I couldn't believe I had said it. My friends blinked at me in shock, but I knew I'd held onto my secrets for too long, they- especially Lissa and Dimitri- deserved to know everything. There was still a small voice screaming at me, telling me I had made the wrong decision at the back of my head but I easily shoved it away and shuffled forwards. I knew that once I started I would have to finish. They all respected my decision- just as I had known they would- and had ceased their whispering to turn and look at me.
"Do you want me to read, Little Dhampir?" I smiled at the familiar nickname. I was glad he had offered because I didn't want to be the one to read my thoughts aloud. I nodded and he reached into the box and grabbed the first book. He ran his finger along the spine before flipping it over and reading out the blurb.
ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM YOUR IMMORTAL ENEMIES . . .
"Damn right," I muttered under my breath. Lissa reached out and squeezed my knee gently. I didn't need the bond to know that she was as nervous as me, if this book held my secrets, it would hold hers too.

Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess: a mortal vampire with a rare gift for harnessing the earth's magic. She must be protected at all times from Strigoi; the fiercest vampires – the ones who never die. The powerful blend of human and vampire blood that flows through Rose Hathaway, Lissa's best friend, makes her a Dhampir. Rose is dedicated to a dangerous life of protecting Lissa from the Strigoi, who are hell-bent on making Lissa one of them.

After two years of freedom, Rose and Lissa are caught and dragged back to St. Vladimir's Academy, a school for vampire royalty and their guardians-to-be, hidden deep in the forests of Montana. But inside the iron gates, life is even more fraught with danger . . . and the Strigoi are always close by.

Rose and Lissa must navigate their dangerous world, confront the temptations of forbidden love, and never once let their guard down, lest the evil undead make Lissa on of them forever . . .

Adrian lowered the book to his knees, surveying the room. My head was low as I prepared for what was to come.
"You don't have to do this, Rose..." it was Eddie who spoke up, I looked up and met his concerned gaze.
"I know," I responded "I need to." I sighed, the apparent threat of the note still fresh in my mind "we need to figure what this-" I motioned towards the box "-is. I need to stop trying to do things alone. I need help. This... this is concerning, someone has access to my thoughts and I need to work out how... and why." I had just gotten everything, my happy ending complete with my prince and my best friend, and now God was apparently playing some other cruel game with me. He was making me work for what I wanted, that's for sure.
Dimitri, sensing my thoughts, lifted a hand and ran it through my hair gently. The action was small but it soothed me instantly. Mia raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Adrian sighed.
"Shall we begin, then?" his hand was resting on the front cover of the book. I simply nodded and the others turned to look at him, Dimitri's hand still in my hair.

"I FELT HER FEAR before I heard her screams.
Her nightmare pulsed into me, shaking me out of my own dream, which had had something to do with a beach and some hot guy rubbing suntan oil on me."

I heard Dimitri chuckle from behind me as Adrian paused and lifted his eyes to mine.
"Must have been one of my spirit dreams," I smiled before sinking back into Dimitri's embrace, squeezing my eyes shut as Adrian read. I only paid attention to the parts that were important. I constantly tuned in and out.

"...a man watching me... he was close enough that I probably could have thrown something and hit him. He was certainly close enough that he could have seen what Lissa and I had just done."

My gaze flicked to Dimitri as this was read out, he nodded once, confirming he had seen Lissa biting me. I tuned out once again, sighing softly.

"...under different circumstances-say, when he wasn't holding up our desperate escape-I would have thought he was hot...but his hotness was irrelevant now..."

I felt Dimitri's chuckle rumble though his chest, only realising I had leant back against him Mia lifted her eyes from the floor and stared at me, shocked. I groaned, realising I needed to tell her.
"Adrian, stop." He had been in the middle of describing how I had attempted- and failed- a defensive manoeuvre against a large group of guardians. I shifted so I was no longer leaning back against Dimitri- as much as I hated to do so- and turned to face Mia. I decided to be blunt.
"I don't know if you have figured it out yet, but Dimitri and I are... uh... involved." Mia's face wore an expression of shock and surprise. She appeared flustered and took a moment to let the words sink in.
"I mean I could have guessed..." she rambled "but you two..." she took a deep breath before forming a proper question "how long?"
I opened my mouth to speak, but Dimitri took over. "Not long. We're planning on letting people know soon, we just thought we would let everything settle before starting another drama." I held back a laugh at hearing him say drama. It just didn't seem like something someone so godly would say often.