Rose's POV

Dimitri leaned down to kiss me, I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating right then and there. It was stupid of me to try and stay away from Dimitri when I felt so complete with him by my side. I wanted to stay in this room forever, I could easily forget about all of my duties and worries here. I felt like we were there for a little piece of forever, time faded away. There was a commotion from the living room, two voices were calling my name.

Dimitri tried to sit up but I pushed him down, "Don't tear your stitches!" I hissed. The voices were arguing, getting closer to the door. I rolled off of Dimitri and lay down next to him, I wasn't going to hide being with him, but this position was less incriminating than being caught on top of him. There was a knock on the door and Mikhail barged into the room, "Belikov have you seen… oh." Adrian trampled in after him, his face dropped when he saw the scene in front of him.

I didn't regret in the slightest what Dimitri and I were doing, but it nearly killed me to see Adrian so low. "Found her," he said bluntly. He walked away, Mikhail ran a hand through his hair and went back to his makeshift bed on the couch. I looked at Dimitri, "What time is it?" We'd been making out for a while, long enough for Adrian to wake up from his stupor. Dimitri ran the back of his hand down my cheek, "Almost six, why?"

I jumped out of bed, my eyes must have doubled in size. "Holy shit it's that late?" I looked out the window, there was barely any sunlight left. I needed to get online now. "I'll be right back," I excused myself and ran out of the room, leaving a very confused Dimitri behind me.

Adrian was walking out the door as I entered the living room. I bit my lip as I made my way to my office, not the time to worry about him. I closed and locked the door behind me. I shook the mouse to make the idle computer screen come to life. There were four notifications for missed video calls. That was nearly half an hour ago. Shit. I clicked on Sydney's name and hoped she would still be at her laptop.

She was. Her face showed up on my screen, the resolution was poor but I could see the shape of her, "We agreed to talk at 5:30. You know I have other things to do, right?" Sydney Sage, how I missed her curt attitude. "Hey, yeah I know. I'm sorry. Is everything ready?" I kept my voice low, being paranoid that Dimitri would hear through the walls.

Sydney's shoulders sagged, "Yes, Abe has arranged for you to leave in three days and meet me at a hotel in Kentucky. He is at Court, isn't he? Just ask him." My breath hitched, I only

had three days before I left.

"I can't talk to him about this, we're always surrounded by others. Nobody else can know about this. What's in Kentucky?"

Sydney rolled her eyes, "Of course, I've become the unwilling messenger of the damned. There was an account tied to Eric Dragomir, the account holds around the same amount of money that Eric mysteriously transferred. Probably not the mother but a third party involved with the secret. We're going to see the account holder." As it turns out, trusting Abe was one of the best decisions of my life.

"Who's the account holder?" I asked, I could tell Sydney wanted to end this video call already. "Aren't you scared someone will overhear?" Sydney snapped, "Abe said he would debrief you on the need to know details, good-bye Rose." Her face disappeared before I could say anything else.

Before I could slump onto my desk and pout I checked the time difference between Virginia and Russia. I had one more call to make.

The sun was about to rise. My stomach knotted at the thought of leaving court, especially without telling Dimitri and Lissa where I was going. I only had two days now. The elections would start soon, and I needed to be back before the new king or queen was chosen. Dimitri had one arm wrapped around me, rubbing his hand up and down my arm, "Rose?"

I blinked twice, my head slowly coming back down to earth. "I don't care. Something funny." Dimitri turned back to the TV to choose a movie on Netflix. Mikhail sat in the lazyboy with his feet propped on the coffee table.

I had a lot of free time on my hands now. Since the queen died the council hasn't been meeting. There was one meeting to discuss Clare. I did my best to advocate for her- she shouldn't be executed for what she did under compulsion. Of course, the council didn't listen to me.

"I'll make popcorn," I left Dimitri's embrace and beelined for the kitchen. Two days. I had just gotten Dimitri back and now I had to leave him. I clenched the counter to stop me swaying. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I had to betray Dimitri's trust. I was the princess, I had to protect the dhampirs, and getting Lissa on the council would protect the dhampirs. Hell, making Lissa queen would be ideal.

If everything went according to plan, I would only be gone for two or three days. Go to the account holder's house, get the location of the Dragomir child, get the child and return to Court. Simple. I couldn't bear to think of Lissa's reaction to this secret sibling, she worshiped her father like a saint.

I made the popcorn and returned to Dimitri's arms. I couldn't focus on the movie, only on Dimitri's arms around me and the sinking fear of what I had to do.

Abe came over near the end of the movie, I wriggled out of Dimitri's embrace before my father saw. I took him into my office and closed the door. "Okay old man, are you going to tell me who this account holder is?"

"Sonya Karp" he inspected his nails.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No."

"She's a Strigoi."

"I know."

I raised my eyebrows, "Explain." Abe sat down and motioned for me to do the same. Abe waited for me to take a seat before jumping in, "I've contacted a spirit user who lives on the fringes of society. You are in charge of subduing Ms. Karp with the help of Mikhail and the guardian I'm sending with you. The spirit user will then transform her, like Vasilisa did for Guardian Belikov. He will meet you in Kentucky along with his brother, who I believe you know quite well." Abe gave me a knowing look. Zmey really outdid himself this time.

"You mean to tell me that you reached out to Victor Dashkov and Robert Doru? And they agreed to help, just like that?" Disbelief stained my voice. My father smiled at me like I was a small child who didn't understand basic math, "You doubt my power. I may have given them a good reason to help you." I didn't want to know.

Abe handed me a manilla envelope, "Credit card, directions to the hotel, the iPod you requested, a non traceable phone with my number. I expect updates." He wasn't showing a lot of concern, but the updates comment made me realize that Abe was scared for me. He had done a lot for me without asking questions. In just the short time he'd known me he had put a lot of faith in me, trusting me more than I could trust him.

"Thank you, dad." Abe, who was looking around the office, flicked his eyes to me. His eyebrows raised, "Of course." I stood and walked over to the door, Abe followed. Before I opened the door I hugged him. He stood there frozen for a moment before wrapping his arms around me. When he turned to leave I could swear I heard him mumble "proud of you."

Dimitri's bedroom door was closed, Mikhail stood at my entrance, "Well? What did Mr Mazur have to say?" The expectant look on Mikhail's face transformed to wonder and then tears spilled out of his eyes as I told him we were going to save his lover.

Dimitri threw his book on the nightstand just like last night. "It's a special day in a woman's life when Dimitri puts a book down for her," I joked and crawled into his bed. Dimitri grinned, "This is better than anything in those books anyway." He tried to lean over to kiss me but grimaced in pain. His hand applied pressure to his abdomen.

"Why didn't Lissa heal me? Not that I expected her to, but..." he stated curiously.

I chewed my lip, because I couldn't have you peering over my shoulder every second as I finished up my plans to leave court, because you would try to stop me. Because I specifically requested Mikhail to be my temporary guardian so that he could help me. I hated lying to Dimitri, but it was necessary. "By the time we were allowed to see you, you were already in a stable condition. Lissa wanted to heal you but I wouldn't let her. I didn't want her using that much magic when I knew you'd heal perfectly fine."

Dimitri studied me for a long time, I felt small under his gaze. I looked down at my hands, "I don't think I could handle taking the darkness from her," I whispered.

Dimitri bought the lie and wrapped me in his arms, flinching as he did so. I realized how low I was being by making him feel sympathy toward me when it was just deception. He kissed the top of my head, "Roza, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"I know. Trust me I would have let her heal you if you were in worse condition, but I don't think we should be abusing her power. We need to save it for when it's really needed. You pulled through okay."

Dimitri laughed, "You took a raincheck on the witch doctor?"

I grinned, "Yeah, something like that."

I pulled his face down to my own and kissed him. "Roza," he breathed. I closed my eyes, enjoying the way my name sounded when he said it. The kiss intensified, soon enough our clothes would be coming off. Dimitri's hand pulled at the hem of my shirt but I pulled away, "I… I don't think we should… Dim-"

"It's okay, Roza. Don't let me do anything you don't want me to. We can just… talk," he shrugged nonchalantly but I could tell he was hurt by the rejection. I couldn't sleep with Dimitri, yet. If I did now I don't think I would be able to leave Court, leave Dimitri.

"Okay, yeah. What should we talk about?" I focused on his chocolate eyes, noticing the pain and confusion in them.

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I get that you don't want Lissa using her powers because of the madness, but why didn't you have her, or even Adrian, go into your mind and retrieve your memories from when you left Court for two weeks? If it was compulsion that made you lose the memories of your time away, spirit should help you get them back."

I smiled sadly, "I considered doing that, but I'm not so sure I want to remember what happened to me. All I remember is a voice, and that was bad enough. I don't need the memories back."

Dimitri didn't comfort me, instead he gave me a solemn look, "I think you're a timebomb." It was times like this that I wished I could do the raise-one-eyebrow thing. "Excuse me?" I asked incredulously.

Dimitri laughed without humor, "Do you really think the Strigoi would erase your memories of, what? Torture? No, they would want you to live with those memories, it's a game they play. They also wouldn't return you to court without ulterior motives. I think whatever you can't remember is going to be triggered by something and it's going to be messy."

The scariest part was that he made a lot of sense, a shiver ran down my spine. The Strigoi didn't return me, they planted me. I was a timebomb and I had no idea what tragedy would lay in my wake.

With everything that was plaguing my mind I shouldn't have been able to sleep. Dimitri's arms provided warmth and stability and protection. I checked in on Lissa through the bond, her calm emotions helped me relax enough to drift off in Dimitri's embrace.

The day to leave came. Mikhail and I would meet the mystery tagalong guard at the garage in twelve hours. I had a backpack full of clothes and toiletries hidden under my bed along with Mikhail's things. I set up a surprise for Dimitri and Lissa that would hopefully distract them for hours after I'm gone.

The day started with Dimitri making me breakfast, seeing him shirtless and flipping pancakes made me all sorts of crazy. We lounged around the suite until lunch time. Dimitri and I left the suite with Mikhail to go on a double date with Lissa and Christian.

Dimitri was shocked and became shy when I told him that Lissa knew about us. Lissa then told Christian who told Tasha and the news spread like wildfire. For those who didn't know us well, this was the first time hearing of a relationship between us two and it became hot gossip.

Lissa made reservations at a small, hidden away restaurant for royals. Mikhail stood off to the side like a guardian typically would, but he would catch my eye every now and then. He wanted to leave now, but I wanted to spend every last moment possible with Dimitri, Lissa and yes, even Christian. I held Dimitri's hand throughout the dinner, the few others in the restaurant couldn't look away. I leaned over to kiss him, he flushed slightly at the gazes from all the Moroi, making the rest of us at the table laugh.

Half an hour before Mikhail and I had to leave, we all made our way to one of the large party rooms in the royal housing building. Before I opened the doors, I turned to face Dimitri, "So I did some information digging. Your birthday is less than a month away," I shook my finger at him for not telling me. "Given everything that's happened recently, we need something… happy. We're celebrating your birthday tonight!"

I threw the door open to reveal our friends, my parents, and Dimitri's entire family from Russia. Dimitri couldn't move at first, but his sisters had no issue and all ran to him as one. "Dimka!" His mother joined the crowd, hugging Dimitri and showering him with kisses.

Yeva hobbled over to me, "You did it. I knew you would bring our Dimitri back to us. Tell me, child, why are you leaving?"

I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one heard her, "Don't say anything about that. I know what I'm doing. I'm coming back." Her visions always annoyed me. Yeva smirked and hobbled over to Dimitri, his height made him crouch down to hug her.

I took Lissa over to Mark and Oksana, I arranged for them to come with the Belikovas. Lissa started a starry eyed conversation with the couple. It was always fascinating to see the Spirit-bound lovers. The bond creates such a strong connection that we can't help but hopelessly love our bondmates. Before I'd med Dimitri, I'd even been convinced Lissa was my soulmate.

I looked over to Dimitri, who was greeting Paul like a stranger he couldn't wait to meet. Dimitri had never smiled so much in front of others, my heart melted.

I found Mikhail standing by the door. No one noticed as we slipped out. It took us only minutes to retrieve our things and jog to the parking garage. The sun would rise in an hour and the court was asleep for the day. Standing by a shiny SUV was none other than Eddie.

Eddie grinned, "Another mission, huh? It never ends with you."

I shook my head, "You can't come with us. You have a charge, remember?" Now Eddie shook his head, "Lord Drozdov has been detained for questioning per order of the council so I can't guard him. Mr Mazur asked me to come with you and I agreed, of course."

I felt like I had been slapped, "What? When did the council decide this?" Eddie was taken aback, clearly he didn't know the council decided this without me. "Yesterday. Since you kept saying Clare was compelled, they took in the closest Moroi to her."

Mikhail put a hand on my shoulder, "We have to leave, someone is going to wonder where we are." I bit back anything else I might have said and crawled into the trunk of the SUV. The guards would never let me leave the court walls without an entourage. Mikhail and Eddie got in front, this was eerily similar to the escape we pulled at the beginning of summer to go to Tarasov.

Eddie and Mikhail made a lame excuse for leaving, errands in the human city and such. The guard at the gates let them through.

Once the car zipped past the invisible line of the wards my head nearly exploded.

All I could see was fangs and white skin. The same voice that threatened me in my bathroom came back, but he was saying more things, different things. My muscles were tired from fighting and my clothes were torn and bloody. The voice had eyes with red rings. His eyes weren't happy with me, but his voice was calm and seductive. I couldn't look away.

All of my lost memories came crashing down on me.