God, my head hurts. It never hurt like this even when it was being bombarded by the ghosts. I open my eyes groggily and lift my head, flinching at the fluorescent lights above me. My hands are bound against the pipe above me and my shoulders are stiff beyond belief. The room is empty but directly in front of me is a tripod and video camera, and the red blinking light tells me that it's recording.

My mouth feels like sandpaper and I try to swallow, but it feels like I'm swallowing razor blades. I test the strength of the cuffs around my wrists that bind me to the radiator behind me and wince when they bite into my skin – they're too tight. I still as footsteps approach the door on the other side of the room, and I glower at Tasha when she steps into the room with a menacing smile.

"You're finally awake! Good, now we can begin!"

I growl and kick out at her as she steps closer to me, but she jumps back and waves a finger at me. "Tsk Tsk, that's no way to treat the one who is keeping you alive, but you have always been ungrateful."

She moves gracefully towards the camera and leans down to look directly into the lens. "I hope you enjoy this, because you could have easily prevented this if you took my offer," Tasha sneers at the lens. Turning her attention back to me, she approaches with a glint in her eyes that sends a shiver down my spine. Moving to the side where I can't kick her, she grips my chin tightly in her hand and jerks my face towards her.

"I don't know what Dimka saw in you – other than the fact that you're a pretty face. At the ski lodge he was so careful as to what he said when you were brought into the conversation, but I could see exactly what he wasn't saying. It's a shame really, that face won't be pretty for long," Tasha croons at me, and I gather all the saliva I can muster in my mouth and spit in her face. She jumps back and wipes her face with a disgusted look.

Tasha's eyes narrow at me and she grabs my face again before her hand heats up to temperatures so searing, I scream out in pain. I remember vividly what it felt like when Christian burned through the zip ties in Spokane and that was nothing compared to what she is doing to me now.

I tear my face out of her grip as salty tears roll down my cheek and I wince as the salt stings my marred skin. Tasha glowers at me before striking her hand across my burned cheek and I let out a small sob as pain explodes through my face.

"When I'm done with you, nobody will look twice at you."

I breathe in pants as Tasha stands up and walks out the door, locking it from the other side.

This kind of torture continues for what feels like weeks, but really could only be a few days. Tasha waits until the skin starts to heal before she returns and burns the skin again, taunting me the whole time. On top of that, she enjoys using a baseball bat to shatter the bones in my lower legs, making me vomit from pain, but also impossible for me to run if I got out of the cuffs.

I can tell by the dryness of my throat that I am dehydrated, and the only time I get any water is when Robert comes in and holds the cup to my lips, muttering incoherently under his breath. Each time he comes in I beg to know about Sydney, but he looks at me vacantly and scuttles out the door.

Sleep eludes me because the pain is so strong, and when I can sleep it's only for moments at a time. Tasha started moving to different parts of my body; heating the cuffs to burn my wrists, burning me with her hands on my legs, arms, chest and abdomen until I beg for her to stop. I can feel my skin blistering and moving at all makes whimpers slip from my lips.

The worst of the taunting is when she brings my children into the mix. Threatening to burn them to death or burn them from the inside out. Usually this pulls out the ugly-eyed monster in me and I thrash against my binds, but she laughs mercilessly and promises that I will see my babies soon.

My innocent babies.

I tilt my head back against the stone behind me, praying to any God that will listen to protect my children, to protect my family, to protect Dimitri for the pain that they are feeling by me being gone. What do they know? Did Tasha and Robert devise a plan to make it look like I ran out on my family? Or do my friends and family know exactly whose clutches I'm in?

I let my eyes close as I ponder my family and let my memories of them give me some solace.

When I open my eyes, I'm standing in a cabin – the cabin. I look around the room and notice that not much has changed from the last time I was here. The quilt on the bed is the same, slightly rumpled, and the fireplace is blazing. I take a glance in the mirror over the dresser to see my skin unmarred and I smile at my reflection, but it isn't the same as usual. My cheeks are thinner and there are signs of ageing present around my eyes.

"I thought I was going to have to drag you out of bed again."

I whirl around to see Dimitri standing at the open door of the bathroom, his arms across his chest as he leans against the frame. My heart swells at the sight of him and I leap towards him and wrap my arms around his neck. He stumbles back slightly but laughs, wrapping his arms around my hips, pulling me close to his chest and pressing his face into my hair.

"You're here," I whimper. I clutch myself closer to him and breathe in his smell, grounding myself to Earth and drinking him in with a small smile.

"Of course I am. Where else would I be?" he mumbles into my hair and I pull back to look at him. He has aged. His hair is shorter, long enough that I can run my fingers through it, but nowhere near as long as it was when I last saw him. His brown hair has small wisps with silver at the temples and laugh lines are prominent around his mouth and eyes. He smiles down at me before pressing his lips to mine, cupping the back of my head as he moves his lips lovingly against mine.

Pulling away from him breathlessly, I look around the room again to notice small details. Picture frames sit atop the fireplace, and I pull out of his arms to look at them. The one that stands out the most is the photo of Dimitri and I, him dressed in a navy-blue suit and me in a long white dress. Dimitri is smiling down at me with his hand on my cheek while I beam up at him, his face only inches from mine as he holds me tightly to his chest. A wedding photo. I gasp quietly as my eyes wander over the others and my sight lands on one that makes my heart stop.

It's me sitting on a rock with a young woman sitting on the ground in front of me with bright red curls, and a man kneeling behind me with his arms around my neck, his head resting on mine with a smile that I would know anywhere – the smile on my Dimitri, but the smile is younger.

I pick up the frame and hold it closer to me, taking in every little detail and Dimitri wraps his arms around my waist from behind.

"I can't believe they are going to be graduating tomorrow," he whispers in my ear and I look up at him confused.

"Graduate? But they're babies, Comrade."

Dimitri laughs and kisses my shoulder, taking the frame out of my hands and placing it back on the mantel. "Don't let Nadia hear that, she will give you the silent treatment for a week. Remember when you told her that sixteen was not the appropriate age for her boyfriend to sleep over?" Dimitri chuckles and I spin around in his arms.

Sixteen? No, they're only five months old. This isn't possible. I shake my head at him, and he moves his hands to cup my face, leaning in to brush his lips against mine.

"This isn't real," he whispers, pressing his lips to mine.

I snap my head back against the wall as I pull myself from my dream, letting out a small yelp as the pain explodes in the back of my head. Tasha laughs maniacally at me as she stands in front of me but off to the side so the camera still panes on me. "That is the closest you will get to see your children grow up. There will be no white wedding, no marriage, no Dimitri. Everything will crumble before your eyes. I will make sure of it," Tasha says as she crouches down to look me in the eyes.

I glare at her because I don't have the energy to do much else. My body hurts and my stomach feels like it's going to eat itself from the inside out from starvation. I flick my eyes over to see Robert slumped in a chair by the door, looking tired.

This is a whole different kind of pain; manipulating my dreams to torture me with things that I will not be able to experience if I don't get out of here soon.

The torture of dreams continues, and sometimes I think Dimitri is standing right in front of me, telling me everything is going to be ok only for him to disappear. Sometimes my dreams take an entirely different turn and I have to watch Tasha inflict pain on him, telling me that it's my fault he is in pain – because I couldn't leave well enough alone.

I don't know what is worse; dreaming or being awake.

The dream is different this time. There is no underlying feeling of malice, and my surroundings are a garden. A garden I've visited before.

"Thank God. I finally got through."

I look over my shoulder to see a ragged looking Adrian and I step hesitantly towards him, praying that this is a Spirit dream that I will enjoy opposed to the ones Robert has been giving me. Adrian strides over to me and envelops me in a bear hug, muttering "thank god" repeatedly. I shakily bring my arms up to hug him back and I let the tension slip from my body.

"How long have I been gone?" I whisper and Adrian tenses up. I pull away and look up at him, gnawing on my lip as I wait for his response.

"Just over a week."

I nod and swallow roughly and run my hands through my hair violently, and I don't even register the pain it causes because it is dull compared to what I've been through.

"Oh god, Sydney! Is she ok?! And what about the twins, Dimitri?!" I exclaim, fisting my hands in Adrian's shirt and shaking him slightly. Adrian places his hands on mine and pries them from his shirt before holding them tightly.

"Syd is ok. She woke up outside the café and called us. The kids are fine, but they have been beyond fussy, they know something is wrong. Dimitri on the other hand… he's a bit of a mess, frantic to find you but he's been trying to keep himself calm around the twins because he doesn't want to project onto them. We've been getting a live feed of what Tasha has been doing to you," Adrian explains after taking a few deep breaths, and I sag.

They've been watching her torture me. Adrian's face is sullen, and he pulls me back into a hug, rocking me gently as I gasp shuttering breaths at the thought of them having to watch that.

"Are you still wearing your engagement ring?"

I look at him with a confused look, wondering why the hell he would want to know if I was still wearing it. I'm surprised Tasha hasn't taken it from me.

"Yes, why?"

Adrian opens his mouth to speak but my surroundings fade out abruptly, and I open my eyes to see Tasha looming over me.

"That's enough beauty sleep, Rose."

The small amount of sleep I got was rewarded by an unbelievable amount of pain – more than I thought I could handle. I knew Tasha was skilled when it came to her fire magic, but this was something I never imagined possible. She has increased the temperature in the room to the point where it is becoming difficult to breathe and the heat makes my open burns sting.

I can barely keep my head up, and I have started to feel like giving up is the best option. Better because my loved ones would have to watch me suffer, but because it would make all this pain go away.

The only downside of not fighting is not being able to say goodbye. To be able to hold my children in my arms, see my best friend be crowned, looking into the eyes of the man I love last time, but at this point – fighting seems to be pointless.

I let my eyes slide close when the door opens again and I let my body go slack in the binds, no longer bracing myself for the pain to come. My mind is hazy and the person speaking to me sounds like they are talking to me from underwater. A hand gently lifts my chin up so that I have to look at them, and I want to fall apart.

Another illusion of Dimitri.

"Roza?"

I whimper and try to move my head away, not wanting to look at something I can't have, but the hands move to my bound wrists and free them. My arms flop down like lead to my lap, the blood rushing back to the limbs and I slide sideways to lay down on the concrete beneath me.

"Can you hear me?"

I close my eyes to try and block out the Spirit induced vision, but hands slip under my body and lift me carefully from the ground, adjusting me so my head is supported. The illusion even smells like him and it is like a punch in the chest. My body feels like it is floating as I'm moved from the stifling room, and I'm hit with cold air, making me moan in pain.

"It's ok baby, I've got you."

I crack my eyes open and wince at the bright light above me, but it isn't fluorescent – it's the sun. I blink a few more times and move my head to look up at the person carrying me. "Comrade?" I crook and a sad smile crosses his face.

"I'm right here, I'm never letting go of you again." Looking up at his face it is slightly blurry, but his eyes are clear as night. The voices around me are muffled and merge together, but the only voice that is clear is his as he speaks to me softly, his eyes looking down at me frequently.

Dimitri dips his head down as he sets me inside a vehicle and carefully lays me down on the backseat. I whimper as he moves my legs onto the seat and he shuts the door softly before coming around to the other side and getting in with me, lifting my head into his lap. Dimitri cups my face softly and brushes his thumb over my chapped lips and I gingerly reach my hand up and wrap my fingers around his wrist.

"You're real?" I croak.

Dimitri smiles down at me and brushes his fingers softly under my eyes. "I'm real, Roza."

Disoriented doesn't begin to explain how I feel when I open my eyes. I'm in a bed in a somewhat empty room with a large window to the side. Looking down at myself, I see that I'm hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor, my arms bandaged. I reach down and flick the sheet off my legs to see both legs in air-casts. Where the hell am I?

But whatever is coming through that IV is strong, because I'm back under before I can form another thought.

It was startling to see a pair of ice blue eyes when I woke up, and the first thing I thought was that I had dreamt it all and I never got out. A strangled cry spills from my lips and I try to shuffle away, but the pain all over my body makes me stop.

"Hey, it's ok! Take a deep breath Rose, you're safe," Christian says softly with his hands up in a peaceful gesture. I look at him wearily, trying to see if this is another spirit dream torture session. I pull the sheets closer to my body and lean back against the pillows, staring at Christian.

Christian smiles at me sadly as he stands up and walks to the door and exits soundlessly. A few moments later, the door opens again to reveal Dimitri standing there with a hopeful look on his face, walking closer to the bed.

Dimitri sits on the edge of the bed next to me and cautiously reaches his hand out and brushes my hair away from my face. "I'm glad you're awake," Dimitri says and I nod leaning into his touch.

"Is this real?"

Dimitri strokes my forehead, "Yes Roza, you are awake. This is not a dream." I sigh and cup my hand over his, closing my eyes to bask in the feeling of his hand against mine. But I brush my cheek and flinch. It feels different. I pull away to touch my cheek and hiss when I touch the marred flesh. I gingerly trace my fingers over my left cheek to my chin and then over my other cheek. The flesh is bumpy and tender.

Burns.

I suck my lip onto my mouth and close my eyes, taking in a shaky breath. "How bad does it look?" I whisper, not daring to open my eyes to look at Dimitri. I hear him sigh and he takes my hands in his and holds it gently.

"Do you want the truth, or do you want me to sugar coat it?"

I sigh and open my eyes to give him a pleading look. I already know the answer by seeing the pain in his eyes. "It's pretty bad. The whole bottom of your face is burned," Dimitri says quietly and I bite on my lip to keep it from quivering.

"Can you hand me the mirror?" I point to the small mirror on the counter and Dimitri hesitates but nods, reaching over to grab it. Dimitri hands it to me after holding onto it for a moment and gives it to me.

I lift the mirror up to look at my reflection and immediately regret it. There are visible burn marks in the shape of Tasha's fingers along my cheek reaching up to the top of my cheekbones and covering my chin. The skin is red with white blisters, and in some places, the flesh in white in the center of the burns where the worst of it lies. The burns cascade down to my neck where they disappear underneath the hospital gown and I feel my stomach roll.

Tasha was right about one thing; my face wasn't pretty anymore.

I whip the handheld mirror across the room and smash it into pieces against the wall, raining down in a reflective mess on the pristine flood. I slum back against the pillows and look up at the ceiling, willing the tears to stay in my eyes. I've never been a vain person, but it's hard to process this. Dimitri brushes his fingers against my gauzed hand, but I pull it away abruptly, not wanting him to touch me.

If my face looks like this, what does the rest of my body look like?

"Where are Nadia and Artyom?"

"They're with Sydney," Dimitri says and I nod. We sit in silence for a few more minutes before a knock at the door makes me open my eyes and look at the door. A greying man in a white lab coat gives us a smile and enters the room, picking up a clipboard hanging on the end of the hospital bed and looks up at me.

"I am Dr. Sloan. I'm glad to see you awake, Rose. How are you feeling?" the man says, and I chuckle dryly. Did he seriously just ask me that question?

"I feel like crap," I reply bluntly and Dimitri scrubs his hands over his face before placing one back on the bed next to my leg.

Dr. Sloan nods and walks closer as he pulls on a pair of latex gloves and gently cups my face, moving it gently to examine my face and neck. Moving my neck hurts but I only let a small whimper out before Dr. Sloan moves to my arms and turns them in his hands quietly. After doing so, he places bandages along my face to cover the burns and I wince when the gauze brushes against my irritated skin.

"I know that it looks bad right now, but I can assure you that this will heal up nicely. I'm the best of the best," Dr. Sloan says, and he snaps the gloves off and writes a note on the clipboard. I give him a flat smile and he looks over at Dimitri before looking back at me.

"The burns on your face, neck, chest and hands are second degree while the burns on your stomach, legs and arms are only first degree. The first-degree burns are not much concern, but the others we need to keep an eye on. The one on your chest seems to be border lining third degree and may require a skin graft. Now, I have already gone in and cleaned your burns and they seem to be responding nice to the antibiotics and creams, but I'd like to keep you here for a few days to be safe."

I nod and take a deep breath and rest my head against the pillow again, trying to calm myself.

"How long do you think it will take for the burns to heal?"

"I would say with her advanced genetics; 3-4 weeks. The burns on her chest, roughly 5 weeks. I'm hoping there will be minimal scarring," Dr. Sloan says and I hear him set the clipboard back onto the holder. "Dr. Diggs should be in shortly to go over treatment for your legs, Rose."

I mumble a thank you as Dr. Sloan leaves and I keep my eyes trained on the ceiling. "Is there anything I can get you Roza?" Dimitri inquires and I purse my lips together. My whole body hurts, I'm freezing and all I can think about are the words Tasha said to me. When I'm done with you, nobody will look at you twice.

"I really just want to be alone right now," I whisper and shift as much as I can to my side, putting my back to Dimitri. Dimitri takes in a slow breath and stands up, brushing his hand over my hair and leaning down to press his lips to my temple. I turn my head away from him as he does so and squeeze my eyes shut as the tears I have been trying to hold in break free. I listen intently as Dimitri walks towards the door and I wait to hear it open and shut before I let them fall.

My whole body shakes softly as I let out the pent up pain and sob quietly into the pillow, completely unaware that Dimitri never left the room and is crouched against the wall with his head in his hands as he listens to me sob.

I wake two days later feeling different, and I sit up in bed without wincing. I look down at my arms to see that the burns that were vibrant and blistered now look like a bad peeling sunburn. I look over to see Lissa sleeping in the chair next to my bed and I lean over to shake her awake. Lissa jolts upwards when I place my hand on her shoulder and she looks at me with wide eyes.

"Hi," I croak and Lissa's face softens.

Lissa takes my hand and squeezes it gently in hers. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

I shrug. "Better, but I'm a little confused as to how the burns have healed up so much over night. Yesterday we were discussing skin grafts."

Lissa gives me a sheepish smile and the pieces fall together. "No, Lissa. Please tell me you didn't heal me," I plead, and she bites on her lip, looking out the window. Judging by the shaking in her hands, she did exactly that.

"I didn't do all of it, Adrian did some. We waited until you fell asleep because we knew that you would be mad that we 'wasted' our magic on you. We also healed up your legs too. Dr. Diggs said the casts will come off before they discharge you this afternoon," Lissa explains, and I give her a meek smile.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that, are you ok?"

Lissa turns back to me and nods before standing and laying down on the hospital bed next to me. "Yes I did, what happened to you was horrific, and I knew that you were struggling with it. And I'm fine, nothing a visit to the feeder couldn't fix," Lissa says and rests her head against mine. I squeeze her hand tightly in mine and close my eyes, enjoying her comfort.

I was struggling with it. I was so bothered by my appearance that I didn't want to see anyone, and as much as I wanted to see my babies, I was scared that my appearance would upset them. A knock at the door startles my thoughts and we both look up to see Dimitri standing in the doorway, holding a bouquet of Stargazer Lilies in his hand.

He gives the two of us a small smile and Lissa hops off the bed and kisses my head before grabbing her belongings and heading out the door. Lissa stops and pats Dimitri's shoulder before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

Dimitri stands by the door gazing at me and I give him a half smile, gesturing for him to come closer. Dimitri sets the flowers on the table by my bed and sits down on the edge, leaning in to kiss my forehead.

I lean into his touch as his lips linger there and sigh when he pulls away. "My favourite," I say softly as I look at the beautiful pink and white lilies wrapped in cellophane. Dimitri smiles at me and brushes his fingers over my cheekbone.

"You're looking better this morning," he comments and I nod, looking down at my arms.

"Lissa and Adrian took it upon themselves to use Spirit on me," I mumble and Dimitri chuckles.

"I know," he says and I snap my head up to look at him.

"You did?"

Dimitri scratches the back of his head, "Yes. I knew that you would shoot down the idea if either of them approached you about it, so I told them to wait. I didn't think they would do it while you were sleeping though."

I narrow my eyes at him and purse my lips before leaning back in the pillows. As much as I'm irritated that they did it without my permission, a small part of me is glad they did. I didn't want a constant reminder of what happened but didn't want to risk the consequences for Adrian and Lissa.

"How are you?" I ask as I scoot over in the bed and pat the small spot for him to lay down. Dimitri looks at me hesitantly before shuffling around and laying down next to me, mimicking the same position Lissa was just minutes ago. He looks tired and he has a prominent shadow on his face, but it looks extremely sexy.

"I'm ok," he says softly and I nod, curling myself into his body. He immediately wraps his arm around my waist and rests his face in my hair, breathing deeply as he strokes my hip.

"How did you find me?" I ask, genuinely curious as to how they found me.

Dimitri pulls up and fishes around in his pocket before holding my engagement ring in front of my face. I knit brows at him and he chuckles. "Remember when I took your ring in to get cleaned?"

I nod slowly but am still confused as to how that is relevant. "Abe had a tracker implanted in the band. I didn't know about it until he brought it up before Adrian tried to dream walk you. I figured Tasha would have taken it from you," he explains.

I tense up at the sound of her name and Dimitri rests his head against mine while resting his hand on my stomach, gently rubbing his hand in a comforting gesture. I place my hand over his and take a deep breath. I'm here with my Russian God. I need to keep my mentality here.

"What happened?"

Dimitri kisses my temple, lingering and intertwining our fingers. "Once we found out where you were, we came for you. Tasha and Robert were blindsided when we arrived and I won't lie, I think your mother would have killed Tasha if she were alone with her. Hell, I've never been someone who would think about inflicting pain on a woman, but I've come pretty close. Both Tasha and Robert were arrested, and Robert has already started to talk. Tasha on the other hand won't talk to anyone but me."

I look up into his troubled eyes and stretch my lips up to brush them against his jaw. Dimitri lost Ivan, and now he has lost Tasha. A part of me feels guilty because it's partly my fault that Tasha and his friendship is in shambles. Dimitri sighs and tilts his head down to capture my lips with his, squeezing my hand softly as his lips move delicately against mine.

I sigh into his mouth before groaning when a cough interrupts our small moment. I lick my lips and look over to see Dr. Sloan standing in the doorway with a cocky grin. "Am I interrupting?"

"If you are here to tell me I can go home then interrupt away," I quip and Dr. Sloan smiles. Dimitri stands up and makes room for the doctor to come and examine me. "I hear that Lord Ivashkov and Princess Dragomir were here doing some magic, but I have to say I am impressed. There should be next to no scarring," Dr. Sloan says as he carefully removes the bandages from my face, arms, neck and hands.

I smile at Dimitri before raising my questions to the doctor. "What about my chest? You said it was the worst."

Dr. Sloan looks over at Dimitri before looking back at me and I lean forward so Dr. Sloan can pull the hospital down to examine my chest. "It looks good, but there is going to be a little scarring here," he explains while pointing at my breastbone, "but other than that, I think you will make a full recovery."

Big shout out to TheLittleSubmissive for editing my chapter, you're a doll! :)