Disclaimer:RM own VA.

A/N: Hope you like this new chapter! Also, I hope you're happy to know that there will be a LOT of Dimitri and Rose in the next few chapters as they're finally spending more time together. The story is nowhere near over, though! We've still got the rebellion coming up!

Chapter Nine

Contradictory to my earlier thoughts, I actually ended up getting to the lake with time to spare.

It was a good thing, because I had planned to gather the needed herbs before Dimitri showed up so we could spend more time doing whatever it was we were going to do. I rolled my eyes at my choice of words. Even in my head, I sounded like an inexperienced girl when it came to romance.

Hopping off my stallion - who I realized really did need a name - I opened up my little cloth bag and started picking the plants I knew I would need. The list hadn't changed since the last time, and since I knew where everything was now, it moved on quickly.

The sun had started to set when I finished and cast shadows all around me. I pulled the bag over my shoulder and set it down beside my horse.

Time wore on and it grew darker. I played with my dirty fingernails suddenly feeling very small. It was getting late and Dimitri had yet to show up. He was the one who wanted to meet sooner so why wasn't he here? If he didn't want to really meet up with me, he should've said something. He seemed very eager at the time we were speaking of this, but maybe it was all fake. Maybe this really was all a game like I had initially thought.

I looked up at the sky, noticing that the moon was slowly getting higher in the sky. Turning to the East, I noticed the sun just kissing the horizon.

He wasn't coming. Should've listened to your gut, Mazur.

Feeling a lot sadder than I thought I would, I stood up from the spot I had sat down in. At first I had tried leaning against a tree so I didn't get my dress dirty, but then it became too unbearable to stand because my legs hurt and I wasn't very patient. So I sat down. I brushed the dirt and leaves off my dress and butt, then bit my lips as I got on top of my horse.

I sat atop him for a couple minutes longer hoping Dimitri would show up, but then it was completely dark and I knew for sure he had fooled me.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," I murmured to myself and kicked my stallion in the side gently to get him going. It wasn't long after we had taken off that I heard noises from behind us. I looked over my shoulder, seeing something big coming at us full force from behind.

My eyes widened and I knew this was a bad situation to be in.

"Go!" I told the horse, because someone was after us.

"No, wait!" Dimitri's familiar voice called from the moving object behind us.

Reluctantly, I pulled on the reins to keep my horse from moving, and my shoulders sank in admission. I heaved out a big breath and waited for him to approach. When he got closer and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized that he was on a horse himself. It was a white horse. One that probably cost a fortune.

"I'm sorry," he gasped out while I just stared at him with my mouth open.

I blinked. "Where have you been?" I asked quite angrily, hoping my disappointment didn't show.

"I got caught up..." he trailed off, pulling at his shirt. I looked at his body because of the motion. His torso moved up and down quickly as he tried to catch his breath. He was obviously in a rush to get here, but that didn't make up for the hours he kept me waiting. I noticed that instead of the usual uniform he wore, he instead had on a fitted commoner's shirt and pants to match.

If I wasn't so angry with him, I'd have complimented the look. It suited him more than the bulky armor. Plus, it was a lot less noisy.

I rolled my eyes, though he probably couldn't see. We could barely make each other out under the moon's subtle glow. I crossed my arms, an action he for sure saw. "You got caught up with something that left me waiting for hours. I've been here waiting for hours." I bit, repeating myself for emphasis. Hell, I wanted to make him feel guilty.

"I know that. I'm sorry, Rosemarie."

"Rose. It's Rose!" I yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you? It's Rose."

"Rose, okay. I'm incredibly sorry. I tried to be here, but I was held up with my duty. I had to teach this useless new boy how to handle a sword, and by God, he is a hopeless cause..." he let out, sounding exhausted.

I sighed. "I thought you weren't going to show - that you were off laughing somewhere at me." I admitted quietly, closing my eyes for a minute.

Wordlessly, Dimitri got off his horse and tied him to a tree. He walked over to me and helped me off mine. I tied him up as well and then turned around, giving Dimitri a chance.

He stood not even an inch away.

His hands grasped my cheeks and his face came even closer. "I'm so sorry you thought that. I should've tried harder to come, but I couldn't let anyone become suspicious."

Finally, I gave in and nodded. "I understand. It's okay. It's just that..." I stopped and rested my eyes on his lips for a moment. I pulled away and grabbed at the ties that held my horse in place. "I've been gone for a long time. People know when I left. I can't let them think I'm hurt or something. They'll come looking for me," I said, thinking of Mason.

"Have I ruined our first meeting?" It wasn't our first meeting, but I knew what he meant.

I wanted to say yes, but didn't. "I should go."

"I guess I have..." he trailed off, grabbing my hand. "Wait, before you leave..."

He cornered me and then slowly let his lips fall on mine. Oh God, this was becoming a major weakness of mine. Forget Mason and the people waiting for me back home. I'll stay and let him kiss me like this forever.

When did I become so weak when it came to him? He had such a strong hold on me and my emotions that I couldn't comprehend it.

When we pulled back for air, he rested his forehead on mine and I gasped out, "What are you doing to me?"

"Hmm?" he pecked my lips.

I smiled uncontrollably. "I have such strong feelings for you and I hardly know you. I can't explain it, but I feel so much for you." I stopped suddenly, remembering how odd I felt to have Mason coming at me forwardly. Here I was, doing the same thing to Dimitri. All we had done was kiss and nothing serious was said between us. It was too soon for me to be feeling this way for him.

"Go on..." he encourage, noticing my hesitation.

His hands still held my cheeks. I placed my hands over his forearms and squeezed. "You're all that I shouldn't want. You're a royal soldier. You don't agree with my father's - or my - beliefs. We can never end up together, and I hardly know you." I couldn't say that part enough. I kissed him passionately. "But I want you..."

"Good," he whispered against my lips, "because I want you too."

For a couple more minutes, we kissed and I enjoyed myself more than I could say. His mouth moving against mine, his tongue moving against mine was incredible. His hands groped at my body.

"Your dress..." he trailed off, pulling his lips away from mine. I pulled him back for a quick kiss, not wanting to let go so quickly. He chuckled and looked down at me body that he had been touching intimately. "You look wonderful, and your hair..."

"You've been playing with my hair this whole time," I noted, my lips wandering from his mouth to his shoulder. A breathy moan came from his lips and I wanted to hear it again and again.

"If only I could've seen you in daylight," he said, his head nudging mine. "I'm so sorry," he apologized again for being very late.

"This was all for you," I said, sucking on the skin near his shoulder. I had pulled the neck of his shirt down enough so I could nip at his shoulder. Another breathy moan. This had to be one of his sensitive spots.

"If you keep doing that, I won't let you leave," he joked.

I exuded confidence. "Control yourself," I teased and then kissed him again. "If you don't let me leave, then we can't come back another day to do this again."

"True. Alright," he pulled back and held me at arms length. I licked my lips, realizing that they were puffy from all the kissing we had done. "I think it's best if we part now, though it almost kills me to do so."

"Don't even joke," I said and grabbed his hand. "When shall we do this again?"

"Tomorrow morning?" he suggested and we both laughed.

"Yes, okay. You can show up tomorrow morning while I sleep in my warm bed back at home."

"Tomorrow night?" he suggested. "Now that I've had this much of you, I don't think I can wait much longer to see you again."

"Well, if it'll kill you to go one whole day..." I trailed off and nodded, getting on my horse.

"Tomorrow night then?"

"Yes, Dimitri Belikov, head soldier to the royal family," I joked and then became serious. "You better not be late again."

"I wouldn't dare."

"Good. Till then..." I said, repeating Mason's words from earlier. If he only knew what I was doing now...

Dimitri gave me a smile and patted my horse's bum to send me off. I waved and then turned around, a smile on my lips the whole way home.

Two weeks passed quicker than I expected. Maybe it was because the days no longer seemed boring or like a never ending schedule that never changed.

It seemed like every moment that passed, my mind was on Dimitri. Like he had promised, he had shown up on time to each of our meetings. And we had had many of them. Come to think of it, there was only two days in the past two weeks that we hadn't sneaked off to see each other.

It was safe to say I was falling quickly and hard.

My head was telling me this would end badly, but my heart pushed me forth and told me to keep going. Why did I listen to my heart instead of my head for once? Because Dimitri made me feel special. He made me feel like I was the only woman that existed.

There was just one problem that we couldn't push away forever.

We were enemies.

The day before I had been walking through our village with Mason at my side. He had asked me to join him for dinner that night, but I already had plans - with Dimitri, so I turned him down for what seemed like the millionth time. I didn't know what to do. Maybe I should've made up a story that I was secretly someone. I just wouldn't tell him who... It was lying, really... But I hadn't.

I was still too chicken to tell him I didn't like him.

Anyway, despite the fact that I declined his offer, he still walked with me for a little while. I was planning to stop in and say hello to Lissa because I felt like I hadn't seen enough of her. With Dimitri busying up most of my nights, I hardly had time to enjoy being in her company, since she spent most of her days working and I spent mine teaching classes. Those were going great, by the way. My students were getting better and better.

As Mason and I had neared the nursing stations, a group of my father's soldiers passed in a huddle group. I briefly caught eyes with Christian Ozera - Lissa's secret lover. I could just make out what they were saying...

"...Soon..."

"...plans are in order..."

"...month or so..."

"...waiting for Abe's order..."

I craned my neck to eavesdrop some more when Mason placed his hand on my shoulder. I jumped slightly at being caught, but he just smiled nicely.

"I better join them. Maybe we can have dinner another day..." he trailed off, walking away before I could tell him I wasn't sure if that would work.

Sighing to myself, I walked over to the entrance of the building Lissa would be in.

Before I had walked through the door, I stopped myself. Leaning against the wall, I took in what my father's men had been speaking about. It was obvious what they were muddling on about. The rebellion.

My father had let it known to me subtly that our uprising was going to be happening soon. But with my father, soon could mean anything! In all honesty, I had figured we had a year before our plans would fall into place. It took a lot of planning and work to go into something like this. Or at least, I had assumed.

I wasn't all that educated in the details of a rebellion attack.

Apparently, soon meant a few months. A chill ran through my body as I thought of Dimitri.

He was fighting for the other side and if anything happened to him - if anyone from my village hurt him, I didn't know what I would do.

Pushing those thoughts away, I forced a happy smile on my face and walked into Lissa's hospital hut. Suddenly, I didn't feel like talking all that much anymore.

That night I hadn't let Dimitri in on when the rebellion was going to take place. I probably should have, but my loyalty prevented me from doing so.

And doubts, as well. Would Dimitri tell me if the King and Queen's soldiers were going to raid our village? I couldn't answer that.

I now had it set in my mind that I wouldn't speak a word of things until we made some sort of agreement.

It had to be both ways. I couldn't betray my village, my father, everyone like that. It put us at too much risk.

Even if it was Dimitri.

Standing in my little house, I fastened my hair into a long braid. Using some extra cloth that I had cut from the underskirts of one of my more casual dresses, I wrapped it around the hair once, twice, a couple more times until it was tight. That braid wasn't going anywhere.

Heaving a deep breath, I stared myself down in the mirror.

When I had met up with Dimitri the night before, he told me he was going to take me somewhere tonight. I didn't know where, so I dressed myself up in one of my custom made gowns, wanting to look nice, and tried to prepare myself for anything.

I was completely new at this love thing. Half the time I was overly self conscious with him, even though he assured me that I had no reason to be.

I should've known better, because he had certainly shown me more than a couple times that he appreciated me, for both my mind and my body.

There was no reason for me to feel so insecure, but still I did. I blamed it on my little to no practice in relationships and dare I say love. When I had spoken to Lissa the day before, I had the small urge to ask for advice, but I didn't want to raise questions.

I felt guilty for hiding this from her, especially when I knew of her secret relationship, but I had to do what I had to do.

Looking myself over, I peeked out the window at the sun to make sure I wasn't going to be too early.

Deciding it was a good time to go, I left the confinement of my quarters.

Often times, people would covertly stare at me as I passed. Mostly because of who I was. I was Abe's daughter, for heaven's sake!

That was one of the downfalls of being related to him. The constant attention. Members of our village hid it well, but it would've been easier to sneak away every night if I went unnoticed and blended in easier.

I wasn't sure if anyone had seen me leave these past two weeks, but no one uttered a word. That was an upside of being Abe's daughter. No one questioned your motives. Most of the time, I was sure they believed I was off running some crazy errand for my father.

Eyeing the passerbys, I made sure my herb bag was around my shoulder as some sort of alibi. I made sure to bring it with me each time I left to meet up with Dimitri, just in case. So, if someone asked me where I was off to, all I had to do was gesture to the bag. The only setback was that I had to be sure to pick some up each time to bring home.

I now had an abundance of medical herbs hidden in one of my drawers.

Mounting my black stallion, we made it to the lake in no time.

When I got there, Dimitri was already waiting on his own white horse - Betta, her name was. Dimitri had clued me in that the name had to do with oaths and therefore I got the message that it signified his oath to the crown. He had given much thought to her name and was selective with the meaning. I had yet to name my horse - I pitifully admitted. Maybe Dimitri could help me out?

He smiled widely at my arrival - a sight I'd never get accustomed to because it was so pleasant. He tugged the strains on his horse until he was right beside me. He leaned over, almost falling off his horse to give me a kiss on the cheek.

Pushing him away jokingly, I blushed to my own surprise.

"Where are you taking me, my soldier?"

"That is for me to know and for you to find out, my lady."

"Lady? I distinctly remember you calling me a whore once." I chuckled.

"Me call you a whore? No, I'd never do such a thing. I'm an honorable man."

"Do honorable men call women rats?" I asked referring to yet another horrid name he had called me. I had only meant as a playful joke, but Dimitri's face turned sour.

"Please forgive me for that. It was unfair of me to group you in with..." he trailed off, not knowing how to finish that sentence without insulting me and my people.

I sighed.

We were very alike in many ways and got along fantastically, but this was something we would never see eye to eye on. "My village is not full of horrible, ghastly creatures that resemble rats or any type of animal, Dimitri. We just have different beliefs than the Royal Family - and you. Don't hold it against us. Do no believe all that people say in your town. My father is our leader. It would be easy to assume he is the worst of them all because of that, but he raised me. Could a rat of a man turn me into the very person before you? The person you kiss like there is no tomorrow? The woman whose body you can't seem to keep your hands off of?"

He gave no answer.

"Do you think of me as a rat's daughter?"

It was Dimitri's turn to sigh. "Of course not, Rose. Please, let's not talk about this now. It is an endless argument that has taken up too much of our time if you ask me."

Not satisfied with his answer fully, I bit my tongue and decided to save it for another time.

Despite this, I still admired him very much so.

"Roza?" My lips twitched into a smile. I could be in the worst of moods but hearing him call me by my name in his foreign tongue had the ability to make me happy in a split second. "Are we alright to continue? I hope you're not upset."

"We're perfectly okay, Dimitri."

"Good."

"Now," I laughed, "Lead me in the direction of your surprise."

"Right this way," he informed and took the lead.

A/N: So, what's the verdict? What'd you think of this chapter? Please let me know what you think! :) Thanks - Danielle.