Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or any associated characters (sadly). This all belongs to Richelle Mead. This said I do own my plot line and any original characters.

Authors Note: This is my first fanfic so please comment so I can improve!

Chapter 1:

I was going crazy. Both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Since I'd been arrested and imprisoned for high treason I hadn't had any contact with Lissa. The only person aside from my strict guard was Abe Mazur, a pirate, mobster dude who actually turned out to be my father and was currently acting as my lawyer. He had assured me that there was no way he would let me go to trial or prison, though I was yet to see proof he could follow through with these promises. Of course I wasn't really seeing much from behind bars.

Though I wasn't allowed to see her, this didn't stop me from taking Spirits dark side affects from Lissa. This was slowly sending me over the edge. Ever since I'd been locked up her and Adrian had been wielding their compulsion to try and get information on who had actually murdered the queen. Using her powers frequently was taking it's toll and I could feel the paranoia that used to plague her sneaking up before I sucked it away. Adrian didn't seem anymore stable than her, but there was nothing I could do for him.

Not only that but the cell I was currently locked in was exactly like the one that had imprisoned my greatest enemy, Victor Dashkov, when I'd visited him before his trial. I smiled wryly recalling my thoughts on how a place like that, without any stimulus or distraction would drive me crazy within an hour. Well that was irony for you. I'd only been locked up a week, but it felt like so much longer. I also knew legal procedures took quite awhile and that more likely than not I'd be locked up here for at least another month probably more. If Victors trial was anything to go by it would be 3 or 4 months until my trial. Of course my case was completely different. Murdering the queen is a bit more extreme than torturing a princess. Even if I didn't actually do it.

As my only form left of escape in the days following my imprisonment I rarely left Lissa's head. Not only was this something to distract me but it also got me my daily dose of Dimitri. Since being saved from being a Strigoi and restored to his previous Dhampir place Dimitri had not had it easy. After the shock of the possibilities the idea of returning Strigoi to their past state could have on our world, people decided it was too good to be true and started to question the proof. Meaning they suspected Dimitri was some kind of abnormal Strigoi that could walk in the sun and on holy grounds.

Lissa had spent as much time as she could trying to clear his name and had insisted he didn't want to see me and that it was for the best that remain calm so as not to raise suspicion. Lissa of course knew me well enough to know that as soon as I saw him—and he told me what he'd told her, he couldn't be with me anymore— that I'd react badly. And true to form I had.

I'd yelled at him, begged him and even tried to provoke him, saying things I knew would hit close to home or sting in some other way. This had only caused him to snap and tell me something he knew would kill whatever hope I'd had left. I've given up on you. Love fades. Mine has. That's what he'd said, and as he'd said it a part of me had died. Of course the next day when he risked himself to save me from an army of guardians I found myself doubting his words.

Now with me behind bars he'd shown complete indifference to any mention of me. As though I was completely forgotten. If I'd been out there I would have been pissed off thrown a fit and yelled at him to stop being so stoic. But in here I could yell all I wanted nobody relevant would hear. It would make no difference. So instead of being pissed off it just made me sad.

I heard someone clearing their throat affectively interrupting my thoughts of Dimitri. I glance up in surprise when I realize I have a visitor. My brief flare of joy fades though when I see it's only my mobster father. Though no-one could prove the business he worked in was illegal I highly doubted anyone was delusional enough to think it wasn't.

The look on his face immediately freaked me out even more and my mood dropped from morbid to depressed within a second.

"What's wrong?" I asked, using none of the wit and sarcasm customary to me. Even I knew there was a time and a place for that and this wasn't it.

"Remember last week when I told you we had at least a month to prepare a case?" He said. I nodded impatiently waiting for what was coming next. "I was wrong. With a matter as important as this the trial is going to be held in two days."

"What?" I managed to squeak out. That was ridiculous. It wasn't even enough time to formulate a case. And it wasn't as if being arrested and sent to jail falsely before they discovered the truth was an option. The punishment for what I'd done wasn't jail. It was execution and that was irreversible.

This wasn't what was meant to happen in the time I'd been in prison I'd been formulating a plan on how to prove my innocence. There were two problems though. The first was that the most important part of my plan involved me somehow getting outside of the royal court. The second was one I hadn't considered until moments ago. What if I didn't have time?

After Abe announced his news I found it hard to think. Everything I'd been planning had counted on the legal proceedings taking long enough that Lissa would be able to get to me and I'd be able to tell her my plan. Without her help I could do nothing. I realised this and immediately started searching for a solution.

The one thing I'd wanted to avoid I ended up doing. I told Abe what I needed. After I'd made my request he gave me a brisk nod and walked away. The only thing I could do now was wait. I'd never been patient, and with no room to move and burn off my energy and adrenaline this wasn't going to be fun.