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Rose was avoiding me. That I was sure of. Which made it really easy to avoid her. I assumed she had heard about the offer Tasha had given me. Her mother knew, and they had been talking.

The ski trip came quickly, and I was ready to go. I felt like I wanted to talk to Rose, but I pushed the thought out of my head.

I got onto one of the jets late on the day after Christmas. I sat in a seat, and Tasha soon came to sit beside me. I had just wanted to sit alone, but had predicted this.

I watched Rose walk down the aisle, pass Christian and Lissa, and walk back to Mason. Her boyfriend. Jealousy surged through me, and I scolded myself. She had every right to be with him. I was going to leave. I would take the offer.

When I looked back, Mason's hand was over Rose's, their fingers laced together. I felt my jaw tighten.

"Dimka, what's wrong?" Tasha worried.

I looked at her dismissively. "I'm just restless, Tasha. Don't worry."

We made small talk, until we reached the resort. It was large, three stories, and was built like a log cabin. The windows were tinted, and lanterns hung around the place.

Mountains were easy to spot, they were everywhere. I sighed and walked into the luxurious building, losing sight of Rose in the enormous crowd.

The lobby's ceiling had a chandelier hanging over us, and the floor was marble Everything was red, blood shade, and a spicy scent of flowers filled the air. Tasha came up beside me.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she remarked. I nodded slowly.

I made my way to my room, where accommodations were amazing. I relaxed on the king-sized mattress and wondered about Rose. How was she doing? What was she doing? I knew she roomed with the princess. They were probably talking.

Eventually I wondered outside. Rose and Mason were on skis.

My stomach twisted when Rose went at a high speed and jumped over a ridge. After a neatly executed hairpin turn, and dodged trees, she landed safely. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was okay.

Her boyfriend went to imitate her, and got about halfway before his skis caught and his legs twisted. He fell. I began to set after them, but some staff beat me to it. I stood back.

The look on Rose's face told me she was being yelled at. I resisted the urge to grin.

She disappeared eventually, deep in thought. I followed her, something in my gut told me too.

She was talking to a Moroi, Adrian Ivashkov, I realized. He was shorter than I was, and wore a long coat. He wore leather shoes, and his brown hair was unkempt. His eyes were stunningly green, and he smiled at Rose. He looked her over.

"You smell good, you know," Adrian Ivashkov told Rose. I was about to jump out and take him then and there, screw him being a royal Moroi. No one talks to my Roza like that. No, I told myself. Did I just call her mine?

She looked puzzled. "I… um, what?"

"You smell good," he told her. I stepped forward, almost out of the buses.

"Are you joking? I've been sweating all day. I'm disgusting," walk away, Roza. Just walk away, I begged her mentally. But she couldn't hear.

"Sweat isn't a bad thing. Some of the best things in life happen while sweating. Yeah, if you get too much of it and it gets old and stale, it turns pretty gross. But on a beautiful woman? Intoxicating. If you could smell things like a vampire does, you'd know what I'm talking about. Most people mess it all up and drown themselves in perfume. Perfume can be good…especially if you get one that goes with your chemistry. But you only need a hint. Mix about 20 percent of that with 80 percent of your own perspiration…mmm," Ivashkov tilted his head to the side, and at least ten ways to snap his neck rushed through my mind."Dead sexy."

"Well, thanks for the hygiene lesson," she said. "But I don't own any perfume, and I'm going to go shower all this hot sweaty action off me. Sorry." Good girl, I thought. Yes.

Then Ivashkov produced cigarettes and offered one to Rose. She shook her head, and he took one out.

Get away, Roza. Go. Now, I wished. At least she hadn't been smoking, I thought to myself. I didn't kiss smokers… what was I thinking? I stopped my train of thought in its tracks.

She watched him light it. "Bad habit."

"One of many," he said, shrugging. "You here with St. Vlad's?"

"Yup," come on, Roza, just leave. Before I snap this Moroi's neck. Please, I thought, using all of my willpower to stay hidden.

"So you're going to be a guardian when you grow up."

"Obviously."

"How long until you grow up? I might need a guardian."

That was the wrong thing to say, I smiled faintly at Rose's expression.

"I graduate in the spring. But I'm already spoken for. Sorry."

"Yeah? Who is he?"

"She's Vasilisa Dragomir."

I nodded to myself. Good girl.

"Ah," he grinned. "I knew you were trouble as soon as I saw you. You're Janine Hathaway's daughter."

She flinched. "I'm Rose Hathaway."

"Nice to meet you, Rose Hathaway."

"Adrian Ivashkov."

"And you think I'm trouble," something clicked in her mind. Adrian laughed.

"Handy, huh? Each of our reputations precedes us."

Rose shook her head vigorously. "You don't know anything about me. And I only know of your family. I don't know anything about you."

"Want to?"

"Sorry. I'm not into older guys."

That made me think. I watched the pair intently.

"I'm twenty-one. Not that much older."

If he made another move on Roza, I would step out and hit him. Consequences be damned, she wasn't his.

"I have a boyfriend," she said, and I flinched. A pang of jealousy.

"Funny you didn't mention that right away. He didn't give you that black eye, did he?"

"He wouldn't be alive if he did. I got it during … practice. I mean, I'm training to be a guardian. Our classes are always rough."

"That's pretty hot," Ivashkov said. I wanted to punch this guy more and more. I was going to do something stupid, if this went on much longer.

"Punching me in the eye?"

"Well, no. Of course not. I meant that the idea of getting rough with you is hot. I'm a big fan of full-contact sports."

This was not good for my self control. The way he talked to Roza, the way he talked down to her, it made me want to break his neck.

"I'm sure you are," Rose frowned.

Mia, Rose's arch enemy walked up behind her. She smirked.

"Hey, Mia."

She looked from Adrian to Rose.

"Another guy?" she asked, incredulously.

"Mia, this is Adrian Ivashkov," she introduced the two of them. I felt myself frown.

Adrian shook Mia's hand. "Always a pleasure to meet a friend of Rose's, especially a pretty one." "We aren't friends," Rose told him.

"Rose only hangs out with guys and psychopaths," said Mia.

"Well," Adrian grinned, "since I'm both a psychopath and a guy, that would explain why we're such good friends."

"You and I aren't friends either," Rose said pointedly.

He laughed smirking. "Always playing hard to get, huh?"

"She's not that hard to get," said Mia. "Just ask half the guys at our school."

"Yeah," Rose began, "and you can ask the other half about Mia. If you can do a favor for her, she'll do lots of favors for you."

"Well," she said, "at least I don't do them for free."

I heard Adrian meow. He was an arrogant royal, and nothing more, I told myself, over and over.

"Are you done?" Rose retorted. "It's past your bedtime, and the grown-ups would like to talk now."

Adrian watched in amusement, the royal had nothing better to do. If he didn't stop hanging out with Rose, he wouldn't be quite so pretty anymore.

"Sure," Mia smiled. "I have better things to do anyway." She turned toward the door, then paused with her hand resting on the wooden frame. "Her mom gave her that black eye, you know."

Adrian lit another cigarette. "Your mom?"

"Shut up." Rose said, not looking at him.

"You're one of those people who either has soul mates or mortal enemies, aren't you? No in-between. You and Vasilisa are probably like sisters, huh?" he pressed. I grimaced, waiting for Rose's answer.

"I guess."

"How is she?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Adrian shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I know you guys ran away…and there was that stuff with her family and Victor Dashkov…."

Rose stiffened, noticeably. "So?"

"Dunno. Just figured it might be a lot for her to, you know, handle," Adrian poked around.

I began to walk out, to rescue her. But then she said the most glorious thing in the world…

"I've got to go."

"Are you sure? I thought it was time for the grown-ups to talk. Lots of grown-up things I'd like to talk about."

"It's late, I'm tired, and your cigarettes are giving me a headache," Rose shrugged.

I was tempted to break a few fingers of his, so he couldn't light those cigarettes anymore. Instead I turned and walked away. It was hard for me to do, to leave Rose like that.

I reached my room. Tasha was waiting outside of it.

"Out for a walk?" she guessed. I nodded.

You could say that.

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