Rose's POV

"What does it mean for all the dhampirs?" Dimitri asked. Lissa nodded excitedly, sharing Dimitri's wonder, making me feel more isolated in my concerns. The dhampirs would be lining up to have children with each other, which would change everything. For centuries, so much of our world relied on the fact that dhampirs needed the Moroi to reproduce. What would happen to us if we didn't need the Moroi anymore? I wanted to feel happy, and I knew this was what I wanted, yet all I could recognize in me was anxiety.

Shock and horror crept its way into me as I stared at my best friend. What had she done? What had she sacrificed… all for me? I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her that she had to wait, that she couldn't go public with this news, that there was too much at risk. There were so many things I wanted to say, so many reasons this was wrong, but instead I heard myself saying "Thank you" in a disbelieving voice.

Dimitri wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, nestling his face in my neck. Lissa beamed at me, "Rose, there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. I owe you so much more than this." I shuddered as I thought of what more could be.

I was at a loss on how to handle the situation. As the dhampir princess, should I encourage my people to seek out this happiness, or should I do everything I can to stop it, and destroy any chance this news has at disrupting our way of life? And… oh no… Lissa. What does this mean for her and the other spirit users? They would be used and abused for their powers.

Lissa reached for my hand, making me jump slightly in Dimitri's embrace. She smiled warmly at me, as if the bond was reversed and she could see into my head. "It's going to be okay," she spoke softly, comfortingly, "It's going to be worth it, believe me."

I let out a sigh, forcing a smile onto my face, "I can't remember the last time everything was okay, Liss. But… yes, it's usually worth it." Lissa grinned at me and sent warm vibes through the bond. As I looked at my best friend and felt my boyfriend's arm around me I felt my fear and even guilt turn into a hard resolve. We were going to change the world, for better or for worse. No one else but us could have done it.

I daintily picked at the food in front of me, not caring that it was Dimitri's food. "So…" I asked awkwardly, "when do we make the announcement?" Lissa pursed her lips, looking uncertain for the first time this morning. "Not yet. We need to make sure Taylor carries the… fetus to at least the second trimester. We can't make a spectacle of it and then have it turn into a miscarriage. Listen, I don't want to let you guys down, but so far all we've proven is that two dhampirs can conceive. We don't know if Taylor's body will accept the pregnancy yet."

I sucked in a deep breath. I hadn't thought of that, but of course, Lissa had. "I understand," Dimitri said, tightening his arm around me. That was one topic I'd rather think about without the extra company. I continued picking at Dimitri's unfinished breakfast to help me keep my mind from spinning out of control again. I noticed Lissa tilting her head to the side out of the corner of my eye. Do you want to talk about it? she asked through the bond. Instead of answering her, I put on another forced smile and clapped my hands together, "Well this has been an interesting morning, but not fun at all-"

"Not at all?" Dimitri asked with one eyebrow arched, and I recalled our early morning makeup session. I smiled, a real one this time. "You know what I meant. Anyway, I want to do something fun that doesn't involve dhampir babies and politics. Do we have any meetings today?" Lissa shook her head.

"Perfect. Let's have some fun!"

Lissa tilted her head back and groaned, "What did you have in mind for 'fun'? Because you and I might have different ideas of a good time."

"Nonsense, we're going to invite Christian and anyone else we can think of to play Monopoly with a kick."

"With a kick?" Dimitri asked.

"It's the best way to play! Every time you pass Go or land on your own property, you have to take a shot. Or, if you don't have alcohol, you have to take a dare from the person who landed on your property last." I involuntarily smiled at the stupid things I would do while playing this game. Most of the time Mason and I would take it too far and everyone else would quit the game early. I narrowed my eyes playfully at Dimitri, "You're not scared, are you?"

"Hell no. I'm in."

"I'll call Christian," Lissa said and left the kitchen as she pulled out her phone. I turned to Lissa's guards standing in the room, "You're all welcome to play. The apartment will stay locked, and we'll all be in the same room." They all looked at each other, deciding together without using words. "We'll take turns, so one of us will always be standing by the door."

I didn't think that was necessary, but I didn't argue it either. That was how the guardians were. That's how I would have been. I nodded in agreement. "Okay, so it's you, me, Lissa and Christian, two guardians at a time, and… let's invite… uh," I sat there trying to think of people I was close enough with to invite. Sonya and Mikhail were on vacation together, Eddie and Adrian were still in California, Ambrose worked during the day…

"Why don't you call your parents?" Dimitri suggested. I gave him a sidelong look, "Play Monopoly with a kick with my parents?" It sounded ridiculous.

Dimitri gave me an exasperated look, "Or just play regular Monopoly with your parents."

I shrugged reluctantly, "Okay." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped the screen to call my mom first. It rang only two times before she picked up, "Rose, is everything okay?"

I smiled despite myself, "Chill, mom. Can't I call you without there being an emergency?" There was a long pause which made my joke fall flat. "Yes," she said hesitantly, "of course. How are you?" I bit my lip to stop from laughing. As depressing as our relationship could be, her awkwardness around me was sometimes comical. "I'm fine. I was actually calling to see if you could come play monopoly with me and Dimitri. Lissa and Christian will be here, too."

There was silence for a beat too long. I could only imagine the shock on my mom's face at being invited to my apartment (when there wasn't a large party). "Sure, I have some time today. Will your father be there?" I detected hopefulness in her voice when she mentioned Abe, which made it harder and harder not to laugh through the phone. "I don't know yet, I called you first."

My mom told me she would be over soon, and that she would invite Abe herself. I found Dimitri, Lissa, and one guard in the living room, lounging on the couch and watching TV with the remote in Dimitri's hand. "So where'd you get the idea to invite my parents?" I asked, trying to appear as casual as possible. Dimitri simply shrugged, "Is it wrong for me to want to spend time with my future in-laws?"

Lissa made a barely suppressed squealing noise and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her. I hid a smile and crossed my arms over my chest, "You seem pretty sure that they're going to be your in-laws. I think you forgot that I have to agree to marrying you first."

Dimitri grinned as he pressed the mute button to give me his full attention, "I haven't done that already? Besides, I think I need to convince your father that I'm worthy. I don't want to lose any limbs for not being in his good graces when I propose."

Lissa and I laughed, and I thought I heard the guard in the room cough to hide his laughter. I was relieved that the words marriage and proposal didn't scare me as much anymore. I would probably still panic if words like pregnancy and baby were brought up though. I sat next to Dimitri, making sure I was as close to him as humanly possible. "Don't worry comrade, he'd have to go through me first." Dimitri brought his lips down to mine, pressing softly, "Well, then I should just propose right now."

I smacked his arm, "No! No, no, no," as stern as I attempted to sound I couldn't help my smile. "Not until I can legally drink, that's the deal."

"Wait, I thought the deal was to wait until you were twenty? You're pushing it back now?" Dimitri cocked one eyebrow, I could see the smile slowly faded from his face. I shrugged. "Twenty, twenty-one. It doesn't matter to me, because I'm not walking down the aisle until I'm thirty anyways," I stated proudly.

Dimitri shook his head and sighed, effectively ending the conversation. I squeezed his hand reassuringly and pecked him on the cheek. "Ugh," Lissa groaned, "that's enough PDA for a while."

"Fine," I said, just as there was a knock on the door. I grinned, "It's time to play."

"Abe, it's your turn to roll."

"Hm? Oh, sorry." He picked up the die and rolled. All night he had been glancing between Lissa and myself; studying us. It didn't take long for me to figure out that he knew something he wasn't supposed to, and I started to think inviting him over was a bad idea.

"Park Place! Crap," Christian grumbled as Abe counted his fake money to buy the property. "Sorry son, I can't pass up the chance to own one of the best properties on the board. It would be foolish for anyone to pass up a great opportunity." Abe looked at me, piercing me with a fierce gaze that no one else noticed. They were all invested in the game, too wrapped up to consider the double meaning in my father's words.

I raised my eyebrows, feigning confusion, "It's just a game, old man. You're making it sound like lives are at stake."

Abe shrugged, still giving me a serious look, "If you are not careful, there could be lives at stake."

Everyone laughed at that, and I did my best to join in. Whatever Abe was up to, I didn't want to deal with it now. It was my turn next, and I took the chance to throw myself into the game. I landed on Boardwalk, the only other dark blue property. "Well, it looks like Abe the mob boss won't get to put any hotels on his beloved Park Place. Christian, can you hand me Boardwalk?" I held out the fake money.

Abe gave me a tight smile, "That's quite alright, dear. It wouldn't be right to have a monopoly on important things. Why deny others the chance to be happy?"

Now everyone in the room was aware of some tension. I stared at him, trying to figure out what he was doing here. He turned to Lissa, tapping the "Get Out of Jail Free" card in her pile, "You might need this soon, knowing how much trouble you and Rose can cause. To you, this is a game, but to others, it is much more."

I took in a deep breath, realizing that my dad somehow knew about Taylor's pregnancy. And, for some reason, he's upset that we haven't gone public yet. I know my father never had the utmost respect for politics, but now he was challenging me. Couldn't he stay out of something that had nothing to do with him for once?

Christian snorted, "I don't know about you, but I'm not making any bets here, so it's just a game."

I leaned forward, "Dad, I just want to play a game of monopoly right now, can you stop acting all dramatic?"

He nodded with a tight smile on his face. "Okay, kiz."

My mom said hesitantly and picked up the die to roll. As soon as she started her turn Dimitri leaned in to whisper to me, "What the hell was that?"

I turned to peck him on the cheek quickly, to hide the fact that I was whispering to him, "He knows about Taylor. I don't know how." Then I turned back to the game like nothing happened. Through the bond I could feel Lissa's anxiety, so she had figured it out too.

I nearly jumped when Dimitri placed a hand on my back. He leaned forward again, not trying to hide that he was whispering something to me at all, "Don't worry, they'll all know soon enough anyway. We might as well just say it out loud." He rubbed soothing circles into my back. When I looked at him he gave me a small nod of encouragement.

I bit my lip and looked to Lissa, who was already regarding me. I raised my eyebrows in question. She already knew what I was going to ask so she just nodded. I sighed and stood up, "Alright guys, we need to talk." My dad was in the middle of moving his piece across the board, but he let it go and sat back with a triumphant look on his face.

I looked at my mom who had a confused look on her confused face. She was the only one in this room who didn't know yet. "I don't really know how to ease you into this," I said to her. Her expression immediately turned worried at my tone. "But, uh, there's a dhampir couple who managed to… get pregnant together."

My mom gasped, "What? Are you serious?!" She looked at my stomach before glaring at Dimitri. He didn't shrink under her gaze, but I could tell he was uncomfortable. I involuntarily wrapped my arms around my stomach. "No, mom, it's not us. It's another couple who volunteered." My mom tore her glare from Dimitri back to me, looking relieved, "What do you mean, volunteered?"

I gestured to Lissa, "She can explain it best." I flopped down on the couch. Lissa sat up straighter now that everyone was looking at her. She gave them the same speech that she gave Dimitri and I that morning. My mom asked most of the questions, but my dad seemed to know most of this information already. I listened to the problems du jour for the second time that day.

At some point I spaced out and started daydreaming of the ideal vacation spot. Just me and Dimitri, all alone on some remote island where I could wear two of us wouldn't talk about marriage or babies or court at all. We would go swimming and make out in the water. We would get drunk and dance with large crowds of tourists. And the sex. Any vacation worth its while would involve a lot of sex with my Russian god. We would have sex every chance we had, gloriously infertile for a while longer. The more I thought about it the more I wanted this vacation. Damn.

Sadly, I wasn't in the Bahamas or someplace equally as exciting. I was here, where I couldn't get dhampir babies off my mind, not even during make-up sex this morning. I let my daydream slip away as I focused on the conversation happening in front of me.

"So what happens when you come public and other dhampir couples want in? Will you just deny them the chance to have children?" Abe inquired. Before Lissa had the chance to answer he was talking again, using his condescending mobster voice. "You can't just tell dhampirs they're not allowed to have children after you've discovered that it's possible. If you don't find a way to offer spirit to them, they will seek it out themselves."

"Don't you think we know that?" I snapped. "Listen, dad, you may have your opinions on this, but Lissa and I have been thinking about this for a long time," I lied. "We don't know how we're going to handle the other dhampir couples, but we have almost three months before we need to have a plan. This is strictly politics, it doesn't concern you."

We stared at each other for a long time, nobody in the room was speaking. My dad could be a mob boss and keep his secret connections and threaten important people, but I couldn't let him doubt me or Lissa. He could either support me or walk away from this topic and never bring it up again. Hopefully he understood that. Abe broke away from the staring first, covering his forehead with his hand. "Fine," he mumbled.

I nodded and picked up the die, holding them out to Abe. "It's your turn to make a move, old man."