This was supposed to be up a while ago, I know, but I've been reading the Bloodlines series so I've been a little distracted this past summer so that's my fault. Also, there is a new character that I wasn't originally planning on when I wrote the prologue but I decided to bring him in for a reason that you will find out later. I promise.

So yes, I am very sorry for the long wait between updates. I hope you enjoy this very long overdue chapter.

Chapter One: Loss

"Lily, wake up!"

Lily jolted awake to find that there were tears on her cheeks, sweat on her skin, and Christian Dragomir above her. Dimitri Belikov was on the end of her bed but she barely registered the sight of him before Christian pulled her in his arms and held her close. Her tears came faster this time as she remembered the dream, the fire.

She had been in a burning house, curled into the corner of the room and away from the fire but with nowhere to go. The windows were useless, since it was almost a fifty foot drop, and the door was on the other side of the fire. Worse of all were the screams of her mother shouting "Lily! Jesse!" and Lily had kept on crying like it was the worst thing ever. She had been ten when that happened and she had walked out of it.

Her younger brother, Jesse, hadn't made it out.

While there was no sign of a body or remains of a body, they had ruled Jesse dead. "No one could have survived the fire," the dhampir policeman had told Lily when he took her statement. They had ruled it an arson due to the accelerants out in the hallway and the case had long since become cold with lack of evidence. Lily didn't feel like telling them that she had been the one to start the fire and she had accidently killed her brother. Her mother had told her not to blame herself but Lily knew that her mother was kidding herself.

Lily had started the fire.

"It's alright," Christian whispered in her ear. His body was warm like a fire and it seeped through his clothes to hold onto her. "It's okay. You are in the Royal Court. You aren't in that building." After a while, Lily's tears began to slow and she pushed them off her cheeks. Dimitri stood at the end of Lily's bed as though he was ready to attack anything that would hurt her. Christian pulled away and wiped at her cheeks like he was trying to banish the tears too. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Lily muttered. "Just a bad dream,"

"Or a bad memory," he corrected. Lily tried to fake a smile. "Come here," he whispered before he brought her into a hug again. His thumb grazed her shoulder and he began to draw patterns against her skin with his forefinger. "Dimitri, would you go ask Alex to start cooking breakfast? Lissa and the kids are due back in a couple of hours."

Dimitri said something before he left the room. He cracked the door before his footsteps were heard down the hallway. Christian weaved his hands through her dark hair and held her for several more minutes before he let her go. He pushed back her dark hair away from her face and smiled at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"How do you like your eggs?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"Scrambled," she replied.

"Ok, they should be ready by the time you take a long cold bath which I am assuming that you are going to do," Christian told her. She smiled at him in thanks. Christian kissed her on the forehead before following Dimitri out the door and closing it behind him. There were sounds of him walking away and once they had faded, her phone began to ring.

"I'm fine, I swear," she spoke into the phone.

The blonde on the other end huffed. "You don't sound fine," Moira replied. Lily smirked as she climbed off the bed and locked the bedroom door. "Besides, that was a vivid dream that you had. If I hadn't put up shields, I might have caught all of it instead of the tiny bit that I did get." She paused for a moment as Lily started the water. She was watching it pool up before Moira spoke again, "Are you sure that you are ok?"

"Yes, Moira," she replied. "I am completely fine."

"And like I said before," Moira told her, "you don't sound fine." Lily put soap in the water and watched it bubble. "I'll let you get to your bath. I've got to get on the plane so I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"See you then," Lily replied.

There was silence from Moira's end and a quick peek into her mind told her that she was listening to her brother and sister, who always seemed to have a great bond that they didn't have with her, talk about their plans for the day. She sighed heavily and lowered her voice so Andre and Rhea wouldn't hear. "You know that you're always welcome with us right?"

"Yes," Lily replied. "It's the same with you if you ever need to just run away from all of the politics."

"Just drag me away if it gets too much," Moira whispered. "Promise me."

Lily nodded, even though Moira couldn't see, and replied. "I promise."

By the time Andre had woken up from his power nap, his sister's spot had been taken by his guardian, and the only male of the triplet's guardians, Connor Lynch. Despite the man being nearly five years older than Andre, the two had always gotten along since he had been assigned to the team several months ago and the man filled the void—almost—that had been left behind by his first best friend. Andre ran a hand through his black hair.

No one could ever fill that void.

"Where's Rhea?" Andre questioned with a yawn.

"Up there in the front with your mother and Heather," Connor replied smoothly as he sunk down in his chair and scratched the stubble on his face. "Your mother is trying to talk Rhea out of a black dress that she wants to wear for the Queen's birthday party."

Andre nodded as he studied the man beside him. Connor had the same dark hair, yes, but his eyes were completely wrong—green like his instead of the brown ones with golden flecks of color swimming inside of them. Connor was slightly taller than he imagined his best friend, nearly the same height as the younger Moroi son, and wore dark clothes matched with ripped jeans. It was quite some time later, as Andre had begun to realize that Connor had a scar in the shape of a circle on his neck, that he hadn't talked in some time now and decided to speak.

"Is she budging?"

"Of course not," Connor replied. He glanced over his shoulder towards Moira. "Your other sister is staring out the window and smiling like she's somewhere else." He looked nervously towards his watch then back towards Cat, Moira's guardian, who had plopped down in the seat across the aisle.

Cat was Connor's elder sister. The two had matching green eyes and dark hair straighter that Rhea's but were different in builds. While Connor was buff and tall, Cat was almost the complete opposite with a sleek build and a petite stature. She had light freckles dotting her nose and cheek bones that were barely non-existent under her tanned skin. She smiled at him toothily. "How was your nap, Andre?" she questioned.

"Fine," he replied, his voice still filled with sleep. "Where are we?"

"Only a couple hours away," Cat assured him. "The sun's still up though so the windows are still closed."

Andre nodded as the siblings began to banter. He listened for only a moment before he noticed Moira watching the two of them with sad eyes. Her blue eyes were wide and her smile, which had been so far away moments ago, was smacked with reality. Her long blonde hair fell from behind her ear and she turned so it covered her face. Andre watched her for several moments before turning back to the siblings.

They were still arguing like the twins used to.

Andre searched his bag for his headphones, put them into his ears, and started playing some music. Not only did it distract him from the siblings but also from what had been troubling the Dragomir son for days since his youngest sister's kidnapping. He had just enough concentration that he began to write on his phone.

Moira bolted from the plane the moment the doors opened.

The sun was still slightly out and it beat down on her more sensitive shoulders through the trees. Cat appeared besides Moira with the white parasol which Moira took quickly and thanked her guardian a few moments afterwards. Andre and Rhea quickly climbed the stairs underneath Andre's black umbrella. Connor climbed down the stairs with Serena, the Queen's main guardian, with the Queen following down the stairs.

Queen Vasilisa Dragomir was the only forty five years of age but sometimes, Moira felt like her mother was nearly a decade earlier. Having birthed three children at once, her figure had long since rounded out and the years of strain underneath politics left her weary and tired on most occasions. She smiled curtly at best and Moira had always felt like she kept her children out of arms reach. Moira wasn't even sure if her mother held her as a child.

The Queen had long blonde hair like Moira's to her mid back and had given her emerald Dragomir eyes to her only son. Most of her wardrobe consisted of long dress, sweaters, and pants. She wore several rings on every finger and often would stand like she was constantly being watched. Moira required her with the same caution that always happened as the Queen stepped underneath Serena's umbrella.

"Where's the car?" she questioned Serena. Andre started bobbing his head to the music.

"Dimitri told me that it would be here," Serena replied. Serena was blonde like her charge but was a couple years older than the Queen. The two looked similar and were practically almost sisters. Moira had always called Serena "Auntie" since she was a child. She liked to think that Serena had replaced a hole that Lily's mother had caused.

"There it is," Cat said from Moira's left.

"Welcome back to the Royal Court," one of the dhampirs who climbed out from the black SUV. Moira tried to ignore the longing gaze that traveled from the dhampir in question but she felt her chest flutter in response. "Prince Christian and Lily are still at the Royal Housing."

"Thank you Gabe," the Queen told him as another opened the passenger seat for her. Connor climbed in the middle, Serena climbed in the back after Rhea, and Andre followed. Gabe looked at her and Moira faced a debate as Cat waited for her to climb in the vehicle.

Moira opened her mouth to say that she couldn't meet him tomorrow or that it would be wrong or something due to the age difference but she surprised herself when she hissed, "Tomorrow", in his direction. A smile crossed his face and her cheeks flushed as she hurried to the car and climbed in between Cat and Andre.

The only Dragomir son continued to bob his head up and down.

You always had a weakness for Gabe, Lily's voice sounded through her head.

Oh, shut up.

Lily was only partially dressed in her favorite floral skirt and a lacy black bra when Moira returned to the Royal Housing. The blonde groaned as she slammed the door behind her and fell onto her separate king sized bed. The suitcase she had rolled down the hallway fell to the floor with a smack as it tipped over by the door and she rolled on her back in response.

"Why did I say that?" she snapped as she hit her head. "Why can I never say no to him?"

"I don't know," Lily replied, finding a black tank top from the closet and slipping it on. She jumped on the bed to join her best friend. "Is it maybe because Gabe is sexy?"

Moira chuckled from behind her hands. "I don't know if it's that," Moira replied, stretching. "But Serena told me that we are going shopping for dresses for Mom's birthday party."

"Isn't that two months away?" Lily questioned.

"Yes," Moira replied. "But this is the only time between now and then that my mother will be free for any personal family time so Serena wants to make the most of it." She flipped over on her stomach and thought for a moment. "I might change the plans for in the morning though."

"Do you have enough stress that you need to move up the plans with Gabe?"

"When your mother demands perfection while on a family trip that is also partially a business trip, yes I can have so much stress that I would actively seek out the company of Gabe Allen for the second time this summer," Moira told her with an obvious sarcastic tone.

Lily nodded her head as she stood up. "I'm going to go get breakfast while you contemplate just how exactly you are going to find a way to tell Gabriel Allen this while also sneaking out of here at daytime without the other guardians knowing."

"True," Moira whispered under her breath as Lily left the room.

Christian was in the kitchen with Dimitri, Connor, and his only son when Lily finally managed to remember the way to the kitchen. Having been lost in her own thoughts—actually helping Moira figure it out, she had tried to enter Rhea's room three times, leave the Royal Housing four times, and almost accidently run into the Queen herself. Serena had luckily saved her from that fiasco and had prompted her to turn left at the end of the hallway.

Christian and Andre were a respectable couple feet away from their guardians and were having a hushed conversation which stopped when Lily had approached them. From the look of sorrow in Andre's eyes, she had a pretty good idea what the conversation had been about.

Jesse.

While Lily had lost a brother and another part of herself (they were twins), Andre had lost the only person who managed to make him complete. The two boys had been inseparable since they started school, and might have played a large part in Moira and Lily becoming such close friends, and Andre was devastated after the fire. He had become lost after the fire and finally managed to bounce back not long before Moira's kidnapping. He still seemed to keep Lily at a distance though.

Speaking of keeping Lily at a distance, he looked at her for several moments for bolting—almost literally—out the door with Connor following after him at a brisk walk. Christian watched after him as he handed Lily her breakfast. "I'm sorry about him,"

"You don't need to be," Lily interrupted him. "He's about as sad as I am." She placed her plate on the island and leaned over it as she began to eat. "Are we still going shopping for dresses?"

"Yes," Serena said as she and the Queen entered the kitchen. The Queen glanced at Christian and Lily in question. "We are."

Lily watched the Queen as something flickered on her face, like an emotion that had been buried under the surface that no one had seen before. Within moments, Christian had left Lily's side and was at hers, holding her hands and kissing her lips in comfort. The Queen melted against her husband's touch and fell into his hug. The guardians around her looked neutral, like they had seen this before, but Lily felt like she had witnessed something that she shouldn't have.

Her phone rang shrilly but not even that could stop the Queen and Christian, who were holding onto each other like nothing could pull them apart. Lily glanced at the screen of her phone, felt her eyebrows furrow, and stepped out of the room.

"What color do you think would look good on me?" Lily questioned from across the store.

Despite the fact that it was midnight and the Royal Court should be bustling with people, the boutique that her mother had chosen for their shopping trip was completely empty. Moira wondered if that was because the Queen had asked for it to be empty or if they were only open because of them. Lily had taken charge of her guardian-less company and had steam rolled to the maroon dresses in the back but was looking around with wide eyes like she normally did.

Rhea had gone towards the black dresses with Heather, their mother, and Serena at her heels and was holding up a particularly revealing dress towards Heather who seemed to be indifferent about it. Andre was looking lost as he looked through the tuxedo section with his father, Dimitri, and Connor. Moira was closer towards the conservative blues with Cat at her side.

"I think green would good on you," Moira told the guardian beside her. "Isn't Mom allowing you and Heather to wear dresses so you can 'blend in more'?"

"Yes," Cat replied, looking at one of the green dresses in question. "But I'm not quite for sure if I actually want to wear one. Some are so restricting and formfitting that I can't even fit a knife underneath or too hot that it makes me sweaty and uncomfortable."

"So, a short ball gown type style?" Lily said, popping up beside Cat. She had a dress in her hands that was a dark emerald green color that matched Cat's eyes. "I think I've found the perfect dress for your unique situation."

"You know, for a dhampir, I always forget that you love fashion," Cat told Lily.

The younger girl shrugged. "Only when I have the chance," Lily told her, "Which usually means summers and Christmas time." Cat took the dress in hand and Lily took Moira's hand. "Come on, I need to find me a dress."

After shopping, where no one but the guardians and Andre got anything, the five Dragomirs, Lily, and their assigned guardians went to dinner in one of the finer restaurants inside the Royal Court. The Queen told the guardians that they were to sit and have dinner with them since they had been on their feet for a majority of the afternoon.

Dimitri and Serena, who have both been in the Royal Guard since before Lily was born, sat without a complaint and had ordered their food by the time that the Queen had used enough compulsion to make them sit down. Connor was still grumbling under his breath when he handed his army green jacket to the only Hathaway at the table. She had been chilly and looking over her shoulder since before the shopping party. Her phone rang and she jumped.

"What's wrong?" Lissa heard her youngest daughter whisper to her best friend.

"Mom's just messaging me from Russia," Lily responded as she rubbed her hands together. "She's gone to visit Aunt Oskana since I'm here with you guys."

Oskana?

"Lissa!"

She turned around to find Adrian Ivashkov, one of her closer friends, walking towards them. Despite the fact that he and his wife, Sydney, were living in Maine with their children, she never got to see too much from him. It was probably why she stood up and hugged him tightly. She didn't have to see the looks of surprise from her children's face to know that they were surprised. Dimitri stood up to greet Adrian as well.

"What are you doing at the Royal Court?" Lissa questioned.

"I'm here to check on you, cousin," he replied lightly. "Plus I have to renew the license to teach for the humans."

"How is that coming along?" Christian questioned from his seat beside Lily. They had been talking in hushed whispers before Adrian had come over but both were looking up towards the newcomer in question.

"It's going along great actually," Adrian replied. "The high school in the district is asking me to teach there as well." He stared at Lily who was absorbed into typing a message questionably. "I haven't met her before. Who is she?"

"Oh, this is Lily Hathaway," Lissa introduced. "She's Moira's best friend since first grade." She looked towards Lily, who wasn't paying much attention before leaning closer to Adrian. "She was also Jesse's older sister." She thought about Andre too late but breathed in relief when she saw him engaged in conversation with Rhea at the end of the table. "Lily, have you met Adrian Ivashkov?"

The brunette looked up as though surprised that she was spoken too. "Is there any relation to Sydney Ivashkov?"

Lissa and Adrian both remarked her with surprise. "Yes," Adrian finally spoke. "She's my wife."

"Oh," Lily replied, getting up from her chair. "I met her once with my mom and—" She cut off and scratched behind her ear. "It was a long time ago," she stated instead, holding out a hand. "It's excellent to meet you Lord Ivashkov."

"Please," he said, taking her hand. "Call me Adrian." He stared at her for a moment before releasing her hand. Though looking partially confused, she went back to her seat beside Moira who was watching Adrian closely. Her youngest turned back towards Lily and the two continued their hushed conversation.

Adrian turned back towards Lily and seemed to be thinking of asking something. He bit down on his finger as he asked, "Do you know if she's Rose's daughter?"

"Yes," Lissa replied. "I even asked the Russian King for the records of her birth. According to Dimitri, the records say that her mother's name is Alexandra Hathaway. There wasn't a father listed." Lissa rubbed her sore hands together. "Why?"

"Her aura," Adrian replied. "It's just like Rose's."

Lissa nodded her head. "Would you like to join us for dinner?" she questioned.

He nodded, though it was obvious what was running through his head. "I would love to."

Andre couldn't sleep in the empty room.

It used to be full of life back about three years ago when Lily wasn't the only one who visited during the summer vacations and Andre wasn't the playboy that he was now. There were still two beds in the room since Andre had protested when they tried to remove it. One was more mature than the one that was wrapped with Iron Man sheets. Sun poured through the open window and Andre thought that if he looked hard enough that he would spot the ghost who inhabited this room.

He climbed out of bed and roamed the royal housing. All the day guardians were in their respective places but none were in sight at the moment. Dimitri along with Connor was in their room trying to get some sleep before the next night. Andre walked the familiar track to his parents' room but paused when he reached out to touch it. He could go to his dad, he understood, but he'd have to wake up his mother in the process.

His mother hadn't been the same in a while.

She wouldn't welcome a crying child in her bed anymore.

So Andre turned around and walked towards the girls' room. He opened the door to Moira's room and didn't even pause at Moira's empty bed before making a beeline straight for Lily's which was the one closest towards the window. He was about to turn away—because of the sight of her asleep in purple sheets was enough to always make him pause—when she woke up. She blinked up at him and then pushed the covers off of her.

"What is it?" she questioned when he sat down beside her. She looked awake now. Her brown hair falling in messy waves and her brown eyes turned towards him with wide eyes. He felt like leaving but before he even had a chance to move, she had snatched his hand in his—sending an awfully warm sensation speeding through his body. "What is it, Andre?"

"I—" he started. "I honestly don't know. I just know that I haven't been able to sleep in that room for three years."

"Well," Lily whispered. "Sleep with me then. Maybe you can fall asleep then."

He nodded his head in understanding before flopping down on the sheets beside her. She had barely started to lay back down when he felt his mind let go and he fell into sleep as easy as flipping a light switch.

There will be a couple differences between this and the original story. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter.