The week passed by quickly enough, most of my time spent with Lissa and her ordering everyone around to make everything perfect for our departure. She addressed the Queen unnecessarily for one of the private jets the Court provided when needed, and not even two minutes later she was walking out of there with an odd look on her face.

I saw little of Dimitri, but I let him be (for the most part anyway, there still were times when I bugged him incontrollably) and he didn't say much. I guess he was trying to wrap his head around this, or just preparing himself for something he didn't think he was ready for. Of course, if he wasn't ready I wouldn't have asked him, and I had a nice surprise waiting for him anyway once there.

On the morning of our departure, I found myself heading to Tatiana's lair, hands stuffed in my pockets as I walked. I hadn't yet changed for leaving, so I was still in my jeans from yesterday and a red tank top. My hair was pulled up into a sloppy bun and for the most part it stayed out of the way. The guards there recognized me and let me pass without a problem, so I pushed open the broad doors to find Tatiana sitting down and discussing something political with another Moroi that I hadn't seen before. They both glanced up at my unannounced approach, but Tatiana acted as if it were normal- which it really was. The mystery guy on the other hand stared like I was a filthy piece of scum and couldn't believe that I'd dare to interrupt them. I raised a dangerous eyebrow at him, causing him to quickly look away. Smart enough to see the threat, fortunately. For both of us.

I collapsed into one of the plush couched, sprawling across it and letting myself doze. I hadn't slept that well last night due to Lissa constantly calling me for extra details and my own worry about Dimitri since he'd been even more reclusive than ever yesterday. So as you can imagine I was about ready to strangle them both if they didn't stop. But before I knew it, I was starting awake by the sound of a door closing. Sitting up, I looked around to see that puny Moroi gone and Tatiana giving me an amused look. "What?" I asked somewhat defensively.

"Do you make it a personal habit to scare away all of my guests?" she asked instead of answering me.

I shrugged. "No. I just have good timing."

She rolled her eyes at me, all of her stupid Queenly facades gone now behind closed doors. I noticed also that the guards that would normally be in here 24/7 had vacaded the area. True, the Queen was safer with me that with a fleet of elite guardians, but I was still a little surprised. Over the past year and a half, Tatiana had dropped all of her hate for me and had instead turned into a valuable ally. She was almost like an aunt to me, since she and my uncle (another high power that I will get to later) were close. Note: were close. Once upon a time, they had actually been a couple until they'd both taken over ruling two very different species and all. One reason why Tatiana had never married and the same reason why my uncle had never married.

"I know you hate tea, so coffee?"

"Sure," I said, flashing her a grin. I didn't hate tea per se. It's just that the only tea I even liked was my grandmother's tea. I don't know what she did to it, but it was possibly the best edible liquid on this planet that I've ever had.

"Just to warn you, I'm having another visitor in half an hour."

My grin returned and broaded. "How easy to scare away?"

She gave me a secretive look. "With you? Impossible, my bet."

I frowned, but let it go. There was only a small handful of people that I couldn't scare away, and any of them here...?

Tatiana called for drinks, and moments later they appeared, hot and ready. She blew daintily on hers while I just drank mine right off the bat. Half of it was gone by the time she spoke. "How's college going for you in Germany?"

Finally, something we can talk about.

The next half hour passed quickly enough for both of us, and before I knew it there was a knock on the door, signalling this mystery person's arrival. Tatiana called for them to come in, and I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. The aftershave hit me before I had the chance to.

Okay, sucky place to end the chapter, but I'm going blindly here, so help me out. And before I go any further, I should apologize for the late upload. And the crappy upload on top of that. Shoot me, please. Anyway, how do you think I captured Rose? I'm going off the charts for Lissa, I know, since she wouldn't actually be like that, but I'm not sure how I handled Rose. Or Dimitri. Don't even get me started on Tatiana. I pretty much just manipulated her whole role in the books. On top of that, I don't think Rose even likes coffee, but it was the best thing I could think of off the top of my head. But, if you lovelies would be kind enough to review for me it would be greatly appreciated! You have no idea how much it helps for people to review on this story. Since you can't vote on this, reviews are all I've got. So help a fellow fanfictionier? Again, so incredibly sorry for the sucky chapter! I'll try to make the next one longer, better, and well...yeah.