CHAPTER TWO

Time goes by a lot more slowly when you are locked behind bars with nothing to do. Trust me, I should know.

It felt like hours had passed since my friends had come, but according to Mikhail it had only been about forty-five minutes.

So with nothing to do but wait until night, which happened to be broad day light in the Moroi world, I had to entertain myself by listening in on the conversations of the Guardians watching me, which was how I found out that the Council had decided to make Dimitri a Guardian again, and thinking over my plan to escape.

Since, at the moment, the Guardians weren't talking about anything particularly interesting to me, I decided to go over my plan one more time. It was pretty simple actually.

I would use Christian to cause a distraction that would require most of the Guardians, and Adrian and Lissa to compel the remaining Guardians into letting me out of here. From there, I would simply stroll out the front doors of the Guardian building, disguised, of course, probably by one of Lissa's charms, and then Adrian, Christian, Lissa, and I would get into a car that Abe would hopefully have waiting for us.

After that, my plans were a little murky, seeing as I had to figure out where to start my search for Lissa's sibling and Tatiana's murderer. But I had to take one step at a time, and my first step was to get the four of us safely out of here.

Las Vegas was a definite possibility for step two, seeing as that was where Eric Dragomir had allegedly been depositing money into an unidentified woman's bank account, according to my Alchemist friend Sydney Sage.

As far as finding Tatiana's murderer, well, I didn't even know where to begin. I knew that the true murderer had to be at court, and someone who had access to my room, since they would have had to have gotten in there some how to get my stake, but after that I was drawing a blank.

Really, it could have been any number of people. There were a lot of people, Moroi and dhampir alike, that were upset by the passing of Tatiana Ivashkov's age decree. The decree changed the age in which dhampir's became Guardians from eighteen to sixteen.

And there were even more people, I'm sure, who wanted me dead for various reasons. And framing me for the queen's death seemed a sure-fire way to have me killed without getting their hands dirty.

An interesting tidbit of conversation from two Guardians drew my attention away from my internal musings, and I leaned my ear against the bars to get a better listen.

"It's too bad that the Dragomir Princess doesn't have a quorum." The first Guardian, a woman with short blonde hair, stated.

"And why do you say that?" The second, Mikhail, asked.

"Didn't you hear? The Council wanted to nominate her as the queen, but it is the same problem as why she can't be on the Council in the first place. No family, means no place on the Royal Council."

"That is unfortunate."

I had heard enough of this conversation to know that finding Lissa's brother or sister had just been bumped up a couple of notches on my priority scale.

It also presented me with another problem. If Lissa ran away with me, again, then it would ruin her chance to rule the Moroi. And if anyone was worthy of being followed it was Vasilisa Dragomir. Not to mention that my sudden escape and her absence from court would implicate her in my escape, and possibly get her arrested.

My whole life I had one thing ingrained in my brain. They come first. I used to live by that adage in its entirety, but lately I had been putting myself before Lissa way too much. I wouldn't do it again. Even though it would hurt Lissa, hell just thinking about it was killing me; I knew that Lissa would not be able to come with me when I went on the run. It also meant that before I left, I would have to make sure that Lissa would be well protected in my absence, and unfortunately for me, there was only one person I trusted with Lissa's security.

Somewhere during my realization, I must have fallen asleep because I found myself slipping into the familiar feeling of an Adrian dream. Which considering the epiphany I had just had was kind of perfect.

I looked around and noticed the familiar landscape. For today's dream, Adrian had chosen St. Vladimir's Academy.

He had also been liberal with his imagination when it came to my clothing, or lack thereof. I was in a pair of short white shorts, with a low-cut pink tank top. Hanging from my neck was my nazar.

"Really Adrian, I'm locked behind bars and you're dressing me up like this?" I asked him with a small smile.

Adrian looked as good as ever. His brown hair styled in its usual messy way, his pale green eyes glinting with humor. He wore a perfectly presentable pair of khakis along with a white button-up shirt that he left un-tucked.

"Ah, little dhampir, I think you look ravishing." He cocked his head to the side and an appreciative smile spread across his lips. "Nice legs."

I scowled at him and indicated his clothing. "How come you get to be fully clothed and I am stuck wearing this sad excuse for clothing?"

He just shrugged. "My dream, my rules."

"I see. So what has caused you to lure me into your fictional dream world today?"

Adrian's face registered surprise for just a moment. "You don't know? I thought it would be obvious. I want to know what you're super-secretive plan is."

"Oh. Well, we're going to bust me out of jail." I began, and then launched into full details of my plan, including my realization that I would have to leave Lissa behind.

When I finished, Adrian cleared his throat. "Are you going to leave me behind too?"

I sized Adrian up for a moment before answering him honestly. "Yes."

"Rose, I-," he began but I cut him off.

"At first Adrian. Just long enough that you won't be implicated in my escape. After that, come to me in my sleep and I'll tell you where to find me. And then you, me, and Abe will begin searching for Lissa's family."

Adrian nodded before answering. "Well, I guess that's okay then. It's pretty crazy that Lissa has a brother or sister out there isn't it? I wonder what she is going to say."

"Adrian, you can't tell her. If she knows, she will want to come, and then she won't ever be queen. You have to keep it between you and me."

Adrian observed me a moment, obviously deciding if he wanted to argue with me or not, and finally nodded in agreement. "Alright Rose. I will keep it between the two of us."

I smiled my thanks and then stepped into Adrian's arms, savoring the way they felt around me. "Hey, Adrian."

"Hmmm?"

"I know that you have to leave soon, so can I ask you for a favor?"

Adrian laughed. "Always a favor with you little dhampir. Go ahead, you know I can't refuse you."

"Will you tell Dimitri to come see me? Like as soon as you leave here?"

I felt Adrian go tense for a moment before relaxing, though when he spoke again his voice was strained. "Sure, why do you want to see him?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't worry I'm not going to throw myself at him or anything. I need to ask him to take care of something while I'm gone."

"Lissa?" He asked.

"Lissa." I answered.

"Sure, Rose. Sure." Adrian bent down to kiss me, and I found myself returning his kiss with equal fervor, and then as quickly as he had come he melted away, leaving me in a dreamless sleep.

Banging on the bars, however, woke me up soon after.

"Hathaway, did you okay Belikov to come see you?" Mikhail asked me.

I was still groggy from sleep, so it took me a moment to register what he was asking. "Huh, Belikov? Wait-Oh, Dimitri?"

"Uh huh, he's upstairs throwing a fit saying that you said you needed to see him."

"Uh, yeah. Send him down."

A few seconds after Mikhail gave the okay, Dimitri came down the stairs, his brown hair pulled back at the nape of his neck and his black leather duster fluttering behind him.

"Roz-Rose." He said, catching himself before he called me by his nickname for me. "Lord Ivashkov came to me and said you needed to see me?"

I looked meaningfully at the guardians around us, and Dimitri picked up the hint I was trying to give.

He turned to the five guardians watching me and cleared his throat. "Could I have a moment alone with her please?" He asked, his voice ringing with that Guardian authority that I had always found so damned sexy.

The guardians exchanged awkward glances before shrugging. "Are you sure about this Belikov? She's apparently dangerous, so you might not want to be with her alone.

Anger flashed in his brown eyes as he looked over at the other guardians. "I know what she is capable of. I taught her. And I know that she will not do anything to me, especially while behind bars, so please give us a moment."

After exchanging more awkward glances, the guardians shrugged again and walked up the stairs, Mikhail the only one who stayed behind.

Dimitri grimaced at him and inclined his head towards the stairway. "Guardian Tanner, some privacy between Miss Hathaway and myself?"

Mikhail shook his head slowly. "No disrespect, Guardian Belikov, but I have to stay down here until you leave so that Rose is not alone when you leave. I will however walk away so that I can not hear your conversation."

Dimitri waved his hand dismissively. "If you must."

And then he turned his gorgeous brown eyes on me, and I lost myself for a moment. "How are you Rose?"

I had to shake my head to clear it. "Well, comrade, I am in jail for a murder I didn't commit, and the evidence is so strong against me that if I go to trial I will get convicted and sentenced to death. So yeah, things could be better."

Passion flickered in Dimitri's eyes. "You will not be convicted. You will not die."

"Yeah, if I go to trial I will die." I drew my hand up to my face and examined my fingers, trying to adopt my usual Rose cockiness. "Which is why I am not going to trial."

Dimitri raised his eyebrow (I still wish I could do that!) "Rose that doesn't make sense. How are you," Dimitri glanced at my face and he must have seen my plan there because his face lit up with comprehension. "Oh. No, Rose, you can't. You will just make things worse. The Guardians will find you."

"Dimitri, I don't really have a choice. I am getting out of here. I have some things I need to do myself, one of them being finding Tatiana's murderer."

Dimitri lowered his eyes to the ground. "Roza," he whispered so low that I didn't think he meant me to hear. His eyes met mine again, and I saw sadness as he spoke his next words. "I can't help you escape. I just got back my title, I can't do it."

I smiled weakly in response. "I know that, comrade. That's not why I asked you here. I need you to do something for me."

"Anything. Anything aside from helping you escape."

"I have some people coming with me. But Lissa can't come, she has too much to lose." At the thought of leaving Lissa, a tear welled up in my eye.

I hastily looked away from Dimitri and wiped the tears from my eyes. When I looked at him again, I noticed that his face had become Guardian blank once more. "Dimitri, I need you to take care of Lissa for me. Keep her safe. Please, I know you don't love me anymore, but if you ever did, please, keep her safe for me. Make sure she stays happy and lives her life fully." I begged.

Once again, pain flashed in Dimitri's eyes before he reined it in. "I'll keep her safe until you return, Rose."

I shook my head, in response. "It's if, Dimitri. If I return. If I don't, you have to keep her safe for the rest of her life."

Dimitri always said that part of our connection stemmed from the fact that we both had an unreal sense of duty. I was reminded of that as he looked at me, and nodded once. "I promise." And as he turned and walked up the steps, the look of regret on his face did not go unnoticed.

"Good bye Dimitri." I said softly, saying my final good-bye to my first love.