"I love you Roza." He kissed me again. "I'll always be here for you. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

The words were wonderful and dangerous. He shouldn't have said anything like that to me. He shouldn't have been promising he'd protect me, not when he was supposed to dedicate this like to protecting Moroi like Lissa. I couldn't be first in his heart, just like he couldn't be first in mine. That was why I shouldn't have said what I did next- but I did anyway.

"And I won't let anything happen to you," I promised.

"I love you." He kissed me again, swallowing off any other words I might have added.

We lay together for a while after that, wrapped in each other's arms, not saying much. I could have stayed like that forever, but finally, we knew we had to go. The others would come looking for us to get my report, and if they found us like this, things would almost certainly get ugly.

So we got dressed, which wasn't easy since we kept stopping to kiss. Finally, reluctantly, we left the cabin. We held hands, knowing we could only do so for a few brief moments. Once we were closer to the heart of campus, we'd have to go back to business as usual. But for now everything in the world was golden and wonderful. Every step I took was filled with joy, and the air around us seemed to hum.

Questions still spun in my mind, of course. What had just happened? Where had our so called control gone? For now, I couldn't care. My body was still warm and him and—I suddenly stopped. Another feeling—a very unwelcome one—was steadily creeping over me. It was strange, like faint and fleeting waves of nausea mingled with a prickling against my skin. Dimitri Stopped immediately and gave me a puzzled look.

A pale, slightly luminescent from materialized infront of us. Mason. He looked the same as ever—or did he? The usual sadness was there, but I could see something else. Maybe anger.

"Whats wrong?" Asked Dimitri.

"Do you see him?" I whispered.

Dimitri followed my gaze. "See who?"

"Mason."

Mason expression grew darker as he spotted our hands intertwined. He pointed accusingly as Dimitri and knelt to the ground pressing his fingers into the mud beneath him.

"Rose, what does he want?"

"He's trying to write a message on the ground, he doesn't look happy." I tried to remove my hand from Dimitri's and move forward to Mason. But Dimitri clung to me and mirrored every step.

Three steps were all it took it reach him and there on the ground in masons familiar handwriting 'So this is the other guy then?'

"Yes-" I hasn't realized but I was tearing up. "I'm sorry Mason."

Dimitri looked towards the area that Mason was standing, apprehensively clearling his throat. "Mason, I know you cared for Rose and you deserved her more than I do. But I will promise that I will care for her and protect her till my dying breath."

Mason still undoubtedly looked pissed, but he nodded and disappeared.

Dimitri who still had hold of my hand, kicked the writing so that it was just smudged of what it was before. Unintelligible to anyone who may pass through here after us.

"Roza—" Dimitri spoke softly but I cut him off.

"If you're going to tell me this was a mistake you can shut up now, Comrade."

He pulled me in a kissed my forehead, trailing small kisses down my nose onto my mouth. Us both smiling he replied "What am I going to do with you?"

I smirked. "Well it involves going back to that cabin and never leaving."

"Oh Roza." He was playing with my hair and the kisses had travelled onto my shoulders.

A cough made Dimitri drop me quickly. Snapping straight into a defensive stance he quickly looked for any sign of attack.

I didn't know how much time had passed in that moment that I and Dimitri had been caught. It was possibly a few seconds, but it felt like hours.

"Headmistress Kirova." Dimitri breath caught.

"I think you should both go to my office. I think we need to talk." She replied curtly and stalked off back towards the campus.