I walked through the hall, trailing my fingers across the wall, feeling my ridiculously large ball gown brush up against it too. I wanted to concentrate on all the little things, the microscopic details; I needed to get my mind off of what had just happened. Needed to shake this horrible dread that was building up in my stomach. I knew why I felt it too.

I couldn't marry Dimitri.

That was the truth that I knew. But why? Why couldn't I just marry him? It was the most probable solution. I would be Princess Dragomir Belikov. And Dimitri and I would be very…. Content together. So why did I know, deep inside, that this was wrong? Just as I was contemplating insanity, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, a black figure. Because of the announcement Dimitri made, everyone in the room had immediately celebrated, making the room chaotic, which was just my chance to try to run away. I had shook Adrian off my tail when I darted out of the ball room, and I knew that it was foolish to try to run away from my guardian. But I needed to be alone, actually be alone. No secret guardians lurking in the hallway. So who was this that was following me? I turned around abruptly.

"Christian?" I asked, surprised to see him. I had only seen him one other time, and that was just the back of his head. But of course I had seen pictures of him from the royal courts newspaper. He was an Ozera.

He looked down immediately, and blushed bright red. He slowly lifted his head up, obviously embarrassed at being caught. He finally met my eyes, and my heart stopped.

Boom.

My world stopped turning, everything was on pause. It was like I was being electrocuted, and it felt good. I suddenly felt so full of… of what exactly? Love. I felt completely full to the brim with love. I took a tentative step forward. Then another. And finally, I was right in front of him. I could see his long eyelashes, the specks of bright blue in his big green eyes. Eyes that were partially covered up with his hair. I slowly lifted my hand to try to brush it away, longing to look in his eyes with a better view. And his hand reached up, lightning fast, to stop me from touching him.

That's when it happened. He pushed through that little inch of barrier that was separating us from actually touching. He pressed his lips against mine.

Earlier.

Rose

I looked out throughout all the heavily overdressed royals, all talking and buzzing with excitement, We just found out that the Queen was making a surprise visit. "Great" It was going to be even more heavily guarded. The walls were basically lined in black with the bodies of all the guardians. We all had our uniforms on, and it was kind of a funny sight. I looked across from me and spotted Adrian, I wanted to wave to him, or to even smile. But that was against code, I was supposed to be paying attention to the Royals. Which I was. But still. I wanted to say hi to my best friend! His eyes sparkled when he saw me staring. I knew what that meant.

I was so bored, I decided to put my attention to Christian, and almost laughed in response. There were like fifteen girls surrounding him, all looking as if they were about to maul him. Poor guy. He obviously was just basking in the glory. But still, I knew there was only one girl he wanted. And that one girl was taken by Dimitri. Dimitri. That reminded me, his eyes looked different tonight. He seemed a little kinder. Yes, a little. He still took the time to rudely comment on how I couldn't pick him up earlier. Though I did see his eyes graze over my necklace he had gave me a couple times. And I saw a different emotion flicker in his eyes. It was an emotion that for some reason, made me feel like horses were stampeding in my stomach. In a good way.

Dimitri

"Well hello, Dimitri." I heard Lissa's mother's voice and sighed inwardly. That woman drove me crazy. I turned around from the refreshment table with a huge fake smile plastered on my face.

"Hello Lady Dragomir." I replied, taking her hand. She smiled but I knew there was something else. Not just interested in a hello, I realized. Always an interior motive.

"Anything on your mind?" I suggested.

"Well." She paused, like she was too shy to ask. "I have been meaning to question your intentions with my daughter. You two have been together forever. When are you going to pop the question?" She asked.

Oh. So that was it.

"Well, I just want the time to be right." I said, completely lying. Marry Lissa? Why hadn't that thought ever cross my mind? It seemed unworldly to me.

"You know, as well as I, that Lissa is more than ready to be married."

"Are you sure that you're talking about your daughter more than yourself?" I asked. The Dragomir and Belikov family would be majorly publicized if we were to get married. That was all she wanted. Fame. It was horrible. Just to think that the Royals used to actually care about politics, and helping people. Now it was all about being known.

Her eyes sparked with anger for a second. "We will discuss this at a more proper time." She replied, letting go of my hand, and swishing away. If she tried to shake her butt any more when she walked it would snap right off. I snorted at the thought.

"Something funny, Dimitri?" I heard someone ask from behind. I turned around once again.

"No father." I answered quickly. "Just thinking about something amusing."

"You know what I don't find amusing?" He asked.

I sighed. "What father, would that be?"

"The fact that you still have not proposed to Vasilisa." He answered, looking at me with a weird expression. What was that? Oh yes. Disappointment.

"Father, I just talked with Lady Dragomir about the same thing. It is okay, I have it all worked out." Pffftt. As if.

"So you're telling me that you have waited so long, that the mother of the intended bride had to ask you to do it?" He asked his voice raising. Bride?

"Yes. I mean no. Well, just listen-" I began.

"No. You listen. You will do it, and you will do it soon. I am growing tired of this, and you will end it." With that he walked away. Great.

Rose.

I stared at Dimitri. Poor guy. His Dad was yelling at him. Again. Now if you thought Dimitri was an ass. Think again, and talk to his dad. Then you finally got the real deal. Yuck.

I saw sadness flash on Dimitri's face, then anger, then something else. Determination. He pushed past his father, past Lissa who was talking to some of her friends, all the way to the front of the room. He pulled out one of the chairs from a nearby table and stood up on it. Damn. He was so freaking hot. What? Shut up Rose!

Anyway, He stood up on it and started clapping his hands. What was he going to do? Start dancing for us? He cleared his throat and yelled, "Everyone! Everyone I have an announcement to make." He waited until everyone was quiet, and then continued.

"As you all know, myself and Vasilisa Dragomir have been seeing each other for quite a while." everyone chattered in response.

"I love her, more than anything in the world, And honestly? I can't even come to fathom being without her." A few of the girls in the room practically swooned.

Gag.

He stepped off the chair and walked gracefully to where Lissa was standing in what looked like, shock. He then took her hand, kissed her check and got down on one knee. God, look at that ass. I needed a filter to my brain.

"Vasilisa Dragomir." He began. "I love you, with every fiber in my being. Will you consider becoming my wife? There is nothing in this world that I would want more." He pulled out a black box from his back pocket and opened it, revealing the most perfect and huge diamond ring I had ever seen. Lissa put a hand to her lips and obviously speechless, nodded as a yes and smiled a gigantic smile, not even bothering to cover her fangs. Dimitri pulled out the ring and placed it on her finger, than hugged her and kissed her. Cheers screamed through the ballroom. I think everyone was either crying with joy or shouting their excitement.

Lissa

Oh, my god.

Christian

Oh shit.

Dimitri

That will show that bastard of a dad. Proposing to Lissa, right in the God Damn middle of the ball.

Adrian

Oh crap. Where is Lissa running off to now?

Christian

I saw Lissa run out of the ball room after whispering something into Dmitri's ear. I ran after her, knowing she couldn't be alone. It wasn't safe. Anyway, I wanted to talk to her. Maybe I could finally get the nerve to introduce myself to her. Sure, she may have just gotten proposed to. But hey, she wasn't officially married yet. Right?

Back to Present.

Rose

After about ten minutes of all the guests chattering excitingly, The lights went off suddenly. Right before they did, I noticed Lissa and Christian missing. Hmmm.

The lights went off and everyone started screaming. Oh please people. It's just the lights. But even I knew something was up. I checked with the radio I was carrying on my belt, starting to walk over to Dimitri, the lights were off, but I could make out a few things. I knew where Dimitri was before the lights went out; It was my duty to find him.

"What Is happening?" I yelled over the screaming people into the radio.

I only got out a muffled reply full of static. I made out one word though. Attack.

Aw, shit.

I went into guardian mode, as Adrian had called it. He was so full of shi- No, not the time Rose. I sprinted over to where I knew Dimitri was and grabbed him. I had one objective now. Get him to safety. I heard him grunt in surprise when I hoisted him up. But he knew who I was when I squeezed his arm in response. Translation- shut up. I got my radio and put it into Adrian's frequency.

"Rose!" He yelled, he was across the room, and the yelling had died down a little so I could understand.

"Adrian listen to me. There is an attack. It's happening now. I saw Lissa run off to the far east corner. Christian followed her. We need to get to them. I've got Belikov." He didn't answer. He didn't need too. I knew he was already high tailing it over there.

Dimitri ran with me as I was leading him. We heard gun shots from behind, but I just ran faster. Dimitri didn't slow down either. We got over to the hallway and walked in. I stopped running and got my stake out, still holding on to Dimitri's arm with my free hand. I slowly turned the corner and saw Lissa and Christian. Making out? Damn, they were really going at it too.

"Adrian!" I yelled at the hallway behind me. He couldn't be too far. Lissa and Christians heads snapped up from their session of eating each other's faces off in response to my voice. I guess they hadn't even noticed the screaming with how far down each other's throats they were. Okay not really. But still. Ew.

Dimitri hadn't turned the corner yet, so I knew he hadn't seen. But I still saw the guilt flash across Lissa's face. And the sheer glee over Christians. Or was that something else, a product of making out?

Again ew.

I saw Adrian running down from the hallway across and I practically threw Dimitri over to where Lissa and Christian were.

I heard the whisper from Lissa to Dimitri.

"What's happening?"

LONGEST CHAPTER so far! that was hard. You dont think writing is that hard untill your trying to actually do it. Did that make any sense? God. im a mess, im EXHAUSTED. but i love you guys so much that i tried to stay awake just to write this! what do you guys think?

LOVE-

nessa(: