The ownership of all characters related to and involving the novels of The Vampire Academy and Bloodlines Series remain the sole property of Richelle Mead, the Penguin Group and any affiliates.
No copyrights have been infringed on maliciously.
A/n: I know…I know; they're getting further and further apart.
At the moment, I'm working on a longer story format for Romitri (which is the reason for the delays) based on events in Shadow Kiss in which Dimitri realises that his love for Rose is dividing his loyalties. I'm hoping to keep it to a thirteen or fourteen chapter story, but I'm probably kidding myself.
Hopefully by next weekend I will post the first chapter in By the Baring of my Soul, but until then, here's a very, very short one-shot to keep the peace…it's going to be the last one for a while.
As always, thank you so much for the support and kind words in your reviews…enjoy!
~ Ritual ~
"I can't believe you've lost all of them already!"
Rubbing my hands together, I spread the shaving cream from the base of my palms to the tips of my fingers and applied it to my lower face; slathering across my chin and jawbone from left to right with brisk, efficient movements tinged with irritation.
Spitting out a mouthful of foamy toothpaste, Rose scowled back at me in answer to my peeved expression from the misted mirror. "I haven't lost all of them, Dimitri…I simply can't find any of them."
"What's the difference, Rose?" I questioned in a low growl, tilting my chin back and soaping up my throat as she stuck the toothbrush back in her mouth and continued to aggressively brush her teeth.
"Geography." She mumbled around the brush as her eyes met mine again, only this time they were no longer darkened with annoyance at my accusation, but alight with a strange gleam…one that made me suddenly very wary. A normal Rose could be very perverse…a pregnant Rose was almost inflexible.
Gathering her hair; plaited into a thick, messy braid to the side of her neck to keep it out of the way of the water, Rose bent to the tap and gargled, cupping water to her mouth with her left hand to rinse. The bright light reflecting off the white walls caught at her weddings rings as the diamond and opal combination sparkled around the room.
Rinsing twice, Rose wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before closing the gleaming silver faucet and carelessly tossing her wet toothbrush to the side of the sink, completely ignoring the holder mounted on the wall to her right.
Eyeing her with disparagement tempered strongly by love, I frowned at the clutter that the toothbrush had joined on the pale, speckled marble. Scattered pins, barrettes, cosmetics and lotions littered the surface to Rose's side of the counter whilst my own was spotlessly neat and compulsively organized.
Not necessarily classified as messy, Rose was more…disorganized and it was that disorganization that often spilt over into our shared living space. It had been something that I had known would irk me right from the start, but I had found it easy to overlook in the face of the sheer joy I had found in living with her.
However, there were some things that I found more difficult to overlook; namely her complete disregard for what was mine. Sharing was one thing…having to replace those things constantly because she kept misplacing them was another.
"It's the same with the socks," I complained as I wiped my hands with a damp towel and reached for the razor, clipping the replaceable head into the handle and washing it thoroughly beneath a steady stream of hot water as I washed off the remaining soap from beneath my wedding ring.
"You lose yours, then steal mine and lose them too."
Hopping up onto the counter next to me, Rose wiggled over the smooth surface until I took a step back and she sat directly in front of me. Hooking her fingers into the loops of my dark grey jeans, she pulled me closer as her legs spread and I stood between them.
Dressed in blue-patterned flannel pajama bottoms and a white tank-top, the straggly plait of dark brown locks hung over her right shoulder; the tip resting between the generous cleavage of her breasts barely contained by the worn cotton on her top…something that she knew and had done deliberately.
It was always the same with her. Whenever I had to accompany Christian for any reason and leave Court, Rose would deliberately provoke me by wearing something revealing just before I was about to leave…or nothing at all. It was as if she wanted to remind me of what I was leaving behind so that I would return all that much sooner.
The reminder wasn't really needed. Although only just over three months pregnant, I despised being away from her for any period of time and made sure that returning sooner than was scheduled was always a priority. The powers-that-be had already demanded to start their tests on what they still considered an impossibility and although we had managed to hold them at bay for the moment, it wouldn't work forever and I didn't want to leave her alone for that.
Lissa would exert every ounce of her considerable power to keep them away from Rose, but having conceived the first documented Dhampir child between two Dhampir parents, the rampant speculation and curiosity within our world demanded answers and not even the Queen of the Moroi could hold them off indefinitely.
"Hey, the socks are different!" Rose defended as she took the razor from my fingers and shook off the drops of water. Grabbing the damp towel from beside me, Rose spread it over her lap as she pushed the plug into the basin and ran hot water into the sink, adjusting the top over her barely discernible bump before she gently patted it.
"How are the socks different?" I argued back mildly as I felt my irritation bleed away weakly in the wake of the show of maternal instincts Rose had feared she would never have.
"I'm not losing them; someone is stealing them."
Amusement tinged my voice as I asked. "Really? Why would anyone steal your socks, Roza?"
Twisting the handle of the tap to cut off the flow of water, Rose rinsed the razor once more before she turned my head to the right with the tip of her finger against my jaw and began to glide the razor slowly from just below my ear to the corner of my jawbone as she answered.
"I don't know…maybe to sell on E-bay?"
Titling my head down to cock a brow at her reply, I felt my lips twitch upwards as I fought against smiling and risking the bite of the blade into my cheek. "You think someone is going to buy your used socks on the internet?"
Smiling back at my teasing words, Rose washed the soapy foam off the head before tapping it against the side of the sink to dislodge the short bristles. "Hey, there are a lot of freaks out there buying weird things to do God knows what with, comrade… I wouldn't put anything pass them."
Resting my hands on her hips, my fingers played at the elasticated waist-band of the pajama pants as I shook my head at her in indulgent exasperation. Accustomed with her outlandish theories, I had already half expected her answer and as usual with Rose, wasn't disappointed by it.
"What?" Rose disputed loudly as she grabbed my chin between her forefinger and thumb to tilt it down towards her as the slow, smooth glide of the razor through the foam cut another swath of clear skin. "It could happen...you don't know."
Waiting until she had removed the razor from anywhere near my Jugular, I replied as my fingers skimmed lightly up and down her ribs; my thumbs gliding over the slight mound of our child.
"Fine. For the sake of the argument I will concede that there is a remote possibility that your socks are being stolen from the Court's laundry services, smuggled off the grounds and sold to some sordid sock sweatshop on the internet."
"That being said," I added as she squirmed in my grasp. "Where are all the hair-ties going, Rose?"
This was the bone of contention that had started the argument in the first place and was something that we argued over constantly.
In the household I had been raised in, the loss of such items; no matter how trivial, wasn't tolerated by my mother or my grandmother...especially the latter. Having learnt at an early age to take care of what I owned or face the consequences of their wrath, had ingrained within me a very serious sense of responsibility…something that Rose had obviously never been taught.
It was only since my arrival in her life that she had begun to think about the consequences of her irresponsibility…though obviously not enough.
Shivering at my touch; partly because she was ticklish and partly because of the frisson of sexual awareness that had bound us to each other from the very beginning before it had turned too much, much more, Rose shrugged her shoulders as she swept across my chin with a sure motion as I arched my neck back.
"E-bay?"
"Rose," I barked out laughingly as I pulled away from her before I guillotined myself.
"Fine. I'll find them later," she grumbled good-naturedly as she recaptured my chin and resumed her shaving. "I don't know what you're complaining about; you have at least one."
"Yes and the only reason I still have it is because it's already being used and I've managed to keep your avaricious little fingers away from it."
Arching a withering look at me, Rose muttered. "There are lots of times that you've enjoyed my 'avaricious little fingers', comrade, as you put it…remember that the next time you want them. Now keep still or you're going to get a closer shave than you wanted."
"I can shave myself, moye serdtse." I countered quietly as I did what I was told and held still as she moved to the other side of my face and began to work her way down my throat.
I had long ago come to realize that this was a ritual of sorts for Rose. Whenever I had to leave Court, she would insist on shaving me before as a sort of unspoken parting. It seemed to give her some small measure of peace whenever we had to part.
"I know you can, but I do it better...and it's something I enjoy doing before you leave. Now behave and hold still."
Smiling at the natural arrogance that seemed so a part of her it was easily overlooked, I cast my eyes downwards to look at her. "How do you figure that? I've been shaving for longer than you have, Roza."
"Yes, you have, but all you have to do is shave your face. Woman have to shave their legs, under their arms and…other areas and besides, have you ever seen me cut myself?" She countered as she again turned to the basin to wash off the razor; the material of her top stretched and twisted with her movements as her breasts jiggled and swung forward against it.
Swallowing roughly against the heated surge in my groin, I cleared my throat as I smirked down at her. "No, but maybe I should take a closer look…inspect all the areas that you mentioned for any evidence of these minor injuries that you claim you don't have. Just to be sure."
Clasping her tightly around the ribs, I pulled her closer into the cradle of my hips as I rocked my throbbing cock into the hollow of her pelvis, shuddering lightly as she moaned, but for once, Rose wouldn't be persuaded.
Smacking my hands away playfully, Rose again grasped my chin as she tilted my head down to shave around my mouth and above my upper lip. "Stop it! You have to meet Christian in twenty minutes and if we get into this, it'll be an hour before you leave this bathroom and other hour before you make it to the door."
"He'll understand if I'm late." I rumbled cajolingly as she finished her sweep around the left bracket of my mouth. Bending, I nuzzled the tip of my nose against her own as she laughed softly up at me and pushed me away, wiping at a dollop of shaving cream that had smeared over her chin.
"Probably, but you'll give him and Smitrovich an excuse to rag on you and the Dimitri Belikov I know would never give anyone the opportunity to do that…the Dimitri Belikov I know is far too morally upstanding for that."
"That doesn't bother me, Roza; what they assume is their own business and besides, they're all already envious."
Those who knew Rose wouldn't have shared my opinion; her waspish tongue and acidic temper put most off, but neither of us were blind to the fact that even pregnant, her curvaceous figure was enough for most to overlook what they saw as character flaws worth avoiding at all costs.
Laughing throatily at my answer, Rose shaved down the right grove of my mouth. "Clearly they don't know me if they're envious. I'm difficult on a good day and impossible on every other…especially since falling pregnant."
"Oh, they know you…they just don't know how to handle you."
"And you do?" She replied softly, quirking a brow as my fingertips slide beneath her top and skimmed lightly across her smooth, bare skin.
Grinning as she arched lightly against my touch, Rose waggled her brows at me as I answered. "Most of the time I think I do, though if I were a weaker man, you would have made mincemeat of me by now."
"It's a good thing you're not a weaker man then, isn't it?" Rose returned as she set aside the razor and ran her fingertips lightly around my face and neck, wiping at the occasional remnants of foam she found as she checked the surface of my skin for any remaining bristles.
Frowning as she found a small patch beneath my chin to the left, Rose again washed and tapped the razor against the sink before she set back in to work; shaking the can of shaving cream and decanting a small amount to spread over the stubble, tickling my jaw as she did it.
"Keep still, Dimitri! You cut yourself enough all on your own and I don't want to be responsible for messing up this pretty face because you're ticklish."
Scowling down at her blackly, I held still as she attacked the patch, but her words rankled.
"You know damn well why I cut myself, Rose… it had nothing to do with being ticklish and it was twice."
Biting her bottom lip to stifle her laughter at the indignant irritation she could hear in my voice, Rose patted my face with the damp towel as she placed the razor down on the sink. "Hey, it's not my fault you can't concentrate around me."
"Actually, it is your fault because you insist on strutting around naked in front of me when I'm shaving."
Clasping my smooth cheeks between her hands, Rose ran the tip of her right thumb over my bottom lip as she passed over the flesh.
"No one held a gun to your head to look, and if I remember rightly, you've never complained before, but if it's a problem for you, I promise that I'll never do it again." Placing her right hand over her heart, she raised her left as if pledging allegiance, but her smile made a mockery of her words.
"Mmmm," I commented dryly as my teeth nipped gently at her fingertip. "Now about those hair-ties…?"
"Ugh!" Rose groaned in disgust, pushing me away as I chuckled at her. "You're like a dog with a bone. Get over it already!"
Moving to her side, I ran my hands over lower half of my face, turning my head to the left and the right before tilting my chin upwards to continue with my inspection in the mirror behind her, knowing that if I continued to provoke her, I would be the one to pay the price.
Washing her hands beside me, Rose arched a brow at the show I was putting on as she dried them with the discarded towel and asked me archly. "So…does it pass your stringent requirements for a cleanly shaven face, Guardian Belikov?"
Drawing it out for a few more seconds, I smiled down at her before pressing my lips to her forehead and murmuring against it. "It does, Guardian Hathaway-Belikova. Well done as always. Can I thank you with a kiss?"
"Since when do you have to ask permission?" Rose enquired lightly as I moved back into the space created by her open thighs.
"Since I can't tell what mood you're in at the moment." Cupping her cheeks, I tilted her face upwards as her fingers flirted with the hard musculature of my bare abdomen. Rose smiled sweetly at me in response, which worried me more than it reassured me…sweet meant revenge.
"Oh, you know what mood I'm in, comrade," Rose purred seductively as her fingernails dug playfully into the ridges of my abdominals; scratching upwards as she whispered against my lips and sent my blood boiling. "But as you have no time for the mood I'm in, you're just going to have to live on your memories for the next two days."
Kissing my lightly on the lips, Rose hopped off the counter, grabbed her hairbrush and sauntered out into our bedroom, disappearing around the corner as she left me standing and staring after her in disbelief and acute frustration as her voice floated back to me.
"Take long, cold showers...I hear they help."
Turning back to the mirror, I groaned as I braced myself on stiffened arms against the marble and scowled with narrowed eyes. "Well done, Dimitri." I congratulated myself scathingly as her voice disappeared. "You've just managed to aggravate your volatile, pregnant wife and you don't even know how you did it."
Exhaling warily, I pushed away from the sink and walked back into the bedroom, heading to the walk-in as I found Rose sitting on a small, padded divan in the middle of the room. Eyeing her even more warily now than before, I reached into the closet and grabbed a black dress-shirt.
Seeming to ignore me, Rose lazily took apart her messy braid and began to drag the bristles through her thick mane.
Keeping an eye on her, I shrugged into the shirt and buttoned the cuffs at my wrists as I tried to gauge what she was up. Usually when she was irritated with me there was nothing subtle or difficult to understand, so with the mood she was in at the moment, the only way to proceed was cautiously.
"You know, this conversation started out with me being irritated by you and now somehow the tables have turned and you're irritated with me? How did that happen?" I asked softly, buttoning the shirt as I tucked it into the jeans and grabbed a light-weight jacket and the duster.
She had warned me when I had first found out about her pregnancy that she was going to be moody and that I would probably divorce her before she delivered, but her temperament hadn't really changed all that much; she had always been capricious so it was nothing that I hadn't already expected…except, in this mood, I didn't know her at all.
"I'm not mad with you, Dimitri."
"But you're not happy with me either."
Shrugging, Rose continued to methodically brush out her long locks. Moving to sit beside but slightly behind her, I threw the duster over the armrest of the divan and took the brush from her. It was no secret that I was more than mildly obsessed with her hair. If she even mentioned the possibility of cutting it; even if it was just to trim, I broke out into a cold sweat.
"I told you that I would be moody with the pregnancy and I specifically remember asking if you were ready for that and you said you were…you knew what you were getting yourself into." Rose commented lazily as she rested back against me.
"I knew what I was getting myself into five years ago when I married you, Roza." Gathering her hair together gently, I parted it to the left and cleared my way along the right side of her nape as I pressed gentle kisses from just below her ear to the wing of her shoulder blade.
"And it was the best decision I have ever made. Nothing will ever change the way I feel about that or you – moody or not." I whispered back almost reverently, hoping that it would settle her a little.
"Mmmm… smooth, comrade." Rose whispered against my left ear as she nuzzled into my bound hair with her nose. "Very, very smooth."
Still cautious, but equally aroused and unable to resist, I angled my head to slant my mouth hungrily over hers, but a serious of loud, knuckle-wrapping knocks on our suite doors interrupted my progress.
"Belikov? Come on, man. Ten minutes. We gotta go." Cooper Smitrovich called out as he continued to force the issue with his loud knocking.
Swearing beneath my breath at the lousy timing of my guarding partner; someone who, under normal circumstances, I actually enjoyed spending time with, I raised my head to call out for him to wait. There wasn't much point in staying whilst Rose was this temperamental, but she had other ideas.
Covering my mouth with her palm, Rose called out. "He'll meet you in the garage in ten minutes, Cooper…I'm not finished with him yet."
Muffled laughter filtered through the door as I hissed at her, exasperated by her suggestive tone as I heard the footsteps fade and jerked away from the hand covering my mouth. "Rose!"
"Oh, lighten up, comrade," she scolded lightly. "I'm pregnant for God's sake…it's not like they don't know that we have sex. You just said what they assumed was their own business."
"Yes, but knowing something and having it confirmed are two very different things, Rose. I would prefer our private life to stay just that."
"I'm pregnant with the first officially recognized Dhampir baby to be conceived by Dhampir parents; Dimitri…our private life is going to become very public, very soon. Get used to it. You can't keep me wrapped in cotton wool forever."
Curling my arms around her waist, I brought her into direct contact with my body as I rested my chin on her shoulder. "I'm not going to let them do anything that would jeopardise either you or our child…you know that, right? Blood samples are all I'm willing to let them take right now and even that I'm not happy about."
"I know…don't worry about us when you're away; worry about yourself and Christian. Trust me, I'm not about to let anyone near me or our baby and if they won't learn the easy way, I'll teach them the hard way." She growled menacingly, cupping her hands protectively over our child.
Turning her head, Rose kissed my forehead before my head tilted upwards and our lips met and clung heatedly. Breaking the kiss as I felt the uncontrollable lust for her rise furiously through my blood stream, I kissed the tip of her nose as I exhaled with a shaken groan. "I have to go, Roza."
"I know." Keeping our foreheads pressed tightly together, Rose exhaled slowly as her fingers tightened around my wrists.
"It's only for two days and you'll have my family to keep you company whilst I'm gone." I placated, feeling the pull of time work against me.
Groaning loudly against me, I laughed softly as Rose pulled away to scowl at me with eyes narrowed in suspicion. "If I didn't know you better, I would have said that you've done this deliberately, Dimitri Belikov."
"Done what deliberately?" I questioned softly, my face open and guileless as I hid my true motives…the one's she wouldn't thank me for later.
"Organized that your family are here whilst you're not so that I'll be forced into playing babysitter for them."
"Don't you like my family, Roza?" I asked as I loosened my hold on her and continued to brush out her hair, exposing more of her nape as I did it and the myriad of tattoos that had started at seventeen and had only continued to grow over the years…her marks of lethality against those we killed in order to defend those we loved.
"I love them…you know that I do, and if it was just your mom and sisters and all the nephews and nieces it wouldn't be a problem, but its Yeva, too!"
Making the trip out to the States for the first time in almost four years, my family had been invited to stay in palace housing instead of the guest housing by Lissa and were almost constantly underfoot. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but Yeva as usual had been waltzing around Court predicting when our child would be born almost down to the minute and what the sex would be…Rose had been less than thrilled.
"It's bad enough that she tells everyone that she not only predicted our marriage and when I would fall pregnant," Rose growled. "But now she's going around with her bullshit version of what the future holds for us and our child. You need to speak to her, Dimitri. This pregnancy is already under enough scrutiny and I don't need her churning up more intrigue about it."
"I know you love her," Rose continued on as I heard the real reason for her rant…fear. She didn't want anything endangering our child. "And if she didn't yank my chain so much I probably would too…eventually, but I don't need this right now."
Nodding, I sighed but knew she was right. "I'll talk to her on my way out, Roza. Just remember that she's not being deliberately confrontational. She is very fond of you in her own way." I had told her this before…many times in fact, but the sceptical look she always gave me said that I was probably wasting my time.
"Thank you." Kissing me softly again, she looked through the door to the glowing green numbers of the digital clock beside our bed.
Following her eyes and knowing that I had run out of the time I could never control, I got up and pulled her gently to her feet. "What are you going to do today?" I asked as we walked slowly towards the door. Rose bent to grab the duster as we passed and I picked up my overnight bag.
"Lissa wants to go into Philly to do some shopping for Christian's birthday whilst he's away. I was thinking about inviting your sisters to go with, but I'll clear it first with Croft and take extra guardians with me if I need to."
Although the immediate danger that Lissa had been in from those who had been staunchly against her reign and unsympathetic towards her policies had long since died down, she was still our reigning monarch and even a simple shopping trip was to be taken seriously.
"Good idea," I approved as I kissed her gleaming hair. "Charlotte is enough of handful without adding my sisters to the mix. You'll need all the help you can get."
Smiling at the thought of our Godchild, who was already two and had most wrapped around her little finger, Rose nodded, but her attention wasn't focused on the shopping trip ahead and rather on my departure. There was a far off look that I didn't recognize and didn't like.
Stopping at the doors, I shrugged into the duster and slung my bag over my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her waist and cradled her to my chest. "We've been apart before, Roza…for far longer periods of time. What is it?"
"Nothing. I'm being stupid about this." Placing the flat of her palms over my chest, she fidgeted with the leather lapels of the duster as she smiled up at me. "Thankfully I have the excuse of being pregnant to blame for it."
Covering her left hand, I brought it up to my mouth and kissed her fingers as I murmured against them. "I don't think you're being stupid, Roza. Every time we're apart, I fell the same way. Do you want to know how I'm able to walk out the door every time?"
Nodding, Rose clutched at me tighter. "I think about everything that we've already been through and know that if we were strong enough to survive it once, there isn't anything that can touch us now. There are no guarantees in life, Roza, but as long as we're together, I believe that we can overcome anything."
Smiling up at me, Rose shook her head as she laid her head against my heart. "Do you really believe that or are you saying it for my benefit?"
"A bit of both, moye serdtse." Kissing the top of her head, I turned to open the door, but a sharp, business-like knock interrupted me. Frowning, I reached out to turn the handle and felt my eyebrows hit my hairline at the visitor…not because she was unexpected, but because she was earlier than expected.
Standing at barely five feet tall, Yeva Belikova stood white-haired and hunched at our door. Her beady, shifting eyes darted over me before she smiled with the gaps I had grown up with before her mouth was abruptly shut and her eyes narrowed as they fell on Rose.
Glancing down at my wife, I saw that the reception from her was much the same and I was suddenly afraid to leave the pair of them alone. Looking past my grandmother, I had hoped to see at least my mother or Viktoria standing behind her, but the hallway was empty.
Greeting her respectfully in Russian, I made way for her to come in, but as I did, her withered hand reached out with surprising speed and grabbed onto my lapel, dragging me out the room. Letting go of me, Rose stood on the threshold as Yeva forced me out into the hallway.
"What are you doing, old woman?" She asked shortly and with none of the respect I had just shown, never taking her eyes from her grandmother-in-law as her arms folded into a gesture of intimidation over her chest.
"Making sure my Dimka leaves. He has a duty and it is not to you."
"He's my husband; I'm as much his duty as the Moroi!"
"Pugh!" She muttered with a withering glance. "He coddles you too much. Pregnancy is not an illness." Turning to me, she motioned for me to bend as she reached out and patted my cheek once, murmuring in Russian that I was a good boy and that I should go and do my duty whilst she watched over Rose.
"The hell you are! I don't need you babysitting me."
"Roza…" I began as she reacted to Yeva's words, but my grandmother held up her hand again for silence.
"This is woman's business; the men must go out. Go, Dimka…go away. Now!"
"Dammit, Yeva…" Rose protested as Yeva pushed me away and barged into the room, hooking her arm around Rose's waist as she pulled her further into the room. Rose might feel antagonistic towards her, but she would never do anything to physically harm her in any way and so allowed herself to be towed.
Mumbling in Russian again that Rose was being more stubborn than usual and that I should be grateful towards her that she had agreed to come and keep her occupied, I backed away from the door quickly as Rose' expression of irritation became outrage. Yeva had yet to realise just how much Russian she understood.
"You told me…" She accused, pointing a rigid finger at me.
"I told you nothing. You said that you knew me better and that I wouldn't deliberately set you up," I defended myself quickly. "I just didn't correct you. I love you, Rose." I called out as I quickly shut the door in her face, knowing I was going to pay for it later in ways that would hurt for years…Rose was naturally vindictive when not antagonized, so God only knew what I was in for when I came home.
"I will kill you, Dimitri Belikov!" she screamed back at me through the door. "Strigoi have nothing on what I will do to you when you get back!"
Grimacing, I shook my head as I heard the pair continue to harp at each other as I walked down the corridor and headed for the garage.
At the very least, Yeva would keep Rose's mind occupied on other things; that was what I had hoped for when I had asked Yeva to help me after I had left. I just hoped that when I returned there would be enough left of both my wife and my grandmother after they had finished trying to dissect each other to find out if it had worked…