"Rose, listen..." Dimitri began.
"No!" Rose whirled around, her eyes blazing. "You had your chance, Dimitri. After all I did... I fought so hard to bring you back and after everything... Everything I did, you pushed me away."
"Rose, you're being selfish." Lissa said. Rose rounded on her and the Queen cowered under her friend's gaze. "Yeah, I am being selfish. For the first time in my life, I'm being selfish. Because you have always come first. I love you Lissa and I will protect you with my life but I want to be selfish about this." She turned back to Dimitri.
"I loved you. I still love you but I just can't do this anymore. And I never thought that my heart could break anymore than when I lost you the first time. I thought I'd lost everything that day. It was my fault. I should've been strong enough to protect you and I failed. I though I'd lost everything. But, in Siberia, when you looked at me with those red eyes, I knew it wasn't really you. But the day you looked at me with those brown eyes, with your eyes and told me you didn't love me, that... That was the day I lost everything."
Dimitri didn't say anything but his face was pale. Rose now turned to Christian. "You wanted to know why I wear long sleeves? This is why." Rose shoved her sleeves up her forearms. There was a collective gasp and Dimitri felt his stomach drop. Rose's forearms were mutilated. A plethora of old, vicious scars marred Rose's skin; they were overlayed with fresh additions. Dimitri couldn't look away.
Rose spoke again. "This. This is what you've done to me. What happened in Siberia is nothing, nothing compared to what you've done to me since. And what you know what the sickening part is? No matter how much you hurt me and destroy me, I would still come back to you. If you ever wanted me." Rose rolled down her sleeves and Dimitri finally dragged his eyes away and to her eyes. Rose's shoulders were shaking, and tiny droplets fell from her eyes to her cheeks. She glared at him defiantly but Dimitri could see, behind the anger and pain, her desperation. She needed him...
And he needed her.
Rose opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a sob. After a few minutes of struggling to control her sobs, Rose turned and began to walk away. Dimitri watched her while a battle raged within him.
She needs you.
But what I did to her in Siberia...
You're hurting her worse now
I did horrible things to her...
She's doing horrible things to herself
How can I still look at her...
She needs you
And suddenly, Dimitri broke down. He cried out, and moved forward, his hands outstretched, reaching for his Rose. Rose had turned back at his cry and her sobs were suddenly muffled as Dimitri swept her into his chest. He buried his face in her hair. "I love you." He said, his tears soaking into Rose's hair. Rose didn't respond. She stood, frozen in shock. "Roza..." Dimitri whispered.