Heavy Lies The Crown (on hiatus)

CHAPTER 7 - Oh, that was a good comeback

Rose's POV

Until Lissa told me her name, I didn't know who Ivan's aunt was. I mean, I knew her name and a whole lot about her, I've heard it before, but I didn't know they were this close, and that she is actually Anton's sister. Among Moroi, family ties are thrown left and right without any actual blood link, and that's another thing I could never make sense of in our world.

Ekaterina Zeklos was never married. Not because she didn't want to, but because she wasn't allowed to. She made it very clear that she doesn't want a man in her life, and the men around her made it just as clear that she will never be allowed to have what she desires.

Her preferences aside, the fact that she ruled our kind for about a year didn't make her more likeable to those men either. An ambitious young woman, she was the former King's counselor, and when he died unexpectedly, she took his place until the Council could decide who they wanted to rule the next generation. Of course, I wasn't there to witness it, but all the people I ever met, and all the stories I heard, say that it was a great year for everyone. Well, not everyone. The twelve lowlifes from the Council weren't too happy about her vision and did their best to take her off the throne, even though it took them one year to come to the consensus of choosing the current King.

After they got rid of her, this Randall Ivashkov piece of shit messed up everything she tried to change, dragging us back to where we were before. You see, we're living in the 21st century, but that happens mostly on the outside of our world. People's lives and mindsets are evolving rapidly over the boundaries of our kind, but our greatest leaders only took the bits they liked from the outside world, and denied the rest. These men have been so afraid of change, and in consequence, we're still behaving like 200 years ago in a lot of ways. But tradition is shit, I am telling it to you, for I am living it first hand and it sucks for everyone else but twelve people.

Only the fact that she was the only woman to ever sit on that throne all by herself makes her a complete badass in my eyes. Considering the other things Lissa told me about her, things that didn't make their way into the Dhampirs' stories that I heard until now, can I say I aspire to be like her?

On the other hand, Ivan asked me not to piss her off and Lissa warned me she is to be feared, but I am truly excited to meet her. Knowing she has a different way of thinking, who knows, maybe we could get along. I am sure she would understand me.

Dimitri's POV

Rose pretends she is not anxious as I am taking her toward the salon, and she's doing a relatively good job at hiding it, but it's the little things that give her away. She keeps on arranging the skirts of her dress, she passes her fingers through her hair, uselessly trying to put her bangs behind her ears, she takes deep breaths in and while exhaling, she sighs, and if I saw it right, when she's not fumbling, she's trembling a little.

It is rather uncommon to see her act in such a way, as she always passes as confident, and I can only hope that Ivan's aunt will show her good side today. I hope she shows Rose a little mercy, despite being up to date with all the things she has done since she arrived here. Or maybe she will not. After all, she is the kind of woman who doesn't beat around the bush. And at the end of the day, that may be a good thing because I think Ekaterina Zeklos is the only one left who can talk some sense into Rose before it is too late for her.

I am more than curious to see how this meeting will unfold, thanks to their fiery personalities. Will it end in arson? Because I just have this feeling...

Rose goes inside the salon to meet Ekaterina, and I remain at the door, close enough to hear it all. The perks of the job, right?

And it seems like my intuition was right. It all goes wrong from the first second Rose closed the door behind her.