Rose Hathaway's twenty-fourth birthday approached quicker than she'd like to admit. It had been years since she had seen Dimitri Belikov, yet as she leaned forward to blow out the candles on her cake, Lissa and all their friends cheering, Rose couldn't help but think back to the first time that she met Dimitri.
Rose was seventeen when she met Dimitri Belikov.
Part of her wanted to hate him immediately, but part of her paused. He stood across from her as Rose threw her body in front of Lissa's. From a distance, Rose could tell that he was attractive, but up close, there was no denying it.
When he stepped forward, Rose lashed out, and her skin burned where he had grabbed her wrist to prevent her from falling. As she looked up into his eyes that night, she saw an unnamed emotion there.
As Dimitri dragged Lissa and Rose back to the Academy, and Dimitri became Rose's mentor, she relished the attention that she was receiving from him. Dimitri was known as a god, and Rose was happy to be mentored by him. Dimitri fed into that attention, giving Rose exactly what she craved.
She remembered the way that his eyes watched her, practically burning her with their intensity. She remembered the way that he went out of his way to touch her during their training sessions; innocent touches at first, simply correcting her stance or method. But those touches quickly changed.
And then the lust charm happened, and Rose accepted the fact that though they were in love with each other, they couldn't be together. Their roles prevented it. That didn't stop them from sneaking kisses or consummating their love that fateful night in the cabin.
Rose remembered all of the times that she confided in Dimitri, confided things that she felt she couldn't tell Lissa. Rose remembered how Dimitri encouraged her to confide in him; to find someone she trusted to be her secret holder, and how he encouraged her to choose him for that role. Over time, that's exactly what she did. Rose started keeping things from Lissa, things that later hurt their friendship, in favor of trusting Dimitri and solely Dimitri.
It was easy to keep her separated from others after that. Rose was already an outlier from the rest of the senior novices from running away with Lissa, and training with Dimitri had only further made her an outlier, but because she had gotten so good at fighting, not because she was bad at it.
When the attack on the Academy happened, and Dimitri was turned, Rose lost it. She went to Russia, determined to kill her lover and mentor, no matter how much it hurt. She returned months later, broken and beaten, having believed that she successfully completed her mission. When that first letter arrived from Dimitri, she was devastated, and angry at herself for failing to save him from that undead state. She knew that he was going to come for her, and she knew that she would succeed in killing Dimitri this time or die trying.
After Russia, whenever Rose found time, she went to therapy. Rose had seen how it helped Lissa over the years, and at Lissa's urging, she gave it a shot. It wasn't like her time at the Academy with Deirdre. For one, Rose always made sure to pick group therapy to go to. She was less likely to have to do all of the talking there and could listen and learn. That strategy worked for the first couple of weeks.
"Rose? Are you ready to share why you're here?" Dorothy, the group therapist, asked.
Rose started to shake her head no but decided instead to share a snippet instead. "My boyfriend was turned Strigoi."
Dorothy nodded. There were a couple of other people in the group who had survived Strigoi attacks. "You were in the St. Vladimir's attack earlier this year, right?"
"Yes."
"Did you see it happen?" a young girl in the group asked.
Rose shook her head. "Not fully. I saw him fall, but it wasn't until later that I knew he had become a Strigoi."
Dorothy motioned for Rose to continue.
"I tried to kill him," Rose whispered. "I failed."
"Was he a classmate of yours?" Dorothy asked.
Rose bit her lip and shook her head.
"But he was at St. Vladimir's?" Dorothy pushed.
Rose nodded. She took a deep breath before speaking. "He was my mentor."
Nobody said anything for a moment then the young girl spoke again. "He was grooming you."
"No, he wasn't!" Rose argued.
"Rose," Dorothy started gently, "I know you may not think that he was grooming you, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't."
"It wasn't like that," Rose defended. "There wasn't anything that I couldn't tell him. He loved me."
"Rose—"
Rose shook her head again and stood from her chair. "I don't have to deal with this."
Rose stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her. She didn't return.
When Lissa restored Dimitri from being a Strigoi a month later, Rose had shoved the comments from group therapy further to the back of her mind. She gave everything she had, but Dimitri brushed her off, refusing to see her.
As much as she tried to forget what happened in group, it was hard to keep her thoughts off it after Dimitri continuously rejected her. Rose remembered everything about her time with Dimitri at the Academy, and slowly but surely, Rose started seeing things differently. She returned to seeing Dorothy, and just Dorothy, and slowly Rose's memories took on a new light.
Recovering Rose and Lissa's friendship after Rose left for Russia took time, and slowly Rose had confided in her everything that had happened at the Academy and with Dimitri. She soon wanted nothing to do with him, despite Lissa being the one to restore him, and watched in satisfaction through the bond as Lissa sent Dimitri away. He obeyed, having sworn his allegiance to her.
Rose came back to the present and blew out her candles. She turned to Lissa with a grin, wrapping her best friend in a hug.
Rose was finally twenty-four.
And seventeen would never cross her mind.
Disclaimer: Despite Rose and Dimitri's age gap in the books, which is very questionable, I don't believe that Dimitri groomed Rose. When I heard this song though, I thought of Rose and Dimitri and decided to write a drabble for it.