Hello all!

I've been sitting on this chapter for a while now, editing and adding, and writing it. I honestly tried to write in Christian's POV, I really did. But I couldn't help but think of Adrian. His issue of unrequited love is my current issue (not unrequited love, but unrequited like) as well, so I really identified with him and his angst.

I personally thought he was one of the more annoying characters, but I felt really bad for him. Rose did what she did because she really did try to move on from Dimitri, and Adrian was ready and more than willing to date her and treat her right. She didn't have to hide with him, and when people would judge, she would care because she wasn't all that into him. With Dimitri, she wanted people to know about their relationship, but they had to hide, and she didn't care about judgment because she knew what she had with him (Dimitri) was real.

Adrian is also such a fun character to write. He can be incredibly sarcastic and act like a total jerk, an it's OK because it's Adrian, and that is who he is. I hope that I got his personality and his characteristics right.

Ever since school started, I've been really busy with classes and prepping for my last SAT test (took that Saturday) and cheering has been constant. I haven't had a whole lot of time to dedicate to this chapter, so it's a little raw and somewhat unedited.

I wanted to get this chapter up because I don't want to make y'all wait any longer for it, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: All recognizable content, including characters, plot lines, and setting, is the work of Richelle Mean, the lovely woman who brought these characters to life through words, and the woman who has allowed her vision to be shared with the world on the big screen Valentine's Day (or so I have read). This little plot bunny, however, is all mine. #preparedtobetested

Pop!

The cork of Adrian Ivashkov's fifth – ? – bottle of wine flew out of the glass neck and landed somewhere in the ether that doubled as his room in the guest house at St. Vladimir's Academy. Where it went after flying through the stale air, Adrian wasn't going to guess and nor did he care to try. He was too busy trying to drown his emotional pain in booze.

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The sweet smell of the white wine trickled out of the bottle and into a crystal glass with a long stem that was perfect, in Adrian's opinion, for holding with a closed fist. It didn't matter how much pain he felt…drinking wine straight from the bottle was for peasants. And unlike his dhampir competition, Adrian Ivashkov – nephew to the Queen of the Moroi world and a young, handsome, wealthy royal – was no peasant.

Wait. That wasn't fair to Dimitri Belikov.

Peasants knew when to give up.

Adrian carefully fell into a comfy armchair in the corner of the room with only a drop or two of slosh from his glass. He set the blue bottle down on floor – like that wasn't a recipe for disaster – and drank a generous sip of the sweet alcoholic nectar before leaning his head back on the headrest and closing his eyes. Colors swam in circles and bled into each other like a watercolor Picasso painting behind his eyelids in reds, browns, and various shades of silver and gold, and the ache in Adrian's heart returned with a sharp stab. He couldn't even close his eyes without being reminded of her, of Rose Hathaway, and for someone who always got what he wanted, being denied both getting her and forgetting her was hard to bear.

Adrian had always known he was different than his classmates, and it wasn't just because he was an Ivashkov. He never got into lasting trouble, always somehow managing to talk his way out of it. He never struggled for friends or for girls and flourished in social scenarios. He was a young, good-looking man with money and connections, and he was never afraid to use at least one of those to his advantage. Now, how much of his good fortune had been spirit and how much of that had been suave, he will never know (and he kind of doesn't want to), but the results had given him expectations and he was never disappointed.

When he met Rose at the ski lodge, he'd already known her by reputation. But the talk of her beauty – though creepy coming from middle-aged men – was one of those things one needed to see to believe. Adrian had taken one look at her and decided he needed to have her. And not entirely in a sexual way, either. He knew she wasn't going to become just another possession to him, and he knew she wasn't going to let herself be someone's possession either. With the way her life was going, her glowing golden star shooting across the proverbial galaxy of opportunities, a man would get burned trying to contain it or grab a little piece of it. No, a man either needed to match her intensity and speed and direction or be left floating in space in her wake just watching her go by.

And Adrian was confident he could be the man who traveled the galaxy with her.

He tried to be, at least. Oh, he tried. He gave up the women, he gave up the drugs. He couldn't give up the alcohol, as he considered it a necessity for dealing with the effects of having spirit as an element (lucky him), nor could he give up the smoking, but in his defense, he was actively trying to cut back. He gave her gifts, trying to show her he could buy her the world and she would never want for anything, and he flirted and joked around with her to show her he could be both her lover and her best friend.

Adrian thought he was getting through. Yeah, he had to work a little harder than he usually did to penetrate her defenses, but she was worth it. But that was before he realized he wasn't anywhere close to the door. In fact, once he saw her and Dimitri together, coming out of the gym with sweat dripping down their bodies and with sweet, somewhat dopey smiles on their faces as they looked at each other, Adrian knew he hadn't even gotten close enough to chip.

Just remembering the scene caused him to throw back another generous "sip" of wine.

He'd been a little stunned by what he saw both in the physical world and in the spiritual one. In the tangible world, Rose had politely introduced the two men – one as a new friend, and the other as her future guarding partner (not as her mentor; apparently, she had demonstratively avoided using the word after bringing Lissa back from Victor Dashkov's clutches) – and both men had narrowed their eyes after recognizing the other as competition. Adrian had taken Belikov's hand and shook it like a gentleman (no way in hell was he winning a squeeze-off against a 6-foot-7-inch dhampir killing machine like Belikov; he would be stupid to even initiate it), and a corner of his mouth turned up in a knowing smirk as Belikov had almost-imperceptibly inched closer to Rose, turning his body so that he could put his arms around her and carry her away at a moment's notice.

In the intangible world, one he saw as clearly as he could see the colors swirling behind his eyes, Adrian saw their shining auras turn golden in color and meld with each other before giving off a silvery glow – kind of like Claire Danes' character, Yvaine, in the movie "Stardust." Adrian knew what that meant, but he sure as hell wished he'd never seen it. But instead of lamenting the fact Rose would never belong with him in the way she belonged with Belikov, Adrian decided to go full force into trying to win her heart.

Never let it be said he isn't an extreme optimist with no work ethic.

After doing some research on Belikov, Adrian changed his modus operandi. Instead of showering her with gifts, Adrian began showering Rose with kindness – yes, broken up with the odd gift or two. He'd given her a catchy, cutesy nickname that only he would ever use. When he found out how much Rose spent with the older guardian every day, Adrian made it his mission to insert himself into all the other aspects of her life. He went on the slopes with her and her friends. He held things like a hot tub party and a spa day both of which were invite-only and made sure to bar Belikov from attending. Adrian tried to carve out his own place in her life, and it seemed to work – especially with Tasha Ozera distracting Belikov and trying to secure him for herself (lolzzz).

But then Spokane happened, and Adrian's confidence in his success was nonexistent. Rose clung onto Belikov for dear life – looking back, Adrian should have given up right then and there when he saw the naked love on both of their faces but, being the stubborn fool he was, he thought he still had a shot. Instead, he once again changed tactics.

Lissa was mightily put out by her sudden demotion in the list of important people in Rose's life, and Adrian decided if he couldn't get to Rose, he could get to Lissa who would get to Rose. Didn't hurt that Lissa was the only other known spirit user in the Moroi community. Making a few calls, Adrian had returned to St. Vladimir's with the rest of the high schoolers and swung a nice apartment on campus where he drank until he passed out, planned until his brain hurt, and made his heart feel full of hope.

While he backed off and allowed Rose to heal from the traumas of Spokane, Adrian worked on improving his skills in spirit to try to be the man who could take care of her one day. When the trial happened, Adrian used his influence and status (and yes, a little compulsion never hurt anyone) to get her, Lissa and Christian to testify in Dashkov's trial and the hug and sincere "thank you" she bestowed upon him made his heart burst with warmth. And when they pulled back onto the tarmac at St. Vlad's, Adrian realized he'd gone and fallen in love. Or, at least, acknowledged he was in love with a girl who could possibly never return his affections the way he hoped she would.

He felt a painful jolt of electricity in his chest and completely drained the glass before unsteadily pouring himself another, stopping just a pinky nail length before the wine was level with the glass' rim.

Damn alcohol needed to knock him out fast.

He'd allowed himself to get in too deep, too fast, and he gotten his heart broken because of his own stupidity. Only three days ago, Rose had shown up at his door, eyes glassy with unshed tears and deep, dark bags under her eyes. Her normally vivacious chestnut-streaked-with-gold-and-auburn hair hung around her like a greasy, wet burlap sack. She was crying over the older dhampir, but she needed him, Adrian, she said, because she needed to get away. He assumed she needed to deal with her grief off-campus at a spa somewhere, and so he'd made her promise to give him a chance upon her return.

When she agreed, he'd had upwards of 500,000 wired to the nearest bank for her to use.

And then, with a swish of her dark, silky locks, Rosemarie Hathaway had walked out of his door and onto a plane to Russia.

Not even two weeks ago, Belikov – the dumbass – had gotten turned into a Strigoi. A pack had broken the school's wards and attacked the campus. Rose and, surprisingly, Christian Ozera, had worked together with the guardians on campus to drive the undead force away, but not before those undead monsters had gotten a hold of some Moroi students and teachers as well as a couple novices and carried them away to some caves located five miles away. The guardians had gone on a raid, the first one since Spokane (although, that should probably be classified as more of a rescue mission), and they had almost been successful. But the remaining Strigoi had laid a trap and had gotten the literal jump on the unsuspecting guardians who remained in the cave. Guardians Celeste and Yuri had been killed almost immediately – brutally, from what Adrian could gather from the bodies brought back to campus – but Dimitri, reacting almost immediately to what was happening, had thrown Rose out of the caves.

(he literally picked her up and tossed her through the mouth of the cave into the safety of the sunlight).

In the precious moments it took to save Rose, Dimitri was attacked and turned. Honestly, Adrian didn't know if Belikov had actually done his student (girlfriend?) any favors by saving her. At the rate she'd been going since she realized Belikov had lost his soul, his little dhampir looked ready to jump outside the wards and let the nearest Strigoi take her. The only thing keeping holding her back seemed to be Lissa, but even Adrian could see now that even Lissa wasn't enough to keep Rose from dropping out of St. Vladimir's to go track down her lover-turned-Strigoi and "free" him.

Adrian couldn't even be mad at the deception because he'd chosen to believe he could sway Rose's feelings away from Dimitri instead of the reality of the situation. He'd been hurt because of his own stupid decisions, and he only had himself to blame for how he was feeling right now. However, Vlad only knows, if Rose walked back through the door in that instant ready to give him a chance, Adrian would still readily accept her with open arms.

But until she came back, because Adrian knew in his bones she would return, he would keep their secret.

If only to spare himself a little more pain from the look he knew he would see in the depths of Rose's gorgeous eyes.

Pop!

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So... what did you think? You guys know the drill: be kind, leave a review. Again, no flames. Constructive criticism is valued more than flames are, and I will call you out next time if you do leave a flamer like so many other authors have begun to do to.

Okay. If you could tell me who's POV to write from next, that would be greatly appreciated!

Another note. I am now a beta author for Chaoses Angel. He writes Percy Jackson fanfiction, and his story is called Love? If you don't like the Annabeth/Percy pairing, or just want a good, quality story, then I recommend this one. Also, anything VA-related by Samwyseser, especially her story "Aurora Borealis". It's a work of genius.

Until next time, my wonderful fans. Have a great Monday, and please stay safe!