I woke in my bed the next morning feeling calmer and revitalised. I couldn't remember ever feeling this good. I looked on my bedside table to see two chocolate donuts and a note.

'Rest this morning Roza, I will see you later for afternoon practice.'

I grinned, feeling that things with my mate were back on track. I became so tired after our romantic tryst that I only remembered flashes after he temporarily marked me. My fingers brushed over the hickey, I knew it wouldn't last long with my dhampir healing but it felt good in the meantime.

I remembered flashes of him carrying me back to my room and carefully washing me in the bathroom. He had left me in one of his shirts and a clean pair of white panties.

I made it to breakfast on time, still feeling full of energy. While in the lunch line I heard some people talking about Mia's family being poor servants. I grinned to myself, knowing that this would be spread around the school by lunchtime.

I pinned Eddie in practice today, I was ecstatic. I was flying high on my euphoria and increased energy levels. I finally felt that I was getting back to where I should be at this level of my training.

Charlie and the rest of the guys seemed more subdued. Charlie barely looked in my direction and Mason was back to being my jovial friend rather than a jealous wannabe boyfriend.

I was riding high by lunch time until I saw Mia was sitting alone, throwing glares at Lissa while she ate her food. I felt a little sorry for her, perhaps there was a person with a beating heart after all. That was until I saw her use her powers to splash orange juice in Lissa's face.

I walked up to her. "What is your problem? Jealous that she's royal and your parents are the help."

Her eyes flashed with fury. "IT was you! You were the one who spread that rumour."

"Is it a rumour if it's true? Let's face it, you try to pretend your target shirts are designer. You are is thirsty to be a royal, it's pathetic."

"You will regret that! You are just a tramp who hangs off her royal best friend."

"The difference between you and me is that I'm not desperate to be one." I stalked off to join Lissa and Natalie at the table.

Since we had returned to St Vlads, Mason and Eddie joined us and sometimes Natalie's dull friends. With Mason backing off, I was quite content with my new situation and didn't care about social status.

I practically floated into afternoon training. Dimitri kissed my hand and then went back to being my hard arse drill Sergeant. At the end of training I sat cuddled in his lap, he gave out a low grumbly growl and I purred while we scented each other.

I felt happy being in the embrace of my mate. I felt so close to him, it was almost like I could feel his contentment. But that was silly, right?

The next day the campus was buzzing with the news of the Queen visiting campus. She occasionally toured the schools around the country, but this was a last minute visit. Baba had purchased an extensive wardrobe for me, but I mostly wore workout clothes. Tonight I went with my new maroon tailored pants, a cream blouse and a structured blazer for this formal visit.

The queen entered with four royal guardians covering her from the front and she was flanked by another four at the back. She was wearing an embroidered red silk dress with a tiara.

I was placed in the back with the rest of the dhampirs and Lissa was at a prominent table at the front near the podium. I felt my mate as soon as I walked into the room and looked to see Dimitri against the wall with the other guardians.

She passed down the commons, first politely nodding to my Dhampir contingent and then occasionally stopping to speak to some royal moroi students. She came to the podium at the front.

"Vasilisa Dragomir."

My head shot up, I looked to see Lissa sit a little straighter in her seat after being addressed by the queen. I could feel her nerves through the bond.

"There are some families that stand out, some by shining a little brighter and some through scandal. The Dragomir family has a tradition of Kings and Queens who ruled fairly throughout history. I was very upset to hear that you ran away Vasilisa."

Lissa looked nervous, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Ahh your majesty, so lovely to see you." All heads turned to see my father, Abe Mazur enter the room. He strode through the commons like he owned the place, but it wasn't like Kirova had the backbone to stop him. He moved over to stand behind Lissa, who was imploding mentally from the queen's words. The royal guardians relaxed their hands from their stakes, but remained tense.

The queen stared at him for a moment and then quickly gained her composure as she looked around the room. "Mr Mazur."

I could see Dimitri moving around the room to get to the wall closest to me, clearly he thought I might react poorly.

"You look lovely, you haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

She looked irritated that my father was interrupting her service. "Thank you Ibrahim, what brings you to this assembly."

"I wanted to support Princess Dragomir, she is like a daughter to me. I was very upset to hear about the nasty pranks of leaving a dead animal in her room. It almost seems like there was a reason she and Novice Hathaway left the school."

"Dead animal?" The queen looked surprised.

"I'm sure you knew, which is why you came here in person to check on her well-being." Abe continued. "My daughter came to me with her concerns when they left for her safety. Which I thought was a mature decision, don't you agree, your majesty?"

All eyes turned to the queen, she gave an uneasy smile. "Of course Mr Mazur. As the last Dragomir, Lissa must be protected. It would be a shame to lose a prominent royal line. I just hope she lives up to the honour of her family."

She fixed Lissa with a hard look and I could feel Lissa bristle through the bond. My father gently patted her shoulder for support. "Yes thank you your majesty, you are so kind to worry about my safety."

The queen gave a brief smile and proceeded to make an impromptu speech about moroi traditions and the importance of guardian training. She sat down to dinner with mistress Kirova and a table setting had been added for Abe. The queen did not look happy to see him at her table, he caught my eye and gave me a wink.

At the end of the dinner, Lissa exited very quickly. I checked through the bond, and she was embarrassed that the queen had wanted to call her out. She had sat there through dinner letting her thoughts fester.

Natalie found her first and was talking to her. "Thank goodness Rose's Dad came by, she was about to humiliate you."

"Yes, I know that," she snapped. I approached slowly, getting a feel of Lissa's emotions through the bond. She was getting irritable, Natalie certainly wasn't helping that.

"The queen is a bitch," I said loudly. Natalie jumped in fright, but Lissa didn't seem surprised.

"Your dad seemed to annoy her tonight." Lissa replied.

"He does that well. How are you?" I asked.

"Fine" She replied, not looking at me.

Natalie looked at both of us, for once sensing the tension. "I'm going to go back to the reception to find Daddy, feel better Lissa."

I waited till Natalie left earshot, "Do you need me to take care of the queen? Between Abe and I, I'm pretty sure it can be accomplished without being prosecuted. They might suspect me, but they'd never prove it."

Lissa laughed, "No I don't think that is necessary."

"We'll call it plan B then." I said and Lissa smiled.

"I feel the darkness rising in me and today I felt like I was being watched."

"Maybe it is that creep, Christian" I said.

"Not this again."

"Do I have to give you that 'He is a psycho loser' speech again."

"I would think I have it memorised after the fifth time. He isn't a bad guy and he has been nice to me. Maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt."

I heard a clicking of high heels and we turned to see Mia with a couple of her friends. Clearly she had convinced some people that her parents weren't servants.

"I'm glad I'm not so important to be spoken to by the queen. It's a good thing that your best friend's father helped you save face." Mia gave Lissa a look full of scorn.

I stepped forward to block Mia from Lissa. "You are standing too close. Back off! Stick to talking about gardening and cleaning the floor."

"You will regret that Tramp!"

I looked around, sensing my alpha approaching. His tall form appeared through the trees and I was entranced by him.

"Everything all right?" He said looking at the crowd of us. He seemed to sniff out trouble.

"Of course Guardian Belikov. We were just swapping family stories, I can't get enough of Mia's family stories."

Mia flashed me a filthy look and gestured to her friends to leave. "Let's go."

"Headmistress Kirova asked for me to escort you back to your room. You weren't about to start a fight were you?"

I took a big sniff of Dimitri's scent to calm myself. "Not if there are witnesses."

Both Lissa and Dimitri huffed in annoyance. "Princess, are you okay to get yourself to your dorms?"

"Yes, I am."

"Lets go." He said, gently directing me towards my dorm. He kept a hand on the small of my back, looking like he was escorting a student in trouble. As we crossed the quad I saw Christian Ozera making a beeline for Lissa.

"Hey! Going to see Lissa?" I called out to Christian. Dimitri stayed close to me but stopped.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"You know she doesn't like you hanging around, she's too polite to say so." I lied.

He looked devastated. "That's not true."

"She thinks you are a freak… I would know." I tapped my head. Dimitri grabbed the back of my shirt, trying to get me to stop.

"You aren't too polite." He snapped at me.

"No, but I do feel sorry enough to tell you. I think the words psycho stalker have come up."

"Enough," Dimitri gently nudged me forward to stop talking.

"Thanks for your help!" Christian said sarcastically and stormed off in the opposite direction to Lissa.

"Was that really necessary?" Dimitri asked me as we reached the Dhampir dorms. He marched me up the stairs to my dorm.

"I thought it was. I'm just looking after my friend." I pouted.

"He isn't a bad kid."

"How would you know?" I said while crossing my arms.

"I'm friends with his aunt and I have known him since he was a kid."

"Must have been many years since you last saw him then."

Dimitri opened my door and gestured for me to walk inside. I gave him a coy smile and walked with an extra swish of my hips. I quickly turned my head and caught him watching my backside. "Night Alpha."

I wake feeling sharp pain in my wrists, I look down and I see the fast trickle of blood. I feel scared and upset. Then I notice the hands, long and slender, smooth and polished.

Lissa

I pull out of her head and shake myself awake. I quickly filter through Lissa's mind to see what had happened since I saw her. I get dressed while I start calling my father.

"Little girl? What's wrong?" He asks.

"Are you in guest accommodation? Lissa is in trouble, someone left another dead animal and a threat for her. She let the darkness overwhelm her."

"I'll contact Kirova and meet you downstairs in two minutes." Dad said as he hung up.

He and Pavel met me downstairs and we ran to the moroi dorms. I told them to wait outside Lissa's room while I went in to check on her. She was in the bathroom and had blood all over her hoodie.

"It's not mine." She said as I had frantically checked her body for injuries. I reviewed the wound on her wrists, the wounds had clotted and they weren't too deep.

"It was a rabbit this time?" I asked, knowing the answer from probing her mind through the bond. She had kept something else from me so I looked at her expectantly with my arms crossed.

Lissa reached into her pyjama pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. It had so much blood soaked into it, I could barely read it as he held it and smoothed it out:

'I know what you are. You won't survive being here. I'll make sure of it. Leave now. It's the only way you might live through this.'

"I'm sorry Rose, I lost control again. The threat means that this is happening again."

This reminded me of something deep in my memory, Ms Karp…

Ms Karp was an eccentric teacher and the first spirit used that we had encountered. We didn't know what it was at the time, I just thought she was crazy. She caught Lissa healing a raven, she grabbed us and pushed us into the moroi dorms.

"Nothing happened" She said urgently, "Promise me that neither of you will say anything. Promise me!"

Lissa and I looked at each other, nodding. She stared into my eyes and grabbed my face. "You have to protect her, you have to take her away from here." My head started to get fuzzy, but her words sounded reasonable.

Lissa and I went on the run the next day…

"ROSE!" Lissa snapped me out of my stupor.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was asking who came with you." Lissa said looking annoyed.

"My dad and Pavel, you need to show them the note. I'll give you my hoodie to cover up."

I was wearing a supportive top, so I wasn't at risk of giving someone a show. Kirova had arrived by the time we emerged from the bathroom. She looked concerned for Lissa.

Lissa explained finding the rabbit on her bed still twitching and the note associated with it. Pavel sniffed the note, trying to detect a scent but the note was masked by the rabbit blood. Another dead end.

Abe convinced Kirova to let him take Lissa and I to his accommodation. As the lawyer for the Dragomir's he had guardianship of Lissa and obviously being my father. He had a moroi doctor with him who checked out both Lissa and myself.

We were given a spare room with two single beds to sleep in while Abe had guardians placed outside our door. Lissa slipped into my bed, she wanted to feel comforted by my proximity.

I lay there trying to think who could be after Lissa, I knew she was different. She was the last dragomir and a spirit user. Remembering Ms Karp's words, she was worried about Lissa's safety after seeing her heal out in the open. This person is leaving the dead animals on her bed, clearly they were trying to test her skills. She must not use them.

AN: I really enjoyed the discussion in the reviews from the last chapter, thank you all. One of the guest comments made me so happy. They understood what I am trying to describe in my writing, eventually Rose's behaviour will make sense.

I don't think that anyone who wants to explore a sexual relationship with their partner is slutty. Rose has found her chosen match, she is young and wants things to happen now. Dimitri is a man who wants to treat his woman with respect and take things slow. He is more conscious of the social and moral complications. She is shadow kissed and impatient, therefore she is more reckless in the pursuit of her passions with her mate.

What do you think about Lissa in this story? Is she a little different too?