This is set about four years after graduation. Spokane happened, but Dimitri and Rose never really talked about that, or anything else non-training related afterwards. The cabin obviously didn't happen and Dimitri was never taken. Rose was assigned to a different Moroi after graduation.

DPOV

"Since Vasilisa is the most likely successor to the throne we have decided it is both in her best interests, as well as the best interest of our people, if she moves to the palace permanently. This will allow her to be even more involved and she will be able to learn about the obligations of a monarch first hand. As a result, from this time forward, her protection will be handled by the Royal Guard."

I looked at my, apparently former, charge as she was sitting silently next to Queen Tatiana. She met my gaze and smiled somewhat sadly but seemed resigned to both her move to the palace and my reassignment. I was fairly sure the Queen was using the royal we and Lissa had had little say in the current arrangements. Realistically though, I think both of us knew this day would come eventually. The Queen had taken her under her wing immediately after graduation four years ago, and since Lissa had recenty earned her bachelor's degree, there was no longer any reason to hold back in preparing her for the throne.

The Queen apparently expected no reaction as she continued adressing me calmly. "We would like to thank you for your dedication to the protection of the Princess over the past years. We owe you a great debt of gratitude for keeping her safe in occasionally challenging circumstances." That was a bit of an understatement in my opinion, but I kept that to myself. "Your commitment and devotion to your charge have not gone unnoticed and I have instructed Guardian Croft to find you a comfortable position with a high-ranking Royal as a reward."

Queen Tatiana paused for a moment, giving me time to express the appropriate amount of gratitude. "Thank you, your Majesty, for your kind words and efforts on my behalf. I assure you they're not necessary. It has been an honor to be Princess Dragomir's guardian."

My answer was everything anyone would have expected it to be, but I knew my heart wasn't really in it. For a moment I imagined what would have happened if Rose had been in my position and Queen Tatiana had decided to sack her. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up and I made an effort to keep my guardian mask in place. I'm sure Rose's answer would have been anything but appropriate, though probably not completely unexpected.

Rose never had a face to face meeting with the Queen though. Soon after we arrived at Court after graduation, she had been called into Hans' office and been told she had received a private assignment, away from Court. She had been angry and upset, but we both knew it was to be expected. The Queen had been unimpressed with what had happened in Spokane and felt Rose was responsible. That, added to the record she already had, was cited as the main reason she could never be Lissa's guardian. Within a week Rose had been on a flight out and I hadn't seen or spoken to her since.

To be entirely honest, we hadn't talked much in the months before graduation either. After Mason's funeral we had resumed our normal routine and Rose threw herself into training to become the best guardian she could. I knew she blamed herself for Mason's death, but everytime I tried to get her to confide in me she pushed me away. Eventually I stopped trying and waited for her to come to me, but she never came.

I'd never told her what I had told Tasha, though I was sure it was obvious I had declined her offer. For a while I argued with myself whether I should tell Rose I had said no because of her, because I was in love with her, but it felt wrong to push that on her while she was mourning Mason and had already put so much distance between us. I didn't realize until sometime later that by allowing her to pull away, I gave her the impression that I was fine with her just being my student rather than something more.

Her last words to me on that rooftop were that she wanted me to be happy, no matter how she felt. But I'd never told her I still felt the same way and she probably assumed I had decided to move on, even if it wasn't with Tasha. I wasn't sure if she'd still felt that way by the time she left, but if she did, those last couple of months at the Academy must have been even harder on her than I already thought they were and I wondered if she resented me for it. I should have told her how I felt, even if nothing could come of it.

I was recalled to my surroundings when Lissa shifted in her chair. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe she had noticed my distraction. We had gotten to know eachother pretty well, and it wasn't exactly the first time it had happened. About a year ago she had plucked up the courage to ask why I sometimes stared off into space, looking somber. After making her promise never to tell anyone, I answered her honestly and told her a part of my history with, and my feelings for, Rose. She had been very understanding, especially considering the fact that Rose was her best friend.

Thankfully the Queen seemed oblivious to my absentmindedness and inclined her head towards me before she continued. "I am glad to hear it Guardian Belikov, but nonetheless, you have our gratitude and Guardian Croft will follow my instructions." She then got up, Lissa and I following immediately, nodded and strode out of the room, followed by half of the guardians that had been stationed around the room.

Lissa took a deep breath and then walked in the opposite direction, beckoning me to walk with her. Once we left the meeting room and were standing in the hallway she turned to me. "I'm sorry Dimitri. I tried to get the Queen to promote you the Royal Guard so you could still be my guardian, but she said there are currently no positions available. I put you on the shortlist though so if anything opens up, you'll definitely be considered for it."

I smiled at her. We really had gotten closer in the past few years, she was almost like another younger sister to me. "It's okay Lissa, really. They're the best of the best, they'll keep you safe. And this is a great opportunity, I'm happy for you."
She shrugged. "I know, but I will miss having you around."
"We'll keep in touch. If my new assignment is a high ranking Royal, it'll most likely be someone who either lives here at Court or visits regularly."

Lissa bit her lip and something flashed in her eyes, but it was gone before I could recognize it. Then she nodded and gave me a hug, which I couldn't help but return. "I think Hans is waiting for you. Take care Dimitri."
"You too Princess, stay safe."
This earned me a laugh and a smack on the arm. "You know I hate it when you call me that."
I chuckled. "Yes I know, but I think you're going to have to get used to it."
"Better watch it, or I'll take you of the shortlist. Anyway, you should get going or you'll be late, and I'm sure the Queen is waiting for me."

I nodded and smiled at her and then turned away, walking towards the public area of the palace where the main exit was located. Just before I turned around the corner into another hallway, Lissa called after me: "Good luck Dimitri! I think you'll like your new position!"
I turned back just in time to see a flash of blonde hair disappearing into the room I had just come from and shook my head. Apparently Lissa already knew where I was going. Ah well, I'd know soon enough.

Hans had been unable, or unwilling, to tell me who my new charge was. Apparently the Queen had set it up and he could only give me basic information. I was to be the secondary guardian to a Royal Lord who lived away from Court, somewhere in Maine. The Moroi and his primary guardian would give me more information once I got there. All Hans could tell me was that they apparently kept to themselves mostly, had little interaction with our world and I would find my new position to be much less demanding than my previous one. I wasn't sure if I was actually happy about that. Low-risk positions tended to lull you into a false sense of security which would then end up getting you killed.

Now I was standing in front of a big house, which had been pretty difficult to find. It was quite far from the nearest town and completely hidden by the trees. I wouldn't have noticed the driveway if I hadn't specifically been looking for it. I had to knock three times before I heard someone moving towards the door. I heaved a sigh of relief. I had already been considering all kinds of reasons why nobody was responding, ranging from my charge not knowing I was coming and thus being out, to him being dead before I even had the chance to meet him. I made an effort to push the images of the Badica massacre out of my mind, as well as the woman who had accompanied me then.

The door swung open, revealing a human woman with blonde hair. "Can I help you?"
I hesitated for a moment before replying: "I think I must have gotten the wrong adress. I'm sorry to have bothered you."
She turned her head a little as she took a good look at me and the light suddenly reflected on the golden tattoo on her cheek. An alchemist. Apparently I came to the right place after all, and her answer confirmed it. "Please come in. You're early, we weren't expecting you until tomorrow."

She told me to put my bag in the hallway and then invited me to follow her. She didn't introduce herself but that wasn't too far out of the ordinary for an alchemist. We made our way through the house, which was even bigger than it had looked from the outside, and finally we walked into a big, open plan, living room. I blinked in surprise at the man lying on the sofa, feet hanging over the arm rest and head propped up on a pillow while watching an old episode of Friends. He looked up at our entrance and a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "Well who do we have here.."
Before I could reply, he called out: "Oi, mighty protector! Where are you?"

Within seconds I heard footsteps, immediately followed by a voice. A very, very familiar voice. "I told you not to call me that. Can't we just go back to the old nickname? And I was in the kitchen. We're out of chocolate by the way, did you eat that last snickers?"
Adrian sat up and crossed his arms. "No I didn't. Why do you always blame me? Maybe Sydney had it for breakfast?"

The alchemist next to me snorted at the same time as a beautiful, dark-haired woman walked in from around the corner, where I guessed there was another entrance to the room. "Yeah right pretty boy, you know she prefers twix. I learned that the hard way."
I recognized the look she aimed at Adrian from years before and I knew how deadly it could be, but he just smiled at her. "I didn't call you here to discuss the merits of one candybar versus the other little dhampir."

While he was talking Roza looked around the room in a practiced move any guardian would recognize. I knew the exact moment she noticed me. Her body froze, she narrowed her eyes and muttered under her breath: "What the hell.."
I tried to smile at her but seeing her for the first time in years seemed to have removed any ability to think or move or speak. She was, still, the most amazing woman I knew, and I knew in that moment that I was still very much in love with her.

Roza hadn't said anything else and was still staring at me. I still knew her well enough to recognize the emotions playing on her face and in her eyes, the shock, confusion and then the anger she felt at me being here. Apparently I had been right to assume she was upset with how I'd acted in those final months at the academy.

Adrian used our stand-off of sorts to get up of the sofa and casually walk over until he was standing between us.
"Belikov, welcome to our humble abode. Little dhampir, I want to introduce you to my new guardian and your new partner, the great guardian Belikov."
Roza's eyes widened for a moment before she uttered just three words, "Oh hell no!", turned around and rushed out of the room.

I was still staring after her when I heard the alchemist ask Adrian: "This is Dimitri Belikov?"
I turned around just in time to see Adrian nod and the Alchemist glare at him. "I really hope you know what you're doing Adrian."
He shrugged. "It'll be fine Sydney. Would I ever do anything to hurt Rose?"
Sydney rolled her eyes and mumbled: "Not intentionally," before glaring at me and walking away as well.

I had been out of my depth from the moment I arrived here. First I was confused by the presence of an alchemist, then surprised by finding out Adrian Ivashkov was to be my new charge and finally completely shocked by unexpectedly seeing Rose again and her obvious hostility towards me. Nothing bewildered me as much as Adrian's next words though, accompanied by a clap on my shoulder.
"Well that went better than expected. Lissa said it'd be fine but I kind of expected Rose to rip your throat out. Shame really, there's absolutely nothing on tv so a fight would've been entertaining."

My thoughts were a mess and by the time I could make enough sense of them to ask Adrian a question, he was just settling in for an episode of some different tv-show. "Lissa knew about this?"
Adrian looked at me like I was an idiot. "Of course she did cradle robber, it was her idea wasn't it? Give you two the chance to sort things out. Or get you killed. Whichever comes first."

My mind went blank for a moment before I recovered from this final shock. It would appear my innocent charge, who had seemed quite disappointed at my reassignment, was not so innocent after all.

Author's note: Sorry, sorry, sorry for disappearing for so long. I'm still dealing with a pretty bad case of writer's block, but this popped into my head a couple of days ago so I wrote it down as soon as I had the time. It's a bit short and maybe not completely upto scratch, but I thought it was entertaining enough and hopefully this will get me back into things. I hope you enjoyed it!

On a side-note, did you all read the books in DPOV by gigi256? She finished Last Sacrifice recently and I totally loved it.