Hi,
Tasha's POV as promissed.
remember ALL CHARACTERS ARE RICHELLE MEAD'S except RICHARD DASHKOV IN THIS CHAPTER
Chapter 10
TPOV
You can tell Rose is a fighter and not a thinker. She constantly lets her mouth run ahead of her head. It worked in my favour this time.
I had received an email from one of my students in my martial arts class. He was cute but he was certainly no Dimitri. I figured it wouldn't hurt me to go for a drink.
I walked to the table he had indicated in his note and sat down. Within five minutes a man sat across from me. I could not understand why he was heavily disguised at first but when he spoke it sent chills to the bone. Sitting across from me was Victor Dashkov.
I stood to leave but he insisted he only wanted to help me. He knew that Dimitri was the object of his affections and that he knew a way for me to win his heart. He was aware that today Rose had given evidence in the only public part of a closed council meeting and that this would, unbeknownst to her, lead to the instigation of the dhampir age decree.
I was shocked and realised the only way I could get this decision reversed was to kill the queen. Victor said it would provide the major distraction that would be necessary for him to complete the next part of his mission. He would not tell me what it was only that it was complicated and he wasn't sure if he was chasing something real. I gave him that.
I asked how this would help me win Dimitri's heart. He said I needed to stand on the side of the dhampirs and that I would eventually sway them with my arguments. He said that would be enough to win Dimitri.
I knew in my heart it wouldn't be. I was strong enough in compulsion that I could get into see the Queen if I wanted. It surprised me that they had not taught her staff to resist compulsion. Perhaps they hadn't because it is illegal. I needed to find another way without Victor knowing. Planning the crime was easy. I was to stake the queen with a silver stake and they would suspect a guardian.
Rose gave me the perfect person to frame, her. She threatened the queen in court and then caused another scene with Dimitri. Perfect. He was getting frustrated with her too which made it all the better. Dimitri would not be able to stand her if he thought she killed Tatiana. It was perfect.
Whilst she was in church (another scene caused perfect) I went to her room to find her stake. Thankfully it was underneath her pillow. I don't think I would ever have found it otherwise.
I sneaked out before she came back. She stayed in her room for ages. Lissa called me asking if I had seen Rose but I told her I had not. I slipped to the royal chambers it was 6.55pm. I went to the Queen's room. Inside she slept. I lifted the stake above my head and stabbed it down. It barely broke the skin but the pain must have woken Tatiana up. I compelled her to be silent until on the fifth push it finally pierced her heart.
I called Victor and told him it was done. I left the stake in her chest. It was then I took a close look at it. It was the stake I had given Dimitri for Christmas. How could he have given it to her? I was disgusted but it meant that there was even more evidence to pin this on Rose.
I left quickly sticking to the shadows. No one saw me leave. The next morning I had heard they had arrested Rose. Victor called me and told me to provide her an alibi. I had already heard that Adrian Ivashkov had claimed to be with her and had compelled the Janitor to say he arrived beyond 9pm. I didn't know why he was saying he needed Rose free.
It took several days to formulate a plan. I avoided all those at court that I knew. I understood that Christian and his friends were working on a way to free Rose. Eventually Victor took it into his own hands and at the same time without saying who it was implicated me.
He emailed his cousin Richard Dashkov. He explained that he had heard a moroi he did not recognise bragging about it. Importantly Rose was innocent.
I challenged Victor on this point. He told me Rose had important contacts. I was puzzled how does an 18 year old girl get such highly prized contacts. He tapped his nose and said he would reveal nothing. I asked him about his mission. He explained he was looking for someone who may or may not exist and that Rose will also be seeking this person. I was confused.
I finally understood why he needed Rose for his mission but I was not going to get Dimitri now unless she was dead. At least with me framing her I would not be the one to execute her. That choice was taken away from me now. She needed to die at my hand.
I returned to court to plan the assassination and was surprised by what I saw. I looked in at the guardian gym. Dimitri was in there. Standing topless holding a punching bag for Adrian Ivashkov and next to them laughing was the object of my hatred. Dimitri then let the bag go and walked over to Rose and kissed her in front of everyone. There were cheers from the benches at the side. I saw Lissa, Christian, Janine and that weird Abe guy sitting there. I remembered that today was the day for guardian assignments to be posted. I walked over to the guardians building and looked for Rose's name. The notices were in alphabetical order and first I came to Dimitri's. I checked. He had been assigned to Christian. How fortuitous I thought. Christian had chosen to stay at St. Vladimir's for the next year whilst his paperwork to go to Lehigh was sorted out. I then searched out Rose's name. She had been assigned to Lissa and she was also taking a year off to assist Adrian teach spirit at St. Vladimir's. I realised what had happened. The guardians, my nephew and his girlfriend had fixed it so Dimitri and Rose could be together. I was feeling so sick now. I realised I would never win his heart. They would both have to die.