"Rose!" I turned around, grinning down at the ten year old Paul. My rounds were almost always near the younger campus, since I was a great fighter and we usually wanted to protect the kids first. They couldn't protect themselves as well as the older students.

"Hey, Paul," I greeted back, ruffling his brown hair. His chocolate brown eyes always sparked the same mess of emotion; pain, longing, anger and regret. But I still smiled because I can't blame the kid for who he's related to.

"What are you doing out of class?" I asked him, pulling up my black jeans slightly and then crouching down so that he was now taller than me. He definitely took after his uncle.

"It's lunch, Rose, your shift ended a couple of minutes ago," I looked up as Saunders, the guardian who took over my shift, walked over.

"Oh, really?" I glanced at me watch and sighed, it was past my shift.

"I must've gotten distracted." distracted alright. Today was the day. The big fucking day and my nerves were going haywire, every blonde was Lissa, every tall brunette was Dimitri, every fucking smirk was Christian's and I was so over it.

"You alright?" Saunders asked and I nodded, standing back up and smiling.

"Of course, just didn't get a lot of sleep the last few nights, but I'm okay," I grinned down at Paul again.

"Now what do you say about me walking you to the cafeteria?" he nodded his head eagerly and I grinned, he grabbed my hand and I nodded to Saunders as we walked away.

"Rose, did you know my Uncle is coming today?" I nodded my head, my gut twisting. Just what I didn't want to talk about.

"I did, you must be very excited, when was the last time you saw him?" I said mostly for conversation.

"Hmm, maybe two or three years ago…I saw him once for Christmas. He only came to drop in the presents though, he had been working." I nodded my head, kind of upset that Dimitri waited this long to see his nephew, yet happy since it meant that I hadn't seen him.

"Well—" I went to speak but he suddenly paused as his face lit up. I groaned, this meant one of two things; there was a very large, large doughnut that he was about to race for or he just saw his Uncle.

"Uncle!" of course it was the second thing. Of-fucking-course.

"Paul!" I could hear the grin in his voice and I felt pain rocket through me. For a moment I almost looked over what I wore and how I looked. I knew that I'd grown up, matured more. My dark brown hair was up in a high ponytail, I wore my black stretch skinny jeans and a black button-up blouse, like you're meant to. I had black converse on and little make-up.

"Uncle, I want you to meet someone! She's my favourite teacher, so funny, and she loves doughnuts!" I winced before placing my guardian mask on, trying not to show my pain.

It was then that the shock, pain and slight anger hit me through the bond. Black spots danced in front of my vision. I'd been blocking the bond for so long that I'd forgotten what it felt like to access it. Being this close to her I couldn't help it.

"This is Rose, Rose, this is Dimitri." I sucked in a breath and looked up from the floor, my heart beating through my chest.

"I know, Paul, we've met before." Dimitri simply stared at me; his eyes roamed my body before I bowed my head to Lissa and Christian.

They looked great. Stronger than ever. Now that Moroi could fight I could tell that they'd been training. I was shocked at Lissa's appearance. She was even more gorgeous, if that was possible, but her hair was also shoulder length. Eddie stood beside Dimitri and even he looked better. It's been two years; I tried to tell myself, they would've aged as well. I know that I have.

"Princess Vasilisa, Lord Ozera, Guardian Belikov, Castile," they seemed shocked at the formal titles, but times had changed.

"Rose…" Lissa simply whispered and I know that for a moment my mask broke and my brows furrowed. The pain was almost overwhelming.

"Rose!" I had never felt so thankful for Father Maars.

"Dean," I turned, feeling myself calm. He just had that effect on me. On anyone really.

He jogged up to me before realising who I was with and raising an eyebrow in my direction before smirking.

"You know what, I can come back later." he went to turn around but I coughed.

"What did you want?" there was an undertone that I knew he heard. He rolled his eyes.

"You were meant to meet me for tea, you didn't." I slapped my forehead.

"You forgot again!" I grinned at him cheekily.

"Of course I didn't, I was testing your patience, it's obvious you don't have much if you came to look for me after ten minutes," and then I winked at him before turning to the others, my face blank again. I bowed once more.

"I'm sorry I must leave so quickly, but I had prior engagements. I hope you have a nice stay here." and then I grinned at Paul because he was waving at me.

"Are you still teaching our class today?" he asked suddenly and I shrugged.

"I don't know, I think I have a meeting, but we'll see, okay?" he nodded, waved again and then I turned and walked off. I knew they were watching as Father Maars elbowed me, so I turned to stare at him and he chuckled, winking as he threw an arm over my shoulder. I rolled my eyes but left it there.

"Take me to sit down," her emotions were becoming too strong. He took me to the church, like always, and we sat in the back pews.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern and I groaned.

"The bond is back. It hurts since I haven't used it in so long." he nodded in understanding.

"I'll make them give your shift to someone else; I'm taking you up to your room so that you can sleep. It's probably no help that you were up all night; you probably can't hold the block anymore." I groaned but nodded, sleep sounded wonderful.

"What would I do without you?" I grumbled and he chuckled.

"Die a painful, slow death," he mocked and I grinned.

"That's probably truer than you'd realise." and we both laughed.

"Rose!" I quickly stood up from where I leant against Father Maars.

"Lord Ozera." I bowed my head, only to have it spin and me to stumble just the tiniest bit. Despite the slight anger in his face, he also tried to conceal concern as he saw it.

"Whoa, you need to sit down," Father Maars wrapped an arm around my waist to keep me standing.

"What's wrong?" Christian asked and I sighed.

"Nothing, Ozera. I'm just feeling dizzy" I told him and he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you pregnant?" I began to cough, choking on my own spit while I felt Father Maars' body shake from laughter.

"No—no, I am not pregnant, nor will I be for a very, very, very long time. I may have been called a slut at the academy, Ozera, but I can tell you right now that I'm not, nor have I ever been." I snapped and he held up his hands in defeat.

"Sorry, sorry…look, Lissa's asking for you, she's teaching now but she wants to have dinner with you," I bit my lip and frowned.

"I can't. I have work to do. I take the dinner rounds. I'm just going to sleep for an hour and then I'm straight back to work, tell her I said sorry." and then I made a move to go back up to my room, and Father Maars had to follow since he was keeping me standing.

"You have to speak to them sometime," Dean stated as he opened my door and pushed me onto my bed. I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"I did; don't you remember? You saw me speaking to them, and just then I spoke to him," I muttered and I could hear him laugh lightly.

"You are one stubborn woman, Rose." I smirked.

"That's why you love me," I teased.

He chuckled "I'll check on you in an hour and I'll bring food," I moaned.

"Lifesaver." I fell asleep quite soon after that.

And he did wake me up, and he did bring food and yes, I severely love him.

He was never really at the church, if you were wondering why he was always with me. The church was free for all, so he didn't really care, so long as nobody burnt it down. I wondered if this was why the Father at St Vladimir's never caught Lissa and Christian; he was never fucking there.

"I don't know if you should be doing your shift," he said, shaking his head and I rolled my eyes.

"I feel a heck better," and I did. I did just need sleep and food. The block was safely placed back up, my head felt fine and I was ready to dance. Not literally, of course. That would be scary.

"Hey, Sean, you can leave, I'm here for my shift," I smiled at the guardian currently on schedule. He looked at me in confusion, brows furrowed.

"No you aren't, I have your usual shift today." I raised both eye brows; I still hadn't learnt how to raise one.

"Excuse me? I haven't heard of any shift changes," I placed a hand on my hip, and he looked at me in confusion.

"Well there has been, I have double," I looked accusingly at Dean and he looked back at me before putting both hands up in a surrender pose.

"Don't look at me; I had nothing to do with this!" I rolled my eyes.

"Who changed my shift, Sean?" he thought for a second.

"Oh, Princess Dragomir…that's the name right? Yeah, she said that she wants to have dinner with you or something…I don't know, I wasn't really listening too hard." I rolled my eyes at his shrug, but I was pissed off.

"Rose, don't do anything stupid!" Dean warned and I felt my fists clench.

"No, I'm not a novice anymore, nor am I associated with her in anyway bah this stupid bond. She does not get away with changing my shifts and messing with my work!" I snapped before turning around and beginning to walk. I dropped the block just a tiny bit to see that she was still in the gym; a couple of Moroi had stayed behind to ask her a few questions.

The gym wasn't that far away, and when I got there Moroi were still speaking, so I waited in the background, Dean having left, not wanting to see this. My arms were crossed against my chest and I could see Dimitri and Christian staring at me worriedly. They could see I was pissed, and the longer I waited the worst it got.

Finally the last Moroi left, smiling at me, to which I bowed my head.

Then we were alone, my heart thumped and my stomach twisted. I let my guardian mask fall into place and ignored her smile, which I knew was fake. She knew me well enough to know when I was pissed off.

"Rose—" I quickly cut her off.

"It's Guardian Mazure; actually," I took my father's name soon after moving here and I didn't miss their shocked faces "listen to me, Princess Dragomir. I am not a novice anymore, nor do I wish to be associated in anyway with my past any longer. I've created a good life for myself here; I'm happy, happier than I would have been. If you want to come speak to me, I may ask that you come and find me yourself, do not get your boyfriend to come do it, and do not, under any circumstances, change my shift or mess with my work again, do you understand?" she looked completely shocked, as did the others, and hesitantly nodded.

"Good, now you have a nice night." I bowed my head then turned on my heel, striding out of the place. It was hard to block the pain radiating through the bond. It was easier to do with my own pain searing in my chest.

When I left I headed straight for Sean, where I told him that it was worked out and he could go have dinner, he really didn't mind and didn't ask questions. I sighed, ran a hand over my face and quickly began to start my rounds.

"Guardian Mazure," I almost groaned, instead breathing out heavily through my nose. I had at least managed an hour of silence and time to myself.

"Guardian Belikov," I greeted dryly, not pausing in my walk.

"May I walk with you?" his tone was just as stiff as mine, but I still avoided looking at him. It hurt too much. I hated that it still did.

"As long as you keep a look out also," he nodded his head and fell into step.

"You seem to like working here." I nodded my head.

"More so than I thought I ever would. May I ask why you are here?" I glanced at him for the first time and my heart almost stopped.

His brown hair was in that ponytail that sat at the back of his neck but never held all the hair in, so a few strands blew across his face. He had light stubble on his chin and wore his normal outfit of jeans, black shirt and duster. Despite being older, he looked the same and I kind of hated him for it.

He glanced at me sideways "to guard Princess Dragomir," I rolled my eyes, exhaling noisily. This was how it was going to be then.

"You know what I mean," I paused; facing him "why are you here with me, on my rounds?" he paused as well, turning to face me.

"Why? Because you not only hurt my charge, but also your best friend and I want to know why." it hurt, looking at him and knowing how bad I wanted us to be together. Knowing that it never happened. Knowing that he played me. Knowing that it was a game I lost and he was always going to win.

"It's been two years, a lot changes in that time," I stated, looking away from his intense gaze. It was always harder to lie to him.

"No, not so much that you hate the girl you protected from the age of five." my head snapped towards him.

"I don't hate her!"

"Then why hurt her?" he snapped back and I glared at him.

"Because it's easier that way! I have a job to do, so go do yours!" I hissed venomously before turning around and continuing on my shift which I was now ten minutes behind on.

Fucking prick!