Thanks for all the positive feedback. I think you'll like this chapter.
I don't, I don't, I don't own Vampire Academy.
Adrian POV
"Are you going to be alright talking about this?" I ask Rose as we sit outside the Queen's parlor waiting to debrief her on the initial raid and subsequent rescue mission. Everyone who was there is waiting with us. We've all given a report individually to the Head Court Guard, but my aunt wants to hear about it directly so she can ask questions. Rose hasn't talked about it with me yet, wanting to wait so everyone hears it together so she doesn't have to repeat herself and relive the memory over and over again. Conversely, she hasn't been told how the rescue mission came about or what all happened. This is going to be one long, draining afternoon.
"Yeah, I just want to get this over with so we can put it behind us and get on with our lives." she says as she rests her head on my shoulder. I move my arm so it is around her shoulders and pull her closer. I'm not sure I'm ready to hear all the gory details of what she went through, but I need to be strong for her. I look around the room at all the people that came together to help me get Rose home, and I'm so thankful they all surrvived. Knowing Rose, the guilt that someone died trying to save her would eat her alive.
"You all can go in now. The Queen will be right in." Celeste tells us. I look over to her and she gives me a smile and a wink as she looks over to Rose. Celeste isn't the type of Moroi to judge someone based on who they give their love to. She knows how much Rose means to me and wants me to be happy. I'm going to have to think of something nice to do for her since she helped me out so much. I grab Rose's hand and lead her into the parlor. We take a seat next to Lissa and Christian and wait some more for the Queen to arrive. Luckily we don't have to wait long as she strolls into the room followed by her guardians. The first thing she does when she walks in is make a beeline straight to Rose and hug her tight. The realization that they're actually friends still boggles my mind. The fact that they kept it a secret from me still irks me, but it's not worth fighting over so I don't mention it.
"I'm so glad you're back Rose." Aunt Tatiana says to Rose as she pulls away to look at her. Rose gives her a smile.
"Glad to be back. I'm sure this place would be going to hell in a handbasket without my awesome guidance." she laughs. Tatiana rolls her eyes with a laugh and they both sit back down. Rose starts the debriefing by talking about the raid, starting with knocking Dimitri out. Tatiana doesn't seem too pleased about what Rose did and Dimitri looks a bit embarrassed. Apparently Rose went against a direct order from the Queen when she kept him here. Only Rose could do that and not land herself in jail. She goes on telling us about finding the house and the tied up humans, fighting the Strigoi, the fire and seeing Guardian Conner being crushed by the ceiling. Tears are streaming down her face as she recounts how he pushed her toward the door, trying to get her out of the inferno. I look around the room and see all the women dabbing their eyes with hankies.
I give her hand a squeeze for comfort, knowing the worst is still to come. She tells about how she woke up tied to a chair and being dunked into a pool of ice water until she almost drowned. She talks about how Stephan told her was going to use her as a bloodwhore right before he fed off her. Anger starts growing inside me as I picture what Rose went through. She goes on to talk about waking up in a cell that she barely managed to escape from. That explains all the scrapes and cuts on her thighs, hips and butt. She mentions finding the payphone with the phone number that ultimately led us to her, getting on the roof, hiding on the side of the building and staking a Strigoi and watching him fall to the ground below. Finding that loose bar and using it as a stake is pretty ingenious. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to keep her from Stephan's clutches again. He used compulsion on her to get her back up to the roof. She looks over to me and tells me she wants to practice resisting compulsion. I never really thought about it, but she says she felt her walls go up to block him out, but she wasn't strong enough, yet. "That sounds like a good idea." I tell her.
Rose takes a deep breath before she goes on. I can tell what she's about to say I'm going to hate. A couple of Stephan's henchmen chained her to a wall where she was forced to stay awake. She mentions her watcher Bob, as she named him, and how she was able to get some sleep to contact me in exchange for her blood. Thinking about her letting some monster bite her like that sickens me. My whole body tenses up and I squeeze her hand so tight she yells at me. "Owe, that hurts!" she says while twisting her hand from my grip. I look to her, pissed that she so easily let him drink. "Don't you dare look at me like that Adrian! If I didn't do what I did, you wouldn't have found me so quickly. I would've been in a much worse state when and if you did find me. Don't. Judge. Me." she says through clenched teeth. I look in her eyes and see the hurt that I caused by reacting so badly to her method of negotiation. I suddenly feel like the biggest ass in the world. How could I make her feel like that when all she was trying to do was survive? My chest tightens up so much my heart aches as I look at her lovely face marred by betrayal. My betrayal.
"I'm sorry." I whisper as I take her hand back in mine and gently sooth it. "I just feel so helpless that I wasn't able to stop them from hurting you. It kills me that you went through this." Rose reaches over and wipes a tear from my cheek I didn't even know was there. She cups my my face wtih her hand and looks me in the eyes.
"Adrian, I'm a lot stronger than you think. I've been training hard for the last two years, getting hurt a lot worse than what they did to me. Remember? What they did was horrible, but I'm just getting started. I'm here now, safe and sound thanks to you and everyone here. No feeling guilty about something you couldn't control. I'm going to tell the rest of my story, and you're going to listen. No guilt." she says firmly. I nod and she looks around the room to everyone else listening intently. "No guilt." she repeats to the others. After affirming nods from the rest of the room, she continues. She was able to get to sleep just long enough to give me part of the phone number, only to be awakened by his lit cigarette to her leg. I use all my strength to not react to this information. This Bob guy kept her awake by hitting her, throwing water in her face, and even carving her flesh with his nails. Rose stands up and lifts her shirt, showing everyone her still healing wound shaped like a rose. I hear a collective gasp throughout the room. I don't think I'll be able to look at that rose scar without feeling sick to my stomach. We're definately going to have to talk about healing that away.
She tells us how Stephan came into her cell just in time to stop Bob from biting her again after tasting the blood dripping down her body, the sick bastard. Before she goes on, she takes my hand and rubs it softly, preparing me for what she's going to say next. "Stephan ordered me released from the shackles to be brought to his room so he could have his way with me." Oh god. I don't think I can listen to any more of this. I start to shake involuntarily, but she tightens her grip on my hand and tells us how she made a run for it when she saw the open door. Relief washes over me as she continues. She was in one of the hallways when Jake blasted all the windows. The broken glass did a lot of damage to her, especially her feet when she ran. She didn't know it was us when she left the safety of the sunlight. Unfortunately she ran right back into Stephan's arms. He dragged her down to the alcove we found them in and beat her after choking her into unconsciousness. She said she woke up just in time to feel him bite her neck and drink. That's when Dimitri and I came into the picture. Dimitri took over telling the story while I held Rose in my arms, comforting her.
When Tasha's contribution of lighting the two Strigoi up so that Rose could stake them came up, I heard Rose growl quietly. "What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Why was Tasha brought along? Did you all forget that she's pregnant?" she yells.
"Rose, I came along so I could bring my two guardians with me to help in the rescue. Lissa and I were left behind with a guardian and weren't supposed to be at the prison. But we couldn't sit idly by and not do anything, so we...convinced Guardian Arnold to take us to help. We love you, Rose, and knew we could help, and we did. So, no guilt. What's done is done." Tasha says firmly, throwing Rose's words back at her. Rose wasn't too happy about that, but kept quiet so Dimitri could finish.
He explained about how he and Guardian Smith went to help Eddie's group on the other side of the prison. Apparently, Jake and Mia were exhausted and couldn't do their magic anymore. Mia had exploded some toilets as a successful distraction. Clever. As a couple guardians brought the Moroi back to the cars, the others brought down the remaining five Strigoi fairly quickly. They were leaving the building, heading back to the rest of us when three Strigoi ran after them just as the sun was going down. Amy saw this and used her earth magic to create a large ditch behind the guardians that the Strigoi fell into. Before they could climb out, Christian and Tasha sent of blaze of fire down the hole, barbequing them. Amy then covered the hole back up and jumped in the car with the others and rode back to the hotel. Man, I kinda wish I was awake to see that. Sounds cool.
"Were all the Strigoi that were at the prison destroyed?" Tatiana asks. I have no idea and as I look around the room, no one else does either. "So, I assume no alchemists were called for clean up duty." Dimitri answered her this time letting her know that none were called. "Well then, I will require a team to go back and make sure Stephan is actually dead. Guardian Belikov, I put you in charge since you know the location his body was last seen. Bring Adrian's new guardian, Guardian Gates, along with you and four others of your choosing." Rose looks over at me rather confused.
"Your new guardian? There are three of us now?" She asks.
"No, I had to remove you from my service and replace you so that I had two guardians with me to find you." A look of understanding crosses her face as she looks over to Gates. The Queen dismisses us and we all walk out.
"Rose, you're coming over for dinner, right?" I ask her. I'm planning a special meal to celebrate her return to me. I've missed her so much and she was only gone a few days. I'm a little nervous because I want to discuss something important with her and I'm not sure how she'll react.
"Of course I'm coming over to your place tonight. I don't plan on leaving until morning either." she says with a wink. I think my temperature just shot up a thousand degrees from the heat my body is producing just thinking about what we could do together all night. I walk her to her door, kiss her softly, leaving her wanting more, and head back to my place to get ready for tonight. I want everything to be perfect for her since she's been through so much. I have dinner being delivered and the cleaning lady came by when we were in the meeting with the Queen. I jump in the shower to get ready for the night and dress in the outfit Rose bought me last Christmas. I run around the apartment putting candles and flowers around to create a romantic atmosphere. Now that everything is set, I wait. I try to sit on the couch and watch tv, but I'm so anxious to see her, I can't sit still. I keep glancing at the door, hoping she'll be knocking any second. Finally, there's a knock on the door, but I know it's not her from the bond. It's the caterer with the food. We put it away and I resume waiting. The feeling in my gut starts to get stronger and I know she's on her way. I'm so nervous, I'm starting to sweat. If everything goes as planned tonight, this will be a night I'll remember forever.
A knock on the door starts my heart racing knowing she's here. I open the door and about have a heart attack. She. Looks. Amazing. I try to say something, but I think I swallowed my tongue. I feel a little dizzy when all the blood rushes from my head to my nether regions. The dress is a beautiful lavender with a rouged bust and beaded halter straps that form a V at the bust, and the silky material goes all the way to the floor. The way it lays on her body is...WOW! (A/N dress on profile) She let her hair down and just a hint of makeup on, not that she needs it. I wouldn't doubt that I'm drooling as I stare at her. Rose's laughter brings me back to reality as I move out of the way for her to come in. When I see the back of her dress, or rather lack of one, I close my eyes and grip the door tight to keep myself from attacking her right there. The straps criss cross at the back between the shoulder blades and the lower back is totally open, right down to her tail bone. The thought that she is most likely going commando in that dress is causing me to hyperventilate. Breath in. Breath out. What is she trying to do to me?
"Adrian, are you alright?" she asks concerned. I can't look at her yet, so I squeeze my eyes tight as I try to answer her.
"Umm, no. Just give me a minute." I tell her as I try to think of something to bring myself down. Let's see, my grandmother sunbathing by the pool naked. Okay, that's working. My heart beat is coming down to normal, I can breath now, and the tightness in my pants is disappearing. Oh, thank god. I slowly open my eyes to see her amused face smiling back at me. I focus on her face, not ready to see that dress again fearing another reaction.
"I take it you like the dress." she asks. Well, duh.
"Actually, I like you in that dress. I just wish you could've given me a warning though, you almost killed me." I tease. She steps closer to me and touches my arm and gently runs her hand up to my shoulder, then to my neck and pulls me down and presses her sweet lips to mine. I have to push her away before my entire body goes into a thermo nuclear meltdown. I grip her shoulders tight while I rest my forehead to hers and try to catch my breath. "Unless you want to spend the rest of the night, morning and most of the afternoon in bed, I suggest we calm down and keep the contact to a minimum until later. My resistance to take you right now is waning." She looks a little disappointed, but steps back, giving me some space.
I walk her over to the table and pull out her chair for her. I bring out the food, steak and baked potatos, and champaigne and we begin to eat. Rose asks more questions about the how we organized the rescue mission and how the council meeting went. She isn't very happy at how easily her life was dismissed by the council. Yeah, it pissed me off too. We get to dessert, strawberry shortcake, and she brings up the conversation I was kinda hoping to avoid. "So, when am I getting reinstated as your guardian?" she asks while taking a bite. I put down my fork and take a deep breath.
"Well, I've been thinking that I don't want you to be assigned as my guardian." The look of shock on her face as she stops chewing and just stares at me is causing my stomach to ache. After a few moments of silence, she swallows and wipes her mouth with her napkin, never averting her gaze from me. Her silences are sometimes scarier than her rants.
"You don't want me to be your guardian anymore?" she asks. I gather up all my courage and shake my head no. I can see the anger boiling up inside her as she glares at me. "You think because of what happened, I can't protect you anymore?" she yells. Oh god, she's pissed. I just hope she'll calm down enough for me to explain.
"Of course I know you can protect me. It's just..."
"You think I'm weak now. I saw how you looked at me today when I told how I let that Strigoi drink from me. You think I'm a bloodwhore now, don't you?" Her body is trembling while she's yelling. How could she think I would feel that way?
"What? Are you serious? Do you really think I would think that of you? Do you not know me at all?" I yell right back, getting pissed right back at her. Both of us are breathing heavy as the anger is building up between us.
"What else am I supposed to think when you tell me you don't want me anymore?" she fumes.
"I don't want you anymore? That's the stupidest thing you've ever said!"
"Oh, so I'm stupid now? You don't want a stupid guardian?" Oh my god. Her logic is driving me insane. I grab my hair and pull in frustration as I let out a gutteral scream.
"Aagh! You're not stupid. That's not why I don't want you as my guardian." I scream. The entire Court can probably hear us yelling at each other.
"Then what's the reason? Huh?" she screams back with her hands in the air.
"Because I love you and I want you to be my wife." I yell at the top of my lungs. She looks at me stunned. She slowly lowers her arms back to her sides as her jaw practically drops to the floor as what I just told her sinks in. I take a moment to get my breathing back under control before I walk up to her, pull a little black box from my pocket, take her hand in mine and get down on one knee. "Rose, when you were away from me those few days, I felt incomplete, like a very important part of me was missing. Then when I had you in my arms again, I felt whole again. I felt alive again, and I realized that you truely are my other half. All I want to do is make you happy and safe, just like you make me feel. I don't want to spend another day apart from you. Rose, I've been waiting since the day I met you to ask you this question. Will you make me the happiest man on this planet and marry me?" I open the box and show her the emerald and diamond engagement ring Guardian Conner told me she was admiring on that shopping trip to the mall. She isn't saying anything as she stares open mouthed at the ring. I'm starting to get nervous that she's trying to figure out a nice way to let me down. I see a tear fall down her cheek as she moves her gaze from the ring to me. My heart is pounding away in my chest as I wait for her answer. Finally after what seems like forever, a smile pulls at her lips and she kneels down in front of me. She puts her hands around to the back of my neck and pulls me in for the most mind blowing kiss of my life.
She pulls away but still doesn't say anything, just looks into my eyes. "Is that a yes?" I ask a little hoarse as I recover from that kiss. She shakes her head no while her smile gets wider, confusing me.
"No." she says and my heart drops. "It's a HELL YES I'll be your wife!" she exclaims. She said yes! She said yes! I'm so excited I pull her to me and hold her tight as what she said goes round and round in my mind. I pull back and slip the ring on her finger. It's a perfect fit. Rose stares down a the ring on her finger and then back up to me. "How did you know I secretly hoped you'd give me this ring?"
"Well, I saw you and Conner looking at the rings and asked him when we got back if there was one that you liked. He told me about this one and I called the store and had it delivered the next day. I was just waiting for the perfect moment to give it to you." I stand up and pull her up with me.
"Thank you. It's so beautiful. It reminds me of you, your eyes." she whispers with tears on her cheeks. I wipe them away and tenderly kiss her lips.
"Thank you for agreeing to be my wife." I say against her mouth. She reclaims my lips and deepens the kiss. My hands start to rub the bare exposed skin on her back and things start to heat up quickly. I pick her up bridal style, never breaking contact with her mouth, and walk to the bedroom. "I think we need to celebrate. What do you say Mrs. Ivashkov to be?" I breath. She frantically nods her head and she presses her lips to mine again. I kick the door open and lay her down on the bed. "I love you, Rose." I say as I hover over her.
"I love you, too Adrian."
Okay, I think they need a little private time now. How did you like the proposal? I thought it was typical of their relationship. Tell me what you thought by reviewing. Thanks for reading.