"Does your mom know you're ok? Or was she in on this all along?" Lissa asked. They had shown the group to their suites, the Moroi fed, and Rose and Abe were now seated in a comfortable living area upstairs, about to tell all.

"Yeah. She knows, now. Baba tricked her into coming here a few days back, and she left to go back to Court yesterday."

"How did that happen?" Adrian asked Abe with a smirk.

"I invited Prince Szelsky to visit for a few days. I thought Janine was going to attack me again when she realized it was my house they were visiting, but she calmed down a bit once she saw Rose."

"Calmed down being a relative term," Rose butted in. "She shouted so loud and for so long she lost her voice at one stage."

"She'd regained it by the time they left," Abe said, his tone of voice suggesting she'd resumed using it to good effect.

"So, how did you get out? We were told you died in the explosion," Eddie asked Rose. Like Belikov, he'd been exceptionally quiet once they left the room downstairs. Both were now sitting in armchairs, watching Rose as though she might disappear at any moment.

"Magic," Rose teased.

"But I thought the jail at Court was protected. I've always thought magic doesn't work there," Tasha piped up.

"Not Moroi magic," Rose agreed. "But as I learned, human magic works there just fine."

"Human magic?" Lissa asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. Turns out there are humans who are witches and wizards. They have academies to learn magic kind of like ours, and there's even a Ministry of Magic."

"It's true, Liss. I've met two human wizards," Adrian said.

"Can all humans use magic?"

"No. Only some of them, and they hide it from the ones that can't."

"The Ministry of Magic knows about our world, and our Monarch and Head of Guardians know about theirs. They rarely interact, but they keep one another informed if something big happens. Moroi and humans are not the only magical creatures, either. There are also goblins, fairies, and elves. Each species uses magic differently," Abe explained. "Human witches and wizards use wands, spells, potions, and incantations. Unlike our magic, which is largely elemental, what they can do with their magic is much more varied. For instance, I removed Rose from jail via a portkey."

"What's that?" Christian asked.

"A portkey can be anything, but it's usually an everyday object so as not to draw attention to itself. When a portkey is activated, it will transport anyone touching it to a pre-arranged place. I didn't know, but Baba had arranged for my mattress in jail to be made into a portkey. It activated at 2:00 am on the day of Queen Tatiana's funeral. One second I was in my cell, and the next the mattress and me landed on the foyer floor here. Gave me one hell of a fright!"

"By the time Pavel blew the wall of the jail, Rose was here talking to my housekeeper," Abe said.

"Then who did we bury?" Lissa asked.

"An unfortunate Jane Doe from the human world. She died in a meth lab fire. Since she was already deceased and matched Rose physically…" At least Abe had the grace to look a little uncomfortable. "There had to be a body for Rose's death to be convincing."

"And that's why you told us about the jailbreak, but not the full plan," Christian said, his mind putting the pieces together. "Our grief had to be believable."

"Exactly."

There was a few minutes' silence where everyone took it in.

"But I couldn't feel our bond?" Lissa said.

"A had a wizard associate charm a necklace for Rose. When she wears it, she is untraceable and not contactable via magical means. You couldn't communicate with Rose through your bond, and Lord Ivashkov could not dream walk Rose. It was as though she'd ceased to exist."

"So why now? What's changed and why aren't you still hiding?" Eddie asked his mind quicker than his companions.

"A few weeks back, I took the necklace off while I was showering. I forgot to put it back on and fell asleep. Adrian ended up dream walking me, so my cover was blown. Besides, Baba's come up with a way to prove my innocence. Human witches and wizards can brew a potion called Veritaserum, which is a powerful truth potion. If you take that, you can't lie, and you will answer any question asked honestly. I can volunteer to take it, then be questioned by Queen Szelsky and the Guardian Council. I'm sorry, Adrian, it won't help find who killed your aunt, but it will prove it wasn't me."

"And then you'll be able to come home!" Lissa squealed, launching herself at then throwing her arms around her sister.

"Surely there's still the issue of blowing up Court's jail and faking Rose's death to address?" Tasha said. She was beyond pissed that Christian, and presumably some others present, had known about Abe's jail-break plan before it had occurred. If her nephew and his girlfriend kept that from her, she wondered what else they hadn't mentioned.

"None of which Rose was responsible for." Abe knew with the right word here, a sizable donation there, and the explanation that he was a concerned father who'd acted out of fear his daughter had been framed for murder and no one was attempting to consider other suspects, he'd get away with what he'd done. It was in no one's interest to illustrate just how ready the Royal and Guardian Council had been to accept Rose's guilt with little or no attempt to investigate further. No. Once Abe presented the facts—plus Ethan Moore and Tasha Ozera—they'd want as little noise about Rose and what had nearly happened to her as possible.

"You've known for weeks that Rose was alive and didn't say anything?" Lissa asked Adrian, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Adrian had let her cry, all the time knowing the truth.

"That's my fault, Princess Dragomir. I asked Lord Ivashkov not to say anything. I needed to get everything in place to clear Rose's name, and I couldn't risk news of Rose being alive leaking before I was certain I had a way to prove her innocence. Prince Szelsky has arranged it all. After New Year, we will return to Court, where Rose will meet with Queen Szelsky and the Guardian Council, and be cleared as a suspect in Tatiana Ivashkov's murder."

"It's been months. What have you been doing all this time?" Lissa asked Rose after lunch when it was just the two of them. Adrian was resting. Meanwhile, Christian and Tasha had wanted to explore the neighborhood, so had gone for a walk, Tasha demanding Dimitri, Grigor, Eddie, and Celeste accompany them.

"I've been doing lots of training with Pavel and Abe's other Guardians, and they've been teaching me Russian. How's college going? Are you enjoying it?"

"I'm really liking it, although my politics minor is boring. You haven't been checking in?"

"No. It just wasn't safe. As it is, the only time I forgot to wear my necklace, Adrian managed to dream walk me."

"He must have been surprised."

"Something like that," Rose said with a laugh. "We didn't talk for long. He said he'd been helping Abe with a project, but not what. He did not know I was alive."

"I think I know what that was. Adrian came to visit for a long weekend at Lehigh and helped me see auras. He said your dad thought it would be useful if I learned how. I'm good at it now. The problem is, I sometimes see too much."

"Oh?"

"I don't know how else to say this… Something is off about Tasha's aura. It's not just me who thinks so—Adrian noticed it, too. You have no idea how much I hope I'm wrong, but we both believe she is responsible for killing the queen."

Rose was silent as she considered the possibility. Tasha knew about the stake Dimitri had sent her, and that it was distinctive. She'd also been at Court when the murder occurred. "But what motive would she have? To murder the queen or frame me?"

"I think I know the answer to that. Tasha met with Queen Szelsky recently who supported her Moroi defensive magic program idea. In the New Year, she will run classes for any Moroi who are interested. According to Christian, she'd been asking Tatiana for permission to do that for years."

"That gives her motive to murder Her Majesty, but why frame me?"

"I think I know the answer to that, too. Tasha's obsessed with Guardian Belikov. She's constantly trying to touch him or talk to him. She's all over him like a rash."

"And does he enjoy that attention?" Rose asked, trying to sound disinterested in the reply.

Lissa giggled. "No. He hates it. He tries to be polite about it, but the interest is definitely one-sided. Where possible, he tries to avoid her."

"So, how has he been? I know Abe has been in touch with people at Court, but he hasn't told me anything about what's going on there."

"Honestly, not good. When Guardian Belikov heard you'd died, he trashed his room at court. Almost everything was broken, and it took six Guardians to pin him down. They had to get a doctor to sedate him. The days before your funeral, he completely shut down. He would barely eat or drink. After that, he started going to church a lot. Even now he goes to church every day bar Sunday. As a Guardian, there's no complaint, but he's become very withdrawn. He's training, guarding, at church, or sleeping. He'll answer questions when asked, but rarely involve himself in conversation. It's like part of him died when he thought you did."

"I was wondering when I'd see you," Rose said when she walked into her room before bed. Lissa, Christian, Adrian, and to an extent even Tasha and Eddie had spent dinner plying Rose with many questions and filling her in on all that had occurred in their lives since she'd been away. However, tired from their long flight, one by one they'd headed to bed, leaving just Rose and Lissa up. Having just walked Lissa to the room she'd share with Christian, Rose now stepped into her suite, unsurprised to see Dimitri sitting on the sofa waiting in front of the roaring fireplace. His hair was out, and wearing casual clothes, he looked younger than he did when he was in uniform.

"I'm sorry… perhaps I shouldn't have come. It's just it doesn't feel real. That you're back. I have to keep telling myself you will not disappear again."

"Nope, Comrade. Here and here to stay," Rose replied, moving into her bathroom and brushing her teeth. Closing the door, she relieved herself, stripped, and slipped into the oversized t-shirt and panties she wore to bed, before emerging and flopping onto the sofa beside him. Throughout the evening, Dimitri had not said a word, and recognizing he was struggling, Rose hadn't pushed him.

"Can I?" he asked, opening his arms to her, a look of peace washing over his face as Rose moved closer, letting him wrap his arms around her. Neither said anything for a long time, just taking the time to reacquaint physically while they stared at the flames. Touch had once been such a major part of their interactions. The way they could show the things their words were not allowed to say.

"Does your family know you've been restored?" Rose asked, her hand gently caressing his chest through his shirt, finally feeling they could start a well overdue conversation.

"They do. Father Grigorescu at Court called Mamma and told her. A few weeks later, we spoke. I call every second week. It's difficult."

"Difficult how?"

Dimitri sighed, wondering how to put his feelings into words. "They know me as a man of dignity and honor. Yet I am no longer the man they knew. I have done things. Terrible things. Some of them to you. Even worse to others. It elated my family to hear of my restoration, yet I know what I did, and at what cost my soul was liberated. After all I have done, I do not deserve their love. I don't deserve anyone's love."

Rose stared up at her love's face, unsure of how to explain her point of view to the man she still adored.

"The person I met in Russia wasn't you. He might have had your features, and some of your strengths, but he wasn't the kind and tender man I know you to be. Dimitri? Comrade!? It is the fact you mourn those you harmed that shows me you are still a man of honor. A lesser man would have accepted they were blameless and forgive themselves…"

"You don't believe I deserve to be forgiven?" Dimitri asked, his voice trembling.

"The reverse. I believe there is nothing to forgive. Your soul was torn from you, and from the moment it was restored, you have punished yourself for things you would never have done were you yourself. That now you are yourself again, you still blame yourself, shows you are the man of honor and dignity I fell in love with."

"Yet my worst act was after I'd been restored. That day in the church…"

"You were scared, overwhelmed, and still adjusting to being Dhampir again. Lissa told me not to, but I pushed too hard."

"I broke your heart."

"You did."

"Your love is the most precious thing I've ever possessed."

"I feel the same way about yours." Curled like a kitten against her Comrade's side, Rose said nothing more. Just now, this was enough.

"You're sleepy," he finally commented, noticing Rose's increasingly frequent yawns.

"A little."

Saying nothing, Dimitri scooped Rose up and carried her to her bed. One side of the duvet already folded back waiting for her, he carefully lowered Rose onto the mattress. Sitting beside her, he stroked her hair.

"I don't want to leave. Can I sleep on your sofa? I'm scared when I wake, you'll be gone."

"The couch is way too small for you," Rose murmured.

Desperate not to be distanced from her, Dimitri instead offered to sleep on the floor.

"Don't be silly. My bed is big enough for both of us. We can speak more in the morning."

Rose was asleep before Dimitri had stripped and climbed into bed. Deciding decorum demanded at least boxer briefs and an undershirt, he folded his outer clothes on the back of an occasional chair before slipping into bed beside his love. Reaching across her to switch off the bedside lamp, Dimitri closed his eyes as he let an arm snake around Rose's waist.

Rose's eyes flickered open as she rolled in Dimitri's arms to face him. They were pressed against one another in the middle of her bed, the heat of his body counteracting the slight chill in the air. For the temperature to drop like this, it must be snowing, again. Moving closer to Dimitri, Rose leaned in and nuzzled her cheek against the softness of his undershirt, right above his heart before placing small kisses there. She wasn't aware that he had woken until she felt one hand playing with her hair.

Now she knew that he was awake, Dimitri stepped things up, using the fingers of one hand to draw circles on her outer thigh, just below the edge of her boyleg panties. Pausing her kisses when he first started, Rose reciprocated, draping her arm across Dimitri's hip, letting her hand rest against his taut, toned ass. Still, for just a moment, Rose started squeezing the flesh there, causing his hips to buck forward. Rose smiled as she kept nuzzling and kissing his chest—it looks like all of Dimitri was waking up.

Pleased by what she felt thrust into her abdomen, Rose shimmied up the bed, bringing her lips in line with Dimitri's. Stopping just long enough for him to be aware of what she intended to do, Rose leaned forward and gently brought her lips to his. Sighing in satisfaction, her lips parted, and Dimitri wasted no opportunity to further and deepen their kiss.

Pulling Rose tightly against him, Dimitri raised his knee, so it was between her legs, pushed firmly against the crotch of her panties. They'd only been kissing for a few minutes, yet he could already feel the heat from her core radiating onto his leg. Wanting to feel skin against skin, Rose pulled back for a moment, half-sitting to pull her t-shirt off, her nipples pebbling thanks to the cool air of the bedroom. Using the moment to do the same, Dimitri wrapped his arms around Rose, pulling her back into the comforter and the warmth of his embrace. Opening his mouth to say something, Rose held up her index finger and held it against his lips to silence him. She wanted nothing to disrupt the slow, sensual reconnection that was taking place. So instead, Dimitri started kissing his way down her neck, over her decolletage, and down to her breasts.

One of his favorite parts of Rose, and one he'd only seen briefly months ago, Dimitri pulled one plump nipple into his mouth, gently rasping its tip with his teeth. Hearing the needy hiss that escaped Rose's mouth, he turned his attention to its twin before placing hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses across both bosoms. Thrilled by Dimitri's oral attention, Rose took the opportunity to divest herself of her panties. Lifting her hips before sliding them down her legs, she kicked them free where they ended up lost somewhere in the sheets and duvet.

Naked, Rose set to work freeing her Comrade from his boxer briefs. Unashamedly running her hand over his rock-hard package, Rose used her thumb to massage the tip of Dimitri's cock through his underwear, the exact spot marked by the wetness of his pre-cum. With dark, hooded eyes, Rose pushed Dimitri onto his back and helped him remove his briefs, thrilled when his manhood was displayed. Wrapping her hand around Dimitri's cock, Rose was stroking him when he interrupted her with a growl. Pushing Rose onto her back, he loomed above her, pushing her legs open with his so he could settle between her thighs. Lips joined, and tongues tangled, the pair were kissing ferociously when Rose reached between them, once again caressing his cock and lining it up with her cleft. One look, a nod, and they were finally joined again.

Starting with soft gentle rocks, gliding his length in and out of Rose's tight heat, Dimitri settled a forearm on either side of her face, taking some of his weight so he would not crush his love. Working up to more forceful movements, before long Rose was writing beneath Dimitri, moaning with each powerful thrust. It had been months since the only time Rose and Dimitri had made love, and they were reveling in the opportunity to do so again.

Rose opened her knees wider, giving Dimitri greater access to her core, bracing her heels against the mattress, and pushing into his movements. Gah! It felt so deep that way, and Rose was unable to stop a loud moan of pleasure from escaping her lips.

She needed to be quiet. While Abe's home was large, her suite was close enough to those of her guests that being overheard was a possibility. She and Dimitri had not had the 'what now' discussion, so she didn't want to complicate things by everyone knowing they'd reunited physically. As if divining the direction of her thoughts, Dimitri silenced further moans by claiming her mouth with his own. Forcing his tongue against hers, stroking with the same tempo that he was employing between her legs, Dimitri masterfully claimed both spaces.

As Dimitri got faster and faster, Rose became more desperate. She could feel her orgasm building, yet it was just out of reach. Pushing himself up so his torso was no longer pressed against hers, Dimitri put one hand on the pillow beside Rose's head, locking his elbow to take his weight. He used the other arm to grab Rose's leg and place it over his shoulder. Scissored and so open to his gaze and touch, Rose reached down to the spot just above where Dimitri's cock was sliding in and out of her abundant wetness. Her fingers right at the place their bodies joined, Rose used some of her natural lubrication as she started rubbing her clitoris. Her climax almost there, she stared into Dimitri's brown eyes, noting his tensed jaw as he fought off his pleasure to ensure she reached hers.

And then it happened. Her cleft gripped Dimitri's dick, squeezing it rhythmically as he made a couple of last desperate thrusts before flooding her with his seed. Hearts racing, Dimitri allowed himself to flop on top of Rose, his forearms again taking much of his weight as they rode out their almost simultaneous release. Slick with sweat, and the combined results of their lovemaking, Rose leaned up and kissed Dimitri tenderly. They kissed for quite some time before Dimitri lifted himself out from between her legs. Rolling them so they were in a spooning position, not a word was said as they fell asleep, Rose protected in her lover's arms.