Some cute relationship scenes in this chapter, enjoy! I'm going to hit the ground running with the plot line soon so soak in the OTPness while you can!

Dimitri's POV

When I opened my eyes at first I thought I was still asleep, that I had simply moved from a nightmare to a dream. Rose was lying asleep next to me, her face adorably squashed against her hand. I wanted so badly to brush the hair from her face, but we weren't alone, "She hasn't left your side, this was the only way we could convince her to get some rest. Sorry if it's… uncomfortable."
Lissa was smiling down at me, my guardian angel was here. Here happened to be a hospital room, there were tubes protruding from my body, machines beeping telling me that I was alive. Memories of Clare and the stake came back to me. In a rush of panic I looked at Rose, she was wearing a black lace dress, not a hospital gown.

How is she?" I asked. Just because she wasn't in the hospital doesn't mean she's okay. "She's... Tired. She's been under a lot of stress, with you being in the hospital and the council is a big mess right now. I've been spending a lot of time with her but she keeps locking herself in her office." Lissa sighed as she gazed at her best friend's sleeping figure.

"How long have I been asleep?" I kept my voice low so that I didn't wake Rose. I noticed that Lissa was also wearing a black dress. There was a guardian standing outside the room's open door. "Four days. We came straight from the funeral," Lissa cast her eyes to the ground, her voice was barely audible. I tried to sit up but Lissa pushed my shoulder down, "Don't. You might tear the stitches."
"What funeral?" I ignored the comment on the stitches.
"The queen. The queen is dead. Guardian Steed killed her." It took a while for the news to sink in. I would accuse Lissa of lying, but Lissa wouldn't make a joke like that. Lissa's face was a mask of controlled emotions, I hated it when other people did that. I was the only one who was supposed to hide their emotions, now everyone seemed to be doing it. The general shock from the news was fading, a lot of people hated the queen. Clare went for Rose after she killed the queen. What would have happened if Rose was on time to the meeting with the queen? I didn't want to think about that.

There was a knock on the door before Tasha walked in with a balloon that said GET WELL SOON, "Thank god you're awake, it took you long enough." The playful smile on her face disappeared when she saw Rose curled up next to me. I hadn't noticed before that my arm was under the crook of her neck. Tasha raised an eyebrow, "You take your guardian duties very seriously, don't you?"

Lissa thought I'd be uncomfortable with Rose next to me, but it was Tasha's comment and attitude that I couldn't stand. Tasha knew about my past relationship with Rose, everyone close to us did. I told Tasha long ago that I didn't reciprocate her feelings, and she said she just wanted to be my friend. One of us was obviously lying.

"Yes, Tasha. I do," My voice was cold and cutting, Tasha's shocked expression showed as much. I don't know exactly what Rose and I were in terms of a couple, all I know is that these last weeks with her had been like some sort of dream. Despite her poor eating habits, Rose had gained some of the weight back and she didn't have anymore cuts or bruises. She was doing the unthinkable by taking a position in court higher than most Moroi, everyday she reminded me of the woman I fell in love with, the woman I'm still in love with to be completely honest. I loved every minute I got to spend with her.

I looked down at Rose, she had dark circles under her eyes. At least she was sleeping now. We must have been too loud because Rose stirred and her eyelids fluttered. "Dimtree," Rose mumbled, her eyes were fully open now. She gave me a lazy smile, "Hey you." I didn't like that we had spectators, but I smiled back at her anyway, "Hey."

She let out a content sigh and closed her eyes. Less than a second later her eyes flew open, she was completely awake now. "Dimitri!" She threw herself at me, I grunted from the impact and wrapped my arms firmly around her. It felt like some of the pain was started to ease away with her in my arms. "You should be more careful with him, Rose. He's got stitches," Tasha scolded. I didn't appreciate her comment, I was perfectly fine with Rose in my arms. Rose gave me a tight squeeze before pushing away from me and standing up. I wanted her to come back.

"I forgot. Sorry," she smiled at me, not seeming sorry at all.


Lissa told me that the court was under lockdown for twenty-four hours after the queen's death, but Rose was under lockdown for three days after that. Hans knew that she was in danger without the queen's protection. Many Moroi wanted her dead. Many of the council members would likely try to kick Rose off of the council now. The new monarch better like dhampirs.

Two days after I woke up I was released from the hospital, but I wasn't allowed to go back to guarding Rose. Hans had ordered Mikhail to be Rose's temporary guardian. When I got back to the suite Mikhail was sitting on the four seater couch with his feet on the coffee table and the TV on, he turned his head to look at me. I could hear multiple voices from the kitchen. "Hey, Guardian Belikov! It's good to see you on your feet again! To be honest though, I don't want you to recover too fast because then I have to go back to my awful desk job," Mikhail was laughing, it seems he's forgotten all about the animosity between us.

"Why didn't you check the door?" I asked. I needed to know I could trust him to guard Rose. "You and Rose are the only two who have keys, everyone else would have to knock," Mikhail shrugged. I glared at him, I was feeling faint and wanted to sit down but I also wanted to intimidate Mikhail. "The queen was just murdered less than a week ago and there was an attempt on Rose's life. Do you really think a door will stop someone who wants her dead?"

The color left Mikhail's face. I felt smug and tried to not let that show on my face. Rose came into the room with flour all over her jeans and T-shirt. "Dimitri! You were supposed to text me when they released you. Come on, you too Mikhail. This is a sort of 'I'm not under lockdown anymore and you're out of the hospital' party. Let's eat," she tugged on my arm and led me into the kitchen. Everyone was here: Rose's parents, Lissa, Christian, Tasha, a guardian named Ethan, and most surprisingly, Adrian.

Adrian had a glass in his hand with amber colored liquid in it. There was an open bottle of scotch on the counter. Nobody took the chair at the head of the table, everyone sat next to or across from someone. Rose sat down next to her mother, Adrian sat on the other side of her. I don't think anyone else registered the slightly uncertain look that crossed her face. She hid her uncertainty with a smile and handed him the bowl of peas.

There was cheers from the others, "Dimitri!" "Hey, good to have you back!" "Not so much of a God now, are you?" The last one was from Adrian. The room fell silent as people stared from Adrian to me and back to Adrian with their mouths open. "And what does that make you, Adrian?" Rose asked with a mocking smile on her lips. She was diffusing the tension in the room. Everyone was grateful for the out and started nervously laughing. My respect for Adrian was dwindling.

I took the open seat next to Tasha, she squeezed my arm. "Dimka, I don't think you've met my friend, Ethan," she put extra emphasis on the word friend. I leaned over and shook his hand, "I have. Briefly before. It's good to see you again." I ignored the painful tug from my abdomen. Tasha had a smug smile on her face, "That's great! You two will be such good friends." Ethan gave Tasha a huge smile with puppy dog eyes.

Throughout dinner everyone made small talk, everyone laughed, except for Adrian. He always kept his glass full, I could see Rose's eyes following his moves with concern. It took me a while to piece together why he was so intoxicated, I had been careless enough not to recall that the queen was Adrian's aunt. My guess was that he was here so Rose and the others could take care of him. The funeral was only two days ago.

I suspected everyone was here to distract Rose from the fear that she would be stripped of her royal title and forced to go back to being a guardian. Nobody wanted that, Rose had finally been making baby steps with the council.

After dinner everyone drifted to the living room to play Monopoly. Since there were too many of us we had to make teams. "I call Ethan!" Tasha shouted, she rested a hand on his arm. Christian was about to claim Lissa but Rose literally stepped in front of him, "Not today, buddy. You can date her but you cannot take away my gaming partner." Zmey took Janine's hand, "We'll play together." I'm pretty sure I saw Janine blush, but she turned her head away.

Adrian and Mikhail teamed up. "Well I guess that leaves just us, my friend," Christian said as he patted my shoulder. We took our seats. Rose sat down next to me on the four seater, with Lissa beside her. "Hey, how're you feeling?" She bumped into my shoulder playfully. I liked this seating arrangement much better than the kitchen, "I'm okay." I smiled at her, and she gave me a smile that warmed my heart.

I had never played monopoly before, but Christian was patient enough with me. He explained why we chose to buy certain properties and why we weren't going to buy others. Throughout the game we were losing more money than gaining, I thought it was because I was really bad at the game until Christian slammed his fist on the table.

"You two are cheats! That's why you wanted to be on each other's team!" He pointed to Lissa and Rose, I could tell Christian was holding back from laughing. Lissa gave Christian a wicked grin and Rose curled over laughing, "Sorry, Christian. You just get really good at this game when you play on college campuses. We've won this game after several shots of fireball. No one stands a chance when we're sober." Rose and Lissa high-fived, still laughing.

Christian was only mock angry, but the little show was entertaining all of us. "This is a game of luck, girls. There's no secret strategy," He pointed to the girls' large stack of money as an accusation. "That's what you think," Lissa winked at him.

Rose stood up, "I need more Pepsi, you guys want something from the kitchen?" Christian sat down in defeat, "Ugh. Just bring me a Pepsi, you cheating, lying, girlfriend stealing succubus." Everyone was laughing now, even Adrian. Rose straightened her shoulders a mockery of sophisticated air, "That's princess cheating, blah blah succubus to you."

Since Rose left the room the game was sort of on pause. Everyone started talking in groups. Tasha started laughing, really loudly, too loud for it to be genuine. "Oh, Ethan," she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. She was really annoying me now. Rose came back with the Pepsi's, she leaned over me to hand Christian his. It was a test of my self control to not look down Rose's shirt, I don't think she was aware of the view she was giving off.

Rose clapped and rubbed her hands together, "Okay, who's ready to lose?"


It was the middle of the day but I couldn't sleep. I was already losing my mind from only one day of bedrest. I was sitting on my bed, re-reading one of my favorite books when my mind wandered to Rose. Her disappearance made me come to my senses, I loved her and I wanted her back. Over the time I've spent with her I kept dropping hints, giving weak attempts at flirting. She would always shut down or change the subject whenever I said these things, though. Maybe I lost her forever. She didn't need me complicating her life when she had a duty to the dhampirs.

Thinking about Rose must have summoned her because my door opened and Rose snuck into my bedroom. She wearing an oversized T-shirt and extremely small shorts. "Hey," I said, not really sure what was going on. "Hey, I didn't know you were awake."

I held up my book, "I couldn't sleep." Rose walked over to the bed, she lifted up the covers and crawled in next to me, "Neither could I. Adrian snores." Adrian had had a little too much to drink and passed out on Rose's bedroom floor. Part of me, actually all of me, was glad she wasn't in there with him anymore.

Rose lay on her side, looking up at me, "Is this okay?" Her voice was threaded with hope. I tossed the book onto the nightstand and lay down next to her. I took one her hands in one of my own and laced our fingers together, I had to be careful or I would overstep a boundary. "Of course, you can sleep here anytime you want to."

Rose's breath caught, which nearly drove me crazy. I loved being the one to take her breath away, "Dimitri…" she sighed. "What does that even mean? You keep saying these things that have a double meaning and it's driving me insane. You told me you didn't love me anymore!" Rose took her hand away and sat up, running her fingers through her hair. The sunlight caught in her dark brown hair, making her look ethereal. She stared at the wall. "I still love you, I always have. You know that. So what the hell do you want? Tell me you love me, right now. If you don't…" she shook her head, "then I'll put us all in the past. Just know that if you do that then I'm gone forever and I'm moving on."

I sat up, resisting the temptation to pinch myself to make sure I was awake. She still loves me, after all I've done, after all this time. Rationally, we shouldn't be together. I'm older than her, I'm her guardian. Rose made me an irrational man. I could never think straight when I was with her. The lines between right and wrong were blurred because of my wants and desires. Now she was giving me a chance to go back to the way things were. My choice was so painfully obvious.

"Rose," I breathed. My heart was beating too fast. She still wasn't looking at me, her jaw was clenched. I brushed her cheek with my thumb, my hand stroked her face down to her chin. I forced her to look at me, "Rose I have always loved you. I was lying in the church, only because I thought I was protecting you from myself. Love doesn't fade, mine hasn't. I. Love. You."

Rose didn't say anything, she just looked at me. A small smile played at the corner of her mouth. She reached up and caught my hair in her fingers, "I missed this, being able to touch you."

I leaned down to bring our lips together, our first kiss since I was transformed. Her lips were so soft, just like I'd remembered and dreamt about. The kiss was so sweet and delicate, a kiss that would haunt my dreams. I hadn't realized how much I missed the taste of her lips, it was heaven. Rose whispered my name, I moaned into her mouth.

The pressure of the kiss increased, she maneuvered so that she was straddling me without breaking the kiss. This angle made her lips more accessible, the kiss was becoming heated. Her hands her gripping my face. I tightened my hold around her hips and ran one hand through her hair. I barely noticed the pain from my abdomen, Rose's lips were doing things to me that made getting stabbed all worth it. I would go through that pain a thousand more times if I got to kiss Rose every time.

Being here with her I felt like all of my humanity had been restored, every trace of the monster I was vanished.

I was finally home.