𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 ▸ After his restoration, the unthinkable happens - Dimitri tells Rose that loves fades and his has. To add insult to injury, Queen Tatiana ends up murdered with Rose's stake. Dimitri had asked Rose to give him tim...
"How's Sparky going?" Rose asked as soon as Lissa picked up her cell. Despite Vasilisa hating the epithet, it was a given for when Rose mentioned Christian, so she just let it slide.
"Um... OK?" Lissa said, finding it hard to put into words how Christian's demeanor was worrying her. "He seems to be OK with the whole thing. He is cooking, cleaning, going to classes... All the usual stuff."
Knowing Lissa so well, Rose could read between the lines. "But.....?"
"He's too normal," Lissa admitted, relieved that her bestie had coaxed it out of her. "It's like he is pretending nothing's happened," she explained.
Sitting alone in the living room of the hotel suite in Seattle, Rose nodded. Right now, 'situation normal' might be precisely what Sparky needed to do to cope.
"He might need time to process," she counseled. Heaven knows she was no expert, but losing your last close family member—especially being it was the third to pass in ignominious circumstances—would have to be hard. Normality, especially in the human world where no-one was aware of what had occurred, might be the kindest thing for him?
"If we can do anything—anything at all—please let me know," Rose said, appreciating that, right now, their distance was probably the kindest gift she and Dimitri could deliver. Yes, Tasha had been out of her mind. Yes, she had killed their former queen and framed Rose. But, at the end of the day, it had all been for her obsessional love of Dimitri. The same Guardian who was unashamedly devoted to Rose. Christian had seemed fine about their love during the visit to Abe's home in Russia, but there was no need to rub it in his face. Especially given his loss.
"Thank you," Lissa murmured. "I worry for him... He has no family left..."
"You're his family, now," Rose said, stating what, to her, was obvious. Lissa had been her best friend since kindergarten. Yes, Christian was much more recent to them—but she knew her bestie well enough to appreciate one day she'd be getting an invitation to Lord Christian Ozera and Princess Vasilisa Dragomir's wedding. Like she and Dimitri, they were meant to be.
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"Good day, darling?" Janine asked innocently, regarding her daughter as she sat on a sofa in the suite's main salon. As she walked into the room, Janine was disarmingly at ease.
"So so," Rose replied, peering around her mother and relieved to see her love trailing in behind. When Janine had announced she wanted a 'mother and boyfriend' day with Dimitri, Rose had been concerned. Her mother had never been much of one, but apparently, she now intended to make up for lost time with a vengeance. If Janine had decided to be mother bear, Rose was now a very reluctant cub! And poor Dimitri...
"Did you have a good day, baby?" Rose asked, standing up and sauntering toward her man, kissing the underside of his jaw before pressing her lips to his.
"Fine," Dimitri muttered, knowing Rose would wheedle every threat her mother had made to him out later. That her mother looked decidedly smug was enough to clue Rose in that she'd been brutal.
