Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, Bloodlines, or any of its characters. All rights go to Richelle Mead

Jill's chest was soaked with blood but I couldn't quite locate the source. There was so much; it stained her dressed and pooled on the mosaic tiles of the floor beneath us. She didn't seem hurt though, just scared. Eddie's hands were covered in blood as well, but he too appeared to be uninjured. I looked to him and noticed that in his right hand he clutched a small dagger. The hilt was ornate and the blade was slick with more blood. Eddie saw me staring at his hands.

"I found it," he stammered, "I pulled it from her chest…she…she…"

My mind started spinning. Lissa hadn't been the target, it was Jill. The gunshots…they were distractions, all of the commotion was meant to distract the guardians from Jill.

My eyes darted between Jill and Eddie.

"Get her out of here." My voice was barely a whisper.

Eddie hesitated for only a moment before reaching for Jill, she let him pull her into his arms. He lifted her gently, but as soon an she was secure he bolted for the nearest exit.

By now Dimitri had made his way to my side. I moved closer to Adrian and placed two fingers on his neck.

"Was Adrian hurt?" Dimitri asked me, his voice full of concern.

"He's okay." I breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive but…"

What had happened to Adrian? The events that had passed just moments earlier replayed themselves in my head. I had found Jill in what looked like the last moments of her life, she wasn't moving…and...Eddie said he had pulled a knife from her chest…and the blood…Jill should have died.

Then the realization hit me, Jill did die.

"Oh, Adrian…" I leaned over him "Adrian what have you done?" My voice was barely a whisper.

It was all so clear to me now, Adrian and Eddie had witnessed Jill's assault. They of course

wouldn't have gone for Lissa when the attack began, knowing how safe she was. They would have gone for Jill. But they had been too late. Jill had died, and Adrian had used every ounce of spirit he could muster to bring her soul back from the brink of death. He had depleted himself to the point of exhaustion and he now lay sprawled before me, unconscious, but alive. My hands found one of his and I pulled it into my lap. Adrian stirred at my touch and I brought my hand up to cup his face.

"Adrian! Adrian please wake up." I choked out these words, tears springing to my eyes.

There was no telling what kind of affect this would have on Adrian's already fragile state of mind. What if he didn't wake up? What if he did, and he wasn't the same? I thought back to what I had seen in Tarasov…

"Easy now, little Dhampir," came a croak. "No need to cry on my account."

He raised himself up on his elbows and took in his surroundings. By now, Lissa had been removed from the scene. The Moroi assassins were being escorted one by one out of the room. Reinforcements had been called and each Moroi was flanked by two guardians with their arms secured behind their backs. The look in Adrian's eyes became frantic and he tried to sit up further.

"She's fine," I told him, realizing what, or I guess who, he was looking for. "Eddie took her some place safe."

I actually had no idea where Eddie had taken her, but knowing him, he had made the right decision. At my words, Adrian tried to stand up but he was barely managing. Dimitri was by his side in an instant and pulled Adrian's arm around his shoulders, supporting his weight.

"Charming."

I looked around, unsure of what needed to come next.

I brought my thumb to my collar and pressed the small button on the mic, "This is Guardian Hathaway, what is the Queen's location?"

I knew that no matter what I did next, I needed to make sure Lissa was okay first.

"She was escorted back to her suite. We are trying to account for the other guests present tonight, has anyone seen Princess Dragomir?"

Only static came over my earpiece.

"This…this is Guardian Castile," came Eddie's voice a few agonizing moments later, "I took the Princess back to her room during the attack...she's okay."

Dimitri, having heard everything that I just had, looked at me. His eyes seemed to ask me what we should do next. I closed my own eyes and inhaled deeply, what do we do next?

"We need to take Adrian to the medical ward," I told Dimitri, releasing my breath.

Adrian was pale, even for a Moroi. He was shaking and it was obvious that Dimitri was the only thing keeping him upright. At the very least he needed to feed.

"No! No, you have to take me to Jill, I need to see her!" Adrian's voice was barely a whisper, but the look in his eyes gave him away; he was terrified, and almost desperate. He needed medical attention. My expression must have said as much because Adrian's eyes grew wide.

"I'm fine, or I'll be fine. Rose, just please help me. I know that you know what just happened, which means you know how important it is that I be there for her!"

I'm not sure if it was because he mentioned my own experiences with death, or because he actually used my real name, but something within me just wanted to give in to his demands.

"Alright, Dimitri, can you help me get Adrian to Jill's room?" Despite having no knowledge of what exactly had transgressed, he nodded at me resolutely.

"Of course, I just need to check on Christian. Can you take Adrian?"

I nodded and moved forward to take Adrian's other arm around my shoulders. When Dimitri was sure that both Adrian and I were stable, he strode quickly to the other side of the room where a group of guardians were checking on the dinner guests. It felt strange to have Adrian's arm around me, I never thought I would be this close to him ever again, well at least not any time soon. It was only slightly awkward. God, how had I let things come to this? How had things gotten so twisted so soon after I had straightened them out?

Jill's close call with death meant so many things. One, The attack on Jill's life was obviously an attempt to remove Lissa from the throne. Without Jill, Lissa would lose the right to rule. This meant that the unrest that some of the Moroi population felt about Lissa's recent rise to power ran much deeper than we initially assumed. Two, the only reason Jill hadn't died was because Adrian had used spirit to bring her back. Jill would be shadow-kissed, and…oh god…what if?

"Adrian, do you feel, I don't know, different?" I asked, not quite sure how to phrase the real question that was on my mind.

"I know what you're asking, little Dhampir, and I'm not sure what the consequences of of my actions will be. I do know that after tonight's heroics I deserve a cigarette, so if you wouldn't mind reaching into my left pocket and…"

"Let's go." Dimitri had returned and was attempting to shift the majority of Adrian's weight under his control.

"I'll manage," Adrian muttered at both of us as he shook himself free of our grasp.

He walked slowly at first, but with purpose. Maybe getting to Jill allowed him to put on a brave face, maybe it was getting away from Dimitri and me. Whatever the reason, it drove him on as he made his way toward palace housing. Dimitri and I followed him, but at a distance. We didn't want to draw attention to our entourage or our destination.

"Roza, what is going on? What is wrong with Adrian? Where is Jill?"

"I just," my voice wavered a little as I searched for the right words to answer his question. "I just don't know for sure right now. I want to be sure. Do you trust me?"

His fingers found mine as we walked. As they laced together, I felt a reassuring warmth spread throughout my body. He squeezed my hand and looked down at me, his gaze locking with mine.

"Of course, Roza."

It always amazed me how willing people were to blindly follow me. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for their trust in me, and would have never succeeded otherwise. It worried me sometimes though, what if I was wrong? What if I led them astray?

I was pulled from my thoughts as we approached the main entrance to palace housing. Two guardians stood at attention on either side of the door, and they gave Adrian, Dimitri, and I questioning looks.

"Guardian Hathaway, shouldn't you be with Queen Vasilisa? And what is Lord Ivashkov doing here?"

I managed a tight smile before responding, "I'm headed to her suite now, I brought Lord Ivashkov along in case she needed any kind of healing."

The guardian raised one eyebrow at me, he looked doubtful, but also had no reason to believe I would bring any harm to Lissa or anyone else in the building. He nodded and motioned for the other guardian to let us inside. Adrian moved past both of them much more quickly than I thought a person in his state ought to be able to. Dimitri and I rushed forward after him and soon the three of us were bursting through the door of Jill's suite.

We found her and Eddie sitting on opposite ends of the couch from each other. Eddie was leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and his head resting in his palms. He sprang into a defensive position at the sound of some one entering the room. Jill had been sitting with her knees pulled to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them, hugging them to her body. She didn't jump at our startling entrance though, in fact she looked at us almost expectantly, like she knew we were coming. She hadn't bothered changing out of her blood stained garments, and at the sight of them, Adrian let out a strangled cry before rushing to her side.

I had always thought that Jill harbored a school-girl's crush on Adrian, so I was surprised that she didn't throw her arms around him. Instead she moved farther into the couch, almost like she was afraid of him.

"Jill," he started, but she cut him off before he could finish.

"Don't! I already know what you're going to say!" Her eyes were wide and her voice was full of panic.

"No, I just want to make sure that…"

"Adrian! I know what you're going to say! I knew you were coming here, it's like I'm in your head! I hear everything, and I see it, and I feel it, and I don't know why!"

Everyone in the room looked understandably shocked, but not me. I knew exactly what she was talking about, and my heart broke at the thought of Jill, whose life had already been turned upside down once, having to now cope with what it meant to be shadow-kissed and a bond-mate to a spirit user.

"Jill, I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen, for any of this to happen. But when I saw you, I panicked, I…" Adrian had started to ramble.

"You saved her life." I couldn't take the hurt expression on Adrian's face any more, and knew that Jill needed to start accepting the truth of the matter sooner rather than later.

Jill's eyes darted to the doorway where Dimitri and I stood. I took a tentative step in her direction. She seemed okay with me approaching her and I crossed the room to where she sat huddled on the couch. I rested my hands on my knees and brought my eyes down to meet her jade green ones.

"Jill, I know how confused you must be, I know better than anyone." I paused, trying to find the right words to comfort her. "How about you come with me, and we'll get you of those clothes and we can…um, talk."

I held out my hand to her and she took it after only a moment of hesitation. After she stood, I told her to go into her room and that I would meet her in there. Once I'd heard the soft click of the door closing, I turned back to face the others in the room.

"Rose! What's going on?" Eddie was practically in full guardian mode as he asked me, voice on edge.

I looked at Dimitri, expecting him to jump in on Eddie's interrogation of me. He looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. He was concerned for Jill, but he trusted me. He trusted me to handle the situation, and that I would tell him about it later.

"Adrian, do you think you could fill these two in?"

He nodded in response.

"Tell them everything, start at the beginning of the attack."

He only nodded once more.

I knocked softly on Jill's door but didn't wait for a response before entering. She had changed into a pair of fleece sweat pants and a navy blue T-shirt, the bloodstained dress lay in a pile by the bathroom door. She turned and looked at me expectantly.

I told her to sit down and then I started talking immediately. The words came tumbling out, I started with the car accident and about my death. I told her about Lissa and spirit and the consequences of having your soul come so close to crossing over into the world of the dead forever. I told her about the ghosts and the nausea and the bond. She stared at the ends of her hair the entire time I spoke, I'm not even sure how much she actually heard.

"Adrian and I are bonded," she said matter-of-factly. Apparently she had heard enough.

"I know this is scary, but I can help you. I can teach you to put up walls, eventually you'll be able to block out Adrian when you need to." My voice faltered at the end of my sentence as I began to ponder what it would mean for Jill to be bonded to Adrian of all people. She would probably be exposed to drinking, smoking, and god only knows what else. I would need to have a talk with Adrian as well.

A knock came at Jill's door just then. I looked at Jill, I didn't want anyone in here if she didn't want them. She nodded at me and I told whoever it was to come in.

It was Dimitri.

"The Queen is here."