Chapter 4

Rose walked silently back to her room. Her thoughts tumbled so much that it was difficult to figure out what she was thinking. She knew something needed to change. She needed to improve and fast because if she got kicked out… well it was only a matter of time before someone found out her secret if she was sent home and 'Jamie Hathaway' completely vanished. She starting thinking. Perhaps if she got up before everyone else and ran, she would be able to build up her endurance. Nothing though could prepare her for the beating she took from everyone. Hitting a flour sack was nothing like hitting a person. For one thing, the sack never hit back. Her knuckles were bruising, and she knew her ribs were going to be a mess of black and blue by morning.

She slammed the door behind her and Adrian started up from his bed. He took one look at her and started laughing.

"Who ran you through the mud, Hathaway?"

"Belikov. He seems to have taken an immediate disliking to me. He just told me to go home." Rose flung herself on her bed, too tired to do anything else.

"Hm, well I don't think you should. You just haven't done anything like this before and most others here worked in the fields, so they are already stronger than you. You just need to figure out how to beat them." Adrian moved to sit next to her.

"I wish Lissa was here, it's going to be hard to breathe in the morning with my ribs how they are right now."

"Is that one of her powers? She can heal? That is amazing. I wish I could do that." Adrian sounded put out.

"Have you ever tried?" Rose was intrigued. What could Adrian do if he couldn't heal?

"Well, not really. I could always try with you though. If you want to try, you should remove your ring. I don't want to interfere with the magic in it." Adrian was excited. He loved the idea of playing with his magic. "I'll lock the door so no one can come in. We wouldn't want your secret to get out." He winked at her and walked to the door.

Rose pulled off her ring and set it on the table. She trusted Adrian, but still wished Lissa were there. Adrian set next to her and gingerly took her hand in his. Concentrating, he focused on the bruises forming there and pictured them healed. The coloring faded slightly.

"Amazing! It worked, well a little. I wonder how well I can fix them? Let me keep going." Adrian was rambling. Rose smiled at him. It was pretty cute. But no, she had no time to think about things like that. She couldn't afford to get involved with a guy right now. Her life was at stake. As she was looking in Adrian's emerald green eyes, a pair of brown eyes swam into her mind. She shook her head, why was she thinking of him?

"Your hands are perfectly fine again. Would you like me to check your ribs? I've gotten a feel for the magic, so it shouldn't be a problem now. I'll be quick. Just take off your shirt." Adrian startled her out of her thoughts.

"No funny business though, alright?" Rose shrugged out of her shirt. She normally wouldn't dare to do this, but realized that if Adrian didn't at least partially heal her ribs, she wouldn't be able to do anything in the morning.

Adrian gently touched her ribs with his hands. They continued to quietly talk, neither one noticing that the window blinds had been left open and that someone was out there watching them.

The bruising on Rose's ribs had faded to yellow, now looking several days old. Adrian released her and the magic and stood, trembling.

"I'm going to go have a smoke. You should get some rest."

"Thank you Adrian. I appreciate it. I'll talk to you in the morning. Good night." She laid down and shut her eyes.

Adrian closed the door behind him and strolled outside, lighting one of his clove cigarettes as he did so.

"Ivashkov, I think you are hiding something from me." A voice called out to him. He spun around, reaching out with his magic to sense the aura of whomever was around. A flash of blue and green showed him that it was Ivan.

"Zeklos, I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Adrian was on guard. He had many secrets he had to keep, and didn't want to give anything away.

"Perhaps you can explain why there was a girl in your room? A girl who looked remarkably like Jamie Hathaway, who was not in your room though I saw him enter an hour or so ago." Ivan stared at him and raised his eyebrow.

"Well, I can neither confirm nor deny anything that is not my secret to tell." Adrian told him what he wanted to know. Jamie Hathaway could get killed if this got out.

"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't tell your cousin the truth?" Ivan glared at Adrian, disappointed in one of his two best friends.

"Have you seen Dimitri show this much disdain for anyone before?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, questioning Ivan, trying to get him to see reason without giving anything away.

Ivan thought for a moment. Sighing he replied, "Not really. Last time he showed any emotion really was with Natasha, when he was first attracted to her. Wait you don't mean to say that he is attracted to Jamie, do you? Does he know the truth? I can't believe he didn't say anything to me."

Adrian started laughing, "He doesn't know the truth. And he knows that there is something about this 'boy' that he wants to protect, which is why he is so hard on 'him'. I've seen their auras. So bright, especially for people who haven't met before."

Ivan joined in the laughter, "I bet Dimitri is so confused right now! Imagine being attracted to a guy who is really a girl but not knowing that. I'm gonna have some fun dropping hints."

Adrian stopped mid-laughter. "Dimitri said he didn't want to see him again and to go home. But Jamie is determined to stay. She's planning to get up earlier to run, build up her stamina. She needs help training though. Any ideas?"

Ivan thought about it and snapped his fingers when the idea struck, "Here, give her this key. It will get her into the private gym. If she goes when Dimitri is busy elsewhere, he'll never know." Ivan dropped a silver key into Adrian's hand. "I've got to go, Dimitri wanted to see me before bed. Perhaps I'll tease him a little about his crush on our resident cross-dresser."

Hello! Thank you for sticking with me. Life has been busy lately! So this chapter is pretty short, sorry about that but it was either have it be short or have it be ridiculously long! I'm working hard on Chapter 5, and hope to have it up by next Friday, but let's be honest, life sucks. Also: Thank you so much for your reviews! WIth this being my first fan-fiction, it helps a lot! This is a retelling of the story of Mulan, and any lines you might recognize belong to Disney! Characters are the property of Richelle Mead!