Chapter 35

I am nearing the end of the story. Sorry I haven't updated sooner, I have had horrible writers block. Plus, my daughter is starting school this month and there is a lot of things that we as parents need to do to get our children ready for kindergarten. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Richelle Mead owns all original VA

We spent a few more days with the Belikov's, Adrian's dad and Isobel. It was nice just to visit and relax without the threat of an attack. Adrian had a rough time with the thought of his mother being gone, but he knew that she had chosen the Strigoi life and it was best for her to be reconnected to her soul and move on. Dimitri finally admitted to all of us that he and Katya were dating and he thought that he could see a future with her. His family was ecstatic. They also fell in love with Adrian and Lissa and couldn't wait until Adrian and I got married. They assured me that when we finally decided on a date, they would be there for the wedding. I was so blessed to have found them.

Finally the day came that we were heading home. I was actually anxious to get home. I knew we had a lot to do when we got back, but it would be nice to be back in my home. Lissa was ready to get back to Christian and Dimitri to Katya. We all said our goodbyes, tears were flowing, Nathan and Isobel promised to come back for the wedding, and we boarded the plane. Dimitri and Lissa sat together, and Adrian and I took two seats in the back. We really didn't have much time to be alone while we were in Baia, so it was nice to just sit there together.

I glanced up and noticed that Dimitri and Lissa had fallen asleep. I leaned over and stroked Adrian's face with my hand. "Adrian, I have missed you so much." I leaned up and kissed him gently. Soon the kiss became heated and I moaned into his lips.

Rated M scene start

"Little Dhampir, we should stop. That is unless you want to become a member of the mile high club." He chuckled.

"Well, I'm not sure about that, but I think we can do other things." With that I got up and grabbed a blanket and put it over top of us. The nice thing about these seats was that we could raise the armrest between us and get much closer. I turned towards him and kissed him fiercely. I ran my tongue across his bottom lip and he gladly opened his mouth and allowed me entrance. I climbed up onto his lap and straddled his legs. His hands explored all over my body while my fingers entangled themselves in his hair. We were grinding into each other and I felt the heat start to radiate between my legs. I needed him so badly. "Adrian, I want you so badly." I whispered into his ear and then gave it a little nip.

"Mmmm." Was all he could get out. He reached into my shirt and undid my bra. His fingers were doing wonders for my nipples, and I ran my hands down his chest. All of a sudden I felt a sudden heat from is hands transfer to my breast. "Oh my god, you have been practicing, haven't you." he just smiled as I realized that he was transferring heat from his hands to my nipples, and man, did it feel good.

"I have been practicing." He grinned against my lips. I ran my hand down his chest once more and rested it on the bulge that had formed in his pants. I slowly undid the button and zipper and pulled him out through his boxers. I started to rub my hand up and down his glorious length. As we kissed I felt a growl emanate from his throat. "Like that my love?" I asked in my most sultry voice.

"You have no idea." I felt him thrust his hips up toward mine. I looked over my shoulder and saw that our friends hadn't even stirred in their sleep. I stood up and he undid my pants and I let them fall to the floor. I pulled his pants down to his knees and lowered myself back onto him. We pulled the blanket back around us; he reached over to his coat and pulled out a condom from the pocket. After it was in place, I slowly moved as he entered me. We both moaned as the sensation filled our being. It seemed like it had been so long since I had made love to him, the feeling was so intense. I knew he felt the same way.

I stared into his emerald green eyes as I rocked back and forth on top of him. His hand continued to massage my breast and he lowered the other between us and rubbed my pulsating clit. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to contain my pleasure quietly, but I could feel the orgasm building. He ran his lips down my throat, and I let out a small gasp. He immediately brought his lips back to mine as we both came together. "Oh my God." I said breathlessly as we held onto one another for a while.

"Well, I guess that means we are now members of the mile high club." He said and we both giggled. "Let's get cleaned up and rest for a while." I nodded and moved to my seat. We had to use the blanket to "clean up" so no one would be the wiser as to what we had just done. After we got ourselves settled, I lay my head against his shoulder.

"Adrian, I love you so much. I don't know what I would do without you."

"As I love you my Little Dhampir." With that we both drifted off to sleep in each others arms for the remainder of the flight.

Adrian had told me about the situation with Piper and I wanted to kill her. He then explained that Abe had her in jail awaiting a trial for illegal use of compulsion. She had been stripped of her Royal status and was waiting to find out what would happen to her. I just wanted to rip her limb from limb.

We had the trial and Abe actually gave her a choice. She could either spend 6 months in jail and then leave Court, or be banished and live amongst humans. I was surprised that she chose to live amongst humans. The day that she was leaving Court I happened to find her and I walked strait up to her. "If you ever come back here, or I ever see you again, I will have my revenge." She just sneered at me.

"Rose, you can't touch me." She hissed.

That's what she thought. I pulled my fist back and swung with all the anger I had. I made contact with her nose, breaking it and rendering her unconscious. "That should make your drive to the city more enjoyable." I told the guardian who was driving her. He just laughed. I walked away, quite pleased with myself.

We had been back at Court for a few days, and it was time for the next school to arrive. We decided to split the novices the same way we had before. Janine on sparring, Dimitri on endurance and me on staking. This school was somewhat smaller than St. Vlad's so the groups weren't as big. But that didn't mean things were different. The novices did well with sparring and endurance, but as before, the staking was lacking. They didn't have the power or the knowledge that would be needed to take down Strigoi without loss of life. That was what we were trying to prove. It was as if the Queen herself was leading these trials from her grave and proving that the novices were not ready for this.

As we came to the finals, we did them the same as before. We chose four novices to be on display for the Royal Council. Three of them were out within a few minutes having to deal with my mother and Dimitri. The last was up against Eddie and me. It was a female novice, her name was Cassie. Cassie did quite well actually. She made it through over half of the course. I came around a corner and caught her off guard, grabbed her Moroi by the shoulder, but she recovered quickly. She got me in the head with a roundhouse kick that actually took me by surprise. Those were hard kicks to learn and master. The kick caused me to lose my grip on the Moroi, and she took her and pushed her behind protectively. We circled and fought, but I finally got an opening and managed to get Cassie into a headlock and "killed" her. That was it.

Abe made the same speech he had last time. "Thank you for being here and no matter what you did a great job. The Council and myself will be seeing a few more schools and then we will pass our decision down. Please keep up the good work and keep practicing. Thank you again, and good luck."

We went through a few more months of the trials with the same results every time. Novices that were well trained in endurance and sparring, but severely lacking in stake training. I hoped above all hope that the council would see that it would be a phenomenal mistake to put these novices out into the world.

The day finally came for the verdict and we all made our way into the Royal Hall for the announcement. Lissa was at her place on the council and I was sitting behind my father. "Ladies and Gentlemen." My father said as he rose from his seat. "We have come here today to hear the final decision on the age decree. It took us a while to come to this decision and I am sure some of you will be disappointed, but I assure you, it is for the best of the Moroi/Dhampir race. Upon seeing the trials of the sixteen year old novices, we had decided that it is in the best interest of all those involved to give them back their extra two years of training." There was an upheaval coming from the people listening. "We have also decided, that if the Moroi voluntarily want to learn offensive magic to stand along side the Dhampir's against the Strigoi, there will be classes available at the academies as well as colleges, and here at Court. In working together, we will be able to flourish as a race once more. Thank you very much for coming, and I hope that you will all see that this is what is best for us all." That was it. Abe stepped down, and we all dispersed to our friends and family. The murmuring that had gone on in the audience was still going on, but to all of our amazement there was no yelling or screaming or fighting. Some people were happy; others were just astonished. But we had gotten what we wanted. Life was as it should be again.

"Well, this calls for a celebration. Let's do something fun. Dancing or hot springs?" Adrian suggested.

"Is that all you think about Adrian? Drinking and partying?" Christian asked with a grin.

"Of course, especially when we are celebrating something like this." Adrian responded.

We decided to go dancing and then go to the hot springs to end the night. We all wanted to do both.

"Well, let's go get ready to go out and meet in the lobby at, what, nine?" I said?

"Yeah, that sounds great." Lissa said. We all walked back to the apartments and retreated to our own apartments.

"So," Adrian said as we got to the apartment. "Is it time to start planning the wedding now?" He said with a smile.

"I think it is." I said as I closed the distance and kissed him. I couldn't wait to be his wife and start our life as husband and wife. We made our way to the bedroom; it had been so long since we had made love with all the training and how tired we had been over the last few months. He showed me how much he loved me and appreciated me and I returned to favor. It was so good to do this with no threats hanging over our heads any longer.

We spent the night dancing, laughing with our friends, and then went to the hot springs to enjoy some relaxation with our friends. While we were in the water, Lissa asked the question first. "So, Rose, when do we get to start planning a wedding?"

I looked at her and laughed. "Right now. First though I want to ask a few a question. Lissa, will you be my maid of honor?" She looked at me with tears in her eyes. Did she honestly think I wouldn't ask her?

"Of course. Why would you even have to ask?" she leaned over to me and hugged me.

"Now, Mia, and Katya, would you like to be my bridesmaids? I am going to ask Jill also, but I have you two here now." I asked.

"Of course." They both said.

"Well, we have so much to plan. First we need to settle on a date, then colors, then the dresses, and of course your dress." Lissa just kept going on and on about what all we needed to do. I knew she would take the reigns on this. I looked over to Adrian, once we started talking about the wedding, the guys went off to play pool which was in another room. I could see him through the window looking at me and he just smiled his sweet smile. I couldn't believe I was going to be Mrs. Adrian Ivashkov soon.

The next chapter will be the planning of the wedding and probably the wedding itself. It will also most likely be the last chapter to this story. I am in the process of trying to come up with a new story.

Please review and let me know what you think. Thank you all so much for reading.