Prologue.
It seems like forever since Lissa and I were caught. That fateful day the Guardians tracked us down. The day he found us.
Lissa Dragomir, the last in her Moroi line, or so we thought, and I, her faithful best friend and Dhampir Gaurdian had escaped from St. Vladimir's Academy only to be tracked by the God of all Guardians, Dimitri Belikov.
Little did we know then what would happen, what our fates would hold. And to think, we thought that going back to St. Vladimir's was the worst thing that could happen.
Chapter 1.
"They execute traitors." The words echoed around my head while I stared into the concerned eyes of the man in front of me, Zmey The Snake, my father.
In the distance I could hear someone calling my name, I could feel the crumpled piece of paper in my now sweaty palm, but none of it seemed real, none of it seemed like it was happening to me.
"I'm sorry Miss Hathaway, we've got to take you away now," I turned to see two Guardians standing on either side of me, slowly, so slow it seemed like it was happening in slow motion, they grabbed my hands and cuffed them behind my back as they led me away from the commotion taking over the court. I was lead out through a series of doors, all of which were a blur. I was lead down a long flight of stairs, until we reached the cells.
I knew these cells well, after all, only a few days ago this is where they held Dimitri when they still though he would go ape shit on their asses.
The two Guardians walked me into the cell, taking extra caution they released me from the cuffs, if I wasn't so numb and hollow inside I could've had a chance to escape, but I felt like I was trapped in fog, I felt disorientated, so as they closed the cell behind me I knew my fate had been sealed, and as realisation started to sink in I collapsed onto the cement floor with a sob.
I could feel the sobs wracking my body as I struggled to breathe, I felt like someone was squeezing my chest too tightly, then just as suddenly as I'd collapsed I was standing in the court again, tears running down my face as I was being held by someone, turning my head I could see it was Christian. Realising that Lissa had pulled me to her I tried to fight my way back to my cell where I could try to come to terms with what had happened, but just as I thought I had a grip on it I was sucked back to her.
"But she's innocent, she didn't do it" Lissa was repeating over and over like a mantra. Christian was rubbing her back, whispering to her, trying to calm her down.
"It will be alright Princess," back in my cell I cringed when I heard the deep, hauntingly familiar, accented voice, dread clutching my stomach as Lissa moved her eyes to look in to the deepest, brown eyes that would forever be burned into my memory, the worry and concern for Lissa was evident, and as always, since Lissa had staked him and brought him back from being a Strigoi, there was the adoration. It twisted my insides in pain.
I could hear raised voices, and when Lissa lifted her head and turned to look, I could see Adrian nearly screaming at Abe,
"What the hell do you think you were doing? Did you really think that you could help her?" Adrian's face was contorted in anger, I'd never seen him like this, Adrian who was always so laid back, calm and collected, tense and radiating pure hatred.
"Honestly, Mr Ivashkov, do you think there was anything that pathetic excuse of a lawyer would have been able to do?" Abe stood there looking defeated, shaking his head, "They've already convicted and condemned her, in their eyes she's guilty and if they have their way in three weeks she will be sentenced to death." Lissa gasped, then let out a sob.
It was then I was able to return to myself, curled up, sobbing on the floor of my cell.