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Vampire Academy is not owned by me. Richelle Mead has that honor.
Rose POV
Oh my freakin' god. My head feels like it has literally split open. So much so I reach up and feel the top of my head to make sure it's still intact. It is. My eyes hurt and I haven't even opened them yet. My mouth feels like it's full of cotton and my throat hurts. I must've gotten sick in the middle of the night. I sure hope I made it to the toilet. That would be so embarrassing. God, even my teeth and hair hurt. I don't know how Adrian ever did this more than once. Even though my body just wants to lie here in my bed, well I hope it's my bed, I have to use the bathroom, bad. As I raise my head to get out of bed, the throbbing starts and I cry out in pain. Oh dear god, please make the pain go away. Okay, sitting up is not going to happen, but I still need to pee. Think, Rose, no matter how much it hurts your brain right now, think. I got it! I'll roll out of bed and crawl to the bathroom. I'm a genius.
I take a deep breath and roll over and land on the floor with a thud. "Son of a bitch!" I yell into the carpet. Well, at least I'm out of bed. I try to push myself up to a push up position, but I can only get as far as my elbows. At least that's something. Laying on the floor is putting more pressure on my bladder, so I better hurry before I have an accident. Can you imagine trying to explain that one to the carpet cleaners? Too bad I don't have a dog to blame it on. I manage to drag myself on my elbows to the bathroom, although it takes me like ten minutes. "Woo hoo! I did it!" I celebrate at the foot of the bowl. Come on muscles, do your thing. I pull myself up and sit down. I'm exhausted now.
After I finish, I'm better able to stand up and stumble to the sink to wash my hands and brush my teeth. When I rinse, the water taste so good and my thirst burns in my throat. I don't have a glass, so I do the next best thing and stick my face under the running faucet, gulping as much cool water as I can. When I get my fill, I stand up straight and cringe when I catch my reflection in the mirror. Oh the horror. I grab the washcloth next to the sink and scrub all the smudged make up off my face. At least I look half human again, cause, you know, I'm only half human. Whatever. Hey, how did I get my pj's on? I put my mess of hair in a pony tail in case my absent boyfriend ever decides to show up to see if I survived the night. You would think that after everything I've done for him when he was like this, he'd be here. I admit, I'm a little hurt that he isn't here taking care of me. Selfish asshole. All the energy I spent just getting to the bathroom is taking its toll and I just want to go back to bed and sleep for the rest of the day. As I walk back to flop on the bed, my foot catches on something and I fall flat on my face, again. I try to get up but give up and figure the floor really isn't that uncomfortable after all. It doesn't take long for sleep to overtake me.
I roll over and discover that I'm no longer on the floor, but back in my bed. I feel the side in hopes that my favorite warm body is occupying it, only to be disappointed. Where the hell is he? Did I do something last night that upset him? I rack my brain to figure out what the hell went on last night to find the answer. Let's see, I remember getting Emily drunk with tequilla, filming her dancing with the guys, watching her make out with Eddie. Oh god, Eddie. He is so going to kill me for that. Hmm, what else? I remember dancing with my friends and I think Adrian was there, but it's so fuzzy. He better not be mad at me for something I did when I was drunk. I have no idea who brought me home and changed me out of my clothes, though. I should probably call him. I look over to my night stand but I don't see my phone. It's probably still in my pants pocket. That means I have to get out of bed. I sit up and my head still hurts, but not as bad as before. I see my clothes on the floor and I search through my pockets for my phone. Ah ha! Found it. I sit on the floor and dial Adrians number. One ringy-dingy. Two ringy-dingy. Voicemail. Great, I can't believe he's ignoring me. What the hell did I do? I can feel the tears starting to well in my eyes, but I refuse to cry for someone who doesn't even have the decency to tell me what I did wrong.
Well, I guess I'm just going to have to take care of myself. I get myself off the floor and head to the shower. I didn't realize how much I stunk before I got cleaned up. After getting dressed into some comfortable clothes, I decide I need some coffee and fresh air. Putting on my sunglasses, because the light is still hurting my head, I take myself down to the cafe Mia works at. I wonder how she faired last night? To my surprise, she's working today. Were Emily and I the only ones to get hammered last night? Speaking of Emily, her birthday dinner is tonight. I hope Christian was able to work his magic with the footage I gave him. I so want to be there when they play it for her. She was pretty fun, though, last night. I can deal with a drunk Emily, it's the sober one I want to pummel.
"Hey Mia. Can I have a black coffee please?" She smiles at me and fills my order, all while looking perky and perfect. Bitch. "How is it you can get drunk last night and look like nothing happened this morning?" What is her secret?
"For one thing, I didn't get as drunk as you. And two, it isn't the morning anymore. It's the afternoon. Are you just waking up?" That would explain a lot.
"Yeah, kind of. Have you seen Adrian around? He isn't answering my calls." She shrugs her shoulders and hands me my cup. There's a line behind me so I can't stay and chit chat, so I pay and go take a walk in the Court park. I find a quiet bench and sit and people watch. I start thinking about Stephan and what I'm going to do. I know he's going to be harder to fight next time I see him, so I need to step up my training, if that's possible. Adrian isn't going to understand, but I can't tell him what's going on. I don't want him worrying about me any more than he already does.
"Glad to see you're finally up." I look over my shoulder and see Adrian leaning against the back of the bench, looking straight ahead.
"Glad to see you finally decided to see if I was still alive." I say in the same dry tone he used on me. I'm still annoyed he ignored me all day. I take another sip of my coffee and pretend to examine my nails. He comes around the bench and takes the seat next to me.
"Who do you think carried you home last night? Who do you think dressed you in your night clothes? Who do you think picked you up off the floor and put you back in bed?" he asks, sounding irritated.
"Thank you for taking me home and getting me dressed. But why didn't you stick around to make sure I was okay? It took me twenty minutes to just visit the bathroom this morning. I could've used some help, but I was all alone. I never just left you alone like that, even if we were fighting. Are we fighting?" I still don't remember much from last night. Hopefully he has some answers. He doesn't say anything for a few minutes. Yep, we're fighting. I just wish I knew why.
"Who's Stephan?" he asks with a bit of a scowl on his face. I choke on the coffee I just swallowed, surprised at the question. Oh shit! Please don't tell me I had diarhea of the mouth and let it slip about him. I cough as I try to dry the front of my shirt off as I look at him for any clue that he already knows the answer to that question. How much did I reveal last night?
"Who?" Maybe if I play dumb, he'll drop it. By the look he's giving me right now, that's not going to happen.
"You know who, Rose. Just answer the question." He sounds like he's loosing his patience, so I guess I better come clean.
"A Strigoi who's trying to kill you." Since I have no idea what I told him last night, I'll just give him short and simple answers.
"And why is he trying to kill me?"
"Because he's a nut job, that's why. Don't worry, he'll never lay a finger on you as long as I'm alive." There's no way I'm going to tell him that I plan on hunting him down and killing him first. He'll never let me out of his sight. Well, I used to think so, but this morning taught me otherwise.
"How come this is the first I'm hearing of this? Don't you think I should have been told?" he's getting angry now. I try to do what I think is best for him and now he's giving me hell for it.
"What would you have done about it? If you knew there was a revenge seeking Strigoi out to kill you, what would you've done that Guardian Smith and I weren't already doing? I didn't want you to be living in fear." I cross my arms over my chest and look out at the horizon and wait for his reply. He doesn't say anything for quite a while.
"Is Stephan the reason you've been killing yourself in training?" I look over at him, astonished he'd ask such a question.
"Of course. I'd do anything to keep you alive and with me." To me it's worth every broken bone and bruise I get if it means I can keep him safe.
"Last night you said we always die together. How many times has this happened?" he seems more curious than mad now.
"I don't know. He told me he can always find us through me, because there aren't too many Ivashkov Lords with pretty badass female guardians. Personally, I think he's just nuts, but he's also deadly."
"Wait, you spoke to him? And you both just walked away?" he asks like it was the most impossible thing in the world. He's getting worked up again. Man, his moods are swinging like monkeys in a tree.
"Oh sure, we sat down and had a nice little chat over tea and cookies last week." I roll my eyes. "And for your information, I almost killed him. I just missed his heart." I say looking down. I don't think I'll ever get over that stupid mistake.
"So is this the big secret you've been keeping from me, or is there more?" Okay, he is really getting on my nerves right now.
"No, that's pretty much it. Now you know. I'm sorry I said anything. If you'll excuse me, I'm not feeling well." I stand up and throw my empty cup in the trash can and walk away leaving him sitting on the bench deep in thought. My chest tightens up when I notice he doesn't say anything to me but let's me walk away. I swallow the lump in my throat, fighting to keep the tears at bay. I did the right thing trying to keep this secret from him and I won't feel guilty about it. I do feel bad I let it slip. I feel something on my cheek and I wipe away the traitorous tear. I figure I have two choices right now, I can go home and cry or I can go to the gym and beat the crap out of stuff. Option two sounds good right now. I go home and take some aspirin for my headache and change my clothes. I haven't eaten anything all day, so I also grab a power bar to eat as I walk.
On my way, I open up the bond and pull all the darkness out of Lissa to help fuel my workout. When I get there, the gym is practically empty. I head straight for the punching bags and go to town. I make sure I have my gloves on, not wanting to damage my knuckles like the last time I took my anger out on the bags. I hit and punch and kick and jab at the bags so long that I see the sun coming up. I take a look at the clock to see that I've been here for five hours now.
I grab my water bottle and eagerly drink it dry while heading back to my room. He never even came looking for me. I didn't realize keeping this secret from him would hurt him so bad. I thought I was doing the right think by protecting him. I guess I was wrong. Just as I get to my door, one of the Queen's guardians comes up to me. "The Queen requests to see you right now." he tells me. I nod and follow him, wondering if she's going to bitch me out for telling Adrian. We get to her parlor and I see Conner and Dimitri and the other guardians she assigned to my group when we go after Stephan.
"We found his hide out Guardian Hathaway. You leave here in one hour." she tells me.
I wonder where Adrian was all day and why he didn't go after Rose? We'll find out next chapter. It's getting pretty exciting, no? Thanks for reading and don't forget to review.