I kissed her lightly before saying, "of course my love. Anything for you." Roza turned and went back inside. I looked at Janien and said, "one cross word to or about my Roza, and you will be thrown out on your ass." Then I spun on my heel and went inside.

When we got into the family room, where our family was still gathered, Roza was not in the room. Ten minutes later Mia and Vika entered the room. Soon after, Roza entered dressed like the queen she was, not a hair out of place, and wearing one of her tiaras and a very nice black pin stripped pants suit, with a pair of black four inch Louboutin heels. The tiara she chose sparkled with diamonds, aquamarines and amethysts. Everyone, except Janien, stood and kneeled when Roza entered the room. "Rise." Our gracious new queen said. "You know that none of you have to kneel to me, you are my family."

"Rose you are our queen we must kneel to you." Tatiana said.

"What are you all doing? Why are you acting as if she is of any importance?" I just honestly could not believe she had just said that about her own daughter. And judging by the looks on the faces of the others in the room, no one else could believe it either.

"Because she is my daughter, Queen Rosemarie Marinique Rana Ivashkov."

"Her name is Rosemarie Hathaway." Janien accused.

"Just because that is what you wanted her named, and thought that she was named, does not mean that is her real name. I gave you a false birth certificate."

"How dare you."

"Quite Janien." Rose said. As she walked, regally, over to the sofa. She stopped and kissed each of the children on the head. Once she sat down on the sofa she raised her hand to me, she was asking me to sit with her, I did as she asked. I sat beside her and held her hand, knowing she would need something to anchor herself with, before this was all over. "Now, why are you here Janien?" I knew she was doing everything she possibly could to hold on to her temper, and I was very proud of her for that. I on the other hand, didn't have as good of a grip on mine as I usually did. Looking around the room I saw more than a few members of our family struggling with theirs as well.

"Well not that it is any of your business, Rosemarie…"

"You will address me properly, or you will be thrown into a cell." Roza told her sternly.

"And just what is the proper way to address you?" Janien sneered back at Roza.

(RPOV)

"You may address me as your majesty, your highness or Queen Rose. Either of those three will do."

"I am your mother; I do not have to help continue this farce." Janien replied snidely.

"Guardian Hathaway, do you know who I am?" Aunt Tatiana asked her.

"Yes, your majesty, you are our queen." Janien said as she bowed to aunt Tati.

"No, I was acting queen, until my niece Rose reached the age of eighteen. Now you address her properly, or not at all."

"Are…are you serious? My child is queen?" Janien asked incredulously.

"I told you, she is not a child!" Dimitri stated furiously. I gently caressed the back of his hand with my thumb, trying to calm him, before he threw Janien out the window. "She hasn't been a child since she was fifteen. You know when she died the first time! That is when her childhood died! But you wouldn't know anything about that either would you? Since you didn't even see fit to check on her that time either!" I squeezed his hand, and he squeezed mine back. I knew his temper was as bad as mine, and it was taking everything he had to hold onto it. He always struggled with his temper just as I do. We were both afraid of letting it out, because we were afraid of what we could and would do to someone.

"Yes, guardian Hathaway, Rose is our queen." Aunt Tati told her.

"I know that you never thought I would amount to anything guardian Hathaway. You made that more than abundantly clear over the years. At least on the very few occasions I saw or heard from you. I have seen and heard more from you, since I met Dimitri, than in all the proceeding years of my life put together. As you probably don't know, I have done many great things in my life, and I hope to do many more. Now I ask you again, why are you here?"

"My charge came for the coronation, so it is my job to accompany him."

"As I thought, you could not even take the time to call and check on me. But your job, it has always been more important to you than I ever was. Alright, that is your reason for being at court, but why are you here in my home?"

"I received a message saying you had been injured and I wanted to check and make sure you had been able to go back to work."

"Injured?! I left you a message saying she was in critical condition, and we did not know if she would make it through the night! But we never heard anything back from you! Then you have the nerve, to come here to make sure she had gone back to work!" I watched my father fume, he was so angry he was trembling. I saw his hands clench and unclench repeatedly as they shook. His jaw clenched in time with his hands. And the pulse at his neck was racing franticly. It was obvious, to me, where my temper truly came from.

"Baba?" He looked at me, his eyes on fire, and I held up my hand, asking him to join Dimitri and I on the sofa. He joined us when he stopped shaking enough to walk. Looking back at Janien I continued, "well now that you know what is going on, what are your plans for the future?"

"To do as I have always done, my job. Some of us have to protect the moroi you know." She sneered at me again.

"Guardian Hathaway, if you do not wish to be a guardian, I can always relieve you of your precious duty." I was doing everything I could to stay calm. And I knew that Dimitri, and probably my father, could feel it through the tension in my arms and hands.

"No. I am doing what I am supposed to do. It is the one bright spot in my life." Now that, that really hurt. I always knew she loved her job more than me. But for her to actually say it to my face, hurt me, far more than I thought it would. I felt tears wanting to form, but I refused to allow them to. I would not allow her to see how deeply she had hurt me. Both Dimitri and my father squeezed my hands, letting me know that they were there for me. And I squeezed back in thank you.

"Very well, you may keep your precious position as a guardian. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, I think I have taken up enough of your, apparently precious, time. I certainly hope you make a better queen than you ever could have ever made a guardian." That was it! She turned to leave, but I stopped her.

Hearing that from the woman who claimed I was the child, I lost it, "How dare you say that to me! I have been a guardian since I was five-years-old. The day you threw me away like a piece of trash, was the day I became a guardian. I gave up every piece of my life, for someone who couldn't have cared less. And was quite frankly, unworthy of everything I did for her. I lost my best friend to strigoi, I lost my soulmate, when he was forcibly turned. You guardian Hathaway, know nothing of what I have been through. You know nothing about me or my life, I have died three times, in the last three years. Well, now I guess it is techniquely five times. And I have almost died over half a dozen other times. I have killed more strigoi than you could ever even hope to see. I have been kidnapped, I have been held hostage, I have been tortured, tormented and scarred. I have been shot and burned, I have had someone else's darkness drive me insane. I have had that same person, compel my soulmate and force him to hurt me more than you could ever comprehend. I had that very same person force her darkness into me in another attempt to kill me. I have had someone try to kill me, because I would not allow her to kill my aunt, and they both techniquely succeeded. The same person that shot me, was going to frame me for the murder she tried to commit. So that I would be blamed for it, and put to death. Just so she could try and get Dimitri to love her. She also tried to compel me to kill myself on two separate occasions. I have had people try to kill me, drive me insane, frame me for murder, kidnap and hold me hostage, murder my best friend and turn my soulmate into a strigoi. All in the span of three years. And in that time I have also killed eight hundred and forty-three strigoi, not counting the attack on St. Vlad's or the rescue mission. Now you tell me, have you gone through anything similar to any of that in your whole entire life? Not in just three years but in all your years on this planet. Have you been through anywhere near what I have?!" I had stood up long ago and stalked Janien as she backed up until I had her pressed into the wall and was in her face.

She just stood there and stared at me a moment, completely dumbfounded. "I am sorry; I had not realized you had been through anything like that. Hearing that you have killed almost a thousand strigoi, makes me very proud of you Rosemarie. I wish you did not have to go through all that you apparently have, but it is the job of we guardians to do that." That is all she got out of what I just said?!

I was past angry, "get her ass out of my sight!" She was pulled from the room, after that I don't know or care what happened to her. I went into my bedroom and collapsed on my bed.

A few minutes later Dimitri came in. "I am so sorry Roza."

I sniffled trying to control my tears, "it is not your fault Comrade. I always knew she loved her job more than me. But for her to actually say it to my face…"

"What can I do my love?" He asked. His own face filled with pain, simply because I was in pain.

"Nothing, I just need some time."

"Do you want me to stay in here with you?"

"No, I need to be alone for a while."

Kissing my forehead, he said, "Alright, if you need me just call and I will come running." I nodded, removed my tiara, jacket and shoes.

"I love you Comrade." I said as he walked to the door.

"I love you too milaya." He said before walking out the door. I lay back down and fell asleep.

(DPOV)

When I closed our bedroom door, I went back into the living room. Everyone in there were so angry at Janien's callous and hateful words. Most wanted to hunt her down and beat the shit out of her. And I didn't blame them one bit, because I had some of the same thoughts.

"Let's just forget about Janien, as she has always forgotten about Rose. The longer we think about her the more power we give her. And I don't want her brought up or thought about ever again, around my Roza."

"Dimka is right. One day soon Janien will realize what she has done. And she will come crawling back to Rose, but by then it will be too late. It's already too late." My babushka sighed sadly.

"In the future Janien is not to be allowed with in twenty feet of my Roza. And that knowledge is to be spread to every guardian at court."

We all continued to talk about the coronation, security and several other topics. One being the number of kills Roza has. I knew she had slaughtered hundreds in Russia, but I didn't realize it had been that many. I remembered Galina complaining because Rose had made such a dent in the strigoi population. I just never realized that she had made that big of a dent. Then I also find out that Tasha had tried to compel Roza to make her commit suicide. That bitch is so fucking lucking I can't get to her right now. Little over an hour later Karo asked, "where are Paul and Zoya?" We looked all over the suite, but couldn't find them. I quietly opened our bedroom door to find Rose in the middle of the bed with Paul on one side and Zoya on the other side. Both with their heads laying on Roza's shoulders and one of their arms thrown over her stomach. And Roza, with an arm around each of them. All three of them sound asleep, with smiles on their faces. It was such a precious sight, I took a few pictures and closed the door quietly. Going back into the living room I calmed my panic stricken sister.

"Calm down Karo, I found them and they are fine."

"Where are they Dimka? Where are my babies?" I showed her and everyone else the pictures I had taken. "Aww, that is so cute. They love her so much, and she just adores them. It is such a shame that the two of you can't have children, you would make wonderful parents." I nodded sadly.