It was mid-afternoon when I woke up and I knew before I'd even gotten out of bed that my eyes were puffy and probably blotchy. It was still dark outside and the alarm clock on Dimitri's side of the bed said that it was 3.15am. There were only two hours until sunrise and then I'd be back in bed but I was starving. I picked up my cell phone and called Franklin's, the pizza place and ordered the biggest Mighty Meaty, with everything that they had. Frankie, Franklin's son, said that it'd be with my in half an hour, so I got up and went to find Dimitri.
He wasn't in the living room or the kitchen, but I did find a note on the worktop that had been left for me.
Roza,
I've gone to the gym.
I'll bring dinner home.
Dimitri

It was the same way he always signed his notes. There were no declarations of love, that wasn't his style, but even his note sounded angry. I sighed and went in to the living room, turning the TV on and wrapping a blanket around my shoulders.
Twenty minutes later, the was a knock on the door and I got up to answer it, the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders. It was Dave, the delivery boy from Franklin's.
"Hey, Rose. How's it going?"
"Good. You?"
"I'll be better when I finish. We've been busy tonight. This was taped to your door." He handed me an envelope and the pizza.
"Thanks, Dave." I handed him a twenty, telling him to keep the change. He thanked me and then strolled off down the corridor.
It was another white envelope, my third in twenty-four hours. I took it and the pizza in to the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast bar. I opened the pizza box and ate a slice before I opened the envelope and read it.
'I can't afford the damage, but you'll look sweet laid out in a coffin made just for you'. This one didn't rhyme like the original song had but it certainly served its purpose. A shiver ran down my spine as I pictured myself, dressed in my guardian uniform with Dimitri and Lissa staring down at me in a coffin. I hated to admit it, but whoever was sending me these notes were starting to worry me. It was absurd, I didn't scare easily but I was scared. My appetite was suddenly gone and I couldn't stand being in the apartment alone, so I went over to Liss and Christian's with the pizza.

I knocked on the door and Christian opened it, smiling when he saw the pizza.
"You are a Goddess, Rose Hathaway."
"Tell me something I don't know." I said as I handed the pizza box to him. "I only had one slice."
"We were just talking about what to have for dinner." He said as we went inside.
Liss was sitting on the sofa with a glass of water as she read a menu with a frown. "Hey, Rose."
"Hey. How're you feeling?"
"I'm fine. Did you get any more of those notes?" She asked.
"No. Christian was right, it was just someone messing with me." I lied. Lissa smiled and carried on with what she was doing but Christian frowned at me.
"Rose brought pizza."
"Oh my God, I love you." Liss said. "I'll get plates."
Christian waited until she went in to the kitchen before he turned to me. "You got more didn't you? What did they say?" He asked.
"Nothing."
"It must have been something, Rose. You never lie to Liss."
"I do when I have to."
"So, tell me. I won't go in to a spirit induced craze, it's safe to tell me."
Lissa came back with plates then. She set them down on the coffee table and was about to sit down when Christian asked her to fetch him a drink. She asked if I wanted one and then went back in to the kitchen. I pulled the folded pieces of paper out of my pocket and handed them to him. He read them over, his brows furrowed and his teeth clenched. "What did Dimitri say about this."
"He agrees with you. It's just a prank." I said.
"Which translates to 'nothing, Christian, because I didn't tell him'?"
"And neither will you. He's had enough to worry about and I'm not going to add this to his list."
"You should stop being so stubborn. He loves you, he's allowed to worry. Especially after what happened." He waved his hand around his chest area. Ever since it had happened, he hadn't been able to say Tasha's name or that she'd shot me, at least not out loud. He hadn't gone to her trial or her sentencing, or her execution.
"Why does everyone keep telling me that I'm stubborn?"
"Because you are. I get it, Rose – you're an independent woman and everything but it wouldn't kill you to think about how all of this affected him, would it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You didn't see him when you were shot. I know you were unconscious and fighting for your life and everything but he was broken, Rose. He was terrified. He'd just gotten you back after the whole being an evil, undead creature and then you were with Adrian and then you were on the run... He though that he'd lost you."
"He didn't."
"He didn't know that. I've never seen that side of him. He's always so professional and guardian-like. Nearly losing you really took it out of him. If you keep this from him, I don't know what he'll do."
"And telling him will worry him for no reason. He and Liss are better off not knowing about it."
"Rose-"
"Right?"
"Liss might be better off but Dimitri won't be and you know. You have to tell him."
"Tell who what?" Liss asked as she came in with a cup of tea and two cans of pop.
"Adrian." Christian said quickly. "Rose was just saying that he won't talk to her."
"I thought he was going to tell you about the song?" She asked as she passed the plates around.
"He did. He came to me in a dream but as soon as I tried to talk to him, he left."
"He just needs some time, Rose. He's hurting."
"I know." I said with a sigh, sending silent thanks to Christian.
He must have known because he nodded. We chatted away about various things, though I made sure not to say anything about Eric and his friends or my shredded arm. I kept my hoodie on and we ate our way through the pizza.
Christian decided that he was still hungry, so he ordered another one. We sat waiting for it and Liss was telling me about an argument between two Morois that she'd had to sort out but the conversation quickly turned in a direction that I wasn't comfortable with.
"So, any idea on when you're going to be able to start training again?" Liss asked. "Lehigh are asking for my start date and I keep putting them off but they won't keep my place open forever and-"
"It's going to be a couple of weeks, Liss. I'm sorry."
"Oh." She said quietly, trying and failing to hide her disappointment. "That's okay."
"You could take Dimitri with you, if Christian doesn't mind swapping." I said.
"I can't. I can't take someone else's guardian."
"You can if you switch us. Temporarily, of course." Christian looked to me with surprise and I winked at him. "You can't put college off because I'm still not well enough to train, and you do need a guardian that can actually guard you. You can have Dimitri, Christian can have me and we'll switch again over the Christmas break."
"You're volunteering to spend time with Christian?" She asked, her open mouth practically hitting the floor.
I may have had a small problem with Christian in the past but it was long gone. I loved him like a brother and whilst I'd send him away as well if I could, I knew that it would be impossible. Some time away from Court would probably do her the world of good, but I wasn't about to tell her that. "Sure, if it gets you to where you want to be."
Dimitri hadn't been the only one that had put his life on hold for me when I'd been shot. Lissa was supposed to go to Lehigh but she'd put it off after her coronation, saying that she needed to be near me in case I needed healing. I'd never let her heal me, but she'd still refused to leave without me.
I'd realised a while ago that it wasn't just my life that Tasha Ozera had practically ruined. My chances of being Lissa's guardian were rapidly falling every day that I wasn't training, Dimitri was putting his life on hold and so was Liss. It was nice in a way, it meant that they believed in me, in the fact that I'd get back to where I needed to be, but I wasn't so sure. If I couldn't protect myself, how was I going to protect her?
There was a knock on their door and Christian stood up. "If I'd have known that being the Queen's boyfriend would have gotten me instant delivery, I'd have made you Queen at St Vlad's."
Liss and I chuckled and carried on talking about Lehigh for a moment before Christian came back. "Rose, you've got a visitor." He said, an unreadable look on his face.
I looked over to the door and saw Dimitri standing there, his hands behind his back in his usual guardian stance. I stood up, the room swaying slightly as I did, and went over to him, giving him a tight smile. "Is everything okay?"
"You weren't at home."
"No, I've been here."
"You left your phone at home."
"I must have forgotten to pick it up."
"Why have one if you forget to take it with you." He asked, his voice shaking. He was angry, though I couldn't work out why.
"I'm sorry." I said quietly. "I didn't know that you'd be looking for me."
"You weren't at home when I got back. Of course I'd come looking for you, especially after last night."
"Not here, Dimitri. Please." I said, hoping that he'd listen to me. Of course, he didn't.
"You haven't told them?" He said loudly, knowing that they'd be able to hear him. The son of a bitch was backing me in to a corner that I wouldn't be able to talk myself out of, and he knew it. He was forcing my hand, making sure that I'd have to tell them the truth.
I turned just as Christian and Lissa's heads shot up. "Told us what?" Liss asked.
"Nothing, Liss. Don't worry." I spun back to Dimitri and glared at him. "Do not do this." I hissed but he looked past me to Liss and nodded his head respectfully.
"Vasilisa-"
"Dimitri, please. How many times do I have to ask you to call me Lissa."
"Respectfully, I don't feel comfortable doing that. I'm afraid that I have to report an incident that happened just after dark."
"Dimitri, please-"
He continued as if I hadn't spoken. "Just after the sun set, Guardian Hathaway was attacked by four strigoi. She managed to fight and kill one of them, but had considerable difficulty with the remaining three. One of them injured her arm, which has been damaged quite severely. The guardian on gate duty had to leave his post to bring her inside the wards, whilst another three guardian's took care of the strigoi."
Liss and Christian both turned to me, her face full of betrayal and his full of sadness. They didn't say anything but honestly, they didn't need to. Even without the bond, I knew what she was thinking – how could you do that, Rose? Why wouldn't you tell me, Rose? I was about to apologise to them and explain when Christian pulled something out of his pocket. My heart stopped when I watched him hand them over to Dimitri.
"Whilst we're all being honest, Rose has been getting these. We think that they're threats, though it could just be someone messing around with her. Adrian-"
"Adrian knew about this?"
Christian ignored him as if he hadn't even spoken. "Adrian and Liss recognised the song but obviously the words have been changed. It's from 'Daisy'."
Dimitri nodded and read the letters, folded them up neatly and handed them back to Christian. He made sure that Liss was okay and then left, without a single word to me.
I turned on Christian then, my teeth bared. "How could you?"
"How could you? You come over here with pizza and death threats and don't tell us that you were attacked? You could have died, Rose."
"I was fine." I lied.
"Show me your arm." Lissa said quietly. It was the first time that she'd spoken since Dimitri and Christian's confessions.
"Liss, really, it's fine. It's healing on its own and it doesn't even hurt that much any more."
"Show me." She repeated with every ounce of queenly authority that she could summon. When she used her Queen voice, there was no refusing her.
I unzipped my hoodie and gently took it off. Liss gasped when she saw the once white bandage. It was more a dark red now where the blood was still oozing out of the slashes. I took the bandage off slowly and as the dried blood came away with the bandage my arm started to bleed again.
"Did you go to a doctor?" Christian asked.
I nodded. "He was going to stitch it up and give me some antibiotics but I left in a rush."
Liss stood up and came over to me, her eyes full of concern as she looked at my arm. The flesh around the gashes was an angry red colour and bleeding and it was
starting to ooze slightly.
"You're sure that this doesn't hurt?" Liss asked, her brows furrowed.
"I'm sure. See?" I said and flicked myself. "All better."
"Rose, that doesn't mean that it's fine." She turned to Christian, her eyes wide. "Go and fetch Dimitri."
He didn't ask any questions, he just nodded and left us alone.