Chapter 2

People were still staring at us as we walked to the very centre of the gardens. Every now and then we would hear whispers about Dimitri and I had secretly adopted a baby from Africa or had been seen taking adventures at night. He just smiled and looked at me expectantly as if to say 'I told you so'. We finally reached the centre of the gardens and laid out our blanket on the grass and spread the food around us. Naturally it wasn't just the four of us. Lissa's fleet of guardians stood throughout the maze never to be seen, never to be heard. I was apart of her fleet but I was mostly the near guard, which made me close to Lissa. I didn't really care because she was my best friend; we were always together whether I was on duty or off duty.

I felt another presence behind me and turned to see my mother and father walking towards us. I still hadn't become used to the idea of Abe being my dad but what other choice did I have. Its not like you could choose your parents. Abe, Dimitri and my mum had gone on that hunting trip and I managed to tag along with them after a long argument.

It felt like we had walked hours, but none of us minded, except Abe because he was Moroi and the sun was not his most favourite thing in the world. He never stopped talking which began to get on my nerves until we stopped to make camp for the night and he just collapsed on the ground full of exhaustion. Dimitri set the tents, he still did it in record, whilst me and my mum went to gather firewood.

"Rose, you do realise I still don't like the idea of you two," my mother said in a matter-of-fact voice. I shrugged.

"Then I guess you're going to have to get used to it," I snapped back.

"Guardian Belikov is a very well respected man, excusing the recent events."

"Mum, call him Dimitri and we're together and there's nothing you can do about it."

"I'm just saying that you guys don't need anymore felonies on your record's." That was so my mum, always concerned about duty but never about love, so she wouldn't know how I felt about Dimitri.

"Mum, will you please stop telling me how to run my life! I'm an adult now so I can make my own decisions," I shouted. She raised her hands in defeat.

"Okay, but tell me one thing. How long ago did you start this relationship?" I stopped dead in my tracks. She turned to stand in front of me and stared into my eyes and I stared back. I didn't know how to answer. She and Abe had grilled us all day, but never asked this question.

"At first it was about two months after I returned then Dimitri was turned and ended it, then we picked it back up about two maybe three days before we got back to court." She just stood there and stared at nothing except the air around us. When she came around, she insisted we go back to camp.

It was nearly dark out so we walked back in complete silence because she was still in shock and I didn't have the guts to start up another conversation because it would eventually just end up to my relationship status That night Dimitri and I shared a tent and my mum and Abe shared the other. He and I slept under different blankets, but we were still close in the small space. We didn't have one big blanket because my mum was still iffy about us sleeping together, so to make her feel better, we had separate ones. Though half way through the night we were merged together just as we were when we spent the night on the run at the camping ground. He kissed me good night and it was a bit longer than I expected it to be. As I lay there wrapped in Dimitri's arms, I kept thinking about what my mum had said to me that afternoon and repeating her words in my mind over and over until I finally fell asleep.