Translated from Spanish to English - .com
Darkness always lurks
Everyone at the Moroi court was stunned when Rosemarie Hathaway revealed the identity of Queen Tatiana's murderer, Natasha Ozera, and laid out irrefutable evidence of her guilt. But the surprise was even greater when Natasha, desperate to be discovered and surrounded by her enemies, took a weapon from one of the guards and captured Mia to use as a human shield. That's when it happened: darkness took hold of Rose's mind, replacing whatever concern the dhampir felt for her loved ones with an irrepressible thirst for blood.
- Dimitri! cried Sonya, whose ability to see auras warned her of the change Rose was undergoing, who she could see wrapped in a cloak of shadows.
But he didn't have to say anything: Dimitri could see in the face of the woman he loved the same anger that he had seen when they followed Victor and his brother to rescue Jill, the same anger that had driven her to kill the evil man. He watched in horror as Rose, overcome by the madness of the spirit element, ignored the threat of the weapon held by Natasha and approached her with the obvious intention of fighting. The expression on his face, more like that of a beast than that of a rational person, terrified Natasha herself, who let Mia escape and began firing indiscriminately.
Rose didn't seem to be herself, not just because of the murderous anger that shone in her eyes, but because of the movements with which she dodged the bullets. It was as if madness had sharpened his senses and given him unnatural speed, as he soon came face to face with his enemy, disarming her with a dexterity that astonished the most experienced guardians, even Dimitri. Disposing of the gun, Rose knocked Natasha down with a sharp blow to her right knee, which must have broken judging by the crunch that was heard and the screams of pain from the assassin. Not content with that, as Natasha crawled on the ground trying to retrieve the pistol, the dhampir approached her and stomped on her outstretched hand, breaking her fingers.
-Well, bitch, it's about time to settle accounts. -declared our protagonist, who was determined to make the Moroi suffer.
Without further ado, he kicked her hard in the side that caused Natasha to lie on her back, fighting for breath. The blow seemed to have been so strong that it had broken some of his ribs. Rose stared at her for a moment, reveling in her suffering, showing a smile whose cruelty made Dimitri shudder, a man who had seen many horrible things in life. Seeing how Rose was affected by the spirit when absorbing the secondary effects that this element produced on Lissa, Dimitri could not help but think that his beloved could never inspire a greater terror than he was transmitting at that moment, not even if she became in a Strigoi.
As if she had caught the thoughts of the Russian guardian, Rose shot him a look that would surely be very similar to the ones he had given her when he was a Strigoi. There was no love or friendship in his eyes, just a cruel glint that indicated how much fun he was having with Natasha's torture.
-It is a pity that you did not accept his proposal, Dimitri. -he said as he returned to focus his attention on the woman, who gave a new kick, this time in the belly. -If you had done it and gone with her, now she would be enjoying herself much more thinking that she could be destroying the child that you had sired before seeing this world. It would be a very pleasant revenge, wouldn't it? He let out a sigh that implied that he found the situation very disappointing. -Well, I'll have to settle for physically torturing her.
She prepared to hit her again, but Dimitri intervened by pouncing on her and catching her under his weight.
- Look at you, Rose! the guardian begged her, who couldn't bear to see her like this. - This is not you! Remember: you are not like that!
Rose spat in his face, giving him a look of contempt that he never would have imagined she could give him, at least not after she had begun to forgive herself for what she had done during her Strigoi days.
-Lissa and you are just as pathetic, just as weak. the dhampir murmured, charging each word with a poison that made them very painful to hear. - What's wrong with killing and torturing those who deserve it? It's the only way for people to learn, it's something I understood when that jerk Jesse tried to force Lissa to join his circle. I could have given him what he deserved if that little girl, that idiot with a santa complex hadn't intervened. And now you come to save the woman who killed the queen and wanted me to bear the blame. I should have killed you when I had the chance, I was about to do it, but Lissa had to step in and screw it all up, snatching the glory from me. Anyway, since you seem to love Natasha so much, I'll kill you both so you can wallow in hell together for all eternity!
- I'm not protecting her, but you! shouted Dimitri, surprising the young woman when a tear slid down her face. His voice cracked with pain, the Russian continued, "I can't forgive Natasha for what she did to the queen or what she tried to do to you." I'm not protecting her because I don't think she deserves it or because I care what happens to her, but because I care what happens to you. You have always been a very strong woman, Rose, but after killing Victor you almost sank into despair, it was as if you were dead in life. And I swear to you that I am not going to let you fall back into that darkness, it does not matter if for this I have to protect the person I hate the most in the world.
Rose tried to say something loaded with hatred but found that hatred was almost weak. All she felt in that moment was sadness for having made a man as strong as Dimitri cry for her. She was crying so much that she could feel the tears falling on her face, or so she thought until she found out that she was crying too. The madness of the spirit dissipated completely, allowing him to remember how bad it had felt to kill Victor despite how evil he was. He understood then that his fears were real: he would never be safe from the darkness of the spirit, he would always walk on the brink of madness.
The situation having calmed down, Dimitri helped Rose up, at which point all her friends and loved ones surrounded her to comfort her. It was then that Natasha, taking advantage of everyone's distraction, managed to crawl to the place where the dropped gun was located. He aimed and fired, missing the shot due to the damage he had suffered, although the result was the same: the bullet would end up sinking into Rose's chest, who got in his way when she realized that Lissa would be injured.
Everyone feared losing Rose, including Dimitri, who lamented that he had wasted so much time lamenting over all the evil that he hadn't been able to avoid committing when he was a Strigoi. However, thanks to a very different miracle than Lissa had performed when she used the spirit to resurrect her friend, Rose survived and regained consciousness a few days later. Ignoring the momentary nervous breakdown, she suffered upon discovering that the bond with Lissa had been severed, it seemed that the story was going to have a fairytale ending for the dhampir: she had regained the love of Dimitri, with whom she could have a relationship. relationship because he would be Christian's guardian while she protected Lissa, and her innocence had been proven.
However, as they would discover over the years, not everything would be happiness. Sonya used to say that the darkness, the madness caused by the spirit, always awaited the opportunity to surface. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the bond with Lissa had been broken when she died and returned a second time by natural means, Rose and Dimitri would discover the horrible truth of those words: Rose had sacrificed for too long for her friend, absorbing the madness of the spirit to such an extent that it would never completely abandon his being. Dimitri could never relax too much, not even when he was safe in court with his beloved Rose: there were times when Rose suffered disproportionate fits of rage for the most foolish reasons; sometimes in the middle of the night
The darkness would never abandon Rose, it would stalk her all her life, waiting for the right moment to devour her. However, Dimitri would not abandon Rose either: he would remain with her until death parted them, forcing the darkness to retreat whenever it dared to make an appearance.