As usual I will start with reviewers anf favouriters (that should really be a word!) Thank you to mybrutalromance627, sarahhathawaybelikov-x, KrisIvashkov25 and Missa27! It's good that people actually like my writing, (even if you didn't I'd do it anyway, it is very theraputic.)

So this is the big dinner. I literally was up until 3 in the morning writing this so I really hope you guys like it!

I'm up to 10 reviews, how about we go for 15?

Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead. Lucky.

After that very strange but touching moment between me and Adrian, I have decided that it would just be too heartless of me to use him to forget Dimitri. I know I just met him and everything, but in that moment I could see that truly did care and wasn't just out for a quick fling like I had assumed. I'd still go to dinner with him, but I would try and avoid him for the rest of this trip.

Adrian's feeling s were made even more obvious by the cardboard box that was left outside my room when I got back.

I unlocked the door, dragging the box in with me. I sat on the floor and ripped the packing tape that had sealed the box. Right on the very top there was a note that read:

It should be a crime for a beautiful little dhampir not to own any perfume. Remember, pick the perfect one and I'll see you tonight. – Adrian x

Great. He's buying me presents now. Although the note had already told me what it was, I was still curious as to how much perfume he got that justified this massive box. I pulled back the purple tissue paper that had covered the bottles and I began to rifle through them all.

There had to be at least thirty of them ranging from ridiculously expensive ones to ones you could find in a supermarket. I took each bottle out in turn and sprayed them into the room, sniffing my clothes occasionally when I felt I couldn't smell anymore.

I was about halfway through them all when Lissa entered the room.

"Christ, what have you been doing in here, Rose? Where did you get all that perfume?" she shut the door and came and sat beside me.

"Adrian left the box outside the door." I said, returning to my task. So far it was a toss up between a Diesel perfume and Vera Wang.

"Why would he give you perfume?" she asked, sniffing the bottle I just handed to her.

"When I first met him, he said I smelled nice and couldn't believe it when I told him I didn't own any perfume. Obviously this is him remedying it." I passed another bottle to Lissa and she gagged when she smelt it.

"Jill's right, he must care about you. He wouldn't all this otherwise."

"I know." I sighed. So much for uncomplicated. "I saw him on my way back here. He actually seemed genuinely concerned that I was upset."

"Christian didn't mean it to come out like that. You know what he's like. He actually does care about you, Rose." Now she sounded like a parent.

"It doesn't matter now. We have a dinner to get ready for, right?" I said, placing all the bottles I didn't want back in the box, keeping both the Diesel and Vera Wang perfumes. Hey, he was an Ivashkov, he could afford it. I'd return the others to Adrian tomorrow.

I hadn't really planned on going to any sort of Royal function so I wasn't really sure what I was going to wear. Until Lissa told me that she had planned for Christian to bail on her and so brought me a couple of dresses just in case I had to go with her instead.

Lissa got started on our hair and make- up after we had showered. She decided to leave my hair down but curled it loosely. She did this to her own hair but put hers up in a high bun. We both had similar make up as well but Lissa used darker shades on my eyes and lips as her dress was a lighter colour than mine.

And were those dresses gorgeous. Lissa had got us both designer ones both by Johnna Raski, a well know Moroi designer. Hers was fuchsia with a scoop neckline and clung to her body in a way to make her look curvier and came to her knees. There was a black panel down the middle of the dress, front and back, which were joined at the sides by what looked a black mesh, which exposed her skinny waist. She wore plain black platform shoes with a black clutch and black blazer along with it. My dress was also black with a sweet heart neckline; there was gold beading on the waist, just like the one I was wearing in Adrian's dream. However this dress wasn't as clingy as the skirt flared slightly when it reached my hips and trailed down to the floor. I also had black platform, court shoes with gold detailing on them. Lissa handed me a gold clutch and gold waterfall cardigan and we were good to go, with only two minutes before Adrian and Christian arrived.

As if by magic, there was a knock at the door and in came Christian, closely followed by Jill and Adrian following behind.

"Ready to go, Liss?" Christian asked, holding out his arm for Lissa to take.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Wow, Little Dhampir. You look amazing." Adrian said, his eyes wide with adoration, I could imagine this was the look that a blind man would have if was seeing the sun for the first time. It made me nervous.

"Thanks. You don't look to bad yourself." I remarked. It was true; although he was wearing a similar tux to Christian I couldn't help but notice that Adrian wore his better.

I linked my arm through his and followed Lissa, Christian and Jill out of the room. I was fairly cold outside, so I was glad I had my cardigan and Adrian to keep me warm.

The dinner was being held in the exclusive, Royal only ballroom which was in a separate building to the dorms but was easy to get to as there was a sheltered walkway leading up to it.

We walked up the steps to the ballroom and I could hear excited chatter and light music coming through the double doors up in front me. When we reached the inside, I couldn't help but stare at the grandeur that surrounded me. Large chandeliers hung from the ceiling, illuminating the room. The walls were a deep burgundy but that was balanced out by how well lit the room was. There were several tables scattered around the room that were covered in, again burgundy table clothes and had huge, floral centrepieces that looked far too heavy for the table to stand that weight of.

Moving further into the room, you could see Moroi milling around, talking and gossiping like the normally did. Guardians lined the wall and I was surprised not to see Dimitri among them. Why must I think of him now?

There was a tall, dark haired Moroi at the top of the stairs who was announcing everyone's arrival, just like they do in movies. He had just introduced a Monica Szelsky and her husband whose name I didn't hear.

"Princess Vasilisa Dragomir and her partner Christian Ozera." His voice boomed, several people looked up, but most continued as if they heard nothing. Why did they have to do this?

Adrian must have sensed I was nervous and so placed an arm around my waist and rubbed my side. He held my other hand tightly in his.

"Calm down, Little Dhampir." He whispered in my ear. All I could was nod and concentrate on my breathing.

"Jill Dragomir." The man announced and she followed Lissa and Christian down towards the main floor.

Adrian gave the man our names and then we stood at the top of the stairs. I really hope I didn't trip over my dress.

"Lord Adrian Ivashkov and his partner Rosemarie Hathaway." That got a reaction. Heads shot up everywhere and I could see people stare and I could hear hushed voices as they saw me and Adrian descend.

"Ignore them, Rose." Adrian whispered to me and carried on rubbing his hand up and down my rib cage as I held on to his other hand for dear life.

We finally reached the bottom and made our way over to where Lissa, Christian and Jill were talking to Tasha, who had Dimitri on her arm. So much for my distraction.

"Ah, Rose. You made it! I had heard rumours you and Lord Ivashkov would come together." She smiled. Stupid bitch.

"Yes, I had to, but I couldn't quite believe them." Dimitri said, his voice sounded polite, but he glared at Adrian.

"And why was that, err sorry I didn't catch your name." Adrian said, he too was glaring.

"Dimitri Belikov. "

"So why didn't you believe them, Guardian Belikov? Surely not because I am Royal and Rose is a dhampir? Or was it because you didn't believe that Rose was good enough for this setting? Or I wasn't good enough for Rose?" Adrian asked, I couldn't help but suppress a giggle. Dimitri was getting owned by Adrian.

"Now really, what does it matter? Rose and Adrian are here, and let's all just have an enjoyable evening." Lissa said her voice calming. Dimitri and Adrian dropped the subject but I still caught both of them glare at each other occasionally.

Mostly the conversation was about Royal business so I tuned in and out. I sipped the glass of champagne that Adrian had got me and focussed on trying to calm myself down. Was it me being paranoid or was everyone staring at us? I suddenly became conscious of Adrian's arm around my waist and tried to wriggle out of it, but he held me tighter so I quickly gave up.

There was an announcement for us to all take our seats, and Adrian navigated me to our table. Luckily, we were seated with our little group and we all sat down, making sure Adrian and Dimitri were nowhere near each other.

The meal was nice but there was nowhere near enough of it. I know it was prepared with the Moroi in mind but surely they ate more than this? For this reason the meal itself didn't last long and the tables in the room the quickly cleared and moved to the edges of the room, allowing enough room for the dance floor.

Wait. Dance floor? Oh, shit. I was so not prepared for this.

"Care for a dance, Little Dhampir?" Adrian asked, taking my and hand pulling me to the floor before I could even answer.

"Err Adrian? I can't dance." I whispered in his hear, as he placed my hand on his shoulder, his on my hips and taking my other hand.

"Neither can I, but pretend like you can." He replied and began swaying us from side to side.

It felt nice like this. Looking up into Adrian's eyes I could truly appreciate how attractive he was. His green eyes sparkled in the light, his lips, slightly parted were the lips that you just couldn't help but want to kiss just because they looked so inviting. I would have to get used to his fangs that showed when he smiled, but other than that, I could see myself having a relationship...woah. Stop right there, Hathaway. Relationship? Not part of the deal.

"What's the matter, Little Dhampir? Something troubling you?" Adrian asked, moving his hand from my hip to touch my forehead that was furrowed in concentration.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Just thinking about tonight. It feels so weird to be around all this," I gestured to the room, "I mean, I'm only a dhampir, I'm not meant to be here." I said hanging my head so I was staring at our feet.

Adrian let go of my hand and I let it fall limp to side along with the hand on his shoulder. He cupped my face in his hands and tilted my head up to meet his gaze, just like he had earlier today.

"Rose," he began seriously, "I don't ever want to hear you say that. As long as you are with me you belong here. Understand?" he said softly

"But this, us, won't last will it?"

"Why not?"

"You're Adrian Ivashkov for God's sake! You can't be with someone like me." Where was all this coming from? I didn't care. Did I?

"I can be with whoever I want. If I want to be with you, I will be with you. Fuck everyone else." He said fiercely he leaned down and touched his forehead to mine. "There's something about you, Rose Hathaway. I can't stop thinking about you. I know we only met yesterday but it's true." He whispered.

He was leaning in again. He was going to kiss me, all I had to do was tilt my head up and I would feel whether those lips were as soft as I'd thought. But did I want this?

"Excuse me, Lord Ivashkov." A voice came from behind me. I turned away from Adrian to see who it was, and looked into my mother's face. Shit. "May I have a word with Rosemarie?"

Before he could answer, my mother had grabbed my arm and was dragging me across the room, out of a side door where we stood outside the building on another sheltered walkway like the one we had walked along earlier. I assumed this was one for guardians as the door was so well concealed.

"What the hell are you doing, Rosemarie? I heard rumours about you and Adrian Ivashkov but I thought you were smart enough to stay away from him." she shouted, the music and chatter was so loud that no one inside would hear.

"What is everyone's problem? It's just a stupid dinner. Who's to say we'll go out again? It's not like I'm planning to marry the guy." I defended myself.

"The way you were acting didn't make it look that way. You were adding fuel to the fire."

Exactly how bad were these rumours? "Look, I don't know who the hell you've been talking to but you really need to relax. Nothing is happening between me and Adrian. And anyway, since when do I have to justify myself to you? You can't exactly talk when it comes to getting it on with Moroi. What about my Dad? I bet he was just a casual fuck in a broom closet."

Smack! Oh no, she didn't. "How dare you! You know nothing about your father!" she screeched.

"Exactly, that's the point. I don't know who he is. I'd put money on the fact that you don't either."

"I don't want you to be like me, Rose. I was too young when I had you. Don't make the mistake I did."

"Mistake?" I said. I know I didn't have the best relationship with my mother, but a mistake? "I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did. Why else would you abandon me at five years old? Why else would you not bother? Well you know what? I'm not going to bother anymore. I'm going to go out there and have fun with Adrian. And you know why? Because I fucking can."

With that I turned away from my mother and walked back into the ballroom...where everyone was staring me...

I though the argument between Rose and Janine was hilarious! (Even if I do say so myself!) Tell me your favourite part, I really don't want to be the only one entertained by this!

The next chapter is proving very difficult, so let me know what you think should happen, and I'll get right on to it!

Remember, 15 reviews before I upload!

Snap to it my lovelies!