Chapter 7

Rose's POV

As much as I knew I should be thinking about Mason's words and what had happened this afternoon I just couldn't concentrate on anything. It was sort of a relief when Lissa came through the door. Well it was until she opened her mouth.

I could tell something was wrong with her from the bond and it was troubling her much more than my problems were troubling me. So, as always, I put her first.

"What happened?"

She sat on her bed, sinking into the feather duvet, her feeling both furious and sad. "Christian."

"Really?" I'd never known then to fight. They teased each other a lot, but it was hardly the kind of thing that could nearly bring her to tears.

"He found out…I was with Adrian this morning."

"Oh, wow," I said. "Yeah. That might be a problem." Standing up, I walked over to the dresser and found my brush. Wincing, I stood in front of the gilt-framed mirror and begin brushing out the snarls and acquired during my thinking whilst lying down on my bed.

She groaned. "But nothing happened! Christian's freaking out over nothing. I can't believe he doesn't trust me."

"He trusts you. The whole thing's just weird, that's all." I thought about Dimitri and Tasha. "Jealousy makes people do and say stupid things."

"But nothing happened," she repeated. "I mean, you were there and – hey, I never found out what were you doing there?"

"Adrian sent me a bunch of perfume."

"He – you mean that giant box you were carrying?"

I nodded.

"Whoa."

"Yeah I came to return it," I said. "The question is, what were you doing there?"

"Just talking," she said. She started to light up, on the verge of telling me something but then she paused. I felt the thought almost reach the front of her mind and then get shoved back. "I've got a lot to tell you, but first tell me what's up with you."

"Nothing's up with me."

"Whatever, Rose. I'm not psychic like you, but I know when you're off about something. You've been kind of down ever since Christmas. What's up?"

Now wasn't the time to get into what had happened on Christmas when my mom told me about Tasha and Dimitri. But I did tell Lissa the story about Mason – editing out why I had stopped – and simply driving home how I had.

"Well…" she said when I finished. "That was your right."

"I know. But I kind of led him on. I can see why he'd be upset."

"You guys can probably fix it, though. Go talk to him. He's crazy about you."

I just looked at the stars in the sky, which were starting to fade from the rising sun. I heard the door behind me open but I didn't bother to turn around.

It was more than miscommunication. Things with Mason and me couldn't be patched up so easily. "I don't know," I told her. "Not everyone's like you and Christian."

Her face darkened. "Christian. I still can't believe he's being so stupid about this."

I didn't meant to, but I laughed. "Liss, you guys'll kill and make up in like a day. More than kiss, probably."

It slipped out before I could stop it. Her eyes widened. "You know." She shook her head in exasperation. "Of course you know."

"Sorry," I said. I hadn't meant to let her know about the sex thing, not until she told me herself.

She eyed me. "How much do you know?"

"Um, not much," I lied. I'd finished brushing my hair but began playing with the brush's handle in order to avoid her eyes.

''I have got to learn to keep you out of my mind," she muttered.

"Only way I can 'talk' to you lately." Another slipup.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Nothing…I…" She was giving me a sharp look. "I…I don't know. I just feel like we don't talk as much anymore."

"Takes two to fix that," she said, voice kind again.

"You're right," I said, not pointing out that two could fix that only if one wasn't always with her boyfriend. True, I was guilty in my own way of locking things up – but I had wanted to talk to her a number of times lately. The timing just never seemed to be right – not even now. "You know, I never thought you'd be first. Or I guess I never though I'd be a senior and still be a virgin."

"Yeah," she said dryly. "Me either."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

She grinned, then caught sight of her watch. Her smile fell. "Ugh. I've got to go to Priscilla's banquet. Christian was supposed to go with me, but he's off being an idiot…" Her eyes focused hopefully on me.

"What? No. Please, Liss. You know how I hate those formal royal things."

"Oh, come on," she begged. "Christian flaked out. You can't throw me to the wolves. And didn't you just say we needed to talk more?" I groaned. "Besides, when you're my guardian, you'll have to do these things all the time.

"I know," I said darkly. "I thought I could maybe enjoy my last six months of freedom."

But in the end, she conned me into going with her, as we'd both known she would.

We had to rush to get ready since there wasn't much time before it began. Lissa dressed nicely as always and I wore the gown that Tasha had gotten me. I pulled on the silken material, happy to see the shade of red was just as killer on me as I'd imagined. It was a long, Asian-style dress with flowers embroidered into the silk. The high neck and long hem covered a lot of skin, but the material clung to me and looked sexy in a different kind of way than showing a lot of skin did. My black eye was practically nonexistent by now.

When we got there everybody was looking at us. Did we always really draw that much attention that they had to always look at us wherever we went? I think it was because she was the Dragomir princess and she had brought a dhampir. We decided to mingle for a bit just because we had to but Lissa got into a heated discussion with a small group of Moroi, which contained a silver haired guy with a bushy moustache.

I was getting bored so I was looking for something to eat. I passed a server with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. I eyed them suspiciously but saw nothing that looked like foie gras from the other day. I gestured to one that looked like some sort of braised, rare meat.

"Is that goose liver?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Sweetbread."

That didn't sound bad. I reached for it.

"It's pancreas," said a voice behind me. I jerked back.

"What?" I squealed. The waitress took my shock for rejection and moved on.

Adrian Ivashkov moved into my line of sight, looking immensely pleased with himself.

"Are you messing with me?" I asked. "'Sweetbread' is pancreas?" I didn't know why that shocked me so much. Moroi consumed blood. Why not internal organs? Still, I repressed a shudder.

Adrian shrugged. "It's really good."

I shook my head in disgust. "Oh, man. Rich people suck."

His amusement continued, "What are you doing here, little dhampir? Are you following me around?"

"Of course not," I scoffed. He was dressed to perfection, as always. "Especially not after all the trouble you've gotten us into.

He flashed one of his tantalizing smiles, and despite how much he annoyed me, I again felt that overwhelming urge to be near him. What was up with that?

"I don't know," he teased. He looked perfectly sane now, exhibiting no trace of the weird behaviour I'd witnessed in his room. And yeah, he looked a lot better in a tuxedo than any other guy I'd seen in there so far. "As many times as we keep seeing each other? This is, what, the fifth time? It's starting to feel suspicious. Don't worry, though, I won't tell your boyfriend. Either of them."

I opened my mouth to protest, then remembered he'd seen me with Dimitri earlier. I refused to blush. "I only have one boyfriend. Sort of. Maybe not anymore. And anyway, there's nothing to tell. I don't even like you.

"No?" asked Adrian, still smiling. He leaned towards me, like he had a secret to share. "Then why are you wearing my perfume?"

This time, I did blush, I took a step back. "I'm not."

He laughed. "Of course you are. I counted the boxes after you left. Besides, I can smell it on you. It's nice. Sharp…but still sweet – just like I'm sure you are deep down inside. And you got it right, you know. Just enough to add an edge…but not enough to drown out your own sent." The way he said 'scent' made it sound like a dirty word.

Royal Moroi might make me uncomfortable, but smartass guys hitting on me didn't. I dealt with them on regular basis. I shook off my shyness and remembered who I was.

"Hey," I said, tossing my hair back. "I had every right to take one. You offered them. Your mistake is in assuming me taking one means anything. It doesn't. Expect that maybe you should be more careful with here you dump all that money of yours."

"Ooh, Rose Hathaway is here to play, folks." He paused and took a glass of what looked like champagne from a passing waiter. "You want one?"

"I don't drink."

"Right." Adrian handed me a glass anyway, then shooed the waiter away and took a drink of the champagne. I had a feeling it wasn't his first of the night. "So. Sounds like our Vasilisa put my dad in his place."

"Your…" I glanced back at the group I'd just left. Silver Hair still stood there, gesticulating wildly. "That guy's your dad?"

"That's what my mom says."

"You agree with him? About how Moroi fighting would be suicide?"

Adrian shrugged and took another sip. "I don't really have an opinion on that."

"That's not possible. How can you not feel one way or another?"

"Dunno. Just not something I think about. I've got better things to do."

"Like stalk me," I suggested. "And Lissa. "I still wanted to know why she'd been in his room.

He smiled again. "I told you, you're the one following me."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Five times –" I stopped. "Five times?"

He nodded.

"No, it's only been four." With my free hand, I ticked them off. "There was that first night, the night at the spa, then when I came to your room, and now tonight."

The smile turned secretive. "If you say so."

"I do say so…" Again, my words trailed off. I had talked to Adrian one other time. Sort of. "You can't mean…"

"Mean what?" A curious eager expression lit his eyes. It was more hopeful than presumptuous.

I swallowed, recalling the dream. "Nothing." Without thinking about it, I took a drink of champagne. Across the room, Lissa's feelings burned back to me, calm and content. Good.

"Why are you smiling?" Adrian asked.

"Because Lissa's still over there, working that crowd."

"No surprise there. She's one of those people who can charm anyone she wants if she tries hard enough. Even people who hate her."

I gave him a wry look. "I feel that way when I talk to you."

"But you don't hate me," he said, finishing the last of the champagne. "Not really."

"I don't like you either."

"So you keep saying." He took another step toward me, not threatening, just making the space between us more intimate. "But I can live with that."

"Rose!"

The sharpness of my mother's voice cut through the air. A few people within earshot glanced over us. My mother – all five angry feet of het – stormed up to us.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. Her voice was still too loud as far as I was concerned.

"Nothing I –"

"Excuse us, Lord Ivashkov," she growled then, like I was five years old, she grabbed me by my arm and jerked me out of the room. Champagne sloshed out of my glass and splashed onto the skirt of my dress.

"What do you think you're doing?" I exclaimed, once we were out in the hall. Mournfully, I looked down at my dress. "This is silk. You could have ruined it."

She grabbed the champagne flute and set it down on a nearby table. "Good. Maybe it'll stop you from dressing up like a cheap whore."

"Whoa," I said, shocked. "That's kind of harsh. And where do you get off turning motherly all of a sudden," I gestured to the dress. "This isn't exactly cheap. You thought it was nice of Tasha to give it to me.

"That's because I didn't expect you to wear it out with Moroi and make a spectacle of yourself."

"I'm not making a spectacle of myself. And anyway, it covers everything up."

"A dress that tight might as well be showing everything," she retorted. She, of course, was dressed in guardian black tailored black linen pants and matching blazer, she had a few curves of her own, but the clothing hid them.

"Especially when you're with a group like that. Your body's…conspicuous. And flirting with Moroi doesn't really help."

"I wasn't flirting with him."

The accusation made me angry because I felt I'd been on really good behaviour lately. I used to flirt all the time – and do other things – with Moroi guys, but after a few talks and one embarrassing incident with Dimitri, I'd realised how stupid that was. Dhampir girls did have to be careful with Moroi guys, and I kept that in mind all the time now.

Something petty occurred to me. "Besides," I said mockingly, "isn't that what I'm supposed to do? Hook up with a Moroi and further my race? It's what you did."

She glowered. "Not when I was your age."

"You were only a few years older than me."

"Don't do anything stupid. Rose," she said. "You're too young for a baby. You don't have the life experience for it – you haven't even lived your own life yet. You won't be able to do the kind of job you wish you could."

I groaned, mortified. "Are we really even discussing this? How did we go from me allegedly flirting to suddenly having a litter? I'm not having sex with him or anyone else, and even if I were, I know about birth control. Why are you talking to me like I'm a child?"

"Because you act like one." It was remarkably like what Dimitri had told me.

I glared. "So you're going to send me to my room now?"

"No, Rose." She suddenly looked tired. "You don't have to go to your room, but don't go back in there, either. Hopefully you didn't draw too much attention."

"You make it sound like I was giving a lap dance in there," I told her. "I just had dinner with Lissa."

"You'd be surprised what things can spark rumours," she warned. "Especially with Adrian Ivashkov."

With that, she turned and headed off down the hall. Watching her, I felt anger and resentment burn through me. Overreact much? I hadn't done anything wrong. I knew she had her whole blood-whore paranoia, bit this was extreme, even for her. Worst of all, she'd dragged me out of there, and several people had witnessed it. For someone who supposedly didn't want me attracting attention, she'd kind of messed that one up.

A couple of Moroi who'd been standing near Adrian and me walked out of the room. They glance in my direction and then whispered something as they passed.

"Thanks, Mom," I muttered to myself.

Humiliated, I stalked off in the opposite direction, not really sure where I was going. I headed out toward the back of the lodge, away from all the activity.

The hall eventually ended, but a door leading to some stairs sat on the left. The door was unlocked, so I followed the steps upwards to another door. To my pleasure, it opened up onto a small rooftop deck that didn't appear to see much. A blanket of snow lay over it all, but it was early morning out here, and the sun shone brightly, making everything glitter.

I brushed snow off a large, box-like object that looked to be part of the ventilation system. Heedless of my dress, I sat down on it. Wrapping my arms around myself, I stared off, taking in the view and sun that I rarely got to enjoy.

I was startled when the door opened a few minutes later. I couldn't bother to look at who was here to see me because I wasn't a really big name. If they were security or something, I wanted to enjoy the view before they told me I wasn't allowed to be out here. Surprisingly it wasn't and they didn't.

The smell of them made me immediately know who it was and they put their jacket around me.

"Aren't you cold out here?" he asked.

I just shrugged my shoulders, "The sun will be out soon. Aren't you cold you don't have a jacket now."

He waved it off, "That might be but we are still on a mountain in the middle of winter. Don't worry about me its always good to be a gentleman."

"Why don't you put your jacket back on and we can just stay close?"

"Works for me as long as you're okay."

He put his jacket on and opened it so I could fit in. It was really warm and his body heat was helping as well. We sat there in comfortable silence for a while. Occasionally, a light wind blew clouds of snow around. It was night for Moroi, and most would be going to bed soon, so the ski runs were quiet. I was sort of surprised he was still up.

"What are you doing here? I thought you would be at least one of the last ones at the party," I commented.

"Normally I would be but when you're mom dragged you away I was looking out for you."

"You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I wanted to."

"Why?" I asked simply.

He shrugged. "In the amount of time I've known you, I care about you. Trust me that doesn't normally happen."

I laughed lightly. "Yeah, Adrian fucking Ivashkov the royal player."

He joined in with me, "You got that right." Then Adrian's face turned to one of concern. "Are you okay? I mean if you got a word from your mom because of me I'm really sorry."

"It's fine. Not much could have changed it. She seems to be constantly disappointed in me and thinks I'm going to become a bloodwhore any second. She already thinks that I've slept with you and I'm going to have your baby or something."

"That might have been my doing because of my reputation and all. But I don't think she's disappointed, Rose, I think that she just cares about you and that you could do so much more with your life because you're still young. The baby thing though, that can wait." He had his usual smirk back on.

It can wait. I knew those words shouldn't mean so much to me but they did. It made me think of my mom. She had only been twenty when I was born. Growing up, that had always seemed really old to me. But now…that was only a few years off me. Not old at all. Did she think she'd had me too soon? Had she done a shoddy job raising me simply because she didn't know any better at the time? Did she regret the way things had turned out between us? And was it…was it maybe possible that she'd had some personal experience with Moroi men and people spreading rumours about her? I'd had inherited a lot of her features. I mean, I'd even noticed tonight what a nice figure she had. She had a pretty face too – for a nearly forty-year-old, I mean. She'd probably been really, really good-looking when she was younger…

I sighed. I didn't want to think about that. If I did, I might have to revaluate my relationship with her – maybe even acknowledge my mother as a real person – and I already had too many relationships stressing me. Lissa always worried me, even though she seemed to be okay for a change. My so-called romance with Mason was in shambles. There was Adrian though I didn't really think there was anything there no matter how many times he mentioned it. And then, of course, there was Dimitri.

"When did I ever say I was going to have kids with you?"

"One day you will I just know it."

"And how do you just 'know it'"

"You'll see, only time will tell."

I didn't want to elaborate on the point anymore than we already had. The sun was almost completely up now and I loved it. I noticed from the corner of my eye, though, that Adrian was flinching. I almost forgot that the sun affected Moroi.

"Come on let's go. The sun is bothering you."

"Are you sure? I mean you look like you're really enjoying it I don't mind staying."

"No it's fine. I would rather that you were okay, I can see the sun anytime I wanted if I stayed up late enough."

"Um okay then, I'll walk you back to your room."

"Thanks."

We walked to my room in silence but it didn't feel awkward. Once we got to my door he waited until I got in before he went.

"Here we are, little dhampir. So I suppose…good night."

"Er, yeah, thanks for walking me back and waiting with me on the roof."

"No problem, if you need me at any time I'll be there," he said with a smile. Then he did the unexpected. He leaned down and kissed me softly. I didn't move at all from the shock. I didn't kiss him back either but I didn't push him away. It wasn't romantic or anything but it was just…nice.

When he pulled away it was like nothing had happened. "Hope to see you soon, little dhampir." He waved to me then walked away not waiting for my response.

I didn't say anything back except I just watched his back as he walked away. As I was about to go into my room I noticed from the corner of my eye that someone was there. Great, it was probably some Moroi that just saw Adrian and me kissing and it would be all over the lodge by tomorrow morning. Maybe my mom was right.

I turned to see who it was, but it wasn't a Moroi. It was Dimitri. I had nothing to say but his expression was not happy, it was rather one of hurt. I was too tired for this right now and I just wanted to get to sleep and start fresh tomorrow. But I couldn't, I had someone's heart to break.

Mwhahaha Adrian stole Dimitri's moment =D

So I know I've been taking ages to upload between chapters but I'm going to try and write loads of chapters then upload them so you won't have to keep waiting and waiting for a certain chapter which I would probably not write for like a month or something...

The first chapter for Emerald Green Eyes is up so please RxR... its M rated at first but the rest should be mostly T