Sorry it took so long for me to update! I had to go somewhere on the weekend without my laptop Anyway, here is your long awaited chapter!
Please review! I hope you like it!
Some people like to drive themselves to their goals, just like Dimitri, but he did it literally. His goal was to get us into the safety of the wards and into the Royal Court, and he did just that. Dimitri smiled at the guardian, then put his foot on the gas. He drove straight through the gate and sped to the guardians building. I noticed that there were a pile of guardians getting into an SUV but as soon as they saw us get out of our car, they started running towards us.
I recognised the guardian that jumped on me. He'd helped me get evidence that strigoi could be bought back to life, and as he did that, I got him evidence that strigoi could be bought back, and that evidence was standing right next to me. Tomas, he was in love with Sonya Karp, who turned strigoi willingly to stop the side-effects of spirit. Tomas went after her, just like I did with Dimitri, but he had to stop when he couldn't find her. Here he was now, looking me in the eyes with a look, one that was so emotionless, that all guardians had.
The guardians took us, Dimitri, Robert, Victor and I straight to the prison cells. We were in different cells, but we were right next to each other. "Your trial is about to be held, Rose. They want to get this over with as soon as possible so there is no chance of you escaping again" Tomas explained to me through the bars. I could sense Lissa; she was in a room with Christian, Alex and Adrian. They were being questioned while Lissa tried to tell them Alex was her brother. I slipped into her head as I sat on the bed. I was scared.
"Princess, I know you want to get a vote to help Rose, but you can't lie to us" Hans explained. Hans was the, well, leader of most of the guardians. He allocated each guardian their moroi, usually with help from the queen. Lissa reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to Hans. He opened it and read the results, the results of the test. He re-read them several times before looking between Alex and Lissa. "Well, if this is true, which I'm guessing it is, we need to keep it confidential. We don't want to bring any shame to the Dragomir's with everything that is going on." He eyed Lissa.
I slipped back into my own head when I heard a door open. I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They finally came to a halt in front of my cell. It was Hans. He must have been pretty close to have gotten here so quickly. "Miss Hathaway" He snorted "Your trial is being post-poned for at least another hour, we have, some, well, you would know if you used you bond" He explained. I just nodded, I couldn't do anything else, and I couldn't say anything. Hans walked over to Dimitri's cell and opened it up. "Mr. Belikov, we believe you did have a part in this, but the Princess insisted you be let out" Hans explained. I knew Lissa wanted Dimitri out, and I was glad he was out of here. Lissa needed him to organise what evidence they'd tried to collect to get me out of trouble.
I did want Dimitri to stay so I wasn't lonely anymore, but I knew when he walked past my cell, the look in his eye, I knew he would get me out of this. He told me over and over again he would protect me, and right now I believed he could. I heard the footsteps slowly disappear down the hall, and when the door opened and closed, I knew they were gone. I slipped back into Lissa's head once again. She was still in the same room with Christian, Alex and Adrian.
The door suddenly opened and everyone turned around to face Dimitri and Hans. "Here he is, now, hurry up" Hans grunted. "Dimitri, we have proof! It was Victor, he even owned up to it!" Lissa said more to Hans than Dimitri. Hans shook his head in exasperation. Thinking of Victor, what if he told everyone that we were the ones who broke him out of jail? We would all be in prison ourselves if that happened. "Princess, we have no proof that it was Victor or his accomplice, all we know is that there was a substance on the stake, and it was a glove substance. I believe Rose didn't do it, but we need more proof. If Victor will own up to it right now, that would be great, but he wouldn't do it in front of the Royal Council, would he?" Hans explained. At least he believed it wasn't me. "Guardian Croft, I believe Rose didn't do it, and why would she anyway? She wouldn't leave the murder weapon or any trace she was there if it was her. She's smarter than that and you know it. It wasn't Rose, everyone should know that!" Dimitri yelled. He started off calmly and caught everyone off guard when he began yelling. I knew Dimitri believed I didn't do it, but having him saying that made my heart flutter.
I came back to my own body with a start when I heard the cell door open. It was Tomas, and the other guardians had Victor and Robert. "The trial, it's starting. The Princess and the others are heading over to the high court." Tomas explained. I just nodded and followed him out of the building. He was kind enough not to cuff me, probably because he knew I wouldn't try to run off. I was even having ideas about running off, but I don't think I could take down all the guardians surrounding me.
We made it to the High Court in a few minutes, and I was taken in before Victor and Robert. The pews weren't filled like they were for my first hearing, but I knew they'd want to keep this quiet. After a few more minutes I noticed Lissa, Christian, Adrian and Alex come in. They sat in the first row of seats and Lissa was sending me calming messages through the bond. It's going to be okay, we will get you out of this. I wasn't feeling okay though.
After a few minutes the council was in session. An elderly moroi got everyone's attention. "The High Royal Court is now in session" He called out. Everyone stopped talking and I noticed Tasha Ozera sitting in the front row next to Lissa. "We are now discussing the trial of Rosemarie Hathaway, and the murder of Late Queen Tatiana Marina Ivashkov." He explained. My heart sunk, I was going to die.
"We will now discuss evidence proving Miss Hathaway guilty" The dropping of my guardian title made me feel miserable. "Weeks ago, Queen Tatiana was found dead, murdered, with a stake through her heart. On the stake were Miss Hathaway's finger prints, and the stake belonged to her" Another moroi began. "There is no proof that Miss Hathaway was with someone at the time of death, therefore she has no alibi." He continued. Damn. "We will now have a word from Miss Hathaway's lawyer" The elderly moroi said "Ibrahim Mazur" A few whispers went around the room as my father and lawyer, Abe Mazur. I saw him as a Turkish gangster.
"I have proof that Rose wasn't the murderer!" Abe called out among the audience. "Everyone here knows about how smart Rose is! Why would she leave the murder weapon? Everyone here knows she wouldn't do that" He called. He looked at the royal council and walked towards them. "If you were to execute a girl of so much talent, you would be ridding a guardian, a worthy guardian actually. You all know Rose is shadow-kissed, don't you? I have been doing some studying and have been finding more and more information on her, well, predicament. If she died, the Princess would have to give in to the side-effects of spirit and would become, well, insane" He explained. Everyone flinched at the word insane.
"We will be having questions from the audience now" The elderly moroi spoke up. Tasha Ozera was first to ask a question. I smiled at her courage, and knew if she had a question it would help me. She looked me in the eye "Rose, you were with Adrian Ivashkov the night of the Queen's murder, weren't you?" She asked and answered her own question "Because of that, we do have an alibi, sort of." I think the adding of 'sort of' kinda' blew my chances of getting anything done.
The elderly moroi spoke up again "Can we have Lord Adrian Ivashkov stand" He asked. Adrian gave me a look of pure horror. I knew he didn't want to have any more gossip going around about his escapades, but he wanted to help. "I was with Rose on the night of the murder" Adrian told everyone. There were a few whispers when he said that. "How long were you with Miss Hathaway?" The moroi asked. "The whole night" Adrian answered. "You may sit down now" The moroi told him. "We know that when you went out on your little escape, Miss Hathaway, you took three royal moroi, one of whom being the Dragomir Princess, and Mr Belikov" He explained. I felt like I should have said something but I kept my mouth closed. I didn't want to make a scene, not today at least.
"You could have had any one of them killed, especially when you went after a wanted criminal" One of the Royal Council members exclaimed. I think it was one of the Badica's, but it's hard to keep track of who's who in royal politics. I took a step forward "The reason we went after him is because Queen Tatiana told me he was the one who killed her, him and his brother, Robert Doru" I explained. That caused a lot of whispering in the audience, and then the Ivashkov Prince stood up. "I heard seeing the, uh, ghosts of people you knew that have died is one of the side effects of being shadow-kissed" he told everyone. Now this was going somewhere.
"Yes, it is. I can also sense strigoi and be in Liss- Princess Dragomir's mind. I can see what she see's and feel what she feels" I explained. Dimitri stood up in the crowd and quickly added "You also take away the darkness, the side effects of spirit" He said, eyes blazing. "Sit down!" The moroi called. I felt a little smile come across my face. It disappeared as soon as it came. I took another step forward and told everyone something that could help me "Dimitri Belikov," I pointed toward where he was sitting "is also shadow-kissed. While we were gone, we came across a band of strigoi. He was killed, and Adrian Ivashkov bought him back" I explained. I was hoping this could get me more proof that spirit is real, and that seeing ghosts is a part of it. Everyone looked at Dimitri spreading whispers across the benches.
"Order!" The moroi called. The whispering stopped instantly, and then a few more people from the royal council asked me some questions. It felt like forever before the elderly moroi judge addressed the court. "We will now have a royal vote' He called. "We also have another royal on the council, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir" He called. I quickly checked the bond, and while I'd been answering questions, Hans had spoken to Lissa. He'd told her that she would be on the royal council, but nobody would know about her having a brother. They were going to tell everyone that the rule had been reviewed and that you didn't need an actual family to be on the royal council.
"The rule has been reviewed, and now we have all twelve royal families." He explained. Lissa smiled at me as she walked up to the empty seat where the royal council sits. She felt like she could do this, she thought she could get me out of this, and I believed she could. I loved Lissa, she was like a sister to me, and I'd known her since pre-school. Her parents had always been kind to me, and when they died, Lissa and I had become even better friends. First with the bond, and now that she can do anything for me. She would do anything.