Yay! Second to last chapter! Of course I had to be stupid and forget to explain the reverse bond, so the next and final chapter will wrap the story up. Thank you to all of my reviewers, GoldenMorning, AussieGirl16, rainy(AP means Advanced Placement), , kirary, Tsuki no Talia, ButtercupluvsJACE,Sparkeliscious, sageivashkov, cillyadrian, and YelloBubbles! Your reviews make my day!

Two Alchemists entered the room with stony faces. My grandmother was among them. She had gone through what I was going through now. Surely she would protect me and respect my wishes. I was her granddaughter, and she had saved me from being beaten to death by my father. Whatever I wanted she would take my choice into account.

The throne room was large and heavily decorated with artifacts from all the Kings and Queens of the past. On the throne, sat Lissa Dragomir the new Moroi Queen who had thankfully ordered a rescue mission on my behalf.

My grandmother and Miss Stanton sat in two chairs in front of Lissa. Lissa stood and addresses them calmly.

"I understand it is your wish that we return Miss Sydney Sage to your custody." she spoke.

Miss Stanton saw that as her opportunity to jump into action. "Your Highness, Ms. Sage has betrayed our cause and we have her legal custody. She will return to us and be dealt with for her traitorous actions."

Adrian grabbed my hand and I suddenly realized that I felt scared. He must have realized it before we did. Although Rose had been teaching me blocking techniques, I hadn't been able to fully block Adrian from my mind, but only partially. It didn't really matter because I wanted him to look in my mind. I wanted him to truly know what I felt all the time.

Lissa smirked and knowing a string of arguments that were able to protect my free will.

"Miss Sage wishes to remain here at Court. She has already renounced her title as an Alchemist, and has gone insofar as to change her name legally. As for your custody argument, Ms. Sage has enlightened me to the fact she has signed no legal documents stating her unwavering allegiance. Furthermore, Ms. Sage is of eighteen years of age, which in this country, means she is legally an adult, which gives her liberty to choose for herself, where her residence may be." Lissa argued.

Miss Stanton paled at Lissa's speech. It was quite obvious she had not expected Lissa to be well versed or as intelligent as she was. She leaned toward my grandmother and they seemed to be arguing in whispers. Finally after ten minutes, my grandmother stood up.

"Sydney may stay. However we want her to sign a document stating that she will not participate in Alchemist related activities, though she may use her skills if in peril." She said.

Lissa nodded and took the document Miss Stanton held out to her. Lissa handed it to me. I took a pen out of my pocket and right before I signed, Adrian hissed, "Wait."

I paused and looked up at him. His intense green eyes looked back at me with uncertainty. "Are you sure you want to do this? Give up everything you've ever known just for me?"

I signed, giving him my answer. He relaxed in relief but remained unsure. He was unsure of himself, not knowing he was pretty much one of the most amazing people I had ever met.

Miss Stanton and Cora left to go. They slowly walked down the throne room towards the door. A voice rang out.

"Cora, wait!" Christian had called.

She turned around in surprise. Once she got a look at Christian her mouth dropped. She covered it with her hand. No doubt she was seeing Christian's grandfather from within him. She quickly walked over to him, leaving Miss Stanton eying them suspiciously, but confused. Christian and my grandmother spoke for a while in hushed tones. Bit by bit you could see her breaking down, into tears.

When Christian offered her what was probably the photograph, she refused, shaking her head. She spoke loudly then, "I always see him, you keep it, my dear. And thank you, I never would have known if you hadn't told me."

They left and the tension broke. The Alchemists would never bother on my account again. Adrian tugged my hand and pulled me closer to him.

"You're safe, Melrose." He whispered triumphantly, emphasizing my new last name. I couldn't bear to take the name of my father after what he had put me through. Now that I had a new name, I could start over, as if I was a new person.

I smiled and put my arms around his neck. "Yeah. No war. No Alchemist duties. We have no responsibilities at the moment."

"I have something for you. Like a victory present." He said.

He walked us both out of the throne room and towards the courtyard. It was just that plain courtyard, we had talked in yesterday. The fountain and stone benches were sitting there and the ficus that had become Adrian's temporary friend was there to.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"If I recall correctly, a couple of weeks ago, I visited your dream." He started.

Of course he had. He had been trying to rescue me from the Alchemists. But I also thought he was trying to make some kind of point, so I let him continue.

"And in that dream, you tried to kiss me. But I told you, that it should be done right. Not in your dreams." He said.

I hadn't been expecting this. Of course, I had wanted him to kiss me, but now that we were actually going to do it, I was extremely nervous. No to mention inexperienced.

"What if I'm bad at it?" I asked him. I was sure my face was turning red with embarrassment.

"You won't be. I don't think there's anything in this world you'd be bad at." He said, cupping my face.

He leaned towards me, bending down, because he was taller. I could feel the heat of his body against mine. My heart started beating erratically in both anxiety and excitement. I closed my eyes. His lips met mine, and suddenly it was like something had been unleashed inside me. Fireworks went off below my eyelids, and I suddenly knew what to do; how to react, kiss him back, where to touch him. I was intoxicated by it. It had been a release of how much I felt about him, projected, well, onto him. He was everything, there was nothing else. Adrian pulled me tighter. All I could think of was Adrian.

He was amazing. He was a talented painter, he was a known player, and the kind of person that could make you go from extremely happy to extremely annoyed within seconds. He was caring, incredibly good looking, had deep green eyes that held every emotion he felt, and he was mine.

We pulled apart after what seemed forever and sat down on one of the benches. I felt a little dizzy so I leaned on Adrian for support, my head on his chest. His heartbeat was as fast as mine was. Adrian, was just as nervous and excited as I was.

"That was amazing." I gasped out, not knowing how else to describe it.

"Of course it was. You're amazing. I'm amazing. It's only natural that we'd be amazing together." Adrian said.

"Let's be amazing again." I said, pulling him to me. He softly laughed before allowing me to kiss him again.

I knew that even though we had so much more to know about each other, we'd be happy together. It was as Rose said. Adrian needed someone to balance him. He hadn't ever dreamed that I would be the one to do so. I hadn't ever expected to care so much about vampires, especially Adrian. Sometimes things happen that no one can control. Sometimes you just had to open your heart and feel. If I hadn't I wouldn't have ever met Adrian, and that would have been my biggest regret. We balanced each other, we were amazing together, and now that I wasn't an Alchemist, we had all the time in the world for each other.