*Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does!*

Rose's Point of View

Dimitri was getting suspicious. I don't think he fully understood the danger I was in. If Natalie noticed me, I would be screwed. She would hold it over my head and either get me expelled or use it to get to Lissa. That made me careful, very careful.

I was nothing more than a shadow in the classes I had with her. I didn't participate, I didn't make jokes. I was silent and just blended in.

Almost three months had passed since Natalie first came here and since Stan couldn't see past his pride to move Natalie to a different room. I had so far escaped Natalie's notice, though there were a few close calls.

It wasn't until I was sitting on Dimitri's bed, getting ready to start on the history project I had due that I realized one call must have been a little too close.

A piece of paper fell out of my notebook. A piece of paper I had never seen before. I opened it and felt all the blood leave my body. There was barely anything written on it and it wasn't signed, but I knew who it was from.

I know your secret. Game over.

There wasn't a signature, but I knew who this was from. It had Natalie written all over it. She knew about me. How did she know about me? I've been so careful. What was I going to do now? Pretend I don't know what she's talking about? If she recognizes me, she recognizes me. There's nothing I can do about it. I didn't have a choice. I would have to confront her. See what her terms are. If she were going to turn me in, she would have done that already. She wanted something and I was going to find out what.

I didn't know how long I sat there staring at the note, but I snapped out the haze I was in when Dimitri started to reach for the note.

"Sorry. I just had more homework than I thought I had," I told him in what I hoped was a convincing voice. He didn't believe me, I could see that. As I started working on my homework, I could see him watching me. I wouldn't be able to keep lying to him, so I decided to distract him. I'm crap at math anyway, so what better way to distract him than getting help with my math homework.

Sure enough, Dimitri dropped it. He didn't ask me about the paper the rest of the night. But something was off about him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He just seemed distant. I guess I was probably being hypocritical, but I couldn't help but feel he was hiding something from me. Like I said, hypocritical, because I was doing the exact same thing.

All night he looked like he had something on his mind and part of me was grateful when it was late enough to go to sleep. I snuggled into his side, hoping that he would help me go to sleep. I was right and eventually I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

My peace was short lived as something pulled me from my sleep. I sorted through Lissa's messed up emotions and sat up when I realized where she was and what happened. No. not again. How could I have missed this?

"Roza? Rose, what's wrong?" I heard Dimitri ask.

I jumped out of bed and put on my slippers. "Lissa. I need to get to Lissa," I told him.

"Wait!" He warned me.

"I can't," I told him. I was terrified. I couldn't afford to wait. "I have to get to Lissa." It was easy for him to tell me to wait. He didn't see what I say. If I waited, it could be too late.

"One, you look like a girl. And two, you won't even get to the end of the hallway without me," Dimitri told me.

I wanted to snap. I wanted to tell him now was no time to be rational, but I knew he was right. I hate when he's right.

Dimitri got up and went through his wardrobe. He tossed me his hoodie. I was grateful he thought of this. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull myself together long enough to put on everything I needed to look like a boy. I put it on. After another minute, Dimitri had found a t-shirt and we were ready to go.

No one asked us why Dimitri was escorting me out of the dorm. I was grateful, we really didn't need the delay. When we got to the female moroi dorm, Dimitri came up with an ingenious excuse about how Lissa texted me saying she was in need of help. As her cousin, I was permitted in to see her.

Once we got the okay from the matron, I went straight towards the bathroom. I knew Lissa would be there.

I hesitated at the door. "Please, just wait here," I begged Dimitri. I needed to handle Lissa by myself. She didn't need the added stress of an adult. Dimitri looked torn. I could see how much it was killing him to agree to give me my privacy.

I entered the bathroom, my feelings of guilt surfacing. We had agreed a long time ago that there would be no more secrets.

My guilt flew out the window when I saw Lissa. She was sobbing, her eyes red and puffy and filled with tears. I rushed to her side and sat down, draping my arm comfortingly across her back.

Several minutes passed as I tried to calm Lissa down. She didn't tell me what happened, but she didn't need to. I saw enough when I was sucked into her head. When she had stopped crying enough, I tried to clean her up. I hesitated when I saw her wrists. The slits weren't deep. Her goal wasn't death.

When I tried to clean them out, Lissa let out a strangled cry. I heard the door swing open as Dimitri ran in. I could only imagine what this must look like to him.

"Don't tell," Lissa pleaded. "Don't tell."

I looked at Dimitri nervously. I didn't know what the right decision was here. I don't think he did either. After a moment, he nodded. He grabbed some paper towels and walked over to us. He carefully cleaned Lissa's wrists. "I won't tell," he promised her.

"I'm sorry," Lissa said to him. I knew she meant it. She hated how she inconvenienced him.

"We need to get you back to your room before anyone gets suspicious," Dimitri told us. I wasn't entirely surprised with how angry he sounded. We brought Lissa back to her dorm then went back to Dimitri's room. When the door closed behind us, Dimitri didn't turn around to face me for several minutes. I didn't know if he was just that angry with me or if he was trying to find the words he needed to talk to me.

When he turned around, I saw his face fall. I knew what I must look like to him. I felt like I failed Lissa. And I was dreading talking to Dimitri, but I knew after tonight I wouldn't be able to keep this from him.

"No more secrets," he told me as if he read my mind.

"No more secrets," I agreed.

He walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

It was in his comforting embrace that I was finally able to tell him everything. I told him about Natalie and how somehow she figured out who I am. I told him about what I pieced together about Lissa. How it was happening again. Natalie was subtly wearing down Lissa. I laid all my fears out for him and hoped that somehow he would have the solution like he always does. I hoped that somehow, he would be able to fix this.

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