Disclaimer: I do not own VA. If I did, I would put Rose through even more hell than Richelle Mead did ^_^
RPOV:
After waiting impatiently for the day to end, I practically skipped to Dimitri's room, almost forgetting to be on the lookout for guardians. I snuck up to his room, deciding to surprise him once he got off his shift. Only a little bit longer before -
My eyes went wide as I took in the scene in front of me.
Eric sat on Dimitri's bed.
I froze, the door swinging shut behind me.
"Uncle Eric," I said, my lips barely moving in my shock. "What are you doing here?"
Eric looked at me sadly, shaking his head. "I told you, Rose. I told you to let it go. Yet you insisted on continuing this." He sighed. "I have no other choice but to send you away. You had such a bright future, yet you wasted it." He shook his head again.
"W-what are you saying? Send me away? Why?!" I stared at him with wide-eyed horror.
Eric ran a hand through his hair. "This wedding needs to go on. You being here only messes things up."
Tears filled my eyes. "Why are you doing this? Don't you love us?"
"Dammit, Rose, of course I love you! You're the closest thing to a second daughter that I have! I want both of you to be happy. If it was my choice." He stood up and started pacing. "Queen Tatiana arranged this, though. We have plenty of guardians now, but the newest batch coming in is the lowest we've ever had. Moroi are getting nervous. She doesn't know what else to do. Moroi are focused more on procreating with each other, leaving a very limited amount of guardians being born. And more women are now guardians which means less stay at home and create future guardians. Tatiana feels this change is necessary and won't hear my protests. She sees that the happiness of the entire Moroi world is more of a necessity than that of two - well, three - people. Although I dislike the fact that it's my babies that are getting hurt, I'm inclined to agree with her. I'm sorry, Rose." He looked at me apologetically. The torn look in his eyes told me he was telling the truth. Eric might be a lot of things, but he could never lie to me. No matter what, a guilty look appeared when he did, so I knew he was telling the absolute truth. "If there was a way to make sure all three of you are happy and Tatiana is satisfied, I would have found it by now. Trust me on that."
I was stunned. Tatiana? Queen Bitch Tatiana was behind all of this? "B-but..."I trailed off. "Lissa, she's-"
"Looking at Christian? I know. I mentioned that to Tatiana, but she still wants Lissa to continue on with the marriage. In her words, 'Christian and Lissa will get their moment. They can wait. Allow Dimitri and Lissa to have a child and all the scrutiny will be taken away from them and unto another spectacle. Until then, the wedding continues.'"
"So, wait. All Tatiana wants is the appearance of a happy marriage? That's all?"
Eric nodded.
"So...I don't need to leave?" I looked at him hopefully, but the regretful expression on his face told me otherwise.
"Once again, if it was up to me, you would stay. I was actually sent here to send you away two weeks ago, but I wanted to stall, so I told her that there didn't seem to be anything going on between you and Guardian Belikov. Unfortunately, I'm not the only informant she has." He gave a world weary sigh.
My shoulders slumped. "Can I at least say bye?" I asked softly.
Eric nodded. "You'll have to pack, too."
I nodded. "And you're positive there's no other option?"
Eric gave me a sad smile. "I've talked to her, even offered to speak to you about it. However, she's a stubborn woman and threatened to run you off with Janine. For some reason, she doesn't like you." Eric frowned.
"J-Janine?"
Eric nodded. "I'm afraid so. She was actually going to be reassigned here, before any of this was happening. I stalled that as long as I could, also."
I stared blankly at the wall. My mother was coming here. It was all planned before even Lissa's arranged marriage. Tatiana really hated me. Why?
"I'll - can I wait for Dimitri here?"
After a moments thought, Eric smiled. "Sure. In fact, he can even help you pack...I think."
"Where am I going?" I wondered.
"To St. Basil's, oddly enough. At least you'll know a couple of people." Eric gave me an encouraging look.
"Yeah, but it won't be the same. I suppose hoping to get Lissa as my charge after graduation would be too much?"
Eric sighed. "I'm sorry, Rose."
I nodded in understanding. It was completely out of his control.
We sat in Dimitri's room until his shift ended. I was running all the things I could say over in my mind but nothing seemed right. How do you say goodbye to the love of your life, with no guarantee that you would see them ever again?
I wanted to fight, to scream and shout and kick. To demand that this was stopped. But a part of me, ridiculously small, yet oh so powerful, realised there was no hope. Dimitri had taught me control long ago, and now it was kicking in - at the worst time. I knew there was no changing what had been put into motion, things I hadn't been aware of. Maybe if I'd known all of this earlier, I could have stopped it. Fought it. But now it was too late.
The door opened and Dimitri walked in, looking exhausted. He froze as soon as he caught sight of me, a smile breaking over his face, though quickly vanishing as soon as he saw Eric.
"Rose," he said in a neutral voice. "What are you doing here? Prince Dragomir?" He gave a small bow.
I gave him a sad smile. "You might as well drop the act, Comrade. Uncle Eric knowns about us."
The guardian mask slid off his face as if it were a physical thing. He seemed to have heard something unspoken in my voice, seen it in my face and eyes. He knew exactly what was happening. Exactly what we had feared if we told Lissa.
"No!" he gasped out, by my side in an instant. He gathered me up in his arms, holding me tightly. I wrapped myself around him, willing myself to not cry.
"You bastard!" He roared. "How dare you-"
"Dimitri!" I cried out. "It's not his fault!"
"No, Rose, let him yell and scream. I deserve it. Maybe if I had protested louder, found better arguments, found a loophole, anything! This wouldn't be happening." Eric looked disgusted with himself.
I shook my head and untangled myself from Dimitri. "Uncle Eric, it's out of your control. If you had spoken louder, I might not have had the little time I did with Dimitri. At least we had that." I gave him a tight hug and kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, Rosie," he murmured, holding me tight. "I wish I could do something, anything! She won't even let you come to the wedding!" Eric sighed, his warm breath flowing through my hair. "I'll do my best to make sure you come, though. You shouldn't miss it."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Thank you," I whispered brokenly.
Eric released me. "I'll give you two some privacy. But Rose? Your plane leaves in two hours and you still have to pack."
I hesitated. "Can you start packing? The essentials, I mean?' I gave him my patented puppy eyes.
Eric crumbled almost instantly. "Of course, sweetie. I'll start with your clothes, alright?"
I nodded eagerly. "Thank you, Uncle Eric!"
Eric smiled one last time and walked out.
"Rose, what is going on?" Dimitri demanded, spinning me around to face him, looking very upset.
I sighed and gave him a brief rundown of what was happening and how it came to be.
"Russia? You're going to Russia?" he asked incredulously once I was done.
I gave him an affirmative nod. "Mmhmm. That's what I hear."
Dimitri closed his eyes and gathered me up in his arms again before collapsing on the bed. "No, Roza. You can't. We'll be so far apart. We'll never see each other. I can't do that."
"you'll have to, comrade,": I said sadly. I took his hand, the one with the promise ring. Neither of us had taken them off after we came back from Russia. I kissed every finger, ending with the ring. "I love you, Dimitri. Nothing will change that. Nothing. We'll be together in our hearts. Plus, we'll still be able to call and email and write. We'll still keep in contact," I promised him.
"You're right," Dimitri sighed. "I love you, my Roza."
I rolled so that I was laying on top of him, staring into his eyes. Silence filled the room. I began getting lost in his eyes, but before I could go to the point of no return, Dimitri kissed me.
It wasn't an innocent kiss. It was the kind of demanding kiss that led to instant clothe removal. Both of our shirts, and my bra, came off before we were finally able to remove ourselves from each others' lips.
"I love you Roza. I can't stay away from you that long," he gasped.
"I don't want you to be hurt," I replied breathlessly. "I love you Dimitri, so, so much. I couldn't live if anything happened to you." I have never told him about Yeva's visions, never being able to stomach the possibility of the second vision coming true. I could handle him being married to Lissa; at least there, there was still a chance for us. I couldn't, however, deal with the chance that he could die. I couldn't handle his death. The idea wasn't fathomable.
Before he could protest, I put my mouth back on his, maneuvering his pants down his long legs. Dimitri quickly caught on to my mindset, helping me out of my own pants. We were naked in record time. I wanted to take a long time loving his body, taking the time to memorize every last inch, every detail, before not seeing him for God only knows how long, but the need to be close overrode every other desire.
We connected, crying out at the sensation. We moved together slowly, trying to make this last, but need drove us rapidly to the edge. I found myself trying to hold back, knowing that release would bring us that much closer to separation, but my body had other ideas, moving ever fast.
"No, no, no. no!" I cried out softly, even as my body screamed yes.
Dimitri gritted his teeth above me, clearly staving off his own release, trying to make it last longer. "Oh, God, Roza. My Roza. Forever. You're my forever," he groaned out, staring into my eyes.
"Dimitri!" I cried out, tears gathering in my eyes as I felt myself coming to the brink. "Oh, God, I love you! Forever! My forever!" Any other words I might have said were garbled in my scream of pleasure as my release tore through me.
Dimitri gave out a small cry, collapsing onto me.
We lay there in silence as our breath came back. "I don't want to leave," I whispered.
"I don't want you to leave me," Dimitri whispered back.
He pulled away enough to look at me. I put a hand on his face.
"We'll find a way out, right?" I murmured.
Dimitri nodded and kissed my palm. "Of course, Roza. Nothing will keep me away from you, not even death."
I shivered, hoping his words never came true. Yeva's words echoed in my mind. You were a shadow still. Pain was clear around you. Dimitri was nowhere to be seen.
I vowed in that moment that it would never happen, even if I never saw him again.
...DON'T HATE ME! IT WAS NECESSARY! Dx I love you all! I promise you a happy ending, just stick with me! Please! See? I even called myself a bitch for you! I'm sorry! YOU CAN'T KILL ME! IF YOU DO, ROSE AND DIMITRI WON'T HAVE THEIR HAPPY ENDING! I'M SAFE! xD
Thank you to kcripep (lol, nice. Thank you so much! ), Katylou1986 (he kinda does, but he's not :P AAwww! Thank you! :D Yes, you are soo right...I don't know if I can tell Lissa just yet...I think she deserves a big shock...don't you? (;), Kay1a (...light...? hehe...:D Don't kill me! D: Is this soon enough?), Vampswols4L (I'm not sure how I'm going to add Adrian in...hm...), XxXRose-DimitriForeverXxX (ahh...they got together :D...), Mori Belicov Hathaway (is it better to hate a person you already hate...?), xX Dimka's girl 4 ever Xx, RozaRocks (does that answer your question...?), Music books horses (I'll be honest, your comment made my day ^_^ That's like my catch phrase, 'go die in a hole' and hearing...erm, seeing you say that, totally made my day! xD I think now you want me to die...), Guest J (haha, yeah...please don't kill me! Nope, no Tasha in this one :) And he does see... doesn't change anything, though :/), TheBookShelf (...yeah...she said that when she found out...:D...), shadow-kissed angel (yes, no happy ending for Lissa...that's all I'm saying (;), anotherpassionatefangirl, Kaylee and Kenny forever (lol, like I didn't know who you were talking about xD Lol, you gotta change your name now! xD) for reviewing! I hope this was soon enough for you! ^_^
