Christian POV
After Rose and Tasha had made plans to visit the Royal Court me and her were stuck in the house together since Tasha had gone out shopping. I could tell how uncomfortable Rose was to be around me. Rose didn't look at me; she just walked right past me and ran upstairs to her bedroom.
I couldn't decide if I should go and talk to her or wait a while until she was comfortable around me again. I know she wants to sort things out with Adrian but he'll try and get her back any chance he gets.
I slowly made my way up the stairs and turned to my bedroom. I stopped just before I walked through my door and turned to see that Rose's door was wide open. Curiosity got the best of me and I found myself heading towards her room. Rose was lying on her bed with her face staring at the ceiling; her hair was all around her face and moving slightly because the fans were on. She really was beautiful.
I breathed out a long gust of air and leaned on her doorframe. Her bedroom was the same room as mine and was built the same as mine. It was a mirror image of my bedroom which meant that it was easy for me to find my way around the bedroom since I would know where everything was. Rose may not know it yet, but if she walked to her window and looked outside she'll find that she has a balcony.
Rose closed her eyes and turned her head to the side of the room where I was standing. I could see her face perfectly now and it was hard to look at. She had tears rolling down her cheeks that dropped onto the bed. She looked miserable and I hated seeing her in pain. I could hear her taking in long, shaky breaths as she tried not to make a noise. I know she hates it when she cries, she hates being weak.
I walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down beside her. When she felt the bed move she opened her eyes, they were blood shot and still had tears welling up and spilling over in her eyes. It was painful to see her hurting this much still.
"Rose." I said as I got of the bed and picked her up. The moment I touched her she started balling her eyes out. She clutched onto my shirt and wrapped her arms around my neck. I hugged her closer to me, whispering soft words to her.
I carried her to my room and lay her down on my bed. I tried to let go of her but she refused to let go, clinging onto my neck and pulling me closer to her. I picked her up and sat her in my lap so that we could be even closer.
"Shh, Rose, it'll be fine what are you so worried about?" I said into her hair. I was glad that she had kept her long hair when she had graduated. I ran my fingers through her hair over and over again until she had stopped crying.
"What's wrong Rose? Why were you crying?"
"There's no way I can't go to the Royal Court when Tasha's so excited about going. Adrian will be there and so will Lissa and I don't want to go just yet, I can't—"
"Rose, you can do this. Yes, they may be there but that doesn't mean that you have to talk to them. You don't even have to look at them, you can just—"
"Christian, Tasha thinks that you and Lissa are still together and unless you tell her she'll arrange for them to meet us there." She was right. Tasha probably would arrange for them to meet us there, I just couldn't tell her what happened because then she would start hating Lissa and Adrian for what they did. Tasha hated anyone who ever hurt me in any way.
"It'll be fine Rose. We'll find a way to work this thing out." Not so sure that that was true but o well. If I could convince Rose that everything would be okay then maybe I would start believing it too.
"I don't see how." She said closing her eyes while she shook her head. I didn't see how this would work out either but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Of course leaving tomorrow to go on the road trip to the Royal Court wasn't a pleasant idea. I can't believe Tasha wanted us to go so soon after arriving, it helped that we hadn't unpacked our suitcases yet though, I hate packing.
I laid Rose back on my bed and we both fell asleep, dreading for tomorrow to come.
--
When I woke up, Rose was curled up beside me and she had her arms wrapped around my waist which made me smile. Having her next to me, was something that felt so right and natural, like it was supposed to be this way only less complicated.
"Christian!" I heard Tasha yell from downstairs. I must've woken up when she had just gotten home. I could hear her banging around in the kitchen so I went down stairs to see why she was making so much noise.
"What are you doing?" I asked as I saw her packing food in a bag.
"We're going today remember? The Royal Court. We're leaving in a few minutes so wake Rose up and get your suitcases in the car. It should only be a five hour drive there. We'll make a few pit stops don't worry." She kept rambling on about the trip and I zoned out for a while before she told me to hurry up and get Rose out of bed.
"Yeah, Yeah." I couldn't take any more of Tasha's rambling, the woman just talked and talked and sometimes it wasn't even about the trip.
Rose was still sound asleep when I got to my room and peered in. she was on her back now and her eyes were still closed. Damn it, she hates being woken up at early hours of the morning, then again who doesn't. We were running on human time now so that means she would've missed a bit of sleep.
I slowly crept across the room and knelt beside the bed. I shook her slightly and she didn't even move.
"Rose. Rose. Rose!" her eyes started fluttering and they had to adjust to the light of the sun in the room. She wouldn't be used to the light since she has almost never been outside in the daylight before. I know Rose must've been out in the daylight more than most Dhampirs because she had more of a tan than anyone else at the Academy.
"What" she snapped at me and pulled the sheets up and over her head. I started tugging on the sheets, trying to pull them off of her. "What do you want? I'm trying to sleep!" she said as her head popped up from under the sheets.
"We have to go now, to the Royal Court, Rose." She rolled her eyes and got out of bed. She walked out of the room to get her suitcases. I walked over to my suitcases that were in the corner of the room and carried them down stairs. I put them down at the end of the staircase and went to look for Tasha.
She was out the front, putting her suitcases in the car and making sure she had everything she needed. She looked over in my direction and called, "Christian hurry up and get your suitcases in here," and then she went back to organizing where her stuff could fit.
I ran back into the house and grabbed my suitcases and hurried back out to the car. Rose was already out there, placing her suitcase in the back of the car. She was wearing winter clothes that she should've worn when we first arrived here, she wouldn't need the heavy clothing when we arrived at the Royal Court.
After Tasha had finished stuffing her bags into the trunk of the car, we all got in the car and made ourselves comfortable for the long ride ahead.
Rose was listening to her ipod and Tasha had the radio on. It was going to be a long trip, I could tell. It was snowing outside now but as we get closer to the Court it'll get warmer. I tried to listen to what Rose was listening to but it was hard because Tasha had the radio turned up so loud.
From what I could hear though she was listening to her favourite band and song. It was a good song but it was hard to believe that she liked that kind of music after she used to be such a party girl once upon a time. I didn't take her for someone that would listen to screamo or anything like it, but she seemed to love it.
She turned her face from where she had been staring out the window and noticed that I had been looking at her. She smiled a little but I knew she was as unhappy as I was about going to visit Adrian and Lissa. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, hoping that sleep would take me and help speed up time.
I couldn't sleep though, not when I had just woken up. Unfortunately you can't just make your body sleep when you want it to. When I had opened my eyes back up, the time on the car clock said 12:00 and I remembered that when we had left it had been 8:00. Only an hour left to go.
Rose was staring outside the window, watching the sun light up the sky. We must be near the Royal Court now; it was a lot warmer than it had been at Tasha's. Tasha had turned the radio down; she probably thought that I had been asleep when my eyes had been closed.
I could see the Royal Court in the distance and wondered how me and Rose were ever going to avoid Adrian and Lissa for the entire time that we would stay here.
Tasha pulled up in front of the Court where the Queen and her nephew were waiting. Adrian was casually standing beside her, smiling as we pulled up in front of him. There were the usual guards beside them that the Queen always had in case someone tried to kill her.
Tasha had to practically drag me and Rose out of the car to greet the Queen. "You're Majesty. It was very nice of you to invite us over here at such a busy time of the year. We are all so excited to be here with you." Tasha said, we all knew that it was all out of kindness. You couldn't just walk by the Queen and make your self feel at home in her Court.
Both Rose and I put on fake smiles and said thank-you to the Queen and then started unpacking the car.
Rose POV
I started getting my suitcase out of the car when two pairs of hands reached for it, picking it up and not letting it go. I looked up to see that it was Adrian, smiling as I lifted my gaze to his.
"Hey Rose." He said a little too happily.
"Hi." I said as I reached out and tried to take hold of my suitcase but he moved it so that it was out of my reach. I moved closer to him, unwillingly, and tried to grab hold of it that way. Adrian moved the suitcase behind him so that I couldn't touch it.
Adrian was smiling down at me, he looked happy about annoying the hell out of me.
"Just give it to me and stop acting like a child." I said a little too harshly. As far as I'm concerned he deserves any comment I throw at him.
His face changed from playful to reasonably hurt. I guess he wasn't expecting that one, he probably thought I was over what he had done otherwise I wouldn't have come, but he was wrong. Sure, what he did doesn't hurt so much anymore but the pain is still there and it's still strong.
"I just need to talk to you." There was no way in hell that I was going to talk to him right now. I just drove five hours to get here and I'm not in the mood for people yelling at me. All I want to do is find out where I'm sleeping tonight. I was about to say no when a voice in the back of my head told me to get this over and done with. I should probably do this when I'm in a better mood and I'm well rested but I choose to talk to him anyway.
"Okay, whatever, but I'm putting my suitcase in my room first." I told him as I yanked my suitcase out of his hands. He seemed a little too happy for my liking when I told him that we could talk. His smile was huge; it looked too big to fit on his face. He looked over his shoulder and his smile faded completely. And as I turned around I didn't understand why.
Lissa was standing there; I think she was the only person who was smiling right now. Again, I don't understand why Adrian had been upset seeing her there. Was it because he knew how much I disliked her now? No, probably not, he doesn't think that way.
Before I knew it Lissa was running towards me with alarming speed and crashed into me. She hugged me with as much strength her little body had. We'd never been away from each other for a long time, even though it's only been a short time since we had last seen each other, and I knew it would be hard on her.
I didn't want to hug her though. I was still mad and a little disgusted at what she had done. I was supposed to be her best friend and she did the one thing that would set us apart and ruin our friend-ship. The thing that really annoys me is that she lied to Christian all those times that she said there was nothing going on between the two of them. She learned to block me out so that neither I nor Christian would find out, but she was wrong, we had found out and what made it worse for us is that we figured out how they weren't just practicing Spirit.
The thing I hated most about the situation was that she blamed it on alcohol, even when I walked in on them and I could feel her emotions, she and Adrian blamed it on alcohol or 'it's not what you think'.
I pushed her off of me and walked away from her, leaving her beside Adrian who looked like the very sight of her makes him disgusted. He acts as if he's actually sorry for what he did, but might just be my imagination.
Tasha was talking to the Queen while Christian was standing next to her, not bothering to listen to their conversation at all. He was looking back and forth between Adrian, Lissa and me. I know that he hates them now but he has to put in a conscious effort to be kind to them around the Queen otherwise we'll never be able to visit the Court again.
If looks could kill, Adrian would be dead right now, so would Lissa. Christian looked at hem as if he was imagining their heads exploding and I had no idea why, he could at least act civil with them as long as were here. And if he says anything rude or mean to Lissa and Adrian in front of Tasha were busted.
I walked in front of Christian to block his view; I gave him a stern look and then focused on what Tasha and the Queen were saying. "Oh, that's a great idea. I think it'll make them so much happier than being stuck in the same room together. I mean they'll be together all their lives it'll be good for them to be in a room with someone else for a change." Tasha said, looking at me then Christian. What the hell was she talking about? Nothing she said made sense?
Then the Queen started talking in that high pitched voice of hers. "Yes, it would be perfect for then seeing as they are both in a relation- ship with the other one." Okay, now I'm really confused. What the fuck were they talking about?
Tasha must have seen the confusion on my face because she rolled her eyes and began explaining what they were talking about. "We're letting you sleep in the same room as Adrian and Christian with Lissa, it'll be the last time you'll get alone time together. You two won't be able to see each other a lot so I hope you enjoy the time you have together, I know it's hard being away from him so long, but honestly it will get better over time." I think I just died. Yep, I died and went to hell; this is what I get for neve going to church on Sundays.
Okay, I'm probably not in hell but this felt like hell. Being stuck in a room alone with Adrian wasn't something I was expecting would happen. Hell, I didn't even think I was going to talk to him at all while I was here.
So instead of telling Tasha that I really didn't want to, I said, "Cool, thanks. That'd be awesome." Smiling at the end of the sentence to make it more believable.
The Queen was the one to talk next. "Adrian will take you to your room immediately. I hope you enjoy your stay." She smirked. She knew exactly how much I hated the fact that I would have to stay with Adrian.
I looked over at Christian and I swear I could have hit him. He was glaring at the Queen and he looked like he was about to kill her.
I shook my head and made my way over to Adrian. "Guess I'll be spending the night with my favourite person." I forced as much sarcasm as I could into that one sentence. This night was going to be hell; I could tell by the way he was smiling.
"C'mon Rose I'll show you to your room."
When we walked through the door nothing had changed since I had last come here. There were guardians at every doorway and they were surrounding every aspect of the Palace. There were a lot of Moroi families here and I wondered why they were all here. Adrian seemed too quiet for someone like him and it seemed weird.
We stopped in front of a door and Adrian opened it to a very large room. It was painted white and black and it had windows that let the sunlight in. There were a few closets in the left corner of the room and there was a big, large red bed in the middle of the room.
Wait, what? One bed? No this can't be happening, there has to be another bed somewhere. I walked to the far side of the room and there was no doors or anything except for the one that led to his bathroom.
I looked at Adrian with an expression of disbelief.
"Are you kidding me? There's only one bed, where are you going to sleep?" he could've slept on a couch if he had one, but since he didn't I figured he'd be sleeping on the floor.
"I'll be sleeping in that bed." He pointed at the only bed in the room, confusing me.
"That doesn't make sense. If your sleeping on in that bed then where am I sleeping." His smile only grew bigger.
"You're sleeping in the exact same spot as me, Rose. I thought you would've figured that out already." Oh, shit.