After our impromptu picnic, Adrian and I went our separate ways. I left to head to the gym to get some training in and Adrian left to go help his mother with arrangements for a dinner party—turns out that was not just a lie he told Lissa to get her off my trail earlier.

"Believe me, Little Dhampir," Adrian stated as we came to the part in the path that split, taking us in two opposite directions on Court, "I would rather you toss me around in a stinky old gym then discuss centerpieces and place settings with my mother all afternoon."

"The Guardian Training Facility is hardly a 'stinky old gym.'" I laughed, giving him a playful shove, "But it's nice to know I have permission to toss you around. Your posh butt could use a little work out every now and then."

Adrian pulled me closer, a playful grin on his face, "Anything to get you thinking about my butt."

I really needed to stop setting him up for those.

"Come on, Ivoshkov! Lissa will kill us if we're late." I immediately stated once Adrian opened his front door.

My workout had lasted longer than I had initially planned—time has a funny way of getting away from you when you're practicing Krav Maga on dummies—and I had raced back to my room, showered, and changed in record time.

"Well, hello to you too! My afternoon was terrible, thanks for asking."

I chuckled as I watched him step outside into the hallway outside his apartment, locking the door behind him. Adrian had changed since I last saw him into dark wash designer jeans and a striped crew new sweater—his standard 'casual' look—and I couldn't help but feel underdressed in comparison in my oversized sweater and leggings.

Get it together, Hathaway, I mentally scolded myself, You're just going to lounge with friends. Besides...there's no way restrictive pants were even an option after that workout.

I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows trying to focus on the conversation and less on my sudden burst of self doubt, "Come on, centerpieces can't be that bad."

"Oh, believe me. They are. Until you've had a thirty minute conversation about whether you should use hydrangeas or verbinum as centerpiece 'filler,' you have no idea how bad it can be."

"I'll take your word for it."

Adrian grabbed my hand, lacing my fingers with his as he brought it up to his mouth for a kiss, "It's about time you started doing that."

"Oh, ha ha." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

Out of habit, I tried to pull out of his grip once we made it outside, but he kept my hand firmly in his.

"Don't think you can get away that easily, Little Dhampir."

I made a noise in protest, but my smile gave my true feelings away. There was something so nice, so normal about such a simple public display of affection. Granted the fact that I was holding the hand of Moroi Royalty court might be considered as a mini-scandal, this was something I could have never done with Dimitri. Not with the two of us appointed as Lissa's Guardians.

I gave my head a slight shake, forcing the thought of Dimitri out of my mind.

I'd be seeing him soon enough.

Despite my urging, we were the last ones to arrive at Lissa's apartment.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry." I stated as soon as Lissa opened the door, a look of mock annoyance.

She rolled her eyes and let us in with a chuckle, "When you become my Guardian, you can't be late like this, you know."

I gave her a shrug, "When I am your Guardian, I will have always living quarters next to yours, so lateness won't be that big of an issue."

A big grin broke out on Lissa's face, "I can't wait! I'm going to lobby the queen for us to share an apartment once we go to Lehigh. It'd be so much fun to be roommates again! It'll be just like when we were on our own!"

"Right!" I chimed in matching her enthusiasm, "Minus the whole fugitives on the run thing."

"I hope you're lobbying Aunt Tatiana for a two bedroom apartment otherwise we'll be seeing a whole lot more of each other, cousin." Adrian joked as he followed me, stepping into the room.

I felt my cheeks turn instantly red.

"Right, so...what movie are we watching?" I asked, non-subtly changing the subject for the second time this afternoon.

Hundreds of questions were running through Lissa's mind—the most prominent of which involving Adrian and I's sexlife—and they were coming in loud and clear. Christian chuckled to himself, clearly enjoying how uncomfortable I was while Eddie simply rolled his eyes. The only person who looked remotely as uncomfortable as I did was Dimitri, but even then, his Guardian mask was doing a pretty good job of hiding his emotions.

This night was already off to a not-so-great start and I had just barely walked through the front door.

Half-way through the movie, I untangled myself from under Adrian's arm and got up to grab some water from Lissa's kitchen.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one who had the same idea.

I gave Dimitri a curt nod in greeting.

The awkward silence that hung in the room was nearly tangible, but I forced myself to move as naturally and nonchalantly as I could, grabbing a glass from one of the cabinets and moving for the faucet.

I was so not going to be the first one to start a conversation.

Dimitri set his water glass down and gently cleared his throat, trying to cut the tension. "I'm glad that you...seem to be doing better since this morning."

I shut off the faucet , my back involuntartily straightening at his comment.

Had our conversation in the church really only been that morning?

I slowly turned around to face him, chosing my first words to him since the church as carefully as he had chosen his. "Yes, well, time moves on and so must we, I suppose."

"Rose."

If I didn't know him any better, it almost sounded like there was...regret in his voice. Which was impossible. He was certain of himself this morning. What game was he trying to play?

I clutched my glass tighter, "What?"

"I just...I'm glad you're happy. You deserve to be happy."

Oh.

I cleared my throat, wanting to get out of that kitchen as soon as possible, "I am happy. Excuse me."

He stepped in front of me, effectively stopping my exit, "Rose..if we're both to be Lissa's Guardians, we need to be cordial to one another."

"I am being cordial." I snapped, trying to keep my voice down so the others didn't hear us, "More cordial than you have been to me these last few days. I'm at least talking to you."

"I had to get you to understand, Rose. Everything changed for me once I turned back. I'm not the same person anymore. Too much has happened to me."

"And what...this whole time nothing has happened to me?"

"That's not what I meant—"

I held up my hand to stop him and looked away, closing my eyes in an attempt to calm down. I didn't want to blow up at him again, not after this morning. Not after all that has been said.

Besides, that was the reaction he was expecting.

I opened my eyes and looked straight into his, wearing the most emotionless Guardian mask I could muster.

"I look forward to working with you, Guardian Belikov, but until then if you'll excuse me."

This time he didn't move to block me as I walked past him.

Author's Note: Thanks again for all of the kind and insightful comments! Sorry that this chapter took a long time to post. Life has a funny habit of getting in the way of spending a few peaceful moments writing. :)