Richelle Mead owns the VA and Bloodlines series.

So, yeah. The Indigo Spell was basically the greatest thing ever. Totally worth the wait! This chapter is based after TIS so if you I haven't read it yet, you might want to stop reading right now. Don't worry though, I still have some post-TGL chapters coming soon and sill make sure to mark all chapters that contain spoilers.

(INDIGO SPELL SPOILERS AHEAD)

Hope you enjoy this chapter! It's sweet and pretty cheesy, but I think that's what makes it funny. Review and let me know!

Being summoned to Court to help with Sonya's spirit research was a little unexpected. I knew Sonya was still very interested in testing my blood to find out why the Strigoi that had attacked me several months ago hadn't been able to drink from me, but I hadn't thought Stanton and the Alchemists would ever approve the tests. Not that I totally minded. I was still trying to juggle everything that had been thrown in my lap recently, and this small break was a nice treat.

Especially since Adrian had come along to help with the research. He hadn't exactly been requested, but unlike me he didn't need an excuse to travel across the country. When I said was going he bought a ticket and said he was going too.

Needless to say we ended up kissing for almost the entire four hour flight to Pennsylvania. We didn't get to do much of that lately—outside of spirit dreams, of course—so it was nice. So was falling asleep on his shoulder and waking up with his arms around me and not feeling for one second like I was a bad person for it.

We had discussed the plan before getting on the flight so we both knew what would happen once the plane landed. Once we got in the car that would take us to the Moroi Court we weren't Sydney and Adrian, in love and out to change the world, we were Sydney and Adrian, virtual strangers. It depressed me knowing that even outside of Palm Springs and away from the prying eyes of my little sister, Zoe, we still couldn't just be together. But we couldn't risk anyone finding out for a few reasons. Mostly those reasons had to do with me getting in trouble with the Alchemists, which was a very real possibility at this point. But most importantly, we couldn't look like we knew each other too well in case anyone linked us back to Jill.

That was why once we made it to Court Adrian went off with his friends and I went right to my room. I unpacked and changed out of my travel clothes. Adrian text me that we'd be having dinner with the Queen so I should dress to impress. I rolled my eyes and told him if I was supposed to impress her I should wear my AYE shirt. His response came quickly. Did you bring it?

I smiled to myself thinking about the purple shirt I'd just folded and placed in the dresser drawer along side some other sleep clothes I'd packed. I figured I couldn't wear the shirt around Palm Springs, or here for that matter, but since I had my own room I might as well sleep in it. Yes, I brought it, I typed back.

Adrian immediately replied with a smiley face.

I was about to text him back simply because I was bored and already missed him when someone knocked on my door. I smiled hugely and went to rip the door open thinking Adrian was on the other side. He wasn't.

Rose cocked her head to the side as she regarded me from the hallway. "What are you so happy about?" she asked with a smile. "Figured you'd crack the door open holding a can of pepper spray or something."

My smile faded away and I shook my head, flustered. "Oh, nothing. I just thought... Well, I was wondering when you'd show up." It wasn't entirely a lie. I did figure she'd show up at some point, probably to make sure I was okay or to order me down to dinner. That was why she was here, I realized. To drag me to dinner with vampires.

She did a quick scan of my blue button down blouse tucked into my pressed khakis and belted with a thin leather belt. "I came up to let you know we're having dinner soon. I know you're probably uncomfortable, but Lissa would love to officially meet you. It'll just be us there. Well, me, Dimitri, Lissa, Christian and Adrian."

I smiled at her. "That'd be great. I'm actually starving." It was true. There hadn't been a meal on the plane and I hadn't eaten since this morning. With all the magic I'd been doing lately and the all subsequent food I'd been eating, I'd gained three pounds. And, surprisingly, I was fine with that. I even thought I looked better in most of my clothes. Filled them out better. Adrian certainly thought so. He'd told me so three times this week.

Rose led me down to a dining hall on the first floor of the palace. There were six guards standing outside the doors leading in, but, surprisingly, Rose and Dimitri were the only guardians inside the room. I guess even a queen needed her privacy.

Adrian walked in a moment after I was seated at the long dining table. He looked fantastic in a dark blue button down open over a black T-shirt. His AYE T-shirt. I rolled my eyes, but he just smiled politely as he sat down across from me.

"Nice shirt," Lissa's boyfriend, Christian said as he came in and took his seat next to Adrian.

Adrian smirked. "Isn't it? Some people just don't get pirate fashion. I should've had him wearing a Hawaiian shirt."

I almost smiled at that reference to our favorite possibly one-eyed self-defense instructor, but stopped myself in time.

"You made it?" Rose asked, leaning over the table to get a better look. "It's pretty good. What is that thing around its neck though? A noose?"

Adrian laughed, hard, and I slumped back in my chair a little. I'd told him I wasn't very creative. "It's a tie," Adrian explained to Rose with a huge smile on his face. "It's so he can go to business meetings."

Rose gave him a strange look but didn't say anything back. Lissa walked into the room with Dimitri then and sat down next to Christian. Dimitri took a seat next to Rose and both couples smiled lovingly at each other. I turned to Adrian to catch him watching me with that same sad look that I knew must have been on my face. We quickly looked away from each other before the others caught us.

It didn't matter that we couldn't gaze openly at each other, I reminded myself. We knew how we felt. No one else needed to know. I sighed internally. Keeping our relationship a secret was a lot harder than I thought. Especially when we were surrounded by other happy couples.

Rose went about making the introductions, even though I already knew who everyone was. When Sonya walked in followed by Mikhail I was surprised.

"I didn't think you were going to make it," Lissa said, sounding as surprised as I was at the arrival of yet another adoring couple.

"We weren't sure we would, but then we heard Sydney and Adrian were here already." Sonya smiled at us and went to take a seat next to me.

"Oh," Adrian jumped up from his chair. "Here. Sit next to your husband."

Sonya protested, but relented when he insisted. As we ate and talked Adrian, now sitting by my side, kept doing little things. Things that I realized he didn't even know he was doing. When he spoke to me he'd lean closer than was necessarily appropriate for two people who weren't intimate with each other. One time he even started to throw his arm around my shoulders but caught himself last second and let his arm drop to the back of my chair instead. When I noticed Rose giving that arm a funny look I made a big show of scooting my chair forward so that his arm would drop.

Every time he did some normal loving gesture and I had to counter like I was disgusted by his closeness I felt terrible. I wanted him by me, I wanted his arm around me. And, my God, all I wanted was to turn around and kiss him and let everyone know that we were together. Instead I settled for clasping his hand under the table.

"That was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to," Lissa was saying to Sonya. "I mean it. I've been to a ton of royal weddings and yours was incredibly romantic."

Sonya beamed. "It was pretty perfect, wasn't it?" She glanced up at Adrian and me. "And you two looked perfect out there on the dance floor."

It took Adrian a second to come up with a snarky retort to that, but he did it. Which was good because I was suddenly feeling flustered. "I look perfect everywhere," he smirked.

Christian laughed and even Dimitri couldn't hold back his small smile.

Lissa rolled her eyes but then smiled at me. "You did look great out there. Everyone was going on and on about it. How Adrian Ivashkov and the Alchemist girl were 'breaking down the fences' between our races."

I flushed and released Adrian's hand so that I could push my food around my plate as a distraction. I hoped Adrian would say something but he didn't. I looked up to see him looking as flustered as I did.

"That's what they're saying?" I asked.

Lissa must have taken my nervousness the wrong way because she hurriedly said, "Not in that way. Not like you two were doing anything wrong, just that you were able to be near each other without running for the hills. More Alchemists than not seem to really... dislike us." She said the last part carefully, like she was trying to avoid offending me.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "You're really not a typical Alchemist, Sydney."

"You have no idea," I just barely heard Adrian mutter under his breath. Unfortunately, Sonya heard it too.

"Hmm?" she asked.

Adrian just shook his head and took another bite of his chicken. Eventually the conversation returned to Sonya's wedding and then evolved to some weird game where Lissa quizzed Christian about what royals they should ban at their wedding, when they eventually got married.

They were only my age and I thought it was sort of odd that they were talking so seriously about their future together, but then I realized that if I was in their shoes I might feel the same way. They were in love and could be so in public. What I wouldn't give to be able to share my relationship the way they did. Christian put an arm over the back of Lissa's chair as they talked and I felt a sharp pang when she didn't have to pull away from him.

Adrian must have noticed my mood change because he brought his hand under the table and squeezed my thigh, before letting his fingers rub soft circles into the fabric of my khakis. I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy the contact as dessert was served. Turned out we were having pecan pie.

I took a bite and turned to Adrian. "Surprisingly not as good as Pies and Stuff," I said.

He nodded and said through a mouthful of pie, "I know, I'm shocked. We're going to have to let Hopper try it to be sure."

He realized at the same moment I did that we'd said more than we should have. All through dinner we'd talked only a handful of times, trying to keep our interaction to a minimum. But it was hard to not fall into our usual easy rapport. We both looked back down at our plates, shoveling more pie into our mouths and hoping no one thought anything was weird.

"Who's Hopper?" Sonya asked. I looked up at her, trying not to look like I was hiding anything. The look in her eyes wasn't one of suspicion though, it was genuine curiosity shining through.

"Hopper's my pet rabbit," Adrian said quickly. I almost laughed, which caused me to choke on the pie I was eating. Adrian handed me my water and I took a sip.

"You have a pet rabbit?" Christian asked.

"Named Hopper?" added Rose, a skeptical look on her face.

I couldn't help it. I murmured "Best rabbit ever," under my breath, hoping it was low enough that only Adrian would hear. He did and he burst out laughing, looking like a crazy person, because no one else had heard me. I had to work hard to hide my own smile.

"Sorry," Adrian said once he'd collected himself. "What were we talking about? Weddings?"

"Yeah," said Rose slowly, rolling with the change in subject if only to get away from the awkward silence that had settled. "When I get married my wedding will be small, intimate. Close friends and family only."

Dimitri smiled and started to open his mouth but Rose quickly stopped him. "Don't even think about it," she said. "I said when I get married. Years from now."

"I want mine to be small too," Lissa said, smiling at her friend from across the table. Her smile faded a moment later. "It probably won't be though. I'll be expected to have a huge wedding where the entire Court is invited."

"You don't have to," I said. "You could always just do what you want."

Rose shook her head. "No, Lissa's right. They'd expect a blowout for the Queen's wedding." She turned back to Lissa. "And I'll end up wearing an ugly bridesmaid dress."

"Well, I think you should have a small wedding if you want one," I insisted. "Just have it before the big blowout wedding. Placate the people while still getting what you want."

Lissa smiled at me. "And what kind of wedding would you have?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, I don't know. I've never really thought about it before," I said.

"Oh, come on, Sydney," Sonya urged. "Every girl's thought about it, at least a little."

I started to say that I hadn't, but then I realized that without meaning to I was picturing a wedding in my head. My wedding. "I don't know if many people would come," I said with a shrug, "but I think I'd have it in Malibu."

"Malibu?" Lissa and Rose asked at once.

"What's in Malibu?" Christian asked.

I could feel Adrian's gaze burning into my cheek as I said, "This amazing museum."

"A museum?" Rose scoffed. "So romantic. Guess it's better than you saying you'd get hitched in a library or something."

"It is romantic," I insisted. "It's shaped like an ancient Roman temple and it has a beautiful garden in the middle. And it's probably the most romantic place I've ever been."

"It sounds lovely," Sonya smiled at me.

"Well, I'm more worried about the honeymoon," said Adrian with that devil-may-care grin of his. "That's where the real romance happens."

Mikhail chuckled. "That's true." Sonya smacked his arm lightly, but grinned at him.

"Where would your honeymoon be then, Adrian?" she asked.

Christian laughed. "Adrian's honeymoon would probably start on the first flat surface he could find."

Adrian cast Christian the haughtiest look I'd ever seen. "I'll have you know I would never sully my first memories as a married man by doing something so rash. No, I know exactly where I'm taking her for our honeymoon."

My breath caught in my throat. He knew where he was taking her. Did that mean just some generic her or was he really already planning our honeymoon? "Where?" I breathed.

Adrian looked at me and the haughty look melted away. "Rome," he said softly.

Well that answers that question, I thought as I leaned over and pressed my lips to his. The world faded away as it always did when I kissed Adrian. If the people around us were shocked by the kiss I didn't know it. Adrian didn't seem to care either as he tangled his hands in my hair and kissed me hard.

"I can't believe you said Malibu," he laughed when we finally pulled apart. "Totally made my day."

"Well, it is the most romantic place I've ever been," I smiled.

"Just wait until I get you to Rome," he said. "And then Greece."

My heart skipped almost painfully in my chest. He was promising to take me to my dream cities. Promising me a life, a future together. We'd only been together a relatively short amount of time, but I couldn't imagine ever wanting anything more than I wanted him.

Someone cleared their throat and we both jerked back from each other. Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy. Maybe we were. I was okay with a little crazy in my life.

"So," Rose said. "That's an unexpected development."

I turned to explain, but Sonya was already talking. She shook her head and laughed. "Not really," she said. "Not if you could see their auras right now."