POV: Emilia

I woke up at the crack of dawn. Well, technically, it was the crack of dusk, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the idiom. The dark sky was still splashed with a few lingering rays of a ripe persimmon color that sent enough light into my room to make it brighter than I'd like it to be. I rolled over so that my back was turned to the window since getting up and actually closing the gap between the curtains required more effort than I was capable of making at the moment. I screwed my eyes shut, willing my brain to go back into the sedated dreamlike state it had just abandoned, but my efforts were useless.

As my eyes fluttered open lazily yet again I was faced with a single red rose submerged into a plastic glass of water placed on my nightstand, the rose that was given to me by none other than Dimitri Belikov last night in the school's garden. I let out an unsteady breath, pulling myself up to a sitting position and reached over to run my fingers over its soft petals. I sat in silence for a while, simply gazing at the flower that had become the only decoration in my room since I was still refusing to unpack. And then I finally made a decision. Enough was enough.

It took me a few minutes to pee and brush my teeth before I picked up my suitcase and tossed it onto the unmade bed. I tugged the zippers quickly and opened the top, facing my things like an enemy on a battlefield. With a sigh I reached inside and picked up a random shirt, holding on to it for a few moments before I walked over to the closest and laid it down on one of the empty shelves. It was a rather dramatic moment for me, not because that was the first piece of my clothing to touch the said closet, but because I've finally accepted that this was my closet, this wasmy room, this was my life, whether I liked it or not.

Everything after that was easier - well, except that I was sweating like a pig by the time I emptied all of the boxes my father had delivered for me. When there was nothing else left to unpack, I stripped off my sleeping clothes and tossed them in the corner of the bathroom where there was a pile made of the ones I wore throughout the past week, making a mental note to get a bin to store the dirty clothes before I washed them. Just another thing I never had to worry about before to add to the list.

While I was picking what to wear I crouched to reach my boots and felt a bit dizzy when I stood up. I knew what that meant, so I hurriedly peeled away the damp towel from my body, got dressed, did my hair and makeup, picked up my books and made my way towards the feeders. For the first time since I arrived here I felt a dose of familiarity upon entering the facility where the feeders were accommodated. This one and the one back home were very much alike in their design or rather the lack of and beige, sterile and plain, calm and quiet. I didn't mind the insufficiency of character, it actually suited me because it made the whole establishment feel like it was unblemished by the confines of a particular segment of time and place. I could be in Russia or America or anywhere at all, it could be day or night or something in between. It was actually very relieving.

The feeder that was picked for me was a young woman that seemed more than eager to great her first "customer" of the day. Our avidity was mutual since I was beyond starving, so I wasted little time on pleasantries. Upon piercing her skin I relished the feel of her blood trickling slowly into my mouth, so I closed my eyes relaxing into it. I heard the feeder's satisfied hum as I sank my fangs deeper into her wrist, allowing more endorphins to make their way into her system and more blood to make it into mine. When I finished, she gave me a sedated smile and a faint wave before I left.

I still had a solid hour to kill before Moroi Culture so I unhurriedly made my way towards the cafeteria to get some less liquid food. Breakfast had just started so I wasn't surprised to find the place half-empty, giving me plenty of tables to choose from. I grabbed a bottle of cranberry juice, an omelet and made myself a cappuccino before I took what was becoming my usual spot. I was halfway through my meal when I felt someone approach me from the back. Before I could turn around to see who it was though, a mix of purple curls popped out over my shoulder and Gaya's dark eyes winded up inches away from mine.

"Hey girl", she greeted as I attempted to smile with my full mouth, "You are here early."

"You are too", I mumbled after managing to swallow my bite while she pointed at the chair next to me as if she was asking for permission to sit.

She didn't seem like the kind of a person that asked for permission very often, so I figured it was her way of trying to be as polite as she could. I nodded even though she was already almost seated. I eyed her heavily piled up tray with amusement while she exclaimed defensively: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"That's true and you have a lot of training to do so you need the energy", I confirmed making her grin.

"Amen", she shouted making a few sleepy souls around us jump up in their seats and glare at us, which she naturally paid no attention to.

"So how do you like the new hair color?", she added while twirling one of her tiny locks around her finger before letting it bounce back like a coil, springing into the black nest formed from the roots she left undyed.

"It's a very interesting color choice. It goes well with your original hair color too."

"You inspired me", she elaborated as she absentmindedly took a sip from my cup, "With your wickedly cool eye color."

She made a disgusted face as she placed my cup down and added: "Ugh, I hate coffee."

"I'm glad I was inspirational", I chuckled, glancing up at a girl who was approaching us.

I've seen her hanging around Gaya a few times over the course of the last week. I think her name was Sasha or at least that's what I heard some people calling her. She stopped near our table and waited for Gaya to look at her before she tapped on her watch: "Hurry up! I promised Stacy we'll stop by before the classes start."

"Sa-mha, um ea-ing", Gaya mumble incoherently through the giant bite she just took.

"It's a sandwich, you can eat it on the way there", Sasha argued giving me a quick smile before circling Gaya's arm and pulling her to her feet.

"Jes-um-us", Gaya huffed before she could finally talk normally, "You are a pain in my fabulous ass you know that, right?"

"I love you too", Sasha retorted while she picked up Gaya's tray and flashed me an apologetic smile, "Keep walking Gaya!"

I heard Gaya mumble something unintelligible and, without a doubt, very inappropriate, before Sasha propelled her forward.

"See you later E", she quickly added and I laughed waving at her while I watched them leave.

I slowly finished up and decided to head straight towards my classroom even though there was still enough time left before I actually had to do so. I was already one foot into the, as expected, empty room when somebody brushed my shoulder. I jerked back knocking into the door and heard a soft laugh erupt behind me.

"Easy."

"You have to stop doing that", I exclaimed as Dimitri stepped towards me and pushed the door back into its position.

"Doing what?", he innocently questioned while we moved inside.

"Sneaking up on me."

"It's not my fault you are so easy to sneak up on", he pointed out before adding, "Emma."

"Emma? So you've decided on your own that you can classify yourself as my friend, I see", I chuckled rising an eyebrow at him.

"Can you blame me? You were talking forever to decide", he commented casually, with just a hint of a mischievous smile playing on the edge of his lips.

"It was less than twenty-four hours ago", I exclaimed, rolling my eyes, making his smile spread.

"That's plenty of time", was his last argument before he slipped past me and walked towards his desk.

I followed him there, stopping in front of it while he sat down, waiting to see if he'll leave the chair next to him empty. He did, so after a few moments I took the seat, taking out my book and notebook along with my pencil, piling it all neatly next to the edge.

"You got your book", Dimitri commented as he leaned back into his chair and prompted his legs on the one in the row in front.

I briefly considered angling my body in the same position, but soon realized his height advantage was the only thing that allowed him to stretch that much. If I attempted it, I'd look ridiculous. So instead I crossed my legs and wiggled slightly so that I could face him better.

"Yes I did. Now you don't have to share yours with me."

"I don't mind sharing", he voiced, pulling his slightly torn book closer so he could open it, "I'm actually kind of used to it."

I followed his gaze to the top of the very first page only to see something scribbled in the right corner. His name was written underneath the first line and though his handwriting was actually very neat for a guy, the one above was just too pretty and artistic, visibly different. I peered at it, making out the name of the person this book obviously previously belong to.

"Karolina Belikova", I read out loud before glancing back up at him.

"My beloved sister", he supplied with a small smile.

I was used to people talking bitterly about their sibling. I'm sure they loved them to death, but I'm also pretty sure they were annoyed by their very existence just as much. Not that I would know since I was an only child. From Dimitri, however, I didn't detect even a hint of the kind of tone I'd expect upon the mention of his older sister.

"So you have a sister", I prompted as I tapped on her name with my index finger.

"I have three actually", he announced, making me gape at him.

"Wow."

"Yeah", he chuckled, "So like I said, I'm used to sharing. What about you?"

"I guess you could say I'm as spoiled as they come", I responded through a small smile, "I don't have any siblings, so sharing was never really required of me."

He was just about to say something when somebody stuck their head through the door. His blond strands fell into his eyes as he flashed us a wide smile. I instantly smiled back, it was impossible not to. Ivan must have been the brightest person on this planet.

"I must say I'm disappointed my friend", he exclaimed in an overly dramatic voice, "I mean she is gorgeous, but bros before h-, sorry, ladies."

I giggled while Dimitri rolled his eyes at his friend and retorted: "You are not allowed to be anywhere near me during this class and you know it."

"Always so serious", Ivan chuckled before he reached us, offering his hand up to me as he did.

I took it, my smile widening when he flipped my hand around and placed a gentle kiss on top of it, bowing and winking while at it. Dimitri, unlike me, looked thoroughly unimpressed. With a smirk, a raised eyebrow and sarcasm dripping from his voice he asked: "When did you get this charming?"

"I was born charming", Ivan replied proudly as he leaned against the desk behind him.

"I seem to remember differently. Actually, I remember you used to be the shyest boy-."

"Okay, okay. Don't give all of my secrets away", Ivan exclaimed waving his hand in protest.

I found their banter quite adorable. It was evident just how good of a friend they were to one other. More than friends, brothers. It must be nice, having someone who you're so close to, I thought as Ivan kicked at Dimitri's legs and Dimitri tried fighting him back before Ivan moved out of his range. Actually, I didn't think Ivan was out of his range - he was freakishly tall, after all, but I was fairly certain Dimitri wouldn't have hit him back even if he could.

As more students arrived in the classroom I quietly sat next to Dimitri listening to his conversation with Ivan. Well, conversation was perhaps too strong of a word. It was mostly Ivan talking and Dimitri carefully listening to him with a word here and a nod there. He didn't seem bored though, far from it. He listened with amusement and with a never fading smile playing softly on his lips. At some point, when Ivan had to take his seat at the front of the classroom, Dimitri glanced towards me, his eyes still reflecting the good mood his friend had set him in and, for a moment, I actually allowed myself to believe he could become my friend too. Who would have thought? Only a day ago I could hardly stand to be in the same room as the guy and now I was hoping to become a part of his life. The hell if I knew what was going on.

POV: Dimitri

"You were taking forever to decide", I mumbled into my chin, rolling my eyes at myself. Who says that? An overly confident jerk, that's who.

I pulled my hand wrap harshly before I rolled it around my palm again, making sure the material was tightly holding my wrist in place. The wrap was worn out already, I'd have to replace it soon, but it could survive at least a few more days of workouts. Today's class of Weight Training and Conditioning was going to be one of those "do whichever exercise you want as long as you sweat your ass off" kind of classes that we had every once in a while. Naturally, I opted to start with my favorite one.

I decided to spend more time on warming up since I felt stiff from sitting through the first three classes, even more so because I limited my movements to a bare minimum during Calculus in which I, yet again, sat next to Emilia. Our first class together went well, way better than expected. We actually managed to act like normal, civilized people. We even smiled at each other. All of that went down the drain though when we showed up for third period. I actually didn't even think about where I was going until I found myself sitting next to her. And I didn't realize something was wrong until I attempted to make myself comfortable in the seat, accidently brushing her leg with my hand in the process, causing her to jump up and slid as far away from me as possible.

I was baffled by her reaction, but when I searched her face for clues as to what had caused it I came up empty. She wore a stone cold mask that even my observant eyes couldn't breach. After that, she wouldn't even look at me and when the class ended she wordlessly stormed out leaving me stunned in my seat.

I replayed every sentence we exchanged since this morning during the ten minute break which I spent taking a stroll around the school, but couldn't find any fault in my words at first. However, the longer I thought about it, the worse it became. Suddenly, every sound that had left my body seemed wrong in some way and merely thinking about it drove me nuts. So, as per usual, I finally went for the very "healthy" option of simply ignoring everything, transferring all of my focus onto my job instead. And my job right now was to beat the shit out of a punching bag.

I jumped up from the bench and cracked my neck before I pulled my right knee up to my chest holding it in the air for a while before letting my leg drop to the ground. I repeated it with my left leg as well before proceeding to shrug my shoulders, rotating my arms forward and backward. As I grabbed the jump rope I caught Leo's eyes, seeing them spark up as he happily pointed at the barbell bench he was about to occupy. I gave him a quick node and mouthed good luck, twirling the rope around my hands and spreading it before me.

Ten minutes later, when I felt enough heat building up in my muscles, I stretched and circled my target. I got the feeling I was the number one person responsible for the poor shape of the black letter bag that sadly hung in the corner of the gym. From the moment I was tall enough to take it on, I'd been practicing my punches on almost daily basis on this immobile opponent. They changed it once a year since by the time we reached the summer break it was usually falling apart and though I wasn't the only one using it, I certainly made the worst damage each time. I took out all of my frustrations on it whenever I felt them build up and let's be honest, that wasn't exactly a rare occurrence for me.

I took the stance I could master even in my sleep and pulled my hands towards my face, feeling my shoulders tense. I lightly jabbed the bag a few times, saying hello to it more than actually working out. I pivoted on the heel of my right foot, rotating my leg and hip while I struck it with more force. It didn't take me long to set into the 1-2-3 combo routine, the sound of my sneakers screeching against the floor and the loud thumps of my hits adding to my adrenaline buzz. I kept increasing my punching speed, making the bag swing harder before somebody hugged it and stilled it. The person who decided to interrupt me almost got what was probably going to be a nasty bruise as I barely evaded colliding my fist with their forearm.

"Wow, same side here, remember?", Gaya joked as she peered around the bag at me.

"Sorry, I got carried away", I huffed as I tried to slow my breathing down.

"I can see that. Any particular reason as to why you're so angry?", she questioned, coming to stand before me.

"I'm not angry!"

"Righttt", she drawled, "Well then, if you are so completely and totally calm, let me tell you how I'm currently in the exact opposite mood after I saw what that idiot Grigori did."

"Grigori?"

She nodded, making one of her countless weird expressions that I've learned to read throughout the years. This particular one said "I'm so done with men's shit". Even if I didn't have the opportunity to see her face though, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out Grisha had probably fucked something up. He had a tendency of doing that.

"What happened?", I simply asked as she glanced over her shoulder to make sure nobody was listening.

"He grabbed Emilia's ass."

"I'm sorry, what?", I exclaimed, forgetting to keep my voice in check since I was shocked by her words. I didn't know if the shock was caused by the unexpectedness of the situation, by the lengths Grisha was willing to go to so he can get any girl's attention or by the fact that Gaya chose to tell me this.

"Yeah", she confirmed making a disgusted face, "He is really getting out of hand. He sat next to her during the break before Calculus and attempted to charm her. Since that obviously didn't work, because it never does, he just decided to grope her."

"What did she do?", I questioned, shamefully intrigued by the story.

"She slapped him right across his face and ran away, what else?", Gaya said raising her eyebrows to point out the obviousness of the situation.

"Well that's, um, all very...interesting", I mumbled, but I was already losing my ability to participate in this conversation since my mind flew back to Calculus.

Emilia had looked pissed off when I sat down, she'd jumped up when I brushed her thigh, she wouldn't look at anyone, me included, and she stormed out on her own after the class was done. There I was thinking that I was the one who did something wrong, but it was Grigori who had her rattled all along. She must have been freaked out, thinking she landed herself in a school filled with idiots who were going to go around grabbing her like that's a normal thing. I constantly had to remind myself that she'd never gone to a school before. Everything was new for her, probably even dealing with jerks. To top it all off, she was the new girl every guy wanted to call dibs on.

Grigori was not a bad person, but slightly limited and too horny for his own good. Though that didn't justify his inappropriate behavior, I knew he didn't think he was going to cause such a strong reaction. He'd gotten his fair share of slaps for touching what he shouldn't have over the years. He never learned, but then again no one ever took him seriously or bothered to explain to him what proper behavior looks like.

The important thing here, however, was that I had no part in Emilia's discomfort, if we don't count the accidental touch that occurred. I felt relief spread through my body and I frowned at myself upon the sensation. It's not like this was that important to me, right?

"Hellooo, earth to Dimitri", Gaya shouted, waving her palm right in front of my nose, "Where did you disappear to?"

"Sorry, I-."

"Spaced out", she prompted through a smile, "I'm really rubbing off on you, aren't I?"

"You can rub-", a voice behind Gaya started saying, but she twirled around so fast that the guy, who was about to crack some undoubtedly dirty joke, didn't even get a chance to get another letter out.

"I'm going to rub your face against a wall if you even think about finishing that one", she threatened and he backed away quickly.

Though Gaya was a dear friend, even I couldn't deny that she was pretty scary when she got all fierce and angry. She might fool you by her looks, but she could take any one of us tall and muscular guys any day and stand as a proud winner afterwards, her words of course. I knew better than to doubt them.

"Jeez, when is this puberty thing going to pass?", she added as she turned back to me, "Guys and hormones are just a bad mix."

"As opposed to girls?", I commented, making sure to smile as wide as possible so she wouldn't take my words too seriously and get offended enough to transfer her previous desire to help someone have facetime with a wall to me.

"True", she thoughtfully replied, rubbing her chin, "Anyhow, wanna spar? I desperately need to get back into shape, this summer break killed me."

"Promise not to make me embarrass myself?", I teased as I gestured towards the mats.

"I'll think about it", she joked, as we took our positions.

POV: Ivan

I focused on the glass of water that stood peacefully before me and clenched my fists like that could somehow help. I stared at it until my eyes began watering from the absence of blinking. Nothing happened.

"Damn it", I mumbled capturing Gaya's attention, not enough to have here looking up from the page of Bodyguard Theory book she was currently reading, but enough to have her offering: "Give it time!"

"I've been giving it time all summer. Everyone is making fast progress with their element and I'm falling behind", I wined a bit too loudly, disturbing the peace and quiet of other students in the library, "So far I've only managed to control it for like a few minutes a couple of times."

"You'll get there", she reassured me, completely confident.

I let out an unsteady breath, twirling in my seat and leaning away from her as I tried to pay more attention to my actual homework. I was just finding my concentration when I heard a rhythmical sound coming from behind me.

"You are doing that thing again", I warned as the sound abruptly stopped.

"What thing?"

"The thing when you freak me out with the creepy random whistling", I prompted glancing at Gaya over my shoulder.

She slid her legs of the table, placing her book onto it instead and gave me an apologetic expression as she straightened up: "Oh, right, sorry."

"I'm going to go find Dimitri", I announced, abandoning my homework completely.

"K", was the best response Gaya had to offer as I picked up my books and headed out as quietly as I could.

I checked the gym and the outdoors training grounds first, thinking that he had probably stayed longer with Galina. She pulled him earlier from classes today, since she had some business to attend to tomorrow during their usual practice time. Personal training sessions obviously trumped everything, since not once when she requested for him to skip classes had a single professor said no. Maybe that was just because Dimitri always somehow managed to catch up on the things he'd miss. It was safe to say my friend was a hard worker. Or perhaps it was because he got certain unofficial benefits for being one of the best Novices this school had ever seen.

When I didn't find him in the first two places I headed towards his room, slowly strolling past the cafeteria to check if he had, perhaps, decided to go and have dinner without me. My attention was a bit divided so a group of people walking into my path surely surprised me enough to have me stumbling and almost tripping over my own feet. Even though the abrupt stop didn't make me fall flat on my ass, I was definitely close to collapsing on the spot once I looked up and noticed who I ran into. It wasn't just a group of people, it was a group of very popular girls surrounding the most popular and beautiful of them all.

"Ivan", she giggled as I gaped at her like an idiot.

She was honestly hard not to stare at, with those beautiful dark doe eyes, her flawless skin, her round rosy cheeks and always slightly pouty and lip-gloss coated lips. She flipped her ash blond hair back as she batted her long eyelashes at me, the highlights in her hair catching a bit of the moonlights shine.

"Savannah. Hi!", I said louder than I intended, praying the blush of my cheeks wasn't too visible.

"Aren't you gonna say hi to us too?", one of her friends teased.

"Hi girls", I quickly added, trying not to have a heart attack when Savannah straightened up, taking a deep breath which made her chest heave in a way that caused her shirt to pull back further, emphasizing her already rather revealing cleavage.

"Are you coming to the party?", Savannah asked, making me blink up at her in confusion.

"Party?"

"You know, the usual autumn party I make every year", she prompted while twirling a strand of her hair around her finger, "It's this Friday."

I knew about her parties, hell I've always wanted to go to them, but I sort of sealed my faith on the day I turned down Antony Drozdov and his offer to hang out with him rather than Dimitri. It classified me as one of the rare Royals who wasn't a part of the glamourous group of kids in our school, so getting an invitation to events such as this one wasn't exactly in the cards. I've been to some parties over the years, though maybe party was too strong of a word. It was more like small get-togethers with a limited amount of alcohol and the music playing so softly you'd almost feel like it wasn't playing at all. Only the kids with a strong status and parents who had more money than God could pull off actual parties without getting into any trouble. I believe the principal and the professors tended to turn a blind eye to these rule-breaking gatherings because of the countless donations the school got from those rich families.

"Sure, yeah, I'll come", I mumbled out as she stepped closer.

"Fantastic", she drawled glancing around at the strange smiles her friends gave her, before patting my shoulder.

She distracted me so much by her gesture I barely managed to remember I was supposed to ask her for a plus one.

"Can I, uh, bring my best friend along?"

"You mean that big fella who is always brooding?"

"The one", I laughed unevenly, pondering on whether she was trying to mock him or just point out the obvious. Dimitri did come off as a brooder sometimes, especially to the people who didn't know him well.

"Sure, whatever", she casually replied before fixing her eyes on Polina Bodrova, adding, "Some of us like brooders."

The rest of the girls giggled, but Polina blushed scarlet. I attempted not to laugh since I knew Polina certainly felt uncomfortable enough, so I quickly pushed out: "We'll be there."

"I'm counting on it", Savannah whispered as she leaned in and kissed my cheek.

I believe every single one of her friends heard the oxygen in my lungs seizing and my heart skipping a beat since the giggles continued as they walked away and I was left stunned and alone, watching them leave.

After I regained control over my limbs I almost ran to Dimitri's room, bursting through the door like hell hounds were chasing me. He was just getting out of the shower when it happened and the look on his face must have been even more comical than the one I wore, since he barely managed to wrap a towel around his lower body in time.

"Naked", was all he said while he moved over to his cupboard.

"Irrelevant", I exclaimed, pushing the door shut with my foot, "I just got invited to a party."

"Good for you", he offered, grabbing a plain black shirt and pulling it over his still damp chest which made it cling to his body as parts of the material began sucking up the lingering droplets.

"Good for us. You are coming with", I announced, at least having enough sense of mind to look away as he proceeded to remove the towel in order to get his boxers on.

"And who is organizing this party that I'm obviously being forced to attend?", he asked with a dose of irritation as he sat on top of his bed.

"Savannah Conta."

"No."

"Come on Dimka, please", I begged as I rushed towards him shaking his shoulder like that could somehow make him see reason, "You have to go."

"Why?", he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Because, I need my wingman", I exclaimed since I knew that he was well aware of the fact that I had a thing for Savannah since forever.

He opened his mouth to protest so I quickly added something I was hoping would get him more interested: "Besides, I'm pretty sure Emilia Lazar will be there as well."

"So?", he challenged, but he wasn't fooling me, my tactic worked.

"So don't you like have a crush on her or something?"

This was just wild guessing on my part, but wasn't often that Dimitri Belikov got so rattled by anyone, let alone a girl. The very fact got me thinking there had to be more to it than he was telling. So what I was doing right now was very mean, but I knew it was the only way to get him to go. If I was right, he'd be there because she was there. If I was wrong, he'd also go just to prove me wrong and show that he was totally unfazed by her presence.

"I don't have a crush on her, I hardly know her", he retorted crossing his arms on his chest.

"Maybe you don't have a crush on her, but I know someone who has a crush on you?"

He kept his mouth shut this time, waiting for me to reveal the big secret so I added: "Polina Bodrova."

"Oh come on", he cried out, throwing his hands in the air, "Not you too. Gaya got on my nerves enough with that unfounded assumption."

"It's not unfounded. She turned like a million shades of red when I mentioned you-."

"Stop", Dimitri cut in, standing up, "Don't do this. This isn't you."

I looked up at him and felt all words leaving me. He was right, I was getting out of control with my attempts at persuasions. I was acting like an idiot actually.

"Dimka, I'm-."

"It's okay. This is obviously important to you so I get why you got... weird. If you want me to go, I'll go, but not because of Emilia Lazar or Polina Bodrova or anyone of those people at the party. I'll go for you."

"Thanks", I breathed out, standing up as well.

We looked at each other for a few moments before I pulled him into a hug. He patted me on the back and softly chuckled into my shoulder. Our brotherly moment got interrupted my Leo's arrival. He tumbled into the room and froze up as we pulled apart. For a moment there was this strange look in his eyes and then his usual doltish grin reemerged and he sang: "Awww, look at you two girls going all soft."

Dimitri rolled his eyes and I flipped him off before I added: "See you at dinner."

"Sure", he responded as I skipped back towards the door, "And Ivan-."

I glanced at him, nodding like I was saying 'yeah', so he continued: "It better be a great party."

I laughed and left, hearing the beginning of Leo's interrogation upon the mention of the word party before the door closed. I swear, sometimes, they acted like an old married couple - or rather Leo did. He had a tendency of having some pretty questionable reactions to things involving Dimitri from time to time and every once in a while I wondered... well, talk about unfounded assumptions. My brain really worked in some mysterious ways.


Chapter song: Holding on and letting go - Ross Copperman (a bit of a random choice, admittedly!)

Announcement: This story now officially has a beta! Well, it already had one actually, but I've figured it was past time to make it into public knowledge! My beta (my friend first) is lovely Gaya (aka ohorpheuss) who's been suffering tremendous torture by having me bitch about my writing on daily basis and has taken up the responsibility of pre-reading every chapter (a few times actually since I keep sending her altered versions all the time) and helping me fix it up to the best of her capabilities since I'm (probably) very difficult to work with on the matter (cause I analyze every damn change made by either of us like a million times before I finally publish it)! This would be impossibly hard to do without you girl so thank you!

I hope that you guys liked the chapter and please do let me know what you think about it! Thanks for reading, until the next time,

Kisses T!

P.S. If you somehow managed to miss the opportunity to read some of the best work on FF go to ohorpheuss's account right now and prepare yourself to be introduced to a masterpiece!