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Thirteen

Chapter 10

RPOV

I took the stairs two at a time, practically leaping down them and luckily not breaking my next in my still intoxicated state. I'd never felt such dark, twisted feelings from my sweet, caring best friend before and it scared the living hell out of me. I could hear Dimitri following not far behind me but he didn't say a word. He knew something was seriously wrong. I had to use all of my brain power to get Lissa's location through the bond, thanks to all the liquor I'd downed at the party. I had thought she was drinking too, but her head was crystal clear. And so, so angry. I skidded to a halt when I found her, standing in the doorway to Wade's dorm with her back to me. Fear coursed through me as I took her in. Her rage practically crackled in the air around her and she was oblivious to everything except making him pay. Dimitri froze behind me, waiting for me to take the lead on this one. I took a deep breath, then slowly approached Lissa.

"Liss," I pleaded. "Stop this, please." Her stormy green eyes flicked to me and her lips pressed together into a hard line.

"He should have stopped," she bit out, turning back to him. "But he didn't. Now he has to pay instead."

"Any ideas, Comrade?" I asked over my shoulder, glancing back at him.

"None that won't hurt her," he breathed, also at a loss. I was sure he meant tackling her, because that was my first thought as well. I steeled myself and stepped closer to her side, squeezing between the doorframe and her slender body to place myself directly in front of her. I finally got a look at the room through my own eyes. It was completely trashed; almost everything breakable was shattered. Lissa tilted her chin and I felt a wave of power course through her as Wade angled the baseball bat towards his own skull. My eyes widened.

"Lissa!" I exclaimed, breaking her focus and causing Wade to halt, bat still poised above him.

"He has to pay," she repeated, regarding me with cold eyes. Panic surged through me at what was about to happen.

"This isn't you, Liss," I pleaded, grasping her wrist. Her eyes lost a little bit of the cold edge they held.

"It's not right," she snapped. "They can't just use people like that."

"You're right," I told her, gently. "It's not right. But now you're scaring her." I had caught sight of the poor feeder girl, cowering in the corner and decided to change tactics. Lissa's eyes flicked to the girl and widened in shock. Her anger suddenly dissipated and she almost collapsed. I caught her before she hit the floor and heard the clatter of the metal bat hitting the floor behind me. I almost sagged in relief, but then I heard the sound of heavy footsteps hitting the floor. Dimitri and I locked eyes across the hallway. Guardians. Someone at the party must have heard the commotion and called them in. Lissa and Wade were both dazed, blinking in confusion and looking around the room as if they didn't know how they got there and what had happened. Wade's eyes fell on me as the guardians gently pushed past us to take in the damage.

"You!" he exclaimed, outraged. "You couldn't just let it go! You had to go and pull some crazy shit like this! You're toast, Hathaway!" He jabbed his finger accusingly at me and two guardians moved to restrain me. I held my hands up in surrender and saw Dimitri step forward from the other side of the hall.

"That's not-" he started to defend me but I met his eyes and gave him a discreet head shake. He looked like he was going to continue anyway, then his jaw locked shut and he gave one swift nod.

"Novice Belikov," one of the guardians holding me acknowledged him. "Take the Princess back to her room."

"Yes, sir," he replied, firmly. He gently grabbed Lissa's elbow as she dissolved into tears at the realization of what just happened. She was most upset that I was taking the fall for her but didn't have the energy to protest. Dimitri met my eyes once more, as if asking if I'd be ok. I gave him a small nod and half smile. I'd gotten myself out of plenty of sticky situations, but this might be the one that takes me down. Figures, since I didn't actually do anything this time. The guardians drug me off to Kirova's office for my punishment while the rest of the rescue team took care of Wade and the feeder. Slowly, a dark cloud of anger started to fog my brain but I pushed it down to deal with later.

~.~.~.~.~.~

The Next Day

I walked to breakfast with my head down, ignoring the few friends that tried to talk to me. None of them were Dimitri or Lissa and I wasn't willing to chat with anyone else. Kirova didn't expel me, and I guess I should have been grateful but instead, I was seething. I was under house arrest until further notice. Probably until I graduated in two and a half years. No parties, no socialization outside of meals and classes, no school funded events, nada. Just me, alone in my room and with my thoughts. Dimitri fell into step beside me and I nearly fainted in relief, until I saw the angry glint in his eye.

"Why'd you take the fall for her?" he bit out, looking down at me. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm her guardian? They come first? She's my best friend?" I shot out, bitterly. He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me into the cover of the trees that lined the path we were on.

"And she would have gotten a slap on the wrist!" he exclaimed. "You could've gotten kicked out!"

"But I didn't!" I snapped back, glaring at him then poking his solid chest. "I'm just not allowed to ever have any fun, ever again." I looked down and away from his angry gaze and very kissable lips. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was kiss him again. He long, calloused fingers ran down my jaw, locking under my chin and pulling my gaze back to his.

"I could think of some fun things to do, even with you locked in your tower," he teased, eyes softening as he drank in my features. My breath caught in my throat and I leaned into his touch.

"Dimitri," I whispered, pushing up on my tiptoes to bring our lips closer. "We were pretty rudely interrupted last night, weren't we?" He smirked as his eyes darkened.

"I'd say," he breathed against my face, closing the distance between us in a small, sweet kiss. My heart dropped into my stomach as sparks flew through me. I gripped his shirt with one hand, throwing the other around his neck, deepening the kiss. The hand that cupped my chin moved to caress my check as his other arm snaked behind my back. I sighed happily as we pulled away, leaning our foreheads against each other.

"I love you too," I finally answered his earlier confession from the previous night. His face broke into a breathtakingly beautiful smile and he kissed me again. We emerged from the trees, hand in hand, with goofy smiles on our faces. When we finally made our way into the cafeteria, every pair of eyes swiveled to us and quiet fell over the room. Dimitri squeezed my hand gently and I held my head high as we walked to the line to get our meals. We quickly filled our plates and found Lissa, sitting by herself with her head down, nibbling on a piece of toast. She sprang out of her seat when she saw me out of the corner of her eye and flung herself into my arms. I released Dimitri's hand and held her tight. We let go after a minute and sat back down together, with Dimitri on my other side. He rested his arm on the small of my back, rubbing gentle circles with his thumb. I leaned into his touch and smiled at Liss.

"I take it you didn't get kicked out?" she asked, looking miserable. I shook my head.

"Just under house arrest for the foreseeable future," I answered, sullenly.

"You should have told them it was me," she whispered, looking down at her hands, that she'd folded in her lap.

"Hey," I said, grabbing one of those hands. "Your record is clean. What's one more mark on mine?" She met my eyes, a grateful look on her face but guilt in her eyes. She then glanced at Dimitri, then back at me, then at his hand on my back. A devious smile lit up her whole face.

"I approve," she teased. "Also, it's about time." I laughed along with her and even Dimitri chuckled. We chatted as we ate but as the meal time came to a close, I sighed sadly. It was Sunday, so I was straight back to my room from here. Maybe Dimitri could sneak in to keep my company. We packed up and the three of us walked together to Lissa's dorm to drop her off, before making our way to dhampir housing.

"Do you think anyone else saw?" Lissa whispered, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. She'd used a shit ton of compulsion on Wade. An amount unheard of for a Moroi to be able to wield. Not to mention the fact that any compulsion at all was forbidden.

"No," I told her firmly. "Just the three of us. And none of us are telling anyone. Right, Comrade?" I fixed him with a firm glare and even though I could see the protest in his eyes, he assured Lissa her secret was safe with him. She thanked him, then scurried into her own dorm to do the rest of her homework.

"Alone at last," I teased Dimitri, squeezing his hand. We'd immediately locked our fingers together on the way out of the cafeteria. I didn't plan on letting go until I absolutely had to. Now that I'd figured out why butterflies always filled my stomach when Dimitri looked at me, I could never go back to not having his touch.

"Not quite," he replied. I glanced around at our classmates as we passed them by. Some blatantly stopped and stared, some whispered, a couple of our fellow novices let out stupid whistles but they were all obviously latching on to the newest source of gossip. Crazy Hathaway destroying a royals room and now on top of it, becoming an item with the best and hottest novice in the school. I shot my devious smile at anyone that dared meet my eye and took it in stride, but deep down, I wished they'd mind they're own business. I knew they wouldn't. This was the biggest thing that had happened since the guardians drug Ms. Karp away a few months ago. I suppressed a shudder at the memory of her frantic voice, as she told me that Lissa was just like her and to keep her safe.

"Where's your head, Roza?" Dimitri gently asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I took a deep breath.

"The stupid gossip mill around here," I answered, honestly, knowing I couldn't lie to him if I wanted to. We came to a stop in the commons of the shared dhampir dorm.

"It'll blow over quick," he assured me. I looked up at him from under my lashes.

"But we won't, right?" I asked, suddenly feeling shy. He beamed at me and started to answer before the dorm matron shooed me off to my room. Stupid punishment. I could see the promise of later in my best friend turned boyfriend's eyes. Well, at least I thought he was my boyfriend now. My brows furrowed as I shut my door behind me, sliding down it until my butt hit the floor. We didn't actually get a chance to discuss whether or not we were a couple now. I guess saying I love you was basically the same, but I'd never actually had a boyfriend before. I'd always just made out with guys at parties, never committing myself to someone else. I didn't remember Dimitri ever dating someone seriously, either. Shit. What was I getting myself into?

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