Rosemarie Hathaway

I walked into the banquet hall and after giving a Lissa a quick hug, we split ways so to go find our seats. I thought the Queen usually made her yearly visits later in the year. The fact that she chose to came so soon after Lissa and I had returned wasn't all that lost to me. I had to wonder what her motives really were.

The room fell into silence as the queen took the stage. Smiling she glanced around the room before beginning her speech. By her forced smile, I doubted this was going to be one of her cheery speeches to raise morale.

"Forgive me for barging in on your dear school nearly unannounced." She began as her eyes took a more careful glance around the Moroi section of seating. She was searching for something and when her eyes landed on Lissa, I knew she had found her target. "I had heard that you had returned Princess Dragomir. I am glad to see that you are returned to us unharmed. After losing your parents, I cannot express words that would fit the sadness that losing you, the last Dragomir would cause for on our kind."

"The loss of Rhea and Eric Dragomir, along with your brother Andre, was a true tragedy and one our people have deeply felt. We know that our sadness could never match that of yours, but you must live up to your name."

What did that mean? I thought to myself.

"Your name, my dear, is one that demands respect and dignity. From the Dragomir family line, we have been granted the most wise and justly kings and queens. You weren't just blessed with a strong family name though. Did you know the name Vasilissa is the given name to many Russian heroines? It has been given to women who have always been found to be beautiful and brave. The women from the fairy tales you are named after have always shared many qualities. They were not only strong, intelligent, and virtuous, but they were disciplined."

Okay not so bad, I guess.

"But you, Vasilissa Dragomir seemed to have forgotten this. For one that has been bequeathed two of the strongest names in our history, you have brought nothing but shame to them. Why you feel that the proper way to mourn your family is with rumors of blood whores and dead animals I do not know. It is less than reproachful behavior and you need to end it now before you become even more of an embarrassment to our kind."

Oh, that is it. I moved to stand from my chair, but felt has hands came down on my legs holding me in place. It gave me enough paused to realize what I had been about to do. Mason and Eddie had just prevented me from tackling and probably killing the Queen. Not that I could actually get to her, though. I would have to attend with half a dozen Guardians before I could ever get my hands around her thin little neck.

The minute the assembly was over, I weaved my way through people trying to catch up to Lissa. She had hastily ran from the room at the first opportunity. I caught up to her near the pond, but discovered that Natalie had already reached her. I could hear their words as I drew closer.

"It was rude of her to say that. Honestly, no one should have ever said anything like that to another person. It just isn't right." Natalie was telling her. "You should just forget about it and not let it bother you. It all will be forgotten in a few months' time. Someone else will do something just as horrible and the Queen's words will be forgotten in favor of the new hot bit of drama."

I had to admit, for as much blubbering as Natalie did, she was doing a great job at supporting Lissa.

"She was right though when she said my parents and Andre would be upset with what I did. I shouldn't have ran away. I just can't believe she would blame me for all the other stuff though. I didn't do any of it. I promise it wasn't me." Lissa cried.

"I know, I know." Natalie said as she rubbed Lissa's back.

"How could someone so cold become Queen?" Lissa asked as she dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"I don't know." Nat said. "But if daddy was king, something like that would have never happened.

"They're really all the same, you know. All of the Royals are just stuck up and out for themselves. I'm so glad that your dad isn't like that. He actually cares about people's feelings." I head Lissa say.

"That is why I don't really get involved and refuse to hang out with them. You should try it. I mean, look at me, I'm just fine. I don't need the strings that come with their friendships. Daddy says that as long as I happy, I can choose my own friends."

"They are both right, Liss." I said as I reached the bench. "Natalie does just fine treading middle ground. And Prince Dashkov does care about everyone. That is why he should be ruling us instead of Queen Bitch."

Natalie nearly fell off the bench at my words. I don't think she had ever uttered anything worse than geez or darn in her life.

"There you are." Lissa said. Natalie shifted uncomfortably between us and with a small smile headed off to go find her father. He had come for the assembly but would be leaving to go home soon. "Thank you, Nat. I really appreciate what you said." Lissa told her as she walked away. With a wave, Natalie quickly walked away, leaving us to have a little alone time.

"I can't believe she still calls him Daddy." I said laughing. Lissa admonished me and told me to drop it because in the end Natalie was just a really nice person. I had to agree with her. It was just really hard to make fun of someone that was so innocently sweet.

"You know, if you want, I can kill the Queen. You know I can get past those Guardians. I am the Rose Hathaway after all."

"No Rose. Don't even think it, you will be arrested and killed for treason." Lissa gasped. Turning to look at the bare branch of a nearby bush, her face turned vacant and vulnerable.

"Whoa, don't get so long in the face. Queen B doesn't know what she is talking about. She was just being all hoity-toity. Please don't let this get to you. I don't want you getting that depressed again, Liss." I said as my eyes lowered to look at her wrists.

"It's starting to happen again, isn't it?" She asked as her hands trembled in mine.

"No, it won't get that bad again if you don't let it. You haven't tried that again have you?" I asked as I looked from her wrists to her eyes.

"No. Things have been really upsetting me lately, but not so that I have felt the need to do that again."

"That's good Liss. Promise you will come and talk to me before they get that bad though."

"I will. I've missed you Rose. Can we stop fighting over Christian though? I really like him."

"I don't know. I mean he is a psychopathic loser."

"Rose." She groaned and I bit my tongue to keep from going into a speech about how she should stay away from him. Truthfully, I liked the way she felt when he was around.

The sound of high heels clattering against the stepping stones, made me turn around. I immediately stood defensively in front of Lissa when I saw Mia Rinaldi walking our way with a condescending smile on her face.

With a haughty smile, she ignored me and took a few steps toward Lissa. "So how does it feel to know that even the Queen thinks you are the trailer trash of the Royals?"

I sidestepped around her so that I was once again between her and Lissa. "Back away, you're standing to close to her." Mia flinched and took a step back. "Why are you even gloating about this, Doll Girl? The Queen actually knows her name. I bet that is something you can't say for yourself. You are nothing but a wannabe royal. Did mommy and daddy put you up to this? Are they tired of the lives as paupers and want their poor darling little girl to marry above her station so they can pay their bills for a change?"

"At least I know who my parents are. Your father is probably any number of Moroi scum and everyone knows your mother doesn't really care about you. She probably threw a big party when you left, if she even noticed your absence at all."

"Really Mia, have you not seen my mother around campus at all? It's kind of hard to miss seeing Janine Hathaway. Trust me; my mother cares more than you think. She is actually famous not only for her Guardian skill but because of how well she advises her royal and noble charges. She, at least, does more than cleaning up after some royal family."

"Someone told me Jesse started that rumor, but it was you, wasn't it? Is that how you work? Always doing Vasilissa's dirty work? I could see it though. She is too pathetic to do anything herself, after all. Well you can't always protect her you know? And in forewarning, you're not safe either." She warned us.

"You think you can threaten me that easily? Try it and you see how Dawn felt because I won't think twice about smashing your nose in." I said as I looked back towards the school. I could see Dimitri and our other friends making their way over. My mother, following their gaze, took in the crowd that had gathered and headed them off. She pointed towards the dorms as she spoke to them, then turned and strode in my direction.

"Is everything okay out here, it is nearly curfew." I heard my mother say as she worked her way through the crowd.

"Yeah, mom, we were just trading out family stories. Everyone was awed with the one about you killing Strigoi that time in Amsterdam. Mia has an interesting story too; would you like to hear it?" I asked as Mia stood gapping at me.

Then giving me one of the coldest glares I'd ever seen, she turned to her friends telling them to follow her. I knew then that instead of making Mia want to back off, I had only pissed her off more. She was livid.

"Rosemarie, you weren't starting a fight were you?" My mom asked and I looked up giving her my most innocent smile. She grunted and placed a hand at each of Lissa and my backs. "Come on; let's get you both back to your dorms."

We walked Lissa to her dorm and after a quick hug goodnight, I followed after my mother. "I think I need to start teaching you lessons in self-control." I heard her say.

"Hey, I have plenty of self-control!" I countered, but my mother just shook her head and laughed as she pulled me indoors.

The next morning, Dimitri was absent from morning practice. Viktoria seemed very worried about it, claiming he never missed practice unless he was really sick. I had just formed a friendship with him and her worry made me really antsy too. I convinced her that if he didn't show up for our first class I would seek her out and we would both go find him.

When my first class began, I picked the sparring ring closest to the door and watched for him to walk in. Mason and Eddie had offered to partner up with me, but I waived them off. Alberta took roll call and seeing that I would be left without a partner told me that she would join me after going over today's maneuvers she wanted included in our staking practice. I nervously watched the door as time moved on.

It seemed like the next five minutes took hours to pass by, but the doors finally opened and revealed a very flushed and frustrated Dimitri. I let out a breath of relief. He wasn't sick or hurt after all.

After making sure he was okay, I quickly helped him into his protective vest. We went a handful of rounds sparring before Alberta had us move on to the weight room. Weights though allowed for me to really think, and against my better judgement, I struck up conversation with Dimitri. I found he was actually really easy to talk with and before I knew it, lunch was upon us we were still talking away.

I was secretly enjoying that he agreed to sit with my friends at lunch. Now that I had seemed to break through his stubborn exterior, I found him to be very calming. I felt relaxed and happy with him so near. Even Lissa dragging Sparky along with her for lunch didn't bother me as much as it usually would have.

The usual bantering occurred and I found that it helped to keep my mind off of tonight's Molnija ceremony. It was always in the background of my thoughts and was one of the reasons I had kept close to Dimitri today. We never spoke of it, but it was nice to be around someone that understood what I was feeling.

By the time supper rolled around, Lissa was a tense mess. I tried to talk to her about it but she shut me out and we ended up arguing. I spent the rest of dinner staring at my plate as I ate and just listening to my friends' shenanigans. I was somewhat relieved when my mother led me to the apartment to start getting ready for the Molnija ceremony.

"Shower and I will fix your hair so that it is out of the way." She told me as I set my bags down in the corner beside the door.

"I'm going to have to cut it off short, like yours, won't I?" I said sadly.

"It's not required, but I think you can wait until after graduation to make that decision." She said. "I can show you some styles that keep it out of the way and are safer than a pony tail during battles."

"I'd like that. I really like my hair."

"I do too; it reminds me of your father." She said, her eyes flashed with a touch of sadness.

"Will you ever be able to tell more me about him?" I asked without any malice or accusation.

"I tell you what, go get your shower and I will tell you a little more about that while I fix your hair."

With that our conversation ceased and I rushed to shower and dress. I dried my hair, but left it hanging loose before slipping into a pair of black jeans and black camisole. My mother was waiting for me at the dining room table when I walked out of the bathroom. She motioned to the chair beside her and I sat down, pushing my hair over my shoulders. She began talking as she brushed through the long tresses.

"You remember the story I told you not long ago? The one about the Moroi in Italy," she asked.

"Ibrahim," I stated. "Ibrahim is my father?"

"Yes. We were very much in love, but I guess I've already told you that. I requested a leave of absence so I could stay with him. When my time in Italy began to grow shorter, I couldn't bear to leave him. We had been together a year when I fell pregnant with you. It was the best year of my life. I really thought I would have everything. I would be doing my duty by protecting him from Strigoi and would still be able to have a family. So many Dhampir must choose one or the other. It is probably one of the hardest and saddest parts of our lives. At the time though, I truly did believe that I was going to be one of the luckiest of our kind."

"What happened? Why did things change?" I asked as she began to braid and twist sections of my hair.

"A couple of months before you were due to join this world, Ibrahim began to receive threats against you and me both. We were a weakness for him. His business causes him to form many enemies. Thankfully most of them aren't stupid enough to defy him. Still there are those that your father has angered to the point that they would give anything to have a chance for revenge against him."

"And they were going to use us to get revenge?"

"Yes. The things they threatened, Rose, it nearly broke your father. He wasn't able to uncover who was sending the letters and I was days from my due date. He called me into his office and without giving me a choice explained he was sending me away. He was going to hide me. I was shipped off in the middle of Human day with fake identification. When your due date came, I was thankful that you weren't ready to make your appearance. I was still being shuffled about. I was finally dropped at a Dhampir community in the middle of Southern California. You were born there, four days later." Her voice had taken on an almost dreamy tone. She was lost in her memories.

"You were such a good and beautiful baby. We stayed at the community for two years when a man brought a letter to me. I recognized the writing as your father's immediately. Inside was some cash and a letter explaining that we had been discovered and told me where to go. It was also going to be the last time your father contacted us until either we needed to be moved or it was safe. Until that point, we had used a trusted friend to pass on updates every couple months. Anyways, I made it safely to the rendezvous point with you and we were whisked off to Court of all places. When you were four I received another letter."

She had finished my hair and came to sit in the chair next to me, looking me in the face for the first time. "We don't have identification like the Humans do, but we do have documentation. Yours were originally listed under your father's last name. In his letter he explained that he had removed himself from all of the documentation on you. I brought you to the academy under his advisement and took up the Guardian job in Prague. It was hard, but I kept communication and visits with you to a minimum."

"When you disappeared, your father and I both thought…" her voice dropped as tears threatened her eyes.

"I'm okay mom, I'm here now and I'm safe." I told her as I laid my hand over her's.

"Yes, you are." She glanced down at her watch and quickly hid all of her emotions. "We better get going." We both stood and headed towards the door. Slipping on my jacket I turned to face her.

"You both really love me." I said and my mother gave a single nod of her head before opening the door.