"I'm going to go look for Lissa." Christian announced and got up as the guardians took him to Lissa.
"Actually I wanted to meet Lissa." Adrian frowned and sighed as he got up. He decided he'd just go and visit Rose.
"Hold on. Do we even know our rooms yet?" Ivan asked before the two left.
"Excuse me?" A guardian said quietly but loud enough. Everybody looked at him.
"The queen has assigned some rooms to everybody." He said
"Right. And will we be able to change those?" Abe asked, already knowing that he and Janine would be kept far away from each other. The guardian gave a small amused smile.
"That's up to you now, isn't it?" he said. "Here are your room numbers and directions." He said and distributed them to everybody.
"I'm not even going to lie. I genuinely feel like partying today." Mason groaned.
"And that's why you and Rose are friends." Eddie deadpanned but then he looked sheepish. "I do too but I don't think we can." He sighed
"You can calm down here. Be regular kids." Alberta said with a small smile.
"I could arrange the party then." Adrian winked as he left.
"That's Adrian Ivashkov." Mason complained.
"Go for the party if not Adrian." Eddie shrugged as he left for the coffee house and Viktoria got to talking with him suddenly and the two walked together. Dimitri raised an eyebrow to heights that should have been considered impossible. Olena just chuckled.
Mason figured that he'd go look for Rose for the spar. He grinned at the thought of it which appeared quite funny and odd to the people who had no idea what he was thinking especially since he walked out with that grin.
Everybody else got up and went to their rooms.
Rose and Lissa had been in the spa, joking around but knowing exactly what had been read but not the reactions. Clearly, when St. Vlad said that the books would be given he didn't mean physical copies, just emailing it mentally.
"Did you know there is a 24 hour bar here?" Adrian drawled with a grin as he walked in
"Really? Do you live there as well?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow. Adrian laughed.
"Some people don't let me." He sighed dramatically.
Mason did not look pleased as he walked in to Adrian talking to Rose and Lissa but he wouldn't let that ruin his mood. He shook his head and went to Rose.
"Its time for our spar. Lets see what you've got." Mason grinned at her.
"You bet." Rose said as she jumped off with a matching grin.
"Bet what?" Christian asked as he walked in, looking more displeased than Mason to see Adrian there.
"The spar." Mason said
"Well, at least there's some entertainment. Looking forward to seeing your ass getting handed to you, Ashford." Christian smirked at him. Mason rolled his eyes.
"You wish." He said
"Oh, I do."
The five of them just went to the open training arena and Lissa, Adrian and Christian sat in the audience. Just then Dimitri, Alberta and Janine walked in as well. They'd wanted to train but on seeing Mason and Rose, they went and sat in the audience.
"Might as well wait for everybody, eh?" Mason grinned
"Sure. I want more people to see when I annihilate you." Rose grinned back.
"Now I get what you dream about." Mason said with the same grin.
"I don't have to dream about this." Rose trash talked back. Mason laughed. The others who were left walked in and joined everybody.
"Looks your wish has come true." Rose said "Now it looks like mine is going to too." She said with the widest grin.
"Lets see." Mason smirked.
"Aw man. Don't tell me I missed the trash talk?" Eddie groaned as the others who had been there from before except Janine were looking amused at the trash talk going on.
"It's fine. Popcorn?" Christian asked, who seemed to be enjoy himself.
"Thanks." Eddie said as he took some.
Rose and Mason got ready and their grins vanished suddenly as they went into the fight mode.
"They're not going to seriously hurt each other right?" Olena asked worriedly. Dimitri shook his head.
"They have to follow the rules during the spars."
Rose and Mason assessed each other before Mason threw a punch which Rose ducked.
"Not gonna get me that easy, Ashford." Rose laughed. Mason grinned back. Mason tried again and this time Rose feinted as if she got hit and fell. When Mason lent out a hand she grinned and grabbed it and threw him flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him.
"The comeback is starting." He said, out of breath.
The spar continued for a full 30 minutes with everybody at the edge of their seats. Nobody could mistake the look of pride in Dimitri's eyes once Rose won but nobody except Ivan saw the 'hell lot more' in his eyes.
"Well, this spar has been interesting but you two really need a shower. Have some pity on my poor Moroi nose." Christian drawled once they went down to meet Rose and Mason. Rose shifted even closer to him.
"Aw, does little Christian not enjoy our natural fragrances." Rose teased. Christian wrinkled his nose.
"There are many more fragrances that I would prefer."
"Of course you would." Rose smirked and winked at Lissa.
"The amount of heathenous thoughts that take place in your head astounds me." Christian deadpanned.
"Like you're very holy, you unholy little shit." Rose snickered.
"Honestly, the world can tolerate only two of you." Alberta shook her head albeit a little fondly.
"Well, at least I get to sleep. Poor you guys." Rose said, imitating a villain with her laugh.
"I don't want to see any more of the royal court than I have to anyways." Christian shrugged.
"On that, we agree." Abe said, with a light scowl.
"Well then, might as well get back to reading." Janine said.
"Might as well get to the spa." Lissa grinned and Rose.
"And here I thought I could sleep." Rose grumbled. Lissa grinned even more widely.
"We're gonna go. I'll see you later." Christian said, kissing Lissa's forehead. In the background, Rose made weird face expressions to which Christian responded by flipping her off.
"We should go before the world burns." Eddie said with a chuckle and nobody disagreed.