Chapter 11

Andre Dragomir stood in front of a mirror in his room fixing his tuxedo one last time before making a grand entrance with his blushing bride-to-be. He grimaced at the thought of being married at the tender age of 20. He believed he was too young to get married especially if it wasn't for love. An old picture album was kept on his dressing table; he picked it up and started browsing through it.

Ah, amazing old memories. He thought to himself. He had some amazing memories at St. Vladimir's Academy for Moroi and Dhampir children. One particular picture caught his attention. It had 9 people in in, his sister Vasilisa (Lissa), her two best friends Rosemarie Mazur and Mia Rinaldi; Eddie Castile and Mason Ashford, the goofs; Natalie, the royal bitch; Adrian Ivashkov, the Spirit teacher and Rose's boyfriend; Christian Ozera, Lissa's boyfriend and him. Their other friend Meredith was the photographer in the gang. Andre missed all his friends. Especially Mia.

He felt angry at that thought, he didn't want to marry Sonya Ivashkov, and rumor has it that she was a typical snobby royal like Natalie. He had also heard about her brother leaving court and the Royal Rat Race altogether. Now, that was something that Andre admired. He had always wanted to leave but found himself staying behind for his sister. He was also important on the Moroi council being the older one of the 2 Dragomirs. Prince Andre Dragomir, it has a nice ring to it; he thought to himself bitterly.

"Andre I hope you are ready, one more call from Sonya and I swear I will kill her or compel her to jump into the ocean." Said Lissa making Andre chuckle. He knew Lissa was capable of doing both;physically, she was trained in combat to defend herself against a strigoi and she was a spirit user with uber-compulsion abilities.

Outside the Dragomir Manor, Christian Ozera stood outside his limo waiting for Lissa. Lissa was wearing a beautiful silk gown in a jade green color to match her eyes, her long blonde hair was done up in curls and they gracefully fell over her shoulders. She had dragon clips in her hair that belonged to her grandmother and were symbolic of her family and its pride.

Andre was in a separate limo; he would be heading to the Ivashkov Estate before going to the palace. Sonya was the Queen's great niece so the queen had been generous enough to lend her Royal Ballroom for this event.

Soon enough they were standing outside the Ivashkov Estate. Andre braced himself for all the lovely compliments he would have to pay his fiancé. He stepped outside the Limo to act like a gentleman and let the lady enter. He saw her and was actually speechless; she was stunning. Sonya looked absolutely stunning in a golden bodice with a matching mask. Her chocolate brown eyes were perfect underneath the mask and her light brown hair was pulled up in a beautiful up do.

"You look stunning." Said Andre taking her hand and leading her into the limo.

"Thank you. Your tie is crooked." She said before sliding forward and fixing his tie, along with giving him a view of her cleavage through her gown.

Dimitri looked as his sister disappeared behind the doors of the limo. He was flying solo tonight. He was not in the mood to bring a date just to please his aunt. Adrian was in a similar mood but he was still escorting his little sister Viktoria. Viktoria, unlike Sonya, was a very compassionate person. She was outgoing, yet at the same time timid and shy. She was just 17 years old but looked absolutely beautiful. She, like Dimitri and Sonya had inherited their mother's chocolate brown eyes. She also got along pretty well with both her brothers and they too were very protective of her. She was wearing a Silver gown with a matching silver mask.

Dimitri and Adrian shared a look that clearly meant that the two of them would spend this evening discouraging any male attention that their sister would unintentionally attract.

Speaking about unintentionally attracting attention, Mia was not doing great either. She was waiting for Rose to show up while sipping champagne. Rose had told her that she would meet Mia there but hadn't showed up as of yet.

Mia stood there next to some old friends from the academy, idly gossiping about the happenings at court and the lives of the rich and the famous when Aaron, her first boyfriend, showed up.

"Aaron, how are you?" Asked Camille.

"Hey, Cam, I'm good, how are you? And aren't you going to introduce your gorgeous friend?" Asked Aaron.

"Oh Aaron, but you already know Mia." Said Camille.

"Mia, wow, you look absolutely gorgeous." Said an absolutely stunned Aaron.

"Thank you Ar, you look great too." Said Mia.

While Mia was catching up with her ex-boyfriend, Andre Dragomir was watching her and feeling like punching Aaron just for talking to her. Mia looked beautiful, a vision in white, reminding him that it was supposed to be her on his arm and not slutty Sonya. Andre couldn't stop looking at Mia, he knew that she loved him but he had been too busy to notice. She had always loved him, even when he was with Natalie, but Natalie had fucked him over. She told him that she loved him, made him fall in love with her only to turn strigoi to fulfill her father's wishes. Rose killed her when she attacked him and he was forever grateful to her. Even though he should hate her, he couldn't, Rose freed Natalie's soul and ended Victor's control over his daughter's life.

"Andre Dragomir, I hope you haven't forgotten me." Said an all too familiar voice. The voice belonged to a dark haired beauty in a blue mask and blue gown. Her sultry smile lit up her face and her dark; Kohl rimmed eyes made her look exotic.

Next chapter will have more of the masquerade ball and Rose Dimitri moments too... Review if you like it, they mean a lot and motivate me to write quickly.