DPOV

Call it intuition or maybe just years of living with the woman, but when I woke up alone in the middle of the night, I knew exactly where Rose would be.

Why couldn't she ever leave things well enough alone?

After throwing on a pair of pants and my duster I started off towards the court prison.

Roza had always been reckless so I shouldn't have been surprised, but I guess I'd just been hoping that with the pregnancy she'd start exercising a little more caution.

I guess I was wrong.

It didn't take me long to reach the prison and the moment I stepped inside the guardian on duty recognized me. He looked like he was about to greet me with a smile but when he caught sight of my livid expression his face dropped.

Even with my Strigoi days long behind me, I still had a tendency to make people nervous. I don't think I will ever fully live down that day in the coffee shop when I dispatched the royal guard.

And secretly I didn't want to.

A healthy dose of fear never hurt anyone and it served as a nice reminder. I wasn't the kind of man that you trifled with and that protection extended to my friends and family as well.

"Is my wife still in there?" I asked the man shortly. Part of me felt a little guilty for being so sharp with him, but I was too frustrated to worry about that now.

He nodded his head quickly.

"I'm sorry Guardian Belikov; Guardian Tanner gave her the all clear.

Of course he did.

After helping reunite Mikhail and Sonya, he'd come to regard Rose as a savior of sorts and I guess I couldn't really blame him. If it had been Rose I was separated from, I would probably feel the same way. I knew he held a high opinion of her and he'd been less than thrilled about keeping Rose in the dark lately. He felt she had a right to know about Tasha and only agreed to keep it a secret because of the baby.

After learning Tasha had compelled a guard while we were on our honeymoon, I had gone to visit her right away. I wasn't all that surprised she had broken her promise, but I still wanted to give her a piece of my mind anyway.

When I got home that night I knew Rose was suspicious, but after a couple of days passed, she seemed to forget about the incident.

Or at least that's what I thought.

It was my fault really, thinking Rose would ever just drop it like that. And I definitely should have known she was up to something.

When I reached the small holding room Roza was in, I briefly contemplated charging in there. I hated the idea of Tasha being anywhere near my growing family, but all that would accomplish would be to piss Rose off further. So instead I decided to assess the situation from the opposite side of the glass. Without bothering to knock, I opened the door to find a shocked and slightly guilty looking Mikhail.

"She's my son's Godmother." He shrugged apologetically.

And I just gave his a pointed look.

"How's it going in there?" I asked, stepping closer to the glass to get a look. Rose was the picture of tranquility but I couldn't say the same for Tasha.

"She just spotted Rose's wedding rings." Mikhail explained grimly, trying to catch me up to speed.

Well that explained it.

I let the conversation go on a few minutes longer, but I was on the edge of my seat and ready to spring into action. After exchanging a few more heated words, Rose looked towards the glass meaningfully.

"That's the signal." Mikhail spoke up, and he didn't have to tell me twice. I was more than ready to have her out of that room and away from Tasha.

I knew she was never in any real danger, not with Tasha chained to the table like she was. But the damage Tasha had caused went beyond the physical and Rose's constant nightmares were proof of that.

Swinging open the door to the holding room caught Tasha's attention and she quickly shifted her focus to me. Judging by the way I saw Rose's body stiffen I had a feeling she knew it wasn't Mikhail. I watched her take a deep breath before she turned her body around to face me. She was bracing for my wrath and the anger that was sure to follow.

"Dimka" Tasha smiled brightly, but I silence her with a dark look.

I eyed Rose carefully as she stood up from her chair and adjusted her shirt over her growing belly, and it was just another reminder of how reckless she had been.

"What were you thinking?" I hissed the moment we were out in the hall.

As angry as I was right now, I would never undermine Rose in front of Tasha.

"I was thinking my husband's been lying to me for day and if I wanted answers I'd need to get them myself!" she shot back a little louder. Rose had always had a temper, and the pregnancy wasn't helping.

"I didn't exactly lie to you." I defended, and in all honesty it was the truth. Rose had never asked me any questions about this outright which allowed me to be vague about my answers.

"Cut the crap Comrade. It was a lie of omission and you know it." She said resting both of her hands on her hips. Her words were angry but I could hear the hurt behind them and I suddenly felt very guilty for not telling her.

"I'm sorry Milaya, but it was for your own good." I argued.

Even to me the words felt inadequate and I didn't blame Rose for rolling her eyes.

"I'm pregnant Dimitri; I'm not made of glass. You should have told me about this!" she shouted back at me.

I was trying very hard not to lose my temper with her but she was making it difficult.

"Why? So you could drag yourself down here, to a building you hate to confront the woman that tried to kill you? What difference would it have mad? You didn't learn anything you don't already know. Tasha is just as delusional as the day she shot you and all you succeeded to do was to put yourself and our unborn baby at risk!"

When I mentioned the baby I saw her look away in shame and when her eyes met mine, I saw she had tears in them.

"Roza" I sighed, taking her gently into my arms. She wrapped her small hands around my torso and buried her face in me.

"I just wanted some answers." She mumbled. "Is that such a terrible thing? She was my friend Dimitri and she did this to me. Don't I deserve to know why?"

Listening to her talk I felt the weight of my guilt start to smother me. For years she'd stayed away from Tasha for my benefit, but I never really considered what she needed, and that was closure.

With a heavy sigh I rested my chin on top of her head. She smelled of jasmine and lilac and I found the scent of it calming.

"Did you find the answers you were looking for?" I asked and she let out a very undignified snort.

"Of course not." She scoffed. "The woman's mad as a hatter."

I chuckled lightly into her hair before kissing it.

"So I was right then…" I challenged and she pulled away from my body to glare at me.

"Don't get used to it." She warned before snuggling back into my chest.

A small part of me wanted to stay angry with her, but I'd long since learned that wasn't possible. Rose was who she was and I'd known that getting into this. So with the fighting now behind us, we left the court prison hand in hand.

Life with Rose wasn't always easy, but it was definitely worth it.

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