Chapter 45:

DPOV

Oh not good. News of the new law had reached Rose. And as I expected this wasn't going to end well. I jumped out of bed and got dressed and was just in time for Rose yelling at the guardians to let her out.

"Roza, calm down."

She turned her head around towards me. Oh she was pissed.

"Calm down? Calm down?! That bitch is sending children off to die and she used me to do it! I will not calm down. Now." She turned her attention back to the guardians standing in front of. "Either you will let me through so I can talk to that bitch and tell her exactly what she can do with that law or I am going to save all this rage for you."

I could see the guardians physically swallow. I knew what Rose could do in a fight and I had no doubt that if she wanted to get through the guardians she could have, but luckily John stepped in.

"Now, Mrs. Hathaway, that won't be necessary. We will accompany you to the palace."

I had a feeling John was looking forward to Rose ripping Tatiana a new one.

So we went across court. It was quite a sight. One steaming five foot seven girl being followed by large men including myself to the queen's court.

She just marched into the palace and into Tatiana's personal chamber. The guardians at the door were too dumbstruck to stop her. They caught on too late.

She threw the doors open and stormed straight for Tatiana.

"You! You dare send sixteen year olds out into the field, where they will be killed immediately and you used my skill, my memory to do it?"

Adrian and I dutifully followed her into the chambers. Tatiana and Princess Voda seemed to have been enjoying a cup of tea before Rose interrupted them.

"Please Pricilla. Would you mind giving us some privacy. I believe Miss Hathaway and I need to talk."

"It's MRS. Hathaway."

Tatiana chose to ignore that. Although I was immensely happy Rose was proud to be my wife, I did think she should pick her battles at the moment.

"Why don't you sit down, Rose." Avoiding the problem all together.

"Please, Guardian Belikov, Adrian, why don't you join us. The rest of you can give us some privacy if you will."

She motioned to the horde of guardians which had come in after us. And also the royal guardians lining the wall. Adrian and I sat down and I practically had to drag Rose into a chair but she did sit down, arms crossed over her chest.

"Tea?"

If Tatiana was at all disturbed by Rose's outburst she wasn't showing it. She was the picture of Royal authority and politeness. She poured tea for all of us at an alarmingly slow pace. I saw Rose become restless and her leg was bumping up and down and she was fidgeting with her nails. I placed my hand on top of hers to calm her down. It didn't help much.

Tatiana sat back down into her chair, took her tea, added a cube of sugar and slowly stirred the spoon. She then carefully laid the spoon back down and brought the tea to her lips. She took a sip and sat the tea back down. She said the following words without looking at either of us.

"The bill has been passed according to our own laws we have lived by for hundreds of years, procedures have been followed and we believe it is the best way of protecting our people in the future."

"Your people? Aren't Dhampirs your people too?"

Tatiana didn't answer. I saw Tatiana was struggling. I don't think Tatiana supported the bill herself but then why had she passed it. I knew the vote from John, she had the deciding vote.

"Believe it or not Rosemary, what I did, I did in the best interest for both Moroi and Dhampir. Some of the royal's suggestions were much worse. Going from compelling non guardian Dhampirs to serve, to setting up special breeding camps to increase your numbers. I even heard someone wanted to start experiments with Strigoi blood to increase the power of Dhampirs. I knew things couldn't stay the way they were. This was the least appalling measure so I supported it."

I saw Rose taking this in with fury. Not so much directed at Tatiana but at the Royals.

"What about all those royals getting off their asses and helping us. When Christian and I fought together at the academy I could take down a lot more Strigoi then I usually did. He was a real asset."

Tatiana looked at her confused.

"I have actually been running a pilot in secret to see if it was feasible to train Moroi to fight, but what do you mean usually? I know you had three Molnija before… the incident but that is hardly usual."

I saw Rose replaying her words in her head and she realized she messed up. She looked at me and Adrian and panicked.

"Well you might as well tell her. Might score you some points." Adrian offered, shrugging his shoulders.

Rose sat down in her chair and started the story from the start again. I saw Tatiana's eyes widen with every sentence coming from Rose. When she incorporated me in the story when dealing with the darkness, sometimes Tatiana's eyes would wonder to me, but overall she just kept staring at Rose.

"So in the end I don't really know how many I killed. I haven't in a while though."

By the end Tatiana was lost for words and was having a hard time keeping her royal composure.

"You killed God knows how many Strigoi?"

Rose nodded.

"By yourself?"

"Yup."

"From the age of fifteen?"

"Pretty much."

"Alone?"

Tatiana was definitely losing her composure.

She sat back into her chair. "Well that is something, isn't it."

Rose just nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Is this something that is your future now too, Guardian Belikov?"

Rose and I talked about it and although it was good to have someone close that has been through the same thing to help guide me, we were pretty sure it would take a while before things would progress to that stage.

"Not in the near future, your majesty, Rose got affected by the darkness pretty fast for two reasons. Vasilisa and Rose have been bonded since the accident when they were fifteen. Vasilisa never learned to handle the darkness on her own, whereas Adrian has been dealing with it by himself, maybe not in the healthiest of ways, but still. So I don't have to take as much darkness from Adrian. Secondly, Rose's commitment to Vasilisa went beyond what was normal for a guardian and definitely a novice. She protected her from everything, taking all the darkness for herself leaving nothing for Lissa to deal with. It meant Lissa was safe but Rose came close to insanity a few times."

I saw that this was also news to Adrian. He hadn't considered it like that.

"But the darkness has been building in Adrian because in a short amount of time he healed both me and Rose, but when it gets too bad, I'll take it and burn it off on a nest of Strigoi, there have to be some around here."

Tatiana nodded taking all of this new information in.

"It would be a shame to waste such talent in a guardian, now would it."

She said while gesturing to Rose.

"I have looked over your test results and all seem to point to you being a Dhampir again. They only said that you had a weird elemental composition. They called in Adrian and he confirmed that your blood had a permanent hum of spirit in it. We used Dimitri's as comparison to see if his contained it as well, but Dimitri's blood didn't have the same hum. It seems to be unique to you as a restored Strigoi."

I saw Rose visibly relax. I knew she was worried they would find something was wrong with her after all. That somehow she wasn't free of her Strigoi self. I must admit I was relieved too. I knew Rose was Rose again, but I am glad everyone else seemed to be realizing this too.

"So does that mean I don't have to have a guardian detail anymore?"

Rose asked very hopefully.

"I think we can arrange that. I'll also arrange for you to meet with head Guardian Hans Croft. Although I can't make any promises, we have to see if we can make you a guardian somehow."

Tatiana stood up and as protocol dictated we all stood up as well. I suppose this was her dismissing us. I saw Rose had deflated quite a bit and was no longer mad at Tatiana. Adrian and Rose turned around and were walking out the door but somehow I was still standing there. I knew I wanted to ask her about my father but I simply couldn't find the words.

She seemed to notice my apprehensiveness and turned to me.

"Yes, Dimitri, I did know and no, I have had no influence on your career so far. What you have achieved you have achieved on your own. That didn't mean I didn't keep track of you and your sisters. I know they don't want me to interfere, but I have made sure they have comfortable lives in Baia."

I was a bit dumbstruck. She knew. Maybe Rose was right. I wondered if she also knew about Rose and I before I so obviously married her. I tried to think back to the lives we had in Baia. Although in no way luxurious like Adrian, we did have a comfortable life. Karolina and Sonya both have reasonable jobs and Victoria is doing well in school.

But now that I think about it, there were some instances where we thought we just got lucky, but maybe luck had nothing to do with it. Sonya got expelled from school once but somehow by Monday she was admitted back into school. And there was a developer that wanted to buy the whole block of houses we lived on for an obscenely low amount of money, but somehow we never heard from him again. I was wondering if Tatiana had a hand in that. When I looked over at her after my train of thought she had a smile on her face. Not a kind smile, but a smile saying she indeed did those things.

I turned around and walked out the door, somehow feeling a little safer and a little more scared all at the same time.

RPOV

I was currently in our bathroom looking in the mirror. Some days I barely recognized myself. So much has happened in the last couple of months I could hardly keep up.

Last night was a good example. I just needed some air. The guardian detail had been dropped and I was allowed to leave the room again. I did have to check in everyday and get a blood test and get some measurements. They wanted to see if I was changing over time.

The news of my resurrection had traveled fast. Last night as I was walking across court in the sunlight alone when I saw Jesse. I was already getting a little agitated. He was clearly drunk and coming home from a party that ran late.

"Hey Rose, Glad to have you back. Your fine ass was duly missed."

I turned around and looked very annoyed with him.

"Oh yes, Zeklos. I gave my life for my fellow students, went through hell and back so you could admire my ass again."

Well, he at least looked a little bit guilty.

"Sorry. I just meant… I am glad you are back. The last few months of school just weren't the same without you."

I was trying to decipher if he was joking or not. But he wasn't. I never thought about it much but I imagine the school was a different place after the attack. Many people, Dhampir and Moroi, student and teacher died that day. Even a prick like Jesse would have been bumped out by that. Maybe having me back made that memory a little better.

"Thanks, Jesse, now get your pasty white ass home before you burn in the sun."

He smiled and was off, stumbling a bit around. He never could hold his liquor.

I just sat there in the sun for a good half hour before heading back. Dimitri looked at me funny when I entered our apartment in guest housing again. But he understood. Sometimes I just needed to think in the sun.

As I was looking in the mirror now I saw I had a bit of color on my face from yesterday. I washed my face, put a bit of make-up on and did my hair. We would be all having lunch at a local diner. I needed to let everybody see I was normal again. I wasn't going to shy away from the public eye. I never have.

As I walked out I took my birth control pill and placed the rest of the package back on my night stance. Dimitri walked in and looked at me funny.

"Lissa's idea. Apparently normal Rose is bad enough. But PMSing Rose is World War III."

He laughed. Party because I was being funny and party because I was right.

We walked together to the breakfast area where Adrian, Lissa and Christian were already seated. Dimitri and I got our own food and we chatted. I was trying to pretend there wasn't a whole crowd watching me. My parents also joined us. The spectacle of my father with a female guardian chatting it up wasn't exactly helping the attention thing.

"So Rosemary, I heard you will be meeting with guardian Croft this afternoon to discuss where we are now with graduation."

How my mother had heard that I didn't know. I looked over to Dimitri, but he just shrugged. Although my parents were slowly accepting Dimitri, I don't think the lines of communication were open just yet.

"Hans has asked us to join you in the conversation."

Oh that is why she knew, and is my mother on a first name basis with the head guardian?

"I have a feeling he wants to discuss more than just your graduation."

My father commented while looking between me and Dimitri. Realization dawned on me. He was going to question our time at the academy together. I saw my father was actually tense. Maybe because he was blaming Dimitri for this or maybe because he didn't have such a pull on guardians as he did with the royal Moroi. He was afraid if things went south he wouldn't have the power to change it. I didn't know if he was upset because of the ramifications for me and Dimitri or if he simply couldn't stand the fact he didn't have enough power.

"Relax old man, it's not like there is video material of it."

The moment I thought about it I considered it. Well there definitely wasn't any evidence other than maybe Alberta's accounts, I did enjoy the idea of there being video material. I wondered what we looked like.

I looked at Dimitri and he raised an eyebrow, obviously having guessed my thoughts. I guess I would have to get a video camera from somewhere.

Although Dimitri was definitely the more experienced one, I was the more adventurous one. I would suggest something, he would blush and then he would take charge and make it happen.

"Still, little girl, we might want to get our stories straight. I mean he did defile a seventeen girl. With or without her permission, it is still a crime."

I turned back to my father. His eyes were locked dangerously on Dimitri. Dimitri wasn't giving him an inch. He had his guardian mask in place. And even my father had to admit that Dimitri was willing to stand his ground.

"No old man. It is not. Dimitri wasn't a school guardian, he was Lissa's. Training me was voluntary, and the consenting age in Montana is sixteen. And just so we are clear. He didn't defile me. He very sweetly made love to me over and over and over again."

I saw my mother's eyes twitch at my words. And my father was ready to explode. But he knew that if it came down to Dimitri or them I would pick Dimitri.

"I suppose he has nothing to worry about then."

"Don't worry about it. I got it covered."

I wasn't worried. They couldn't do anything about us being together. But I saw Dimitri was a little more nervous. I suppose that the outcome could be worse for him than for me. But I wasn't worried. They could get Dimitri away from me over my dead body.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to say that, seeing as I have died twice already.