I lean forward, almost instinctively, wrapping my arms around his neck. He freezes, surprised by my change of emotion, but runs his hands down my sides.

I cannot believe this is happening. Why did we ever break up in the first place? How did I survive without this for months? His hands quickly unbutton my shirt and peels the material off of my shoulders. Dimitri's lips press into my skin.

"Lissa," he groans.

Lissa? I reach up, twisting my fingers in his dark hair, and gently open my eyes, looking into fiery blue ones.

"I love you, Christian."

Not Dimitri not Dimitri not Dimitri!

I quickly think of Rose, myself, and latch on, slowly clawing myself back to my own body.

When I feel the feelings of arousal start to leave, I snap my eyes open to meet a deep, warm pair staring back at me.

"Rose?"

I sigh. "Yeah?"

Dimitri kneels before me, his concerned eyes staring deep into me, although his expression remains empty.

"Are you okay? Is the Princess alright?"

I sigh again and nod. "Yeah. Her and Christian are making up for lost time and she accidently invited me in." I shudder. "God, that kid is pale."

Dimitri smiles, the smallest of smiles, and gets up, sitting down on his own bed across from mine. He's still wearing his pajama bottoms, and his hair is messy. "So..."

"So...?" I reply, raising my brows.

"Do you... want anything? Are you hungry?"

My eyes flick towards the clock on the wall. "Dimitri, it's one o'clock in the morning."

He remains silent. I cannot believe how awkward things have gotten to be. "Talked to Lissa, lately?" I ask.

He blinks once like a solemnant lion. "No, the Princess didn't know I was leaving."

"Really?" I ask, bringing my legs up on the bed. "I bet she's pissed."

He raises one eyebrow. "You don't know?"

I sigh. "It's complicated."

"Yes. It is."

I smile. "No, I don't know. I try not to check on her, unless she pulls me in. It makes me want to go home, it made it hard for me to stay here."

"And that's bad," he states, his voice holding no hint of a question.

I shrug. "Doesn't really matter, now, if you're dragging me back, does it?" Silence. "But I managed to keep busy. Distract myself."

He pauses, looking thoughtful. "What have you been doing here?" he asks finally.

Shrugging, I lay back against the headboard, all thoughts of sleep forgotten. "At first I tried to find a job. But couldn't get one, of course. So I got the room at that crappy motel, promising to pay later in hopes of getting a job. I was walking past some nightclub after handing in some resumes when I heard something in the alley.

This woman was being attacked by strigoi. I... I fought them, staked them. And I started coming back to hunt strigoi. I don't know, my instincts or something. Hunting strigoi. But I just kept going back. And that's when I found Viktoria."

Dimitri visibly tries to repress a shudder. "My mother wouldn't tell me what happened. No one would. Please, Rose. What happened to her?"

I cannot resist his pleading look. "She ran away with Rolan after Olena forbade her to see him."

His deep eyes grew dark. "I'll kill him."

"Already did," I reply quickly. "He attacked Viktoria at the club I was at."

He blinks in surprise. "I... shouldn't have said that."

I shrug. "He turned strigoi a few months after she ran away. He bit her... and she-"

"Yeah," Dimitri said sharply. "I think I can guess the rest."

My heart aches out for him, and I gently sit down beside him on his bed. But Dimitri seems to shrink away. "Dimitri, you can't possibly compare yourself to Rolan," I whisper.

He tenses. "Why not? How am I any different? I used you, I used you as a bloodwhore. I wanted you as a possession, something to own, to have control over. I wanted you because I didn't want to be under Nathan's command anymore! I used your feelings for me against you, dangling love and sex in front of you to manipulate you. I toyed with you, Rose. With your feelings for me."

I don't know how he'll react, but I reach out and clutch his hand. "You are different. I told you, you're a good man, Dimitri. At some point in time, you cared about me, you loved me. With Rolan, losing his soul didn't make an ounce of difference. He didn't care about Viktoria any more than he did when he was Moroi."

Dimitri shakes his head. "It doesn't matter. I didn't treat you any better."

I sighed, the pad of my thumb stroking his knuckles. "But it's the man you were, the man you are now, that makes the difference."

Slowly, so slowly, his eyes raise, meeting mine. "I'd hardly call what I am now a man."

"Why not? You've faced more than anyone ever has," I tell him, gently smiling. "You've come back from the undead, survived battles, fought strigoi, fought Guardians, and imprisonment."

Even he smiled slightly, more at me than with me. "Rose, you make me sound far more noble than what I have ever done."

I pat his hand and stand, crawling into my own bed. "That's where you're wrong."

I ignore his curious gaze and tug the cord that attaches to the lamp, and the room is instantly shadowed.

"Rose?" he asks, after several moments of silence.

I squeeze my eyes shut. "Yes?"

All I can hear throughout the hotel room is his heavy breathing floating through the air, weighing down the room. "Never mind."