Rose POV

Lissa was on her way over to Adrian's room where I was lying in bed. She had just been talking to Adrian, unsuccessfully. Ever since Christian and I had found out about what had gone on between the two of them, Adrian hasn't talked to Lissa. It's like he regrets what he did so much he doesn't want the reminder. I'm over what he did though; it brought me and Christian together.

I was pretty glad that Lissa was totally fine about me and Christian. I understand that she still loves him like how I know Adrian still loves me. Being with Adrian had been great at the time but nothing lasts forever. Adrian had been the one that had helped me get over Dimitri when I had found out that he had been turned. I had doubted that Dimitri had any feelings for me whilst he had been Strigoi so I had grieved over the loss of him. Now that I think about it Adrian was always more of a best friend than anything else.

About a week ago I had been in a relationship with Adrian. He was Royal and I should've known better than to get in a relationship with someone like that, but I had done what every Dhampir usually gets sucks into. Christian was Royal too, not that he liked to admit it. He hated all the Royals just as much as I hated them. Royals, as we all know them for, don't give a shit about anybody but they and they don't care if they hurt anybody intentionally. When I had met Lissa she had changed my mind about all the stuff I used to think about them, Adrian had the same effect on me as well and now Christian. Adrian and Lissa have changed my mind on the matter; however, finding out that your best friend slept with your boyfriend isn't exactly the best news in the world, so now Christian was the only Royal that seemed decent in my eyes.

The knock on my door brought me back to reality and I stood up and made my way to open the door. It was Lissa. I could tell that she was nervous about the talk that we were about to have. She hated what she had done and she felt disgusted with herself over it. As much as I hated what she had done, I felt kind of sorry for her. I know that she felt so alone right now and I know how that feels.

She smiled shyly and said, "Hey, Rose. Sorry it took so long for me to get here the Queen was going on about whom will be Queen after she gives up the throne." She rolled her eyes. I hope we get Lissa as our Queen; she was a lot better in her decision choices than a lot of the other Royal Moroi's no matter how I would've thought a few days ago.

"Come in Liss. Don't worry, Adrian's not here." Adrian still wasn't talking to Lissa and I know that Lissa has tried so many times to get Adrian to talk to her about what happened between them. As soon as she found out Adrian wasn't here she walked right over to the bed and sat down. I could feel that she was trying to find confidence to speak to me. "What is it Liss?" hoping she would just spit, whatever it was she was thinking, out.

"Look, Rose. You have no idea how sorry I am about what happened with Adrian. I had no idea that it would go so far, and then Christian found out and he hated me and then he told you and then you hated me as well. I went to go find Adrian and we—"

"Liss! I get it, okay? You're really sorry and you wished you hadn't done it. I know all of this already." A total lie but she brought it. I just hadn't wanted the details on how they had done it a second time right when I was trying to help Christian get over what had happened the first time. Seeing Christian like that had broken my heart and I hadn't even liked him at the time.

"Yeah but Rose I just needed to tall you out loud. What I did was unforgivable; I'm surprised you're even talking to me right now." Well, that makes two of us. "I know I'm not your most favourite person right now, but Adrian told me to tell you to meet him at the Queens dinner tonight and he'll think that if you don't go that it's my fault, so can you please go. He'll kill me if you don't; you know how much he hates me already." Ugh, Jesus Christ. Adrian knows how much I hate those goddamn dinner parties that the Queen has every night.

"Yeah, I'll make an appearance for you." No way was I going to stay for the whole thing. I don't even know why I'm doing this in the first place, Lissa sure as hell was not my most favourite person in the world and neither was Adrian.

"Thanks Rose. I hope we can be friends still. You know how much I've missed you." I did. I'll always know what she's feeling and how she's going to react to things around her, which was why I couldn't intentionally hurt her because I know how badly she can hurt. Spirit does things to her emotionally that I wish wouldn't. Seeing her depressed was one of the worst things I've seen in my life, and not only seeing it but feeling it.

"Yeah I know. I wish things were simple." I can't just forgive her straight away. She knew what she had been doing at the time and she still did it knowing that I'd find out eventually, so no I'm not going to forgive her straight away.

"What's the time?" I looked over to the clock that was sitting on the bedside table.

"Its 12:30. Why?" She looked like she wanted to tell me something and she was hiding her emotions from me. "What are you keeping from me Liss?" as I was talking her face pulled up into a big smile and she looked extremely happy.

"Adrian's coming to get you soon. He was going to come in and ask me if you said yes to come to dinner and then he was going to take you to the garden outside the Court instead of taking you to the Queen's dinner, he knows how much you hate those things." It all came out at once and I wondered how she hadn't told me sooner. It amazed me that she was able to keep herself from telling me as soon as she showed up; she was never good at keeping secrets from me or anybody else.

The thing I didn't understand was why Adrian was taking me to this garden after all. The knock on the door told me that Adrian was here so I walked over with Lissa right behind me.

"Hey Rose." He said but he was looking over to where Lissa was standing. She nodded and smiled up at him.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I said trying to act lie I had no idea what was happening, for Lissa's sake. Lissa looked over to me and hugged me, and then she left. Now that Lissa was gone, he was smiling even more than before.

"Do you want to come for a walk? I promise it'll only be quick." Knowing Adrian I probably shouldn't have said yes, but I did anyway. Adrian was persistent, just as much as Lissa was, and he'd do anything to make me come with him to this garden thing. I was happy that we were going to some garden instead of the Queen's banquet, I hate being around so many self-absorbed Royals at the same time.

"Yeah okay. Where are we going?" once again acting like I had no idea what or where we were going. The good thing about this situation was that Adrian thought it would be a surprise but I already knew where we were going. Everyone knows how much I hate surprises, I think it's because I hate not knowing what's going on around me.

"To a garden outside of the Court." What a surprise. Wonder why he was even taking me there. I didn't think that a garden would've been Adrian's most favourite place in the world. When Adrian used to come into my dreams he would always take me to gardens but I never expected to see hi in a garden while he was awake.

"Why are we going there." I hope I didn't sound rude asking that but I was honestly curious as to why we were going to this garden.

"We're going there because it's a beautiful place and it's a beautiful day. There is no reason in the world for anyone to stay indoors on a night like this." Yeah, but when he took me to gardens in his dreams it was always so much prettier when the sun was up. The only reason the garden would look beautiful is because of out heightened senses.

Adrian and I eventually made our way out of the Court and he towed me away to a place that was deserted but also stunning. There were Dahlia's, Freesia, Gardenia, Geranium, Jasmine, Magnolia and Snowdrops that surrounded the entire garden. Even though the sun wasn't up, they looked amazing.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Adrian suddenly asked me while I was staring at some of the Snowdrops that were right in front of me. I nodded. This garden smelled so fresh and so nice, I never wanted to leave. "My mother used to always come here and look after then but then my Dad insisted that we move." Adrian may love his mother but he hates his Father. His Dad was literally one of the worst Moroi that you could ever meet.

When Adrian and I had been together he never really talked that much about his family but I knew how much he cared about his mother. On the rare occasions that he would talk about his family, he always talked about how his Dad's poor behaviour towards his Mother. His Dad was not only an ass towards other Moroi, but his family also. It made me wonder why his Mother even married Adrian's father in the first place.

"Too bad she can't be here. This is such a beautiful place. Did she live here with you?" he nodded. "Did you move with her when your Dad asked to move?" another nod. It made sense for him to move out with his mother when he was young, but I was sure that the Queen would have taken care of her nephew no matter how much of a bitch she is.

"Why didn't you stay here?" it was a touchy subject to have with him, seeing as he hates to talk about it, but he's seen me cry so I don't see why I can't ask a few questions.

"I don't trust my Father. I know my mum loves him and she thinks that he'll never hurt her but I don't think he'll have a second thought about hurting her if something big is at stake. My brother still lives with her so I'm not too worried about her." He turned away, staring at some Dahlia's.

I decided to change the subject so that there wouldn't be any more silence. "So who looks after these flowers now?" I doubt the Queen would, she has too many lives to ruin to look after the flowers.

"I do." Wow. Adrian actually does something with his spare time. "You know that Liss was teaching me how to make plants grow before…you know."

"Yeah, I know." I'm all too familiar with that subject. "So why did you bring me out here?" I was supposed to have had a long talk with Lissa but Adrian had interrupted before we gotten into a deep conversation about what had happened.

"I want to talk to you about something. It's about the Queen." I nodded for him to continue. "Well, she told me that if I wanted to, I would be the next king." I could feel my eyes go round as I took in his words. King?

I, for once in my life, was speechless. Adrian being king would be- well, disastrous. He isn't exactly reliable as a person or anything more. He doesn't take responsibility for his actions and he's an alcoholic. I never thought the Queen would've come to the conclusion that Adrian could be our King.