Twisted Rose

Thank you to anyone who reviewed on the last chapter! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'll try to include more of Dimitri's point of view in future chapters! Please keep leaving reviews!

Lyrics: Even though I'll never know what's up ahead, I'm never letting go

Chapter Five

When I woke up the next morning, my mind was still panicked. How was I supposed to face my mother and everyone else after what had happened between us? My cheek felt like it was on fire from the slap that my wicked mother delivered and I knew that it was going to flaming red when I looked in the mirror. All my life, I had never had a single bit of acne and I had always been somewhat pretty…now I had a huge, crimson red mark on my cheek and it was my own mother who had never given it to me.

Slowly, I sat up in my bed and held the covers close to my chin. Conflicted wasn't even the word. My mind was convinced that there wasn't even a word for what I was feeling right now. It should be impossible for one person to feel all of that at once…shouldn't they explode?

All I could think about was everything that Dimitri had said to me. I wasn't his responsibility, yet he still held me in the living room and told me all of the things that a young girl deserves to here. It should have been my mother who was trying to make me feel better, but it seemed that that was out of the question.

My bedroom door clicked open and Lissa stepped in gingerly. It seemed that lately the world didn't want us to spend much time together. She had been busy with her duties and I had been busy with my own. No one warned me how much of a struggle life would be. Nobody told me that a world like this allowed no room for friendship…that I couldn't even choose my own husband.

"Hello, how are you?" She asked as she crept further in as though she believed that I could explode in a bad temper at any minute. Was I really that awkward to be around for everyone else? "I heard about what happened"

"Great, I guess everyone's talking about it" I spat bitterly. Lissa cringed at my tone, not used to me being outright furious.

"I suppose you could say that you are quite an interesting topic of conversation at the moment" Lissa answered, trying her absolute hardest to act as though it wasn't a big deal. I didn't want to be the freak of the Royal Court.

"Oh, great" I hissed. "My stupid mother just had to go ahead and slap me. I wonder what Adrian thinks"

"If it helps, most people are laughing at your mother" Lissa grinned. "Not you. In fact, they all feel sorry for you. Hell, some even believe that you've been badly done to" It took a lot for Lissa to use that kind of language and hearing those words come out of her mouth brought a smile to my face. People were on my side for once.

"You're being serious, aren't you?" I asked, needing confirmation as my brain simply found it too hard to believe that the population of the village was now starting to make sense. My mind could only think about the thought that perhaps this was only the start. My mind began to think that perhaps people would really start realising what my mother was like.

"Of course I'm being serious" Lissa laughed as she perched on the edge of my bed, flattening her dress in the process. "You know that I would joke about something as serious as this." She was right. Lissa understood how upset I used to get over the things that my mother used to say and do. If there was any hope that this would stop, Lissa would be just as serious about it as I was.

"I can't believe this is happening" I cheered, making sure I wasn't too loud because my mother hated loud noises. As much as I hated her, I knew it wasn't a good idea to simply irritate her further. "Lissa this could all end soon" Her face split into a toothy grin.

She had known me before the pressures of being Royal had gotten to me and ruined any shred of personality that was left. She had often told me that she had missed the person that I used to be…and I had missed that person too. This Rose was nowhere near as fun. If there was any sign of the old Rose returning, she would be ecstatic about it.

"Well, it is happening" She smiled before turning serious once more. "Are you going to marry Adrian?" Even though that was probably the biggest thing that had been brought up with me within the past few days, it had not been the one that I had even attempted to think about. My relationship with my mother was more important to me. Well, getting out of this mess with being Royal was more important anyway.

"I haven't thought about it" I answered honestly as I bit my lip. Although I went on about how dreadful it would be to marry him, I realised that it would be all that bad. He was a handsome man, well paid and he seemed like he could be a sweetheart if he wanted to be. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to marry him. I only got so angry at my mother for deciding this was because I didn't feel as though it should be up to her. After all, it wouldn't really be that much of a hardship to marry Adrian.

"You know, if it's taking you this long to decide if you like him, I would suggest that you don't" Lissa answered for me, making herself more comfortable on my bed. Oh, this was going to be one of those infamous girl talks that Lissa seemed to manage to suck everyone into.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, pulling the covers up to my chin.

"Well, when you love someone…you just know that you love them" She answered as she gazed at nothing in particular as though she was in some sort of trance. "It's such a hard feeling to describe, but once you experience it, you'll know exactly what I mean. It's not something that you can just forget about."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" I asked with a mix of joy and offence in me. She had never once told me that she thought she was in love and that offended me that she didn't think she could trust me with something like that, but it was also lovely to know that she had felt that feeling before.

"Maybe I've spoken to a few men in my time and maybe I felt it for one of them" She evaded as she looked at anything but my eyes. Oh, that cheeky minx! She had begun to fall in love with someone and she hadn't been planning on telling me. Well, this certainly is the day for truths, isn't it?

"So, when were you planning on telling me?" I asked, trying my absolute best to keep the annoyance out of my tone, but it was simply too hard. Lissa had been my best friend for as long as I could remember and she hadn't even told me something as serious as that.

"Oh, please don't be annoyed with me" She pleaded as she flashed me her best and biggest puppy dog eyes. Oh, did she really think that was going to work on me!? I had been raised by one of the most heartless women in the entire world. Puppy dog eyes could not work on me no matter how cute they were.

"I just want to know why you didn't tell me" I answered as I looked down, feeling rather childish now for overreacting about something that didn't seem to be that big a deal for Lissa.

"I didn't tell you because I was confused myself and I wanted to try and figure it out for myself" She answered with a small smile. "And I didn't want to tell you because you've had so much to deal with lately that it just didn't seem fair for me to dump even more on you. You don't deserve all of that, Rose"

"Oh, of course I can listen to all of your problems" I shrugged off before leaning forward to her. "In fact, I'd quite like to hear about this one. Who is he?"

"Um, It's Christian" She answered biting her lip once more. My heart sank. Why did it have to be Christian that she had to fall for? His parents weren't exactly the best that someone could have. Well, his parents had stolen from many different villagers. It didn't take a genius to work out that that would reflect badly on Christian. Everyone simply tended to avoid him now.

"Christian Ozera?" I questioned even though I knew too well that there was only one fella that went by the name of Christian in this village. She nodded once more and I couldn't help but notice a grin slip onto her face.

Oh goodness, he had her turning giggly. What on Earth was happening to the world!? Vasilisa Dragomir never giggled!

That was when I realised what Lissa had meant about how you would just feel it and you would know that you loved them. It was clearly obvious that Lissa found it when she was around Christian. She acted differently around him. It was like she was always walking on air…like she was constantly on a high whenever he was near her.

She was right. I didn't feel that for Adrian and that proved that I didn't love him. The fact that there was no love between us wouldn't matter to my mother. All she wanted was to make sure that she had more money and a higher status and that was why I needed to be rid of her. I didn't crave or need any of those things and I knew that my mother would stop at nothing to get them.

The way Lissa felt and acted reminded me of something. I was sure that I had felt that way before about someone, but I couldn't place who it was that had made my whole body tremble with some sort of secret delight. As realisation dawned on her, her eyes widened and she shook her head vigorously…all the while with Lissa oblivious as to why she was acting like that.

Oh goodness. This could not happen to her.

Well, this chapter was more of a filler than anything else. I apologise deeply and profusely for how badly it is written, but I was welcoming in the New Year and decided to stay up all night and well, this was the product of my imagination at 4:53 am. Oh, I hope you all enjoy your new year and I hope your 2013 is great. Please review!