Chapter 18

Rose's POV

I didn't sleep much that night. I woke up at least three times before I finally gave up an sleep. I had to make a plan to keep Adrian away from Dimitri. Lets face it; Dimitri could kill Adrian in less than a minute (but I would never tell Adrian that).

In the middle of the night, I could come up with a lot of ideas, but I had to rule out the ones that included me staying here (I had class) and the ones that included hurting of tying up Adrian (wasn't the point so Adrian didn't get hurt?), which didn't leave me with many options.

I finally settled for the easy option. I called Eddie to guard the door before his classes started (he had a study hall first period), and I'd locked the door just in case he had to leave. Several other novices would guard the door at different times of the day. I grabbed his keys and stuffed them in my packet. I kissed Adrian on the forehead, and slipped out into the hallway.

It wasn't much, but it was the best I could do at the moment.

* * *

Adrian's POV

Rose had planned on me trying to leave the room this morning. I quickly grabbed my spare key from under my mattress and unlocked the door to find Eddie stationed in the hallway.

"Hey Ed." He was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He was holding a tattered book, as if he had read it a hundred times.

"Adrian." He nodded.

I leaned against the doorframe. "So Eddie, Rose called you this morning?" I asked.

"Ummm…" He paused. "Yeah." He looked uncomfortable. "You see, the thing is… I'm not allowed to let you leave."

"Alright." I would wait until he had to go to class. You might wonder why I wasn't worried about that Guardian Belikov really hurting me… well he couldn't. I'm the queen's favorite nephew, and if he wants to keep his job, he won't hurt me.

I soon heard Eddie leaving the door, and I knew I had about five minutes. I grabbed my keys so I could get back in and I walked out the door.

I found him in one of the practice rooms.

He turned to face me, and grimaced. "Lord Ivashkov." He said.

"How dare you kiss her." I said, glaring at him. He was a couple inches taller than me, and I knew, if he tried to take the offense, I would stand no chance against him. "You didn't hear the news?" I asked. "We're getting married."

But he didn't try to defend himself as I punched him in the face. I could see the anger boiling inside him, his hands balled into fists, as if he was about to punch me back, but he was trying not to let that anger come out.

"Stop!" Someone screamed, and I turned. Rose stood in the door, gasping for breath. Her dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, which was swinging behind her. The look on her face was one of extreme worry, and she had a panicked look in her eyes. Her eyes swept the room, from me, to Dimitri, to Dimitri's fists clenched at his sides.

That's when I felt his fist connect with my jaw. The pain spread through me and I heard Rose gasp.

* * *

ROSE POV (sorry for the switching so much)

"Rose!" Another novice called to me. "He's gone!"

"Damn." I sprinted towards the gym, where I knew Dimitri spent most of his days. "How dare you kiss her." I recognized Adrian's voice. "You didn't hear the news? We're getting married."

Adrian! Don't! I wanted to scream.

"Stop!" I screamed, stopping at the door. I was gasping for breath. But I could only watch as Dimitri punch Adrian in the jaw. Adrian tried to defend himself, but he'd never fought a day in his life, so it wasn't the best attempt I'd ever seen. Dimitri managed to pull Adrian down to the floor before I could get to them.

I ran over and pulled Adrian out of the way. Dimitri was really angry, and I started fighting him. I landed a few good kicks, and a couple punches, before I pulled him down, as he had with Adrian. He struggled to get up. "Do you know how much trouble that will get you in Dimitri? You injured a royal Moroi!" I looked down at him, and saw the lust in his eyes. "Dimitri. I love Adrian. We were never going to work out anyway." I punched him in the jaw one more time, to enforce my point, before getting up to go over to Adrian. "Are you alright?" I asked, searching for any signs of damage.

"I'm fine." He assured me, rubbing at his jaw where Dimitri had punched him. "I'll be a little sore, but I'll be fine.

"You have to listen to me more often." I told him, glaring back towards Dimitri, who was still laying on the ground looking up at the ceiling, probably lost in thought. He had a hard expression on his face. Adrian's arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me along, and we walked out of the room together. I almost wanted to go and lay next to Dimitri. Almost.

Adrian and I passed through the small crowd that had gathered at my screaming for them to stop. This really wouldn't help the rumors.

Lissa caught up with us as I was walking with Adrian back to our room. "Oh my god." She said. "He didn't k-kill you?" She was staring at Adrian in disbelief.

"No, he didn't. Luckily." I said.

"Hey!" Adrian said. "I put up a pretty good fight."

"Sure you did baby." I said, rubbing his arm and kissing him on his cheek.

"I did!"

"I never said you didn't, Adrian." I grinned, and we all walked back to the guest housing.