And another, because I am still procrastinating. Secretly, I will never stop. You will all suffer through my fanfics until I die.

I was right. There hadn't been a soul in that classroom that didn't know who I was. I mean, I knew I'd been infamous in my time at the Academy, but I'd reluctantly admitted to myself a long time ago that my hype would have died out by now. Apparently, I was wrong.

I'd had plenty of stories prepared to tell the class, each with its own strong undercurrent message of caution, and camaraderie with the other Royal Guardians. I'd actually been looking forward to regaling them with the typical stories.

But these novices were little shits. They didn't care about my recent adventures or accomplishments. They wanted to hear stories that were about the glory of battle, or how great it felt to kill Strigoi. They wanted to hear about Spokane.

And Spokane wasn't something I was ready to talk about.

There was a tension in the back of the room as soon as one of the novices, a black haired kid with muddy brown eyes, shot his question across the clamour of students all asking similar questions; "What about Spokane?"

"Mr Phillips, raise your hand if you have a question," Stan spat. "And that goes for the rest of you." He glared across the room, and the noise died out immediately. A few hands shot into the air, including Phillips. I ignored him, and picked the only girl in the room, a blonde sitting right in front of me.

Maybe it was the blonde hair, or the sweet smile, but I trusted her. She betrayed me.

"Could you tell us about your first kills?" she asked bluntly.

The fact that she'd said "kills" instead of "kill" led me to believe that everyone in this room had heard this story.

I remained silent for long enough to allow whispers to break across the classroom. I was speechless. How could they want me to talk about this? Was it fair? Were they allowed to ambush me like this? I looked to the back of the room for help, but the Guardians there were avoiding my gaze. Only Dimitri met my eyes, and his were full of helpless irritation.

"Is it true you killed, like ten Strigoi with a knife?" Phillips asked from the back.

"What?" I blustered, focusing my attention on the novice. "Where the fuck did you hear that bullshit?"

"Hathaway!"

"Sorry Stan, won't happen again," I apologized. He didn't reprimand me for using his first name, which made me smile just a little. The tension seemed to ease. "It was two Strigoi, and it was a sword. I'm pretty sure no Guardian has ever killed ten Strigoi with a knife."

Despite the obvious anti-climax, the novices seemed awed. Maybe they'd assumed the whole story was a fairy tale, and any semblance of truth amazed them.

I spent the next twenty minutes in a blow-by-blow recitation of the events in Spokane. I amazed even myself when I calmly recounted Mason's death, and the profound impact it had on me at the age of seventeen.

Only one comment was made about Mason, and it made my blood boil. A boy at the front of the class offhandedly mentioned that Mason had died because he wasn't a good Guardian – that any guardian worth his salt would have survived, like I had.

"I mean, there were two of you. You could have taken out two Strigoi pretty easily." His arrogance wasn't borne of any ill-will, but rather his complete inexperience with Strigoi.

"Mason Ashford was a great novice. He beat me in hand to hand combat almost consistently up until Spokane. He would have been an excellent guardian." I could feel Stan beside me, his animosity for this kid growing with my own. Mason had gotten in trouble with me on numerous occasions, but Stan had always had a soft spot for him. "Sometimes, it's not about how good you are. It's about how lucky you are. We die fast out there, and sometimes the only reason you survive is because your best friend just died for you."

I levelled the novice with a condescending glare, and watched him prickle at my next words.

"Mason Ashford was my best friend. And he was sure as hell a better guardian than you."

Of all the bad habits I couldn't break, starting fights in Stan Alto's Guardian Theory class was definitely my most infamous.

The novice was fast, I'd give him that. And he was one hell of a hot head. He didn't manage to land his punch, mostly because I'd seen it coming just in time to duck out of the way, sending him swaggering towards the whiteboard. Stan caught him in a headlock before I had the chance to exact any retribution, and took him to the ground in seconds.

No one else had even moved.

I laughed, exhilarated. It had been a very long time since someone had surprised me with a punch. Most of my fights these days were well organized spars, where I was expecting every hit.

"If anybody else wants to try and hit me, I'll be at your afternoon prac class," I joked. The class tittered awkwardly, and after Stan released the novice, he shot me a glare that could have withered prunes.

I took his murderous expression as a sign that I should take my leave, and excused myself from the class, muttering vague nothings about assisting the queen.

If possible, I ran back to Lissa's rooms faster than I'd run to Stan's class. I wasn't one hundred percent sure he wasn't going to follow me out of the classroom and send me to Kirova's office, just like the good old days, and I sure as hell was sticking around to find out.

I found Lissa and Christian, huddled together on the bed making doe-eyes at each other, and I got the impression from the rumpled state of their clothing that I'd just missed the fooling around part of their day.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed, shielding my eyes for dramatic effect. "Please, spare me this gruesome sight!"

Lissa giggled, and slid off the bed, but Christian fixed me with a look filled with dry humour. "Why? Just because you're not getting any?"

I dropped my hands and gave him a withering look. "I see someone's been having way too much happy-chatty-friend time with his Guardian," I shot back.

"Yeah, well somebody had to comfort him after your cold shoulder last night."

"It's nothing he didn't deserve," I sniffed.

Lissa laughed as she opened the doors to her vast wardrobe – thankfully, she'd only brought enough clothing to fill a quarter of it. Unfortunately for me, most of the clothes were dresses that I knew I'd be spending the next two hours sorting through.

"So I hear," Lissa threw over her shoulder. "I can't believe you guys have to go through this again."

I'd long since gotten over the fact that due to the close friendship that had developed between Christian and Dimitri, absolutely nothing happened in any of our relationships without everybody else hearing about it. I didn't even bother to ask Lissa how much she knew – I knew that by now, pyro would have told her everything.

"Well, it's not quite the same," I admitted. "We just have to be 'discreet and professional'." I made a face as I repeated Dimitri's words.

"Discreet and professional means that you're allow to have sex though, right?" Christian pressed. "Just not publicly?" I tossed the pillow from the divan at his face.

"Like that's any of your business," I retorted.

"It's my business if you've got my Guardian all tied up in knots because his fiancée isn't wearing her ring, and refusing to so much as kiss him."

"That's a lie, I kissed him yesterday."

"You're not leaving him, are you?" he asked jokingly. Underneath that dry humour I sensed a little bit of concern.

"Rose could leave Dimitri as easily as she could cut off her own arm," Lissa scoffed, saving me the indignity of professing my love for Dimitri to Christian. "Stop being an ass."

Christian seemed satisfied, and let the matter of my devotion to Dimitri slide. "But you know, you could have sex with him. Because I'm not particularly looking forward to constantly hearing about this celibacy competition you two have started. I mean, I see the man literally every day, and if you haven't noticed, he doesn't have a lot of friends to talk to about this stuff."

I put my hands on my hips as Lissa began heaping dresses onto the divan. "I'm not having sex with him," I said stubbornly.

Lissa paused and shot me a doubtful look. "Really, Rose? How long do you think that's going to last?"

The disbelief in her eyes had me scowling. "As long as I say it will. I promise, I'm not going to have sex with him until that ring is back on my finger."

Lissa laughed. "I used to think you would stop having sex with him if he'd dared 'put a ring on it'."

Neither Lissa nor Christian believed me capable of remaining celibate. If I hadn't always had such poor impulse control, I might have actually thought about how difficult it was going to be, given that Dimitri and I were living across the hall from each other. But I didn't think about that. I just bridled at the humour in their voices as they mocked my self-control, or lack thereof.

"I'm serious."

The two of them stopped chortling away, and Lissa looked at me, surprised.

"If I have sex with Dimitri before this is over, I'll let you dress me for every social event I attend outside of my Guardian duties for a year."

Lissa's eyes almost misted over as she considered the possibilities. "No... You'll let me pick your wedding dress."

I hesitated for a moment, thinking back on what Lissa had pointed out in those magazines three weeks ago.

Lissa waited patiently, watching me turn it over. It was Christian that put the final nail in my coffin. "What's the matter? Afraid you can't do it?"

"Done!" I exclaimed. Lissa took my hand firmly in her own and gave a sharp shake.

It was when the expression of utter delight broke across her face that I knew.

I'd really fucked up this time.

The formal dinner was a shockingly sober event. Every Moroi on campus was in attendance, and dressed to the nines. Some of the royals even looked as though they'd tried to outdress Lissa.

We'd ended up deciding on a simple, formal wrap that accentuated her tall, slender frame. She looked so graceful moving through the students, I felt like I was practically lumbering behind her. Christian walked beside her serenely, with Dimitri shadowing him silently. The rest of the royal guard surrounded us in a ridiculous show of pomp and ceremony. But all the same, I was on high alert.

We were here for a reason, and that reason was the quite real danger present somewhere in this group of Moroi. Maybe they weren't a threat to Lissa – after all, they hadn't made their intentions clear. In fact, we weren't even sure if the group known as the Mana had even resurfaced. Maybe what we'd heard was really just a rumour…

I glanced at Dimitri and Christian. No. They wouldn't have brought Lissa halfway across the country if they'd thought there was even the possibility of it being "just a rumour".

Dimitri caught my eye, and I relaxed a little. As much as I was concerned about the Mana, and on high alert for any threats to Lissa, having Dimitri beside me was a tiny bit distracting. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about the deal I'd made with Lissa. Dimitri had been at the final practical class of the day, and I'd attended just to scope out the ability of some of the novices. Given that the Guardians were usually a little less tense when they were looking after senior novice classes, Dimitri had come to chat with me about my performance in Stan's class.

Overall, he'd found it amusing. We'd had a bit of a laugh together, and watched the novice that had tried to punch me – Novice Elliott, as we discovered – move quickly around his opponents.

It had only taken a few moments for the humour in Dimitri's eyes to turn into something else, and obviously recognising the danger of standing so close to me in public, he'd excused himself quickly and returned to his position against the wall.

The prac session had seemed a little dull after that.

I tore my eyes away from him now, and quickly structured my frame of mind around doing my job. I was glad to have Dimitri by my side, in case anything did happen to threaten either Lissa or Christian.

We moved through the crowd at a frustratingly slow pace, but I knew that Lissa's attentions were being given to everyone, and not just the prominent royals in the crowd. After half an hour, I got the nod from Abramova to speed things along.

"Your Majesty, it's time for the speech," I murmured to Lissa, stepping close enough that only she and the young Moroi girl she was speaking to could hear.

Lissa politely excused herself, and allowed us to sweep her through the crowd and up onto the dais.

I knew that to the crowd of Moroi below, she looked stately, and calm. From my place three steps behind her, I could see her hands shaking on the blank palm cards she was clutching. She shot me a quick glance, and I gave her an encouraging nod – a little tradition we'd started with every public speaking event.

A hush fell over the gathered Moroi, and Lissa's hands stopped shaking.

"Welcome.

"If this event were taking place at Court, or even at a different Academy, this speech might go a little differently." A whisper of discontent rustled through the students. "But I was a student at this Academy, just like you. The late Queen Tatiana visited during my time here too, and I remember standing where you stand now, only four years ago.

"Many of you here today were present the day the Academy came under siege by Strigoi." There was a stillness amongst the students that could only be outmatched by the heavy silence from the Guardians lining the walls. "Most of you, I would imagine, were too young to understand how the wards were broken, or to see much of the fighting. I would hope that you all remember the men and women we lost, both Dhampir and Moroi alike.

"I would hope that all of you would do everything in your power to stop such a thing from happening a second time, and I am here to tell you how.

"Four years ago, a group of royal Moroi began a group here at Saint Vladimirs. They called themselves the Mana –" a louder murmur rippled through the crowd, and students turned to whisper to one another "– and it was by their doing that the wards were weakened, and the Strigoi were able to enter the Academy." Lissa sent a long, hard look into the mass of students, and they began to grow still again. "They were the same age as you are now, and their arrogance and cruelty cost the lives of so many people that we had come to love. They had no intention of causing serious harm, but they had no idea the kinds of magic they were dealing with."

Lissa's charisma had moved everyone in the room once again, and even I wasn't unaffected. The Mana had been the catalyst for a lot of devastation, including the fateful rescue mission where Dimitri had been turned. It took all my power not to turn and seek him out. Of course he was still behind me. He was there.

"We are aware that the Saint Vladimirs Mana faction has been reformed, and I have come to you personally, as someone who has seen the tragedies that can unfold in the wake of such organisations, to ask you to let it die." The striking anger in her final words sent a chill down my spine. Christian, from his place beside her, lay a gentle hand on the small of her back even as I reached out to her. I could almost feel the tension leaving her body.

"I hope you all enjoy your dinner."

There was a buzz of confusion in the room as Christian led Liss down from the dais. It had been a very abrupt dismissal.

I didn't need to ask Lissa if she was alright. I could recognise the effects of Spirit darkness anywhere. She'd been doing so well lately, carefully balancing the amount of Spirit she'd been using, but it was always bound to catch up with her.

"Let's get you back to your room," I muttered, taking her free hand in mine.

"But the banquet," she protested meekly.

"Screw the banquet, they'll be fine without you. I'll bring you something to eat. Do you need a feeder?" Christian asked, hovering attentively at her side.

I gave a quick jerk of my head to let Abramova know that we were heading out of the building. A few quick signals from her caused three other guardians to break off the walls and join us as we discreetly stepped out the back door, into the light.

"Do you think I got through to them?" she whispered to me as we made our way along the covered walkway.

I shrugged. "If they have emotions, then yeah, you'd hope so. But this Mana isn't like the one we dealt with when we were eighteen," I reminded her. "They're a lot smarter than Jesse, that's for sure."

"And our offensive magic program has given them all the ammo they need," Lissa muttered hopelessly. She wilted at my side, and I slipped my arm through hers to keep her upright as Christian did the same on her other side.

"The offensive magic courses are very clear about the conditions under which Moroi are to use their skills," Christian whispered fiercely.

"But it's still our fault," Lissa lamented.

"Look at the Novices," Christian continued angrily. "They teach them to use guns when their fourteen, for crying out loud. If they can teach a bunch of fourteen year olds that using the weapons at your disposal is only acceptable in certain situations, then Moroi should be able to learn it as well." He paused a moment, chewing his lip. "I knew we should have made the physical defense classes compulsory. They wouldn't be taking it so lightly then."

"It's too late for that now," Dimitri interjected, walking close to Christian's side. "We'll just have to deal with whatever comes our way."

Dimitri and I made eye contact briefly, and I could almost feel his concern. We didn't know what the Mana wanted, we didn't know who they were. Hell, we barely knew what they were capable of, but one thing was certain. If they were after Lissa, we'd given them the perfect opportunity.