". . . And there were actual garden bricks, Viktoria, like I'm not even kidding you."

Viktoria laughed. "Sounds like Grandmother had another dream."

"The least she could do is tell me about it. And wait until I'm not hungover to make me carry across town enough bricks to build the Great Wall of China."

Rose, in the kitchen, didn't see Dimitri laugh to himself halfway up the stairs where he paused on his way to the bathroom for a shower. Nor did she see the strange look Karolina shot her brother when she saw the smile on his face.

Even if they didn't talk after the night of his party, personal space between the two of them evaporated in just as much time.

Dinner was him knocking knees with her under the table and her playful glares dissolved into giggles hidden behind hands and curtains of hair in return. Watching TV meant her feet tucking under his leg when she was curled up in the corner of the sofa, and eventually he stopped looking up from the never-ending pile of battered Western novels he was rereading for probably the billionth time.

He would gently brush his hand against her on the back or shoulder to reach past her or get her attention; her hand found his during afternoon drives, running errands for his mother and giving others rides from work or to friends' houses.

If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything, not wanting to upset the very delicate peace that had quietly taken hold over the house.

The only thing she had a problem with was waking up. Going to sleep was fine — he teased her one night, calling her an osminog, an octopus, because of how tightly she wound herself around him — but it was when day broke and her phone alarm went off that she'd wake up to a cold bed with him already awake and downstairs, freshly showered and dressed, helping with breakfast.

They also hadn't kissed again, but she knew that was coming in due time.

From: Marie Conta

To: Rosemarie Hathaway

Cc: HRM Vasilisa Dragomir, Hans Croft, Royal Council

Date: December 29 at 2:35

Subject: Russia Project

Guardian Hathaway,

I wanted to touch base with you in the event you have not yet received the official email.

Though you may not be aware, every member of the Moroi Royal Council is tasked with multiple projects in an effort to assist Her Majesty in administering policy and passing legislation. Occasionally these assignments shift to different Council members at Her Majesty's request and oftentimes, the reason(s) why remain confidential to non-Council members.

I am writing to inform you that the project you are currently undertaking has undergone a change in supervision. Unfortunately, your security clearance does not grant you access to the details of these changes at this time.

I have been forwarded your five previous reports and will be your primary contact for all future submissions. You will be hearing from me again, after the holidays, when I have had a chance to review what you have already submitted.

I request that you keep to your twice-monthly schedule as that seems to be a sufficiently long enough time between reports. Report 6 is due 7 Jan, but as the Russian Christmas also falls on this day, I ask that you submit your field notes at any point that week. Following that, Report 7 will be due 21 Jan EST.

After my perusal of each report when they come in to me, I will forward them to Her Majesty, who will choose which portions to declassify for the rest of the Council and Guardian Croft, as per her previous actions. This is simply a switch in the process that has already been put into place.

Regards,

Princess Marie Conta

It took Rose a few days to realize that she should've written down her conversation with Paul and his friends. When she went to go type it up, she found she was missing large chunks of the conversation, but she nevertheless put down as much as she could remember, frowning the whole time.

She also typed up Dimitri's story about his father, but the document in a separate folder titled 'D'.

A day later she went back and added in every story she could remember him telling her, each one in a different document, proof that he really had told her those things.

New Year's Eve truly was as much of a big deal as the family had made it out to be, and Rose was really starting to figure out that taking their hype seriously would help her from being caught off-guard by holiday enthusiasm.

The morning of the thirty-first, she woke up to Viktoria flying into the room and rifling through the closet like it was hers before Rose's alarm had the chance to go off.

"Can I help you?" Rose asked, annoyed at the chill that had set in from sleeping alone for the past few hours. She'd declared the mornings too cold and dark for running, preferring to sleep in almost every morning, a luxury she hadn't had since summer break during high school. Dimitri, it seemed to Rose, didn't have the same opinion.

"How do you not own a single dress?" Viktoria asked, moving to the dresser. "Not even a skirt? Nothing? All pants?" She stopped for a beat and shot Rose a withering look that the latter knew was ultimately harmless. "What kind of girl are you?"

"A girl who wears pants," Rose defended, tilting her head against the pillow to look at Viktoria.. "We exist and we're very real." Your brother is very interested in one, her brain helpfully supplied.

"I don't know if they're going to be open." Viktoria had moved back to the closet, muttering under her breath in Russian. "No heels? Where's your case?"

Rose sat up, running a hand through her hair. "My what?"

"Case. You know, the thing that holds all your clothes when you travel."

"My suitcase?"

"Yes." Viktoria's patience seemed to be wearing thin.

"Under the bed."

Viktoria dived for the floor, dragging it out from underneath and flipped the top open, visibly dismayed at the lack of heels and dresses hiding inside. "I really doubt they'll be open. We'll have to go next week when they open again for Marina's party. The eighth, probably."

"Go where?" Rose asked, still trying to shake sleep off.

"Not important." Viktoria stood up from her squat. "You don't have anything suitable, so you'll have to borrow something of mine. I still have all my clothes from before I had the baby. Come."

Rose was then forcibly dragged out of bed and down the hall to the room that Karolina, Alex, and Sonya all shared, which looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Clothes and shoes and makeup were strewn everywhere while music played from speakers hidden somewhere in the mess. The older sisters stood in front of a mirror that had been propped up against the air mattress Viktoria had been sleeping on for the past two weeks, holding up dresses against themselves and chatting away in rapid Russian. Upon seeing Rose standing in the doorway, they immediately switched to English.

"Rose doesn't have anything," Viktoria announced over the sounds of some Russian singer belting out a pop song Rose had heard about a hundred times in the past week alone.

"Nothing?" Sonya asked dubiously, pushing her short hair behind her ears and turning in her spot in front of the body-length mirror, a sharp red dress swishing in the air with her.

"Not even a skirt."

At the negative reaction she got from the sisters, Rose threw her hands up in the air. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"Must be a cultural thing," Karolina said diplomatically, passing the items in her hands off to Viktoria and reaching for — to Rose's shock — a pack of cigarettes and a lighter buried under a pile of blouses. And then, with an unlit cigarette in the corner of her mouth, she sat up long enough to open the window behind her before dropping back to the bed and lighting up as if it weren't below freezing outside and she wore more than basic underwear.

These people are crazy.

"I do it when I'm stressed," Karolina explained offhandedly at Rose's wary look, and when she caught sight the green dress Sonya was holding up a moment later, she said, "No, definitely not. Put it down. Or burn it. Anything that keeps it off your body."

"What? Why?" Sonya asked.

"Because you were whisked off to Ibiza for a month this past summer by your rich boyfriend—" And while Rose couldn't tell if Karolina disapproved or not, it would be safe to assume he was Moroi. "—so your skin tone doesn't match that shade anymore."

"It's been six months since I got back. My tan has definitely faded," Sonya argued.

Karolina and Viktoria shook their heads.

"Really?" Sonya asked, dropping the dress on a random pile of clothing and looking at the inside of her wrist.

"You're the darkest of us now," Karolina said sadly in between drags of nicotine, blowing smoke out the window.

"Rebyata, what about Rose?" Viktoria asked, gesturing to her. "We can talk about your papik some other time, Sonechko."

"On nyet moy papik," Sonya said, but the defense fell on deaf ears.

Rose herself was ready to run in the opposite direction. Playing Barbie was an item on a very short list of things that made her want to stab a fork in her hand rather than partake in. "I don't need to wear anything." She looked around. "Don't you guys have kids? Where are they?"

"The men have them," Sonya said, pulling a cream shift out of a closet that Rose was positive led to Narnia "Dimka in particular needs practice with small children."

Karolina had propped herself up against the wall with her legs stretched out across the full-sized bed and was eyeing Rose's figure. "No offense, Rose, but your hips are ridiculous. Vika, she'll have to wear something of yours. I'm too tall and Sonya is too narrow."

"Where did you—"

"Your old stuff is to the far right."

Viktoria carefully picked her way across to the opposite side of the room and started rifling through clothes. Sonya dropped the cream dress and reached for a black frock under a pile of clothing on the empty, smaller bed, gracefully sidestepping her sister in a practiced motion.

"I think the blue shift for dinner," Karolina said, flicking ash into a tray that was also now collecting snow flurries. The only light outside came from the other houses on the street as people began readying for the day; Baia had recently hit deep winter, pushing the sunrise back to late morning.

"You should wear that olive green a-line tonight, the one with the cap sleeves," Sonya told Karolina in a moment of sudden realization as she pulled the black frock on.

Karolina's eyes lit up. "You're right! Vika, can you find it? It's next to your old stuff."

Rose watched in amazement as an olive green dress went sailing through the air moments later, which Karolina caughtly deftly with her free hand. The scene vaguely reminded her of getting dressed up for events at with Lissa, though in comparison, things were understandably less insane — Lissa understood Rose only dressed up when the situation called for it — and since her coronation, Lissa's outfits and makeup were all predetermined by a stylist to keep her public image in line.

This is what life is like with sisters who are into this stuff.

"Rose, here," a voice called, and it was only because of her guardian reflexes that she caught a cerulean dress before it hit her in the face.

"Do you have a push-up bra?" Viktoria asked, still facing the closet.

"No," Rose said slowly, holding the blue frock in front of her to inspect it.

"What's your size?" Karolina asked, reaching across her bed to grab the dress out of Sonya's hands before her sister could put it on, the last of her cigarette dangling from her mouth.

"Thirty-four C," Rose replied automatically, which made Sonya yelp and lunge for the large dresser next to the door behind Rose.

"This should fit," Sonya said before returning to the mirror.

To Rose's surprise, the fit was better than expected, though the open window meant taking off her clothes was awful.

"Now the dress," Viktoria said excitedly, pulling Sonya out of the way so Rose could see herself as she pulled the dress on.

"Yeah, that one," Viktoria said and the other two nodded enthusiastically.

It was somewhere between boxy and skintight — it showed off her figure without making a scene. The sleeves were flowy and cinched just above her wrists, and the skirt stopped mid-thigh. Sonya's bra did wonders for her chest, making Rose entertain the thought of stealing it for half a moment.

"What's your shoe size?"

"Eight," Rose said, knowing that number probably meant nothing to them.

"Mine again," Viktoria said, ducking into the bottom of the closet and coming up with dark grey flats. "These. I've got nude tights you can borrow, too."

In the time Rose had spent admiring how she looked, Karolina had pulled on the olive green dress, stubbed out her cigarette, and was sitting on a pile of clothes on Sonya's bed, pulling on tights. "She needs something for tonight, too," Karolina pointed out.

"Why, what's tonight?" Rose asked when Sonya motioned for Rose to pull off the dress. Sonya took it and draped it on the back of the desk chair over a light grey sweater dress.

"All the fun!" Viktoria explained, back to rifling through clothes as she rambled on. "I know Dimitri explained dinner to you the other day, but there's other stuff, too. The president gives a speech right before the midnight countdown and then after the clock chimes, everyone goes out. Humans don't live on our street, so we all know each other, and everyone goes to each other's houses, eating and drinking and having a good time all night — you'll love it, I promise. . . . Oh."

"What?" her two sisters asked in unison.

"Do you remember that one dress I bought but then never wore because I found out I was pregnant and ended up putting on a lot of weight?"

"Yes," Sonya said, glancing at where Karolina had paused rifling through a stack of necklaces. The two followed Viktoria's gaze to Rose, who'd tuned the conversation out in favor of staring at herself in the mirror and trying to remember if she'd brought any panties that could pass for Victoria's Secret.

She looked up, unnerved by the both the silence and shared glint in their eyes. "What?"

"He'd kill us," Sonya said. "Correction. He will kill us."

"We promised we wouldn't interfere," Karolina added.

Rose got the distinct impression they were referencing a conversation or two that she'd missed. "What?" she repeated a bit more forcefully.

"It's got long sleeves," Viktoria protested.

"The only part of her back it'll cover is her ass," Karolina said.

"And it's bodycon," Sonya said. "You nearly started the next world war with Grandmother when you brought it home."

"I'm fairly certain you turned her religious because of it," Karolina joked.

"Trust me on this one," Viktoria said, slowly handing the dress over to Rose to whom Viktoria instructed, "Don't put it on now. Later, in secret. Do your makeup light. Let the dress do all the talking."

"What are you not tell me?" Rose asked, slowly taking the dress.

"We may have been cornered by brother dearest," Viktoria said, tilting her head and twisting back and forth in place, like a small child caught stealing cookies.

"Who made us swear on our children we wouldn't tease you two," Sonya continued.

"Because something is clearly going on between you and him," Karolina added.

"Our children, Rose," Viktoria emphasized.

"It was cruel," Sonya said airily.

"He wouldn't hurt them," Karolina said. "But I think it's the only way he could get across to all three of us how important it was that we back off." The last two words were directed at her sisters.

"Liquid eyeliner," Viktoria whispered to Rose, who, overwhelmed by this revelation, couldn't help but snort in response.

Sonya rolled her eyes. "He didn't tell us what's going on, just that he would like it if we kept our thoughts to ourselves."

"I think it's cute," Karolina said, going back to rifling through necklaces and apparently having given up on convincing her younger sisters to not interfere. "I saw him laughing the other day."

"You what?" Viktoria whipped around from the closet where she was looking for more shoes.

Karolina nodded, her smile bright with the best gossip of the year. "A week ago. It was voluntary."

"Shut. Up," Sonya said and Rose had to bite back a comment about how outdated the slang was. Viktoria murmured to Rose she could take the first dress off and put her sweatpants back on, and she raced to do so, suddenly cold again.

Karolina was still gleeful. "I told him once that he needed to stop trying to date Moroi women, that he needed a dhampir woman because he'd been ruined by us. He didn't argue. I see I was right."

Rose met Karolina's eyes as she pulled on her shirt, biting the inside of her cheek.

"What?" Karolina asked.

This wasn't enjoying the ride like Dimitri had asked her to do a week ago, but the thought had occurred to her more than once and it always managed to put a damper on her mood. "A relationship between two dhampirs is a fling. Anything between two guardians is unheard of. There's rules about that kind of thing we have to follow."

Maybe not completely. There'd been the case of Abby Badica's guardian running off to be with another guardian and live among humans in Rose's senior year. But otherwise her point stood.

She got three confused looks as a result. "What?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Viktoria said.

Rose stopped when it hit her. "Because you guys are surrounded by dhampirs; this is nothing new."

Viktoria shrugged. "I guess."

"I was a guardian until I got pregnant," Sonya said. "And I dated another guardian in the time that we both worked at the school." Then, realizing that this only confirmed Rose's point about dhampir relationships being a fling, she added, "Karo and Sasha have been together for years."

"We're practically married," Karolina added without looking up from her debate between two similar silver necklaces.

Had she offended them? "I'm sorry if I—"

Viktoria shoved a pair of nude platform heels into Rose's hands. "You come from a different world than us. You're much closer to Court than we are and you're best friends with the Queen. We can't imagine the public scrutiny you're under at home."

"Thanks," Rose said, taking the shoes.

"This," Karolina said, holding up one of long, thin chain necklace she'd extracted from the pile. "Wear this with the blue dress. Nothing with the black. Since we're going with it," she added, glaring at her sisters.

"I gather you didn't bring make-up, either," Viktoria said as Karolina stood and traded the olive green dress for a light grey one Rose had already seen her wear dozens of times. Rose shook her head.

"I think my stuff from the summer might work on your skin tone," Sonya said, grabbing three stuffed cosmetic bags and a stack of palettes from her bed. She pulled out a good assortment of products and waved Rose over. "You know how to put this stuff on, yes? Good. I'm sure Vika would do your makeup if you asked, but Alexei's going to be a nightmare getting dressed — he hates clothing, especially anything formal — so it's easier if you do it on your own."

"Yeah, I got it," Rose said. "Royal stylists don't care about the Queen's guardians looking nice. That's on us."

Sonya laughed. "I'm sure."

"Do you want to leave this stuff here, Rose?" Viktoria asked and Rose caught the question underneath: Do you want to keep this a secret for now?

"Yeah, if you don't mind." Dressing up was always fun, but she really wasn't getting why the whole thing had to be shrouded in so much secrecy.

Viktoria waved her off from where she sat on the floor digging through her own pile of makeup. "Come get dressed when we do."

"Don't wear the blue dress until dinner, though," Sonya advised, debating two different eyeshadow palettes. "More baking and cooking today. Mama likes feeding the world."

"Yeah, I picked up on that," Rose quipped, smiling to herself at the laughter she got in response.

This is what it's like to have sisters.

Sydney: So is his hair real?

Rose's phone lit up next to the cake Katya was (sort of) helping her frost when the text came in. She stuck the knife in the bowl of buttercream, wiped her hands on her jeans, and snatched it before anyone else could see the notification. Around her, everyone was helping Olena pull together what was easily the millionth feast Rose had experienced in the past three months.

Rose: What are you talking about?

Sydney: My favor. No man has hair like that and can pull it off. Adrian certainly can't. He'd look like a wannabe classic rock star.

Rose: Isn't it like two am for you?

Sydney: I'm up writing a paper for my winter session class that I now regret ever taking.

Rose: How's that going? It's art history, right?

Sydney: You're avoiding my question about what his hair feels like.

Rose: Why would I be touching his hair?

Sydney: Because you've been making out with him.

Rose: No I haven't.

Rose: Where on earth did you get that idea?

Sydney: Adrian said your aura was, and I quote, "brighter and more explosive than the bathroom after Eddie eats cheese" the other night, though I don't think that's the best metaphor.

Sydney: He then clarified that your aura looks like mine whenever he and I are together.

"Hey, Thumb Festival," Alex said, pulling Rose from her focus and causing her to jump in the process. He nodded to Katya. "Nice job with the kid."

In the few minutes Rose had spent texting Sydney, Katya had managed to cover herself in frosting, a devilishly gleeful look on her face from all the attention she was getting.

Rose groaned. "This is exactly why I'm never having kids."

"I've got her, don't worry," Alex said, clasping Rose's shoulder for a moment. To his almost-niece, he raised his eyebrows and told her in Russian that a bath was calling her name. She replied with a squealy, laughing nyet! when he scooped her up, complaining loudly when she stuck a frosted hand in his blond hair. On their way out of the kitchen, Karolina asked him if he could find Zoya and get both girls ready at the same time.

Sydney: Rose?

"One of your friends back home?" Dimitri asked, abandoning his task across the table to help Rose salvage the cake.

"Yeah. A good friend, actually," Rose said, tapping out a quick reply.

Rose: Sorry, four year olds and cakes don't mix.

Rose: I have NOT been making out with him.

Sydney: Sure you haven't.

She looked up to see he was clearly interested in hearing more. "It's kind of complicated. She came in handy when I was busy breaking out of jail and trying to find Lissa's quorum. We met on the road when her now-husband nearly ran her over with our stolen car." Laughing, she shook her head. "It's a crazy story how we got Lissa on the throne."

"Sounds like it."

For a moment, Rose was transfixed by how carefully Dimitri was spreading the frosting already on the cake, doing his best to make the most of what was left. "Yeah. Anyway, she's just checking in on me."

Adrian: Sydney's now bothering *me* & wondering if you've told me anything.

"Oh my god," Rose huffed. To Dimitri: "I'll help you in a second."

Rose: Sydney, no, it was just one kiss. A week ago. That's it.

Rose: Yes, his hair is real.

Rose: No, I haven't told Adrian anything.

Rose: Go write your paper.

She stuffed her phone in her pocket and was about to get back to the cake when her messenger app buzzed again.

Adrian: I just heard a loud huff, so I guess your Russian soap opera isn't as exciting as Sage and Mia have been making it out to be.

Rose: It's really not.

Adrian: I'm sorry. You deserve some fun. It's been a while.

Adrian: btw if you get too drunk to remember later- happy new year!

She turned her phone off after Adrian's last text and then shoved it in her back pocket, wanting to be present with Dimitri. Her friends could wait. "Sorry. Where were we?"

[Unread] Sydney: I completely forgot until Adrian just mentioned it to me, but Happy New Year!

"Chto tiy delayesh?" a young voice asked. What are you doing?

Rose's eyes flicked to the little girl's reflection in the mirror she was sat in front of. Zoya was watching her expectantly, hands clasped behind her bright red dress. Her long, light brown hair had been pulled back into a braid and, coupled with the opaque white tights and black strapped flats, made her look like something out of a picture book. Or a horror movie, Rose decided, blending brush paused mid-stroke against her forehead.

"Rouz stavit na makiyazh, ostavte yeye v pokoy," Karolina said, coming into the room and putting in earrings. Rose is putting on makeup. Leave her alone.

The sisters had long since finished getting ready, but Rose was moving slower, a side effect of being out of practice with makeup.

Zoya looked disheartened by the news and made to leave when Rose picked up a blending brush and said to Karolina, "She's fine, she can stay."

"Really?" Karolina asked. "I'm impressed. A month ago, you flinched every time she had an outburst at dinner. Zoya, Rouz imeyet dlya tebya syurpriz." Karolina circled her face in the air. Zoya, Rose has a surprise for you. "Just a little. I trust you."

"Kakoy syurpriz?" Zoya asked cautiously, slowly coming to stand next to Rose, who traded one brush for another, dabbed in another palette, and lightly brushed at her temples with a knowing smile. What's the surprise?

"Tiy naydete yesli tiy terpelivy," Karolina said for Rose. You'll find out if you're patient.

So Zoya waited, studying Rose's every movement as she opted not to wear eyeshadow and carefully drew a thin line of eyeliner, winging it slightly at the far corners of her eyes. The shade of lipstick Sonya had picked out — a light bronze, almost nude color — worked wonders despite her initial wariness, and when the cap clicked back on, she turned to the girl, her freshly washed hair falling over her shoulder. She patted her lap, having forgotten the word for "up". Zoya understood, though, and climbed up excitedly, having figured out what the surprise was.

"Ya bolshaya devochka," Zoya said, a smile on her face as Rose took the bag Karolina held out for her, pulling out a shade of blush that wouldn't be too far off from Zoya's cheeks being naturally rosy because of the cold. "Kak tiy." I'm a big girl, like you.

"Iy kra-krasivaya tozhe," Rose added, cursing inwardly when she fumbled over one of the words. And the prettiest, too.

That made Zoya beam, and she fell silent in the few minutes it took Rose to sweep a thin layer of blush over the girl's cheeks, carefully brush a light coat of mascara on her eyelashes, and dab two tiny dots of lip gloss on her lips, mimicking rubbing them together so that Zoya would do the same.

"Mama!" Zoya called excitedly, and she hopped off Rose's lap to go show her mother across the room, who'd been splitting her attention between watching her daughter and scrolling through something on her phone.

"Krasivaya. Pokazat papulya," Karolina cooed, kissing her daughter on the top of her head. Beautiful, go show Daddy.

Zoya tore down the hallway shouting Alex's name, and Karolina watched her from the doorway, love and adoration settling across her face.

"She's growing on me," Rose said, cleaning up the small mess on the desk next to her. "I was like a mash-up of Katya and Zoya at their age."

Karolina nodded, still smiling. "I don't doubt it." She turned back to Rose. "Stand up, I want to see just how much trouble my sister has gotten me into."

She stood, already wondering why she agreed to six inch heels and a dress with less fabric than her swimsuit, but she jutted her hip out, striking a pose and faking an intense model stare. She didn't want a pep talk on being confident; she could find it within herself like always.

Karolina bit her lip, grinning, and kept nodding. "If you don't see me tomorrow, check the lake, because my brother dumped my body there."

"Oh," Sonya said, appearing in the doorway and taking in Rose with glittering eyes. "This is definitely interfering. Sorry, Karo."

"It's fine," Karolina said, sniffing like she didn't care. "I just have two kids, a loving boyfriend, and a steady job, not to mention a supportive family who listens to me. I'm sure I won't be missed."

Rose laughed, relaxing, and looked down to make sure she wouldn't trip when she started walking, her hair falling in front of her face for a moment. Viktoria appeared behind Sonya, her heels giving her enough extra height to see over her sister, and she whistled, causing Rose to look up with a wry smile. "'Vogue' just called," Viktoria joked, pushing past her sisters. "They want their cover girl back."

Rolling her eyes, Rose returned Viktoria's hug. "It does make me feel good," she admitted, catching sight of herself in the mirror behind her. It really did barely cover her ass like Karolina had said it would, but the tights gave her a sense of security against any impending wardrobe mishaps.

"It better," Karolina said, shaking her head. "Because I'm going to hell for this."

Alex joined the group then, having been looking for Karolina, and dramatically threw a hand over his eyes. "I'm sorry, I was looking for my family, but an angel has decided to grace our presence instead." He dropped his hand, his smile proud like a sibling's. "You look amazing, Rose. Mitya's about to have the best New Year's ever."

"Oh my god," Rose said, grabbing her phone off the desk and moving to exit the room. She was good about making innuendos, but being on the receiving end was still unfamiliar. "I'm leaving to go be with the normal people in this family."

Viktoria whistled again as Rose left, sticking her tongue out when Rose threw a parting, sultry look over her shoulder.

Downstairs, the reaction was just as she'd imagined. Everyone else was upstairs, except Paul, who'd gotten stuck with dish duty all break as punishment for getting drunk the night of the party, and Olena, who was busy with something on the stove in the kitchen, had already changed for the evening and didn't turn when Rose entered.

"Olena, did Sonya say where she put her extra clutch for me to borrow tonight?" Rose asked, looking down and trying to figure out if she could finagle her phone into her bra despite the neckline dipping low under her collarbone. She looked up when she heard the woman gasp quietly.

"Rose, solnishka," Olena breathed, hands over her mouth. She wrapped Rose up in a hug despite the now slightly awkward height difference. It'd been a toss up on how Olena might react; had the dress been on Viktoria, she was sure there would've been demands to go change. Olena pulled back, hands fluttering around Rose, unsure where to land. "You look gorgeous."

"Eh," Paul said, looking over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin. "She cleans up alright."

For a split second, Rose wondered if the urge to throw something at him for the comment was common to sibling relationships. She made a face at him and he made it back, immediately wincing when he dropped a pan and the metal clanged loudly against the sink. It was like having Christian around, if she were honest with herself.

"Sonya put it over here," Olena said, answering Rose's earlier question, grabbing a dark brown clutch off of a table that held flowers in warmer months. Inside, Rose found a duplicate tube of the lipstick she'd borrowed; a handwritten list of everyone's cell phone numbers along with the number for the house, Mark and Oksana, and several emergency numbers, including the Alchemist assigned to the region (even though she already had the majority of them in her phone); a pack of a gummy snacks Rose had quickly grown attached to; and, God help her, a fifty milliliter bottle of vodka with to stay warm ;) scrawled across the label in marker.

She slipped her phone in, affection flooding her. It was something Lissa or Sydney would have done for her in a similar situation. It was something a sister would have done, and Rose, an only child, collected them in surrogates. Lately, she'd been feeling like one of the Belikov sisters, and everything she'd been loaned today only strengthened that.

"Mama, where did you—"

Rose turned as she slid the zipper shut on the clutch- to find Dimitri frozen in his own kitchen, staring at her like, well . . .

She couldn't decide on a good enough analogy. He'd seen her from the back first and she knew her hair, dark with a slight wave, covered everything the dress didn't, save the small dip inwards towards the bottom. And while her front was covered, the fabric was tight enough that it left nothing to the imagination. She was sure her legs seemed to go on for miles; Karolina had alluded to as much earlier when she'd first put it on.

He looked aroused and ready to kill simultaneously, and she shivered when he didn't break eye contact for a good, long minute — a minute that felt like an hour under his gaze. If his nephew and mother hadn't also been standing in the room, she might've quipped something along the lines of see something you like, comrade? But they were, so she settled for holding the eye contact as Olena literally shook his arm to get his attention.

"What, Dimka?"

"I, um—" He swallowed and it seemed like it was physically painful to tear his eyes away from her. "Where did you put my ties when you packed up my stuff last summer?"

"They're in the top box on the left in my closet," Olena said, eyes darting between son and guest as something tangible crackled between them.

"Okay," Dimitri said, not moving and still drinking in Rose, who'd never stopped appreciating the way his black button-down stretched across his chest, or how the line of his waist was accented by how tightly his shirt had been tucked in, a sight she didn't get to see with his usual loose t-shirts.

I'm just curious, she told herself without really believing it.

"Paul," Olena whispered, jerking her head in the direction of her room, indicating he go find one for his uncle. Paul, to his credit, took one look at the scene in front of him, and dashed off. Olena made herself scarce by the stove again . . . not that either of them noticed.

"You look—" His mouth seemed dry and his voice caught in his throat, accent thicker than usual.

"I know," she said, shrugging a shoulder, mustering up some usual Rose Hathaway sass to chase away the intensity of how much she wanted to push him against the wall and never let him go. "I leave lots of guys speechless. It's a hazard of being near me."

His eyes darkened at that, like the idea of her with other guys wasn't something he wanted to think about, and quickly took the tie Paul brought back. It was colored a red so deep that it looked black. He started to put it on while looking torn about having to look away from her, so she solved the problem for him.

"Here, let me," she said softly, setting the clutch down on the table next to him, and batted his hands away from his neck. With her extra half a foot, her line of sight came up to his chin, a marked improvement from how often she usually was eye-level with his upper chest. Not that his chest was bad to look at or anything. It was just a nice change of view.

"You're a woman of many talents," he noted and she saw his gaze was still firmly fixed on her when she looked up through her lashes.

"Not really. Back home, my cooking starts and stops at mac and cheese. I only got my driver's license earlier this year. I can't not worry about Lissa all the time. I don't want to talk about the nightmare that was school growing up."

"Why not?" he asked and she tugged on the fabric roughly.

"I don't sit still well. I can't focus when someone's talking to me for too long, so I joke about the stuff I do hear to make up for it. I'm far more impulsive than I'd like to be. I didn't care about school unless it was novice-related, but that only really was true during my senior year. None of that adds up to a stellar track record." She slipped the front part through the last loop and tightened it against the hollow of his throat to what felt comfortable.

"I haven't noticed any of that," he murmured.

She smoothed the front down, her fingers lingering. "You didn't know me then. I've calmed down a lot. Besides, you seem to be my exception for a lot of things."

He cleared his throat. "Now that's something I have noticed."

There was a loud thump from the other side of the wall, someone swearing, and a couple shhh's, which bursted their little bubble and pushed Dimitri back into his typical blank shell, the only emotion he let cross his face being irritation as his sisters sheepishly filed in. Alex brought up the rear with Alexei piggybacking, his face buried in Alex's neck, and the two small girls flanking him.

Karolina said something to Dimitri in Russian then that sounded like an apology, and he snapped back too fast for Rose to catch, which caused all four of them to burst into rapidfire Russian that Rose didn't even bother trying to follow. Viktoria looked appropriately cowed by whatever Dimitri said to her, though when he turned to Sonya, Viktoria winked at Rose behind his back. Above the din came a loud whistle and the conversation abruptly stopped, all eyes turning on Olena in one fluid motion.

"I would appreciate not ending this year with a fight for once," she said, and when she was met with mumbled apologies, she continued on.

"Your grandmother will be staying here. I'm going to be with Maria Vasilyevna and Svetlana Borisovna tonight," Olena explained (and Viktoria leaned over to whisper in Rose's ear that it was her annual New Year's Eve speech). "You're free to do whatever you want, but I ask you to not lose my grandchildren or I will be very upset with you in the morning. Don't call me if you get arrested because I am not going to come bail you out of jail and neither is your grandmother."

"Yeah, Vika," Alex called out and Viktoria made a face at him, leaving Rose was with the impression there was a story behind that rule.

Olena smiled then, eyes passing over her family. "It has been a good year for us. Vika is finishing school and Dimka is back to work."

Rose looked to Dimitri for his reaction and saw none that she could read, his face blank as he listened to his mother, and she brushed a finger against his wrist in support, not noticing how his other hand clenched in his pocket in response.

"Sonya and Karo continue to amaze me with the women they have become, and we welcomed Sasha into the house this summer," she said, smiling when Paul high-fived Alex over the diminutive. "And we welcomed a newcomer this autumn. It feels like Rose has been with us for years." Olena's eyes were warm and Rose flushed a little, slightly uncomfortable with the attention. She glanced up when she felt a finger reciprocate a brush against the inside of her wrist, catching Dimitri quickly flashing his own smile. "And we will have her for nearly all of next year, which I am so grateful for. Rose, you have brought so much laughter and light to us that we have been missing these last few years, and I can't begin to explain how happy you've made my family and me since you arrived in October."

"Thank you," Rose whispered, blinking back welled up tears and giving Sonya a watery smile when she felt the other woman stretch behind Dimitri to give her a one-armed hug.

"Alright, that's all I have to say. Go have fun," Olena finished, shooing them all out of the kitchen. The foyer was a mess of children and adults wrangling each other into coats and scarves, and Rose and Dimitri hung back until only Sonya and Katya were left.

"Braht, I think we'll be at the Bondarenko's all night," Sonya said, loosely wrapping a scarf around Katya's neck multiple times. "Katya's been getting on with Elena Maksimova lately, and you know her and the friend thing . . ."

Dimitri nodded, handing the borrowed clutch back to Rose after she'd flipped down the collar of the full-length peacoat Jill and Eddie had sent for Christmas. "We might stop by. Text me if Anton's in town. I need to ask him something."

"I will." Sonya was kneeling on the floor and attempting to force gloves on her uncooperative daughter. "What are you . . . ?"

Rose and Dimtiri exchanged a look, and Rose shrugged. There'd been a silent agreement that they would break off from the rest of the group and do their own thing.

"I think we're just going to see where the night takes us," Dimitri said, eyes still fixed on Rose.

Sonya snapped something at Katya when the girl tried to take her gloves off. "If I see the others, I'll let you know. Alexei's been pretty attached to Sasha lately, so I think Vika's tagging along with Karo and them to keep the boys together. I don't know where they're planning on going. Also, she asked me to ask you to keep watch for Paul. He said he's going over to his friend, Viktor's, and you know what happens when they're together."

"If I see any of them, I'll let you know," Dimitri said.

"Please," Sonya said. She zipped up her own coat and held her hand out to Katya. "Gotov, malysh?" Ready, little one?

Katya nodded and then waved to Rose and Dimitri as her mom led her outside into the chilly air.

"Are you going to be okay?" Dimitri asked, eyeing where her dress ended on her upper thigh.

"Yeah," Rose said, pulling the little bottle of vodka out of her clutch and teasingly waving it at him. "Sonya hooked me up."

Dimitri just shook his head and opened the door to follow Rose into the new year.