RPOV
This could not be happening! It was all I thought as I read the note, time and again. They knew. The damn Strigoi knew! They knew Dimitri and I were planning to try to have a baby of our own even though I hadn't been immunised yet—we wanted to see if the immunisation was essential. So now they were after us, after me, Dimitri, my parents, and my friends. Lissa hadn't been on the throne two years, and Jill had only been safe for a tiny collection of months. They couldn't be under this much threat. And why today? Of all days? Why did they have to pick this date? Because they were twisted and evil undead creatures of the night, that's why.
"Dimitri, do we have to go out tonight?" I asked from the front hallway back to the lounge and tucked the note in my jeans' back pocket as I got home from my short shift today... human day ward shift that is. For once, Croft was cooperating and giving us shifts that worked with date plans—I.E. giving Dimitri a couple of days off and me short ward or desk shifts on those same days so we could flip our sleep schedule... again. Lissa being a day student at Lehigh instead of residing in a dorm or share house made flipping our sleep schedules an ever-present bitch.
"Roza, I've never once heard you complain so much about me taking you on a date. What's up with this one?" he called back as I retreated to our lounge and his side.
"You know what's up," I retorted.
He shook his head as I plopped down beside his reading form. "Roza, I thought I'd fixed the birthday issue," he chuckled, but there was no trace of humour or amusement.
"You didn't take me out of the wards last year," I said. "And I think I know what's coming with this date." He'd dropped the proposal pushing these past six months, which made me all the more suspicious he was planning something. Early at that.
Our Head Guardian being so uncharacteristically accomodating regarding our time off and shifts only added to my suspicion—Dimitri would seek out Croft's permission as well as Abe's and Lissa's, so it only made sense Croft was in on the plans.
"Oh? Are you a mind reader now?" he laughed again, but this time with warmth and humour.
"I've always been your personal mind reader. So, can we stay in instead tonight?"
Dimitri shook his head. "This is one time I'm not yielding to your demands, Miss Hathaway."
"It's Guardian, Mr Belikov." I slapped his knee before standing to go get dressed for tonight.
"That stung, Rose," he shouted.
"Payback's a bitch," I retorted. "And don't forget—"
"For me you risked never having the title in the first place, I know," he completed as he followed me into our bedroom. "I was supposed to be the reason you received it, yet I'm the reason you risked everything to save my soul, especially the one thing you deserve most."
"I don't regret it, Dimitri." Even with this new threat, I thought as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"I'm so lucky to have found you, Roza." He smiled and his hands fell to cradle my ass. I was glad I'd hid the note already. "So lucky to have your love in my life."
"Don't go all proposal-speech-y on me," I warned. "It's still two weeks before I'm twenty." I knew he had to be counting down the seconds, because quite frankly, I was too, knowing he wouldn't be able to stand waiting any longer than the exact second I turned twenty.
Dimitri's playful pout proved as much. "I wouldn't dare ask you again until I knew it was a yes."
I shook my head. He was going to ask me tonight, I could feel it, and I knew my answer would take him off-guard. Because it had never been a no, but simply a no for now. How Dimitri hadn't yet picked up on the slight discrepancy I'd never know.
The restaurant he took me to was posh, elegant, and exactly the type of place I knew he'd take me to in order to propose. I was still on edge however, no matter how calm I appeared... and somehow I was even fooling Dimitri. But then again, he was very probably hiding a little freakout of his own. I just couldn't relax, especially knowing I could no longer sense them, sense their danger.
"Roza," Dimitri lightly covered my left hand with his right and I jumped in my seat.
"Hmm, Comrade?" I asked, still feeling spacey and jumpy. Though I knew what was coming, I knew he'd reached out to my left hand on purpose. It was happening and I just couldn't get a grip of myself.
"Roza, sweetheart," Dimitri was seriously worried about me if he was following my Russian name with a typical English term of endearment. Or two. "Honey, are you sure you're fine?" The underlying worry behind his words enhanced the accent that laced them.
I met his eyes. "Perfect," I smiled my maneater smile.
Dimitri's chuckle and head shake told me he didn't buy it. Of course he damn-well wouldn't buy it, he knew me better than I knew myself. And I nearly never used my flirtatious smile on him, since I almost never felt the need to. Still, his own plans would not be thwarted tonight as he inched closer to the edge of the chair. Did he really think I wouldn't register that when I knew he'd pick one of our anniversaries if not my birthday to propose?
"Rosemarie Hathaway," and so it began, my full name rolled off his tongue like the most holy of words he'd e'er dare speak, grabbing my full attention as the weight of this moment truly began to dawn on me. I suddenly realised this moment wouldn't only change my life, but his also. His outlook on our future was going to change depending on my decision tonight, and the words he used would forever burn bright in my memory. "I have loved you from the moment I met you. From the second I heard your voice, I knew I'd found an angel, my own, personal guardian angel. I took you on as my student what feels both like yesterday and a century of yesterdays ago, because I wanted you to have the best possible future. Little did I know, that future would include you gifting me your heart, your soul, your everything on this night two years ago."
What did I say? One of our anniversaries. I smiled and a little teary giggle caught in my throat as Dimitri dropped to one knee.
"I know you wanted me to wait until you were twenty," he teased and that teary giggle escaped again as I nodded, "but I couldn't wait a second longer; just as I couldn't contain my love for you back then I can't contain it again now. Roza, we've been through hell and back to be together, to stay together, to stay alive.
"When I found you two—nearly three—years ago, I found half of my soul, and every time I look at you I'm reminded of who I am, who I fight to be, and why I fight to be the person I want to be. When I loved you on this night two years ago, I knew I had found my new home. They say home is where the heart is, and you, Rose Hathaway, built the home for my heart simply by existing. Your strength, resilience, determination and love never cease to catch me off-guard with their purity and depth. Everyday, your breathing chases away my nightmares, and I love you all the more because of it.
"So, Rosemarie Hathaway, I promise with all I have in me to spend the rest of our lives loving you and protecting you, to spend eternity becoming a better man for you. Marry me, Roza?" He placed a tiny velvet ring box in the palm of my left hand and popped it open.
"Yes," I whispered, terrified to break the spell he'd cast around us and throughout the now silent restaurant. I looked him dead in the eyes and smiled. "It was never a no, so absolutely yes."
He slid the ring onto my finger with a giant grin. I immediately recognised the hum of magic coming from the silver band that was sporting a small red ruby encased by tiny diamonds. I shot a look at him. His grin turned into a smirk. "I promised didn't I?"
"Of course you did," I laughed before kissing him.
DPOV
All hell broke loose around us and our kiss broke. Strigoi had penetrated the building and I placed my body in front of Rose's. But I knew my fiancée well enough to know she was a fraction of a millisecond away from turning and drawing her own stake from its hidden sheath in her dress and fighting with me. The Strigoi kept coming and we kept fighting. We were down to our last one each when the Strigoi she was fighting used her hair to twist her neck and sink his dirty fangs into her neck. I ended the female I was fighting, pressed the distress button on my pager and then the fight to end the Strigoi touching my Roza happened in an anger-driven haze.
"I don't know if she's in the process of turning!" I screamed at the guardian on gate duty. Which I realised too late happened to be Mikhail. Only his understanding eyes and sending me straight to the hospital alerted me to the fact, led me to recognition. By then he was phoning whoever he could of our friends and colleagues without letting too many unsavoury or undesirables in on the possibility.
Neil was still the only one who had been Strigoi immunised and right now I hated Sydney for choosing him over Roza, my Roza. She knew Rose was more likely to be attacked, yet she still chose Neil!
Eddie, Christian, Lissa, Sonya, Sydney, Mia, Neil and Angeline all poured into Rose's huge room on Mikhail's heels. Sometimes it paid to be the queen's most personal guardian and unofficial sister. Lissa had ensured Rose had a room second only to her own since she wasn't allowed to get away with trying to be a normal patient. I wondered why Eddie sat opposite me, on Rose's right, while Neil sat on the bed by Rose's left foot and Angeline sat opposite him... Until I noticed it was a tie-down and restraint formation. A Strigoi Roza could awake and easily take us out within milliseconds because she would be that powerful, and Mikhail had recognised this. Still, I had to verbally flip him off for endangering Moroi... the Queen no less.
"You're going to get shot for endangering her," I growled, "and the rest."
Mikhail remained impassive as he sat by Roza's midsection. I nearly warned him about touching my fiancée, but soon sensibly saw he was ready to lend his weight to restraining her.
"If she is changing then we can change her straight back," Lissa said evenly, not yet becoming an ordering queen. "We will," now the power came in as she revealed the stake and her companions summoned the magic they could use to aid our restraining efforts.
"Your Majesty," I protested.
She held her hand in not simply a shushing manner but a very royal and definite shut-up manner. "She's my closest friend and best guardian. She already died once for me and I couldn't do anything to help. I will not let her suffer that fate, the exact same one you did two years ago, Dimitri." She was getting very good at the verbal bitch-slaps and argument killers. I'm not sure how much was Rose influenced and how much was the result of dealing with the petty Royal Council members.
Half an hour later Rose's eyes opened. Her skin was whiter than ever and her eyes were ringed in red. She was my Roza yet not, and I suddenly understood how impossible it had been for her not to hesitate. She thrashed against her restraints and growled. Yup. Somehow, all Strigoi were awakened with an ingrained set of insults and threats. Danger had never been so comical. I knew what I had to do to placate her as much as it was possible to placate a Strigoi, let alone one newly awakened and howling.
"Roza," I said and tipped my head to the side. Confusion lit her hungry eyes so I clarified, to the horror of those around me. "Drink," I simultaneously cooed and demanded. "Don't try to kill," I warned, "just drink. You'll still feel more satisfied just by drinking." If she loved me, then my blood and scent had to be driving her enhanced senses into overdrive, confusing and frightening her. Even if it was as Neil reported and she couldn't drain me because I didn't taste as appealing as I smelled, she would still get enough blood to settle her down.
She came towards my neck and I gasped as the euphoria took away the pain of her bite. It lasted barely a few seconds, but I was left dizzy and somewhat literally drained nonetheless. I didn't need to nod at Christian and Sydney before they, Sonya, and Mia helped restrain her so Lissa could move in.
The light exploded around us and when I looked at the bed, Rose was curled in a ball and crying. The life from death miracle was beautiful, but right now, I was the only one who understood what she was going through. I had no time to revel in the beauty because my beautiful guardian angel was scared and crying. I gathered her in my arms, the endorphins gone with the reality check, and cooed in Russian while stroking her hair.
"What did I do?" she cried in agony into my chest. The others had left, Sydney taking six vials of Rose's blood with her, causing her to faint.
"Nothing, it's all okay, Roza, you're fine, it's all okay. You didn't kill, your conscience is clean."
"But I wanted to! I wanted to kill you, Dimitri! Your blood, your heartbeat, your smell, it was telling me to kill you, since I couldn't damn-well awaken you again." Just as she didn't want her friends to be at risk of going through what we had. Hence her earlier pass out from blood loss. "Your blood didn't repel me as Neil said it did to the Strigoi he tested out the immunisation on. It should have but it didn't. I needed it too much. I needed yours too much."
"I know, Roza, I know. But it wasn't you, it wasn't you. I remember your blood, heartbeat and scent drove me insane when I was Strigoi. Your blood took on a certain taste, your heart beat a song that called to me and me alone. Your scent sent my senses into overdrive. I know what it's like, Roza. You have to forgive yourself, though. I know it's hard, but it is possible. You didn't kill me, you didn't kill anyone in this room. Find one thing that's beautiful, in this room name one thing beautiful. I'm not included, by the way."
She immediately locked eyes on her engagement ring, studying the way the light reflected from it. Her smile was priceless, more of a treasure than the one she'd given me while accepting.
"This ring," she murmured like a prayer and shifted her gaze to me while placing her hand on my pec. "You had it made, didn't you? Designed it from scratch and had it charmed while the band was forged? Didn't you?"
I took her hand and brought it to my lips in a kiss. "I did," I nodded.
"It's beautiful, because not only have you made it to reflect me, it contains a part of me."
I furrowed my brows in confusion.
Roza laughed. "You clearly forget someone added a dash of spirit. Just a dash and only barely detectable, but it's there. The normal elements absolutely burned, paralysed and numbed that finger, but the spirit made sure a thimble-full of my soul, not even, wasn't turned. This ring is a godsend... and you are the god who sent it to me."
I kissed her, totally clueless as to how else to respond. "So...?"
"I'd marry you right now if it were possible."
I chuckled and kissed her again.
When I dashed home to get her a change of clothes—and swap my own—I came across the source of her distraction earlier this evening. She had tried to warn and deter me, without coming off as scared. I was hit with a pang of guilt and responsibility. I blamed myself for the deaths of those four dozen patrons and couple dozen staff. Seventy-two extra human lives were wasted in some way because I hadn't listened to Rose, because I hadn't booked a restaurant here at Court to propose in, because I'd put Rose's life before dozens of innocent and defenceless humans when I knew she was the best goddamn guardian out there.