I'm really sorry for being a bit late with this chapter, it's just that I'm so busy with school these days because the year is coming to an end and as always you have to do most things in the last second. I'd love to have writing for my first priority, but it's impossible at the moment It also took a little while because I think this is the longest chapter till now. Thank you for the new reviews! Please keep reviewing, because it honestly means the world to me to know you read my story… I own nothing, Richelle Mead does, and there are spoilers. I'm also sorry for mistakes. And the most important part: I hope you enjoy this chapter!

My jaw fell and I just stared there quiet in disbelief for a few seconds. Then I bursted out laughing. "Oh, my God," I said almost histerically. My friends came closer to me. Maybe they have before, I just didn't notice because of the shock. A surprise birthday party! I couldn't believe it. It's never happened to me before.
"So that's what you've been hiding from me," I told Adrian. He gave me a mischievous grin.
"You didn't guess?" he asked. I shook my head, still chuckling.
"I had no idea!" I couldn't believe I didn't notice. Although I wasn't really in mood for noticing things lately. "Well, I didn't care about anything."
"Yeah, I know. We were hoping to cheer you up a bit," he replied. "But you did a pretty good job with that yourself."
"I almost gave the party up like half an hour ago!" Rose laughed.
"You all knew?" I asked with a new disbelief. Of course, they were all there, grining wildly, they all loved me.
Well, Eddie wasn't there. But I wasn't going to let that bring me down.
"Of course we all did! We were all a part of this," Christian said.
"It was Adrian's idea, though," Lissa admitted.
"The credit goes to the one who makes the idea reality," Adrian said with a wise voice. "Which is me, so. You're welcome."
"Aren't you one modest person," I scoffed and dragged them all into a big group hug. My eyes were kind of tearing up. For the first time in too long, the tears weren't coming from misery.
"Since we know how much you love the kind other royals, we didn't invite those," Sydney told me.
"Yeah, you guys love those too," I teased. "Sure, definetly," they all replied whining.
"Well, anyway, only friends and family," said Adrian, nodding towards the tables where the rest of the guests were sitting. I glanced around the hall, seeing faces that looked familiar everywhere, but I was too shocked to recongnise them. My parents got up at the mention of family.
"What?" I exclaimed with my lips wildly curling up. I could somehow process the thought of a surprise party, but my parents? They came here? I was amazed.
"Yes, that goes under family," Christian said. "Including Liss over here," he remarked, hugging her over the shoulders as he spoke. They were always around each other.
"But you don't know all that goes under friends yet," Rose said cheerfully. I was about to ask but didn't. A few people from my eariler life got up. My old friends, from Detroit, St. Vladimir's and so on. Not from Amberwood, unfortunately. You couldn't bring humans to the Court. But those people did include...
Luke.
"Wait, they even brought you here? From Pentisuala?" I asked.
"Well, you see me, don't you. Yes, princess, they brought me," he chuckled and swept me into his arms. I barely realized how much time'd passed since we last saw each other. It was almost a month, but it felt like a few days.
It took me an hour just to greet all the guests I hadn't seen in forever. As I was about to sit down and eat something (because all the food on the tables looked really delicious), my friends - Court friends, because there were many here - announced one last surprise. The person who was that last surprise obviously knew it, because I noticed some moving in the back of the room. A well known face neared me. I missed her as the first wave of people came, but didn't say anything. Of course I should've known they were too brilliant to forget about anyone.
"Aimeeeee!" I squealed and hugged her tight, happier than I could imagine I'd be, especially after they'd already cheered me up to the max. I couldn't believe I saw my best friend after a year. We've been in contact over the past months, and I still called her oftenly, but it just wasn't the same anymore. It was different seeing her in person. I missed her, even though she didn't know everything about everything anymore. She didn't, for example, know the hot mess Eddie and I were. But I knew I could trust her with that. We'd debated my crush on Adrian a thousand times while at St. Vladimir's. I was just starting to relize how much of my old life I'd simply cut out.
"I could barely keep quiet for so long," Aimee shrieked, her gray eyes shining. She was just as excited as me. "But your friends told me it has to be a surprise. I totally get that. I would've otherwise called you for your birthday, but seeing you is so much better. You can't imagine how horribly I've missed you!"
We both couldn't stop talking at all for a few minutes. It was one of the things we had in common. The rest of my friends just stared and laughed. They had no idea how good we were at rambling. Our conversations could take hours, make no sense and never get boring. And now we had about a thousand things to talk about.
Our endless talking was interrupted with another guest joining us. It was my party, so of course, I had to accept them. Lissa came to call me for that reason. I was a bit annoyed about leaving Aimee after not seeing her for so long, and surprised, because I just didn't know who else could come. Almost everyone I knew and loved was already here, in one room. But I still had to accept the new guest, whoever it was.
Unlike me, my friends already knew who joined us. At least according to their faces. "Damn, I didn't think he'd show up," I caught from a thought Adrian couldn't hide from me. I should've known who it was.
And I recognised him the moment I turned around to go towards the door. My jaw fell. I shared Adrian's thoughts; I certinately did not expect him here. I didn't even know if I wanted him here.
It was Eddie.
Before I knew it we were standing face to face. One look in his astonishing brown eyes, those depths of hypnotising color that make me lose myself in one moment, brought back all the despair I'd walked out of so succesfully. But I was also so amazingly, unbelievably happy to see him it didn't seem possible he was the one who crushed me into pieces. Seeing his perfect, angel-like features, it also seemed phisically impossible he was capable of that.
It took me a month to take one little step away from him and be happy with it, now one look from his eyes pushed me several feet back again. No matter what I wanted, no matter what I told myself, he still had me on my knees.
"Happy birthday," he said quietly. Oh, his voice! I'd missed it so much! So warm and soft, sweeter to me than any music, the sound I wanted to fall asleep to, I wanted to wake up with that voice whispering into my ear. Why did he have to tourture me so bad?
We never dropped eyecontact in the few second when all those thoughs raced through my brain. We couldn't. I was glued to him. I couldn't look away. And now, taking a step through my own agony, I saw the despair in his eyes as well. I recognised the sad tone in his voice. His look was tired and the smile on his face was so faint, barely covering a month of frowns that never went away. He was hurt too. I couldn't even be mad at him.
I could only feel how desperately agonizingly horribly I miss him. And suddenly, with no way I could stop it, my own voice, filled with one month's tears, rung in my mind: "I miss you. I miss your face, and your eyes, and most of all, I miss your smile. The kind that could make my whole day. I miss your laugh. Any kind of it. When you're trying to hold it back, because it's something ridiculous I did and you don't want to insult me, or just because you're so restrained and you want control of yourself. But I miss your real laugh even more. The kind where your lips just find their way up your cheeks and you do nothing but laugh. When it's just the two of us, and you don't hold back, don't care and your eyes tell me you're happy. But honestly? I already missed that laugh before I lost you. I miss you, Eddie. I miss you a lot."
But it stayed in my mind. I didn't say any of this. It took so much restraining, the kind of restraining he'd be proud of if he knew. Well, who says he didn't? He could always see through me. Those words in my head were so true it hurt me. That was part of a reason I didn't say them. Before I lost him. It was over now. I've come too far, I've been hurt too many times, and I've learned that he won't change his mind. At least I couldn't make him. Which was right. It was his mind. And I've learned that... I'd be okay without him too. It would take a while, but it was worth it. I couldn't be that... that addicted to a person. It wouldn't even be healthy to be depending on him that much. I needed my own strenght. Mental too, not just physical.
And thinking this way, I realized, was the first step towards it.
"Thanks. And thanks for coming," I said finally, breaking the silence that was neither pleasing nor truly uncomfortable. A sincere, wide smile drew on my face as I said those words. Like a giant weight fell off of my shoulders because I wasn't dependent anymore. It was a small win. I didn't need him.
I spent the rest of the party as light as a feather. The energy of everyone around me fueled me and I felt amazing.
Only minutes after Eddie's arrival they brough the cake. He could sure pick his timing. By shape and size it kind of reminded me of a wedding cake. "But that's why it's called a sweet sixteen," Adrian told me. This party was also my official sweet sixteen party, as they said, and I didn't mind at all. I never wanted a big party, so I was happy this was the way they made it.
The music was taken care of too, first just on the stereo, then, as a present, even Smoking Blue performed, since all the other members came too. And like in the restaurant that night, we all danced. Me with most of my male friends and some of the girls too. It didn't matter with who really, it was just about having a good time. Everyone got their turn.
Except...
I saw Eddie sitting by one of the tables, all alone and kind of sad. Our eyes met for a second, but he looked away immediately.
Why did he even come?
I kind of understood him by now. I saw the reasons for his fear. Royals were a battle you couldn't win. No matter what you did, someone had something to gossip about, someone would judge you. But I didn't understand how could he put that above the ones he loved. Like me. He loved me, right? That was what everyone claimed. Including him. But he never really proved it.
Later we were siting by one of the tables, eating each our tenth piece of the cake, and Sydney asked me about my hair. After rooming with me for so long at Amberwood, she knew the problems it always caused me, and the difference was probably quite obvious. Rose explained she took me to see Ambrose, making everyone at the table smirk, especially the ones that were sitting opposite to me.
Adrian's eyebrows rose. "So I'm getting some competition? Challenge accepted," he said with a pretend-to-be-jelous tone, reffering to the time I named him my official hair stylist. He only failed because he was too close to laughing out loud. My friends found everything that had to do with me and guys hilarious. Sometimes I still felt like they took me as a child.
"Yeah, not only with styling my hair. Ambrose is disturbingly attractive," I said excitedly, unable to hold myself. Thinking back at him, it was indeed true.
A sudden noise behind me startled me to the point where I almost fell off my chair. As if I didn't have enough experience in that already. I turned around to see what happened and faced Eddir and some girl, a dhampir, who were leaning over a fallen-over chair. The girl was laughing and Eddie looked devastated. He shot me an apologizing glance and looked away immediately, before he could notice that my lip corners were twitching too. I assumed he was responisble for the chair falling over. It was very unlike him to be this coordinated and... Well, clumsy, until they get a better word for it.
Unless...
Was he jelous? Because I commented Ambrose like that? Did the jelousy make him knock a chair over? I was definetly capable of something like that while being jelous at the coconut bra girl and the Barbie gone bad. And most of my friends laughing and smirking were sitting opposite of me, where they could see him and whatever it was he was doing before the noise. Were they laughing at him?
But Eddie was never like me.
Oh, God, I'll never get guys!
I wished I could just talk to him, like I used to. The distance between us bothered me. A small part of me promised myself that even when I'd be over him completely, I'd still give it a chance if he ever changed his mind...
Maybe that was just what I told myself because I wasn't ready to cut him out of my life completely.
"Jill?" Lissa asked. Her worried tone told me she hasn't said it for the first time. I gave her an expectant nod. "I hope you realize Ambrose is too old for you. I know it's annoying, but it's mostly about your public appearance..."
"As if I don't know that," I said quitely. I only listened with one ear, partly because I already knew what she was telling me - I mean, the whole thing was just a joke - and mostly because my attention was wandering to Eddie.
Did he react the way he did because of me? How did he actually react? Was that girl just an innocent witness or... Was he spending his time with her now that I was gone?
Stop this, I told myself. It doesn't matter. And after everything he told you, it probably has nothing to do with you.
I did manage to keep my mind off of him, especially after he left early. The rest of us stayed long past midnight. The night passed without any further complications. As the morning was nearing, we barely kept on our feet and it was about time to go home. The cleaning was left for the next day. I was firmly decided to help with that, princesss or not. It was my party after all.
"I feel like I can't thank you guys enough for this. It was the best sweet sixteen I could imagine," I said as we were leaving. Adrian stifleda yawn and gave me a worn-out smile.
"It was enough of a thank you to see the smile on your face," he told me.
Aimee stayed in my room. Of course, it wouldn't make sense to come from a different state just to leave at 3 am after a day. And I was really excited to have her there, because we still had a lot to catch up with. The fact that we hadn't distanced in all that time made me happier than I could imagine.
"Are you okay with sleeping on the couch? The room still has one bed, but you can get it if you want," I told her. She only stroke her hand: "No, no, I'm completely okay with the couch. A couch at Court is probably more comfortable than all the beds at St. Vladimirs."
Her eyes were glittering with awe and I suddenly realized how excited she must be. Not only because of seeing me. Back at the academy, we both dreamed of going to the Court. It was like... I don't know, Hollywood to humans. Now, when it was basically my primary residence, it just didn't seem so great anymore. But I didn't want to ruin it for her.
"Except for Kirova's bed maybe," I remarked. We both laughed. Most of the students always had something to say about our headmistress, mostly because she was so strict, which made us accuse her of many things she really wasn't, like haughtiness.
"But they might as well give me double room here. You have no idea how many people have slept on this couch in the last month," I sighed, not realizing what I actually said until I saw Aimee's face getting red. "That's not what I meant!" I exclaimed promptly as she finally bursted our laughing. Her suddenly face turned back serious.
"I know you didn't mean that. What's up with you and Eddie?" she asked. I'd smile if she asked me about anything else. My best friend, after a year she still knew me like the back of her hand.
"Well... Wait, how do you know he's Eddie?" I asked, suddenly realizing I hadn't even introduced her to half of my friends yet. Although, seeing what secret plans they were making behind my back, she probably already knew all of them. But I highly doubted Eddie was a part of planning the party.
Aimee's eyes turned big, filled with a weird dismay.
"I know all of their names. Don't you remember when you first met Rose and then started to train with Christian? You met all of them gradually and told me each of their names and we were both so freaked out about the fact that the biggest names at our school - and now Court - actually know who you are. Don't you remember the night Adrian first walked you back to our room and we both shrieked so hard at the fact of seeing him alone that he came back to check if anyone attacked us?" she asked with a grim voice, leaving me speechless.
They were my heroes - people I couldn't imagine remembering my name. Now they were like family to me. Screw that, Lissa was my family. I was one of them. And I knew Aimee was afraid of losing me to them, leaving her to fangirl about them alone. Except that if I left her for them, it would probably leave too bitter of a taste to keep that kind of awe for them.
But I'd never leave her for them!
"Of course I remember that," I said gently. I had no other words.
"I still almost freaked out when Adrian called me to come," she continued with a bitter laugh. "They really love you. And they're really nice."
"I know," I said, staring blankly at the space in front of me. "It's gonna be hard leaving them when I go back to St. Vladimirs in three weeks."
I broke the news to her this casually on purpuse, but I still squinted at her when finishing my sentance. So I wasn't completely dumbfounded when she hugged me even stronger than at the party, squealing happily. If I didn't see it coming she would've knocked me off the couch, but this way I could return her embrace properly.
Then I told her the whole Eddie story without leaving a single detail, not even his muscles under the wet shirt. Her reactions were very appropriate, including the thread to throw a brick at him after I concluded.
She always had that kind of hilarious comments that cheered the room up. That's why she was always the popular one of us. How pretty she was also helped. I'd always been a bit envious of her flawless straight platinum blond hair and her beautiful grey eyes, or I better said admired that in her. So did the guys. But she never bragged about it. She was just the one invited to the cool parties, and she always had a good word for me, allowing her to bring me with. That's how I got a lot of my friends. But the royals - the ones our age - still mostly chose her over me, probably because of her looks.
Then I met Rose, turned princess and boom, I was the one with the connections.
But that never mattered between us, because we were friends simply due to getting along. She got me and I got her.
And once again, even though I wouldn't have wanted that for her, we were in the same place. Once she filled me in with her life in the past year, it was clear she still wasn't over Brett. Or, maybe over wasn't the right word. She kept repeating what a jerk he is and that she'd rather die than be with him again, which I believed. First because she was always an honest person, true to her words no matter what, and second because he begged her to take him back a thousand times. According to what she told me, that still wasn't over.
Brett Ozera was one of the royals our age who liked her. He always seemed like a nice guy, and when he asked her out she agreed gladly. They had a somewhat perfect fluffy romance for two months or so. I still don't know if it was all an illusion or did he change to worse. The beggining of the end was when he got beaten up - we still didn't know who was responsible for it. Then he became different, more hollow and, well, mean. And then I caught her kissing that girl, Christine Lazar, as my diary reminded me a few weeks ago. Aimee didn't believe me at first, but only days later she caught him herself - with a third girl. She left him irrevocably, but after more than a year, she was still bitter about it and didn't trust guys.
Which was basically a good thing. Guys weren't to be trusted most of the time. Of course she realized it. She was, besides her looks and personality, also a very clever girl. Her and Sydney alone could refute the dumb blondes stereotypes.
But not all guys were garbage. Some were emotinally scarred, like Eddie (the best expression I could think of) and some were really just good people. I needed to change her opinion to better once I'd return to St. Vladimir's.
Then we shared the other, general news and I told her about my bomd with Adrian. At first she was a bit hurt she hadn't found out before, but she understood as I explained I couldn't tell anyone.
In the end we both ended up sleeping on the couch. I assumed that at some point we just fell down asleep. The next day I showed her around the Court, which was a bit difficult, since she wasn't the only guest we had right now. Most of them left sooner, only Aimee, my parents and Luke with his band stayed. I got all of them to help me help the staff clean the hall the party was in, just as I promised.
I spent most time with my best friend, obviously, but when I took time for my parents, whom I was also very happy to see, I tried to get her to spend some time with Luke. I felt guilty about both of them and I wanted them to be happy. They deserved each other. Luke was certinately a guy among the ones that were just good people.
Unfortunately nothing happened during the three days they spent here. Maybe it was for the best, considering the distance. And they probably weren't really focusing on each other, since they were both having their first time at Court.
I was quite occupied even after they left. But I quite liked it, because, again, I had no time to miss Eddie. I wasn't drowning anymore, but it would still be more than great to keep him in my life.
Anyways, Lissa stopped tourturing me with those dinners every single day. She had no more reason to keep me busy because I did it myself now. And even those few times we still had to attend because of the protocol weren't that agonizing for me anymore. I didn't like them, but I also didn't feel sorry for myself the wjole time. I started to look at life more optimisticaly.
At one of those dinners Lissa brought up a subject I'd forgotten about long ago.
"Yesterday I saw Ariana Szelsky and asked her about that Dragomir ring," she told me. I looked at her with interest, noticing she didn't look very keen. I knew instantly there were probably no news about the ring's location. Or at least no good news. But I asked her what she found out anyway.
"Well," she started carefully. "The good news is that she confirmed the ring's existance. She told me she even saw it a few times, and that our guess that my grandpa had it is correct. It's also golden, the same design as the Ivashkov one, except that it has an emerald in the place od the ruby. So we know what to look for." She paused and glanced at the floor. I knew her well ebough by now to know what came next, but she hesitated.
"And what's the bad news?" I asked.
"Well, it's not that bad, because the ring is not a matter of life and death," she said. "The thing is that my grandpa gave it to my - and your - dad before he died. Ariana and I agreed that he probably always kept such a precious thing with him, so after he died, since almost no one knew about it... Well, the ring was probably buried with him." She refused to look at me and I could tell that she was dissappointed.
"So it's lost?" I asked quitely.
"Yeah," she replied sadly. "I mean, it's not worth that much. We're not going to dig into the grave for it."
Moroi, always holding on to traditions, were mostly buried in coffins instead of urns, especially royals. So we could suppose the ring survived.
"But they probably changed him before the funeral. Don't you think he kept it in a pocket or...?" I was ridiculously clinging to hope. The ring didn't even really matter than much.
"Then whoever took care of the clothes probably kept it, not even knowing what he owns," she said. Her eyes were sad. I didn't excpect my always so proffesional and positive sister to be so upset about this.
"I mean, it's not like it's that important," she quickly defended herself. She must've been realizing the same thing I was, although I didn't say anything. Maybe it was in my aura. I hoped she knew I didn't judge her for it.
"It's just that... I don't know, every single ruler in our family wore it. This way, I feel like I could be more connected to them. And I already broke all the traditions just by beeing the Queen. I though I'd at least keep this one. And... I know it's not very likely that's true, but Ariana also told me the ring was compelled. Like we read, this is a really old tradition and I couldn't even replicate that kind of compultion. It was even made on gold, which I have no idea how to do. Well, that compultion was centered at the person wearing it - for them to be a better monarch. Everything's falling apart, I haven't achieved almost anything in a year, except for the quorum, and I feel like maybe it could help me be a better Queen. I don't actually believe this stuff, but..."
Lissa avoided my gaze again. I began to understand how was it possible that we were sisters. Or at least where I'd gotten my over-talkative skills from. I had to respond to this emotional outpour. First thing first.
"Sis, you are not a bad Queen," I began, making her muster a wan smile. I never though I'd be the one comforting her.
"Do you have any idea how big of an achievement it is just to be crowned at 18? Those other over achievers only hurry with changing the constitution because they have like ten years of life left. You have a full lifetime." She smiled again, this time in a more cheerful way.
"Unless I get assassinated first," she remarked. I snorted. "As if Rose's gonna let that happen."
I continued my earlier pep talk: "Anyway, I get you wanting to have the ring. I mean, the late Queen had to have some reason to reach out for me. It must be important in some way. And you saw how many things no one believed turned out true. Spirit. Coming back from death. Ghosts. An eighteen-year-old Queen. Restoring Strigoi. Human-Moroi relationships. Angeline apologizong." She chuckled.
"So I understand you wanting that ring. But maybe you could actually replicate it - what if you study the other rings? They still exist, don't they? Call Sonya and Adrian with you, you guys will figure something out. It won't be the same, but it will be something," I sad, losing track of where I was going with this. But it seemingly made sense to Lissa.
"Yeah, you're right. I'll do that. Thanks!" she gushed and dissappeared somewhere for the next ten minutes. The night was coming to an end anyway.
The next day I finally found the time to call Christian and Mia for magic practise. After a fighting lesson with Neil, of course. Christian and I agreed to go to Mia's and then head to the spacious distanced meadow where we'd already practised last summer. It still wasn't completely legal, so it was better to move away from the curious looks a little bit. And Mia was living in a part of Court that was closer to that meadow than us, the 'Creme de la Creme' of Moroi. Oh, how I hated that.
Well, it wasn't that far, and Christian and I made a nice walk out of it. It took a while for Mia to open, and as soon as she showed up at the door I knew why.
Eddie was there.
Of course, he left the moment he saw us - me. Or maybe Mia told him it was us before. He greeted us completely casually before dissappearing, but I saw the blush on his cheeks. How could I miss it? It was adorable.
I must've blushed as well, because I suddenly felt Christian's hand on my shoulder pulling me closer. "I wouldn't worry abiut that," he whispered into my ear. Did I look that jelous? "I did the exact same thing to Lissa when I was trying to make her jelous."
I laughed, but Eddie was doing a hell of a good job, because I felt a sting of that jelousy in my chest. At least I had no time to start missing him since I saw him more now.
"He didn't have to leave just because we got here," I told Mia, trying to sound calm and selfless.
"You'd actually prefer him to stay, wouldn't you?" Christian teased. I blushed once more. I didn't even know if he was right! If Eddie had stayed, it would've been very awkward, but I'd lie - again - if I said I didn't miss him. I guess the truth was there was good in him staying and in him leaving.
"I don't care about him," I said evasively. At least that was a complete lie. Christian gave me a knowing look and Mia gazed at me in surprise.
"Am I missing something?" she asked curiously. She blushed right away too. After having some bad experience in that, I knew she didn't want to get in other people's bussiness.
"Oh, you're missing a lot," Christian replied with an emphasis on basically every word. Mia shrugged and gave me an apologetic look.
"Well, I can assure you there's nothing between me and Eddie, at least nothing I know about," she told me. I was about to say I'm not worried anyway, but I rather bit my lip. They weren't buying it anyway.
The meadow was different than I recalled. It wasn't that much of a meadow anymore, there was almost no grass. And the small patches that remained were all dried up and brown. The rest was just bare ground. As hot as this summer was, I doubted it was that hot.
"Oh," Christian said, noticing my surprised look. "There might have been something like a small fire here in September." He spoke so casually I was pretty sure the fire wasn't just something he heard about.
Magic was, as always, an amazingly refreshing activity. Mia showed me a few things as well, not quite as big as the draining and ice crystals Christian taught me in Hawaii, but almost more efficent and useful. She was a water user, you know. I was also struggeling to get better at changing water to ice or steam. Mia and I agreed ice was the best way to attack someone, because it was stiffer and easier to keep in shape. But it was harder to create and wield.
"Let me show you this," Mia said and summomed something like a cylinder of ice out of the water we were both wielding. Christian stepped aside in the process. He'd lost interest to evaporate our water to tease us a while ago, because we'd just gotten too good at changing it back, so now he was just watching. Mia held her cylinder into her hand and showed me its tip. It was sharply carved out, like the tip of of a silver stake. A weapon out of nowhere.
"How did you do that?" I exclaimed zealously. Mia chuckled. "I wanted a weapon as deadly as a stake or fire. And so, I practised a lot. It was really hard to get ice into this shape instantly at first, but after you do it once, you can do it in your sleep."
I decided to give it a shot. It was difficult, since I was used to a softer material, and my cylinder looked more like a failed cube. With no sharp edges. I groaned, but Mia encouraged me to try again. She said the same thing'd happened to her the first time. So I gave another try, forming something a bit more oval now. Stimulated by that fact, I refused to give up on my bunch of weirdly shaped ice, so I tried to push it closer together, to re-shape it and form a sharp tip. I felt myself sweating and breathing heavily in the process, because I was putting so much strenght into it. The feeling reminded me on the time when I tried to move a table I later realized was nailed to the floor. Plenty of strength with no use.
Finally, I figured out how to press the ice right, and it narrowed right in front of me. I squealed in joy and kept going. The shape was becoming more cylinder-like. But the volume was shrinking. I realized that couldn't be good, because the ice would get just too dense. As that thought hit me, it exploded into thousands of sharp little crystals. They flew into all directions possible.
Christian shrieked behind me. I turned around and realized some of the crystals also flew his way. He reacted in a decently fast way, sending a wave of fire at them to melt them. They left wet drops on his T-shirt, but he couldn't stop all of them. Mostly his forearm that he'd put up in a defense reaction suffered. As I neared him, I could see hundreds of little bleeding cuts on it.
"Gosh, I'm so sorry! I had no idea that would happen!" I couldn't believe my failed stubborn attempt ended up injuring him.
"I know, I know. But I think you just found a new weapon," he replied with a mischievious grin. I found it a bit surprising he was that eager, since this discovery costed a fair amount of his blood. Mia was equally impressed, and we agreed we'd try that again later. With better protection, of course. It basically went by the same principale as Christian's "pepper spray", except that it did more damage.
But right in that moment, we took a break, at least for Christian's bleeding to stop. Mia told us she'd go pick some s nacks back to her place. And maybe some first aid equipment. I told Christian what Lissa'd learned about the Dragomir ring while waiting. He listened carefully, especially when I told him how upset she seemed. She'd probably tell him herself otherwise, but since she was crowned, I knew they barely ever still had the time to talk.
"Damn shame," he remarked when I finished. I nodded and grimaced.
"What are you talking about?" Mia asked. I noticed she's just joined us again. She was eating a sandwich and she offered one to each of us. I gladly accepted. So did Christian.
"Oh, just some thing called the Dragomir ring," I replied, stroking my hand. Mia's jaw fell.
"Do you know anything about it?" Christian asked promptly, noticing her reaction. She nodded.
"Yeah, I know the monarch wears his or her family's ring. And I know Andre had it." Christian and I both gasped. "What?!" we exclaimed at the same time.
"Yeah, his dad - Eric - let him have it since he was so sure he was never going to be the King. Andre didn't know yet, of course. But he kept it. He always had it with him, and he told me about it and even showed it to me while we... Dated..." she said and exhaled. I knew her well enough to know this was a painful subject for her.
"Thank you so much," I breathed. Mia gave me a wan smile. I couldn't wait to tell Lissa.
Christian, although no less excited about this than me, pushed the entusiasm down and focused back on the training. He realized there was nothing he could do about it right now, since we were here. He got up and clapped his hands. "Okay, so we could..."
"Jailbait, you gotta come see this," I heard through the bond. Christian by then finished his sentance about begining to train again, and I shook my head to him. "Something's going on in front of the palace. Adrian's calling me."
"This might he interedting for Ozera too," Adrian mind-added.
"Come with me," I told Christian and Mia. They followed me suprised, but with no further questions. Which was good, because I wouldn't be able to answer them. I didn't know what's going on as well.
It turned out I wasn't the only one. There was a smaller crowd where the bond led me and Adrian was almost in the center of it. I surged towards him and found him, Lissa and Rose talking to a guy who seemed familiar to me. I couldn't remember where I remember him from, but I knew I'd seen his blue eyes before.
Then it hit me. I hadn't been in quite that much contact with him when we last met, but he had the same features as his sister I knew better, so there was no doubt who he was. I asked anyway.
"Are you Reed Lazar?"
"Yes, he is. I don't generally like Lazars, but this is so weird that I... Anyway, don't get too close to him. Remember the last time," Adrian mind-messaged me. Before Reed'd been taken to wherever he'd been taken, he'd been quite agressive towards me when I argued with his sister. We later learned those were the consequenses of him being shadow-kissed and Avery, his sister, using him.
Reed nodded and gave me a quick smile. It looked like he's been doing that for a few minutes now, because, well, everyone kmew what'd happened to him and no one believed he was the Reed Lazar. But then, glancing at me, he did a double take. He caught the hold of my hand and pulled me closer.
"And you're Jill Mastrano," he breathed, looking like a memory of a nightmare crossed his mind.
An uneasy feeling through the bond told me Adrian was far from happy about Reed's actions. After Avery and Blake, he really had no reason to like the Lazar family.
"She's Jill Mastrano Dragomir, and you leave her alone," he hissed at Reed and pulled me back towards him again. He was the one to protect me as well when the first incident happened. Honestly, I found it cute how protective he always was over me. And I knew I was the same, in times like when Sydney refused to date him, or when Rose cheated on him.
Reed grimaced, looking geniuelly sorry.
"Calm down, Adrian, he didn't mean any harm, neither now nor back then," I said softly. "He was just facing the effects of being shadow-kissed, you know we can relate to that."
"Exactly, I was just about to apologize for that when I recognised you," Reed said, giving me a grateful smile. Adrian nodded and let go of me reluctantly, but kept an eye on us anyway. I couldn't blame him.
"Ever since I started to think normally again, I've been apologizing to people I was agressive towards for no special reason, just because Avery made me," Reed told me, still with that apologetic expression. I didn't miss how harsh his voice became when he said his sister's name.
"Okay, okay, I forgive you. As I told Adrian before, I completely understand what you were going through," I chuckled. Reed smiled, then, once again, gave me an astonished look. I kept surprising him. He quickly overcame that surprise, though, and a grim expression snuck on his face.
"You can't know what happened to me. Not unless-"
"I can. I'm shadow-kissed," I said cheerfuly. His eyes popped out. "Of course not in the way you were," I continued. "But Adrian brought me back to life."
Reed still looked surprised, but I wasn't done yet: "So I know the bond doesn't just go away. What happened?"
"Well..." he wavered. "While we were in that mental hospital, the three of us, I wasn't really aware of anything. Like an empty shell, you know? I just sat there and did nothing and I barely even remember. There was nothing on my mind. The nurses had to lead me of they wanted to get me somewhere. One day, when they were taking me... I don't remember where, I fell down some stairs and crashed my head or something... I didn't even feel the pain, they thought I'd die, but I healed completely. Mentally and phisically. And the bond's gone." It was kind of awkward for him to talk about it, but he smiled after saying the last sentance. I was sure it really was great for him to be free again.
We got involved into a conversation, the kind that led from the effects of being shadow-kissed to everyday life. The crowd surrounding him vanished in the mean time. He told me he's staying with his father at Court until school starts again. "That's when I'm going back to St. Vladimir's. I should graduate this year, but I missed one, so I'm a senior now."
"I'm going back to St. Vladimir's too!" I exclaimed happily. I was glad we were going to the same school, because he seemed nice.
Thinking back at St. Vladimir's, I remembered Angeline telling me Trey needed a job there, or somewhere near, so that they could stay together. Actually, he needed a job specifically there, because there was no life near the academy.
A shriek interrupted my thoughs. As I turned around startled, I realized it was more of a shriek of joy, namely when Mia saw Jesse. Now I remembered fleetingly that she'd mentioned they were dating. I also saw Eddie standing next to them like a heap of misery. I realized he'd probably been talking to Mia until Jesse came. Our eyes met for a second, his filled with a regret I wasn't used to. I thought, though it was hard for him, that he was standing firmly behind his decision. Also, the pain in his eyes reflected mine. I looked away before either of us could break. And because it was too painful. What'd happened was right. In a way. I guess.
That was the last memorable event in the next few days. I spent quite a lot of time with Reed, partly because we were going to the same school and mostly because I felt some kind of connection between us since the first time we talked, probably coming from us both being shadow-kissed. I mean, I really had no hard time with the bond, even all the negative effects stopped and I didn't even take over spirit anymore, because there was more or less nothing to take over. But Reed and I could still relate.
Even Adrian began to trust him a bit more, after I promised to be careful. I really was. I looked for signs anything he was telling us isn't true, but there were no signs. Lissa and Adrian both also checked his aura and said it looked completely normal.
"Well, it still looks a little dark, which is weird if he's not shadow-kissed anymore," Adrian noted. I shrugged at his words. "That's probably because it makes sense there would be some emotional consequences after being basically used as a puppet by his own sister for God knows how long."
Other than that, Adrian was still blocking himself from me every now and then. And unlike when I cared about nothing, I was a bit worried about what's going on. But he refused to tell me. He said he was just arranging the things that were to do after the party, and didn't want me to do or know anything because it was a surprise and sort of a present. I didn't completely buy that, but as long as there was nothing notable, I couldn't do anything about it. I mean, I could use all of my strenght to break into his thoughts, but I doubted it was that important.
I still didn't completely shake off the theory about him convincing Eddie to change his mind. Maybe that was the reason he disliked Reed so much, because I had to admit he acted kind of flirty with me from time to time... But I refused to give him any wrong signals. It didn't bring me far with Luke, and I wasn't exactly looking for a relationship since I still wasn't over Eddie.
And speaking of Eddie... I, once again, barely ever saw him. I missed him all the time, and not only the kissing-and-a-bit-more part, the part of us being friends as well. Maybe I'd said I had a connection with Reed, but that was nothing to what was between me and Eddie. Chemistry? It was too mild of an expression. We just got along, and he understood me when no one else could. Sometimes words weren't even neccessary. Like the time in the hotel when he just climbed into my bed and held me until I cried it out. He knew what I needed.
And I got him as well as he got me. Sometimes I asked my friends who had more track of what's going on with him, because they didn't have the weird twisted rule of not speaking to each other with him, and I guessed in most cases. I knew he was miserable too. No matter how much I blamed him in the beginning, I knew with no doubt he was sorry about what happened too. He just believed it was right.
And I... I didn't know what to believe. All I knew is that I'm far from being over him. Still. I couldn't forget him, even though he was practically out of my life now. Although that was more of a tourture than reassure.
There was one single time we saw each other after Reed's arrival. It was one of the rare rainy days in that summer, otherwise it was at hot as hell. That day it was cold enough to make us wear jackets. It was a devastating action to do in the summer, especially since it was my favorite season, no matter the time I spent in Palm Springs, no matter how much the sun killed me. I didn't even mind the rain, only the cold.
Sydney and Adrian were at my place that day. As it started to rain, Adrian noticed Eddie pruning the trees next to the river you could see from my window. There were only a few of them, but I guess they'd given him whatever sensless job they could. Lissa wasn't even wrong about gardening. Or whatever pruning trees quilified as.
"Damn, he can't do that in the rain," Adrian sighed with a worried tone in his voice. 'That' meant he can't qualify pruning as well.
"I know..." I replied. "But he won't stop unless someone goes tell him." I glanced at him meaningfully as he leaned his head back on the couch. Then, seeing my look, he sat up jerkily. "Oh, you mean me?" I nodded. "Nah, I don't feel like getting up. You could however." His lip corners were twitching and he obviously wasn't as careless and lazy as he pretended to be. But he was doing a pretty good job at hiding his smirk. If I were almost anyone else, I'd never figure it out.
I arched an eyebrow to him, then gave up with a sigh and turned towards Sydney. I knew Adrian was actually doing this to get me five minutes with Eddie, but he refused to admit it. Like I refused to admit those five minutes would actually be the best moment I'd have all week.
Sydney gave me a desperat look. She didn't want to lie to me because she cared, but she also wanted to help with the 'plan'. Adrian, seeing her reluctance, helpfully restrained her to the couch with his body, pulling her into a kiss. She blushed amd shrugged at me. "I'm powerless," she said, hiding how hilarious she finds this way worse than Adrian.
"Oh, and that's not too hard," I said to Adrian with my eyes narrowed. He only shrugged innocently.
"Fine, I'll go," I groaned. "But I'm taking your jacket." He reached towards me with an incredulous gasp, but gave up almost immediately. I already took his jacket, laying all over the table next to Sydney's that was hung neatly over the chair. Sometimes I still wondered how the two of them ended up together.
I only took Adrian's jacked because it had a hood. I pulled it over my head while walking towards Eddie through the rainy day. I made quick steps because I wanted to get there as soon as possible and then go back inside, to my warm and dry room. The sounds of Eddie's gardening scissors clenching and opening reached me when I was still far away. I didn't hear them when we were feet apart anymore because he stopped the work, looking at me in surprise.
"Jill?" he asked. I nodded and pulled out a lock of hair to convince him. He chuclled softly, almost killing me in the proccess.
"You're not actually going to work in this weather, are you?" I asked. He shrugged.
"Well, I have to get it done. That's what my supervisors told me," he said and wiped the raindrops off his forehead. I was horrified to realize he was only wearing a soaking wet T-shirt.
"Okay, tell your supervisors that the Dragomir princess told you to get home and dry up before you freeze," I said decisivly, in the bossy royal look-who-I-am tone. I think I was pretty convincing, but he, as much as he knew me, knew I was dying inside from having to play the I'm-the-princess card.
"Alright, if you say so," he said with a small smile on his face. "Thanks." I only returned his smile and left.
And that was it. We'd spoked three sentances in five weeks. I really had some good reasons to miss him, but I was still trying to push the dark thoughts away. And I felt a lot better than before my birthday. Every once in a while I was still forced to attend all kinds of royal activities.
And I still practised magic and fighting. Mia and Christian were well above my level and they sometimes got so caught up in the fighting that I just stood there. One day, when Christian was winning, I thought of something. I created a small cloud and made a small storm above his head. Mia and I kind of teamed up, both water users. Christian's reaction to the rain above his head made my day. Mia and I laughed until our stomachs hurt.
Once I thought of bringing Neil to the magic practise, so that we could do two things at the same time. Since then we combined the two as often as we could, because Mia and Christian were both eager about physical fighting too. It surprised me, seeing how much Neil always tried to protect me, how seriously he took this and what a good instructor he was.
Reed joined us a few times too. Things actually turned pretty realistic at those times, seeing as there were four of us and we had three different element. Reed was an earth user.
And so, the days passed happily but with a bitter taste, and before I knew it, it was the day before my departure back to St. Vladimir's Academy. Lissa and I agreed I'd leave a week before class starts, so that I could adapt well to the rythem of the school again. Angeline and Trey were coming with me. Trey in the end got into a nearby college. He decided to study history. Sydney told me it didn't surprise her, because he was the best student in their class before she came to Amberwood. But that was just Sydney - always the best at everything she did.
Reed was going to the academy the same day and with the same private jet, although we weren't really going together. A few other students spent the summer at Court with their families as well. All of us were going with that jet and Reed was basically just one of them.
I actually started to pack two days earlier, because I practically had to pack everything I owned. It could be said I was moving. The last day I started to think how funny my life was. I hated packing - and yet I found myself doing it every few weeks nowdays.
I couldn't be happier when I (with sitting on it, of course) closed the last suitcase. The radio was on the whole time I was packing. Now I turned it off, but a song was stuck in my head bad. I knew it was called Unwritten and the original singer was Natasha Bedingfield, but I felt like it was begging to be sang by me. Except that I couldn't sing very well. I avoided it as much as possible.
I leaned on the window shelf and said goodbye to the magnificent view with my eyes. The lyrics were still pounding in my head. I couldn't help myself.
"Staring at the blank page before you,
Open up the dirty window,
Let the sun illuminate the words that you cannot find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten..."

A noise interruped me before I could finish the song. I turned around startled, knowing someone heard me sing. My horror increased when I saw who it was. It was Eddie...
"Sorry, I... I shouldn't have... It was awful, I... I just had to," I stuttered, the panic in my voice obvious. Eddie didn't have anything against singing, I just never sang in front of him before and I knew I've just embarrased myself completely.
But that's not what his expression said. He was looking at me almost in awe.
"No, Jill, don't feel bad. It was beautiful. It's like you're meant to sing..." he breathed. He looked like he just found all the answers in life and there was a weird agony on his face. He always seemed restless, but right now I thought he was going to explode if he doesn't do whatever was on his mind in the next five seconds, except that it looked like he was glued to the floor.
I was sorry I wasn't turned towards him when he walked in, so that I could know if he already came like that or... Or if it was me who made him like that. It was still just a song.
"Sorry, I'm out," he chuckled nervously. I also noticed he was more confused than usually as I stared at the door that closed behind him. It turned out I was right a few seconds later when he came back in.
"Right, I was here because I need to take my things from your room before you leave," he said, anxiously shifting from one foot to another. He was acting really weird, nothing like himself. But I no longer had any right to question that. He came for his things because I was leaving and he wasn't coming with me. He was no longer my guardian. He was officially nothing to me.
I smiled and let him pass me as he walked towards the closed where most of his things were. It was empty except for those.
His look turned towards mine while he was leaving the room. He opened his mouth to say something and bumped into the door frame in that moment. "Bye," he said. I gave him a quick nod and turned around before I could start laughing. His lost behaviour was painfully amusing, even when I didn't know the reason for it.
It hurt me I could practically consider him gone by now, since he would be tomorrow. The worst part was that because of all the complications, after the wonderful friendship we had, we wouldn't even have a decent goodbye. His "bye" was probably the last I'd hear from him for a long time. By then, he'd probably mean nothing to me, even though right now I had a long way of getting over him ahead of me. I thought it would probably go a lot faster when I'd begin my new life.
I couldn't help but mourn for our relationship. Even if we couldn't be together, our friendship was something not all people could have. Our souls just somehow matched. I wanted him in my life, even if just as a friend. I knew how much I'd miss that. Screw that, I missed it already. But it was too late now. It was over.
Before such an important day, that certinately wasn't something I wanted to think about. Rather than that, I called back his words into my mind. He said I sang the song well. I didn't know if it was true, but it felt nice to consider it.
I threw myself on the couch and smiled at the thought about how weird my life actually turned. I had no idea what would happen tomorrow. But I guess it was up to me to make the best out of it. The song I sang ironically matched it.
"And the rest is still unwritten..."

I would like you all to know that Jess Hayes helped me with designing Aimee, Jill's best friend on Twitter, and I would also like to thank her for it. I didn't put that before because I didn't want you to know Aimee'd be in before you get to it yourself. If anyone gets to reviewing, please let me know what you think about her! I hope you missed Eddie a little less in this chapter. The next one has a little surprise for everyone, and I think I'll post it before the end of May. But I can't promise anything, because I'll still be busy for a while now… I can only promise I'll update more once school ends.