Rose's POV

I woke up to a sticky hand grabbing at my face and collarbone. "Aunty Rose…" a small voice whispered. I opened one eye, taking in my "nephew", who had something purple resembling jelly covering his mouth. Dimitri groaned and rolled over next to me. "What is it, Paul?" Dimitri grumbled, his voice low and hoarse.

Paul flicked his eyes to Dimitri, looking apprehensive. "Babushka told me to tell aunty Rose the queen is here to see her." He was probably told to not bother his uncle Dimka.

During the movie last night, I had made a mental list of all my problems. Well, at least the ones that I could do something about. It didn't take me long to figure out what I wanted to do.

"Thank you," I said. "Can you tell her I'll be out in a minute?" He nodded eagerly and ran out of the room, leaving the door open. I groaned and heaved myself out of bed to close the door. I could hear voices out in the living room, speaking too loud for anyone to sleep through. It seems Dimitri and I were the last to wake up.

Dimitri was sitting up now, rubbing his eyes. I picked up his pants, which he had discarded on the floor before joining me in bed last night, and tossed them at him. He caught them and promptly threw them on the ground by the bed.

"No meetings scheduled today," I said, taking my sleep shorts off. "But I'm sure the others will call a session anyway, given what happened."

Dimitri nodded lazily and yawned. It was one of those rare mornings when I was energized immediately, and Dimitri was the one that was hard to get out of bed. It didn't happen often, and when it did, I tried to give him the same patience he offers me on a daily basis. The problem is, I'm not naturally patient.

I threw on a simple outfit of black slacks and a black blouse. I wanted to wear mourning colors without actually looking like I was mourning a crown traitor. I leaned down to kiss Dimitri on the cheek, he had laid back down with the promise that he would "get up soon."

I stroked his cheek, thinking briefly of what this lifestyle had done to Dimitri. He was a fighter, a warrior. And now he's stuck guarding me because he loves me, even though it's pointless to guard a fully trained guardian.

In the living room, Lissa was sitting with Zoya in her lap, smiling at the baby. The conversation in the room stopped when I walked in. Everyone recognized that I was Princess Hathaway right now, not aunty Rose. Olena was sitting with her back stick-straight. The rest of the Belikov family already grew comfortable in Lissa's presence, but Olena remained prim and proper.

Lissa smiled at me and handed the baby back to Karolina. She tilted her head to my office door. "Shall we?" she asked. I nodded and led the way.

Christian was already standing in my office, looking at a picture of the four of us at Christmas. I paused, suddenly nervous. Lissa closed the door behind her. This was not expected.

"Christian…" I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. He looked up at me, and I noticed the red that tinged his eyes - he had been crying recently. He didn't say anything either, he just stood there, regarding me as if he didn't know me. I could feel my heart cracking. I didn't think I was ready to face him again.

Lissa sat in a chair, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap, looking like a businesswoman. "We came here to ask for a favor. We need your blessing before taking it to council." I raised my eyebrows at Christian, but he leveled me with those emotionless eyes.

I chose to focus on Lissa instead. "What do you need?" I asked. Lissa and Christian shared a brief look, he nodded at her, pushing her forward.

"Christian wants… We want… to have a funeral for Tasha."

It only took me a moment to decide. "Done." I said. "Whatever it takes, I'm on board."

Christian seemed surprised, which bothered me. Did he think that low of me? Lissa, too, seemed shocked that I didn't need any convincing.

He looked like he was prepared to fight my decision, but by taking his side I'd disarmed him. "Well, good." he said, reaching out to shake my hand. I stared at his hand for a moment longer than necessary. In the end I shook his hand, feeling incredibly awkward the entire time.

Christian left, probably wanting to spend as little time as possible with me. The door clicked softly shut behind him.

"Sorry to bombard you with that," Lissa said, relaxing further into her seat, "But Christian needs some closure, and he asked to come with me today… Just give him time," Lissa said, her voice softening when she took in my demeanor. She transformed from a business woman and became the Lissa I know and love.

"He knows it's not your fault she's dead," Lissa continued. "But he's beyond reason right now. Just give him some time to grieve her and he'll be ready to be your friend again."

Even if what she was saying was true, I knew that there was no coming back from what happened. My relationship with Christian would never be the same, carefree, often playfully insulting kinship it used to be.

"Thank you, Rose."

"For what?"

"For agreeing to help us put Tasha to rest. It will help Christian move on."

I nodded, sitting down across Lissa. "You know that even with my help, it probably won't happen. She's a traitor to the crown, the council won't want to allow her to have a funeral."

"I know, and so does he. But it means the world to him that you're willing to try, even if he doesn't show it."

Lissa grabbed my hand, squeezing it. "It'll be okay," she said reassuringly. I didn't realize how worried I was until she said those words. "I don't know, Liss. I wouldn't blame him if he hated me forever."

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "He won't. He doesn't hate you now, he's just struggling."

I felt something in the bond then, a tug of guilt. "You're lying." I said.

She sucked in a huge breath. "Okay, maybe he does hate you, but I know, I know that he can't hate you forever. He'll get over this," she said, a tinge of desperation in her voice. She couldn't stand the idea of her best friend and boyfriend hating each other.

I stood up, anxious to change the subject. Thankfully, Lissa sensed that.

"What did you want to talk about? Your text made it seem urgent."

"Are the protesters still outside?" I asked, sidestepping.

Lissa nodded, "Yeah. They have signs now." I flinched. I never thought I would see the day people would picket against me. I took a moment to process this information.

I would need Lissa behind me every step of the way.

"I thought that I became a princess when I was sworn in by Tatianna," I said, rolling my eyes. "I would go to meetings, I would have tea with Tatianna and learn the ins and outs of politics, but I was never prepared for this."

"Rose, you've done a great -"

I held up my hand to stop her. "I haven't been a princess at all. Not really. No, listen," Lissa was ready to jump in and remind me how great I am. I was getting tired of all this flattery - because it was coming from a place of pity, it wasn't genuine.

"I want to do what Tatianna told me to do. She made me a princess so that I could show the Strigoi that the dhampirs are powerful, and united. She wanted me to stand up for the dhampirs whose rights were being taken away from them by our own Moroi."

I walked over to the desk, grabbing paper and a pen. "I need to set an example for the dhampirs, and instead I've been a lame duck on my council seat. I live in my nice apartment which I did nothing to earn and I yell at princes on the council, but I have done nothing until yesterday."

Lissa narrowed her eyes at me, "What are you saying, Rose?"

I smiled, feeling a rush of excitement course through me. "I'm stepping up. Yesterday was the first time I was truly a leader, Liss. I don't care what the protesters say, I'm going to make my people proud that I was the first dhampir royal."

I wrote down the names of councilmen and women who I thought would support me and my first idea: Conta, Zeklos, Ivashkov?, Szelsky, Voda. Writing their names made nothing official, but it made the small step of progress feel real.

I had wanted to start a guardians committee a long time ago, but many on the council warned me against it, saying that starting committees was a pain in the neck. Back then, I was willing to follow their direction and do as they say. But now I knew that to be more than a pencil-pusher, I would need to stop listening to what others had to say. I could take their advice, of course, but I had become complacent. I was done doing what the Moroi wanted. I would lead for the dhampirs now.

Luckily, to create a committee, I didn't need a majority vote, but the more support I had in creating it, the more successful it would be.

"I'm going to start a committee, for guardian's rights. I'll head it, I just need some council members on my side, and I'm sure Hans will help run it. I want to organize volunteers who will actively hunt Strigoi as part of the committee, and I already have a guardian in mind who can lead them." I held out the paper and pen to Lissa. "Will you support it?" I asked.

Lissa barely hesitated, offering me the same support I offered her and Christian earlier. She signed her name on the paper. "Of course, Rose. It sounds like a lot for one committee, maybe we should split the fighting faction and the guardian's rights into separate committees. We can work out the details later, and I'll help you pitch it to the council. She looked at the names I'd jotted down. "I think I can also get Prince Lazar on board, if you let me talk to him."

"That'd be perfect. Oh, I wanted to talk to you about one more thing, while you're here."

Lissa nodded, handing me back the piece of paper with the names. I set it on the desk, leaning on it and crossing my arms in front of me. "We need to tell the council about the pregnant dhampir couple."

Lissa raised her eyebrows, "We do?"

I nodded. "Yes, and we have to tell them sooner rather than later; sometime this week." I could see Lissa's face lighting up, how excited she was getting. I rushed to keep her in check, holding up a finger and waving it for emphasis. "But we won't bring up the idea of me having kids at all. Don't even mention it to the council. They can make all the inferences they like; all we're doing is telling them what you and Sonya discovered about Spirit magic. If I happen to get pregnant by Dimitri, way in the future, they'll know how it happened."

My strict tone did nothing to calm Lissa down. I saw this as a task that needed handling, since we couldn't possibly hide Taylor's pregnancy. Lissa, on the other hand, saw this as me coming one step closer to accepting motherhood.

She clapped her hands together and hopped in place. "We'll tell them at the meeting on Friday!"

I shook my head, but I couldn't help the smile that grew on my face. "You're ridiculous," I said.

"So, we'll bring up a funeral for Tasha, we'll talk to our friends on the council about supporting the guardian's committee, and we'll announce Taylor's pregnancy." She held up three fingers, ticking them off as she recapped.

I nodded along in agreement. Lissa was suddenly less giddy than before, but happy nonetheless. "How about I stop by for dinner? We can go over plans for the committee; responsibilities and such."

"Sounds good, I'll see you tonight, Liss." she kissed my cheek and left, waving bye to the Belikovs on her way out.

I stood in the doorway of my office, marking three checks off my mental list. Supporting a funeral service for Tasha wasn't part of my plan, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to mend bridges with Christian. I only had two more things I wanted to tackle today.

The living room was abuzz. Dimitri was awake now, bouncing Zoya on his lap, singing a Russian tune. Vika was chasing Paul, who used the couch to launch himself off and went running into the kitchen, screaming with joy. When I heard a crash from their direction, I felt more resolute in my decision.

"Olena?"

She looked immediately apologetic, "I'm sorry Rose, I'll replace anything they break. Vika, calm that boy down!"

"Can I talk to you? In my office?" I didn't say it with an attitude, or anything scary, but the words are enough to put someone on edge. Her head snapped back to me, as did most of the rest of the room, including Dimitri's. I ignored them. She tried to pretend she wasn't worried, but I could see the strain in her smile.

I closed the door on us, knowing that the family would try to overhear our conversation.

"Rose, I'm sorry about Paul, he's just young and rowdy."

I shook my head, "This isn't about Paul. Well, not really." I sat in the chair behind the desk and leaned back, trying my best to seem at ease so that I could make her feel better. Olena sat down across me, looking around the office.

"You know I love having you here, and spending time with your family…" I began.

"But?" she asked softly.

"But," I stated, "This apartment isn't just my home, it's where I get work done. And it's where I like to relax and have things be quiet."

"And we're not quiet," she said, full of mirth and understanding.

"No," I smiled, glad that I hadn't offended her. "So how would you feel about moving to America?" Olena brought her gaze back to me.

"What? Why?" she asked.

"Oh c'mon, you're here all the time, and I know it tears you up to leave. You want all your children in one spot, which I understand. I've actually thought a lot about this," well, for about an hour last night, at least. "Viktoria could go back to Russia to finish her last year of school, but come here during breaks. Sonja and Karolina could get jobs here at court, and Paul can either go to St. Basil's or to an American school, that'd be up to Karolina."

Olena seemed dazed, as if the thought had really never crossed her mind. Before she could turn me down, I continued with my reasons why she should stay. "Doesn't Karolina's boyfriend work in America for half the year, anyway? So Paul and Zoya wouldn't see their father any less. Besides," I said, knowing this last bit would push Olena over the edge, "Sonja hates working at the grocery store. She wants a guardian-worthy job, and she can easily get one here at Court."

She blinked several times. "It does sound… nice. But, sweetie, our lives are in Baia! We can't just leave everything!"

I sighed, frustrated that I couldn't just get my way and be done with it. "I know Dimitri misses you all when you're not here, but he's a dedicated guardian and he would never leave his job to go back to Baia." Olena looked down with the weight of my words. "Just… think about it, okay? I want you to move here, and I know Dimitri does, too."

She nodded solemnly.

I resisted the urge to rub my hand together. Another task down, one more to go.

We walked out of my office together, and Olena went straight to Yeva for advice. Dimitri quirked an eyebrow, silently demanding an explanation.

I went up to him, reaching for Zoya. I have to admit she was pretty cute, but I loved that I could hand her to someone else as soon as she did something gross. I bounced her on my hip and made a bright face at her. "I just asked your mom to move the family to America," I said in a low voice, keeping my eyes trained on the baby. I popped my eyes open and went "Oooh!"

Dimitri visibly relaxed. "Really? What did my mother say?"

"She'll think about it," I said. Zoya started to squirm in my arms, so I passed her back to Dimitri, leaning in to kiss him as I did so. I was about to warn him that I needed to talk to him, but that would only put him on edge, and he was enjoying his time with the little ones.

He smiled at his niece, which made me happy. If he could get his fill of baby fever from his nieces and nephew, then I didn't have to worry about the baby pressure for a while. Yes, having the Belikovs move to America would solve a lot of problems for me. Mostly I just wanted them to have their own place. I wasn't suited for the European trend of having an entire family cramped into a small living area; I needed a lot of personal space.

And on the topic of personal space, if I was going to start a committee, I would need to use the apartment as my headquarters, at least for now. The courthouse only had thirteen office spaces for the original thirteen council members, each complete with a staff workspace and kitchenette. No plans had been made to make an official office for me, and until now, it didn't bother me that I didn't have my own staff.

Now I would be needing a staff, and the apartment would have to be our office until one was added on to the courthouse.

"Maybe we should rent a couple hotel rooms for your family," I said. Dimitri furrowed his brow, "Why would we do that?" I wondered how Dimitri would react to me making grand plans without first talking to him. I had done a complete 360 from last night, and Dimitri had no idea what was about to come.

"I'm going to need the apartment space for work."

Dimitri regarded me carefully. I could practically see the gears working in his head; he was deciding if this was a battle he wanted to fight.

"What kind of work?" he demanded. What don't I know? He asked silently.

"Look, we can talk more about this later. I don't need them out of here by tonight or anything, but they can't stay for weeks like they did last time." I said firmly.

Dimitri nodded, giving in and smiling sheepishly, "Fair enough. I'll talk to mamma."

That went pretty well, I thought. I was dreading his reaction when I would tell him I have to fire him.

It didn't go well at all, just as I thought.

We were in our bedroom; I'd asked him for a moment alone after we ate lunch, which we had to stay inside for, thanks to the protests outside. Dimitri said the protestors numbers were going down, but they could be there for a day or two more before giving up.

I started our conversation with the easy stuff; telling him my plans to become a better princess. He agreed with me on everything, up until I told him I wanted his resignation.

"No." he spat, his face turning red.

"Dimitri, listen -"

"No! I'm not resigning! And you're not firing me. It's not going to happen."

"It has to!" Dimitri tried to walk out of the room but I placed myself in between him and the door. "Don't you get it? How can I be leading the guardians if I have a guardian? That's like Abraham Lincoln owning a slave."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Whatever, you know what I mean. You can't be my guardian anymore."

There was fire in Dimitri's eyes as he stepped forward, our chests almost touching. I had to tilt my head back to look him in the eyes.

"And why not?" he challenged.

"Because I'm supposed to be strong," I pleaded, my voice cracking. Dimitri was taken aback by my response, and stared at me in silence. I didn't realize how much this meant to me until this moment. But I had realized a lot about myself in the last 48 hours. I had been living a dream, reaping the benefits of royal life and freedom. Now my eyes were open, and I saw all the things I had been doing wrong.

"And I am strong! But no one will see that if I have a 6 foot 7 giant following me around!" Dimitri clenched and unclenched his jaw. I was breathing heavily, hoping for Dimitri to see the reason.

"After everything that's happened to you," he said in a low, dangerous voice. "You can't expect me to stop protecting you."

My shoulders dropped. "Dimitri," I sighed in defeat. "I'm not in danger on a day to day basis. Nothing happens when I'm at the courthouse or when I'm here in the apartment. We'll always protect each other, that's a given. But I need my Comrade by my side, not Guardian Belikov… Yesterday, when I went into the fray with the other guardians, that was me being a leader. I worked with the dhampirs to do what we've been trained to do. I'm not saying I'll jump into every fight there is, but I can't lead the guardians if I'm disconnected from who they are and what they do. And I'm not just asking you to go find another assignment. I already have a plan for you."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow. He wasn't speaking, which was a sign that he was still angry.

"The committee I'm starting… I want a branch of it to be for guardians to go on preemptive attacks and rescue missions. Kind of like the human army, but ours will be purely voluntary. We'll need a guardian who knows what he's doing to lead them."

Dimitri gawked at me, "You want to make a dhampir army?"

I shrugged. "Yes." I said simply. "And I want you to be my first general."

His entire demeanor changed. I'd completely stumped him with my offer that he forgot we were arguing.

Dimitri looked at the ground for a long time, and I feared the zen master in him would win out and he'd refuse me. But then he looked up at me and I saw a spark in his eyes, the same spark in his eyes as the day we met. I knew that I had won, because deep down, Dimitri and I were the same. We both craved the action and honor that came with protecting the defenseless. And he knew that there was no honor in wasting his life at my side when others needed him more.

He swore in Russian, smiling in disbelief. He picked me up, twirling me in a circle. I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck. I could feel all the dominos falling into place, and my heart was swelling with pure joy. He put me down, bringing our mouths together. I pulled away to look him in the eye, to burn this moment into my head, because I never wanted to forget the day I got my shit together and started building a future that worked for the both of us.

"You're absolutely insane, Roza."

"You wouldn't want me any other way, General."