Chapter 23:

RPOV

I woke up encased in big strong arms. My back pressed against his chest while he spooned me. His head is still in my hair. He was sound asleep. I tried to turn around to look at him, but he only held me tighter. Well, this was helpful, sweet, but not very productive. I tried slowly prying his hands away from my waist, He groaned but eventually let go of me long enough so I could move again and turn around. I saw he was slowly waking up.

"Well hello handsome, how are you feeling this morning." I smiled knowing he probably would have a killer hangover. His only response was another grunt. I chuckled. Hung over Dimitri was hilarious. But there was a small smile creeping at his lips.

"Good morning pretty Rose" He slowly pressed his lips to mine. I was a little hesitant. The alcohol in his breath would be enough to intoxicate me at the moment, but I was pleasantly surprised by the minty freshness. I guess he had gotten up somewhere in the night to brush his teeth, He also seemed to be doing relatively well. I would have expected a non-coherent Dimitri after all the alcohol he consumed.

"How are you even alive right now?"

"Little Russian secret. I have been nursing vodka hangovers since I was fifteen. I've got the hang of it after a while. Just don't talk too loudly."

"How about no talking at all?" I asked suggestively and moved my hips a little closer to his. I saw his demeanor change and his eyes glaze over with lust.

His hands moved to my waist and towards my thighs. I bend my knee a little to give him better access and he positions himself half on top of me. His hands moving from my thighs up to my waist and back down again stroking me with his big rough hands. He kisses me gently at first, but I would have none of that and moved my hands into his hair bringing him closer and claiming his lips in a passionate kiss. He opens his mouth and I devour his tongue with my own. I hear him groan loudly. As if realizing something he sits up and looks around. Maybe for the first time realizing we are in his room in the guardian's building.

"We'll have to be quiet." My only response is a nod before pulling him back down and reclaiming his lips.

His hands were going back down from my waist to my thighs but this time they are moving on the insides off my thighs instead of the outside, I gasp a little when I can feel his fingers rub me over my panties.

He smiles.

"I told you to be quiet." But his actions are not very productive towards silence. He slips his fingers past my panties and into my folds. He captures my mouth with his to muffle the sounds I make. He starts pumping in and out of them while using his dumb to occasionally rub my clit. He pulls them out and I immediately feel the loss. He uses the time to pull my panties off completely and pull his shirt over my head.

"I love it when you wear my shirts, but I prefer you naked."

He starts to make quick work of my breast and my hands slip in between us to touch his hardening member. I hear him moan a little at the first contact. I pull his boxers down completely and he kicks them off. His mouth moves to my breasts and his fingers find my core again. I grab a pillow to stifle the moans I am making, I need all my concentration and will power to not scream at the moment. He quickens the pace of his fingers and thumb and I am close to the edge. He knows it too. When I finally come he quickly pulls out his fingers and replaces it with his cock. His mouth finds mine to stifle the scream I was not able to hold in. He rides out my orgasm with his cock before starting a new one. His pace was first gentle but quickly gained in speed and vigor. I can see he has a hard time keeping all the sounds in as well. His breathing becomes erratic as is mine. The moment we climax together he buries his face into my hair to keep the noise from coming out while I bite down on his shoulders.

Afterwards we lay next to each other in each other's arms. I felt content at that time. We could be doing this all day. I liked the thought of that. I was climbing on top of Dimitri again to feel closer to him and to look him in the eyes. He was holding me in place with one hand on my waist and the other moving to brush my now wild hair out of my face.

I was moving in to kiss him again when there was a knock on the door. I heard him groan and I fell down next to him. He quickly put on some pants and motioned for me to stand on the other side of the door. There weren't very good hiding places in his room. I wrapped the sheet around my naked body and did as I was told.

He stood before the door, taking a moment to collect himself before opening it.

"Guardian Petrov, what can I do for you this Sunday morning?" I could hear Dimitri's voice still being a little shaky. If it was from all the drinking last night or from our amorous activities I could not tell.

"Dimitri, I would like to see you in my office."

"All right, I'll get dressed and be there in a minute."

She was starting to turn around and walk away. But before Dimitri fully closed the door, to my horror she spoke again.

"Oh and Rose, why don't you join us in my office." And with that, she walked away leaving a shocked Dimitri at the door.

After a moment he closed the door and started cursing in Russian. I was panicking as well. How did she know I was there? We got dressed pretty quickly, we needed to know how bad the situation was and fast. First Mason and Christian and now Alberta, we had become complacent. We were so far into our happy bubble we didn't even realize we were flaunting it all over campus. Would he be fired. Would I be expelled. A million thoughts went through my head.

Before we walked out of his room though he turned to me. He cupped both sides of my face and gave me a long passionate kiss.

"I love you." He stated. I knew what he was doing. If things went sideways this was maybe the last change we had to utter those words.

"I love you too."

And with that, we walked out of his room and towards Alberta's office, of to face our doom.

DPOV

Shit shit shit. This was not good. How did she know? Were we really that obvious that Christian and Alberta knew without much evidence? I just had to remind myself that there was not much evidence. Worst case scenario it would be her word against mine. Except she saw me half naked in my room harboring my student. At least she didn't see Rose, who was fully naked. Maybe we could call Lissa and compel Alberta to forget. I could knock her out until Rose found Lissa to make her forget.

I was already making escape plans when she motioned us to sit down.

"I can't believe you two. How can you two be so reckless? In your room, Guardian Belikov? I thought the two of you would be smarter and not so blatantly obvious about it. If this gets out it will cost both of your heads."

"Please, Alberta, you can't fire him or hold it against him." Rose wasn't actually pleading she was telling Alberta. She started to point to her fingers counting her arguments. "Consenting age in Montana is 17 and I turn 18 in two weeks."One finger up. "And technically he isn't affiliated with the school, just Lissa's guardian who takes shifts here." Another finger up. "And he isn't my teacher. He is my mentor, which is more of an equal relationship" That was her last finger. "So he isn't in a power position over me. We didn't do anything wrong."

But both Alberta and I could only stare at Rose's statement.

"What, you have got to know the rules before you can break them." She shrugged. The only thing I could do was smile. I saw Alberta do the same and I was relieved. She at least saw the humor in it all.

She breathed in and out deeply before continuing.

"If you are old enough to kill and die, you are old enough to love." and that seemed to be the end of it. "Now, about why I called you both in here. I received word from Court. The queen has changed her mind and is summoning novice Hathaway, Princess Vasilisa and Lord Ozera to testify."

She stated before handing Rose the envelope. I just gawked at her. That was it? Be more discreet next time? No, you're fired. No, you're going to jail. Well the last part would have been difficult based on what Rose said but still. We had been dreading someone finding out about us for so long. This reaction was so...anticlimactic.

Rose looked at me and smiled a brilliant smile.

"You got them to let us go?" She asked hopefully.

I felt heavy. I wasn't the one that arranged this. She thought I could do anything but it wasn't me.

"It wasn't me Rose."

She looked disappointed but still happy about going.

"Then who did?"

I just shook my head indicating I didn't know. Alberta shrugged.

"The Queen is fickle" was Alberta's reply. And no more words were uttered about the mystery of why the queen did the things she did. We talked a bit about arrangements that would have to be made both for my own shifts and for Rose's classes. After that, we were dismissed.

As I walked out of her office Rose a few steps ahead of me. Alberta turned to me. The look she gave me was more gentle than I had seen from her. Alberta was always a stern woman. She was a guardian and had earned her title as captain and the respect bestowed upon her by her colleagues. I respected Alberta a great deal. Her opinion mattered. It was for that reason I was glad she wasn't chastising me for my relationship with Rose.

"Please Dimitri, take care of her." There seemed to be a small bit of maternal love in her words. She wasn't asking me to keep Rose's heart safe. Because we all knew she didn't need much help in the other department.

Alberta had always been fond of Rose, I knew she wanted the best for her. She knew what we were doing was dangerous but I guess she also knew the effect we had on each other. We made each other better. She had seen the same and with that small sentence she had given us her blessing.

As long as we didn't get caught.

RPOV

As we exited the administrative building, I saw Mason sitting on a bench. I signaled to Dimitri that I needed to talk to Mason. He nodded and left towards guardian housing. So much for snuggle Sunday.

I sat next to Mason looking straight ahead.

"Hey," I said

"Hey"

"Look I am sorry, you found out this way. I just didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to hurt you."

He looked at me. I had hoped he looked a little sad. Or a little hurt but instead he looked angry. Not good.

"I can't believe you Rose. Why can't it ever be me? What does he have that I don't?"

Okay, now I was angry. And what did he mean 'ever be me' as if I had the whole school between my legs. And he made it sound like a conscious choice, like somehow he had earned my love and affection. He had earned the right to be my friend, but romantic love doesn't work like that.

"For your information, Mason, Dimitri is the only man I have ever been with, and if it was up to me he would be the only man I ever be with. My reputation is ill-deserved and you know that. You are one of my best friends Mason, but call me a slut again and we are done!"

He at least had the decency to look sorry. Good.

"Why him?"

"Because I love him. He knows me better than anyone. He makes me better. And I make him better."

I couldn't help but smile while I talked about Dimitri. Mason seemed to notice this too.

"It isn't something he has and you don't Mason. I just don't feel that way about you. I am sorry. I know you don't want to hear it now, but eventually you will find that one person that makes you better and you will know the difference between what you felt for me and that person...I hope that we… that we can still be friends."

He was sad but he nodded anyway. I hoped he did understand. I didn't want to lose him, I also didn't want him blabbing about it to anyone out of spite. But he seemed mostly distraught, not vengeful. I don't think I have encouraged Mason's affections, but still I felt guilty for the pain he was in now.

He turned to me and he seemed to take me in one last time, as if committing this Rose to memory before letting me go. "If you will let me have some time to get over you? Maybe after that, we can be friends again."

He walked away, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I wanted to be mad at Christian for outing us like this. But if I was really honest with myself I doubt I would have told Mason on my own.

As I walked back to my own dorm room my eyes landed on a figure by the pond. She is almost translucent but seems to be staring at me. It takes me a moment to realize that she looks just like Lissa's mom. It has been a long time since I have seen ghosts. I have learned to block them, however here on campus I never needed much mental strength to keep them out. But now I could see Rhea Dragomir clear as day. Most of the time the ghosts that I saw were faceless. So I was wondering why that had changed. She was pointing at something. But I didn't understand what.

She was gone as quickly as she had come. Strange.