Hey guys! I am a little bit behind on my writing but I am working hard to keep it on a regular basis.
Hopefully I will have another chapter for you later on today!
Anyways thanks for all the reviews I really appreciate them all!
-Catherine
Once I awoke I was no longer on the plane. In fact I was in a bed. A luxurious bed I might add. It was a huge sleigh bed with a duvet and gold comforter on top. It looked like it was made for a princess and then I realized where I was. I was at the Royal Court. So of course it would make sense for me to be in such a big bed.
I relaxed my own emotions and thoughts until finally I was inside Lissa's head. She was in the shower and was getting ready for her meeting with the queen at 1:00 AM. I quickly jumped out of bed and searched for a clock I needed to see what time it was. After all I needed to come with her to this meeting. Once I found one I sighed in relief it was only 9:00 PM I had eons of time. I rolled over and counted backwards in my head. If it was 9:00 PM and Adrian had put me asleep just a few minutes after we left the Academy that would mean that I had been asleep for fifteen hours. I hadn't realized that Adrian had put me asleep for so long.
I jumped out of bed and got in the shower just as Lissa was doing herself. Once I had finished I took out my guardian uniform that Dimitri had given me. I had only used it once before-when I had been here for Victor's trial and it still fit perfectly. I put my new silver stake that my parents had given me in the belt. It was especially made for guardians so that their stakes fit in their but you could never tell if someone had one with them or not.
I straitened my hair quickly and then pulled it up in a pony tail remembering the conversation Dimitri and I had had months before. I remembered him taking a strand of my hair and feeling the tension and electricity vibrate between us. He had told me to wear it up and that was exactly what I was going to do.
As Lissa and I walked into the queen's office I was extremely tense. I hadn't seen queen bitch herself in a while but the last time I had seen her she had made it perfectly clear that she disliked me. Surprisingly I did not kill her from the first instant I saw her but I knew that that could change in an instant if she did anything to upset Lissa. I didn't know the reason behind this meeting as Lissa had refused to tell me and had constantly shielded her thoughts away from me each time I tried to poke and prod and I entertained myself with the knowledge that soon I would find out the big secret behind this meeting.
"Good morning Vasilisa," Queen Tatiana greeted her as Lissa and I walked into her office.
She nodded in acknowledgment to me but did not refer to me otherwise. I took that as my cue to go stand next to the other guardians on watch in the office.
"Hello Queen Tatiana," Lissa bowed in politeness but I knew that Lissa did not like the Queen much more than I did. She had not completely forgiven the queen for embarrassing Lissa a few months earlier although Lissa hid her dismay well.
"First of all I would like to say congratulations Vasilisa!" Queen Tatiana exclaimed clapping her hands. "You are now a legal moroi."
Lissa nodded.
"And how is your relationship with going?"
I knew from her tone of voice that she definitely did not care about Lissa's and Christian's relationship. In fact I would think that she was checking to see if I was true to my word, or maybe to see if Lissa and Adrian were together yet. Of course I knew that that was never going to happen between Lissa and Adrian. Neither of them liked each other in that way so why on earth would it ever happen? Of course even if they were compatible Lissa and Christian were head over heels for each other. They were meant to be nothing could ever change that.
Thankfully Lissa had heard my mental pondering and had decided to agree with me. Hiding her relationship with Christian would be the best possibility at the moment. Besides as far as the queen knew Christian and Lissa were still fighting about what happened when Lissa, Jill and Avery had come to court.
"We are still fighting," Lissa sighed falsely. "I think I am starting to give up on him."
"Really?" The queen said with mock surprise.
"Because last I heard was that you and Christian were all over each other at graduation."
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!
How could the queen do this to Lissa?! Have people spy on her at graduation so that she could have juice on her. I tensed it seemed that Queen bitch wasn't only my personal hell.
"Don't lie to me Vasilisa. Are you and still in a relationship?"
Lissa sighed defeated. PRETEND THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S TALKING ABOUT! I ordered Lissa as loud as I thought possible that a mental shout could become, but Lissa had already started to give in.
"Yes your majesty." Lissa bowed her head in shame.
"Ahh I see," nodded the queen. "It is nothing to be ashamed of Vasilisa if you care about each other. I know that young Ozera may not have the best reputation but you can't help your feelings Lissa."
I could see the gleam in Lissa's eyes from where I stood and I could feel her contentment bouncing all over the walls.
She's playing you Lissa!
"Really?" Lissa asked hopefully. "You're okay with it?"
"Of course I am child!" queen Tatiana exclaimed. "Besides what does my opinion matter? It's your life."
"Well it's just that I always thought of you as a second mother and I didn't know what you would think and ..." Lissa looked up at her from underneath her long eyelashes.
"Vasilisa, don't you worry. I accept of all of your choices." I could tell now that Lissa and Queen Tatiana had locked their eyes. I breathed in a big gulp of air. No way Lissa wouldn't use compulsion on the queen, would she? I wasn't sure that she wouldn't now that I thought about it. She had been known to do it before. Although Lissa was being careful; she was not making the queen agree to anything to extravagant. Lissa was making it look like the queen was using her usual manner; that she accepted it now and then used it against you later. Little did the rest of the guardians in the room or Priscilla know that Queen Tatiana would not be using this information against anyone later.
"Thank you your majesty. I just have one more thing I need to ask you."
"Yes, Vasilisa?"
"Well Rose and I along with Adrian and Edward Castile will be going on a trip soon and I was wondering if there was anything you needed me to do anything before we left?" Lissa asked successfully keeping the subject off of Christian. She wasn't lying just not telling the entire truth, it was different.
"How long will you be going?" asked the Queen curiously.
"We're not sure yet. It is sort of an extended vacation."
"Oh I see well have a darling trip, won't you? I don't have much anything serious going on but I will find a way to contact you if needed."
"Thank you your majesty."
Lissa made the queen nod seriously as we walked out together me by her side I breathed in relief.
Oh my god Lissa! I screamed at her mentally not trusting my real voice in case other people were listening in.
Once we were outside we both doubled over in laughter.
"I can't believe you did that!" I choked out in between fits of laughter.
"Well it was necessary wasn't it?"
"I suppose but why didn't you tell me?"
"Be serious Rose if I told you, you know that you would have found a way to stop me from using compulsion."
I considered that for a moment and remembered how I'd felt in there when I realized what she had been doing.
I shrugged. "I suppose I would have tried."
"You know that you would have," she insisted.
"Okay yeah..."
"Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"You just didn't you?" I grinned at her but I nodded.
"Why don't you cut your hair."
I sighed. I had been thinking about the same thing earlier this morning but how on earth was I suppose to explain to Lissa how something so small meant so much to me.
"It's a long story," I shrugged.
"Oh okay."
"It's not that I don't trust you Liss it's just that well I will tell you a bit later on."
"Oh, thanks Rose." Lissa turned her head towards me and gave me a truly dazzling smile.
"Anyways I should tell Abe that we want plane tickets for tomorrow now that we have everything settled. That actually took a lot less time than I thought."
Lissa rolled her eyes at me.
"I wonder why ... I mean no way could Lissa have anything to do with it," I said sarcastically.
"Oh shut up," she grinned at me as I walked off towards my own small apartment.
On my way to my apartment that I lived in on my days off of guardian duties I lived there. It was where I had woken up that morning. As I walked off towards it I saw Ambrose working in a small coffee shop, it was actually the shop that Mia's dad owned.
"Hey Ambrose," I greeted him friendly as I passed.
"Oh hey Rose," he said looking up from his work. "How have you been?"
"Eh so-so. I suppose life could be worse." Not my much though I muttered under my breath.
"Maybe the cards will help clear things up for you?" He asked optimistically.
"I don't know your aunt's last prediction came true and it didn't look too great for me."
"No why not?"
"Dimitri's prediction came true." I told him breathlessly.
"Ohh," he said all-knowing. "You know what happened?" I asked him doubtfully.
"I thought I did but seeing as your still here..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well the way he looked at you I always suspected that you two were an item. I guess I was wrong though. So who did he lose?"
"Himself." I answered dully.
"So you were an item?"
I nodded, why did it matter it's not like it was illegal and I was out of school now. We were going to announce it anyways.
"He died." Ambrose announced, not a question; just a statement.
"No," I corrected him. "He lost his soul."
"Oh my," Ambrose inhaled a quick breath.
"Yeah," I said to him. "He's gone forever ... maybe."
"What was that?" Ambrose asked. I swear to god this guy didn't miss a thing.
"Nothing," I muttered.
"Come on Rose one prediction won't hurt. Besides it doesn't look like you have anything better to do."
I sighed. "Okay Ambrose one prediction but if my life turns out any worse I'm blaming you."
He chuckled.
"Come on Rose," he led me to the small red room which was covered in red pillows.
"Ahh hello Rose," Ronda greeted me in her mysterious voice as I walked in with Ambrose.
"I didn't expect to ever see you here again."
"Ambrose convinced me," I grinned.
She nodded.
"Well let's see what's in store for you today, shall we?"
I inhaled a quick breath and nodded.
Rhonda shuffled the cards quickly and told me to cut. She then place three cards face up before me.
The first card had a pot of gold and a rainbow on it.
"I will come into riches?" I guessed.
"Possibly," Rhonda answered. "Although the more accurate prediction would be that you will find what you are looking for." I nodded that couldn't be so bad could it? I moved onto the next card to see a moon and a sun covering one another; an eclipse.
"This is a tricky one," Rhonda sighed and closed her eyes. "You will face your opposite and he or she will become your equal." That one could be a long list of things and I didn't like the possibilities that I was thinking of. My opposite and then my equal. I could think of a few things that were my opposite – and one way to make them my equal or I theirs. My eyes traveled to the final card. It had a compass on it that was pointing north.
"You are on the right track," Rhonda breathed. "Don't give up yet."
I looked down at the three cards in front of me. All in all it wasn't that bad of a reading. The second card was the only one that bothered me. In my mind my one and only enemy is a strigoi and in order to become their equal ... I shuddered away the thought. No that would not happen. I could not let it happen, but it will a tiny voice in my head said. I slumped my shoulders so much for cheering me up. Instead of focusing on the negative though I focused on the good of the future. I would find what I was looking for okay that was good news, and if I was on the right track that must mean something good, right?
I started to turn back towards my apartment but instead I went right back inside to talk to Rhonda.
"You were right," I claimed.
"I wasn't right child," she replied.
"Um yes you were-" I started to say. How could she know if she was right or wrong? It's not like she had seen my whole life.
"No I wasn't right the cards were right," she explained. Crazy lady. I was starting to doubt that it was a good idea for me to come and talk to her at all.
"But what happened that the cards predicted?" I thought about that for a second. Before coming here I had always thought that the only thing she had been right about was Dimitri's fortune but now being in the same room I had been when she had told me my first fortune I remembered that she had been right about my other fortune too. Although I had always known she would be, after all I would go and kill lots of strigoi and go on an adventure obviously. But my fortune had been truer than I had ever thought possible.
Instead of explaining every little thing that she had been right about I just met her eyes.
"Everything," I stated while I walked out the door.
