To jakey2768: haha sorry that it had taken me so long for the last update the last chapter and probably this one too. Don't worry, this story is far from being over. I still have a LOT planned for these characters. Good luck with your test if you're still studying for it! Maybe this can be your reward for surviving through the test ;) You will now see Drew's reaction to finding out her secret in this chapter so I hope you like it!

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This will be a major Drew and Kai scene :)

Lyn xx

~x~ Chapter 55 ~x~

Understanding grew and grew in his eyes as he marched in with long paces. While the emotion was there in his eyes, his expression was firm and unreadable. I backed away as he stalked towards me until my back hit Martin's desk and I was more than surprised when Drew suddenly pulled my top up and tugged the bandages away. I should've known that he would know about the mark.

"I knew it…" he murmured as he stared at the mark that was placed on my hip by the alchemists all those years ago.

In my shock I let out some sort of a strangled scream and pushed against his chest whilst tugging my top down at the same time. My mind was in a flurry of incomprehensible thoughts and I had no idea what to do. Millions of things ran through my mind. Thoughts like I had to run away again or knock Drew out cold or wipe out his memories somehow flashed through my mind. The thoughts were endless and Drew just made everything worse by getting down on one knee and taking my hand gently in his. I watched with heightening hysteria as he placed a soft kiss on my palm and gave me a wide prince-like smile.

He smiled and gazed up at me in some form of respect and adoration. "It's good to have you back, Princess Ivashkov."

I felt as though my head just about exploded and without another thought, I pushed him away as hard as I could and got the hell out of there. I kept running and ignored the rain that pounded on my skin as I ran.

When had it started to rain?

Was the sky this dark earlier?

Or was this some estranged mirror of my sense of turmoil?

Eventually, I slipped somewhere along the way and practically face planted into the muddy ground. I slowly sat up on my haunches as thoughts of my current life being over flashed across my mind.

I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks mixed with the rain and I stared up at the statue of St Vlad. I tried to get up but my knees felt too shaken for me to be stable so I settled for crawling instead. I sat under the statue and leaned my back against it for support as I gathered my legs with my arms and cried, resting my forehead on my knees.

It felt as though my world had once again shattered around me.

I lost.

I lost everything.

I was all alone again.

I was going to be isolated again because of my status and that was the thing that I feared the most besides losing my friends and family. Things could never be the same again. I knew it from the gaze that Drew gave me earlier. They weren't going to see me as me anymore. They were only going to be able to see me as the lost princess.

Seeing that look of respect and adoration in Drew's eyes hurt me more than I thought it would. It stunned me and made me feel lonelier than ever. It felt like he wasn't seeing me but the person who had escaped the academy, the person whom he saw as some kind of a heroine due to the act of escaping the academy.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, I felt soft hands touch my shoulders and when I glanced up, I saw Drew staring at me apologetically with raindrops tumbling on us both. Fear and panic rushed through me once more and I struggled against him as he tried to draw my body close to his.

He let me hit him, but he didn't let me push him away. Instead of letting his grip become weaker, he strengthened it until I lost the will to hit him anymore.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you like that," he whispered solemnly into my ear as he hugged me tightly. "For the moment, let's get you inside, you're frozen."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't even move. He must've noticed that, because a moment later, I was up in his arms and he carried me into one of the cabins on the edge of the forest. He set me down and dug out large blankets from one of the cabinets.

"For now, you should take off your clothes and wrap yourself up in that," he instructed and I nodded numbly in response. He turned away and so did I when I saw him take off his soaked jacket. I realised that he was going to strip as well so I turned away with a blush. I stripped off down to my underwear as quickly as I could with the clothes clinging to me due to them being soaked and my body wouldn't stop shuddering because of the cold.

Once I'd wrapped myself up in the blanket, I turned around and saw Drew at the fireplace. A small ball of flame appeared in his hand and soon the cabin was doused with a welcoming amber glow. I shuffled towards the fire and gave a small sigh of bliss as I felt the warmth of the fire slowly chase away the cold in my bones.

There was silence between us for a long while and for once, the silence between us was somewhat awkward and tense. It was so agonising that I tried to think of something to say but Drew surprised me by speaking out first.

"I'm really sorry," he blurted out as he turned his head to face me. "It was atrocious of me to have done that to you."

"This is why I tried so hard to hide it." I sighed tiredly and turned away from him to stare at the flames. "I knew that this would be the reaction."

"I know. I realised my mistake when you ran out like that. I'm sorry that I made you cry. You wanted to hide it because you were afraid that once we knew who you really were, we'd stop seeing you as Kai but as the princess of the Ivashkov family, right?"

I nodded.

"Kai, look at me," he commanded with a light tone.

I refused and remained staring at the fire.

"Kalani," he whispered softly and my head snapped around to face him in shock. He grabbed my shoulders and turned me physically so that we faced each other naturally. He grabbed my frozen hands gently in his and began to warmth them with a tiny flame as he rested his forehead on mine. "Who am I?"

The question threw me off guard and the answer flew out of my mouth before I could catch myself. "A jerk who seems to be right about everything and knows it and can beat me at everything except for combat in which I can beat his lousy ass."

"You missed out something," he pointed out with a smirk.

"Oh really? That you're an annoying know-it-all?"

"You've already mentioned that."

"Oh… You're a guy who's not afraid to try almost anything?"

"Not that."

"You're loyal?"

"Not that either."

"You're bad at waking up in the morning?"

"Keep guessing."

"You suck at cooking?"

"No."

"Then what?!" I asked in frustration.

"I'm Prince Andrew Blake Ozera, the heir to the Ozera family and the one who will have a place on the council after graduation."

"Yeah… so? I already knew that."

"And yet not once did you mention it in your description of me."

"That's because something like that doesn't matter."

"My point proven." Drew smiled widely at me and I knew that I'd fallen into his trap. I muttered a curse and glared at him. "It was a shock and a pleasant surprise, Kai. You know full well that I've always been anxious to know about what happened to the girl who ran away all those years ago. To think that the shy anti-social girl back then is the bold and daring you now is astonishing. To know that you're alive is one thing, but it still doesn't change who you are. You are both of those people. You get flustered when you get into situations that your mind can't keep up with. You're still as kind as you were back then and you're certainly just as persistent. No matter you family heritage, you are still you."

I considered how he could have possibly known about what I was like back then and the only conclusion that I came up with was the fact that Drew used to watch me enough to know what I was really like. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Did that mean that I wasn't actually as discreet as I had thought? Did others actually know what I was really like back then too?

I thought about his words a little more and eventually smiled. My nerves calmed and my mind returned to its normal state. "Yeah, you're right about that."

"Have you finally calmed down?"

"I think so. So long as you promise not to turn into a creepy royal admirer or something I can deal. You can't tell the others though, Ozera. I will probably implode if any more people find out."

"Who else knows? I presume the whole bundle of people is the same as back then?"

"Who do you know is in that bundle?"

"Hunt, Belikov, Valiere, Maxwell, Salvatore, and Castile."

"That's my lovely little family unit. Add Jenson to the list of people who knows."

"Jenson found out? How?"

"Long story short, it's Maria's fault."

"Could you elaborate on that?"

I gave a sigh and tried to recall how exactly it had happened. "Well… Crispin and I were talking in Aunty Jules' office. Maria stormed in because Joey let slip that I was back. She started yelling all sorts of things and Crispin sort of pieced everything together."

"He's kept pretty quiet about it. I'm glad for you."

"Thanks. I hope you go back to being chilled, Ozera. I aim to maintain this secret for a good while yet."

"To gather trust worthy people, right?"

"Precisely." I confirmed with a grin. "Glad you understand."

"That's because I'm a royal. It's easy for me to get it."

"Well… there is that."

"I know you want to keep you secret so don't take this question the wrong way, but can you still manipulate the elements?"

"How do you think the doors opened back at Martin's office without anyone physically opening them? I'd sent a hurl of wind since I needed those doors opened as quickly as possible."

"Then, someday, if your secret gets out, we can see you in full action? You're lethal without magic, Valentine. You'll be untouchable with it."

"No one's untouchable, Ozera. I used to think my parents were an invincible team."

He looked hesitant for a moment and I simply waited for him to speak his mind. "Do you know what really happened back then?" he asked hesitantly, his voice low with severity.

I froze and just stared at him in shock at his words. "Excuse me?"

"What do you think happened? Do you believe that it really was just a freak attack?"

"Ozera, spit it out, what are you getting at?"

"I've overheard my parents discuss this topic in secret a couple of times. They suspect that what happened wasn't a simple freak attack. They can't be the only ones to think that."

"They think it was planned."

"You don't sound too surprised at the idea. What do you think?"

I hesitated in responding. Martin did tell me that it was crucial I kept this under wraps. But he hadn't mentioned that I couldn't discuss this if someone else already had the same trail of thought.

"I think that there is no way in hell what happened was a mere freak attack. The onslaught was planned. Someone broke the wards and I doubt it was by accident."

"It was definitely an organised attack. The way the guardians were delayed like that was definitely unnatural even if we were taken by surprise."

"Who else knows about this speculation?"

"Quinn's the only one so far as I'm aware. Apparently Jackson's never mentioned anything and Dan hasn't either. That isn't to say for certain that they haven't considered such a thing."

"Things would go haywire if this got spread around. Rumours travel pretty much at the speed of light in this place. It's insane." I grumbled. "I mean, okay, under certain circumstances it could be a good thing but usually it definitely isn't."

"It can turn out to be a nightmare, can't it?"

"It sure can."

"How is your family going to react to my finding out?"

"They can't really do anything about it, especially with you being one of the royal prodigies of the school." I scoffed. "But that would stop them from cautioning you. How the hell did you hear us anyway?"

"I was being really nosy."

"No! I never would've guessed." I gasped in mock surprise which earned me a smack in the shoulder.

"Hey, you're probably just as bad as I am when it comes to heavy suspicions," he protested. "I was going to the office to speak to Headmaster Hunt. I could hear there were people inside so I kept quiet and waited to be polite. Then I heard you saying the Ivashkov name so curiosity got the better of me and I overheard a bit of your conversation. Enough to know for certain that I had been right and I wasn't going mad."

"Since when have you suspected?" I whispered hesitantly, not sure whether I wanted the answer or not.

"I'd first noticed the weirdness when Maxwell dragged you off in such an odd way during that fight with Marissa. But the suspicion really set in when you broke out and jumped over the gate." Drew explained. "You had the same look as six years ago, Valentine. That was when I really knew."

I stared at him for a while before giving a defeated sigh. "Thank you for not confronting me about it."

"I wanted to be sure of it first. At first, since we were out of the academy, I didn't really notice anything. But then there was the way Castile reacted to you jumping into the fight like that and then things just felt out of place once we'd gotten back to the academy. Thinking about it, rogue or not, there was no way that you were ignorant of our society. It was in the way you moved and talked."

"Just my luck that I attracted the attention of one of the most observant people in our year."

"You didn't make any sense and I was puzzling over it for the first week. It annoyed me that I couldn't work out why I felt that way."

"You hate puzzles that much?"

"I prefer things to make sense."

"That's fair enough. Most people prefer it when things make sense otherwise you're left with this anxious feeling that something's not right."

"If things went according to plan, you wouldn't have found out for a good while yet."

He looked at me with an unfathomably heavy gaze. "You hate me knowing that much?"

"No, that's not it." I protested. "It's just that… I guess I was more anxious about you finding out more than anyone else."

"Why's that?"

"Ozera, you basically idolised the Ivashkov princess when we spoke during that cops and robbers exercise in training. You spoke so highly of her that I didn't want you to be disappointed to find that she turned out to be a foul mouthed chick. Living up to someone's expectations isn't easy. You're always left hoping that you haven't disappointed them."

"You've exceeded my imagination of how you might have turned out by a mile at least, Valentine," he admitted honestly. "Even though you left with such a strong and determined gleam in your eyes back then, I never could've imagined that you'd turn out to be… well, you."

"Thanks… I think?"

"Who could've guessed that the girl who used to hide behind her fringe would turn out to be such an outspoken badass chick who isn't afraid to kick someone's ass even if it meant breaking the rules?"

"Being out there really boosted my self-confidence. I was naturally stronger than the others because of the dhampir blood. I could stand up against bullies. Not to mention, I was out of the watchful eye of other royal grown-ups who kept trying to push their expectations onto me. I didn't have to worry about being anyone but myself out there."

"How did you manage to cope being out there on your own so soon after your parents passed away?"

"At first, I didn't. I used to break down so easily but because I was with a lovely and understanding young couple, they helped me through it. Do you remember Rosie? The lady who met us outside the airport?"

"The one in the amazing car?"

"Right. She was my middle school doctor's wife. I was found at school by the doc one night and he offered to let me crash at his place."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. They had a spare room so it wasn't too much of a problem."

"It sounds like you've been very lucky, Valentine. I can't imagine things going that smoothly if something like that were to happen to me."

"It won't." I stated firmly. "You're a totally different case to me since you're Moroi and already have one heck of a reputation amongst the royal families. You'd never be allowed to escape."

"You weren't either and yet you did."

"I was a ten year old child who was horrible enough to use her parents' funeral as a distraction to run away."

"True, making a run for it on the day of the funeral is pretty deep. But if the alternative was being stuck here with royal families hounding after you to try and change and manipulate who you became, I would've chosen the same thing."

"This kind of thing is too heavy, Ozera. Besides, it would never happen to you. You're not ten years old. You know who you are and since you already have an established reputation amongst the royal families, they have no hopes of trying on you what they did to me. Also, your close family friends are also royals so they'll protect you. Your close family friends don't have the requirement to be impartial to a degree."

Drew gave me an oddly cold and disgusted glance. It wasn't something directed at me, but I could see the emotions swimming in his eyes. "I wouldn't say that other royal families don't try."

I thought about his words for a moment to try and work out what he was saying. There was no way that other royals would try to manipulate him the way they had done to me six years ago. They wouldn't dare to hound him the way they pressured me. So why did Drew have such a cold and disgusted gleam in his eyes?

It took me a long moment of thought before I worked it out.

"Some families are trying to force arranged marriages on you, aren't they? That way they would be indirectly influencing you through your fiancé." I breathed in shock.

The confirmation was there in his eyes and the way his jaw tightened in anger. "I have overheard the arguments enough times to know that a few of the families just don't know how to give up. My parents have refused time and again but they just won't let up. Just when I think that they've run out of tactics to force their daughter into our family, they come up with another crazy idea."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I whispered sincerely. "I can't imagine what it would be like for someone to try and force a marriage on me. To be honest, if it was me, I would probably lose my head and beat the crap out of them for trying such a thing."

"As you said, I do have a reputation and therefore I have to uphold it. Sometimes, reputations can be both a weapon and a heavy obstacle. In that situation, it's a nuisance."

"The expectations to uphold a reputation sucks." I grumbled. "Why are we such prideful people?"

"That may be one of the questions I will happily not know the answer to." Drew scoffed. "The complexities to finding that answer will be endless. I doubt I'll have the patience to find a good answer to that question."

"Hey, I just realised. Maybe I can help you fulfil one of your wishes."

"You know my wishes? Are you my fairy godmother?"

"Pfft, I wish. If I was a fairy godmother, I could probably wish away the bad things that happen in this world but I can't. I just remembered something from one of our conversations. When my secret gets out, I promise to train with you, magic and all."

Surprise gleamed in his eyes before he remembered what I was talking about. "You would do that?"

"Well, if my secret is out, I might as well start training to use my magic." I sighed. "Remember that moment with Marissa when I just collapsed?"

"We all found that a little weird…"

"That was because of the elements warring inside me." I explained. "I can't control the elements as well as I should be able to yet, especially since I left six years ago. I haven't had enough of proper training so the power tends to be rather explosive whenever I try to use it. In a sense, I was about to explode when Marissa was insulting my parents like that. But I couldn't let the power loose because it would hurt everyone around me. Not just Marissa but everyone surrounding us. I couldn't let that happen."

"If Lord and Lady Badica finds out that Marissa had unknowingly insulted the famed Ivashkov couple, they just might kill her themselves." Drew whistled. "If and when this secret gets exposed, a lot of crazy things are going to happen as a result of things that have happened since you've been back."

"Tell me about it. That's why I want to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. It is a fact that the secret will become exposed at some point, almost definitely before our graduation, but I can still try to prolong my freedom."

"It's weird but things are going to be more chaotic now than if you had revealed yourself when you returned. You've done so much, developed such a reputation for yourself, it's going to turn the royal circles upside down."

"I still don't regret keeping it a secret though. I want to build trusting relationships with people despite the fact that I'm hiding such a massive fact about myself. But I want people to know who I really am first before they find out that I'm also the girl who ran away six years ago."

"No matter what happens, we'll have your back, Valentine." Drew told me sincerely. "Sure, the other three guys might be shocked and they will undoubtedly make a lot of jokes and comments about it but they will also understand and respect you as the person you have been so far. As for the girls, I don't know them well enough to be able to speak on their behalf but I reckon that they will see you as the you now rather than just a royal princess."

"I really do hate that name… I'm not a princess since I'm not a Moroi."

"And yet you are because you are the last of your line."

"I am so not looking forward to the day when the other royal families find out that I'm still alive and kicking." I grumbled.

"They're probably going to freak out." Drew chuckled at the idea of it. "It would be interesting to see their conniving and fake composed faces drop."

"That will definitely be a sight to see. I hope I'll have my phone or a camera with me when that happens. I fully intend to record that moment."

"You won't be the only one."

Drew stood up and inspected our clothes which he'd hung near the fire to dry them. A satisfied gleam flickered across his eyes and he passed me my clothes. "They're not completely dry but they're warm and wearable."

"That's good. We should head back before my family decides to think of worst case scenarios." I sighed. "Just to warn you though, Ali might freak out big time about this since he's so protective and isn't quite as mature and collected as the others."

"Did he freak out when Jenson found out?"

"Just be prepared for anything, that's all I'm saying."