It didn't take too long, a little less than an hour and we had definately turned a few heads. We were young, Mia being 20 and I being 23, but we could definately hold our own in this court, as far as I was concerned.

The Guardian who greeted us was one I had seen around a bit, but not one I really talked to. Still, Mia seemed to know him, since she ran to give him a hug the moment she saw him. "Eddie!"

"Mia! How have you been?" He smiled, hugging her back. I saw his eyes sweep over her once or twice and a strange look glint in his eyes before disappearing.

"I've been great! Oh, Eddie, this is Liv. Liv, Eddie."

I nodded at him, "Guardian Castile." What had been that look?

"Guardian Monroe. What business do you have here?"

"The Queen has requested us join her for dinner."

Mia rolled her eyes in amusement, giving Guardian Castile a light shove. "Eddie, stop it. She's a friend, not a Strigoi. Come on."

I chuckled, giving Guardian Castile a knowing look as he let us in, closing the door behind him.

There were eight people in the room already, eleven if you counted Guardian Castile, Mia and I. Five of them were Guardians, and two of them stood out as the infamous Rosemarie Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov. There was, of course, Queen Vasilisa, Princess Jillian, Lord Ozera and... Aleksandr?

The appearance of him made me freeze in terror and anger mid bow, glaring at him fiercely as I continued bowing.

"Uh.. Welcome Mia, Guardian Monroe. You may rise." Queen Vasilisa said. It had been three years since she had been elected queen, but she still found it unnerving to have people bow to her, so it would seem.

As we approached, my glare turned to a look of confusion. This was not Aleksandr. They were around the same height, but while Alek had light brown hair, this man's was dark, and while Alek had eyes as blue and as bottomless as the ocean, his were a green whose brilliance rivaled my own. Who was this man?

"In case you don't know them, our dinner guests will be Guardian Belikov, Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Castile, Princess Jillian, Lord Ozera and Lord Ivashkov, who will here in by known as Dimitri, Rose, Eddie, Jill, Christian and Adrian."

Ivashkov. Not Drosdov. Never Drosdov. Yet, as I recognized the name and reputation to the face that came with it, nearly as bad.

"Yes, you're majesty."

"Oh, and please call me Lissa."

That one was a little harder. "I will do my best to remember it Quee- uh... Lissa." I stammered slightly. Guardian Hathaway - Rose - laughed, walking up to me.

"Guardian Monroe, eh? I hear you're good." She smirked, hands on her hips.

"I hear you're better," I responded, a similar smirk on my face, "or are you not the Infamous Rose Hathaway?"

"Oh, she's all that, and more." Remarked Christian with a snort. I could only chuckle.

"Well, if we're gonna be on first name basis, then mine' s Olivya, although I'd prefer if you just called me Liv." I chanced a glance at the Ivashkov boy, my smile turning to a frown, before I looked back to the group.

"So, how long have you known Mia?" I asked, genuinely curious, "Mia's never told me."

Que- Lissa laughed, running a hand through her platinum hair, "well, it's a bit of a long story."

Mia grimaced, "not one I favour, either."

Qu- Lissa took a deep breath before starting her story, "Mia had dated my brother Andre during her freshman year at St. Vladmir's, until he screwed her over. When Rose and I were brought back to 's, she did and said anything to ruin our lives as a result. Well, until after the Drosdov attack," I remembered that. Lady Vera had been very upset. She hadn't lost any of her immediate family, but it hadn't mattered to her. 'Family is family', she had told me. "Mia's mother had died in that attack, and not long after that, Mia, Eddie and another friend of ours, a Novice named Mason, went out on a bit of a revenge mission to kill the Strigoi in Spokane. Rose realized what they'd done, so she took Christian with her to get them back, but were kidnapped," I noticed Eddie and Rose close their eyes tightly. Mia, who had been standing closer to Eddie, put a hand on Eddie's shoulder and Guardian Belikov - Dimitri - wrapped his arms around Rose.

Q-Lissa saw their distress, and sped up the story, skipping most of it (so I assumed), "anyway, after that, Mia went to live with her dad and joined the side of Moroi fighting with magic. So, yeah. That's about it." There was definately more, from what I could tell of their reactions. Lissa had said "Novice Mason", which meant he never graduated. He had probably died in that attack. And, from what I could tell, Eddie, Rose and him had been close friends.

"So... why don't we go eat?" Princess Jillian said, changing the subject awkwardly. I jumped; I had forgotten she was there. Bad. Bad Guardian.

We walked down to the dining hall, and the room was beautiful. Or at least, I think it was. I couldn't tell. I was starving, and there was so much food on the table. There were three beef roasts, with a giant bowl of mashed potatos, three dozen Yorkshire puddings, two bowls green beans and tons of gravy. When I could drag my eyes away from the food, I couldn't help but notice our seating arrangement. Lissa was, of course, at the head of the table and at her right was Rose. Beside Rose was Dimitri, and I think they were holding hands under the table. That seemed strange to me - they were both Dhampirs, and... well, that wasn't a common sight. Still, they seemed happy enough. Beside them was Jillian, who seemed quite uncomfortable, and beside her was Ivashkov.

On the left side was Christian, who was sneaking glances in her direction. He was clearly smitten with her, and Lissa was definately smitten with him as well, judging by her glances back. Beside Christian was Eddie, and beside him Mia. I couldn't help but notice that every now and then, Eddie would glance over at Mia, which amused me to no end, as I was sitting beside Mia. Of course, by sitting beside Mia, this also meant I was across from the royal douchebag. Great.

Speak of the devil... "So, how long have you been at Court, Liv? I'm sure I would have noticed your gorgeous face around here before."

I scowled at him, voice cold, "two months."

"Do you have an assignment?"

"No." And I didn't want one right now. Not yet.

After that, the room faded into an uncomfortable silence. A silence brought on by, you guessed it, me. Thankfully, Mia had the cure.

"So Christian, Jill, what have you guys been up to lately?" She asked, smiling.

"Dimitri and Rose have been trying to kill me." Christian complained, shooting an accusationary glare towards the Guardians in question.

Rose laughed, and I swear I saw Dimitri fight a smile. "Try?" She scoffed, "sweetie, if I wanted to kill you, there'd be no 'try' involved. You'd be dead. Besides, it's not my fault you can't dodge."

I frowned, curiousity piqued, "dodge?"

"We've been training Christian to fight, and Rose isn't pulling any punches, literally or figureatively. She's training him like he's a dhampir."

Mia laughed, "get used to it Sparky, I've got Liv doing the same to me, and I don't have a spirit healer to help me out. I'm already learning to stake."

I smirked, "Mia, I'm probably letting you stake too early. Don't get cocky."

Eddie, who had been silent during all of this, now turned to me with fury written all over his face. "you're letting a Moroi touch a stake?! You know how it could hurt her!"

I rolled my eyes, "Relax, Castile, I'm being careful. No Strigoi. Besides, it could come in handy."

"We're Guardians. We're the only ones who should deal with stakes. What if she were to cut herself?!"

Jill piped up, eager to change the subject, "Mia, have you learned any new tricks with water recently?"

Mia gave her a grateful look, glancing between Eddie and I, then back to her, "yes, actually. Remember how I learned how to turn water to air and air to water?" Jill nodded, "well, I've sort of taught myself to freeze water into icesicles in mid air, create a water whip that can hurl them at things, and also freeze people in ice."

"Wow! That's so cool! Will you show me?" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course!" Mia grinned.

Lissa gave me a smile, "have you any experience with offensive magic?"

I laughed a little, "a bit. I used to have a friend, Vera, who could create storms, even little tiny ones, and shoot lightning at people, among other things." I smiled at the memories, faltering only a little.

Lissa frowned slightly, "Vera? Vera Drosdov?"

I flinched, "...yeah..."

Rose was also frowning, "you said you used to have her as a friend. What happened?"

I glared a little, feeling my heart ache, "She died. A casualty of the Strigoi attack from a few months ago. One of many."

I couldn't bear to be there anymore. I had to leave. Going the formal route again, I stood and inclined my head in a small bow, "I apologize, Queen Vasilisa, but I must withdraw for the evening." I walked out, feeling their stares on my back.

Two minutes later, I heard someone following me. Someone who reeked of cloves and whisky. Ugh.

I spun around angrily, coming face to face with Adrian. "What the honey do you want?" I snapped.

He raised an eyebrow, presumably at my choice of 'swear' words and smirked, "calm yourself, Kitten, I just want to talk to you."

I snarled. Kitten?! "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk to you."

He clutched his heart in mock hurt, "I'm hurt, Liv. Why would anyone not want to talk to me?" He said, signature smirk creeping back up.

I could think of a number of reasons, but I could also feel myself drawn to him. Just like Alek. I had to leave. Now, or I wouldn't be able to later. "I don't need a reason, goodbye." I snapped.

Just like I suspected, it was difficult for me to leave him, but I managed it. When I was out of his line of sight, I ran. Ran all the way back to my apartment, like a coward. I knew I was putting people on alert, since it wasn't common to see a Guardian run like this except in emergencies, but I couldn't have cared less. I needed to get home.

I collapsed on my bed the moment I was in the room. All I could see was green. Green, green eyes fading to blue, and as I cried myself to sleep, I dreamed of drowning in a watery abyss.

So, I forgot an Author's Note for the last chapter. I have big plans for this story, and I SHOULD be updating once a week (barring this one), but I'm going to take longer if I don't get many reviews. I may also be pursuaded to update faster if I get more reviews, so if you like this, you should review it more, as I read each one. So... yeah.

Luna