Hi guys, just a quick note. This story has now been moved to an M rating due to a scene further on. If you wish to skip over this part, stop reading when Lissa leaves the ball, you won't miss anything other than the scene.


4

"Rose!" Lissa screeched from the study, where she had a hair and makeup team getting her ready for the ball tonight. "Do you still have that pair of shoes I leant you, I need them!". The urgency in her voice made me hold in a chuckle.

Tonight was the royal ball for some cause or another, I never really knew, and I was guarding Lissa for the first shift. Guardians now had a limit on the amount of time they could be on shift (excluding single-guardian families, those problems still needed to be worked out) and however much I argued otherwise, Lissa demanded that if I didn't follow the new rules, no-one would. So I was begrudgingly finishing my shift halfway through tonight's event and had to hand over to someone else (don't even get me started on the rota problems this created). My only saving grace was that there were no rules about me attending the ball.

A small shock of guilt ran through me as I realised I had borrowed the shoes Lissa was talking about, in fact, I had worn them on the night Dimitri had looked after me. The night I had walked home barefoot. Without the shoes.

"I... I think you would look better with the lower ones" I said walking into the room, praying to God that she would agree. "I think those are a little high for this kind of event".

She looked at me, but I could see the agreement in her eyes. "Yeah, maybe you're right," she said, turning back to the mirror whilst I breathed a sigh of relief. "Have you got your dress ready?"

"My... what?" I exclaimed.

"Your dress. You can't tell me you were going to just attend a royal ball in... that, not that guardian clothes aren't nice" she added quickly.

"Yeah Liss, that's exactly what I was going to do. I don't even have a dress I could wear."

She sighed loudly. "Steph?" she said, beckoning the woman over. "I need you to get Rose a dress for tonight".

I could tell that the stylist clearly thought this was impossible, but she couldn't say that to the queen. She nodded and came over to me.

"What type of dress are you wanting guardian Hathaway? And your measurements?"

I rolled my eyes. "Short," I said in an exacerbated voice. At least if it was short I could still run and fight.

"Rose!" Lissa squealed. Oh man, I was over this event already. Part of me wished I had accepted the president job. I certainly wouldn't have to do this anymore.

"You absolutely can't wear a short dress for this sort of event. Everyone else will be in ball gowns!" Lissa continued, oblivious to my thoughts.

"Short," I said firmly to the stylist. "If it's not short I don't want one. Knee-length maximum. And I don't care about the style, just not too revealing."

I had no reservations about wearing revealing clothing around the dhampirs, but it was a whole different story with moroi, royals in particular.

Lissa handed over my measurements (she kept a card with them on for this specific reason) and the stylist hurried off.

"I've asked the team to stay behind to help you get ready after your shift tonight," Lissa said, starting up the conversation again whilst a group of moroi perfected her platinum hair. It was honestly easier to just agree at this point, and so I kept quiet.

"I also heard that Dimitri is going to be guarding the end shift of the ball".

Her words make my heart jump, yet also stop beating altogether. She really was good at finding out any gossip, I supposed it was because she was queen.

"Yeah... he is," I said after a while, not wanting to talk about him after the other night.

"So... you've talked to him?" she pushed.

"I ran into him the other night, we had a chat over a beer at the dhampir bar and I asked for his help covering because I was having problems with the rota". I didn't mention he had come over for pizza too.

Lissa, thankfully, got the hint and changed the subject.

"Hans also told me that you turned down the president job," she said quietly.

"Yeah Liss, I did," I said equally softly. "I didn't want to leave you, leave the role I have now".

"But you accepted the vice-president job?"

"I did, on the promise that I could still guard you as much as I do now, even if it isn't so much anymore".

"Things really turned out better than we could have ever expected, aside from being the queen of course, didn't they," she said, smiling. I knew that however much she joked about not wanting to be queen, she didn't regret what had happened.

"They did," I said, returning her smile.


"Ready?" I asked, walking back into the room now that Lissa was changed.

She was wearing a stunning figure-hugging silver gown that went to her feet, with a small, respectable slit up the leg. The dress was high, coming up to her neck, but had a sort of halter-necked feel and showed off her smooth shoulders. Her hair was arranged in pinned curls on her head, crown balanced on top, with shorter pieces framing her face. She really did look like the queen. Her silver wedding band lay on her finder, the hand devoid of all other jewellery thus making a statement. Thinking of that statement, I wondered where he was. As if by magic, Christian Ozera walked into the room.

He had come on a lot since leaving school, his frame had filled out, (as much as a moroi's ever could) and his manners had improved exponentially. He was wearing a black suit with silver flames embroidered on, his messy hair styled similarly to Adrians. I had to admit, he looked hot.

"Pick your chin up off the floor," he said without even making eye contact with me, he was too busy staring at Lissa. I threw him a glare and got into guardian position in front of the two, the rest of the team assembling around us.

"Permission to go, your majesty," I said looking over my shoulder at Lissa. She gave me a nod, and we set off to the hall in a protective circle.


The room fell deathly silent as the queen was announced. I always hated the waiting to enter, and I knew Lissa did too, but tradition had to be followed.

Once I was given the nod, we set off into the room at a slow pace, walking through the grand doors.

The room was decorated in silver and green, the latter being a nod to the queen, and Lissa matched perfectly. Whilst some may say that matching the decor is never a good thing, this time, it made her look ethereal. Her hair shone, the silver in her dress shined, and Christian's black tux contrasted with the whole look, creating a mirror. A mirror to her silver, but with touches of it on him. The whole look was exquisite, and the crowd was captivated.

We kept the slow pace, walking through the tables with Lissa nodding to people as she went, before finally settling at the top table. I retreated to the wall, taking up guardian stance and heightened my senses, ready for anything.

Things progressed quickly, and after Lissa had given her speech waiters hurried in carrying trays and trays of food. The sight of the roasted meat and potatoes made my stomach growl, but the thought that I could grab some leftovers in a few hours helped me through the misery.

The room was abuzz with conversation, laughter and music, and I almost jumped when I saw someone striding through the crowd, thankfully it was no-one to be concerned about.

Dimitri was dressed in guardian black and white, his hair tucked neatly into a tiny ponytail at the nape of his neck. The sight of him striding powerfully made my mouth go dry.

"I'm reporting for duty," he said, coming to stand next to me.

"Your early, I don't need you for another hour," I said, giving him a look that showed how much he was screwing up my rota.

"I know, I just haven't guarded at an event like this for years, I thought I had better come early in case there was some drastic change I needed to be aware of. That, and I had nothing to do anyway".

"No changes," I said in a matter of fact voice. "I've kept things exactly the same as they were for the actual guarding."

"What have you changed?" he asked inquisitively.

"Not much, mainly administrative things. I don't want to get into the specifics."

He nodded and took up the guardian stance a few steps away from me, the other guardians around shuffling to make room for him.

"Hans told me," he said in a quiet voice after a few minutes of silence had gone by.

I could normally read his emotions fairly well, but he had the guardian expression on his face, the only one I couldn't get through.

"And..." I said timidly, worried about his reaction to being the second choice.

"I accepted it."

His voice was firm, but I could tell he didn't really want to talk about it anymore. The old Rose would have happily changed the topic, but I wasn't her anymore.

"Did Hans explain everything?" I asked.

"He explained the fact that I had been waiting, worrying about what would happen to me because you couldn't decide, yes."

His words were short, and there was a hint of anger lacing through his tone of voice. I shuffled my feet and straightened my aching shoulders.

"Let's talk about it later." My tone of voice was equally curt. He couldn't expect that I would make a snap decision, potentially the wrong one, just to let him know sooner.

He didn't reply, and we stood on guard in silence.


The hour went quickly, and before long it was change-over time. New guardians appeared to replace those who had been on shift longer than 9 hours, and the relieved guardians went home. Well, except for me of course.

I followed the crowd before splitting off towards the palace rooms to get ready, inwardly groaning at the idea of getting dolled up after being on shift for so long. All I wanted to do was wait this thing out in a corner with a plate of food, wearing my comfy clothes. I kind of understood how Lissa felt all the time.

True to her word, Lissa had kept the hair and makeup team behind for me, and they were all waiting as I opened the door into her suite. They bustled into action and sat me down, taking my hair out of its tight bun and styling it into loose waves, just how I liked it.

They applied my makeup, a gold smoky eye and deep red lipstick (I complained about the latter but they insisted) and once I was ready Stephanie the stylist brought in my dress. She held it in a dress carrier so that I couldn't see.

"I got the best one I could find Guardian Hathaway," she said, almost nervously, which made me worry what was inside. She slowly unzipped the bag, revealing deep red fabric with red gems sewed on the bodice in a water-like pattern. That explained the lip-stick then.

She pulled it out, and my mouth dropped open. It was short. At least it was short. The rest of my instructions had clearly been ignored. The dress had a skater skirt and then went up to a sleeveless, gemmed bodice. The bodice had a deep slit going to my upper stomach which would show some serious boob, but underneath the slit was a gauzy red lace that would leave little to the imagination. The deep red fabric began again when absolutely necessary, joining on the skirt. It was also backless. All in all, the dress was gorgeous, but something more fitting to a small chested moroi than a well-endowed dhampir.

I sighed and thanked the woman anyway, who helped me in. The dress did look incredible, but I felt exposed without my bra. The slit did wonders for my body though.

Thankfully, the dress came to just above my knees. If it had been any shorter it would have been absolutely too scandalous for a royal ball, and so I strapped my stake to my thigh and put on the heels that were brought with the dress.

I took a deep breath and one last look in the mirror, before heading off to the ball.


I felt eyes on me as soon as I entered, moroi men hungry to dance with me, moroi women scandalised at both my being here and the dress, but I ignored them and continued on towards Lissa. Her mouth dropped open once she caught sight of me.

"Rose..." she whispered. "You look incredible!"

"Thanks" I grumbled, pulling an empty chair next to her and flopping down.

"Steph really excelled this time" she whispered to herself.

I had to give the stylist credit, she had done very well to find a dress that fitted and suited me so well at such short notice, even if it was a little scandalous. Old Rose would have loved this dress a lot.

Lissa waved over a waiter and got me some champagne and a plate of food, both of which I tucked into happily.

Before long, it was time for the dancing to begin. The guardian in me was slightly more on edge at this, and so I reluctantly went out onto the floor, dancing with moroi men who were a little too handsy, but ensured that I was able to stay close to Lissa. I had no problem dancing with moroi men in clubs when they were generally young and attractive, and no rumours would be sparked, but if I danced with any particular guy for too long at this type of event, the rumours would be horrendous by tomorrow afternoon. I had learnt that from experience.

My feet eventually grew too sore to keep dancing, and feeling that Lissa was safe enough now, I retired back to the top table, still keeping a close eye on her.

"Having fun?" A deep voice asked, making me jump. I turned round to face the culprit.

"Yes," I said, staring Dimitri in the eye. "I love dancing with old men".

He could tell the sarcasm in my voice and let out a deep chuckle that made my belly clench.

"We both know you're only here to cheat the shift rule".

A sly smile filled my face. "Oh yeah? I'm actually looking for a sugar daddy. Presumed one of the men here would be my best bet".

"You'll be fighting them off in that dress," Dimitri said, a look of heat in his eyes that made my belly tighten even further. I turned around so that he couldn't see what I was feeling.

Eventually, the crowd started thinning and so I was able to dismiss some guardians. Lissa left, and with her the team of royal guardians, but I stayed to stick it out until the end. Although I was a royal guardian and only responsible for Lissa's safely, I was always one of the last standing at these events, feeling guilty if I left before the rest of the team. I was a leader, and so I had to shoulder all the responsibilities.

After another hour or so, the majority of guests had left, and the rest were being encouraged to take the party elsewhere by the event organisers. I stood up with a sigh and gathered my things.

"You heading home?" Asked Dimitri from his position behind. Like me, he felt a responsibility to stick the event out and only now walked up to me.

"Yeah," I said, and headed towards the cloakroom by the exit.

"Walk with me?" he asked, surprising me.

"I... sure," I said eventually. "I need to call Lissa before we go first though". He nodded and followed.

Once I got to the cloakroom, I found my coat and rummaged in the pocket for my phone, no thanks to the dark lighting in here. There were no windows to keep sunlight out, and now that everyone had gone home there was no need for lighting.

"Liss, it's me," I said into her voicemail, sitting down on the bench. "I'm just ringing to let you know that everything went smoothly and I'm off home now. I'll drop by in the morning tomorrow to get my things on the way to the office".

I shut the phone and rubbed my temples. Man, I was tired. Dimitri suddenly sat down next to me.

"Can we talk now?" he asked a hard edge to his voice. I really didn't need this now, but I felt like I owed it to him.

"Sure" I whispered, my voice weak and tired.

"How come you didn't tell me?". He sounded legitimately hurt.

"I wanted to Dimitri, I did, but it was something I had to decide by myself. I didn't want you to influence me".

"When have I ever influenced you!" he said, expression shocked, or as much as I could tell in the dark. Even my dhampir eyesight was struggling to make him out.

"You influenced me all the time" I growled, letting my tiredness get the better of me. "All decisions I made when we were together were influenced by you, and this one was my own. Just like they have been for the past years."

"Are you saying I held you back?". His temper was rising too now.

"Yes. I am. Look how far I got without you Dimitri" I spat. Unfair yes. Untrue, no.

"Well my life without you has been just peachy too" he hissed, jumping up. "I didn't have to think if I would make you angry, didn't have to deal with your shit about guarding relationships, was able to do whatever the hell I wanted".

I jumped up off the seat too, getting in his face.

"Well, I had sex with loads of guys."

"I had sex with loads of girls".

The comment stung but was like petrol to my fire.

"I don't give a shit Dimitri Belikov." A lie.

"Did you even think about me when deciding about the job?" he shouted. I was glad there was barely anyone left in the building now.

"No!" I screamed. "All I did was move my life around for you before, and miss out on the things I wanted to do."

He stepped even closer to me, our faces millimetres apart.

"You don't think I did too?" he growled.

"No." I hissed. "You were already in a good place in life. I wasn't. I could have done so much more, done so many more people".

"Our sex wasn't good enough for you Roza?" he whispered. The anger in his voice was so intense, yet it was also filled with passion.

For a minute I was filled with silence at how blunt he was being. A minute that I grasped for a response.

"Yes," I whispered back, unable to find any other words or lie to him.

He stared at me, held my gaze with those passion-filled, angry eyes. Deep brown pools.

My breath was coming in hot and heavy pants as he leant over me, and I noticed his eyes glance down to my parted lips. I couldn't help but look at his, full and heavy and asking to be kissed.

Before I could stop him, he crashed his lips down onto mine, a deep growl sounding in his throat as he pushed me back against a wall, every part of his powerful body pinned tightly against me.

The kiss was full of rage, longing and sexual tension, sexual tension that had been building for some while. It was exploding around us, our tounges working together in a vicious dance.

I let out a small noise that fueled the passion, igniting something within him, and he grabbed my legs, lifting me up to straddle his hips, his hands pressing on the wall behind me. He moved his mouth from mine, a cruel look filling his face as he saw the effect it had on me, and then moved to my ear, his mouth licking, sucking and stroking its way down to my neck. The dark room made everything he did a surprise, heightened all my other senses.

I threw my head back, closing my eyes and letting out a deep moan at the sensation. I wrapped my hands into his hair, pulling out the tie that bound it.

"This dress," he moaned.

"I love it." He resumed sucking my neck.

"It does things to me". His mouth moved further down, brushing the dress's neckline.

"It did things to me as soon as I saw you in it". His fingers tore at the fabric, pushing it down to gain access.

I could feel what it was doing to him pushing into me as I straddled him. I shifted, giving me access, and began slowly rubbing him through his jeans. He let out a hiss and sucked sharply on a nipple, causing the same reaction in me.

All of a sudden, he pulled my hands away and pinned them above my head against the wall with one of his hands. The other snaked to my thighs, rubbing each one slowly.

"Keep quiet" he growled, and I nodded. I was incapable of speech right now.

His hands trailed each inner thigh under my thankfully short dress before moving back out to safer areas, creating a delicious tension within me. Once I was squirming, he took a finger and lightly ran it up and down my underwear, causing my hips to buck at the sensation.

"Oh god Roza" he murmured, quickening his finger.

"Please Dimitri" I moaned, feeling the need for him and for release growing.

He grinned a wicked grin, that had as much as an effect on me as what his finger was doing, and pushed his lips against mine.

"Wait" he murmured into my lips. "Have patience, Roza," but he pulled my underwear to the side, giving him full access to me.

My hips bucked violently as his finger circled my bundle of nerves and I felt the climax growing, nearing release. He could tell too, and quickened his pace, thrusting a finger on his other hand inside me, causing my undoing.

"Oh god," I moaned loudly as the climax hit me, resting my head on his shoulder as the waves hit me one after another, sweeping me away as I gasped for air.

"I'm locking up now so..." A voice said as an event manager walked into the room. "Oh my god," he said again, before quickly walking out and shutting the door behind him.

I took my head off Dimitri's shoulder and looked him in the eye, our moment broken by the interruption. He moved backwards, letting me down off the wall, and adjusted his jeans, trying to hide the massive hard-on unsuccessfully. I was speechless, actually speechless as I adjusted my underwear and took a deep breath.

"I'm still mad" I said, glaring at him.

"Me too." he growled. "Mad and turned on".

I shot him a glare, before moving closer and stroking him through his jeans, earning another hiss. His eyes were wide with desire, but I pulled away and shot him the Hathaway smirk.

"Too bad we were interrupted" I snarled, before turning and heading out the door, smirking at the red-faced event manager who was waiting for us to leave on the other side, and headed out the double doors back towards my flat.