Part 1 Chapter 7

DPOV

Song: Kiss the Sky by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong, I Need A Forest Fire by James Blake

As the night carried on I deftly watched her out of the corner of my eye, examining her in what was supposed to be our night off. A few of the men had set up some fires for us to gather around and brought in some barrels of ale and wine. At first, I wondered if Rose even had the ability to be carefree, but as I observed her I quickly noticed a lighter side of her I hadn't expected.

She was right, I really knew nothing about her.

I had expected her to sit in a corner with Ashford and Castile, glaring at the rest of us as we indulged in our free time. But I was pleased to find my assumptions were completely wrong. She laughed with her friends, toasted with a few camp members, and even blatantly flirted with some of the men. Not that anyone believed it would actually lead to anything. There was no denying that she was an attractive woman and that coupled with her resilient attitude and high rank made her well beyond anyone's league here, but it was amusing nonetheless. Our gazes met across the campfire a few times throughout the night, but I decided not to approach her again. We had made some positive progress that day and I didn't want to take a chance on soiling it.

The only thing that seemed to deter her mood in the slightest was when Daisy walked over to join us by the warm fire. I could see the beginnings of a scowl form on Rose's face, but a fresh pint of ale shoved into her hands was distraction enough to snuff out her objections. I decided to go back to my tent after a couple of drinks, not wanting to over-indulge before our first training session. I had to admit, I was somewhat looking forward to it. Normally, the thought of fighting would send me straight to the bottle in anticipation of the memories that would follow, but this time I felt different. I wasn't haunted by the memories of my past as much as I was excited about the prospect of making new ones in the future.

Rose wasn't just another ignorant warrior who wanted to learn how to fight so she could achieve some fantasy of eternal glory. Her motivations were stemmed by the idea of bettering others. She hadn't even hinted towards the fact that she was looking for a way to best me in a rematch or increase her skill to take down more assailants in battle. It made the decision to train with her easy. Not to mention the benefits it would have for me as well. I wasn't just blowing smoke when I told her that she was one of the best fighters I had gone up against. She beat me the first time for a reason, and I was interested in obtaining a few maneuvers from her as well.

As we started our early sessions, each day I was learning more and more. Like how she was a remarkable quick-study and picked up on moves faster than anyone I'd ever trained with. Or how her brow scrunched on her forehead whenever I showed her a maneuver she didn't quite understand. And then there was her one, true love...the sun. I had assumed Rose had an affinity for it when she dealt out our punishment that first day, but now it was apparent how much she adored it. She stole any small moment she could to soak up its rays; from grabbing a drink of water to pulling up her boundless hair, her face always found its way skyward as if she was clinging to every possible moment of it she could.

Our relationship could only be described as professional, which was a huge step up from where we were the week before. Other than discussing technique and adjustments to our moves, we didn't speak much. Well, except for the occasional complaint about an unexpected visitor.

"Ugh, I can't concentrate with that fleabag watching us," she groaned as she flung a pointed finger in Daisy's direction. I looked over to see my furry companion quietly sitting in place as a soft breeze rustled her thick coat.

"Well, I can't very well tell her to leave so you're just going to have to deal with it," I shrugged.

"Bullshit you can't! I've seen you with her. I know she listens to your commands. Make her go scamper through the woods or roll around in some hay. Whatever wild muts like her usually do." Daisy tilted her head as Rose spoke, looking at me questioningly the way she did sometimes.

"Okay, Daisy," I gave out an authoritative voice. "Marshall Hathaway is embarrassed to train in front of you. Go 'scamper through the woods or roll around in some hay' so she can concentrate." Daisy immediately flopped onto the ground and began rolling her back against the grass with her tongue hanging out of her wide open mouth.

"Seriously," Rose huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "And I never said I was embarrassed."

"I told you, she's not a pet. She has a mind of her own," I tried my best to suppress a smirk since I knew it would only irritate her more.

"Ugh, fine," she practically stomped in defiance. "If she won't leave, then we will." The fiery Dhampir picked up a couple of her smaller weapons and placed them around various hidden spots on her body before walking away from our makeshift sparring ring. She turned around to see me still standing in place and asked with apparent annoyance, "You coming or what?!"

I strode over towards her, stopping briefly to rub Daisy's exposed belly before joining her side. "Where to, Marshall?"

After about half an hour of walking in complete silence, and in the opposite direction of the castle, I was beginning to wonder where on earth we were going. When Rose finally stopped at the edge of the emerald treeline bordering the kingdom, my confusion was only multiplied. I stood next to her, quietly waiting for some kind of explanation when she turned her face up to mine, a wild look dancing in her dark eyes.

"Try to keep up," was the only hint of what she planned to do before she dashed into the woods. Although we had been training together for a few days I had yet to see her speed at a full sprint. It was as if I blinked and all of a sudden she was gone. I raced into the opening after her, trying to compensate for the head start she had gained.

My long legs worked their way up to her, but before I could catch her she nimbly darted in another direction. I corrected my course, trying to keep her pace while ducking and dodging low hanging branches in the process. Dark hair threaded between the trees as she whipped by me, the bright green of the mossy woods a complete contrast to her almost black locks.

Eventually, I began concentrating on the protruding roots and fallen trunks as I found my stride. Rather than watching where Rose was going, I started to take in my surroundings and enjoy the warm, fresh air. As I increased my pace, I felt her small form appear beside me and join me down a similar path. This place was unlike anywhere I had ever seen. I was surrounded by an array of bright and muted greens in every direction. I realized that I could easily get lost in here if I wasn't careful, however, as I admired the beauty of the forest I thought maybe I wouldn't mind disappearing so much. After what felt like only a few minutes but judging by how much sweat I was producing was probably closer to an hour, Rose called out, "Come on. This way."

She slowed her pace slightly allowing me to fall behind and we leisurely jogged to what appeared to be another clearing. Before we reached the edged she slowed to a calming walk and I met her speed, taking long drags of air through my nose. I looked ahead, trying to see what was beyond the opening and could feel Rose's eyes on me as I did. When we walked through the last of the thinning trees, I felt like the breath I had finally managed to catch immediately left my lungs.

I pushed my hair back from my damp face as I stood in place, admiring the scene before me. There was an enormous cliffside surrounded by the lush forest we had just run through. On the other side was the most striking sunset I had ever seen peering over massive hillsides. It was as if the sky was on fire. Gusts of wind strong enough to knock someone down rushed by us, whistling through the trees as it made its way around my tall form. I looked over to my right, finally tearing my eyes away from the enrapturing scene to see Rose perched at the edge of the rocks. I walked over and sat down beside her, letting my legs dangle over the side. We leaned back on our hands and watched as the soft clouds swirled around the deep orange and red colors of the sunset.

After a few lingering moments I finally asked, "How did you find this place?"

"My brother Andre," she quietly spoke. "We used to come here as kids. Lissa was always too afraid to wander past the wards, but Andre was fearless," a small, sad smile inched up her cheeks as she reminisced. "He used to say that even death would be too entranced by this beauty to find us here, but if it ever tore its gaze away long enough to spot us he'd welcome death with open arms."

I'd heard about the tragic accident involving the Dragomir family. News had spread to Novgorod when Ivan was still at the Rus court. It was a travesty to the Moroi society. I remained silent, allowing her to peacefully bask in her brother's memory. As we sat there watching the sun slowly descend I saw a speck of light reflect off a single tear rolling down her cheek, but didn't dare mention it or even turn to bring attention to it. I kept my eyes forward and allowed the sun to pour it's warmth into us before it left for the night. After a while, she finally picked herself up off the ground and began walking back toward the trees. "Let's go. Lissa gets worried when I stay out so close to dark."

Before she could take off into the woods again, I gently grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face me. "Thank you for taking me here," I spoke sincerely as I looked over the scene one last time.

When I turned to face her again, she was looking directly into my eyes, as if she was waiting for them to meet hers. I got that strange feeling that she was trying to look through me again, but this time I didn't match her with a steely look hoping to turn her away. "You're welcome," she said quietly, glancing at me for one more lingering instant before walking back into the woods.

I wasn't sure if she found what she was looking for or just gave up, but either way that look left me feeling somewhat confounded once again.

RPOV

Songs: Memories by Lewis Del Mar

I leaped up from the ground before his fist could slam into my chest and pulled onto the back of his arm to simultaneously wrench myself up and shove him down. Belikov stumbled forward and I came up behind him, preparing to jump on his back. Sensing my intentions, he spun out of the way and turned to face me head on.

I altered my stance and prepared to throw one of the new moves he had taught me. I could tell he saw where I was going with it—he had shown it to me after all—so I decided to add my own twist to throw him off. Where normally my kick would have landed just above his right knee, I waited for him to switch his weight to the left in an attempt to avoid my attack. As soon as he did I switched my tactic and pressed my heel into his left thigh as I propelled myself up onto his torso, wrapping my other leg around his chest and flinging us to the ground. He landed hard onto the dirt and I yelled out in victory as my hands came down onto his chest.

I expected him to let out a defeated groan but instead, he seemed almost pleased. "Nice move," he breathed out.

"Thanks." I hopped off of him and held out a hand to help him up. It had been a little over a week of our private training sessions and I could already see massive improvements...in both of us. He was a completely different fighter than that first match. His moves were calculated and graceful with the power of an ox. When I had asked where he had learned some of his unusual technique he told me from the Vikings.

"We fought alongside them, not against them," he had said.

It was a strange concept to me since our only interactions with them were protecting ourselves or a nearby human kingdom from their raids. They were savage and ruthless, but their fighting skills were beyond impressive. I had heard that the Rus kingdoms had allied with Vikings, but listening to someone with first-hand knowledge of it piqued my interest.

"They've been known to be extremely formidable in combat," I informed him. We didn't often have many run-ins with them in their human state since we were so far from the coast but as Strigoi...Vikings were among the most powerful. Their robust stature rivaled many Dhampirs and their abilities in battle carried over into their transformed state, only amplified by the cruelty and bloodlust Strigoi exuded. "It would be beneficial if we could demonstrate these maneuvers to the troops in anticipation of an attack. If we used their own moves against them, it would surely bring us a swifter victory."

"Is that so?" The sweaty Dhampir splashed some water on his face, no doubt recognizing exactly what I was getting at.

"I was hoping you would participate in some demonstrations during training with me and some of the others. What do you think, Belikov?" I waited for him to consider my request while he sloshed some of the water around in his mouth before spitting it out onto the ground.

"On one condition." Of course there'd be a catch.

"Okay, what?"

"I'll do it if you call me Dimitri." He stood with his arms crossed as if to transform himself into an impenetrable wall.

"Seriously? That's your request," I asked speculatively.

"Yes. You let Eddie, Mason, and the Princess call you Rose," he argued as he took a few steps closer to me.

"That's because they're my friends."

"What, you don't want to be my friend?" He leaned down and raised that promiscuous eyebrow at me.

I matched his posture and crossed my arms over my chest protectively at his close proximity. "I don't know you."

Sensing my slight uneasiness, he dropped his arms and took a step back. "Well, then maybe we should change that. Get to know each other better. Since we will be training together again tonight."

"Actually, it wouldn't be tonight. We'll have to start tomorrow," I attempted to deter his motives to get to know more about me. "I have to meet with Lissa tonight."

"The day is irrelevant. Do we have a deal, or will you be looking elsewhere for your...demonstrations?" I guess he wasn't as easy to distract as Mason or Eddie.

"Fine," I relented. "But I get to go first." A smug look began to form on his face at his self-proclaimed victory.

I tried to think of something that would throw him off, but my short patience wore thin and I just blurted out the first question that came to mind. "How long did you serve under Galina?"

"I fought alongside her for almost four years before she retired," he corrected my choice of words. "But before that, I trained with her almost my entire youth."

"How did she—"

"Ehem," he interrupted. "I believe it is my turn." I rolled my eyes in anticipation of his, no doubt, inappropriate question that was yet to come. "Have you ever lived anywhere besides St. Vladimir's Valley?"

My brows scrunched and I shook my head slightly before answering. "No, I've always lived here with my family. What would make you think otherwise?" His question was strange. Maybe as just a Dhampir warrior I could have had the option to live elsewhere by being recruited or choosing to take up a different position as my mother had, but my Royal title prevented me from doing so.

"You just don't look like you are from here. There is something foreign about you that I can't quite place." He looked over me as if he was examining my features and I fidgeted nervously under his stare. It was no secret that I didn't look like any of the other Dragomirs, but most people had just assumed it was because of my Dhampir lineage. No one had ever accused me of being foreign.

"Calm down Coimheach. That's probably just your outsider loins tingling to find someone like them. But I assure you, I'm not."

"Did you just refer to my loins," he chuckled. "How un-princess-like of you."

I placed my hands on my hips proudly and flipped my thick braid over my shoulder. "You may not know much about me yet, but it should've been obvious by now that I'm not your ordinary princess. Now, I believe it is my turn again."

I considered asking something that might embarrass him to try and even the playing field— like whether he preferred braies or bare under his trousers—but could only imagine the bucket of worms that would knock over for him to ask me in return. No, I'd dig deeper than that. Something that would test him to see if he was serious about getting to know me or was just playing another one of his games. As I looked over him, trying to land on the perfect question one quick glance at his face brought the perfect one to mind. "Tell me about your scar."

He looked down to his arms briefly, his eyes roaming across a couple lighter streaks that were most likely obtained in a fight, but I interrupted his search before he could say anything about them. "No, not those. That one," I took a step closer and pointed to the spot on his forehead where I had caught glimpses of the whitened skin. "I've seen your hand graze it from time to time. Like a nervous tick. Tell me, where did you get it?"

Finally understanding what I was asking, he immediately shut down and slapped on that stone mask he wore when he preferred to hide his emotions completely rather than cover them up with humor. I had struck a nerve.

He bent down and began to gather his things. "What? You're not going to tell me?"

"No," he quietly responded as he turned to leave.

"Now hold on there, this was your idea. I thought you wanted us to get to know each other more."

"Not about that," his voice bit out as his face whipped around to me again. There was a sharpness to his tone that I had never heard before. It sliced through the air like a pointed dagger and admittedly...it scared me a little. But what seized me even more was the pained anger behind his eyes. It was a combination of blazing fury and overwhelming heartache that could only be brought on by great loss. It was a look that would drive a man to either tear down an entire field of men, or crash down to his knees in agony. It was only there for an instant before his eyes closed and a calmer look appeared in its place. His voice smoothed out with his expression as he indifferently added, "Goodnight, Rose," before storming off back towards camp.

I opened my mouth to speak, to apologize, to say anything really, but I was dumbfounded. I felt like I had finally gotten my first true look at what was inside this perplexing man, and now...I wasn't sure what to think of it. I could only assume I had been right about that scar harboring some kind of deeper meaning, and I was suddenly terrified to discover what it was.


A/N: Well, look at these two finally getting to know one another. They are both catching glimpses of things the other person tries to keep hidden. A big shoutout to Gaya for the song suggestion, I Need A Forest Fire. It sets the perfect atmosphere for their run through the emerald forest and almost ended up being the title of this story. I absolutely love it.