THE QUEEN'S PROTÉGÉE

CH 15

The past

ROSE

"Comrade"

"Roza"

I woke up to a beeping sound that was driving me insane. It kept getting louder and louder. Can't someone turn it off, my head was pounding and I was trying to piece together where I was. My brain was foggy trying to grasp anything. I tried reaching out for Lissa and couldn't feel her, I couldn't sense her. There was nothing. The bond was gone.

"Lissa, Lissa where is Lissa?" I needed to see her, I needed to know she was safe. I started to panic and tried to sit up only to be met with a searing pain in my chest. What the heck? I looked down to notice it was wrapped in a white bandage that now had a little bit of blood soaking through.

"Roza, Roza. You need to lay back down." Dimitri was here.

"Lissa. The.. The bond…I can't feel her…. It's .. It's…."

"It's gone. We know." He grabbed my hand.

"She's safe and at the palace. But you can't talk about the bond right now."

"What, why?" My mind was still trying to piece everything together.

"The Queen can't know that the bond is broken." He looked me straight in the eyes begging me to understand.

Oh my god it hit me like a ton of bricks. I died. Again. The bond was gone. I was, I'm not sure what that place was, but Mason was there and so was Anna. I couldn't breathe. This was all too much. A nurse came running in to check on me because my monitors were going off. Dimitri squeezed my hand to help ground me. I was so grateful he was here with me.

"Rose honey you're going to have to calm down. You are awake and in the hospital at court. I'm going to put this mask on you to help your breathing." The Mioiri nurse said to me as she put an oxygen mask on.

"Take some slow deep breaths for me." I did as instructed and the beeps of the machines started to slow down as my heart rate did.

"Good." I'm going to leave this on for a little bit longer, while I get the dr." I just nodded my head.

"Don't leave." I pleaded to Dimitri

"I'm not going anywhere." He kissed my hand.

"Please tell me what happened?"

"You died."

DIMITRI

It had been two weeks since the attack and Rose "died". I watched the life drain out of her and I thought I was going to lose her. But thanks to modern medicine and us not giving up she was alive. She spent two weeks in a coma and we didn't know if she was ever going to wake up.

I wasn't too sure how I was going to explain everything that has happened since the attack. It was going to be a lot to take in and she was already panicked about Lissa.

"You did die, briefly. Eddie did CPR on you till help arrived. As soon as you were stable enough you were brought to court. You've been here ever since. Actually we all have been here at court."

"How long have I been out?"

"Two weeks."

"Did we win?"

"I wouldn't call it winning, but yes we did. We got them all, even the ones who tried to flee."

"Christian's parents?" That was something that I was struggling with. I felt so guilty that I killed his mom, even though Christian told me over and over again that he wasn't mad.

"Are gone." She just shook her head.

"I have so many questions."

"I know you do and I will answer them all for you except for the ones about Lissa, at least until you are home."

"I've already texted her that you were awake."

"How did you know I was going to ask that?"

"Guardian secrets."

"You're not a Guardian."

"I am now, we all are." I turned around and lifted up my hair to show her my new tattoos. One was my promise mark and the other was a Zveda.

"Anyone that fought in the attack were given Zvedas.The Queen and the Royal council decided to forgo the qualifier and give us our promise marks early. They said we earned it. We wanted to wait for you to wake up so we could get our marks together." I felt bad that she wasn't there with us.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be it's ok you all deserved it. I just wished I was there to join you."

"Well be there when you receive yours."

"I would like that very much. Wait, does this mean you've already been given an assignment?"

"Don't worry, we haven't yet. The Queen has decided the newly marked Guardians will stay at court and work till the school year ends. We will get our charges with the other academies in August."

"Isn't that considerate of her." She said sarcastically.

"Well she did have a little bit of persuasion."

"I'm sure she did." She smiled, I knew she understood what I meant by that. Lissa and Adrian worked tirelessly making sure that anyone that fought and went through the attack were taken care of. Especially those who had lost their lives. They were working on a memorial for them that would be placed by the lake at the academy. Rose hadn't said anything about Mason yet. I wasn't going to bring it up because I knew she would be heartbroken and she was going through enough right now.

"Miss Hathaway, it's nice to see you awake." We were interrupted by the dr who had been taking care of Rose since she came here.

"We'll finish this later." I whispered to her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I have a hole in my chest."

"Well a stake through the chest will do that to you." Rose tried to laugh and grimaced in pain.

"I'm going to get you some more pain medicine, but first I want to check your incision." The dr sat down on her bed and checked her over. A nurse came in shortly after with supplies to clean her incision and re bandage her.

"Looks like you popped a couple of stitches, but other than that the wound is healing nicely. I'm going to keep you here for a couple more days. When you feel ready we can get you up and walk around. I want you to take it easy and rest. You are very lucky Rose."

"I know." She said quietly.

"Let's get you some medicine and maybe some food." He patted her knee before he left.

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"Rose, Rose." Lissa came barreling into the room and went right for Rose. Adrian had to stop her before threw herself on Rose.

"Sorry, sorry I forgot. I just. I just."

"I know Liss." She started crying and opened her arms for Lissa.

"I felt it, I felt you die." Lissa broke down in Rose's arms.

"I know. It's ok I'm here." They embraced each other and just cried. Lissa started to say something else.

"Not here Lissa." Adrian stopped her again and gently patted her arm.

"Sorry." She let go and stood back up and wiped her eyes.

"Little Dhampir we're happy to see you awake." He came over to her and kissed her head.

"Hey where's sparky?" She asked, looking around.

"He's laying low at the house." Abe said as he and her mom walked through the door.

I still couldn't get used to the idea that Zmey was her dad.

"Why? Don't tell me those assholes are still treating him like shit. He had nothing to do with what happened. I watched him burn his dad to a crisp."

"Rose." Her mom chastised her.

"What? He lit his ass on fire. What else do they want?"

"I'm glad dying hasn't changed your attitude."

"Ibraham. Seriously." Her mom gave Abe a look that would scare any strigoi. He just brushed it off and walked over to her.

"Glad to see you awake Kiz."

"Glad to be part of the living."

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ROSE

"I hate to be the bad guy here, but Miss Hathaway needs her rest." The nurse from before came back in.

"Always the tough one, Sarah." Abe said.

"Just doing my job Mr. Mazer. Rose is due for some pain medicine and visiting hours have been over for quite some time. I've let you stay long enough."

After some convincing Christian showed up with Eddie and Meredith. It was hard to look at Eddie and not see Mason with him. No one brought him up because it was still too hard to talk about. My dad at some point went and got us all pizza. It was nice just to sit and catch up with everyone.

So much has happened in the two weeks I've been out. I was shocked to learn my dad had been letting Dimitri and Christian stay at his house. He even offered a place for Eddie to stay, but the Queen had insisted he have a room at the palace among her Royal Guards. The Academy had been closed until further notice. Students were spread out to other academies and to court. All senior novices were here, working and waiting for their assignments.

"Can someone stay with me please?" I asked the nurse. I didn't care who stayed with me, I just didn't want to be alone.

"That's fine." I looked around hoping I wouldn't have to make the decision and someone would speak up.

"It's my turn to stay the night." Lissa spoke up.

"Now that that's decided the rest of you get out. You can see her in the morning."

Everyone said their goodbyes and left. Dimitri lingered the most.

"Thank you for coming back to me. Get some rest Roza."

"I'll always come back to you.See you in the morning Comrade."

Once everyone was gone the nurse gave me my pain meds and told me it might make me sleepy.

"Now before you fall asleep on me, I have to know, how did your date go?"

"Let's just say at least I didn't die a virgin."

———————————

It had been an eventful last few months. I had gotten my Zveda and promise mark. I was now a fully fledged Guardian, had been working and training at Court, and now we had finally made it to the allocation ceremony. I already knew I was going to be Lissa's Guardian along with Eddie and Meredith. Me and the Queen had a long talk after I first got out of the hospital, she had reluctantly agreed to let me pick my team of Guardians. Her only stipulation is that we have a senior Guardian with us, since we were protecting the heir to her throne. She also agreed to let Dimitri be Christian's Guardian as well, even though she wanted him for Adrain. Why did the Queen agree? Well I knew a very big secret of hers. When I was in the in-between place Anna had told me some things.

Rose, there is something you need to know about the Queen. We've been watching what she's been doing and keeping tabs on her. This may come as a shock, but she is actually the one behind the attacks on the academies. She stayed in contact with the Ozera's after they were awakened. She knew what they were going to do. They have been working together ever since. You don't know it, but the Royal Council has been trying to set the Guardian age down to sixteen. Some are for it, some are very much against it. She is very much for it. The reason the academies were attacked was to prove that novices were ready. The attack on St Vladimir's was a success, you eliminated the threat. It is going to be proof that they can lower the age. I'm telling you this to warn you and for you to use as leverage against her. You need to stay with Lissa, she needs to become Queen. That is the only way things can change for the better. Just tell her nightingale.

I haven't told anyone else what I learned, not even my dad. It was just enough that she knew that I knew. After the ceremony we would be on our way to Leigh University so Lissa could attend college. Christian had made plans to go to culinary school close to where we would be. Adrian was also coming with us and going to art school. It was going to be an adjustment, but we were ready for whatever life was going to throw at us.

THE END

JUST KIDDING THIS IS THE END OF THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY. THE NEXT PART WILL BE SET IN THE CURRENT TIME. THANKING FOR STICKING WITH ME.