"You have got to be shitting me," Rose muttered under her breath a few days later when Lissa surprised Rose with an impromptu wedding planning session. There, sitting at the large table in Lissa's office, was Janine; she and the young Queen conferring over an enormous stack of wedding magazines.
"I've asked the guardians all to attend outside today, and I sent Galvin to guard Lord Szelsky to free your mother to be here. These are my magazines from the last two years. Just ignore the sticky notes – they're what I've marked out for myself. I figure if we start with the when and where we can work our way onto the finer details."
"Shouldn't Dimitri be part of this?" Rose asked, eyeing off the magazines with distaste. "It's his wedding, too."
"The man just has to show up wearing a suit," Lissa said almost dismissively, overcome with excitement at the prospect of planning. "The organizing always comes down to the woman."
"Yes – but Dimitri and I haven't even talked about when or where," Rose said desperately. "I could go find him and ask him now!" Anything to get out of this room.
"Sit down, Rosemarie," Janine ordered, using her no-nonsense voice. "You can work out the particulars with Belikov later. Now come and look at this wedding theme."
And so it started. Rose genuinely wasn't sure who was worse – Lissa or her mother. She'd expected Lissa to be a nightmare, but for Janine to be so into it was a surprise. Both seemed determined to make this the event of the year. The two spoke back and forth, debating different ideas. Rose tuned out, flipping through a magazine before finally settling on a saucy article with suggestions of how to make the wedding night memorable for all the right reasons.
"… what do you think, Rose?" Lissa asked, her brow creasing infinitesimally when she appreciated Rose had not been listening.
"Think about what?"
"Swans, Rose! Your mother thought if you had your reception at The Halcyon, you could have a release of two swans onto the lake at dawn while everyone had their pre-dinner drinks on the deck? Swans pair for life - it would be so romantic!" Lissa was all but swooning.
"No swans!" Rose groaned. "I'm not even sure if we want to get married at Court. Dimitri might want to marry in Russia? His family isn't wealthy. If we marry over here, they might not be able to afford to come."
And that was true. But a wedding in Russia would also be a lot more straightforward. It could be the perfect way to divert her mother and Lissa from excessive planning.
"Don't worry about the money. You heard your father – he said he'd pay for whatever you want. I'm sure he'll fly Dimitri's family over and put them up," Janine said with a smug grin.
"But his family is huge! There's his mother, grandmother, three sisters, two nephews, two nieces and a brother in law. It will cost a fortune!"
"Trust me, your father can afford it," Janine declared acerbically.
Appreciating they were getting nowhere with the where or even when, Lissa suggested they look through magazines to get an idea of dresses.
"Maybe if you decide on a style or a color scheme it will help?"
"Are you still set on pink?" Rose checked with Lissa.
"Yes…? Is that what you want, too?" Lissa asked looking far from pleased.
"No. Pink's not my thing. I just wanted to make sure I picked something different to what you want."
"Oh. Good. Yes, I still want pink and silver."
Rose grinned. Pink was her least favorite color, and Lissa had given her the perfect excuse to immediately rule it out were anyone to suggest it.
"So what color were you thinking of having the bridesmaids in?" Janine asked.
"I didn't think I'd have bridesmaids," Rose said brazenly, waiting for the horrified hisses from Lissa and Janine.
"But I thought… I mean for my wedding I'd have you…" Lissa said, trailing off in shock and surprise.
"And I'd love to do that for you if you'd still like me to when the time comes," Rose said slipping her arm around Lissa. "But things have changed. You're the Queen, Liss. The big cheese. You aren't meant to be in a supporting role; it's my job to look after you, not the other way around. Plus, people are likely to talk if you are a bridesmaid in a dhampir/dhampir wedding."
Like everything, these days, it came back to Lissa's role as Monarch, and the delicate balance between appearing progressive enough to garner support from one faction, but traditional enough to appease the other.
"I think Rosemarie is right, your Majesty," Janine said reluctantly, peering up from a magazine page featuring the most chunderous invites Rose had ever seen. "Politically, you serving as a Maid of Honor in a dhampir wedding would be too much for some of the more conservative Moroi to stomach."
While not illegal, two dhampir marrying was uncommon enough, two guardians even more so. Given Rose had taken a bullet and nearly died for Lissa there was no question about her loyalty, but there was no doubt tongues would wag once Dimitri and Rose made their engagement more public.
"I wish Dimitri and I could just go away somewhere and come back married," Rose groaned. "It's meant to be about him and me, not all this," she continued, indicating all the magazines piled in front of her.
"Not going to happen," Janine warned, Lissa nodding in vehement agreement. Evidently, the Belikov/Hathaway wedding had two bridezillas – and neither was the bride!
"How was your day?" Dimitri asked when Rose came charging into their tiny apartment, throwing herself onto the bed theatrically.
"Four words. Mom. Lissa. Wedding planning!"
"Oh…"
"It was hell, Comrade. Mom wanted swans!"
"Swans?" Dimitri's brow wrinkled in confusion.
"A swan release on the lake," Rose explained, not that it made the concept any clearer for the bemused Russian guardian. "It's like Lissa wants to use this as a dry run for her wedding, and Mom just wants to spend as much of Abe's money as possible!"
"That bad?"
"Worse!"
"Come on. Christian made paella today…"
"I knew there was a reason I tolerated him," Rose joked, taking Dimitri's hand and letting him pull her to her feet and across the three feet to their table and chairs. It was Friday night - date night - so the two were home earlier than usual. Dimitri opened two large takeaway food containers, passing Rose a knife and fork as they both ate straight from the box. Food miraculously improving her mood, over their meal Rose told Dimitri everything Janine and Lissa had suggested.
"I don't want a big Court wedding," Rose moaned. "I'd like something small. Just family and a few friends."
"Then tell them that," Dimitri reasoned.
"Ha! Mom's talking about booking out The Halcyon for Vlad's sake. Small is not going to cut it."
"It's our wedding, Roza. We'll have it any way you want it."
"I thought about having it in Russia, but I want Lissa there, and the security would be a nightmare." Rose didn't have to add that as primary guardians for Lissa and Christian, if the Royal couple were to travel overseas, she and Dimitri would have to be on duty the whole time. "Mom said maybe Abe could fly your family over for it?"
Dimitri shrugged, but Rose could tell he'd like his family to be there to see them wed. She loved Dimitri's family and wanted them there, too.
"Is there anyone else you'd like to have there?" Rose checked.
"I guess it depends who can get time off. Maybe a few of the guardians from St. Vlad's?"
"Yep," Rose agreed. "Alberta. Emil. Mikhail and Sonya. I might send Stan an invite just to shit him…"
"Inviting him to see you invested in the Queen's Guard wasn't enough?" Dimitri teased his feisty fiancée.
"No. Because he never showed," Rose said with a sneer. "We should marry at St. Vlad's – then he'd have no excuse not to turn up!"
The couple met one another's gaze, considering Rose's flippant words. Marrying at St. Vladimir's had a lot to recommend it. Already warded, and home to many guardians, it would be easy enough to secure for her Majesty's presence. There was plenty of room in the Guest Quarters, several of their guardian friends were based there, there was a Russian Orthodox chapel, and if they held the wedding out of term time, it would be quiet and private enough.
"We do have a lot of history there," Dimitri reasoned.
"Summer would be perfect," Rose added. "If Liss and Christian stayed, we might even get a day or two off to ourselves? There's a certain cabin I'd like to revisit…"
Dimitri growled softly, standing and picking Rose up and carrying her back to their bed.
"So, have you made any decisions?" Lissa asked the next day as Rose and Dimitri guarded she and Christian as they ate breakfast. Lissa hated her other guardians being present until she had dressed for the day, so they were patrolling outside while the Royal couple breakfasted in their pajamas.
Rose swallowed nervously. "Yeah. We were thinking of getting married at St. Vlad's."
"But you hate that place," Lissa gasped.
Rose shrugged. "It's where I grew up. Many of our friends are allocated, so won't be able to make it anyway. If we hold it at the Academy, Alberta and some of the others can be there. It's warded with lots of guardians, so it's safer for you to attend, there's plenty of accommodation if Dimitri's family fly over, and we thought if we held it over summer break then it would be private enough not to upset too many Royal Moroi."
"Well this summer is already filled, so it would have to be next. That gives you sixteen months – that's doable," Lissa pondered.
Rose nodded, her eyes dipping to the carpet. When she'd suggested summer, she had meant this one.
"You haven't got a spare weekend at all this summer?" Rose asked hopefully. "We could arrive on a Friday night, marry on Saturday, and leave Sunday morning?"
"I'm sorry, Rose, we really don't. I've agreed we'd spend the summer with the Reece Lazars at their Hamptons house. I haven't confirmed the dates, yet, but it would be rude to go back on my word."
"Of course," Rose replied accepting Lissa's decision as final.
Lissa warmed to the idea of St. Vladimir's as a venue, suggesting numerous ways the chapel at St. Vlad's could be decorated, ignorant to the fact that no one was listening. Rose's eyes were trained back on the carpet, her guardian mask pulled on to hide her disappointment. Dimitri was watching Rose from his position on the other side of the room. He hated seeing Rose sad, especially when there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it. Christian regarded Lissa, wondering how she could be so wholly oblivious to Rose's distress. Rose had already risked and given up so much for Lissa. One weekend, so she could get married, was not much to ask in return.
"About that," Christian said, making a snap decision. "I'm going to have to cut my visit to the Lazars a little short. Some of the elemental teachers at St. Vlad's have expressed an interest in aspects of the defensive magic program. If I could get them on board, it would be a huge step forward toward reintroducing defensive magic into the Moroi curriculum. I was planning to go up there a week or two before school goes back to workshop with them."
"But I had such hopes for the summer," Lissa all but wailed, demonstrably unhappy that her plans were being challenged. "I wanted to do Labor Day in the Hamptons."
"Well, I suppose I could go earlier in the season? The Royal Council wraps up in what… late June? St. Vlad's term ends then, too. I could go for the first two weeks in July? That would give the Lazars a chance to open the house and get it ready before we arrive." Christian was talking to Lissa, but his eyes were on Rose.
"That could work. If I came too, it would give Rose and me a chance to look around the Academy and get ideas for the wedding…"
"Liss – I grew up there. I know every inch of that place. If you are going to be there for two weeks, anyway, why don't Dimitri and I marry on the middle weekend?"
"You can't organize a whole wedding in three months," Lissa said in exasperation.
"Just watch me," Rose said with determination, before giving Christian an enormous smile.
"No swans. No fireworks. We want a simple ceremony with Father Andrew at St. Vlad's followed by a small reception with family and friends." Rose glared at both her parents, all but daring them to suggest something different. Janine looked disappointed, but when they both nodded Rose continued.
"Old man? Are you ok with flying Dimitri's family over and putting them up in Guest Quarters at the Academy? We'll be at St. Vlad's a week before, then a week after the wedding. We're hoping to have them there with us the whole time."
"I'll send my plane for them," Abe immediately agreed.
"Thank you, Abe. They've never been to America, so they'll be very excited" Dimitri said with a broad smile. His family's attendance was the one thing Rose and Dimitri both wanted more than anything.
"What about an extra week for them at Court once you leave St. Vladimir's?" Abe proposed. "It's a long way to come… I'd be happy to put them up…"
"We'll ask them and let you know," Rose said, all business. "Now. This bullshit between you two ends here. This is meant to be a happy day, and I won't have you spoiling it! Mom? I want your help planning things, but Dimitri and I want a simple gathering. I need your help reining Lissa in."
Rose's look to her mother was stern. She wasn't going to embarrass her mother by criticizing her in front of Abe, but the message was clear. The over the top suggestions had to stop. Janine nodded while voicing her acquiescence.
"And Dad? The only date you're bringing is Pavel. I mean it! Neither of you is allowed to use our wedding as an opportunity to score points with the other!"
Dimitri struggled to keep the smirk from her face as Rose laid down the law with her recalcitrant parents. Between Janine's attempts to bankrupt Abe, and Abe's surreptitious attempts to get Rose to invite him and some random plus one, the last week had been stressful. Finally deciding they needed to lay down the law, with Rose's family at least, the happy couple had used their Friday date night to host dinner for Rose's parents at their apartment.
"I love you both – but this is our day and our way," Rose stressed. "Abe? You can walk me down the aisle if you want. Mom? I thought you could meet me at the end of the aisle and put back my veil?"
"If that's what you'd like," Janine replied, uncharacteristically subdued.
"Yes. I would. We've also decided that the speeches will be given by Alberta, Lissa and Dimitri," Rose charged on. She knew both her parents would be offended if she asked the other to do the traditional 'parent of the bride' speech, so she and Dimitri had decided to sidestep the issue altogether by asking Alberta to do the honors. In many ways, Alberta knew Rose better than either of her parents did, and she could also talk about Dimitri which was a plus. They'd used much the same rationale when choosing Lissa to give a speech. Plus, as the Queen, it would be expected for her to say something.
The rest of the evening was spent drawing up a tentative guest list, confirming the dates for Dimitri's family to visit, and assigning tasks.
"I think you should officially announce your engagement before I contact Alberta and ask for us to stay and use the Chapel at St. Vlad's," Abe suggested. "Perhaps an announcement in the newspaper?"
"That's only done for Royal Moroi weddings," Janine replied, rolling her eyes. Not one to skip any opportunity for pomp and ceremony for Rose's big day, even Janine thought a newspaper announcement was a bit much.
"Are you suggesting Rose and Dimitri's wedding is not as good as a Moroi's?!" Abe retorted.
"It's just different, Abe," Rose argued. "Moroi wedding announcements are political declarations of an alliance. It's about a family marrying a family. It's not like that for dhampir."
"It's still political," Abe argued. "If you really want to see change in how dhampir are treated, you need to be part of that. Besides, people are going to gossip regardless. You are two of the most prominent guardians at Court. You're the dhampir equivalent of Royalty. You have every right to announce your engagement - don't let anyone think you're ashamed of your love."
Rose looked at Dimitri. Abe had hit the nail on the head. Dimitri shrugged. Thanks to his restoration, he was infamous around Court. Much the same could be said of Rose – the twenty-year-old primary guardian to the Moroi Queen. Still, an announcement seemed so… Moroi.
"What about 'Mr. Ibrahim Mazur and Guardian Janine Hathaway are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Guardian Rosemarie Hathaway to Guardian Dimitri Belikov, son of Lord Randall Ivashkov and Olena Belikova'" Abe suggested.
"No way!"
"Like hell!"
"I don't agree to that!"
Rose, Janine, and Dimitri simultaneously voiced their disapproval. Abe held up his hands in mock surrender.
"We are not mentioning that man's name," Dimitri fumed, referring to his father, Randall Ivashkov.
Rose nodded, rubbing Dimitri's forearm soothingly. "And I am sure as hell not being named as Rosemarie!" she added.
"Must we put daughter of Mr. Ibrahim Mazur and Guardian Janine Hathaway?" Janine added. "People know who her parents are… there's no need to dwell on it!"
Abe canted his head, considering for a moment.
"Ok, what about 'Guardian Rose Hathaway and Guardian Dimitri Belikov, along with their families, are delighted to announce their engagement'?"
"Much better. I'll agree to that," Rose said quickly. Janine and Dimitri nodded. Anything was better than Abe's first suggestion. Abe lifted an eyebrow smugly, and it was only then Rose appreciated Lissa wasn't the only one adept at working things, and people, around to her way of thinking.