Facing the music wasn't nearly as fun as you would expect. The first thing we encountered were gossiping Moroi people (men and women alike, sadly), and I would have loved nothing more than to walk past them and act like they didn't exist, but on responsibility of being the Dragomir princess is that you had to be polite to everyone who you needed to earn points with- which was just about everyone. So I waited patiently while she played nice with all the snobs. They naturally paid no attention to me, and vice versa. I only truly reacted to the sound of a person's voice when they unexpectedly talked to me from behind at the same time as I spotted Christian and Dimitri heading for us. I only knew it was them from Christian's raven black hair and Dimitri's lofty height and shoulder-length brown hair typically tied back at the base of his neck.

"Are you Rose Hathaway?"

I turned to see a man behind me. He wore formal guardian attire instead of the fancy evening wear everyone else did, but I recognized the red dot in the center of his black tie.

Narrowing my eyes slightly in thought, I nodded just as the two expected men joined us. Christian immediately went to Lissa's defence, while Dimitri stayed at my shoulder, expressionless and studying the man who obviously knew who I was. Completely ignoring Dimitri, the man swept a gallant bow, rising several seconds later. "I am Devin Vinctus, and I was appointed to you whereabouts by the Queen."

I nodded politely at hm, urging him to continue, which he didn't object to. "I am being repositioned from Court here as one of the Queen's personal guards back to Lockwell."

I knew that name well, since it was my home. I smiled. "Ah, that's a hefty transition, I'll have to say."

He raised his eyebrows in agreement. "Yes, but for the better or for the worse is my question?"

"That's all on you, I'm afraid. But I'm sure you'll remember that Lockwell isn't nearly as strict or stuck-up as Court is."

He grinned. "That's definitely a plus."

"Which kind are you going as?" Lissa asked, approaching us and obviously hearing the last of the conversation. Devin gave a bow to her as well, but it wasn't as deep as it had been to me. "Both, Princess," he told her respectively. "I have a few...ahh, special members in my family that I am very fond of, so I have always been loyal to Lockwell. I started out my early years there, but was moved here because of the low guardian numbers."

I nodded again in understanding. "When are you returning to Lockwell?"

"That's the reason I am here, Kronprinzessin. I am to be leaving the same day as you are, but I am not sure if you would have me come with you."

I waved my hand dismissively in the air. "Of course you'll come with us. Why would you not?"

He gave a rueful smile. "It's always better to ask. The Queen assured me about you, but I wanted to clarify it myself."

I smiled. "And that's perfectly fine. Just make sure you have everything immediate that you'll need by ten a.m."

He bowed again to me, "Of course," before turning on his heel and walking away.

Christian snorted a laugh, and I elbowed him in the ribs. He didn't even flinch, partly because I hadn't wanted him to. "I'm sorry Rose, but every guard or guardian I see is always acting like they have a stick up their ass."

I sent him a glare. "Only because you want to perceive it that way. And if you don't shut up, I'll shove a stick up your ass."

Soon after, Lissa was forced to lead a cackling Christian away before I murdered him, effectively leaving me alone with Dimitri, something I wasn't the most comfortable with. Despite my body being relaxed whenever he was around, my emotions and mind were far from it. I was always constantly wondering if he'd made up his damned mind about rejecting or accepting me. His constant inner turmoil would always drive him back and forth, and I was getting tired of it. He felt bad about constantly playing with my heart, and therefore tried (and failed every time) to distance himself from me so he can figure it all out. But he needed help, and needed someone to understand, and I was the only one that could give both. So he always migrated back, and I always let him have this little dance. Soon the decision wouldn't be up to him, because I've got a nice surprise for him if he decided to come to Germany with us.

Speaking of...I turned and looked to him. "Why'd you leave so abruptly earlier?" I asked. I let the curiosity show on my face, despite me having a black mask on and him the same, he could read it easily. He could always read me easily. His face, unfortunately, was blank as usual. He didn't answer my question at first, instead held out his hand to me.

Ever heard of the saying that curiosity killed the cat? That would be my fate one of these days. The emotion nagged at me enough to control my actions, and I placed my own hand in his awaiting one, letting the familiar warmth envelope around my skin. He led me out to where couples were dancing gracefully in the open air, not caring if some of them looked like bumbling fools out there. I easily spotted Lissa and Christian dancing together, the couple looking sweet. But I shook that sentimental thought away and returned my attention to Dimitri, who still hadn't answered my question. I was about to point out as such, even got so far as to start speaking before he beat me to the punch.

"I wanted to hear it from you," he said. Noting my confused look, he evaluated. "I know right now I probably don't have a right to this, but I wanted to hear it all from you, not from Lissa. I wanted to hear you tell me about your family, all the things you discovered, yourself, no one else."

I stared at him for a moment before laughing softly. "Are you sure you're up for that? It's all pretty complicated to explain. It's easier to show you than tell you."

"What do you mean?" he murmured, pulling me closer and slowly moved along to the music. We'd formed the traditional dancing position between two people without realizing it, and I followed his lead at the actual dancing, since I suck at it.

I sighed. It was now or never. "Before you ran-" he didn't bother contradicting me on this- "Lissa was going to ask you if you wanted to come with us. I was, but we both thought it was going to be easier if she did instead."

He was silent for so long that I didn't think he would even answer me at all. By that point a few songs had come and gone, and I was getting restless. Before I imploded, he spoke: "You...want me...to come with you to visit your family?" He sounded disbelieving.

I shrugged casually. "Sure. Plus I think there'd be some hefty benefits for coming too." I flashed him a smile, obviously saying without words that I wasn't going to tell him even if he got on his knees and begged me to. It'd be pretty damn tempting, but I still wouldn't. I just hope the surprise benefit would draw him in, since he loved and hated surprises just as much as me, and had enough curiosity as me.

He pondered this for a few more moments while we continued dancing. "Why would you want me to meet your family?"

I shrugged, meeting his troubled gaze. "Why wouldn't I?"

He had several answers to that, and each and every one of them flashed across his face. He didn't voice them, but they were there. After more inner turmoil, he caved. Sighing and shoulders slumping slightly, he nodded. "Okay."

I grinned. "Great! They'll love you."

Okay, not as long as the last one, but it was mostly a filler chapter, as probably the next one will be. For those of you that added my story to your favorites or alerts, thank you! Your awesome, especially to the one person who reviewed! If it's worth your time, I really would like to get more reviews if that's possible. If not, well, I at least hope you enjoy it. Feel free to ask anything if you're confused about the story, I'm open to answering those or hearing suggestions about it all.