"So what the hell happened?" Meredith asked.

She was sitting with me on the sofa drinking the coffee I'd previously been making for Dimitri. The feeder had just left, and Lissa was sleeping on the spare bed in Meredith's room. Dimitri was passing on the message to Christian, Eddie was having a shower, and Meredith had changed into her own clothing and had come out to get the low down from me.

"Tasha came here this morning. Paul answered the door, and she asked him which was Dimitri's room. I don't think she was expecting to find the two of us in there together."

"Oh hell, you weren't…"

I laughed.

"No. We were asleep, but we were naked without the sheets covering us, so we might as well have been!"

Meredith was chuckling at the look on my face.

"And then she went off her head?"

"Pretty much. Well, you heard most of it. I sent Paul to get Lissa, hoping she'd be able to calm Tasha down. And in the end, she was able to."

It was the truth, just not all of it. I had hoped Lissa would be able to get Tasha to pause long enough to listen. But end I had seriously underestimated just how obsessed Tasha was with Dimitri. While we were waiting for the feeder, Lissa described Tasha's aura and how messed up it had been.

"So is everything ok now?"

"I think so," I said shrugging. "She seemed to be ok when she left." Again, a partial truth.

"Don't think I didn't notice whose clothes you were wearing this morning," I laughed, changing the topic of conversation. "What was that all about?! Are you and Eddie a thing now?"

"Ugh! No one was meant to find out," Meredith groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"So you're together?!" I gasped with a smile.

"No! Well, we were but just as a one-off thing."

"I want to know everything," I demanded, settling back into the sofa with an expectant grin.

"Oh God, this is so embarrassing!" Meredith moaned, looking up at me.

"Well you can tell me, or I'll ask Eddie," I said with a mischievous grin.

"No! I'll tell you!"

Meredith took a fortifying sip of her coffee before she continued.

"It was 1.30 or so, and the party was winding down. I'd had a good time, and Eddie was a fun date. We were walking back up here, and he was asking if I'd had a good night. I told him it was just about perfect. He asked what would have made it the perfect night, and I joked finishing it off on my back with a hot guy between my thighs."

I drew my breath inward in a sharp hiss before dropping my mouth open in an amazed expression. I just couldn't imagine Meredith saying that!

"How much had you had to drink?"

"Apparently one glass too many," she replied, her face flaming. "I mean I wasn't drunk, but I was a little too honest…"

"And then what happened?!"

"Eddie said it's a pity there wasn't anyone there I wanted to be in a relationship with. I said I wasn't interested in a relationship, but it seemed like a waste to be all dressed up and not have someone to continue the party with. He understood what I was getting at, and asked if I wanted some no strings attached fun. I was going to sneak back to my room before you two were up this morning…"

"But Tasha woke us all up," I finished for her. "So… was it good?"

"Rose!" she hissed.

"Oh come on! You can't tell me all this and not tell me if it was alright!"

She carefully looked around behind her to make sure Eddie hadn't come out of the bathroom.

"Let's just say I'm not going to waste my time with Moroi guys anymore!" she replied with a devilish look.

I laughed, giving her a knowing nod, and lifting my hand for a high five. We shared a giggle before she became serious again.

"Please don't say anything to Eddie. I mean – he knows you and Dimitri know, but it was just meant to be a bit of harmless fun. I don't want him to feel weird about things."

I seriously wanted to give Eddie shit about this, especially after some of his ribald comments when Dimitri and I went for our night away in Omsk together. But Meredith was so insistent. I knew most Guardians didn't have relationships because of their profession, so if two of my peers decided to have a night between the sheets, I guess that was their business.

"Yeah alright – but I'm missing a month's worth of teasing, you know that?" I mock grumbled.

I heard the hiss of the shower stop, so knew Eddie would be out in a moment.

"Thanks, Rose. And do you think you could ask Dimitri not to say anything?" she asked hopefully.

"I will," I promised. "As long as he knows it was consensual and no one was taken advantage of, he'll be fine. So did you notice Guardian Croft didn't dance with Elizaveta?" I asked, steering the conversation to less murky waters.

"I did actually," Meredith replied. "It was almost pointed. He danced with pretty much every female Guardian not on duty, as well as you and I. I thought maybe he hadn't seen her, but he stopped to talk to her, but they didn't dance."

"Maybe he asked, and she said no?" I suggested.

"Who said no?" Eddie asked coming out of the bathroom fully dressed but looking a little nervous.

"We were just saying Croft danced with Meredith and me, but not Elizaveta. Maybe he asked, and she said no?"

"I doubt it," he replied. "The guy's in charge of Guardians worldwide. I can't imagine she'd turn him down!"

I shrugged. There was no other logical explanation for it.

"So all ok with Tasha?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so. She calmed down eventually."

From within his room, Eddie and Meredith wouldn't have been able to hear Lissa compel Tasha, and I wasn't about to tell them the truth of what went down. The use of compulsion was strictly outlawed - the fewer people who knew just how proficient Lissa was at it, the better!

"I might use the shower now it's free, unless you want it, Rose?" Meredith said only a little awkwardly, standing up and not meeting Eddie's eyes.

"You go for it. I need another coffee." It was still early, and I'd planned to be fast asleep with my Russian God right now. "You want one, Eddie?" I asked, feeling a little sorry for my ill at ease friend.

"Thanks," he said, watching me carefully while he was picking his words.

"So… about this morning with Meredith…" Eddie started once we heard the shower start again.

"Is your business," I said firmly. "As long as you're both into it, it's nothing to do with me."

"Yeah, we talked this morning. It was a kind of spur of the moment thing. I mean we both enjoyed it, but we don't want to be together."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," I said with a smile. "But I guess we're even, now."

"Even?"

"Well you saw me sneak out of Dimitri's room at the compound, and now I've caught you with a girl in yours!"

Eddie grinned bashfully.

"I guess so."

"ангел?"

The second Dimitri opened the door to the unit, I was in his arms, and he closed them around me firmly. Lissa was sleeping, Meredith had gone for a run, and Eddie was in his room, the door closed. I'd been waiting on the sofa for Dimitri to return.

"I've told Christian you and Lissa are gossiping, then I checked on Paul. He's with Vika, and he's fine."

"He wasn't upset?"

"He was worried we'd be angry with him, but I've reassured him he did nothing wrong."

I nodded my head where it was resting against Dimitri's strong, broad chest. I was glad Paul was ok in the aftermath of Tasha because I wasn't.

"It wasn't true, what she said. About Mason," Dimitri told me.

"It was," I whispered. "I did encourage him. I thought if I gave him a go I could forget you." I said the last words softly, but the tightening of Dimitri's arms around me told me he'd heard them.

"Roza, mistakes were made all around. You, me, Mason – we all made mistakes. No one person was responsible, and at the end of the day, Mason made his choices."

"But he only came back inside because he cared for me. If he hadn't thought we could be together, he would have stayed outside."

"I don't think that's true," Dimitri said. "I've seen and known a lot of Guardians. Mason would have gone back for you whether you were a friend or a lover."

"I don't know about that," I said fatalistically.

"Would he have gone back if it was Eddie?"

I'd never thought about it that way. Toying with the idea in my head, I reluctantly replied.

"Yeah, he would have."

"And was he interested in Eddie, too?" Dimitri teased gently.

I shook my head with a little smile. I still felt horribly guilty, but Dimitri was right. Even if he hadn't thought he had a chance with me, Mason would have come back. And somehow understanding that helped a little.

"Speaking of Eddie…What was Meredith doing in his room last night?!"

I lifted my head from to check the door to Eddie's room was still closed.

"They decided since it was graduation night they'd have a bit of no strings attached fun," I whispered.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow and smirked a little.

"And how are they this morning?" he asked curiously.

"Both embarrassed to be found out, and a bit weird around each other, but they're ok. Meredith made me promise not to tease Eddie about it," I grumbled.

"They both wanted no strings attached?" Dimitri checked.

"Yes, Dad," I teased. "Neither of them is looking for anything ongoing."

Dimitri shrugged.

"Why should we be the only ones to have a good time," he muttered with a smile in his voice.

We stood together in the living room for another few minutes, both resolutely avoiding the elephant in the room – Lissa's use of compulsion.

"Lissa will be asleep for a few hours yet," I murmured, my head resting over Dimitri's heart. "Why don't we lie down and talk until she wakes up?"

For the second time that day, I woke up to find someone looking at Dimitri and me asleep on our bed. But this time we were dressed, and it was Lissa wearing a goofy looking smile.

"Hey Liss," I murmured, carefully extricating myself from Dimitri's grip without waking him and rolling off the edge of the bed. "You feeling better?"

I ran my eyes over her appraisingly. She looked a lot stronger, and her color was back. Still, such a huge use of spirit would knock her around for a day or two.

She nodded.

"You two look good together," she complimented. "It's so cute to look at you two! The way he holds you when you're asleep is adorable! Is he usually affectionate?" she asked curiously.

I forgot that other than at the dance, Lissa had never seen Dimitri and me as a couple. I guess that was going to take some getting used to.

"When it's just us, yes. I don't know what he's going to be like in front of you," I told her honestly. "I mean, he's still your Guardian."

Lissa looked troubled. We hadn't talked through how to manage Dimitri and I being in a relationship with our guardian responsibilities.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to Christian about it yet," she said, divining the direction of my thoughts. "Did you really want to guard Christian instead of me? Now Tasha is ok with you and Dimitri, you could guard me, and Dimitri could guard Christian?"

"Are you going to tell Christian you compelled her?" I asked, stalling for time.

"I wasn't planning to," she replied uneasily. She didn't have to ask – she knew I'd keep it a secret, and I'd ask Dimitri to, too.

Hell knows what Christian was going to make of Tasha's backflip about her feelings, though. And even once he knew she was ok with us, I wasn't sure if he'd maintain his previous stance. However, an idea that had started out of necessity had slowly shown its merits.

"I've thought about it, but I think me guarding Christian will help our friendship. When I'm guarding, it's work for me, Liss. I mean I'll always defend you if there's danger, but I think it will be hard for me to switch from guardian to friend mode every twelve hours. I'd either be in friend mode when I should be guarding, and that would put you at risk, or I'd feel like I was always on duty."

She was disappointed. I could tell.

"I mean we'll still be living together, and I'd probably guard you sometimes when it's more practical. And you'll be with Christian a lot of the time, so it would be the four of us together anyway."

"If Christian agrees," Lissa said, at least contemplating the idea.

"Yes. If he agrees."

"So are you three ready for the fights tomorrow?" Abe boomed, looking decidedly out of place wandering into the St. Basil's cafeteria with Pavel, and coming over to where Dimitri, Eddie, Meredith, Lissa, Christian and I were sitting along with Vika and Paul.

"Yeah I guess so," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. With all the drama of graduation, Lissa and the others showing up, and then the showdown with Tasha, I'd almost forgotten tomorrow would be the start of the elimination fights.

Dimitri had just finished explaining how it operated, and it was a lot more complicated than I'd thought it would be! It turned out Eddie, Meredith, Artyom, Elizaveta and I would only be fighting on the final day.

Graduates were sorted by their training scores and would fight in rounds of eight based on them. So the bottom eight graduates taking part would fight one another across a total of twenty-eight fights. To speed it up, four fights were held simultaneously, much as it had been during our fights in Baia. Every fight would be adjudicated and scored, and the top two fighters from the bottom group would move up to fight in the next round with the next six most highly ranked graduates and so on. Dimitri said it was done this way to eliminate the need for everyone to fight everyone because with so many taking part, it just took too long. It also meant a competitor's score across seven fights was taken into consideration, which was a fairer comparison than a simple win/lose in one fight.

For the highest group, the same theory applied. The top eight graduates would fight each other, and then the top two scoring would battle it out to be the overall winner. So on the final day, I'd be fighting seven others and assuming I was one of the top two, also the final fight.

"Since they're already in the top six, they won't be fighting until Wednesday, but a lot of visiting Guardians like to practice with the top competitors so I'll have the three of them participating in practice fights tomorrow and Tuesday," Dimitri explained to my father.

Abe and Dimitri were discussing practicalities when Tasha walked in alongside Adrian. Lissa and I both tensed seeing her, but Tasha gave us everyone an easy, relaxed smile.

"We thought we'd find you guys here," she greeted, plonking herself down near Lissa and I, Adrian taking the seat beside her. No one else seemed to pick up on it, but I saw my father notice the way Paul tucked himself in closer to Vika, and out of Tasha's direct line of sight.

Damn. Not much got past Baba.

"I just heard from Aunt Tatiana. Something's come up, and we're leaving tonight," Adrian explained. Although the words themselves were innocuous enough, something about the way he said them suggested there was more to the story.

"Damn! I wanted to see the eliminations," Christian grumbled.

"Me too," said Lissa, although I knew she was completely disinterested in the fights other than my participation in them.

"Sorry, guys," Adrian shrugged. "She who owns the plane says when it flies. So what do you guys think your chances are?" he asked Meredith, Eddie and I in what was a clear attempt at changing the topic.

"Well, we know we're in the top six," I laughed. "Honestly, we're all in with a good chance, and I'm determined not to lose to Elizaveta!"

Meredith nodded. We'd kicked Elizaveta's ass on the training scores, and we intended to do the same in the fights.

"I'm sure you've done a great job preparing them, Dimka," Tasha said in a voice that was strangely devoid of the usual fawning tone.

"I've done my best," Dimitri replied awkwardly, uncertain how to interact with her given what happened this morning.

We all chatted for a while after that, but it was awkward as hell. There was a sort of underlying tension, and everyone could feel it.

"Well, I need to see a feeder! Anyone like to come?" Abe offered but looking mainly at Tasha.

"Yeah, I will. I overdid it last night and am still feeling bleurgh," Tasha laughed a little embarrassed. "Look while you're all here, I'm sorry if I said or did anything I need to apologize for last night. I had way too much to drink and a lot of the evening is kind of blurry!"

No one really said anything, so Abe jumped in.

"Oh you were alright," he lied. "I didn't notice anything."

Gesturing for her to lead the way, he turned back to the table and gave an exaggerated wink. Once they'd left Adrian spilled the beans.

"Aunt Tatiana is furious with Tasha about last night. She basically wants her back at Court so there'll be no further displays like last night."

"Well she was drunk," I defended, glaring at Adrian.

"She wasn't when she chose her dress," he countered.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were staking a claim on the position of drunken Royal acting inappropriately," I snapped.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Lissa said firmly as though we were naughty school children. Turning from Adrian, I could see Christian was embarrassed at the way the conversation was progressing.

"If Her Majesty wants us to leave early then we'll leave early," Lissa said with dignity, her hand on Christian's arm soothingly.

"You could stay if you want? Baba's sending us home on his plane," I piped up. "I'll check, but there should be room for you, Christian, Celeste, and Emil." I spitefully didn't include Adrian in the offer.

Lissa looked at Christian.

"Check with your dad. We'll talk and let you know," she said.

"So what happened with Tasha Ozera?"

Gee, Dad. Way to cut to the chase.

"What do you mean?" I countered.

"Last night she was all over Dimitri, and today it's a completely different story."

"She came over this morning before we were awake. She asked Paul to show her where Dimitri was sleeping. He was sleeping there, and so was I."

"Ohhh…"

"Yep. Lots of fun. So Tasha knows about us, and she knows Dimitri is never going to be her Guardian."

"And she was ok with that?" There was a look on his face I didn't trust.

"Eventually…"

Abe held my eye for a moment then changed the topic.

"So Tatiana is heading back to Court tonight."

"Yeah, I know. Adrian said it was because of Tasha. I was wondering if there's room on your plane for Lissa, Christian, and their two Guardians if they want to stay for the elimination fights?"

"We'll need a larger van, but it can be organized," he replied. "You'd bring them to Baia?"

"Shit. I'd forgotten about that," I admitted. "They'd need feeders… And there's not really room for four more at Olena's."

"They can stay with me. It's only for a night."

I wasn't sure if Lissa and Christian would be comfortable staying with Abe, but I'd put it to them.

"Thanks, Baba. I'll ask them if they want to stay on. So... What's the deal with you and Tatiana? You two seem rather close?"

"Not that close. We've just known each other a long time. I'll tell you about it. Eventually…!"