*Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead does!*
There was shouting everywhere. Once everyone had calmed down a little bit, Nathan Ivashkov, Adrian's father stood up. "That is not a legal nomination. Vasilisa Dragomir does not have a quorum and the girl on stage is not a royal," he said angrily.
I looked at Jill and held out my hand for the microphone. I might get arrested for this, but I couldn't help myself. "Lord Ivashkov," I said, already letting snarkiness coat my tone. "This is completely a valid nomination."
"What do you know? You're just a wild dhampir that is too interested in men and partying to pay heed to politics. You have no right talking about things that you don't understand," he shouted to me.
"Nathan," I shouted, letting disrespect coat my tone. "I am not just some wild dhampir. I am Rose Hathaway. I have done whatever I could to help protect the moroi world. I am the reason the queen can stand before you today. Do not show me disrespect like I am some undisciplined dhampir. As for only being interested in men, I am only interested in one man. My husband. You have no right talking about things that you don't understand," I mimicked. I swear you could hear a pin drop. "Going back to how exactly this is a legal nomination. This girl on stage is Jillian Mastrano. She is Royal. She is the illegitimate child of Eric Dragomir. She gives Vasilisa her quorum, making Vasilisa an eligible candidate for the throne."
Silence ensued. "That's not true!" I could hear several moroi protest. I saw Lissa staring at Jill, studying her features.
"It is true," Daniella Ivashkov, Adrian's mother, declared.
Everyone in the audience went silent. Daniella was someone who was liked and respected. They valued her opinion. "This isn't information I wanted to get out, but I am not going to deny the truth," she said honestly. "I was one of the few people who helped Eric when he found out he got Emily pregnant. He needed help creating a bank account for the child and help keeping it a secret."
Nathan looked at her as if she had betrayed him. He shook his head to clear it. "The child is not eighteen. It is not a legal nomination," he pointed out. I heard a couple of mumbled agreements when he said that. I had no argument. I hadn't even thought of Jill's age.
Tatiana apparently had. She grabbed the microphone from me and turned to face the crowd. "Nathan is right. Jillian is too young to confirm the nomination," she said. "That is why I confirm the nomination."
She let her words sink in. "But… But…" Nathan stuttered.
"Find it in your rule book where it says I cannot nominate a candidate and I will withdraw my nomination," Tatiana said evenly.
Nathan sat down, looking defeated. "Vasilisa is an eligible candidate for the throne. That is if she chooses to accept the nomination," Tatiana declared.
Lissa looked at me. I nodded at her in encouragement. She stood up. "I accept the nomination," she said in a bold voice.
I grinned at her. She looked at me nervously as the hall exploded with people shouting, wanting to be heard. Dimitri and I got Jill out of the hall. We were quickly followed by our group of friends.
Lissa came right up to me and threw her arms around me. "It's okay Liss. It's okay," I told her.
"You're supposed to be on your honeymoon!" She told me annoyed.
I grimaced at her. "Our honeymoon kept getting interrupted," I told her bitterly.
"It's not over yet," Dimitri said.
I turned to look at him confused.
He looked at me with a huge smile. "Tatiana gave us off until the elections. We don't have anything to do at Court for six days," he told me.
I grinned at him, then looked back at Lissa. I could feel my smile fading. "We can't leave Lissa. She has her tests," I said sadly.
Lissa turned to me. "Go. I can handle this. You deserve a honeymoon," she told me with a wink.
"You wouldn't be able to help her anyway," Adrian pointed out. "They do something to the candidates so they can't talk about what happens during the tests."
"Are you sure Lissa?" I asked her uncertainly. I wanted to listen to her so, so badly. I wanted to be with Dimitri for six days while not thinking of anyone but us.
She nodded. That was all it took for the world to disappear. Dimitri and I literally sprinted away from the hall. Once we were outside, he turned to me and kissed me. It was short, but sweet.
He led me to a parking garage and pulled out the keys to one of the cars. When he opened the door to the car, my jaw dropped.
"Comrade? Are sure this is the right car?" I asked him uncertainly.
"Yes, why?" He asked me with a huge grin.
"It's not a Honda," I told him, unsure if he had noticed that.
"No. it's not," he confirmed.
"It's not even a boring car," I said to him, still uncertain that this was really our car.
"You're right. I felt that this was an interesting enough car for you," he told me, his eyes filled with amusement. "I know how much you hate all the Hondas, so I figured we would do something new and different."
I lunged myself into his arms and kissed him. "Thank you," I said to him as I got in the passenger side. I didn't even complain about Dimitri driving. We drove for almost an hour before we stopped in front of a grand hotel.
He got out and opened my door for me. When I was standing, he crushed his lips to mine. When we broke apart, we were both panting. Dimitri went into the trunk and pulled out two bags. He took my hand as we walked to the entrance of the hotel.
When the man and the front desk asked what name our room was under, Dimitri told him, "Rose and Dimitri Belikov." He looked like he was going to burst from happiness at saying our names like that.
The man gave Dimitri our keys and we headed to our room. We were on the ninth floor of the building, but the elevator ride didn't seem that long. When we were outside the door, Dimitri opened it a crack. He then picked me up bridal style and carried me over the threshold.
I started giggling uncontrollably when he threw me on the bed. "What was that?" I laughed.
"You said you wanted a real honeymoon," he told me innocently.
"Yes, I did," I agreed as I brought his lips down to mine. I was excited for my honeymoon to finally start.