you'd like to go and we'll send all of you after your visit to Baia. You will be there for two months." Darya smiles.
"Umm that's a lot to process. Thank you for giving me time to think this over. I will talk to Vika and Lena when we go to Baia and think about it and let you know. As for where I'd like to go for the vacation, I've always wanted to go to Tahiti or the Maldives. The beaches there look amazing!" I sigh dreamily at the thought of being able to visit Tahiti or the Maldives.
"Alright thank you for all the help you've given to my little girl Rose. Take all the time you need to think your decisions over and call us whenever you can." Andrei smiles and then hugs me, and Eris who's fallen asleep in my arms. "Now go and enjoy the rest of the party." I smile and nod before walking over to Lina.
"Hey Lina, how are you enjoying the party?" I ask after setting Eris down next to Zoya. Zoya smiles and softly pets her after I mime being quiet. Line smiles and hugs me to her chest.
"It's been nice. Have you run into my idiot little brother yet?" Lina snickers. I scowl at her and roll my eyes. She already knows the answer to that. "Ah Roza I love messing with you. You're my little sister just as much as Sonya and Vika are. Is there a reason that you ran from Dimka earlier?" Lina asks rubbing my shoulder . "And don't give me that he told me he's given up on me bullshit, you and I both know he lied." Lina hisses when she sees me open my mouth.
"Lina it wasn't just him telling me "I've given up on your Love Fades, mine has." His actions showed me that as well. He was avoiding me and refusing for me to see him. But he let everyone else see him, including Tasha. Between those and those words he proved he no longer loves me. If he ever even did. I'm sure he's moved on by now, there's no point in torturing myself by sticking around where I'm not wanted. I've had enough of that." I huff blinking back frustrated tears. I feel my lips tremble and I press them firmly together. I sense another body approach me and I smell his aftershave. Shit! Why me?
"Roza I lied, all I could feel was guilt for how I treated you as a Strigoi. I'm so sorry I made you think that. It was you the whole time, I haven't moved on. And I never will. I don't deserve your love. That's why I pushed you away." Dimitri breathes from right next to my ear.
"How long have you been standing there Guardian Belikov?" I hiss through clenched teeth.
"Longer than you'd like. And Roza please don't push me away. I'm so sorry I pushed you away. I regret it so much. That and how I treated you as a Strigoi." Dimitri begs and walks around to look me in the eyes.
"You know it's funny Dimitri, I forgave you for what you did to me as a Strigoi. It wasn't your fault, you didn't ask to be turned. But what you did to me as a man...that hurt more than anything you did to me as a Strigoi. Of course I still love you... I always will. But trusting you is a different question. I didn't want to live without you, but that doesn't mean I can't. Don't make me prove it. I'm done I can't take this conversation anymore." I huff blinking tears away and grab Eris in my arms. "Lina I'll call you later. Can you ask Baba to have Pavel bring Vika, Lena and Hades back home please?" I ask her with a shaking voice. She nods and I walk away and head outside to the car.