Rose POV —
Why was I so excited to see him? I don't know how to act around him. Does he love me like I love him? Or am I just being naive?
He opens the door and lets me walk out in front of him. "Why are you here?" I ask bluntly.
"I was invited." The words tilt over his accent. I shiver. "Are you cold?"
"But I thought you weren't coming," I press, ignoring his question.
He looks sideways at me through those thick lashes. "I changed my mind."
"Obviously. But why?"
"I wanted to apologize." Apologize? For breaking my heart. For telling me I'm too young and naive and not worth your time?
"Don't bother," I hiss, walking faster.
"I have to." I shake my head. He continues anyway. "Because I love you."
"Stop, Dimitri! Just stop!" I start running. Because no matter how much I despise running during break, I can't stay. I can't hear him tell me he loves me only to tell me that he shouldn't.
His footsteps hit the ground behind me, and he snatches my wrist, spinning me to face him. "Please don't hate me," he whispers.
"How could I? I just hate myself for being stupid enough to fall in love with you."
"No. No, my Roza." The way he says my name brings tears to my eyes, and I crumple against his chest. His muscled arms tug me closer.
"I'm sorry," I whimper. "I'm sorry, I can't control this. But I get it. Honest, Comrade, I do." I feel him tremble when I use his nickname. "We can't be distracted by each other, since we'll both be Lissa's guardians."
"I kn —" He lets me go abruptly. "I have to go."
The icy air blows around me, burning it's way up my arms now that he's gone. I gasp for breath, trying to control the rush of pain in my chest. I guess I'll finish my walk now. But where is he even going? Why is he always leaving me?
Lissa Pov —
I drag my fingers through the hot tub, trying to decide if it's worth it to get my bathing suit on.
"Lissa?"
I turn shaking water droplets from my fingers. "Guardian Belikov, can I do something for you?"
"We're on break. You can call me Dimitri."
"Okay….Dimitri?"
He pushes a hand through his hair. "I hate to ask this, but I need a favor." Wait, Dimitri-the-Russian-god needs a favor from me? My mind is spinning with all the possibilities when he speaks again. "I need you to reassign me."
"As in, you won't be my guardian anymore?"
"I can't be. Not if Rose is too. It would be too dangerous for you, if I were to try to save her instead of you." He frowns. "I would never want anything to happen to you, Princess. Or to Roza."
"I know." I'm nodding fast now, momentarily absorbed in how cute it is that he called her Roza. "I can do that."
"Good. Thank you. I was hoping we could ask for me to be assigned to Christian, that way Rose and I could still see each other."
I smile. "That's a good idea!"
"If he agrees to it, of course."
"I'm sure he will. Oh, I'm so happy! Should we call Alberta?" We do, and she agrees. I think she already knows about Dimitri and Rose.
Once we hang up, he's grinning. "Wait, Dimitri, how did you know I knew about you and Rose?"
"When she beat up Jesse, you asked if anything had happened that morning, and well, I figured then that you knew. Plus you're her best friend, so you were bound to find out eventually."
"Ugh, I'm so happy for you!" I narrow my eyes at him. "But if you even think about hurting her, you'll pay. I'm going to be queen, and I have my resources."
He smirks a little. Probably at the thought of me trying to take vengeance on him. "I won't hurt her."
Dimitri POV —
She said yes! I can hardly wait to go tell my Roza! Obviously, I'm still her mentor, but she'll be graduated soon, and it won't really matter anymore. And she's mad at me. I push the door open and step back into the cold morning breeze.
"Dimka!" Tasha runs to me and twists her arm through mine. "I was just taking a quick break! I'm so glad I ran into you!"
I really want to talk to Rose. She's probably mad that I just walked away like that, but I didn't even think to guard Christian until just then, so I had to talk to the princess.
"Anyway," she continues, "How have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."
"I'm well. I've been busy, though."
"Hm. I just keep thinking the Moroi should be doing more. Doing something anyway. We have these powers, and we just let them go to waste while Dhampirs die!" She shakes her head. "It's just not right."
"We don't mind, Tasha. We're here to protect you. It's our lives, you know? I get where you're coming from though. If the Moroi want to fight, they should be allowed to and trained for it."
"It's not okay, but let's not talk about it. We should be grateful today of all days."
"Fine." I scan the garden, but don't see Rose. "What are you thankful for?"
She smooths my sleeve with her long fingers. "Old friends." She looks up at me with those brilliant eyes. "All the people I love. How about you?"
"My students," I say. Rose.
She laughs lightly. "Of course, you would say that. Always so devoted to your work. One of the things people love about you."
I snort. "I doubt people spend much time thinking about what they love about me."
As we turn the corner, she leans up and presses a light kiss to my cheek. "Lots of people love you, Dimka." She leans back on her heels. "Oh, hey Rose!"
I jerk to attention. Rose. Did she just see that? Because it wasn't my fault. But she wouldn't know that. Her beautiful face is a mask of icy indifference that most people can't see through. But I can, and I know she's angry and hurt and I really need to talk to her.
She nods stiffly. "Tasha. I was just going in."
"No, walk with us." The words jump out of my mouth before I can stop them. She meets my eyes.
"That's okay, Comrade. I wouldn't want to interrupt your quality time with Tasha. I know you haven't seen her in a while."
But I'd rather be with you. "It's no intrusion. She was only taking a short break anyway."
"Trying to get rid of me already?" Tasha teases.
"No, of course not, sorry."
"No, you're right, I should go in. See ya, Rose. Bye, Dimka." She waves goodbye and hurries toward the house.
"Roza."
"Well, you two looked cozy," she says, keeping her face neutral.
"I was looking for you, and she just came out to talk."
"More than just talk, it would seem."
I frown. "I don't like her like that, alright?"
She crosses her arms. "What did you want?"
"To talk to you. When I left earlier, I went to talk to Lissa." She looks uninterested, but I know better. "I asked her to reassign me."
"What? Dimitri, what were you thinking!"
"I was thinking that if I were Christian's guardian, we wouldn't risk Lissa by protecting each other, but we'd still see each other."
"Wait, are you serious?"
"Yes. Alberta agreed too."
That might not work, since Christian and Lissa broke up, but hey, you'll get to see a lot of Tasha." She turns to go, but I grab her wrist.
"I love you, Milaya." Her dark eyes widen.
"What?" she whispers, glancing nervously up at me.
"I love you. And I can't stop."
AN: Hi, Loves! Did you like it? Rose and Dimitri are back together! And it looks like Christian and Lissa have a shot at getting back together too! Unless, I do something evil mwahahahaha!
Sorry, it's been a tad longer than usual since I've updated, but you should be proud of me anyway because my life is absolute madness...(we have three foster children staying with us, which is both amazing and really really crazy hard...so thank God it's going alright so far)
Anyway special thanks to baroness vixen for her AMAZINGLY SWEET REVIEWS :)
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PrincessDOOM
