Rose POV

"Please, please tell me that this isn't actually happening." Eddie said when we were finally alone.
"Don't, Eddie." I said, too tired to get in to it with him.
"Don't what? Don't point out that you're insane? Because you are, you know."
"Probably."
"There's no probably about it. You voluntarily came back here. Here. To the thing that..." He trailed off, unable to say the words.
"I know."
"Why?"
"Because he had you."
"I'm not important, Rose."
"You are to me." I said, looking up at him for the first time. "I can't be responsible for another one of my friends dying."
"That's ridiculous."
"Is it? Because we both know that Mason would still be alive if he hadn't have come back for me."
"You don't know that. And the only reason it was him that went back for you was because I was out of it and Christian and Mia are Moroi."
"And because he loved me."
"Rose-"
"Don't 'Rose' me. He loved me and he died. Dimitri loved me and he was turned in to a strigoi. Lissa loved me and she's been through so much because of me. Everyone that loves me gets hurt or dead. I'm better off out of their lives."
"Better off here? To be Nathan's... whatever he wants you to be and then get turned in to one of them?"
"I'm hoping that he'll just get bored and kill me."
"And that's okay with you?"
I shrugged and turned away from him, heading towards the bathroom. He stopped me just as I was about to close the door.
"So you're suicidal now?" He asked, unable to believe what I was saying to him. "And what about Dimitri and Lissa?"
"I made sure that they wouldn't come looking for me."
"And your parents?"
"What about them?"
"You told them what you were doing?"
"No. I didn't even say goodbye to them." I said, suddenly realised that I hadn't even thought of them when I'd been making my plan. Abe, who felt so guilty that he'd stayed away from me since I'd been let out of the hospital, and Janene, who'd tried her best to help had found herself unequipped to handle my constant mood swings, had been the last people on my mind. And I felt terrible.
"Oh, Rose." He tried to come to me but I shut the door in his face, turning the shower on so that he wouldn't hear me crying.
Surely he knew that I didn't want to be here? That I was terrified of what was going to happen. Sure, Eddie was my 'personal guardian' but we both knew that he couldn't save me from Nathan. There were more of them than there were of us, plus Avery and Gavin. We were screwed no matter which way I looked at it and all I'd left behind was people who either hated me or would never forgive me for leaving. I was a horrible, awful person.
There was a knock on the bathroom door after a while, followed by Eddie's voice. "Rose, uh, Rosie. Nathan is here for you."
"I'm coming." I said, splashing my face with cold water before going out to him.

He was surrounded by boxes and bags, a proud smile on his face. "I come baring gifts."
"Oh?" I said, trying my best to sound like I was interested.
"Your new life starts today, with me, so I decided that you'd be needing new things. I have bought you everything that you could possibly need to be happy." He said, sweeping his arms towards the bags and boxes around him.
"Thank you." I said quietly.
He looked at me expectantly and then frowned. "Don't you want to see what's in them? Talia assured me that they're all the height of fashion."
"Um, I'm just a little tired right now." I said, only to be elbowed by Eddie who had been stood by my side the entire time. "But, if it'll make you happy..."
I went towards him, trying to ignore the sickness that washed over me. I knelt down in front of him and opened the bags and boxes, pulling out shoes and dresses
that were all red. Lacy lingerie in red and black, the kind that I'd only ever worn for Dimitri. Make up, hair brushes, straighteners and a hair dryer. Dressing gowns, slippers, fluffy socks. A toothbrush and toiletries...
I felt dizzy all of a sudden and Eddie rushed to my side, wrapping his arm around my waist and helping me to stand.
"Rose, are you all right?" He asked, taking me to sit on the bed.
I nodded, unable to find my words. Nathan cleared his throat, a smug grin on his face when I looked up at him.
"Perhaps you'd like something to eat? I've informed my staff to take better care of you this time." He said, holding his hand out to me expectantly. I took it, allowing him to pull me up off the bed and leading me out of the room. "Mr Castile, you can put Rosie's things away whilst she's eating."

He led me to the dining room and as soon as I sat down a large plate of chicken pasta and a side salad were placed in front of me. A large glass of water and one of pure orange juice quickly followed it. Nathan sat opposite me, watching me closely.
"Eat up, Rosie. You need your strength."
"I'm not hungry." I said, even though I was starving. If I were at home I'd have ordered a pizza or something, not this healthy stuff. I avoided it like the plague at the best of times.
"You will eat it." He said, his voice soft but stern, the same tone that Janene had used on me so many times over the years when she was angry but didn't want to cause a scene.
I picked up my fork, forcing myself to eat it one bit at a time. Chew, swallow, chew swallow. I'd gotten half way through when I couldn't eat any more and put my fork down.
"Have you had enough, Rosie?"
I nodded and picked up my water, sipping it slowly so that I wouldn't have to talk to him.
"Would you like desert?"
"No, thank you."
"Very well. I'd like to talk to you about something." He said. I got the feeling that he was treating this as some sort of date and not a hostage situation, but I nodded any way. "Seeing as you're here as my mate, I'd like to make it official. We should get married."
I stared at him, needing a minute to make sure that I'd heard what he was saying. "Married?"
"Yes. Of course, it isn't necessary for strigoi to be married to their mate but I understand that in dhampir, Moroi and human relationships it is essential. It means that their relationship is recognised by others. I want everyone to recognise the importance of our mating. You will be my Queen, Rosie. Our marriage will let everyone know that you are mine, that you are to never be touched by another." he said seriously.
And then, my chicken pasta was threatening to make a reappearance. I excused myself quickly and rushed out of the dining room, looking for a bathroom but it was too late. I collapsed on to my hands and knees, throwing up everything in to my stomach on to the navy blue carpet in the middle of the hall. I stayed there until there was nothing left, dry heaving until tears ran down my face.
"Have you finished?" Nathan's voice asked from behind me, cold and annoyed.
I nodded but didn't dare look up at him or even move. The ends of my hair were dangling in my vomit and I desperately needing to wash my mouth out, but I didn't dare move. Instead, Nathan's cold arms wrapped themselves around, picking me up off the ground effortlessly and changing my position that he was carrying me bridal style.
"Talia!" He called, making me jump in his arms. "Clean this up." He ordered before marching down the hall towards my room.
He kicked the door open, startling Eddie, and then laid me gently on the bed. He picked up one of the bags he'd brought and pulled out a grey blanket and then covered me up with it.
"What did you do to her?" Eddie demanded, getting right in his face.
I groaned and tried to tell him to stop but my throat was burning.
"I did nothing, dhampir. She's sick, is all. She needs rest and fluids and then she needs to bathe."
"Rose doesn't get sick." He said.
"Rosie has had a trying day." He insisted. "I suggest you learn your place, dhampir. The only reason that you're still alive is because it would hurt my Queen greatly if I were to kill you but it doesn't mean that I won't." He turned away from Eddie and perched on the end of the bed. "Sleep now, Rosie. Everything will be better when you wake."
I smiled, sure that I was hallucinating. I had to be. Nathan actually looked as if he... cared. I watched as Nathan walked out of my room, glaring at Eddie as he went, and closed the door gently behind him.

When I woke up, Eddie was sitting in a wooden chair by the window, staring out at the sunlit garden. He must have opened the black out shades at some point. I must have been more tired than I'd thought.
I forced myself to sit up. "Ugh. What time is it?" I asked, my throat still burning.
"A little after eleven." He said, still staring out of the window.
"How long was I out?" I asked, running my hands through my hair. The ends were stiff where the vomit had dried.
"Three hours, give or take." He said.
"Are you all right?" I asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing. You seem to be pretty happy for saying you're with him." He said, the venom in his voice clear.
"Eddie-"
"You smiled at him."
"I was hallucinating."
"Oh? What did you see?"
"Nathan asked me to marry him." I said as a shudder took control of my body for a moment. "And then I was sick, though by the state of my hair, I'm pretty sure that that actually happened. And then he picked me up and brought me to bed, tucked me in and was a gentleman – or as close as a strigoi can be. I know, it's crazy but I swear, that's what I saw."
"That's because it happened, Rose."
My mouth hung open. It was unbelievable. Nathan – strigoi, murderer, rapist – was capable of being a gentleman.
"He asked you to marry him?" Eddie asked. I could see in his face that wasn't sure if I was being serious or not.
"Sort of. It wasn't a proposal like Christian's but he said that he wanted everyone to know that I was his. It'd be more like a brand of ownership than a declaration of anything resembling love." I said, suddenly wishing that it was Dimitri that had asked me. It was insane, seeing as I was so against marrying him, but it was Dimitri that I wanted. Dimitri that I would always want.