This is for all the poeple who asked me to update and put story and author allerts on this one. DuskyGurl - as soon as I sent you the quick message back I realised I hadn't thanked you for the review ad alerts - so let me say it now Thank You very much! Feeling loved (:

So for all the people who like the stroy - Here you go I hope you enjoy. Oh lets aim for five reviews before I update, I like to know poeple still like what I'm writing it give me more motivations, SO the more reviews the sooner I'll update. Anyway hope you like.

Apart from protecting Lissa I'd never given much thought as to how I was going to die. Honestly, protecting any Moroi was a good way to go but if I had to pick a specific Moroi to die for then it would be Lissa. I was going to be her guardian after all, right? But if Lissa wasn't my charge then who? My heart sang: Dimitri. My mouth said: "Whoever I was protecting at the time."

"And what about Mason?"

My heart clenched at the mention of his name and all I could see for a few seconds was him lying lifeless at my feet. He'd only died a couple of weeks ago and I was still nowhere near close to getting over his death. I kept asking myself 'what if' questions. What if I hadn't told him I still loved him? What if I'd figured out how to escape sooner? What if I hadn't told him about Spokane in the first place?

"What about him?" I asked calmly in a great effort of self control. All I really wanted to do was cry or shout at her for bringing her up but I'd always known this might come up. I shrugged it off hoping to look cool and collected but I seriously doubted I'd managed to keep the pain off my face in the first place.

"How do you feel about his death?"

"Upset. Sad. Angry. Don't particularly want to talk about it." If I were talking to anyone else I would have put a 'back off' warning in there somewhere.

I hadn't been told who was giving me my qualifier. As soon as I walked into the room I wish I'd asked. Simona Basserab. The Head of the Guardian Council. It wasn't just her name that was scary either. It was pretty much everything about her. She still had a fighter's stance and eyes that darted around the room in the typical dhampir way. And they were very perceptive. There was no doubt she'd seen shock when I walked through the door and an extra layer of tension when she said Mason's name. But what was I to expect from the head of the council? A molly-coddling grandmother figure? Hell no. This woman was all muscle., fighting stance, perceptive eyes, serious eyes and plain scary. All of that in an eighty year old. Somehow I wasn't ashamed to be scared of her. Just being in her presence demanded you give your upmost respect. Hell I could feel her power from where I sat a few feet away from her.

But she was also playing a mind game. If she expected me to fall she had another thing coming.

"How angry?" she asked.

"Very?"

"Don't you want to do anything about it?"

"I've already killed the strigoi who killed him." My hand subconsciously went to the back of my neck which was now adorned with two molnijas. "Sure I'm still angry but I'm not going to do anything stupid like go strigoi hunting or anything."

Ironically that's what Mason had been doing when he died. There had been attacks on a couple of royal families – the Badicas and the Vodas – and he'd gone off the handle angry about it. And me, stupid me had told him where they were hiding out all because I was angry at Dimitri. When he'd told me where they were Dimitri had said I was to keep the information to myself. But I'd told Mason anyway because I was angry at him. It wasn't just our lives that had been put in danger when he left. He took Eddie, a fellow novice, and Mia, a non royal Moroi, with him and Christian, Lissa's snarky boyfriend, had tagged along with me when I went to get them back before the guardians realised they were gone. It was amazing that the rest of us got out alive. Barely alive. Christian and Mia had both used impressive amounts of magic in our escape and were severely blood deprived, Eddie had been used as a snack over the duration of our captivity and I had been emotionally scared.

"Rosemarie?" Simona prompted bringing me round from my daze.

At that particular moment I'd been seeing Eddie's drugged up eyes and slack body. He'd told me that the worst part was not remembering anything. Honestly I was beginning to think I'd rather that than the daily torture I was suffering. It was always a toss up of who I saw. Eddie, or Mason…

"I've seen what Strigoi can do and I know how stupid that is. If anything it's made me want to protect people more."

"Do you want to kill more Strigoi?"

"Yeah sure. I mean, I wouldn't go out looking for any but I'm not afraid of having to do it again like if anyone was in danger."

She seemed satisfied enough and anyone else would have looked at a clip board. Well, maybe except Dimitri. she already knew her next question and I had a sinking feeling I did too.

"Why did you take Princess Dragomir, the last of her family, away from St. Vladimir's?"

It was like the conversation with Stan all over again. He'd given me the greatest humiliation of my life but it had taught me a lesson. Until the moment I said "Moroi blood makes them stronger" I thought I had been perfectly justified in taking Lissa away from school but those two words Moroi blood had been like a slap in the face. Yeah I was embarrassed but the thing I felt most was shame. How had I thought I'd be able to look after her, fend of Strigoi? I'd learned my lesson in one second flat. And after Mason… Yeah I'd been stupid.

"I thought I was doing what was right. Well that's what I thought at the time. Viktor Dashkov was behind all the troubles then as well I think. I didn't think I could trust anyone at the time. I thought I was protecting her."

It seemed like a good idea at the time, along with Ms. Karp's warnings. Alright she was crazy from spirit but there had been some stock in her words. Especially when Lissa thought she was being followed all the time. So I took her away.

"Looking back now I know how naïve and plain stupid I was. I know I shouldn't have needed to do that to learn my lesson but I did. There's nothing I can do about it now." I shrugged. "I also don't think that anyone would have done anything until Dim – Guardian Belikov got to St. Vladimir's.

She did that cool one eyebrow thing. Only it ominous. I deliberated how to explain without giving our secret away. He'd been the only one to take time to help me, teach me and care for me in a way that made me want to prove myself. if I told anyone else what I thought was wrong with Lissa they would have laughed and turned me away. Until it was too late at least. As it was we were almost too late to save Lissa but that was Viktor's fault. Even when we broke the charm we were almost too late because the school wanted to check that I was right whereas Dimitri had trusted me instantly. Before Dimitri arrived they wouldn't have let me help them find her either which would have meant we probably would never have found her and put Viktor in jail. He'd trusted me, treated me like an adult and respected me. He'd tamed my impulsive nature and made me a better person.

Once I'd somehow put what I was trying to say into words Simona asked, "You didn't think you could trust Guardians Petrov or Alto? Out in the real world you need to trust guardians you've never met before with you life."

"I guess I didn't know how to trust people. Guardian Belikov helped me learn how. After the Viktor thing and especially after Spokane I'd trust any guardian with my life."

"You and Guardian Belikov are close?"

Were we ever? "Yeah sure. I mean he's my mentor, been there for me when Lissa's been under the weather and when the Viktor thing happened… she went through a rough patch."

"And after Mason was murdered." Ouch she didn't mince her words.

"Yeah." I sighed. "And after Spokane."

The conversation went on like that for a while. I answered to the best of my ability whilst remaining truthful. Until it came to Dimitri anyway. What made it even harder was that knew he was outside the open door well within earshot. That was scarier than sitting in front of the Head of the Guardian Council because I knew that he'd know if I passed or failed just as quickly as she did. Honestly I was doing this to prove myself to him. Having Simona's recommendation was great for my job but it was Dimitri's that mattered most to me.

"Who do you admire, Rose?" was her last question. "If you had to have a different mentor who would it be?"

"My Mom." I said without hesitation.

She seemed surprised at this. A couple of weeks ago I couldn't even be in the same room with her without being pissed off. But that had changed over Christmas. In Spokane. Everything had changed in Spokane. She'd been there for me after Mason's death and that had thawed the ice between us. But I'd also seen why she was as respected as she was. She'd conducted herself with a calm efficiency even under pressure and emotionally strained. She'd even managed to keep her cool around me which was an achievement in itself. When I'd needed to get everyone out of the house in Spokane it had been my mother's way of working that I'd adopted. I hadn't even thought of what Dimitri would do. There was no doubt about it, she was a great guardian and I admired her. Even though she could have done more in the motherhood department.

She got out of her chair and beckoned me to follow. We walked out the door towards Dimitri. I don't think I'd ever been so glad to see him. Not that I let it show.

"Dimitri, it's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Simona."

I oogled at him and said "Jesus Comrade, is there anyone you don't know?"

Simona laughed, weird and Dimitri rolled his eyes and shook his head a little. No doubt he thought my thinking he knew everyone was silly but everywhere he went he seemed to know everyone. That's respect, Rose, I thought to myself. and his reputation.

"What do you think, Belikov?" she asked.

"Rose will be one of our best."

"Good." she turned to me. "Rose, I'm entrusting you with this letter for Alberta, will you see she gets it as soon as you get back? It's nice to know the last Dragomir is in safe hands."

She walked to her office and I looked at the letter she gave me. It was the one from her desk I noticed as soon as I walked in. I hadn't even seen her pick it up. How did an old woman move so fast?

"Rose?" Dimitri asked. "Are you alright?"

I realised I must have been staring at the envelope for a long time.

"What just happened?"

"Rose, you just passed your qualifier."

Not sure I believed him – she did leave pretty quickly – I looked up at him. The only confirmation I needed was I his eyes. They were full of pride and were dancing with happiness. The firs thing I felt was relief. There was a big chance I was going to fail this. Everyone who knew me knew that. But, like Dimitri said the good on my record outweighed the bad. I was going to be allowed to be Lissa's guardian after all. At lead she'd be safe.

I whooped and threw my arms around Dimitri's neck. I half expected him to pull me off. Instead he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer.

"Thanks, Dimitri." I murmured. When I pulled away I said, "This calls or celebration, Comrade." And lightly punched him in the arm.

He began to walk away an amused light in his eyes and a slight smile playing on his lips.

"How about a McDonalds or a movie or something?"

"Alright, but first Tatiana wants to see you."

"What?" I asked my happy mood gone. "Why?"

He shrugged. "The queen works her own agenda." Anyone else would have missed the slight annoyance in his voice but I knew him too well. I also guessed he thought the amount of tradition she kept going was stupid too.

SO that's the next bit, what do you think?