Revelations

I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Here is the next one. Enjoy!

Richelle Mead owns all original VA.

I ended up in a knee length satin green Asian style dress with red embellishments and black pumps. I had to admit, I looked good. I got to Jack Cho's and went inside and Tasha was already there waiting. I went over and joined her.

"Hi Rose. How are you doing?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm surviving. That's about it right now." I said.

"Well, that's to be expected. Mourning is never easy. So, do you think you'll be ready for the upcoming journey?"

"I hope so. I have some anger issues that I need to work through, but I think I'll be ready." I said. We ordered our drinks and food, and then Tasha began.

"Well, that's something I thought I might be able to help some with." I took a drink of my wine and I looked at her raising my eyebrows. "Let me guess, you're angry with Adrian for leaving?"

I nodded. "How did you know that? Can you read my mind or am I really that transparent?" I asked with a little laugh.

"Neither. I went through something similar a while back. Not quite what you did, but I lost someone very dear to me to Strigoi. I would like to tell you my story." Tasha said as she waited for me to allow her to continue. I nodded, urging her on.

"It happened fifteen years ago. I was thirteen at the time. My brother and his wife willingly turned Strigoi leaving their four-year-old son behind. Obviously I was upset, but at first I was upset with the Strigoi, not necessarily my brother. My nephew, Christian, had moved in with my parents and me. The Moroi society had turned their backs on us as punishment for what my brother had done. When I was eighteen I took Christian and moved away. It was the best thing for him. About four years ago, my brother and sister-in-law returned for Christian. They wanted to turn him, but I managed to set my sister-in-law on fire and destroy her. My brother attacked me and left me with a daily reminder of that day." She motioned to the scar on her face. "As he was attacking me, Christian, who was fourteen at the time, set him on fire, not only allowing me to escape, but also killing his father. You see I hated them for what they had done. I let that hate rule my life. My brother had not only turned into my enemy, tried to kill me, forced me to raise his son, which may I add I have never regretted, but he also ruined any chance Christian may have had to live a Royal life." She paused as the waitress brought our meals.

"I mean, we are still very wealthy, but was are shunned. After Chris showed so much power with his fire, I enrolled him into a school in Russia. It hasn't been easy on him, but he has graduated top of his class and is a talented fighter. He never harbored hatred like I did, and I always looked up to him for that. He has long ago forgiven his parents for what they did. You see my sister-in-law was a spirit user, but at the time no one, not even her, knew what was happening. She was losing her mind. She was becoming a danger to Chris. When she decided to turn, my brother followed, he couldn't live without her. I had to do a lot of soul searching, but I finally made peace with it. Am I still hurt? Sure, but I let the anger go. They thought what they did would protect Chris, they didn't know until later how wrong they were. I'll bet Adrian thought the same thing when he charged that Strigoi." Tasha finished.

I was astonished. After that we both ate in silence as I let it all sink in. What she had said was tragic. But she was right. Adrian was trying to protect me but not considering the consequences of his actions. What he did, he did out of love. How could I be angry with him for that? But then the next part was, if I forgive him, would his soul move on? Will my visits with him be done? I didn't know if I was ready for that.

"What you said makes perfect sense." I said quietly. I could feel the anger leaving me. The hurt and the hole in my heart was still there, but that black feeling was disappearing. We had finished our dinner and got ready to go.

"Just so you know, I will be with you until the end of this, and my nephew is training and will be joining us when we reach Russia. If you ever need to talk, just let me know." She said as we walked to the cars.

"I will Tasha. Thank you so much for helping me. You really did help me." I finished. We went our separate ways and I headed home.

When I got back I went to Lissa's room. Lissa answered and I noticed Dimitri was there. "I won't keep you long. I just wanted to let you know that I worked through my anger and Adrian may be leaving tonight. I'm not sure how this works. Just letting you know."

"Are you going to be alright?" Lissa asked, clearly concerned.

"I think so. It'll hurt, but I think I'll be okay." she hugged me tightly and I headed back to my room. I changed into another one of Adrian's shirts and settled into my bed. I closed my eyes preparing to see my love.

I ended up on a beach with candles everywhere. I knew Adrian was close. I was still in his shirt, but I was on the beach listening to the waves crash into the shore, I didn't care what I was wearing.

Adrian came up behind me. "Little Dhampir." He said as he sat down next to me. "How are you today?"

"Much better. I need to talk to you." he nodded knowingly. "I love you so much. I miss you so much too. I am still hurt by what you did, and I'm sure I'll never really understand why you did it, but I forgive you. You weren't thinking about the consequences, and that I understand. From the bottom of my heart, I forgive you." I said as tears began pooling in my eyes.

"Thank you. You have no idea what that means to me." He said then leaned down and kissed me.

I pulled away and just stared into his emerald green eyes. "What are you looking at?" he said with a small laugh.

"You, I want to burn you into my memory. Now that I have forgiven you, I don't know how much more time we have." I said quietly.

"We still have tonight." He said, then leaned in and kissed me deeply.

"Adrian? Make love to me." I said against his lips.

"Here? Are you sure? You were always opposed to that." He said with a smile.

"I know, but things have changed." I said and crashed my lips to his. We made love on the beach in my dream and I burnt every move, every feeling and every inch of him into my memory. It was heaven. I knew it was only in my dream, but it was the closest thing I would ever have.

I woke up sad to know that that could have been the last time I would ever see Adrian, but happy to know the anger had been purged from my heart. We only had about three weeks left until we left for Russia and I needed to train and be ready. I wasn't sure how long I would be in Russia, but I had to be ready. I got up, got a shower and changed into my workout clothes and headed towards the gym.

I fought with renewed strength and determination. I was beginning to feel like myself again and it was liberating. With my renewed strength I was able to take down all of my opponents. It was great.

"Tomorrow we will be trying something a little different. Rose, you're going to need to rely on all of your senses. You may find a time where you may only have your sense of smell and intuition to rely on. That's what we will begin working on. I have an old acquaintance coming in to help with this. Tomorrow will be a great test for you. The rest of you will return to your regular training." Abe explained. What did all that mean? I wasn't sure I liked the way things were going. But for Adrian, I needed to do this.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I am hard at work on the next one, so please leave me your thoughts.

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