Rose's POV

I woke up to an empty space in the bed where Dimitri usually lay. The digital clock on my bedside table read one hour before my alarm would go off to get ready for the council meeting. I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Dimitri?" I called. No reply. I listened for the hissing of bacon cooking or a fork scraping a plate, any sound to indicate Dimitri was in the suite. Nothing. I reached for my phone on the nightstand, and found his phone right next to mine. "Dimitri!" I shouted, followed by more silence. I got out of bed and dressed quickly in slacks and a red blouse.

I shuffled out into the living room, which was actually clean now that Dimitri's family had gone back to Russia weeks ago. Vika and I still texted constantly, and Dimitri called his mom almost every day. I missed them, but I enjoyed having Dimitri all to myself now.

There were no signs of Dimitri in the apartment, and his Duster was gone. I wrung my hands together, trying to stay calm. He could have gone anywhere in Court without his phone. If he was rushed off to some battle, I would most certainly have woken up in that commotion. No, the fact that I hadn't woken up this morning could only mean one thing: Dimitri snuck out.

I called Lissa. "Hello?" she asked, her voice alert even though she should still be asleep. "Have you seen Dimitri this evening?" I asked. My logic told me that if Dimitri was doing something behind my back, it would involve my best friend. "No, but Christian has," she said with humor in her voice. I waited for her to continue. When she didn't I waved my arm impatiently, "And?"

"And they're together right now. No need to worry."

"What are they doing?"

"I didn't ask," she said, but I knew she was lying.

"Liss, you know I don't like secrets or surprises, unless it's a stripper cake. Tell me what's going on." Lissa laughed at this, her amusement irked me. "Don't worry, Rose. I'm sure you'll like this. If I tell you now Dimitri will know it was me and he'll never forgive me." I tried to think of what he could be planning. Vika told him no weddings until I was older, Valentine's day wasn't even close. In fact, there was nothing to be celebrating this time of year. I chewed on the inside of my mouth, my left foot tapping a rapid beat on the carpet.

"Just give me a hint!" I whined. It wasn't my birthday for another month and a half. I tried to think of any Russian holidays in the middle of January and came up with absolutely nothing. Lissa sighed, "All right, but honestly you should have figured it out yourself." I didn't like the change in attitude from her. "Get on with it," I snapped.

"It's your anniversary! Well, six months since you two officially started dating at Court." Armed with this revelation, I went back to my bedroom to start over. I changed into a black business skirt and black nylons (Dimitri has a thing for stockings). I kept the red blouse because I know he likes the color on me. I put a lot of effort into my hair, pinning it up in a nice bun without any flyaway hairs.

I was about to start on my makeup when I heard the front door click open. I strolled into the living room to find Dimitri holding two plastic bags in one hand and a tray with two coffee mugs in the other. My face broke into a cheshire cat grin, "Good morning, baby."

Dimitri paused in his pursuit to me, "Did you just call me 'baby'?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

I shrugged, "Wanted to try it out. I think I'll stick to comrade, though." I closed the distance between us and leaned up for a kiss. He responded instantly but pulled away before the kiss could pick up intensity. "This would be a lot easier if I could put these down," he held up the bags and tray.

"What else did you get me?" I asked suggestively, there were no flowers, any gift must be small enough to fit in his pocket. Dimitri laughed, "Who said I got you anything?" I pouted, it was way too early to joke around like this.

"Cut the crap, Comrade. I know what today is. And you snuck out this morning, so obviously, you got me a gift." I stepped back and held out my hands expectantly.

Dimitri looked surprised, "What's today?" I was about to scold him for playing with me, but I think he was honestly confused. "Lissa said you were with Christian this morning." Dimitri nodded slowly, "I was, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Today's our anniversary! Lissa told me you were with Christian, so I thought you were getting… Never mind." Dimitri seemed completely lost now, "Anniversary? But it's only been six months since… Oh. You thought… Rose, I honestly didn't think about it, I'm sorry."

I waved my hand nonchalantly, even though I was slightly miffed, even though I knew I didn't have a right to be. Petty. I shouldn't expect a gift if I hadn't even given thought to our anniversary either. I decided to change the subject, "Whatever. I wasn't expecting anything. So, uh, what were you doing, if it wasn't getting a present?" I looked pointedly at the cups of coffee.

Dimitri brightened at this, "We wanted to get you and Lissa breakfast in bed for today's meeting." He looked at my attire, "Too late for the in bed part, huh?" I threw my head back and laughed. "Let's just chill out on the couch."

Chilling was harder than it should have been because the tight skirt was pulled up to my belly button and restricted my slouching abilities. I sat up straight, looking too prim for a casual breakfast of bagels and hot chocolate.

"So what's special about today?" I asked through a mouthful of bagel, "I mean, why'd you go out and get breakfast for us?" Dimitri shrugged, chewing thoughtfully on his bagel. "Christian and I just wanted to do something nice. We noticed how the meetings have been stressing both of you out." He leaned forward and planted a kiss on my forehead. I blushed and looked down at my half eaten bagel.

"I hate you," I said without any vehemence. Lissa smiled guiltily, "What was I supposed to think? It is your six month anniversary. It's not my fault I know your relationship better than both of you." She gave Dimitri a meaningful look. I could tell Dimitri was growing uncomfortable by this topic, "Alright, we get it. We don't celebrate every silly, meaningless date on the calendar. Shall we?" I asked, holding my arms out in an exaggerated manner toward the entrance of the courthouse.

Liss and I walked in side by side. I always liked to imagine we looked like badass bitches who could kill a man with one glare, but the reality was that we looked like two pretty businesswomen, too young to fit the bill. The rest of the council hadn't shown up yet. Most monarchs liked to be the last one in the room, but Lissa made a point to be early to every council meeting, and I always tried to show up when she did.

I flopped into my seat, not worried about prying eyes just yet. Dimitri joined the few guardians in the room flanking the entrances. "So what's on the agenda today, Majesty?" I asked. Lissa rolled her eyes at the title, "We need to discuss the economic state of Moroi living out in the human world, and their desire for health care at Moroi facilities like Court. And then we're going to vote on funding for novice training equipment at the new school opening in Denmark."

I groaned. I hated talking about economics. All of the large numbers gave me a headache, and I didn't really understand what the Moroi were complaining about all the time. You either had the money or you didn't. End of story. "Private or public?" I asked. Lissa looked up from a stack of papers with annoyance written all over her face, "Private. Don't you ever pay attention when we decide these things?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, "I forget." The rest of the council filed in as the hour dragged on. Rufus came in last, exactly one minute after the meeting was scheduled to start. A surge of anger and guilt filled me every time I saw him. I still hadn't told Lissa about Rufus' role in Tasha's escape. Tasha, who was still missing. I wasn't trying to protect Rufus by keeping his secret, but I didn't want to start any more problems.

If I revealed Rufus, the Court would be in an uproar, and my own honesty would be questioned. It was my very own double edged sword. I didn't get to ponder this for long, because Lissa called the room to attention. Let the headache begin.

Typically, I stayed out of Moroi matters in the law and stayed fairly quiet during those discussions. I was here to represent the dhampirs, so I know my voice wouldn't be appreciated when it came to voting for the other race. I just sat back and voted for what Lissa would vote for. Then came the dhampir topics, which I was very involved in, obviously. Over time, the other council members came to respect my opinions, or at least they were willing to listen to me and take consideration. All except for Rufus.

"I think that this new school should have a higher budget than the other school for this quarter, just to get them started off on the right foot. They need all new equipment, whereas the other schools only need to replace the old and useless equipment." This came from Princess Conta. Then, "They can manage with the same budget that we give to St. Vladimir's and St. Basil's and all of the other schools every year. Why should they get any more?" That came from Princess Voda.

"Because, like Princess Conta said, they don't simply need to replace a handful of dumbbells and training mats, they need to buy everything new. But I agree with you, Princess Voda. We need to keep the budget reasonable. I suggest we get the other schools to donate equipment to the new school." The last one came from Rufus.

"Hand Me Down equipment? Thanks to the already low budgets for the other schools, they have no useful or effective equipment to donate. Everything they could sacrifice would be crap," I said.

"Princess Hathaway, watch your mouth!" Lissa scolded. I flinched at the harsh tone in Lissa's voice. Princess Conta jumped in, "Rosemarie is right. We don't give the novices enough funds for the proper training they need to become decent guardians." She grew pensive for a moment, "In fact, we should just go ahead and increase the budget for every school, not just the one in Denmark."

Rufus coughed, if he were drinking water, he would have spit it out. "Increase it! That's absurd!" Before he could put up much of an argument, though, the rest of the council was in a heated discussion. I never would have dreamed of proposing what Princess Conta did, but I was grateful for it. Prince Zeklos turned to me and was about to argue something when Princess Conta raised her hand up. The council respectfully quieted.

Princess Conta stood and turned to Lissa, "I formally propose that the council increase the funds for novice school equipment and guardian training programs at each school under the Court's jurisdiction by 500,000 US dollars." The room stayed silent, though many opened and closed their mouths several times. I stared in awe. This was actually happening, and a Moroi initiated it. Lissa nodded and the princess sat down. "Thank you, Princess Conta. Does anyone have anything to add to this?" Rufus made a motion but didn't stand up.

"Alright then," Lissa said, "let's vote on this. Those for increasing the budget to each school by $500,000?" I raised my hand instantly, along with Princess Conta. After a pause, so did Voda, Ivashkov, Ozera, Drozdov and Dashkov and Badica. Last but not least, Lissa raised her hand. We had the majority.

"It's settled then. This will go into effect at the start of the next quarter. Does anyone have anything else to contribute to today's meeting?"

I was practically bouncing in my seat. Nobody spoke up. "Then that will be all. You're all dismissed. Thank you." I shot up from my seat and went straight to Lissa's chair. As Zeklos passed me I heard him mutter, "Half a million dollars!"

I grabbed Lissa's wrist in excitement. "Liss, please tell me that really happened!" Lissa sighed and nodded, "That really happened." Her mouth was pulled down at the edges, the first signs of a frown.

"What's wrong?" I asked, squeezing Lissa's hand. Lissa sighed again and gave me an exasperated look, "Rose, there are over fifty Moroi schools around the world. That's a lot of money going out." Lissa leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table in front of her. I put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Liss, it's going to be okay. We have the money to do this. Look at the bright side! The Dhampirs just scored huge today, and it was a Moroi who made it happen. Look how far we've come!"

Lissa laughed, "I can't believe Conta did that. I don't know if we would have gotten the votes to pass if you'd been the one to suggest it." I tried to not let the truth of that matter bring me down. If being a successful princess meant befriending the rest of the council and letting come up with ideas for me, then I would do just that. "The point is, now the dhampirs have one more voice in their favor. C'mon, we need to celebrate!" I tugged on Lissa's shoulder, but she didn't budge.

"Not today, Rose. I'm going to look at some numbers. See if I can save us from losing a couple million dollars." Lissa got up from her seat and waved a hand. In an instant all of her guards were flanking her. She walked out of the room without a second glance.

I stared after her, wondering what would be making Lissa so upset. This vote was the best thing that's happened while I've been princess! I didn't think Lissa would care so much about the numbers and costs. I knew Lissa well enough to know that something bigger was going on. I poked at Lissa's thoughts- if I could just see what was on her mind... "Rose?" I jumped when I heard my name, coming back to reality.

"Yeah?" I turned to Dimitri just as he swept me up in a hug and twirled me. He put me back down and cupped my giggling face. "That was amazing! People have really warmed up to you on the council, Roza." He leaned down for a kiss, but I didn't return it with much enthusiasm. "What's wrong?"

I thought back to Lissa's attitude today, and this morning. "Lissa's been acting weird. Have you noticed that?" Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and held me close, "Not me, but I think Christian has. It was his idea to get breakfast for Lissa. I just tagged along."

I stepped out of Dimitri's embrace, feeling too caught up with my own thoughts to take comfort from him. "I need to do some research," I stated. Dimitri took in my mischievous smirk. "What do you-" but before Dimitri could finish I was in Lissa's head.

Lissa was almost back to her apartment by now, walking at a brisk pace in the cool air. Her guards silently escorted her. Lissa kept her head bent low to avoid the worst of the wind hitting her face. Her phone buzzed in her front pocket. She fished the phone out of her pocket and smiled down at the caller ID "Christian. I'm on my way home now." I heard the TV on in the background through the phone. "Good. Have you heard back from Dr. Franke yet?"

Lissa slowed in her pace, "No. He said he would know by 5 a.m. at the earliest. Be patient." Know what? I didn't even know a Dr. Franke. I tried digging into Lissa's memories, but she had a mental block on them. Lissa suddenly stopped moving, I could feel her grow weary, "I have to get off the phone. Someone's eavesdropping."

Lissa shoved her phone in her pocket. I heard her voice, though not coming out of her mouth. She was speaking directly into my head. Stay out of my thoughts, Rose. Don't ruin the surprise. The words were civil enough, but her tone was harsh and bitter.

Then she kicked me out.

The courtroom came back into existence. Dimitri sat in my council chair, tossing his phone back and forth. We were the only people in the room. He gave me a worried look, "That was fast. Did you find out what you needed to know?" My knees felt shaky and I sat in Ivashkov's seat before I could fall. I shook my head slowly, shocked at that whole experience. "Lissa's hiding something from me."

Dimitri pursed his lips, "Is it bad?" I shook my head again, wanting to crawl into a hole. My best friend was keeping a secret from me. How could that not be bad?

"I… don't know." I don't remember feeling so helpless for a long time. Things were just starting to feel normal again after Tasha's escape. The council was accepting me, Dimitri and I were happy, everything was perfect. I thought. It seemed that I was never going to catch a break with all the drama.

If there's anything I know about myself, it's that I don't like feeling helpless. "I don't know," I repeated, "but I'm going to find out."