It was the somewhat middle of September, the weather slowly growing colder. Lissa and I went out on a coffee break from somewhere other than the coffee shops built inside the court buildings where she lived luxuriously as a queen. She had become queen of all Moroi several months ago, and lots loved her. Me being assigned to her was pretty much a miracle, and honestly I was on the verge of questioning my faith. With all of my vigilante missions I had went on, such as me dropping out of high school to kill Dimitri in Russia, and leaving Court to go break Victor Dashkov out of jail, the real miracle was that I still had my guardian status. I should've been a blood whore by now.
She had ordered some kind of frapuccino, while I stuck to the usual latte. I wasn't big on coffee, though I drank it a lot. "Rose?" I heard Lissa ask after a few minutes of walking. "Yes?" "You've never told me about your first time with Dimitri, you know." I saw her raise her eyebrows and give me a smirk which made me question why she was even queen. I remembered that night like someone would remember getting a diploma, or their wedding. It meant a lot more to me than it would anyone. "Well, you know that cabin you, Christian, and Tasha went skating by?" I saw her smile falter a bit at the mention of Tasha's name. We always questioned why she would ever betray us like that. But it was one of those things where even though you came up with a million theories, you'd never truly understand why. She nodded. "Well, after I beat up Jessie for their Mânå thing, he took me their for first aid. As you can imagine, bandages and rubbing alcohol wasn't the only 'aid' he gave me." I winked and we both started laughing.
We finally reached the court, only to find Christian and the man of my dreams, Dimitri. They stood by the corridor of Lissa's room, apparently waiting for us to arrive. Both Lissa and I were glad to have seen them and she took Christian to sit on one of the couches out in the lobby next to the corridor. Dimitri sat himself on a sofa somewhat far from them and I sat next to him, resting my head on his chest and lacing my fingers with his. "I missed you." I whispered into his shoulder, him playing with my hair. "We see each other every day, you know." He said matter-of-factly. "And yet, the few hours we part from each other I feel as if my heart ripped in two and I spend centuries waiting." I said in an over dramatic, poetic type of way. Similar to what Adrian would used to do. He laughed, and it made me feel all warm inside. No matter how long we've been together, which is probably about a year and a half now, everything he does never fails to fascinate me and get my heart beating faster than ever.
I looked at him, and I noticed a different look today. He seemed... Nervous. A bit excited too. I sat straight. "What's up?" He seemed to be thrown off track by the question but he answered hesitantly. "I was meaning to ask if you wanted to go out to dinner La Royale tonight." My mouth slightly hung open. "La Royale? As in the La Royale?" It was an extremely fancy and expensive restaurant that was in one of the court buildings. Usually only Moroi royalty like the Ivashkov's would dine there, but even then they usually went there on special occasion. Regardless, it was also usually crowded. He smiled. "Yes, that one." "We can't leave Lissa and Christian unattended, though." I said. "Christian is staying over with Lissa tonight." he replied. Yeah to get hot and heavy, I thought to myself. He always stayed over at least once a week and that was a blessing to us because we would have time alone, even though we had a lot. Lissa said that they were also discussing marriage, and I couldn't help but feel jealous, and yet, happy. If they got married me and Dimitri would be together every second of every day, basically. But I always wanted to get married to Dimitri. Well; I wasn't exactly sure. I kept telling him I wanted to wait until there was at least a 2 in front of my age before I could think about it but I can't understand why. Was I afraid of commitment? Was I afraid of how it would affect people's views on us? Or was I just playing hard to get?
"And you're completely funding this?" I asked. I have no idea where he would get the money to go to La Royale. "Nope. Well, a portion of it. Lissa helped set up the date," he grinned. Of course. "Besides, the last time I took you to dinner was in Russia 2 months ago. It'll be great." I wasn't protesting. But I wondered why he would want to take me there. The dinner in Russia was fancy, but it was nothing compared to La Royale. "Definitely. I'll steal one of Lissa's dresses." He wrapped me in his arms and we stayed like that for and indefinite amount of time. I never wanted to leave. We got lots of weird looks, but that was normal for us. Christian got up and gestured toward Dimitri, who let me go and followed after Christian. I looked at Lissa, and by the look on my face she probably understood what I was thinking. She couldn't keep a straight face on. She started smiling like an idiot. "You're funding our date?" I asked her. "Yup. In fact, I was the one who thought of it." I elbowed her, and we went to her room to try dresses on.
"How about this one?" I asked her. It was an emerald green dress that reached the floor. The collar was stretched out, like a short yet wide v-neck. The sleeves were long and it was covered in subtle glitter, sparkles, and sequins. The top reached down into a V as well, and the skirt had 2 thin layers of tulle underneath to make it look a bit poofy but still really skinny. I didn't have a lot of dresses, and most of Lissa's dresses were jade, to match her eyes. "Looks nice, but I'm not digging the color." She said bluntly. "I bought a dress for you, you know." I was stunned. She went inside her other closet and came out a second later with the same exact dress, but it was black. I fell in love. She grinned at me and said, "I planned this date since two weeks ago. You are definitely wearing this dress." "What, did you go in the store and say, 'Woah. This is Rose's dress.'?" We both laughed, remembering the time we went shopping a long time ago when we were still at St. Vladimir's. I put on the dress and loved the way it complimented my figure. She did my makeup, which wasn't a lot. Probably just lip gloss and smoky eye shadow. We heard a knock at the door, and I hurried into the bathroom to fix anything I didn't like. As I began to move my hair around, I heard Christian at the door. "Dimitri's waiting outside for Rose, by the way." His voice said faintly across the room. I slipped on the pair of high heels Lissa bought for me as well. They were black and 3 1/2 inches tall, with a black rose stationed on the top. I scurried out of the bathroom and walked towards the door. Lissa gave me an excited wave and I walked outside, closing the door and leaving them to their privacy.
Once I walked outside I saw Dimitri, wearing a black tuxedo and I could smell cologne on him, covering the aftershave. He smiled genuinely when he saw me and walked over to give me a kiss. We laced our fingers together and took a long walk across the court buildings. "You look extra beautiful today," he said in my ear. "On the plus side, I'm wearing heels. So now, I can actually look at your face without having to stand on my toes." I said to him sarcastically. He laughed and kissed my cheek. We finally reached the restaurant, and the reservation checker gave us a weird look. "Dimitri Belikov and Rosemarie Hathaway?" he asked politely. "Yes, that's us." Dimitri replied. We were escorted to a romantic setting, inside a booth. We still were able to see people around us but this was apparently VIP seating or something. There was a bouquet of red roses sitting in the middle and I laughed. "How many references are going to be made to my name tonight?" I asked. "More than you can imagine," he grinned, "Just wait until you see the dishes I ordered." And he wasn't kidding, all of my dishes either had rosemary as an ingredient or rose petals bordering the dish. When we reached dessert, I was served a cake with a fondant roses covering the top. Not to mention, the food was extremely good. I would've stuck to places like McDonald's, but wow, I could never get enough. I looked up at him as I shoved my face with cake, completely contradicting my appearance. He seemed anxious, and yet again, excited.
When we finished, the bill came and he pulled out a credit card in the name of Vasilisa Dragomir. "Courtesy of Lissa," he said excitedly. After paying, he piped up before we left. "Oh, sorry I forgot I wanted to show you something." He looked as if he was fumbling with his tuxedo pocket, and I couldn't help but laugh. He dropped whatever he was grabbing. "Oops." he grunted. He bent down to get it and I looked around the restaurant, staring at the elegant portraits put on display and velvet curtains, red as blood. I soon noticed blonde curls and black hair sticking out behind a table. It was Lissa and Christian. Were they spying on us? They seemed eager, as if waiting for something. I wanted to say something before I heard Dimitri say, "Here it is."
When I turned around saw it, I felt like my world was spinning. I froze as I stared at the gleam of a diamond ring, sitting inside a black velvet box. He was on one knee and was grinning from ear to ear, despite his fierce look. "You caught my eye since that first day at St. Vladimir's. You were the only woman who ever understood me, and made me laugh and helped me forgive myself regardless of all the thing's I've done." My breathing grew heavier and he never stuttered once, even though this was such a big moment. "You complete me in ways no one has ever been able to. So now I am asking you," he paused and continued a bit louder this time, "Rosemarie Hathaway, will you marry me?" I stopped breathing all together. Using my peripheral vision, I could see the entire restaurant focusing their attention on us. They were whispering and some even tearing up. This changed everything. The man I loved so dearly was standing on one knee in front of me, asking me to spend my entire life with him. Before I knew it, I began to tear up and let the tears escape my eyes at a rapid rate. "Yes, yes yes!" I said, sniffing and wiping some tears with the sleeve of my dress. "Dimitri I will marry you." It came out like a raspy whisper, and he slipped the diamond ring on my finger and swept me off the floor as he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. I felt as if nothing mattered except us. He cupped my face in his hands and wiped my tears with his thumbs. "I love you, Rose." he said happily. I laughed. "I love you too." We kissed again and I heard clapping around me. People were also yelling congratulations, and he gently let me down as I said thank you to the crowd. I looked at Lissa who was crying as well, and laughing. She ran up to me and gave me a hug. "You knew about this?" I asked her. "Of course." she laughed again. I let go and laced my fingers with Dimitri, who was smiling. Lissa and Christian ran off to their room, leaving me and Dimitri alone.
"Didn't I ask you to wait until I had a 2 in front of my age?" I told him. "That was a lie, and you know it." He knew me so well. I walked to my room which was adjacent to Lissa's. It was smaller, obviously, but still luxurious. He closed the door immediately once I got in and kissed me, pushing me against the wall.
You can probably guess what happened next.