*Author Notes: I'm trying to improve my writing skills, so feedback is always appreciated. I'm pretty new at writing stories.

Chapter 1

If you were to ask me what the hardest part of being Lissa's guardian is, I would almost certainly say the long, boring meetings. It was something I'd always known I would have to endure as the guardian of a royal Moroi, however let's just say that guarding the Queen herself took things to a whole new monotonous level. As much as I was dreading having to study and do homework, I was almost looking forward to college if it meant a small break from this. Who am I kidding? I will probably still have to study, do homework, and attend meetings.

I gave a small signal to Jasha, her far guard, as we arrived at the entrance of an unfamiliar meeting room and stepped in front of Lissa to give the room a quick check before she entered. We were 15 minutes early, but others had still beat us. To my surprise I saw as many dhampirs as I saw Moroi. Seated on the left side of the rectangular table was Hans Croft, the head guardian at Court. Next to him was Alberta, I was unaware that she flew in, and an unfamiliar male dhampir. To the right of the table was Kirova, Abby Badica, and Daniella Ivashkov.

As Lissa sat at the head of the table, I started to make my way to her nearest corner when I felt her delicate hand on my wrist. "Actually Rose, I was hoping you could join us. I would like to hear your thoughts on this topic," she softly said.

I nodded my head and took the seat nearest to her. A few more members trickled in and she was ready to start. I didn't need the bond to know that she was nervous, it could be heard in her voice. "Thank you for making the time to attend this meeting," she began, "I am here to discuss the guardian age degree." I glanced at the other dhampirs at the table, they had their guardian masks up, but I could still detect traces of solemness. "I believe that everyone in this room understands the gravity of sending dhampirs out to fight too young, and I understand the growing anxiety on the Moroi side of not having protection. My goal is to overturn the age decree and provide an alternative solution to the weakening guardian numbers," she continued.

I listened intensively. I knew Lissa was just as impassioned about the barely passed age degree law as I was, but at the time she could not vote as she had no other living relatives. She hadn't talked with me about this alternative and I was curious.

Lissa turned to me, "The idea was actually inspired by Rose. Nearly everyone knows about the two years Rose and I disappeared from school. She was accepted back, and with the extra training was able to graduate and get the highest score on her trials." Discussing me seemed to make her more confident. "I believe that there are other dhampirs out there who had to drop out of training before graduating. I am proposing a kind of bridge program, an apprenticeship of sorts, that would help them achieve guardian status." She paused for a moment to let the idea permeate into everyone's minds, "I would like for you all to help me understand the feasibility of this endeavor."

Hans was the first to speak, "There is a lot to consider logistically. How would we even find these dhampirs and recruit them into the program?"

"Well actually I'm hoping guardian Sidorov could be very useful in that area," Lissa interjected, nodding in the direction of the stranger that I acknowledged earlier. His piercing green eyes, an anomaly for dhampirs, focused on me as he addressed Lissa, "please call me Valentin, your majesty." He looked to be in his mid to late twenties. His brown sweater matched his hair that slightly bent at the edges. She smiled at him, "Guardian Valentin is unique in the aspect that he is also a trained demographer. He studies dhampir populations."

I could feel my eyebrows raise. I wasn't aware that dhampirs had demographers. I'd never had to fill out any type of survey, but I'm still barely an adult. "I think it's do-able," he replied, "If a campaign was put together we could reach out to the dhampir communities and get a feel of those who would be interested in the program."

It was Alberta's turn to speak, "How long would this apprenticeship last? Students have to go through certain milestones in order to graduate such as field experience and trials. Would they participate in these? Who would train them —" she fired off her questions. More attendees began to give their opinions and somehow two hours had passed.

"This was a great beginning discussion, and we all have plenty of takeaways to look into before our next session…" Lissa began to wrap up the meeting. As people began to make their way to the door, Valentin approached us with a smile. "We haven't officially met," he extended his hand, "I've heard a lot about you Guardian Hathaway."

"Rose," I corrected as I took his hand.

"Rose," he amended, "It's nice to finally put a face to the name. Queen Vasilisa suggested over email that we would be seeing a lot of each other."

"She hadn't mentioned any of this beforehand," I admitted, "but I'm more than happy to help out where I can." I gave him one of my infamous smiles. There was something about him that felt familiar and edgy at the same time. It also didn't hurt that he was attractive.

"I'm the one that's here to serve," he made an exaggerated bow to me, raising one eyebrow as he lifted his head. My chest felt like it was 20 pounds and my brain pushed out images of Dimitri, but I quickly discarded them. I was not willing to go down that train today.

"Well then I guess I'll see you around," was all I offered, but I kept my eyes playful.

"Looking forward to it," he gently said, giving a real bow to Lissa and a final 'your majesty' to her, he walked away.

I decided not to acknowledge Lissa's smirk in my direction. "Let's get out of here," I said, and we made our way back to the living quarters.

I switched out shifts with Serena, and headed to my apartment. As I let myself in, I noticed a large white envelope on the floor. It looked like it had been slid under the door. I picked it up with interest. There was no writing on it and gave nothing away of the sender. My fingers aggressively ripped open the flap, and I turned the envelope upside down, spilling out the contents.

The first thing I noticed were my hands. They were shaking. The second thing I noticed was my breath. I was struggling to breathe. My hands were shaking and I was struggling to breathe. I was… hyperventilating? My eyes darted all over the room, anywhere but there. This couldn't be happening, I must be having another nightmare. Desperate to wake myself up, I slapped myself only to realize I was awake, my hands were shaking, I was hyperventilating, and my eyes wanted to look everywhere but at the pictures scattered across the table, pictures of Victor Dashkov's dead body.