6 years later
PRIMROSE POV
I walked down the crowded hallway, trying to get to my next class.
"Prim!" Someone shouted, and I turned around.
It was Katie Voda, my best friend.
"Hey Katie." I said as she settled her stride to match mine and we walked down the hallway together.
"There's hot stuff." Katie said with a nervous giggle as we walked down the hall and rounded a corner, and there he was.
Mason Belikov.
He was walking with Illiana Ivashkov (very distant relative of Adrians) one of the decent royals (as far as attitudes went). She was also very pretty and rumor had it that they were dating.
"What I would give to see him shirtless!" Katie said dreamily and I glared at her.
"I know it's weird, Prim, because you guys were childhood friends but he is just dreamy!" She declared and I sighed. She would never give up this obsession with Mason.
It was ok though, she'd probably never get her hands on him. Half the girls in the school thought he was just the perfect guy.
To be fair to Mason though, he was remarkably good looking. He had his mothers hair, it was unruly curls that were dark brown, almost black. He had brown eyes like both his parents.
He was tall, but not quite as tall, as his father. And he had a lean, but well muscled body and a voice like honey. Ok, maybe he was a pretty perfect guy.
But he only ever hung out with Illiana and he didn't even seem like he liked her enough to date her.
"C'mon, we've got to go." I told her, dragging her along the hallways.
She gave a small huff. "I wish I specialized in fire. That way I could be in your magic class." She said.
"Your earth magics cool." I said.
"You know what else I wish?" She asked and I waited for her answer even though I already knew what it would be.
"I wish my parents would sign the permission slip for me to take the offensive magic class." She said giving me a longing look.
After much protest and debate, my father (with my mothers help obviously) had gotten a class at all academies for Moroi who wanted to use there magic offensively. It required parent permission though.
I of course, being his daughter, took the class. I was pretty good with my fire magic too.
My classes flew by and being that it was a Friday night, and I was the Dragomir Princess I got quite a few party invites.
Me and Katie weren't in the super popular group (that group consisted mainly of Illiana Ivashkov, James Conta, Hannah Szelsky and a few others. And a handful of select dhampirs.)
But me and Katie did get enough invitations on the weekends for us to have a selection.
In the end, we decided to go to Joseph Drozdov's party. It was promised that he would have beer, which I didn't really care for but Katie did and it was always funny seeing her drunk.
I immediately regretting choosing that party though when we got there.
Mason and Illiana were having a pretty hard core make-out session on the couch.
People were ignoring them for the most part, everyone was drinking and having a good time, but my eyes couldn't leave them on the couch.
Well, this confirmed it. They were dating.
Katie followed my gaze. "Now, who's staring, Prim?" she asked teasingly.
I didn't answer, but followed her as she went to get beer.
She found a cooler and pulled one out.
"What, I don't get one?" I asked.
Her eyes widened. "You? You want a beer?"
I almost backed down. I really didn't want a beer. But, I also didn't want to be at this party sober while Mason made out with Illiana on the couch.
"Yeah, I want a beer. Lets get wasted." I told her boldly, and she cheered, handing me a beer. I downed the whole thing.
---
"Go, go, go, go!" Me and Katie chanted, as some non-royal moroi did a keg stand. Where someone had gotten a keg, this far out in the academy, no one knew.
Once he was finished, me and Katie stumbled away, and I couldn't stop giggling.
"What's wrong with you?" Katie slurred slightly, as I stumbled, trying to keep my balance. We were both drunk.
Really drunk.
But I never drank, and was a lightweight. I was much more drunk than Katie.
"I'm drunk. Really drunk." I answered, and Katie rolled her eyes. "No, duh."
"Is Mason still sucking Illiana's face?" I asked, the drunkness making me blunt.
Katie turned around, looking. "Yeah. She's shirtless now."
"I think you mean shitless. Who takes there shirt off in public like this?" I asked, my voice sounding funny to my own ears.
Katie laughed. "There are like seven shirtless girls in this room, Prim."
I hiccuped. "Well, not me. Call me Prude Prim."
I watched as Katie's face went funny. "What?" I asked, but she wasn't the one who answered.
"Princess Primrose. Or Princess Prude, would you care to explain." The Russian accent asked.
I turned around. "Uncle Dimka!" I said, too much enthusiasm in my voice. Boy, I was going to regret drinking in the morning.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked me sternly, his brown eyes unwavering.
"Partying." I answered.
"I thought you didn't drink."
"I usually don't. But I hated watching Mason suck Illiana's face, so it was either go home or get wasted and you know if I went home for the night that would make me a lame person. And it's good that I got drunk, cause now Illiana's shirtless and I don't think sober me could've handled it."
"Prim, let's get you home." Katie, said, grabbing me arm. Dimitri stopped her.
"Now, you can go home, Ms.Voda. I've got the Princess. Where is my son?" his voice was cold now.
"On the couch behind us, over there." she said, then whispered to me. "Sorry, Prim, I'm gonna leave."
Then she made a run for it.
Most of the party-goers hadn't noticed Dimitri yet, which I found weird. He wasn't a presence most people could ignore.
Dimitri marched over to Mason, I followed.
He grabbed Mason by his shirt, hauling him off the couch and onto his feet.
"What the hell!" Mason said, not realizing who it was.
When he did, his skin went white.
"Dad. Hey." he said, his voice small. It was weird, seeing Mason like this. He was usually a force to be reckoned with, even with his mother. His father was the only one who ever really got to Mason.
Illiana was blushing on the couch, reaching for her shirt on the floor.
Mason's eyes traveled to me. "Did you snitch on me?"
Dimitri grabbed Mason's arm. "No, she didn't. Remember, me and your mother were coming to visit this week?"
"I thought you were coming tomorrow. Remember?" Mason asked, more of his usual sarcasm in his tone.
"We got in early. We're leaving. Now." Dimitri turned to leave, but then at last minute turned to Illiana.
"I would suggest to you that you not try to find Mason tomorrow. He won't be going to his classes, he'll be with me and his mother all day. Is that ok with you, Ms.Ivashkov?"
Illiana nodded, and after that me, Dimitri, and Mason left.
Dimitri led us to guest housing, where he produced a key for one of the rooms.
When we stepped in, he let out a sigh of relief. "You're lucky your mother isn't back yet, Mason."
"Yeah, no kidding. She'd be pissed."
"Why am I here?" I asked, groggily, swaying on my feet.
"I didn't want you staying at that party." Dimitri told me.
"I could've gone home with Katie. We're roommates." I said, a little more snarkily than I'd meant.
Dimitri just sighed. "You're drunk, you might've passed out before you got there."
Mason looked me over, it seemed almost like he was noticing me for the first time.
"Why are you so drunk, Prim?" he asked, seemingly aghast.
"Why do you care?" I returned, harshly.
His eyes narrowed. "Because you're my friend."
"Could've fooled me." I turned to Dimitri. "Can I go?"
"No, actually, I have some things to tell you, once Rose gets back."
I sighed, making my way over to the couch and plopping down, not able to stand anymore.
"Mason, I don't like you sneaking around, with that girl!" Dimitri said, focused on his son again.
"Давайте говорить на русском языке, прим действительно не нужно это услышать." (Let's speak in Russian, Prim really doesn't need to hear this.) Mason said, sounding angry.
Damn, I should've took Russian as a language instead of Spanish.
"Я запрещаю вам делать что-то так глупо, как и красться вокруг с некоторым морой девушка, которую вы даже не как, что много!" (I forbid you from doing something as stupid as sneaking around with a Moroi girl you don't even really like!) Dimitri's voice was raising now.
"Вы запрещаете мне? Ты здесь не достаточно, чтобы запретить мне что-нибудь, папа. Кроме того, кто говорит, что я ее не люблю?" (You're not here enough to forbid me from that, besides who says I don't like her?) Mason was calm now, but I could see the anger in his eyes.
"Do you like her, do you? Think about this Mason, and I know when you're lying." Dimitri said in english.
"Нет, я не" (No, I don't) Mason answered quietly.
I knew enough Russian, to understand that.
"If you don't like Illiana why were you making out with her?" I asked, from my spot on the couch.
"Because I'm a teenage boy, and she's rather good looking." Mason said, his sly smile on his face.
"Mason! Cut the act. Me and your mother don't really care for you behavior lately. All these parties, getting into trouble, hanging out with bad people." Dimitri sounded more stressed than angry now.
"What? You don't like me acting exactly how mom did when she was in school? And you know what, I'm technically better than mom was." Another one of Mason's sly smiles slid on his face. "По крайней мере, я не сплю с одним из моих учителей." (At least I'm not sleeping with one of my teachers.)
I wasn't sure what Mason had said, but it set his father off.
"I'll let your mother deal with you. Stay here, don't let Prim wander off anywhere." Dimitri spat, before leaving.
"You really get to him. Nothing gets Dimitri that upset." I said, moving from a sitting position to a laying position on the couch. I was started to feel the headache from being drunk. "What did you say to him."
"That at least I'm not sleeping with one of my teachers, like my mother had been doing while she'd been in the academy."
"Oooh. That's bad. You better think of a good apology, Mase." I told him, and using the nickname I'd called him when we were little made me sad. I wished we were still friends all the time. But he'd been the one to push me away, and I was going to go begging him to be friends again.
"I just can't help it. Its the spirit magic." he said.
"My mother has spirit magic too, and she doesn't treat people like you do. And if you really feel that way, take the medication like Adrian's doing."
"We tried medication. When I was twelve. It didn't work, my body just burned the medication away. All it did was give me fevers." He said.
He sounded so hopeless, that I sat up, meeting his brown eyes from where he stood across the room.
"You don't have to isolate yourself Mason."
"I don't. I've got Illiana, and a few close guy friends."
"You really shouldn't be using Illiana like this." I said, him bringing her up reminding me how he didn't even like her.
"She's the one using me." he said.
"What?"
"I told her, many times, that I don't like her. At least not the way she wants me to, and that we don't have a future."
"What did she say?" I asked, my voice quiet.
"That she didn't mind. That having Mason Belikov for a boyfriend was good enough, and that I couldn't possibly mind getting to sleep with her and all of that. Kind of made it hard to break things off with her. But yeah, I'm not using her. She's using me as a namebrand boyfriend."
"Ew, You've slept with her?" I asked, and he got another sly smile on his face, before letting out a small laugh.
"Sorry, didn't mean to let that slip." he said, and as he did, I noticed a shape behind him.
"Mason Yevvan Belikov, you better start explaining, and it better be damn well better than the shit you were telling your father." The shape spoke from behind him, and Mason froze, turning around.
It was Rose Hathaway.
"Mom. Did you happen to catch that last part?"
"What the part about you being stupid?" she asked, that same sly smirk that Mason always used on her face now, except on her it looked scarier. "Yeah. Now sit down, and start explaining."
"You can go, Prim. Guardian Jacobs is waiting outside." she said, referring to one of the novice's instructors. "He'll take you to your room."
I got up shakily, and as the door shut behind me I heard the yelling start.
And what made me saddest, was that is was the most I'd seen of Mason in years.