A/N And I'm back again. What's going to happen? Only I know. Mwahahahaha! I have recently discovered Kpop, and cannot get SHINee out of my head. I blame my friend who introduced them to me…

Why I'm telling you this, I have no idea…

Disclaimer: I'm not Richelle Mead. If I was, I'd presumably have enough money to stalk my favourite bands. As I don't, I'm not her, so I DO NOT own Vampire Academy! *Sob*

We traipsed out of the building, our Guardian formation still holding, as we headed to one of the fancier buildings. All the buildings in the Court were ornate and beautiful, but seeing as this was the queen's…palace, if you will, well, it was even more beautiful. I was told that the previous queen, Tatiana, had been just as much of a bitch as Yelena, but I wasn't sure anyone could be. Plus, Tatiana was murdered, and I don't like to speak ill of the dead. They could come back and haunt me…

Her building was a three storey, made out of some kind of grey stone, and trimmed with what looked like slate. The roof was pointed in a gothic style, and had little towers, and mullioned windows. It was pretty similar to a lot of the castles back home, except you could kind of tell this was a reproduction-the lines were too precise. It was lovely, apart from the gargoyles stationed on the roof that stared down creepily, their grotesque faces twisted into horrific expressions. These ones were particularly gruesome, but then, they are meant to ward off evil. Being the queen meant you were targeted by Strigoi a lot, so I guess the architect had decided that the monarch would need as much protection as they could get.

Nobody else seemed to be staring at the Court buildings as much as me. Huh. I guess they're all used to it, living here. Hopefully I wouldn't become like that-immune to everything but my Moroi, as all the other Guardians seemed to be. I trudged along, trying to stay alert, but my long plane ride was catching up with me, and I was very tired. I would be awake enough to question that bitch of a queen, though. I'd make sure. We (well, Lissa) pressed the intercom button, and waited for the response. Lissa dealt with the questions, while we Guardians stood there looking tough. Christian and Adrian looked faintly amused by this. The doors opened, and we were greeted by two massive Guardians, both men, with bulging muscles bigger than me. They looked almost identical in looks, scarily so. Their eyebrows raised in unison, and we took that as an invitation to come in.

We walked in, and were immediately assaulted by a wave of redness. Now I like red, but this was too much. The room was overly perfumed, stifling, and we were only in the hallway! The room looked like a cross between a boudoir and an opium den. I was terrified to see what her actual receiving room looked like. I'd assumed she was just a cold-ass bitch, not that she was running a brothel. That was the kind of information I didn't need to know. Adrian sidled up to me. "Is it your first time in here?" I nodded, my eyes huge and glassy. He gave me a sympathetic look. "It's kind of frightening, the first time. Prepare yourself." I nodded again, expecting to walk in on an orgy or something similar.

We didn't walk in on an orgy, but it may has well have been. The huge, double doors were viciously thrown open by Creepy Twins, and this time, I was hit with a wave of purpled-redness. The room, which was large, and could have been beautiful if the light was let in, was covered with damasked red and purple wallpaper, and chaise longues were dotted around the room. On top of these lay men and women, all in varying stages of undress, all around their mid twenties, like me. They all looked woozy and unfocused, and the stench of blood and sweat was thick, beneath the vast amounts of incense. I wrinkled my nose. Ew. Queen Yelena has a bunch of blood whores? The idea was disgusting, but the proof was right in front of me. And she had the audacity to accuse me of leading Alex on? Adrian caught my eye and mouthed "I told you so."

I attempted to find Yelena, but it was impossible through the smoky haze of the incense one girl had just lit. However, everyone else had moved purposely forward, and I followed, trying not to inhale the incense smoke. I failed, and started to choke, earning a confused look from one of the men. Suddenly, the smoke cleared, and I was at the far side of the room, where Yelena sat, a pale, dark haired man kneeling at her feet, staring adoringly up at her. I could see why. I might not like her, but I couldn't deny that Yelena was beautiful. Her rich, dark hair was almost black and contrasted well with her fair skin. Her cheekbones were slanted becomingly across her face, and her huge grey-blue eyes drew you to her. If her lips were just a bit to thin, and her jawline a little weak, you didn't notice because of her commanding presence.

She stood up, smoothed down her silky black skirt, and wiped the blood from her chin on the back of her hand. Ew. At her full height, she dwarfed most women, me especially, and she had the slim figure coveted by most of the media brainwashed women. "Lissa!" She exclaimed. "What a wonderful surprise!"

Lissa gave a courteous nod, and returned the embrace Yelena thrust upon her, kissing both cheeks delicately. "Yes, it's lovely to see you too. We're here because my new Guardian came, and well, you seem to have forgotten to tell us a few things about her. I'm sure it's nothing that can't be sorted out easily enough, and I know you didn't do it deliberately." She was good. I could never be that polite. I was really tempted to wave at Yelena, but then the guy she'd just sucked on gave me a questioning glance, and I suddenly felt the need dissipate. Oh god, this is just too weird.

Yelena ignored that comment when she spotted Adrian. "Adrian!" She said enthusiastically. "My darling cousin! How are you?"

Adrian looked as if he wanted to laugh hysterically and run from the room at the same time. "I've been good, cousin. Uh, I'm only here to accompany Lissa though, so you might want to answer her questions first." A flash of irritation crossed Yelena's face, but she covered it, and swept out a hand.

"Well, of course. Anything for you, my dear." I didn't miss how she completely ignored Christian, who, being an Ozera, was royal too. I looked at him, and saw the undisguised anger on his face. He didn't like the queen either. I looked at the Rose. She didn't seem too worried, but the faintest expression of unease was on her face. Eddie and Dimitri just looked stoic, as a good Guardian should. "What is it you want to know?"

Lissa smiled. "Well, how come you forgot to mention Zanna's psychic abilities? They seem quite important. Plus, I thought it was agreed that we wouldn't take someone who was happy where they were. And seeing as she almost collapsed from a premonition, I would have liked to have been warned." She allowed the slightest amount of reproach in her voice at this point. Nothing that could be pinpointed, but it could make you feel a little guilty. Was she using compulsion?

Yelena gave a tinkling laugh at this. "Oh, I am sorry! I thought I mentioned it. Well, it doesn't matter, she's here now, and you know. And I wanted you to have the best Guardian I could find. She might be a bit of a slut, what with the way she's carrying on with her Moroi, but there's no denying she's good at what she does." She gave me a malicious grin at that. I was so angry, I could feel myself ready to leap at her, to smack that stupid grin off her face, but I couldn't move. I looked at Lissa and Adrian, both concentrating on me. I was under compulsion. Great. Rose looked at me, her eyes pleading with me frantically not to carry on. I rolled my eyes, and attempted to give a nod. I was released, and Lissa spoke again.

She gave a shocked, breathless little giggle. "Your majesty, I wouldn't call her a slut! She seems perfectly nice to me. Please don't insult her. I know you would never give me a Guardian you didn't think the best of. That would be an insult to me." Touche Lissa, touché. That was clever-if the queen said anything else horrible about me, she was admitting she'd given Lissa a Guardian she didn't trust. How I hated Court politics. I liked how Lissa was manipulating the queen, though. That was fun.

Yelena's eyes tightened, showing the very fine lines around her eyes that belied her age. "Of course not. I would never use a sub-standard Guardian to protect a Dragomir, especially not when you're pregnant." I almost growled. Guardians are not objects! And she calls me a slut, when she has millions of blood whores just lying about! This time, however, I kept my poker face on, earning a respectful grin from Rose.

Lissa smiled again. "Well, I'm glad that's sorted. I'm happy you didn't mean to hide things from me! It was just a bit of a worry, Zanna falling like that."

The queen snorted. "She should have better manners than that. Really, Lissa, you're too kind. Well, I guess you're off. Are you sure you won't have a taste of him first?" She asked, indicating the lovesick boy at her feet. In Moroi society, this was obscene, being so open about the feeders, but Yelena didn't seem to care. Power appears to have gone to her head.

Lissa shook her head a little too fast. "Uh, no. I, uh, already fed today. Goodbye, your majesty." She curtseyed, and we followed her example. Turning together, we practically legged it out of the place, and I could have sworn I head Yelena cackling at this. Once at the doors, the two massive Guardians opened the official entrance out, in an ominous silence. We got out, and started to move quietly across the Court. Once we were far enough away, I started retching.

"Oh my god! That place is freaky!" I gasped. "How is she allowed to get away with it, the bitch?"

Adrian tried to control his chuckles, but in the end started to guffaw, bent over with his hands on his knees. "Oh, god. You should have seen your face! That was hilarious! I did warn you."

Rose giggled, and pretty soon, everyone was at it, even Eddie. I tried to look offended. "Hello, I'm allowed to be angry. She insulted me in front of everybody! But, dear god, that room. Oh, the images!" I clutched my head, and that sent everyone into a fresh set of hysterics. "I mean, what does she do in there?"

Christian shuddered. "I don't think I want to know, actually."

We all agreed. "No, not really." I told him, then started cringing again. The images!

"Come on, guys." Said Lissa. "let's go to that café, the one that Mia's dad used to work at." She turned to me. "Mia's a friend of ours. You'll like her." I decided not to mention I already kind of knew who she was, from their psychic readings.

I gave a smirk. "Fine with me. As long as they have caffeine. I don't think I'm going to want to sleep tonight…" They smirked back, and we walked on, sniggering about the queen's taste in men. That boy had been kind of girly looking…

A/N There we go! What d'you think? Please review! I kind of feel guilty, using the name Yelena for such a horrible character, because my Russian Conversation teacher's called Elena and she's really nice. I take Russian at College, by the way. I could have had a pen friend called Dimitri, but nooooo, my friend got in there first! And she doesn't even like Vampire Academy…

Shout outs to: Abbie, my anonymous reviewer

talkygirl

bella roza913

MaggieChauvin

And, of course, Candigal.

Thanks for the support, guys!