Chapter 29: More Lies

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy

Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. I have not been feeling good at all and endless amounts of doctor's appointments and still no diagnosis! My life is beyond frustrating right now so bear with me as I will try my hardest to update as often as possible.

DPOV

I left her room feeling better than I had in days. Not only was she safe and sound, but she'd actually let me hold her and kiss her without getting bitch slapped. She had also agreed to meet Mama, which was good news because I was having a hard time explaining her seclusion.

I needed to change my clothes for dinner and shave, but first I had a stop to make.

I pounded on the door to my sister's room.

"What is it Dimka?" she groaned answering the door in her pajamas all disheveled.

"The next time I ask if you've seen anyone strange in the hallways, I do not expect a lie," I said firmly. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, I know that you've met Roza and you were hiding her for two days."
"Hiding her? I believe that is what you've been doing my dear brother. How is it that you're engaged to be married to the Mazur Princess no less and that not only does your family not know, but the press hasn't caught wind of it either?"

I growled in frustration at the accuracy of her accusation.

"Dimka, she's beautiful. I'm so happy for you," she said coming forward to embrace me tightly. One thing about my baby sestra was that she couldn't stay cross with me for long.

"Roza is so cool, she told me I can be a bridesmaid at your wedding. We had all sorts of girly fun. She let me paint her nails and do her hair. She's like the fun, cool sister I never had. She's not mean and nasty like Sonya and she's not old like Karo. She's the best. I can't believe you got her to agree to marry you, I mean she loves you so much. It's so cute!" she giggled.

"She said she loves me?" I asked. My heart fluttered with excitement as she nodded. I couldn't believe that she'd admitted to loving me to my baby sestra, but that gave me even more hope that I'd be able to break down the walls she'd erected around her heart. She couldn't keep me out forever.

"Yes, but she also said she's mad at you. Dimka what did you do to that poor girl? She's so nice. You go find her and apologize. Bring her flowers and beg her forgiveness. Don't be a cad,"she cried giving me a shove.

"And for heaven's sake go shave. Mama will have a fit if she sees you like that."

"Flowers!" she repeated giving me a pointed look.

"I wish it were that simple," I muttered.

As I shaved I wondered what I could do to encourage her to spend some time with me. I needed to get her alone. There were many places around the palace grounds in which I could romance her, but getting her to leave the confines of her room proved a difficult task.

I had purposely put her in the room without a television or computer thinking she could only stay in there so long without being bored to tears, but apparently she was content staring at the wall all day. She was stubborn I'd give her that, but I wasn't letting her go. I was determined to wear her down.

I splashed some aftershave on my cheeks, ran a comb through my hair before tying it back in a neat ponytail and putting on some of the cologne I knew Rose preferred. At my apartment, I'd often caught her smelling it and smiling when she thought I wasn't looking.

A few hours later, I stood once again outside of her door, flowers in hand at the suggestion of my sister.

I stood poised to knock when the door opened. My eyes popped out of my head and I did a double take at what I saw in front of me.

"Are those for me?" she asked batting her eyelashes seductively. Alberta stood behind her shaking her head no doubt stifling a laugh.

I nodded, choosing my words wisely. "You look," I struggled to find the exact wording. "lovely," I managed.

She smiled brightly. "I'm ready, your highness," she practically purred as she latched onto my arm.

I passed the flowers off to Alberta and we headed down the hall towards the dining room. Before we reached it I stopped.

"What is this?" I asked pointing to her dress.

"You wanted me to look nice didn't you? Isn't this dress befitting of the future Queen of Russia? I had Mason fetch this from the princess shop," she said smirking as she fingered the layers of frill and lace that adorned her dress. It looked as if she'd stepped right out of the eighteenth century.

"This isn't you Roza, I said shaking my head. She was playing a game here and the hope I had of dinner going well flew right out the window upon seeing her like this.

"Oh my dear fiancée, but it is. This is the princess version of me."
"Rose this isn't funny. Please don't act like this in front of my mother," I hissed.

"Why not? As far as she knows, I'm your doting fiancée who is madly in love with you and will obey your every command. Little does she know that she raised her son to be a deceitful liar who not only tricked me into marrying a stranger, but had the nerve to bug my apartment and send the audio clips to my father," she growled.

I inhaled sharply. "I see you've spoken with your brother."

"Were you even going to tell me? You claim to love me and that what we had was real yet you continue to lie! I can't believe a word that comes from your mouth. All that time you were eavesdropping on our private conversations, you were using it to play me. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I will never trust you again so I might have agreed to meet your mother and to this sham of a marriage, but that's it. As far as I'm concerned the Dimitri I knew and loved is dead. You're just a demon who's stolen his body!"

"Roza, please, it wasn't like that," I insisted.

"It never is, is it?"

"Tell me, how did dear old dad react when he heard me talk about how you took my virginity?"

"Not well," I said pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I can't believe he let you live. He must really want an alliance with Russia. Just shows how unimportant I really am to him if he didn't kill you for defiling me." If I wasn't mistaken, there was hurt in her words at the thought of her father not loving her.

"He does care for you Roza, more than you could ever imagine as do I."

"Right, like I'm going to believe your any more of your filthy lies," she spat venomously.

I sighed realizing that my mother would be waiting for us.

"Put this on," I told her placing her engagement ring in the palm of her hand.

She rolled her eyes before placing it on her finger like I'd done just a week ago.

"Can you be civil for just one evening?" I asked.

"Oh, honey, I'll be as sweet as pie. Don't you worry your pretty head."

I crossed my fingers in hopes that she didn't blow it at dinner as we entered the dining room.

"Dimka," my mother greeted me fondly rising from her seat to kiss my cheek.

"And this must be your lovely fiancée," she said her eyes betraying her as she took in Rose's attire.

"This is my Roza," I told her pulling Rose closer into my side affectionately.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness," Rose said bowing slightly in my mother's direction.

"And it is a pleasure to finally meet the girl who's stolen my son's heart," she said eying her closely.

"We should sit. I want to hear all about your time in Chicago and Ivana will be bringing in the soup soon. I hope you enjoy borsht."

"It's one of my favorites," Rose responded taking the seat next to my mother.

"So Dimka tells me you met at a café in Chicago. Was it love at first sight?"

I waited nervously for Rose's response.

"Well I wouldn't say that, but I did find him attractive," she said taking a spoonful of her soup.

My mother continued asking her questions about our whirlwind romance as she called it and each time I held my breath waiting for Rose to say something incriminating, but much to my surprise and relief her answers were nothing but polished and polite, almost as if she'd rehearsed them beforehand. By the time we were ready for the main course Rose had my mother eating out of the palm of her hand. Damn, she was good.

"Wherever did you aquire that stunning gown?" my mother asked as Ivana brought out dessert.

"Oh, this, I had Guardian Ashford procure it special for me. I wanted to look my best as Dimitri is always saying how proper his mother and sisters are."

"Well it is quite lovely. I would love to have something similar made for Viktoria. She's taken a liking to wearing sweaters and slacks and it doesn't suit her."

Rose chuckled politely in response.

"Dimka, your dinner is becoming cold and you haven't eaten a thing," my mother scolded me.

"Aren't you hungry? Is the meat not cooked to your liking?"

"No, it's fine," I told her realizing I'd been so wound up wondering what Rose was going to say that I hadn't been able to take a bite.

"Yes, let's hope that you're not coming down with something. It isn't healthy not to eat," Rose chastised winking at me as she did. I knew without a doubt she was enjoying how flustered I was.

"What are your thoughts on the wedding? I asked Dimka when he would like to have it and he said he wanted to leave the details to you."

"Well I'm not too picky about a date. I was thinking maybe sometime next Spring," she said causing my mother to stop eating, her fork in the air. I inhaled sharply knowing there was one thing I'd left out when I'd attempted my explanation to Rose.

"Well dear, Spring is a beautiful time of year, but you are aware that we haven't that much time. Dimka is to be wed before his twenty-fifth birthday. That leaves us until mid-July should you want to take a honeymoon."

I could see Rose's face fall at her words realizing she had far less time that she'd originally thought. Perhaps she thought by waiting a year that she could freeze me out enough so I'd give her up. Despite her inner turmoil over yet another one of my lies, she managed to compose herself quickly.

"You know I think I remember him telling me that. You'll have to excuse my memory lapse. I haven't been feeling well and it's taken a toll on my sleep habits," she said her tone still polite, but I could sense the bitterness beneath.

"Dimka did say you were feeling under the weather and you look thin. You are feeling better aren't you? I hope my son didn't rush your recovery on my behalf."

"Oh no, I'm feeling better. In fact, I think I could go ten rounds in a boxing ring right now with the way I'm feeling," she said smiling at me through clenched teeth knowing I understood the underlying message. There was going to be hell to pay before this night was over.

RPOV

After dinner and promising Olena I'd meet the rest of the family later in the week, Dimitri walked me back to my room. He walked slowly knowing that as soon as we were in the confines of my room, I was going to explode.

"You really thought you could hide the fact that we're supposed to get married in less than three months?" I shouted tearing at the lace on the itchy outfit I'd chosen to annoy him this evening.

"Again, if you would just listen to me and let me explain things, you wouldn't have been blindsided by my mother tonight."

"I don't want to talk. I'm tired of hearing your apologies. Nothing you do or say is going to make what you did okay. I can't forgive you. Don't you think I want to? Do you think I want to live the rest of my life in this prison with a husband I don't trust and can't stand to look at?" By this time I was getting emotional and I didn't want him to see that.

"Just hear me out," he pleaded. "Come out into the garden with me tomorrow and we can talk. I will tell you everything from day one until today. Then at least you'll have all the information before you decide to hate me."

"I didn't decide to hate you. I just do and knowing all the sordid details of how you plotted behind my back in conspiracy with my father won't help your case, believe me."

"Then what will?" he asked.

"I already told you, short of letting me go, nothing."

"You know that if I let you go, you'll be forced into something much worse," he argued.

"Then I guess I'm stuck with you. So yippy for you you've got me right where you want me."

"No, I don't," he said sadly. "I want you to love me again and I want to earn your trust. Please let me at least give you a tour of the palace. That can't hurt anything. You will need to know your way around here eventually."

"I'd much prefer to be alone," I said not willing to comply with his request.

"Why are you being so stubborn? I've given you everything. You have my heart, you have my word that I will never treat you like a possession, I've agreed to you going to school and have given you every liberty since you've been here. Tell me this, did you father allow you a cellular phone? Did he allow you to keep friends and would he have encouraged you to pursue your art? Would any of them?" I could tell he was getting desperate at this point.

"Answer me!" he demanded.

"No," I said a tear slipping down my cheek as I fought hard to deny that he was right. I knew deep down he was my best option at living a somewhat normal life. He would let me keep in touch with Lissa and the girls, I could go to school be it with a parade full of secret service following me. He was sure to allow me to leave the palace to go into town if I wanted, but could I really play nice in front of his family forever when all I felt like was screaming and crying and mourning the loss of the man I loved?

"Rose, I don't mean to be harsh with you, but you have to remember that in a matter of months, we will be married and then I will be King. Things will change and I will have a lot of my shoulders. I really wish we could come to some sort of truce or understanding before then.

"That's all you want?" I asked skeptically.

"Of course not. I want you to love me. I want you to look at me the way you used to. I want to lie in bed with you on a lazy Sunday morning making love."

"Well that is surely never going to happen. Even if you get me to marry you, I will never allow you to touch me that way again!" I hissed.

"I surely hope that you change your mind because it's going to be a long frustrating life if you intend to remain celibate, not to mention that I am expected to produce an heir."

"Do you know me at all? If you did, you'd have figured out by now that I would never bring a child into this world knowing it would treated the way I was. If you want an heir then you'd better hope that Princess Ozera is willing to help you out in that department," I snorted.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"Your sister and wake up Dimitri, all I had to do was type your name into any internet search engine and I can find out anything I want about you including the fact that up until you met me, Princess Natasha Ozera was predicted to be your future wife!" I spat.

"Why don't you just marry her already and leave me alone?"

"Because Roza, I don't love her. I love you! Why can't you see that?" he cried grabbing me by the shoulders, his voice strangled. "You can't resist me forever."

Before I could wretch myself away from him, he pushed me hard against the wall crushing his lips to mine. His hands tangled in my hair and unconsciously my arms curled around his neck drawing him closer to me as he attacked me hungrily like he'd been starved for love.

I hated myself for giving in to his touch like this, but it felt so good and I was still using protection so one little slip up wasn't going to hurt anything, I thought as I allowed him to run his hands under my dress ripping it in two as he struggled to get it off of me. I could be with him tonight and go right back to hating his guts in the morning.

I moaned as his mouth found purchase on the peak of my bare breast. He gently lowered me to the bed and the feeling of his weight on top of me was familiar and comforting as only undergarments formed a barrier between us.

"Ya tebya lyublyu Roza," he murmured against my neck before pulling away gently to gaze into my eyes. When I didn't respond and he pulled away from me entirely.

"What?" I asked my chest heaving. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

He shook his head. "No, what I want is your love. I don't want to do this tonight and have you hate me and yourself in the morning. I want the real thing Roza and I will do everything in my power to show you that you still love me," he said retrieving his clothing, donning it quickly before exiting leaving me sexually frustrated and alone.

"Ugh! Men are so frustrating!" I screeched grabbing the nearest knick knack and whipping it at the wall enjoying the sounds of glass shattering as it fell to the floor.

Wow, that was almost an epic reunion! LOL hate me all you want, but this isn't going to be easy for him. The next few chapters will focus on him having to think of creative ways to get her out of the palace. I hope they work for his sake=) Reviews make me oh so happy!