Thank you so much for the support, and sorry for the slow updating at the moment. I'm absolutely snowed under at work. I have finally worked out the chapters for the rest of the story, and our little 3-shot is looking at about another 3/4 chapters.


Dimitri. What can I say? I am sat writing this letter in a stuffy office, with the lawyer sat watching me. You know how much I hate lawyers. I would much rather be with you now doing, well, I don't actually know what you're doing, but I imagine it's better than this. I'm meeting you at the gym in an hour, and then we will finally be doing what we should have done years ago.

I'm getting sidetracked. You know I'm no good at writing (unless it's dirty text, then I'm fantastic).

If you are receiving this letter, it means something bad has happened. Like really bad. I'm imagining it being full of glory and protecting hordes of people, but I'm just as likely to go down from a quick strigoi snapping my neck as I am a full-on fight. Point is, I'm down.

I need you, Dimitri. I've needed you my whole life, I even needed you before I met you, even though I didn't know it at the time. You have crafted me, Dimitri, changed me for the better and helped me become the person I am today. Without you, I am nothing. Without you, my world is bleak. I can survive, but I cannot thrive.

I have one last thing I need from you, Dimitri. Or, well, a few things. First thing, I need you to look after Lissa. I know she has Christian and a whole horde of people to take care of her, but I trust no one more than you. I need you to make sure she gets over this, make sure she lives her life.

And that's the second thing. I need you to continue living your life, comrade. I need you to fill your life with joy, with happiness and laughter. Fill it with twice the amount, and live for me. If that joy comes in the form of one person, then I want you to be as wonderful to that person as you were to me. It would be selfish to keep you all to myself, and I want you to have people.

I know it's going to be hard, I lived through this when I lost you way back at the Academy. I know the grief that eats you up inside, festering until you think that there is nothing left. But there is. You need to grasp that tiny piece of your heart that is left and grow it again. Keep me in that heart, but move on.

You can, and will do wonderful things. Wonderful things do not come from broken men.

Burn this note, frame it, do what you will. This is my last gift to you, and know that my heart was the first. I will always be your's, comrade, be it on earth, or wherever the heck I am now. I am yours.

Roza Hathaway-Belikova.

Your wife.


Lissa. Well, here we are, what a run we have had. Who would have guessed just what we managed to get ourselves into?

You queen, me head royal guardian and even vice-president...wait. Do I even get that title if I died before I actually formally started the job? Perhaps you can see to that for me... God forbid I miss out on that being carved on my gravestone.

You really are the best friend I could have asked for. I know it sounds corny and cliche, but it's true. I can't find a better way to describe how I feel (you know I'm not good with words) so there you go. Thank you. Thank you for everything you have done for me over the years, for everything you have done for my race. Please Lissa, not that I need to ask, but please keep improving things. Help female dhampirs shake off prejudice, help them choose to become guardians if that's what they want. Put extra funding in place, scholarships (I wouldn't hate you if you named them after me...) but help you, impressionable girls strive for better. Help them dream. Just like we did.

There is something I haven't told you. I wanted to tell you, I think you suspected a little bit, but it was our secret for a little while. I thought that if I told you, you'd realise why we did it and try to keep me from the battle. I know I would have won in the end and gone out anyway, but I didn't want you to have the worry, the images of me falling in your head. I knew that if you knew that I believed I would fall, those few hours whilst you waited to hear would wreck you.

And so I didn't tell you.

I'm marrying Dimitri, Lissa. I'm due to go to the chapel in a few hours, I'm pretty nervous, but I know that I have never been more sure of anything in my life. He gets me, and I get him. We both knew that there was never anyone else for me, even when we had separated. I remember you telling me as much multiple times over the first few years apart. You were right.

Help him, Lissa. Help him get through this. He will sink into himself, keep everything buried inside and put on a mask. Please break through, don't let him shut down. When he does, there is no breaking through. It took me years Lissa, once he did that last time. Keep him living, whether he needs to hate you or someone else for my death, just keep him feeling.

I'm sorry to ask so much of you, but I need you. I have always needed you just as much as I have him. I love you, Liss, and thank you for the incredible ride we've had.

Rose.

(P.S. You can name one of your kids after me if you want, or all of them, it's up to you)


Flashback

"Hey, I'm done now," I said, standing up and holding my paper out to the smartly dressed woman at the other side of the desk.

She gave me a nod, and neatly arranged the papers on her desk.

"So the instructions are to deliver these letters at the first news of your death?"

I nodded. I wanted to be the one to deliver the news to my loved ones. I wanted them to hate me, not whoever got picked to tell them. I wanted to save them as much pain as possible.

"And what was the last thing you wanted to do, Miss Hathaway?" the woman asked.

Was I really doing this? Yes. I was sure.

"I want to change my name".

The woman raised her eyebrow and urged me to continue.

"I'm getting married in a few hours and I want to change my name officially just in case...well, in case the worst happens".

She nodded. Leaning over her desk, she pulled out some papers and handed them to me, pointing out all the bits I needed to fill out. It was actually surprisingly easy.

With a nod, she signed her signature at the bottom.

"There you go, from now onwards you will be known as Rosemarie Hathaway-Belikova. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

I shook my head. I'd already sorted out my will, not that it took long.

Guardian Hathaway-Belikova, for what it's worth, I wish you the best of luck out there, whatever is happening. I wish you the best of luck and thank you. Thank you for keeping us safe.

With a sharp nod, I stood out of the office and towards the gym, setting off towards the building at a light jog to cover the sharp emotion stinging in my chest, caused not only by what I'd just done but the woman's kind words.

Let's hope her luck paid off and those letters were never read.